Do scripters get ripped off?

Been there, done that, never FOUND the elevator... It's out there somewhere, waiting for some poor sap to sit on it again...

Oh, I once did that deliberately while trying to figure out how a HyperTeleporter worked.

Fortunately I was sat on the object at the time, so got some very funny effects of my avatar frantically rotating around in space while crashing through several walls and eventually flying off the edge of the universe

Just reinforcing an excellent point made long ago on this thread: at the rate that professional programmers and other types of engineers get paid in RL, the amount of money that could be made by selling scripted objects in SL isn't worth pursuing. My mindset in doing scripting in SL is that it's 100% fun. Since having other folks use the things I've created adds to the fun, I choose to sell them for a pittance or even give them away for free. It doesn't mean that I lack self respect or that the code isn't quality work. If others want to try to make money, they have the right to go that route; but, I have equal right to go mine. Truth is, most folks good at scripting would have to charge obscene amounts of money in $L in order to come close to what they get for their time in RL. It's just not worth it to even think along the lines of trying to make money. The rest-and-relaxation value of SL is more important.

I'd like to reinforce the excellent point that not everyone in SL lives in north america or western europe or japan. People elsewhere earn much less money, even professional programmers.

Valid point, Candide. SL has a worldwide customer base, and what you bring up is an issue well worth keeping in mind. It remains true though, that the rationale for most of us who give away our SL scripting at low cost or for free is that even selling it at high L$ values would not be financially worthwhile - not that we lack confidence in the quality of the code. For those not living in Japan, Europe, or the US, it's true that things might be different. I don't have the firm numbers needed to say for sure. What I've heard informally through contract (free lance) engineers, who are more likely to keep tabs on that sort of information, is that software engineers in Russia, India, and China make about half of what their western counterparts make. That level of income, though relatively low, would still make earning money via $L not very attractive. But again, thanks for pointing out the influence of one's location on views about income, something that I wasn't thinking about when I made the initial comment.

For me, I could not live without the freely available code out there! I took a number of programming courses in college and before that, although in few languages used in the commercial realm. I did not follow it as a career and now that I am disabled I couldn't make a flowchart if my life depended upon it... and I give a large, large "Thank You!" to all of those that put out so much for me to puzzle over.

That said, when I do close a script for mods it is done for a few reasons. First, it is usually giving some effect to my jewelry that I really, really, really do not want changed in any way shape or form. I don't do 'bling' and if you want such please find another maker or contact me for a special order. Usually I can up the flashiness factor if needed and I enjoy knowing what can be done to please a customer. Second, and quite truthfully, when I can finally accomplish something these days and look at the final result I am usually embarassed by how simple it is... but I do not have the wit to put in the deep error trapping necessary and will not guarantee anything beyond what is there. And when I have to make something that isn't even available or only at a Monarchial ransom... well I have some little pride in what I accomplish and if some gifted coder wishes to spend three hours to do what I took months to do, then let them have at it! Frankly I know it will be better and probably have more functionality and utility than what I did and be better code.

Those things that I get freely open I leave as such or give comment on my changes where they happen. If I have to piece together something from an unknown number of individuals working over three different license schemas and public domain, then I look to what they accomplished and how it was done and ask myself 'how I could do something like that but differently?' Examine, re-think, adapt and change code as far as I am able to do so, save for the fact that the scripting calls will look similar due to the underlying nature of the language involved. It is a thin line and I do my best not to transgress on the works of others. And that is damn hard to do as each individual makes code available under what they consider to be the best schema for releasing it.

Again I thank all of the people who put out code (especially commented code!!) for the rest of us to puzzle over.

Strangely, if I was more capable these days, I wouldn't be here. But such is life.

It's the hacker ethic, honestly... Open-Sourcing scripts so that others can learn and make better scripts. When people open their scripts, other people can learn from them and become better scripters.

That's one of the reasons I love scripting and open-source... If everyone played the game like Microsoft, advancements in scripting would take forever. But when you throw the hacker ethic in there, people share, and rapid accelleration of advancement and knowledge is promoted.

Boom.... I used more big words in that sentence than necessary, and now I feel like playing with spel-o-bloks.

When you do something for fun, it doesn't matter whether you make money. This enables you to learn and teach and grow.

When you do something for money, you're bound to get ripped off at least once, especially if you're a scripter.

Consider, you make an amazing proprietary script that defends your home from attacks. Someone else comes along, buys the script, figures out how it works, and writes their own script, then sells it for half of what you sell yours for. That's not cool, you're losing customers! Wanna know what's worse? Someone comes up, figures out how your script works, writes it over, makes it better, then OPEN-SOURCES it. Technically, it's their own work. Technically, it's not stealing. Technically there's nothing wrong. But you just lost 90% of your business.

Now imagine the same idea, from the hacker ethic point of view. You make an awesome security script, open source it, let people learn. You sell the script in your shop, and people know that it's yours and it's open. Nobody knows that script better than you. Meanwhile, someone takes your script, improves it, and releases it open-source on their own. Great! You can take their improvements and add them to your source, and improve upon that, to make a better product for your customers. What if they steal the script, close-source it, improve it, and sell it for more, claiming it's a better product? Not nice, but honestly, it can't hurt you much. First of all, it costs more. Second of all, you can improve your setup. Third of all... if people really wanted your script, they could get it free. Donations are welcome, but that thieving bastard probably won't make much money at all.

In the end, yes, scripters get ripped off, but it's not a big deal unless you make it one. My advice: don't make SL your full-time job unless you work for LL. Yes, a few people have done it, but chances are you won't be one of them. (No offense. I'm not either.)