Why No Copy?

I was just wondering why developers/builders make the permissions to their creations set to no copy? I can understand the need to protect one's content by making it no transfer but why no copy also?

Yesterday while the grid was having problems I tried to rez something I bought from http://www.slexchange.com and it disappeared into thin air. I didn't even get a "failed to rez object" notice. Thankfully, Second Life Exchange will resend you bought items within a few hours of requesting so in the technical section of their forums. They keep track of purchase records and will resend the item no problem. However, once again the item disappeared on me upon attempting to rez. I figured oh well it was an inexpensive item and I don't want to bother these people on Second Life Exchange again so i'll just buy it again. Well, I ended up buying it 3 times and it never made it to my inventory while usually there is no problem. I asked them again to resend it and they did, and this time it actually rezzed and copied the contents to my inventory. I tell this story because I wouldn't have gone through all of that if it were simply a copiable item. I bought a pet cat that follows me which I found out is no copy and i'm afraid to rez him cuz he might get lost. Also, there are other threads in this forum about lost vehicles. Someone was ejected from some land and lost their vehicle because it was no copy.

(From now on I will not rez anything no copy if there are more than 25,000 users online and will check the blog first.)

In conclusion I must ask my fellow SL'ers what do you think about this permissions system? Is no modify and no transfer enough? Could developers survive if Linden Labs removed the no copy feature when building? Am I missing something which makes it so important? I'm confused.

I've lost a few nocopy items myself, and it confuses me as well, why bother setting nocopy if the item can't be transferred? I bought a husky pup for my Mistress that wandered off and was never seen again, but was able to get a copyable version from the creater a couple of days later, and I've heard of several who would provide a copyable version of their product.

It doesn't hurt to ask them, most people I've dealt with respond well to a polite request.

Basically the permissions system is designed to enable people who create builds/textures/ scripts within Second Life to be able to profit from their work.

Typically a product will be copy/modify enabled but not available for transfer OR

No copy/Modify enabled/ No transfer OR

No copy/no modify/transfer enabled.

Different strategies suit different markets, usually clothes, avatar bodies, and vehicles are copy enabled but no transfer.

Prefabs/builds are either copy/modify enabled with no transfer OR no copy/no modify/transfer enabled.

By common consent that in part is driven by the market place it is generally accepted that unless an avatar purchases a full permission object/prim/script the permissions system is designed to prevent selling on multiple copies of one purchased item.

One general exception is the thorny subject of textures; these are usually sold as full permission with a legal caveat the texture can be sold on as part of a build/construct but NOT as a texture in its own right. That point has (and will continue) to cause lots of trouble within Second Life for the texture vendors. However texture vendors who sold restricted permission textures in the main failed to survive.

Hope this helps

Regards

John

Because the seller wants you to buy more than one.

I'd like to add that an object can not be both NoCopy and NoTrans. LL has it set so that either the owner can Copy it, or can Transfer it.

Objects that 'appear' to be NoCopy/NoTrans are not. The object displays the setttings of all items in it's inventory, so placing a NoTrans item in a NoCopy item will make it 'appear' to be NoCopy/NoTrans, but the object will still be Transferable.

Personally, I agree that I would rather have Copy items than Trans items. Mainly due to the poor nature of the SL asset management programming.

~Jessy

The reason for that exception is that if you obtain a texture that has restricted permissions, and you add it to an item that you make, that item becomes at least as restricted as the texture was. So if you apply a no-transfer texture to your full-perms creation, it is suddenly no-transfer, and unsellable, and you can't change that short of replacing the restricted texture on every last facet that it is on. And even then, maybe not! This is a limitation of how SL works, and therefore makes selling textures with anything less than full permissions worthless for all but a few very limited personal uses.

As others stated, a no-copy item is always supposed to be transferrable. This allows you to resell a more expensive item if you tire of it, while protecting the maker from you reselling multiple copies of it. If you sell a no-copy item, it leaves your inventory and goes to the buyer, so you can only sell it once, like a real item.

Unfortunately, the instabilities of SL as it adapts to the recent explosive growth in user base have made for a number of nasty problems with rezzing, among other things. So for right now, yes, your only safe course is not to rez no-copy items unless the grid is pretty quiet, or it's something you can afford to lose. Creators will usually replace a no-copy item, but if the same person asks again and again, the maker has no way to know the requestor isn't just taking the free copies and reselling them.

Ceera yes re textures you are right of course. In my early SL days I built a prefab and learned how to link it together only to discover it had suddenly become no transfer due to this issue......

On the other hand there are some people who must delight in getting every last thing for free without regard to the creator.....and following on from Googles news about Ebay now allowing Sl items to be sold I see that already people are selling things that (quote) "Enable you to get every last texture used in SL".

How mean can some be, I now have around 2000 textures the vast majority of which I paid about $L5 each, being around $30 US or £15 sterling. Thats less than the cost of a rl meal out and all the time I am in sl I can use those textures again and again

?

I had no idea that if something was no modify/no copy it should be transferable for resale. I could see this being beneficial for the consumer if indeed it was expensive and they were tired of it. I have quite a few things in my inventory that are no copy/no modify/no transfer. I am starting to consider a reason why they would go to such lengths to "copyright" their product. Perhaps it is because of the scripts. The creator does not want you to view the script or copy it or put it in some other item you have made? I watch very carefully now and try to only buy things that are copiable. No modify/no transfer isn't a problem for me. I am one of those users that makes an entire outfit in a folder so I can right click on the folder and 'replace outfit'. My problem comes along when I want to copy a piece of clothing or attachment for more than one outfit. Should I have to buy it again just because I want to use it in more than one outfit?

Oh Yes, I had that happen to me ONCE in one of my initial builds, it took me better than a week to find that little bastard. LOL It is NOT fun to have a texture perm issue come up like that, I THEN spent another week killing ALL textures that werent Full perm.

Trust me you DO NOT want to run thru your build trying to find a bad texture

Hey There Ceeera, I AM NOT Stalking you, LOL

A reason for a vendor to put no copy on is when they don't want you to make many copies in world. What ought to happen is to have a setting where you can duplicate an item as much as you like in your inventory for backup reasons, but can only have one rezzed at a time.

I'm shortly going to be selling something which is such that some people will only need one of them, but others could use significant numbers. So there will be a cheap price for the no-copy version, and a more expensive price for the copy version. But cheaper to buy one C than three NC.

*looks over shoulder, and laughs*

"Well, if she is stalking me, at least she's cute."

Things like furniture are not copyable because the creator doesn't want you to place 500 copies inworld, and furnish all your friend's houses with the items you bought. Wearables need copy permission though, otherwise they're pretty useless. Prim attachments should have modify rights in addition.

Because I want to sell single items like chairs, lights, torches, furniture, plants, etc, at an affordable price, but if you want multiple copies I think you should pay more for them.

If you want to fill an auditorium with my tables and chairs, you should pay more then the guy who wants to install only one table and chair.

I make some decorative, and Furnishing Items that People will want to have Multiples of in thier Homes, or Businesses. I also make Buildings, I Make such Items Copyable. In the case of the Furnishings or Decor, They are Copyable so Multiple Copies of the Same item doesn't mean going to a Ridiculous expense to Fill out a Dining room for example. In the Case of My Buildings (Which are ALSO Mod), Copyable Allow Renovations and the Original Structure isn't Lost Forever.
I Expect anything Outside this description that i Purchase will have more restrictive Permissions quite simply because More Loose ones aren't really Necesary, or Relevant to the Function of the Item Purchased. The permissions are there to Protect the creators Interests in thier Own Creations. If the creator has Decided that what you have Paid is a Fair Price for ONE Copy of what he is selling, that is His decision. Whether it is acceptable to you or not is Your decision at the time of Purchase.

Angel.