Zidaya Zenovka

I see potential but making them look not as good as they could be just to encourage people to buy different/better avatars seems rather unnecessary and a bit greedy. Why? People are going to go out and buy that stuff anyway. Why not give people something good.

This is really sweet. Back in 2008-2009 I decided to try my hand at making guitars via prims and after making a dozen or so I gave up on the idea. I wasn't happy with how they were coming out and Blender is a bit beyond me. Fast forward to three or four years ago and during one of SL's sci-fi events I found an area dedicated to the furry rock fusion band 'Exosonic Spaceriders'. I decided to take a look at their band pics and lo and behold one of the guitarists was 'playing' my NES-controller-themed guitar. It was quite a trip seeing someone use something I'd made. I just wish I'd had a chance to be there myself.

I'm doing my best to not splurge and spend $l as I really don't have the funds but when I got this amazing hair from Sintiklia at the Shop & Hop I had to resist getting the pair of thigh-high boots I saw in Baiastice's place.

I know they gave it back. It's the fact they did it at all. Not everyone wants or needs their transaction history registered with Caspervend or have the ability to buy $l (I'm disabled & have a caretaker-all my money goes to bills).

"Are you SURE that there wasn't also a SL20B gift." After going through half the sims so far I can't remember a single shop giving out gift cards that also gave out a gift. I have seen extra group gifts and have no issue with that. I've only seen the one requiring people spend money to join their group to get a card. "There must be at least ONE gift that is absolutely free to everyone (not even the pay a linden and get it back is allowed rule wise)/ Not all stores are following this, then and so far I've hit three or four that required I spend $1l. "If this is not the case then reporting it to MISSY would be appropriate." I'm not naming names because at the end of the day, I'm not interested in calling out individuals. It's the system and how it's been for as long as I've been in SL (since '07) I have an issue with. That said if Missy sees this and would like more feedback I'm more than happy to give it. "I didn't find any that were less than that but I didn't check every store." I found one that had two cards-one for $150l and another for $100l. They were the type where you need to touch the vendor to use it rather than it adding the value of the card to your credit. It makes it so one has to pay whatever balance is left on each card for each purchase. I mostly came here to talk about it in hopes of individual vendors seeing this and noting my issues as contacting the person or persons in charge or talking with individual vendors is very stressful. It shouldn't be up to me to bring this stuff to LL's attention. While I understand a lot of time, effort, and work goes into these events I can't help feeling a bit more time could have been spent making sure vendors were following the rules and/or making sure the rules cover things like gift cards not covering discounted event items/not being valid for said items. "Only folks that applied got in (that seems pretty obvious) so I feel it is unjust to blame the event for not having what you want available but maybe I misunderstood your comments." I'm not blaming the event at all. I've had a lot of fun with it so far. My issues with fashion are aimed at all clothing/outfit merchants across the grid in general. Perhaps I should have saved it for its own thread but I'm unused to the forum format. Discord has ruined my ability to focus.

Giving out free stuff is a pretty ancient idea. You give people something nice (be it expensive or not) and in exchange, you're hoping you get more attention from it. It's an advertising tactic and when done right both the brand and consumer benefit. Calling it a 'gift' is a misnomer as it's really a promotion. As a promotion people aren't obligated to treat it as they would a gift from, say, a friend or relative. The brand doesn't care about you. All they care about is how much it increases foot traffic and brings them profits. This is why it's unfair to imply that people complaining about predatory business techniques is a sign of ungratefulness. If anything using anti-consumer techniques like a brand promising a freebie but then giving out a gift card that forces you to go to their main store and spend $l is both ungrateful and really shady. Speaking of shadiness I'm not sure why businesses are allowed to put a time limit on gift cards given that according to US federal law gift cards aren't allowed to expire until at least five years from the time they're activated. https://www.fdic.gov/consumers/consumer/news/december2019.html

I'm sure most are just doing what they've seen plenty of other businesses in both SL and RL do. Capitalism sucks but I'm not trying to imply they're all bad. Only that it's a bad tactic. Of course, there are some who don't care. SL's market is just a virtual extension of the real one and in that regard, it has all the same good and bad aspects. There are a lot of great vendors out there, too. As the old saying goes-let the buyer beware.

1. Of course it's their choice. My intent was to point out that when it's things like a vendor giving out a lamp that took them five minutes in Blander to make they shouldn't expect it to make anyone all that enthusiastic about giving them their business. 2. The issue here is in an event where the majority of vendors give out free gifts giving out what amounts to a discount coupon goes against the spirit of the event and is unfair to both those who took the time to visit your display and those giving out items they otherwise could have sold. It's a cheap tactic. Another perfect example of this is the store I just found that has a $350l store credit 'gift'...only you have to spend $350l to join their group to get it. That's not a 'gift'. It's a form of gatekeeping. Can't afford to join our club? Then you don't deserve a freebie. I don't see how this kind of behavior is in any way defensible. 3. That's the thing-I'm not part of a niche market. I'm part of a market that is woefully underrepresented. There are a lot of people out there who would love to have avatars that aren't thin and/or buxom. You've got big, tall girls, more effeminate flat-chested guys, short stacks...we're not all fashion models or trying to look like one. At least not all the time. Since this is the merchant forum I don't see the harm in pointing out that it wouldn't hurt to offer a wider variety in body shapes, sizes, clothing, and accessories. Just look at real life and at how we're seeing a wider variety of models and clothing options. It's still not great but it's better than it's been. These fashion brands wouldn't be doing so if there wasn't a viable market for it. Finally, I'm in no way taking anything out on anyone. Offering my critique and/or criticism of SL's retail landscape and pointing out what I feel are its failings is just that. Critique and/or criticism.

I mean Cortez in relation to sneakers is trademarked by Nike. You can't make a sneaker, name it Cortez, and not expect to have it nuked by Nike. Don't make sneakers that look like and/or reference real sneaker brands or use branding that looks similar. Personally, I would have gone in a more satirical direction, called them 'Escobar', and advertised them as being made from 90% processed cocoa leaf.

1. Low-effort gifts. If your shop has a bunch of vehicles and your gift is a low-effort item unrelated to anything you sell that gives me the impression you don't think much of your potential customers. A gift doesn't need to be amazing. There are plenty of cute, simple gifts out there (one of my favorites is a statue of a magician bunny holding out a tophat full of flowers). 2. Gift cards-Stop giving people gift cards and/or store credit that doesn't work with discounted items. That's not what giving people a 'gift' means. Giving out gift cards in an attempt to force people to go to your main store and spend money goes against the spirit of these events. Everyone else is giving out something. 3. NOT ENOUGH STUFF FOR GUYS OR BIGGER AVATARS. I get it-a lot of people in SL prefer skinny feminine avatars and/or thick-thighed feminine avatars with giant breasts. I'm glad to see that there are at least a few vendors offering guys outfits but honestly, it really sucks that there isn't enough variety. The real-life fashion industry has been offering more clothing diversity. We have the tech. Why can't artists and Linden Lab work on developing a more robust means of avatar design? I don't see why Saints Row and all these AAA games can make it so people are able to make a huge variety of looks yet we're still stuck with a small variety of appearances and sizes. There are tons of amazing vendors this year and I'm grateful for the freebies I've gotten. It's just a few vendors doing annoying things that are bringing the rest of them down.

Unless you're vetting professional community managers with experience who are paid decently, forget it. A corporation employing free labor without health coverage is inexcusable and without some kind of responsibility and oversight you end up with what happened last time-a bunch of irresponsible assholes power-tripping. It's asking for a customer service and HR nightmare. Either don't cheap out or don't bother.

I still use older avatars & know plenty of people who do.

This is still a problem.

Why? Because nobody looks at them. In favor of what? What people use-social media. People never posted to profiles in the first place. Nowadays they use sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr to post info about what they're doing. Getting rid of them means less money spent on maintenance. It sucks for people who do use them but they're in the minority.

Why would they need to do damage control? This was a single reply posted almost four years ago. Did you look at the date of the tweet? Pretty sure the boom in SL land sales between then and now shows few if anyone paid attention to it. They're not paying you so let Linden Lab worry about its own publicity.