Hierarchy

[PetuinaLore1]

I have had my Second Life accout for a few months now. I enjoying being a resident in this world and have met some fasinating avatars. Now, I have noticed a hierarcy. Although, all growth in SL is in-breadth and from raw-material I am curious as to who the elite class is. I am assuming there is an elite class like in our society today because Second Life is a mirrored world.

Can someone please give me a few explainations on this upper class and how they culturally relate? Are they approachable? What do they own? What do they control?

[Alicia Sautereau]

There are no elite classes in sl

Every one is an individual, either 2 left hands or making awsome creations and you approach both the same way, normal, polite and with some respect

 

The ones that think they are elite, same as real life, have ego issue`s heh

[PetuinaLore1]

Technically there is no hierarchy, you are right.

But, there are land owners, business owners, and plenty of well-known/popular residents. Are there celebrities?

Residents tend not to be as friendly to "newbies," why is that?

[Randall Ahren]

At the very top you have the Linden Gods and at the bottom you have noobs. One way to win is by making your avatar look as attractive as possible and non-noob like. This includes putting something in your profile.

 

[Amethyst Jetaime]

SL is made up of a lot of different cultural communities.  Within the communities there may be people that are well known to those in their community but that is as close as you come to celebrities IMO.  For any person that can be named as a celebrity I can say there name to hundreds of people and the only reaction you get is "Wut? Whose that?"

No one is elite in SL, although there may be people that think they are.  Yes there are names that a lot of people may recognize because they are well known creators, land barons, entertainers etc.  but believe me, these folks are just like everyone else.  Some of them are very down to earth and approachable and some are real pieces of work, just like RL. 

There are many reasons why people may appear to not be as friendly to newbs.  The longer you are in SL the more established you become with a network of friends, places you hang out in regularly, things you like to do.  People tend to get caught up in their own SL.

There are people that just don't want to be bothered with newbs because they don't know much and ask a lot of questions and they just don't have the patience to deal with them.  There is another group too that unfortunately feel that newbs are moving targets to be harassed and embarrassed.  Then there are people that actively mentor new people either one on one or by volunteering at newb friendly places or here answering questions in the forums and in Answers.

You can  help yourself by putting more information in your profile.  Your profile doesn't tell me much about you and your picks are impersonal.  Profiles are very important when you are trying to meet people.  The more you put into them about yourself the more you are providing something that people can use as an ice breaker to start a conversation with you.  Use some of your profile picks to tell more about yourself.  If you use a pick of a place you like, make it more personal.  Type over the default text telling people why you like it.

You need to make the effort to start conversations too.  Profiles are a great way to find icebreakers. If you IM someone and they don't reply or are rude just move on and find someone else you find interesting and try again.

 

 

 

[Sephina Frostbite]

There is a hierarchy, don't believe them.. Im the queen... LOL j/k

[Suspiria Finucane]

---

PetuinaLore1 wrote:

I have had my Second Life accout for a few months now. I enjoying being a resident in this world and have met some fasinating avatars. Now, I have noticed a hierarcy. Although, all growth in SL is in-breadth and from raw-material I am curious as to who the elite class is. I am assuming there is an elite class like in our society today because Second Life is a mirrored world.

Can someone please give me a few explainations on this upper class and how they culturally relate? Are they approachable? What do they own? What do they control?

---

Within certain circles there are "elite" entities. Each circle of homophily, whether it be building, scripting, selling land, shop owners etc., have people who are elevated by accomplishments.

 

If you could be more precise as to what type of "upper class" you are referring to, it would be easier to pinpoint an answer. If however, you are asking in general about the entire SL spectrum, I would agree that there is (publically) no so called "upper class" or "elite" due to each individual’s perception of what that means and how it applies.

 

As in every business, those who excel or invest large amounts of capital may have more leverage than the average avatar but I would suspect that there are very few and it would be, as in all large entities, not for public consumption.

 

Enjoy your quest in Second Life.

 

[Phil Deakins]

Until I read your post, I was beginning to think that I'm the only elite person in SL I'm glad there is another one. It was starting to feel a bit lonely.

[Phil Deakins]

Apart from one person, the only elite users of SL are those who own land, and they are only elite on their land.

The one user who is elite, imo, is Anshe Chung. She owns so much land that LL has to take her seriously - because she pays a massive amount of tier money to LL each month. I don't think that applies to anyone else.

[Alicia Sautereau]

That is business wise

If she would popup infront of me, i wouldn`t be any different then a 1 minute old nub, ofcourse she could have me banned in a few second when telling Hum i`m an arse, but that isn`t being elite

[Alicia Sautereau]

If you are the queen, then i am the witch *poof* back in your box :matte-motes-wink-tongue:

[Phil Deakins]

I would think that almost all users would say "Who?" when Anshe Chung is mentioned, but that only means that she's not a widely known SL 'celebrity'. I don't believe there are any of those. But the elite don't need to be well-known. They only need to be able to influence things and I would think that Anshe is able to influence LL - or she could if she would be willing to back herself up. I.e. I think she pays so much to LL every month that LL would seriously miss the money if she stopped, so LL would tend to pander to her. That's just my opinion, which may be very wrong. I don't think that anyone else is in that sort of position.

[Alicia Sautereau]

I hope she can and does, otherwise not many others can

[Phil Deakins]

I'm sure she could if she chose to, but I doubt that she would. It would cost her too much and wouldn't be worth it to her. The best that may happen from the users' point of view is that LL takes her views more seriously than they do other users

Some people like to think that Anshe gets better deals on land than anyone else can get, but I don't think she does. She does get cheaper land and tier but she has to buy in bulk for it, and anyone can get such deals if they buy in bulk.

[PetuinaLore1]

((As stated earlier: The one user who is elite, imo, is Anshe Chung. She owns so much land that LL has to take her seriously - because she pays a massive amount of tier money to LL each month. I don't think that applies to anyone else.))

^^^ SO this is kind of what I was getting at when I started this thread earlier. Chung, ultimately is more powerful over the average resident because of the amount of land she owns. She has that land because she buys it, invests in it. 

In reality, the more money you invest, the more you have to show for your money, the more powerful in society you are (capitalism). Which, is a heirarchy because peoples inability to reach the higher "status" or compete with the upper class. Obviously we all have our own motives in SL, hers is to potentially become an elite obviously, or why else would you invest so much?

Say Chung did get deals on land, as someone said before she may get a cheaper price, that is only because of who she is and how much she has purchaced. And if you did appear in the same area as her and said hi (newbie or alpha), and she just blocks or ignores you, isn't that just filling the stereotypic characteristic of the hegemony? 

Basically, capitalist ideoloy is the foundation of SL, am I right? Think about it. Everywhere you go, there is a hierarchy. Maybe it's not as profound in certain areas, but it's still there because of modern day societies desire for power. 

[Celestiall Nightfire]

---

PetuinaLore1 wrote:

In reality, the more money you invest, the more you have to show for your money, the more powerful in society you are (capitalism). Which, is a heirarchy because peoples inability to reach the higher "status" or compete with the upper class.

Obviously we all have our own motives in SL, hers is to potentially become an elite obviously, or why else would you invest so much?

---

Anshe isn't motivated by power, she is motivated by making money.  Power is just the by-product. 

 

---

PetuinaLore1 wrote:

Say Chung did get deals on land, as someone said before she may get a cheaper price, that is only because of who she is and how much she has purchaced.

---

Anshe doesn't get cheaper prices because of "who" she is, but due to her ability to buy large numbers of sims. Anyone can get the bulk prices, if they buy enough.  Just like going to the grocery store in RL, and buying the large sized products, you often get the goods at a cheaper per unit price. 

 

 

 

---

PetuinaLore1 wrote:

 And if you did appear in the same area as her and said hi (newbie or alpha), and she just blocks or ignores you, isn't that just filling the stereotypic characteristic of the hegemony? 

---

I doubt Anshe would react that way, as there would be no reason, to do so.  Also, most people in SL never see her on her main account, as she is busy running her business, and not playing petty power games with random SL residents. 

 

 

 

---

PetuinaLore1 wrote:

Basically, capitalist ideoloy is the foundation of SL, am I right? Think about it. Everywhere you go, there is a hierarchy. Maybe it's not as profound in certain areas, but it's still there because of modern day societies desire for power. 

---

All socioeconomic systems have a power structure.  It's usually fluid, and in constant flux.  Who is in "power" today, may not be tomorrow.  That is the nature of life.   

There's nothing unique about "modern societies" and a desire for power.  Good grief, if you study history, humans have been having power struggles since forever!   We now live (modern times) in a more equitable world, than any time in previous history, and that's true world-wide. 

[Phil Deakins]

You've misunderstood a few things...

Anshe doesn't have any power over the average resident. None at all. She is just a user, like everyone else, but who has bought so much land, and pays so much tier on it every month, that LL probably gives her thoughts more credence than they give to others. I think she owns about a third of all the sims in SL.

She doesn't get cheaper deals on land because of who she is. She is no different to anyone else as far as the cost of land and tier is concerned. Anyone can get cheaper deals on land if they buy enough. It's called quantity discount and is normal when buying anything - RL and SL. She can't buy mainland cheaper than anyone else though. It's only private sims that she gets deals on because she buys in bulk. Anyone can do the same thing if they want to, and if they have the money to do it.

Anshe got a head start on everyone else because she was in SL very early on and saw the potential - and did it. She may have been like me - only much much bigger; i.e. I started a small furniture store as a small sideline to my skybox rentals business. But the store kept growing the extent of earning a very nice RL living from it. I was totally amazed that so much money could be made from low prim furniture. It was totally unexpected. Perhaps Anshe was also amazed at how much she could make from her business, and kept right on to make a fortune from it. I doubt that she would have realised that there was a fortune to be made when she started the business.

Anshe forged ahead in her business when there wasn't anybody significant ahead of her, so she didn't need to put a lot of money into it. The growth was paid for by the business itself. It can still be done in the same field, but it would need a fortune putting in and there is the competition of Anshe to contend with. The reason it would need a fortune putting in is so that the monthly tier for sims would be low enough to compete with Anshe on a level playing field. (It's assumed that Anshe pays lower tier than other people because of the bulk of land she has).

[Lucretia Brandenburg]

There are people who are well known in some circles in SL. There are some people who believe themselves to be well known to all. Unless someone is a fairly large landowner or follows the SL economy in the news for years, I doubt Anshe Chung would ring any bells.

In most large SL communities there are self styled "celebrities" who think they are well known across the grid and tend to have an elitist attitude. Having an elitist attitude doesn't make someone elite. From what I've observed, they are fashion models, photographers, bloggers, and DJs. If someone in that community or outside of that community doesn't read the SL fashion magazines and blogs and doesn't go clubbing frequently, it is unlikely that they would have heard of these people.

 A photographer friend of mine was doing a poster for someone's rezday party, and a friend of the rezday girl said he would have considered posing for the photo but his face is so well known, people would just assume the party was about him. My photographer friend had never heard of the guy.

Back when there weren't a plethora of DJs in SL, DJs were treated like demigods. Now, it's difficult for even very good DJs to garner followings. I have known people who, in RL, literally live in hovels and subsist on ramen noodles but own several sims in SL and tend to have an elitist atitude about their SLs.

Anshe Chung is an astute businessperson. SL has made her wealthy. If half her sims are offline for hours after a rolling restart, her being top dog in the SL real estate business probably doesn't get them back online any faster than those of  the owner of a small estate.

The names of content creators may be well known in some circles,  but it takes quite alot of time and effort to turn a profit in SL. I knew one person who made her RL living in SL who put in between 14 and 16 hours a day, 7 days a week and when she wasn't creating items to sell, she was overseeing her business and constantly defending against intellectual property infringement. Figuring her hours worked and sales, she was bringing in slightly over $10 USD an hour gross profit after expenses.

I know of two large landholders who left SL because they weren't given preferential treatment by LL, which they thought they should have been given because they paid well over 10,000 USD in tier each month.

I've known people who brag about being friends with Lindens. I never quite get that,  They're employees of the company, civil servants ; if someone is an estate owner or manager, or runs a profitable business in SL, it helps to be on good terms with them, and the ones I've met have been nice and down to virtual earth, but the bulk of civil servants in any reality are not top of any hierarchy.

All that (and a bit disjointed, sorry) to say that I don't think there is a genuine hierarchy in SL. A premium member with a 512m parcel doesn't pay his premium membership fee and his account is put on hold. A premium member who pays LL several thousand dollars a month doesn't pay his his premium membership fee and guess what? His account is put on hold too. I've seen it happen. If there were a genuine hierarchy, the latter person would be given some sort of preferential treatment, and that rarely happens.

 

 

[Ceka Cianci]

---

Phil Deakins wrote:

Until I read your post, I was beginning to think that I'm the only elite person in SL I'm glad there is another one. It was starting to feel a bit lonely.

---

ya i haven't been around much the past 10 months..sorry for leaving you there all alone like that..

Signed Ceka <3

Oh ya and before you try to find her again..this is an auto messege from her ipod..

if you need to contact her..you can leave a messege  here and it will be relayed..I'm sure she will get back to you as soon as possible..

Signed Ceka's Ipod <3

[Conifer Dada]

Since it's possible for people to have several accounts in SL, it's not beyond the bounds of possibility, for example, that several 'land barons' are alts of the same RL individual.  So in fact the most powerful non-Lindens in SL might be operating in this way,  below the radar, as it were.  I'm not in that category though - I only own 512 sq m now and pay no tier!

[Janelle Darkstone]

I thought it was a fascinating question.  Others in the thread have offered a much better level of insight than I ever could, but that's because I'm one of those that just doesn't care.

I don't know who this Chung person is and I don't care.  I know some guy named Rod is running LL but since he doesn't affect my life directly I don't follow him on Twitter or discuss his management style or work history with others.  I just couldn't care less.

The only (ONLY) people that matter to me are my friends that I've met here.  Friendships, relationships, fond memories of time we've spent together talking and exploring.  When SL finally poofs for good I'll still have contact with the people behind the keyboard and that matters more to me on a personal level than following (or near-worshipping) SL "celebrities".

I'm not a very good SLer, am I?

[Perrie Juran]

 

If there was or is an "Elite" in Second life I think it would be the people who these plaques commemorate at Governor Linden's Mansion.

They are the ones who gave us all this fantastic place we call Second Life.

[Griffin Ceawlin]

And then there are people who declare (and may actually delude themselves into thinking) themselves "Queen".

[PetuinaLore1]

Everyone has such great input!

I just found it really interesting how Philip Rosedale referred to Anshe Chung as "the government" when referring to the role she plays managing her regions.  Of course there is great appreciation for those who made SL what it is today but obviously there is a clear hierarchy and status. It's the skin of the avatar, business ownership, land ownership.. It's a reflection of RL. 

[Dillon Levenque]

Well, in spite of reading numerous differing opinions, most of them from residents who have been here for many years, it appears you have your mind made up. I have no idea why you called it "...such great input!", when in fact the rest of your post makes it clear  you didn't believe a word.

Go forth and become one of the few, the proud, the elite. Best of luck to you.