Second Life Code of Business Ethics

Please don't deride this thread because I am serious While in general I think business in SL is conduct relatively decently compared to other online worlds there has been some issues. Often I think this is not due to bad intend but in majority of cases it may simply be due to confusion about what is considered good business behavior and what not.

For this reason I invite you make suggestions for what you would like to see as part of a Code of Business Ethics that residents who aspire to conduct business in a fair way could embrace on voluntary basis.

I will start with some of my own ideas in brain storming style


I. Honesty: Don't lie about products. Don't make others believe things that you don't know yourself.
(example: somebody claims that land is worth 5000 L$ while similar land in sim has been for sale at 3000 L$ since months)

II. Pressure: Don't put pressure on people to buy your product

III. Consistent pricing: Same price for both the smart and the naive
(example: somebody who prices a product high for the stupid to buy, but allows the smart to negotiate price down significantly)

IV. Delivery: If customer paid for service then it has to be delivered. If delivery is not possible then a refund for paid money is due plus some compensation, maybe 10% of price.
(example: people rent store in mall, prepay 4 weeks rent, spend time to setup store in expecation of it to last for that time. Then mall is suddenly shut down.)

V. Notification: Timely notification about changes in service, such as movement of shopping mall, increase of rent etc.

VI. Copyright: No selling of items that other residents created unless you have obtained explicit permission

VII. Extorsion: No use of pressure tactics or strongarming of residents or unreasonably exploiting a situation to make resident buy an (overpriced) product.
(example: putting some ugly rotating tubes on 16sqm of land and then set that tiny piece for sale at 1000 L$)

Mmm, ok. Some things for start. Now I am curious what you like to add

Common sense and respect for the buyer and others affected.

(eg not putting up 64 SM plots up for sale next to peoples houses and then saying if you dont like the vendors on them, buy them yourself.)

just a side note, I know I follow these to begin with but who does not (dont point to people let them talk) any one like to admit they follow these but difer slightly ? and why ?

[EDIT: Misstypes]

I subscribe to the same ethics you have demonstrated through your business dealings - Caveat Emptor.

The Buyer Beware.

Anything more is bullshit and unenforceable.

I support your idea of devising a voluntary code of business ethics and creating a kind of Better Business Bureau of likeminded businesses willing to endorse those ethics who would have a kind of "Goodhousekeeping Seal of Approval" they could then put on their products for consumer awareness.

I would only endorse numbers IV-VII as you've stated them, however. The idea of not forcing people to buy by putting up big ugly yellow squares or spinning tubes is an excellent one. You're suggesting the positive notion of announcing that realators won't resort to this practice. That's great. I'd work the other end of it, too, and have consumers negrate such barons that resort to this insidious practice, and expose them. This is exactly the kind of extortionist tactic that I think should be outed and combatted by consumers, and not left to create suffering.

As to your other notions:



This is awfully subjective and hard to get a consensus about. Do you mean if someone marks up a parcel as $5000 on a sim where everything else is marked $3000 that they have "lied"? No, they've just set their parcel to a high price to see if they can get it, for whatever reason. I don't think a Better Business Bureau should get involved in enforcing pricing decisions. A land owner or baron who wants to set a sale to $5000 when everything else is $3000 has the freedom to do this in this game and I don't see any reason to encroach on it.

And what is honest? Some people sell what they call "cars". They imply you can put them on the Linden road and drive them in a straight line. But in fact, you can't steer them, they stop at the intersections of sims, they have problems due to lack of physics in SL. Still, I'm for letting people sell "cars" that look like RL cars because it's an experimental game and we can all have fun with it.



Well, that's another subjective matter. What is pressure? Spamming in group e-mails? Sending out notecards unsolicited? I'd like to get a better notion of what "pressure" is meant because a hard sell should be considered just a business tactic and consumers should protect themselves with education rather than imposing limits on advertising and freedom of expression on businesses.



Hmm...Anshe, you know, you've opened yourself up with this one! Do you mean like when you price your land to way above the rest of the sim's "market" levels because you know someone might need it or you don't want to lose money on it, and newbies don't realize at first they don't HAVE to right-click and buy, but when they smarten up, they can negotiate a lower price? Hmmm.....I think consumers have to get educated, and this is just too vague and too much regulation on business to work.

But I'd support your efforts to try to have an in-world event where you create a nascent Better Business Bureau and try to democratically work out a code of ethics that businesses and consumers could live with.

RATE has been working on developing a proactive opt-in mode and has considerable support inWorld.

More information can be found here:


RATE Group






_/_/_/

Business ethics are always very simple - under promise / over deliver.

Implementation is very very hard and is always open to gaming. An ebay system is probably the best you're going to find.

Define "Unreasonable"

Go there, Lance. *nods*

blah blah blah hot air blah blah blah self serving rhetoric blah blah

The bottom line? Caveat Emptor.

Always has been, always will be.

Thanks for pointing that out Merwan. It should be said that the RATE program has not officially launched yet. We're close, but still have some work to do.

I'll be posting updates as we get closer to launch.


Side note:

RATE's sole purpose is to encourage ethical business practices by merchants. By shopping at businesses who follow the ethical standards, we can encourage other merchants to follow suit.

Oh yeah !! *sits back to see if she answers*

The Second Life Code of Business Ethics should include a few more points.

1. Don't scam newbies out of their Land for the Landless parcels.

2. Don't use ugly builds or weird lights to lower value in areas you wish to purchase.

3. Don't use ugly builds or weird lights to extort high land prices from neighboring residents.

4. Don't use shill tactics. Don't repeatedly trade land back and forth using alt accounts to raise apparent land value.

5. Don't express interest in a neighbor's land if you don't plan to buy it. Reducing competition this way is unethical.

6. Don't bid up auctions using a low-limit credit card to avoid paying the winning bid. Don't use this tactic repeatedly until winning the auction at a desireable price.

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Perhaps the code of business conduct could deal with these issues too?

Kinda like taking ellocution lessons from a tourettes sufferer isn't it?