Rathgrith027

https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/BUG-229609?focusedCommentId=638653&page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels%3Acomment-tabpanel#comment-638653 I also brought it up during the Meet the Lindens Q&A this year at SL18B, I can't recall exactly who answered the Vulkan question, But I know that Grumpity did confirm they're working on Multicore.

It's not so much that he's CEO now but that he and a few other HROs at Linden Lab and Waterfield make up the group that technically superceded Ebbe following his death.

Linden Lab has actually been dedicating resources to this recently, such as the planned shift from using the older OpenGL API to using Vulkan, which should provide some sizable performance optimizations along with the fact they're going to try and get SL to take more advantage of multi-core processing. One example of this is that in the latest viewers, Image decoding (When texture data is downloaded from the SL Asset Server, and decoded into a usable format for the viewer from JPEG2000, which is used due to its' high compression rate and losslessness) is now multi-threaded (another word for multicore processing), improving performance when loading assets into the world. Two years ago I would have agreed with you that LL needs to do something. They still do, yes, but they actually are putting effort into it now.

Seconded. If any store starts using this to gate off their more desirable items, They'll never see my business again, and I know i'm not the only one.

Limit and Market buys are both restricted by Linden Lab under the maximum transaction amount system. You cannot place either a Limit (Where you buy at a requested L$-to-USD value) or Market Buy (When you buy at what Linden Lab's economics team has defined as what they believe the L$ is worth, based on market data) when the order exceeds what your account is allowed to purchase. Any more requires you to either wait until either the daily or monthly limit is reset (whichever is not totally expended), or place a bulk order with Linden Lab.

Although I'm not a creator (Though the idea of pursuing blender for SL purposes has been tempting..) I do agree that I and anyone in their right mind should never agree to indefinite exclusivity deals for events. I don't care if you're Crystal Heart Festival or The Arcade, I won't have it.

If creating your art relies on some sort of rarity that isn't covered by limited releases, than I and others don't know what to tell you.

You don't need to do that. If the gacha's assets are already on the asset server, you can just reconfigure their permissions, slap them into a vendor or onto the MP and call it a day (or go onto the next one).

That may be true, but the reality of the matter is this isn't solely for moral reasons (though to be honest if it were, I'm certain LL would have stepped in much sooner than this), but for legal ones as me and others have said numerous times before. If you want to complain about Gacha being banned, complain to your legislators.

Seconded. As someone who's sister had a drug addiction for years, this post is just.. words don't begin define how much of a bad take this is, Finite.

It would be best to sell them in a conventional matter, as many stores now are forced to do the same thing. There are many more people who will support your decision than those who seem to have a hardon for gacha to the point that they'll flame people who dare comply with a Linden Lab policy change.

Yeah, in that case it'd be fine, I believe.

If everyone gets the exact same items, then it should be within compliance, but if it's randomized, then no.

I understand that frustration, but you need to look at both Real life and Second Life circumstances. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused people to lose their homes, their real life jobs, and even lose their lives. I wouldn't doubt for a second if one creator from SL has lost their life to it, if not more. While yes, many people have been at home during the pandemic, It doesn't help that people have been having to focus on real life for many reasons. This is the primary reason why you probably have been seeing less and less content in recent times. The reason for that is undoubtedly because of the loosening of restrictions. I have seen some friends of mine not on as often because of this and related reasons as well. Many people have said that Second Life is dying for years. Our concurrent user count up until the COVID-19 pandemic started was relatively stable for about 2-4 years. Our Economy had a GDP of around 800 Million USD (or was it 180 Million? I can't remember which it was sadly) as late as 2018. We will inevitably take a hit from this. but this isn't ours, and it isn't the Lindens' Fault. If you want to point the blame at anyone for pressure on Gacha, it is the mobile and AAA games industry for pushing lootboxes like they have been, raising the ire of many groups of people. As someone who did a small amount of reselling on the side, hear me when I say this - I understand yours, and others concerns when you say you're worried or frustrated - I know I've come off as agitated and annoyed, but I genuinely sympathize with your fears. But this is for the best, so that we can ensure that Second Life doesn't die as a result of legal non-compliance when these laws become enacted in more countries. The Lindens as of late have been making a genuine attempt, within reason, to try and improve Second Life. It has been rough to some extent, but with change, that is to be expected. Trust me and others when I say that the end of Gacha will not be the end of Second Life, and that it will not lead down that path.

If they're that mad that Gacha is going that they're going to torpedo their entire store, then honestly they're not thinking properly.

At worst it'll push away the people who decided that basing their entire business schema on this one, legally and morally dubious distribution scheme, and even then, they were setting themselves up for eventual failure when this would inevitably come down on their heads. And even then, it wouldn't take much to just start selling their products in a conventional format.

I wish people would understand this. I'm sick and tired, and I'm certainly not the only one, of people thinking that Linden Lab will just change their minds on this or enact difficult to enforce, overreaching regulations. Let me be perfectly blunt here: There is no chance in hell that Linden Lab will reverse their decision on this, unless somehow, half the civilized world's governments all of a sudden decide that Gacha is perfectly fine, and either stop enforcing already existing laws or pursue enacting new ones to ban it. And I can safely say that with pressure from various interests on the matter, ranging from frustrated gamers and parents, to gambling addiction groups, among others, would sooner drink bleach than let that happen. I'm sick of people making comparisons to things that are either legally sound or have the square root of nothing to do with Gacha and lootboxes. Let me put it like this: Asking Linden Lab not to ban Gacha, would be like asking Linden Lab to have Patch Linden, or whoever is legally considered the executive officer of Linden Lab, to go to court and represent LL sans Attorney. Anyone with any understanding of law knows that representing yourself unless you damn well know what you're doing, is asking for punishment, and continuing to ignore rising legal risks to allowing this distribution method is not much different.

By that logic, going to the Bureau de change when you visit another country to get their currency is gambling.

What part of, "Linden Lab has no immunity to the laws of the nations it operates in" do you have trouble understanding?

There rarely is. That and it doesn't change the fact that is still considered gambling.

As LittleMe Said, there's always that small subset of people.

Honestly, I will admit that it's a shame that some will leave SL over this, but if I were them, I would have phased out of this area of work long ago. The writing has been on the wall for Gacha and Lootboxes for a while now - ask any gamer who is even remotely familiar with the business practices within both the triple A and Mobile fields - This has been a long time coming for many. Hell, Forza Horizon 4 was rumored to have a Gacha Feature, but it had Real Life Transactions for 'Wheelspins' removed from the game prior to release because of all this, opting for offering Wheelspins and Super Wheelspins in return for levelling up and completing in game objectives. Battlefront 2 removed lootboxes after four months of release. Other companies have tread the same ground that Linden Lab has with this decision. The only reason why Lootboxes haven't been banned in more places can easily boil down to the COVID-19 Pandemic, obviously, taking priority in leglislatures and governments as a whole worldwide for over a year and some change now. Give it 2 years, and I'm certain that other countries will follow in the footsteps of Belgium and the Netherlands. If you don't like this, write to your legislators. This is not something Linden Lab can say No to - this is a pre-emptive act to ensure that we as a userbase still have a legally viable platform to call home. We've been at the forefront of scandal after scandal, and I and Many others know damn well what Linden Lab's lax and even, over-reaching responses ergo, can do to SL, as it's happened before. I for one applaud Linden Lab for actually doing something before it becomes a legal problem. Whether or not you agree with me on whether Gacha in a legal capacity should be banned, is your prerogative, but as I have stated above comes from very clear observations of the legal and economic areas around Gacha and Lootboxes - Its' days are undoubtedly numbered. Whether you want to put your head in the sand and scream at the Lindens or accept it and roll with the punches, is your decision. Take it from someone who as an High Functioning Autist with general anxiety disorder who for years, used to fear changes - I have come to accept it myself.

They are still hosting the content in the eyes of the law. Amazon is providing the server resources, that does not make Amazon automatically accountable and Linden Lab not accountable. Both technically are. Linden Lab provides access to these servers to the public, and Amazon provides Linden Lab these servers to run their services. Amazon Hosting is home to various different services, ranging from adult content to grandma's cookie recipes. The worst we'd get in my personal opinion is the child avatar situation being escalated, but I haven't seen that be an issue as of late.

That doesn't stop these authorities from banning users from accessing Second Life and or punishing those who do engage in Gacha-related activities. Also, just because your company doesn't have a physical presence in a country doesn't mean that you can't be sued or charged for engaging in criminal activity in that territory and punished in some fashion (as mentioned prior) for violating them.

It is already illegal in the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as having extensive regulation in Japan. https://screenrant.com/lootbox-gambling-microtransactions-illegal-japan-china-belgium-netherlands/