Codex Alpha

I would think it would be fine, as long as the reviews are honest. However, I prefer that customers create the reviews, good or bad, as they are the ones who truly invested in the product and have used it. To pay someone for reviews that didn't buy it on their own? A little manipulative and dishonest. However, paying people to try out and test your product for feedback privately (without the use of reviews) would be fine.

 'Gacha" and "Gasha" are shortened versions of 'gashapon" and 'gachapon" and orginated from vending-machine-dispensed capsule toys. "The terms gashapon (ガシャポン?) or gachapon (ガチャポン?) refer to variety of vending machine-dispensed capsule toys popular in Japan and elsewhere. " "Gashapon" is a Japanese onomatopoeia composed of two sounds: "gasha" (or "gacha") for the sound of a crank on a toy vending machine, and "pon" for the sound of the toy capsule dropping into the receptacle. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gashapon Kompu gacha, or “complete gacha” is a monetization mechanic in social games that heavily incentivizes the practice of gacha — paying a small amount of money to get an item at random, similar to purchasing toys from a vending machine. Japan’s Consumer Affairs Agency has officially declared kompu gacha illegal. Jin Matsubara, Japan’s minister of state for consumer affairs and food safety said “significantly increasing the passion for gambling is not appropriate to the education of children.” - http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/japan-officially-declares-lucractive-kompu-gacha-practice-illegal-in-social-games/525608 Suddenly I'm coming across a lot of products with the same image over and over again, and an influx of 'gacha' based item sales. This can't be good for SL. Since when is purchasing things you don't know what you will recieve, basically equating to gambling on the marketplace acceptable? On a practical note, many stores are opening up to do the very same thing, which appears to be a reseller type of money profiteering venture. This is filling up many sections with spam images that are all the same, yet sell different kinds of items. Is this where we are heading our sales schemes now? Thanks for your feedback and consideration on this issue. What are the benefits to SL users and merchants alike to have this now? Examples below: (All marketing/business identifications scrubbed, no prejudice intended, used for examples only)  Ok, so even as spammy as I still think this is, especially when; 1) It is listed 10 times on the MP for each color it comes in 2) The same image and similar descriptions will be used for EACH product in the image - also with possible multiple colors 3) The same image can/will/is used by multiple sellers, creating an exponential presence of said image.... This is acceptable by LL guidelines.  Quite a bit less clear, no product highlight, description only 1) Using multiple images that are, to the eye, exactly the same 2) Tons and tons of products in the same image, no clarification as to which you are actually getting 3) Descriptions only, vary 4) Same image used with multiple products and multiple sellers 5) Opinion: Very spammy. But this is acceptable by LL, correct?  Here is where it gets interesting, and where many people here want to deny there is a problem; 1) Same images used 2) No clarification 3) Description only 4) Same brand, multiple sellers 5) Different prices Anyone can find these examples doing a simple search for [item], put to 96 images per page, click on 'Newest' or "Best Selling" or whatever sorting scheme you want - and find this going on. My position was that many of these sellers and examples are at the least pushing the boundaries of the guidelines, and even going outside of them. It was my opinion only that this is an ugly and spammy practice, and only contributes to the confusion of the average shopper - and annoys the veteran ones. Really, if this is how people like to shop, by making the purchase of a simple item into a Grand Easter Egg hunt, and they want to gamble with their dollars trying to guess which item they get, and having to search through multiple sellers and repeated images and listings for the same exact product - all power to them. For the rest of us, it amounts to effective (not LL legal) spam, and either the practice needs to be strictly monitored, or another way of sorting these products so as not to turn the MP into an ugly cesspool. Much like those spamming demo and rental products using the $0L Category - which is also currently acceptable, but also pushes at the boundaries and guidelines and also creates effective (not LL Legal) spam, we need a way to keep products in the categories they truly belong in - especially if it's filters or other methods.

The prompt to upload an image is shown from the Edit listing, but the button either doesn't work or is grayed out and I do not get a file directory prompt to select an image to upload.

Sorry, I walked on the grass. I find most of the lag experienced in Second Life has been from the use, abuse and overuse of large textures. I've had no problem rendering meshes and scenes, but huge textures on small items chokes up the frame rate. Also, the meshes people wear with the sometimes unoptimized clothing, jewelry, weaponry and scripts will do it long before mesh.

I haven't suffered any abuse in Second Life, outside of public sandboxes I suppose. Even then, getting slapped around by some script in a public sandbox or private land is easily remedied by leaving. The irony is that peope think I'm abusing THEM by walking around on their land, or opening up their virtual fridge to 'get a sandwich", or sitting in their favoruite living room chair (dressed as a tiny meerkat with a tie, pipe and top hat) and just looking at them all cute like. I guess the humour is lost on many... because SL is so serious.

There is no democracy on a corporate site meant to make a profit.

Only you can answer that question. We all have our different reasons for participating in Second Life. What's yours and can/will it be fulfilled? At it's core, Second Life is 3D Virtual Chat community. Nifty settings, lots of things to do and roleplay, but at the end of the day, is there anyone to chat and share ideas with?

2008-2009 is when the economy in RL took a nose dive for many of us.. We're still playing catch up... if we ever do. That will put a serious dent into our disposable income and ability to support land, sims and many other things. I hope Second LIfe is around for some time, as I see great potential and fun and creative opportunities in it... just gotta weather the economic storm first though...

I prefer to teach myself from books and online resources... BUT a mentor can get you over humps that can really slow you down while self-teaching. I don't need to be a 'student', 'apprentice' or otherwise, but I could use a supportive community and loose 'mentorship' to accelerate the learning curve. Sometimes I get stuck on stupid things, just because I'm unaware of the workflow, or tools that can be used. That's all I need though, is to be pointed in the right direction. Its too bad that most people are hoarders of knowledge and simply do not want to help you at all in Second Life (from my experience)

It's how the kids nowadays show their displeasure with a random post you make on Reddit, or any other forum or public space. They find every single YouTube channel and video you have, every post you have ever made, every site you are a member of, and downvote you off the internet. It's a sad state of the internet nowadays. If someone disagrees with you, they may just want to destroy you utterly.

As with any 'older' game or online community, eventually 'abuse' claims get ignored and treated with form emails, because the majority of claims are wastes of time to investigate. When World Of Warcraft started, GM 'moderators' would quickly answer any claims of abuse, and even scolded or banned abusers for a day.. Only 6 months later, after having every self-entitled whining gamer making abuse claims about everything under the sun, GMs no longer responded as much and the system was turned over to token email responses. As a poster previously mentioned, deal with the matter yourself as best you can, learn to investigate and manage your sim to the best of your power (you're the admin and owner), and only file a claim if it is a recurrent problem and make your case as detailed as possible to get their attention. Your complaint was probably 1 of a thousand that day, mixed in with petty 'abuse' and 'ripoff' claims, and gets lost.

I don't know of anyone 'famous' in Second Life, therefore they are not. I also don't need celebrities in Second Life. Second LIfe is about meeting new people in a 3D Virtual Chat world - let's not make it like RL. My 'affections' for certain people are more based on their generosity of information, mentorship or teaching. Those are 'famous' to me, because they give back to the community, which I hope to be in the position to be one day myself, as I become more experienced with creating 'experiences' and nifty products and 'things to do' for people. I just can't afford sims or land, so I can't do anything in that department yet, but I'm working on cool products for people to use. I have a love/hate relationship with many of the 'elite?"/experienced creators in 2nd Life, but some notables who are generous with their time, talents and knowledge, and I appreciate them greatly.

This seems to be the average profile in Second Life. In general I get the feeling people don't want to be approached or 'bothered', and it has always made me scratch my head or laugh about it with peers... that people want to act in Second Life like they do in Real Life... with privacy and law and rules and the same antisocial 'leave me alone, don't talk to me' type behaviour we live with each day. That being said, I can appear to be 'antisocial' myself, but it's only that I'm always working on one project or another and it's hard for me to just stop and talk. It also doesn't help if someone DOES approach me, and I read a profile like this that they have, then it makes ME not want to get involved, since I'm none of the personality traits mentioned. I just want to find those that are friendly, creative and understand creators come and go in conversations as they work on things, inspire each other to create more new things, and have a general creative and supportive vibe in Second Life. At least with the crowds in SL I've been exposed to so far, I don't really find that sort of community (unless they have an ulterior motive like $$$ to 'play supportive'. (eg.. an 'african animal'-named community and a 'double-letter' named community).

Please outline more specifics in future posts; 1) What MAGE magazine is about, what audience it serves 2) Themes of art and photography and stories you are looking for 3) Artist compensation for contribution (if any) 4) Permissions you will need on said contributions 5) Forms, formats that you desire I'm always looking for projects to do, so more information would be nice, and you might get more replies

Have a great looking club. Getting the word out only goes so far if people come, see how ugly it is, and leave never to return. It cannot be mediocre. It cannot be a simple square for a dance floor and cylinder prims for the dancers to dance on. It cannot be garishly decorated with empty store ad boxes around the perimeter. Advertising is fine, as well as selling products, just put it off to the side like a souvenir shop, not front and center. After all , we don't go to our local pubs and nightclubs and have clothing ads on the dance floor by the owner of the bar. If I were to build my own nightclub (one day I will), it will hopefully be architecturally and asthetically cool, but I would also sell items that are directly related to the experience (furniture, building components, music equipment, textures, props, etc) so that anything you see in the bar can be sold, right down to the booths and seats. Not only would there be music and a live DJ on the weekend at least for events, but the rest of the week there is enough for people to see and do and explore in related areas nearby that people come back the rest of the week. Of course this is just my opinion only, but I think it goes a long way to the success or failure of a nightclub in SL is how it looks. People arent just looking for night life in SL, they want a hangout that they can return to regularly - so it has to look and be cool. DJs before streaming radios is important. Streaming radio stations have a very limited selection of songs that repeat quite noticeably, I don't even use them much on my land because of it. Though streaming radios on off-times is acceptable, on a Friday or a Saturday night when I'm stuck in the house, I want to hang out at a cool club in SL that has a live DJ and/or live set at least. One must recreate the live experience in SL, or bound to fail. Advertising is important as always, but an empty club won't keep anyone. Also, I'm not sure about how events work in the SL Viewer.. and event will say 8pm SLT, then you go to the club or land and the event isn't even happening.. this kills SL and the experience as well. Events need to be on time, or actually valid.

Nefertiti Nefarious wrote: A few texture sellers have a "Personal use only" notioce ... don't buy from them. Why not? Early in my Second Life experience, I used all sorts of things with varying permissions. I did fine. I made scenes then took photos or made Machinima out of them. Its like you're trying to get customers to trust YOU, but not other sellers on the market... Also from your own marketplace from a texture listing for sale (of course), you say Nefertiti Nefarious wrote: You've probably see these textures for sale here, or in world, often with stern warnings about not reselling them, being passed off as original work. They are downloaded from a site called FilterForge.com where they are the result of some amazing mathematical graphics filters. Why am I reselling them? The EULA of the site they come from says it's OK to redistribute and even resell the "presets" - the samples of the filter output. I'm annoyed at seeing them for sale as if they were original. I just hope to make enough to cover the upload charges eventually. I would hope that this is not how you will continue to sell your products, by bashing other texture creators on Second Life, and asserting that they are selling downloaded textures from FilterForge. You're hoping to gain trust from potential customers, by alleging that other creators are being deceptive as to what they say are 'original' textures. Filter Forge is a Photoshop plugin for creating textures. Blender can also create random materials and textures built into the software. Photoshop, Gimp, Krita, JASC Paintshop Pro and probably Manga Studio can be used to create patterns, textures and materials with tools and plugins as well. By your logic, nothing created from these things would be original or could be credited towards the artist creating them. "Guys don't buy this guys textures, because he uses the Filter->Render Clouds filter in the process in Photoshop" Now if you feel guilty for using some presets in Filter Forge or other application, and you did it with ease, its up to you what you feel you can sell them for. I have my own pricing system for the textures or products I will sell which is based on its uniqueness, the time put into it, and what I would like from it - this can vary depending on the current skillset, etc. In the past I have featured products for free because I only used prims inworld and free textures from a sandbox, and I did it for fun, so I priced them accordingly. Creating a high quality custom screen animation for another product is a different matter, and is priced accordingly as well. Your sales pitch also ignores the fact that there are those of use who DO create our own textures from scratch much of the time, get photos of our own wood and concrete and fabric, or hand paint them, etc. When we claim that we have original and unique textures, not only is it a selling feature, but it is a fact. I don't mean to come down on you too hard, but just to inform you that trying to gain business by pointing at other businesses and saying that they are not to be trusted, but to trust you, is not the best way. (just some unsolicited feedback) PS. Don't accuse your potential customers of being 'Freeriders" neither Nefertiti Nefarious wrote: Want more cool textures? Want to make your own instead of free-riding off my uploads and the kindness of strangers? They're hardly freeriding as soon as they pay you $L for your pre-rendered textures from Filter Forge

Most of the time people don't review. Much like the rest of the internet review system, people only review when they are upset with something and need to vent, so they use reviews to do that. Most of the time the lack of a star is due to the preference of the buyer "Why no copy/no mod on this unique object Taking off a star!" or they didn't read the instructions on how to use something "This product does not work as claimed!" Even with my meagre holdings so far for sale, I've even had people solicit me in game to give them textures I created, give them scripts because they paid for the product with the script in it, etc I don't care about reviews as long as they are productive, and if there is a true issue, that after I respond or fix the issue that they acknowledge it. But like I said though, people only use reviews if they're extremely impressed, or for the smallest of peeves. I believe it can be malicious behaviour if someone 1 stars you, but does not offer a valid reason why, nor do they respond to you in-game or on the product page. I work hard to make my products the best they can be (at the time - I could always improve them), so I don't need reviews to be snide and spiteful or act like I'm doing anything dishonestly or deceptive when I do none of the sort. Also customers should consider the content of a review - good or bad , and judge if it is constructive or not. Most content creators are not out to rip people off, so an unsupported review isn't worth anything.

Cool, I'm in for Second Life for the long haul, because I recognize the potential, use and fun that can be had. Been starting to investigate Unity and was trying to decide if I should focus on learning C#, and wanted to find out what SL was planning to do, so this helps a lot. C# is then, that way any time I spend learning something (valuable time as I get older, lol) can be used in either platform, and that makes me happy. Look forward to what SL2 has to offer, and by then I should have some creative skills honed and ready to offer SL2 some new and creative content.

Is it just me? for the last few days, things have been quite slow in 2nd Life. Mainly noticed when pulling things out of the inventory, they simply will not appear for about 30 seconds. Last night, and the night before, it manifested in right-clicking and wanting to edit somethign, but the option wouldn't be available either up to a minute. Also, some textures will not appear as well when assigned to an object for a long time as well. Using SL's latest viewer, and Firestorm's latest, cleared cache, put cache on fast SSDs, both are being the same Thanks.

This happens from time to time and I don't know what causes it. I log on to the Aditi Server to test a mesh, and I start in some unknown location where I cannot build. Any bookmark I had on the Aditi server to its sandbox doesn't work. NOTE: There is a VERY messy piece of land one can build on called "Oatmeal 11", but apparently its reached its LI limit so that is also denied at this time.

Charli Infinity wrote: Since the market is now saturated with full perm meshes. Lots of clothes, shoes, accesories, furnitures & etc. made from full perm meshes selling for very low prices like L$10-50. What's still profitable in SL? Originality. Innovation. Creativeness. Uniqueness. That's what.

Drake1 Nightfire wrote: The merchants who do nothing but make goods, sell them and cash out. Who cares if they rent land. They are not contributing to SL. Wrong. All content creators contribute to the success of SL. WIthout content creation of everythign from virtual underwear to castles in the sky, there is no reason to rent land, and land is just an empty plot with green grass texture. Drake1 Nightfire wrote: The amount LL makes on upload fees is a pittance. More and more merchants are doing away with inworld stores and selling just on the MP. Wrong. Even if LL is only taking 3%-5% off each sale, over the millions of transactions made each month between SL users, it certainly doesn't end up as a pittance. It becomes a very large sum of money. With also every cashout, LL takes money on the transaction, it all goes into the big pot. Drake1 Nightfire wrote: Let me try and explain my viewpoint.. If , as a merchant, you do nothing but make goods, sell them and cash out, how are you contributing to the SL economy? By paying for my premium membership, re-investing the dollars I do make from creating content for Second Life to fuel more education on 3D Modelling, buying my own stuff from other SL content creators, by tipping at land events like a Halloween exhibit, etc. You cannot have Second Life without content creators, renting land or not. Drake1 Nightfire wrote: There are plenty of SL merchant that never buy a single thing in SL. They may rent land but they do not buy from any other merchant. They are NOT contributing to the economy of SL. They are a drain on it. Simply selling things does not make you a contributing part of the economy, you must also put some fo that money back into it. Now sir, you are just desperately making accusations and pointing fingers around without any statistics or facts to back up anything you have said. You are simply ridiculous, sir. Drake1 Nightfire wrote: I would love to have every merchant on the MP to have to have an inworld store.. It would do much to get rid of the scammers. When people shop online, there is no point to have a brick and mortar store. When people shop mainly on the Marketplace, and you only get 3 visitors a month at your inworld store, and it doesn't pay for itself, there is no point. Paying for a store that is losing money is not good business. Hence, I dumped the land store and went back to MP. I may rent in the future though, as my product number increases, and I want to increasingly showcase the more special items, or be able to actually pay for land through sales, and create something for people to do in SL other than shop. Also, personally, just because I dont have an inworld store (currently), doesn't mean I would scam anyone.

Yeah, its a mess. Makes me think every model I've uploaded still exists on their servers, and I don't really have any control over stuff at all. Good to find this out early to be very careful to what gets uploaded, updated, unlisted, etc. I suspect nothing realy gets deleted for comparison reasons. (helps their bots find a relisting by matching against still existing 'hidden' objects)

Agree with this. I think content, fun things, events and places should come FIRST. Then one can sell related products on the sim the events are hosted on. What I"ve always hated about SL is the prevalence of advertising, billboards, product boxes, etc that make everything look ugly. For example, having a nightclub that mainly consists of a dance floor with 4 walls of product boards around it. If this happened in RL, it would not attract us into the establishment. I understand people want to/have to pay for the exorbitant prices of SL's 'virtual' land that causes them to do this, but it hurts IMO more than it helps. Most people I know come to SL, can't figure out what/where/how to do anything, go to some 'nightclub' that is just an excuse for garish advertisement of outdated obsolete products, and leave to never come back. I'd like to make my own sim and create content for Second Life, but I simply cannot afford to do so. So I cant contribute any events, places, games, puzzles anything myself - so I cant even help to make 2nd life better. Until then, looks like SL will center around selling Barbie clothes and houses to people, rather than REAL content. Disclaimer: (There is good content to be found, some great Halloween sims this year, though most still are designed around stores rather than fun things to do still)

I'd like to see (unless it IS there and I've missed something) the ability for a product to be redelivered from the listing itself to customers on record who no longer have your item in their inventory. I have a few nomod/no copy items, and when/if they lose them to deleting them by accident, losing them in a 'land return' in their lost and found (happened to me), etc, they usually contact me. Wouldnt be hard for MP to check to see if name is a customer, if they have a copy in their inventory or not, and redeliver directly from the listing, rather than making the seller do it manually.