Hi Kelly. I'm glad corporate pricing is being given some thought even though you feel it is impractical at this time. I posted on this issue sometime last week. I believe strongly that this is an appropriate and realistic solution. I also believe that the questions you proposed on your previous post can be very easily answered, and I will attempt to help you find solutions to your proposed questions.
The fundamental distinction between a corporation and a inworld merchant is that an inworld merchant focuses on providing goods, services, and entertainment for second life residents. A corporation is an entity who's primary business is outside of SL .. in fact, not even SL related who uses SL as a marketing platform to promote RL goods and services. Using this definition, it is very easy to understand and differentiate between these different entities.
Corporate pricing makes sense for the following reasons:
- No corporation is going to make a purchasing decision on a SL island over a few hundred dollars, where that amount of money is prohibitive for ingame developer-residents.
- My understanding is that few if any large corporations take it upon themselves to purchase islands directly. They purchase them through consulting companies who are familiar with SL culture, economy, and policies. These consulting companies know who their clients are and can easily pass on the costs for you.
- Corporations that flood the SL marketplace with free goods that compete directly with the products of ingame resident-developers are harming the ingame economy. I do not believe that this is in dispute.
I will help you resolve your questions below. My responses are in ALL CAPS to help differentiate them from the questions (I haven't mastered color in these posts yet).
* Many SL services that only sell stuff in SL have presences outside of SL - many have their own websites! Does having a website violate the "not even existing outside of SL" clause and bump you to commercial rates?
NO. AS INDICATED PREVIOUSLY, THIS SHOULD ONLY AFFECT CORPORATIONS WHO'S PRIMARY BUSINESS IS GOODS AND SERVICES OUTSIDE OF SL.
o What if you make money from the site with advertising of real world goods or services?
NO. ADVERTISING ON A WEBSITE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE PROMOTION OF YOUR RL PRODUCTS AND SERVICES WITHIN SL.
* What if you use cafepress or similar to print and sell shirts, mugs etc based on your SL leetness? Does that bump you to commercial rates?
NO. THAT IS THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT WE ARE DISCUSSING, USING RL APPROACHES TO PROMOTE AN SL BUSINESS ONLY HELPS THE SL ECONOMY.
* slboutique has an entire category of real life goods, does that mean they, and anyone using their service, must pay commercial rates for their land?
NO. THAT WOULD BE ABSURD.
* If I sign up for an amazon affiliate account (or whatever they are called these days) and decide to supplement my island fees with a small book store in the corner of my island that links to my account - while 95% of my land is a free theme park - would that bump me to the commercial bracket?
NO. IN THIS CASE IT IS OBVIOUS THAT THE PRIMARY USE OF THE ISLAND IS TO PROVIDE SL ENTERTAINMENT.
* What if an island owner rents to someone who has a real world business related to their SL business? Does that bump the island owner into the commercial bracket? What if it is an alt of the island owner?
THIS IS THE ONLY TRICKY AREA, AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED. THIS WOULD BE A JUDGEMENT CALL, OR PERHAPS YOU COULD HAVE A 50% OR GREATER POLICY. I DON'T THINK CORPORATIONS WOULD BOTHER MOVING TO A DISTRIBUTED PRESENCE MODEL JUST TO CIRCUMVENT HIGHER FEES.
* It would be impossible to track everything that every island owner is doing with their land and on the internet or elsewhere in the real world. This is just plain not feasible. It is also impossible for us to always be able to reliably tie the two realities together.
I DO NOT THINK THIS WOULD NEED TO BE TRACKED. IT IS NOT A GREY AREA. IF A CORPORATION IS PURCHASING AN ISLAND OR CLUSTER OF ISLANDS TO PROMOTE RL GOODS AND SERVICES THROUGH A CONSULTING COMPANY, THAT COMPANY SHOULD DISCLOSE THE CORPORATE INTENT WHEN PURCHASING THE ISLANDS.
I hope this helps clarify things. Thank you for your consideration.