Why would you boycott corporate islands?

Hmm...I don't see why LL would do this. They stand to profit quite a bit with a land monopoly. They can charge whatever rate seems "sensible" to them. I don't see why they would decide to divide up that monopoly into a series of middle-men.

I could see how this might take stress off of system resources, but their solution could just be to hike the prices and have no progress, and there would be alot of anger - but, in the end, it wouldn't hurt the system.

But you're still missing a problem with this - I'm sure you've seen the "Wal*Mart* episode of South Park. The people of the town complain that Wal*Mart is taking all the sales from their local business. At the end, they burn it down, then go to shop at their local store. But then, because everyone is shopping there, the local shop gets even bigger and becomes just as big as Wal*Mart, meaning they have to burn that down too.

All of those "well known and great designers" could be only a few steps away from becoming RL companies themselves - either selling SL builds to other RL companies, or getting jobs in 3D design or similar as a result of their work in SL. And after that, they might say they could make their goods in SL free because their other work is funding it. Do we have to somehow ban them from doing that?

Some companies will try to "s*t on the little guy" but much of the time they're just trying to give customers what they want as cheaply as they can. Some SL companies are already doing that - and, entirely incidentally, hurting "little guys" (new SL businesses" in the process. But how can we really do anything about that?

I don't deliberately boycott anything in SL. I don't, however, have any plans to visit corporate islands. I see enough advertizing in the real world. If I was interested in Nissan, for instance, I'd check out the models at a local dealer in my RL community... not in SL.

Well, Jauani, the new CFO said that they were raising prices because they needed the profit and "because the corporations can afford it." (Possibly not an exact quote, but close.)

The difference between a commericial account and a resident account is simple: Is the land being used to promote a real-world product/service, or to promote a product/service available only in SL?

If you are using your land to promote a real-world business with products/services that exist in the real world, then you are commercial. If your business and your product/services are confined to SL and of use no where else, you are residential.

coco

Yes, but these companies pay a premium for product placement. In SL, they don't.

coco

P.S. Doubledown, those companies such as ESC and MOU are providing a real-life service in the real world, and as such, they would also pay the commercial rate for any land in SL they use as headquarters.

No, you don't ban them. You make them pay commisserate with their use of SL. In their case, it is to advertise products that exist in the real world, not in SL - commercial rate.

For those dealing only in SL virtual products - resident rate.

coco

So far, i haven't seen One really good reason to Ban the corporations from SL, Or to boycott their services, or Sims. Their recent Interest in second Life really puts them at a commercial Disadvantage over persons who have been operating similar businesses since Beta.

For a Hypothetical example, If the stuffed toy manufacturer Gund set up a Sim, and Opened shops selling animals, would they be in ANY better a position to compete against Starax Statosky, and his Magnificent animals simply by Virtue of their Brand Name? Quite Frankly, I doubt it as Starax is the Far more established AND recognizable name in Second Life. He has the Market, Gund would be starting on the Bottom Floor and working Up. They would need to train creators to match or excede Starax's quality and That alone could take Months. They are also constrained by their corporate Image, What would they Risk Putting out in the SL market that would NOT Negatively Impact their RL corporate Image. Starax would have no such Corporate Baggage, having grown his Business within the open, and creatively Free environment in SL. He could Literally create Any Image he wanted (His Range already went from stuffed Pandas to Incredible artistic sculpture) whereas Gund would ALWAYS be concerned with remaining within it's RL Catalog of designs. They couldn't risk someone asking for an RL equivalent of a Product they Only made for SL, and Coming out with a new Line in RL takes a Lot of money, time, and Planning.

Apart from the fact they have Money, corporations really have no special advantage in SL. I haven't seen that LL is Giving them any special privilages over and above what any other player gets, So, I have Nothing in particular against them.

Angel.

What happens if a company wants to utilize inworld advertisement services to promote thier SL products, or even their RL products? Does the advertisement distributor (think Meta adverse) owner have to suddenly switch over to a higher tier? Do they have to refuse the ads entirely?

What about websites that discuss SL but don't advertise or market actual content in SL, a la Snapzilla? Would Cristiano have to pay a higher tier for his Snapzilla museum because its advertising a web based service that you can't access in SL, even though it has to do with SL? Same with the SL shopping sites, the Metaverse Messenger, etc.

How about companies that offer services as opposed to product? If Monster.com sets up a sim, what's to differentiate them from a resident setting up a build that advertises their web based services, a la SlExchange?

As far as i can remember Anarchy Online only has product placment i.e. RL ads on billboards for the freebie accounts, their freebie accounts are very different to the account you pay for there. Lets you visit far less zones and access only a small amount of content compared to the account that is paid for which allows you to switch off RL ads..(its a choice but probably off by default if you pay) Where as freebie has no choice but to see the RL ads.

I don't watch South Park, the only episode I've watched lately was the WoW one and my roommates insistance, but I get the drift.

But you are missing a large variable in your RL transition, most people don't have endless amounts of money behind them to take it to RL. I know of some designers I'd love to see in RL, but the fact is, it takes thousands and thousands of dollars to start an RL company, whereas the other companies coming into SL already have the endless cash and paying even the 300 a month is a tax write off to them.

Frankly, I'd personally like to see a bit higher costs for RL companies coming in here to 'advertise'. The people that own that, are rarely if ever on, they are just taking up server space for the coverage. I don't mind that so much as the fact that someone who wants to just create a helpful place for SL has to pay as much as a company coming in here to advertise and in some cases undercut the hard working 'mom and pop' designers of SL.