Carole Franizzi

Hello. I’m Professor Carole Franizzi of Hardvard On-line University for Digital Doms. I wonder if you would care to take part in a survey as the results will be utilised in a research paper towards my M.B.M. (Master in Being a Master)? 1.) Did your Mummy love you? 2.) Did you Mummy spank you? 3.) Did your Mummy tell you that your dingle-dongle would drop off if you played with it? Answers will be treated with utter confidentiality. Although I cannot guarantee that I won’t snigger over them. (Apologies to digital doms and bona fide researchers everywhere. Just teasin’.)

I actually thought I followed the line of reasoning of the OP. He has met one or more people in-world claiming to be underage on sex sims, and having understood that age-play wasn't permitted, he reported it. He's now wondering why his reports seem to have gone ignored. Was that it, OP? You, Ceka, mention that the old scandal had to do with child-like avatars driven by adults, but I'm guessing, however old the avatar looks, were it operated by a kiddie that would actually be worse and every bit as "scandalous". No? Am I getting things backwards? To the OP - there's a chance that LL checked the person/people out and they turned out to be okay, but had just been winding you up for some strange reason. Maybe LL checked chat-logs and saw that he/she was not actually RPing a kid in a sex place (forbidden, I believe) and was, in fact, a fully verified RL adult. I do actually understand the point you're making though.

Phil Deakins wrote: Yes, there's US$1 charge for transfering US$ to PayPal, regardless of the amount so that's irrelevant, and a charge for selling L$ for US$, so LL does get some money from that. They also get some the other way - when people buy L$. And they get a cut of MP sales too. LL gets money from a number of sources, but I'm pretty sure that by far the biggest source is tier. If tier was their only income, SL wouldn't need to close, but, if they lost the tier, I've no doubt that they'd have to close SL. As I see it, tier is their staple diet and the other things are just bits of jam on it. Look at it this way. If there were no landowners, LL wouldn't have an income from the land and they'd have a decimated income from other sources:- nobody would buy anything for their land because they don't have any - no houses and buildings, no furniture, no plants of any kind, no club gear, no breedables, etc. etc. - and there wouldn't be much in the way of exchange commissions because people wouldn't need L$, except for clothes, anims (but where would they use them), and such. As long as there are enough landowners to pay enough tier, which would make it so that L$ are worth buying, etc., LL can keep SL going. But the fewer landowners there are, the less income LL gets from all sources, especially tier. If the slow decline continues, there will eventually come a time when there aren't enough landowners paying tier for LL to keep SL going. And that brings me back to my point, that it's concurrency that matters and not creators. If concurrency (people using SL) continues to decline, there will be fewer and fewer landowners paying tier, which will mean that SL will end. It shouldn't happen in the near term, but the decline is continuing. Yep. I always imagined that income generated on LL purchase and on uploading and on other things like Marketplace charges was pretty small fry and that the big piece of pie was the tier fees.

Randall Ahren wrote: Ceka Cianci wrote: i don't understand that part? post at SLU? I don't think it's a good idea for Lindens to be posting as Lindens at unofficial forums. This is the official SL forum here and they should post here to build traffic and get more people to sign up to be residents, not at SLU. I understand why they post at SLU, less spam for one and more traffic according to this thread where a Linden had been posting about the trending tab at SLU. Ha! They won't answer questions from residents on their own official forums, but answer them on external ones? Oh, that's funny...

Pussycat Catnap wrote: Carole Franizzi wrote: My suggestion would be to open your mind to the teeny-weeny possiblity that one day SL might just close. That way, IF it happens, it won't be such a shock to you. Eventually I presume. But it just isn't happening yet. In fact even land ownership, despite Marketplace, has remained constant. I decry Marketplace's negative impact on inworld activity all the time, but gridsurvey appears to suggest I'm wrong. I had a peek at their grid survey too, re population trends - and there seems to be a steady downward trend.

Amanda Dallin wrote: How do you know many in SL do not support SOPA. I would think many in SL do not bring their RL politics into SL. Actually, that's a very, very good point. We don't even know the most basic details about fellow SLers' identities, so how on earth would you know how they vote politically and what they do and do not support?

Ceka Cianci wrote: Carole Franizzi wrote: My suggestion would be to open your mind to the teeny-weeny possiblity that one day SL might just close. That way, IF it happens, it won't be such a shock to you. this is the stage i have come to myself..since the first doomsday or sl is dying thread that i had seen all through the rest after it.. if it closes what would happen? or if you had so much time left what would you do? the first answe would be ..probably get on with life and survive it..the second answer would be..i hate long good bye's so i would probably pack what i could that was actually mine and log off..why wait for the blackout.. it's gonna close someday..just like RL will.. only we still get to breath after this one closes..so thats a plus hehehehe Ah, yes. Better finding out that your avie is condemned, rather than you!

Correct me if I'm wrong. In theory we could all spend a fortune in creators' shops but if those creators didn't then invest in bigger and bigger plots of land or more and more branches, then LL wouldn't get any direct benefit (more income), right? Asking people to "support" creators as if they were a charity, makes as much sense as LL coming in here and appealling to creators to open up more shops to "support" SL. SL's problems are other issues and, I suspect, a bit more complex than the OP's analysis.

It is beyond my powers of comprehension to grasp how a Western economic crisis of such proportions hasn't affected an entity in the non-essential goods category. This kind of thread pops up with great regularity. Call me daft, but if I were LL and if I had hard facts and figures to prove the utter stability of SL, I'd be rushing in here posting them. What better way to encourage people to invest in a crisis-proof business and to avoid clients influencing other clients with their needless worries? You ever seen a post like that? I haven't. My suggestion would be to open your mind to the teeny-weeny possiblity that one day SL might just close. That way, IF it happens, it won't be such a shock to you.

Chelsea Malibu wrote: If that cat she has in her arms is a breedable, I can pretty much bank on the fact that she DID contibute to someone making much more than 100k. Breedable??? Gawd no. Poor old moggy has had his thingies chopped off.

Alazarin Mondrian wrote: Meh, people have been saying 'SL is dewmed' ever since I joined. I must be a bad influence. And, as Carole Franizzi points out, we're in the middle of one serious recession. That's going affect alot of things that aren't life essentials, Second Life being one of them. Second Life is riding out this recession and will continue sailing onward. I see no reason for LL to pull the plug.... yet. Hiya Alazarin. Bad, bad moment in the RL economy right now. Really bad. Not to be under-estimated. So many people have little money for essentials, go figger something as frivolous as an Internet game. Priorities will be RL rent not virtual land rent, RL dentist bills, not SL shoes. And if that were not the case, they need their heads examined. I can't thnk of any business which has lasted for more than a century and a bit. Here in the UK you sometimes see shops or articles with "Established 1890" over the door or on the label, however, the vast, vast, vast majority of businesses have a waaaaaaaay shorter life-expectancy. It's like human life - you start dying the moment you are born. Same thing for businesses - they're all dying the moment they start up. It's just a question of when. The more you mess up, the quicker that end will be, obviously, but even closing after a good 5 or 10 year run, in business terms, is not actually the sign of having failed. You simply shut up shop when it stops being profitable. That's good business practice. LL will pull the plug when it stops earnng a decent amount of dosh for them. It may not happen any time soon, but when it does, I do hope they give a decent amount of prior warning to its clients. Those who believe SL will last forever need to get into the queue to get their heads looked at, together with those who spend money on SL land but do without something essential in RL

Prokofy Neva wrote: For all you smarties pointing out that this is merely an American bill in Congress and therefore has no relevance to the rest of the world, and make it seem as if raising the question of why SLers don't support it is some kind of ethno-centric crime, again, I suggest you go read the bill. It's about FOREIGN piracy. That means it will affect YOUR COUNTRY -- particularly if you are in Europe, Russia, China and some other high pirating areas. Yusss...but we smarties are aware that however much it may or may not affect us, as citizens of other nations, we may not vote in the USA. Odd that, innit? We smarties are long used to US laws affecting us, despite not having any say in the matter. You can CAPITALISE as much as you WANT but that will not CHANGE the FACT that WHATEVER we think, we have no RIGHT to VOTE in the USA! And, to be honest, if I got the chance to say my piece over US policies, copyright issues would be waaaaay down the list of my priorities.

garey Solo wrote: I think Chelsea was referring to 100K in real life. Correct me if I'm wrong. But feel free to make it yourself, and when you do post and tell me how Not ruddy likely! I'd be too busy lying in the sun calling the waiter. PS Don't you think that maybe your marketing plan will have to be a bit more sophisticated than "Customers! Spend more money!"? Could it not also not simply be that SL as a money-making scheme has done its time?

Maybe because we're not all Americans? Shot in the dark, I know...

What? Without knowing where you're based? I'd have thought that one's location was an essential element in creating new business plans. Ice in the desert might be a super idea, but it won't work so well in the North Pole. Hate to have to break this to you, but if I had what I thought was a universally brilliant business idea, I'd be tempted to keep it to myself. Call me selfish. (SELFISH!!!!!!!)

Just read the subsequent posts. If there's 100k (we do mean usd and not L dollars?) a year to be made, no offence, but rather than contribute to helping you make that sum, I rather fancy earning it myself.

garey Solo wrote: Yes we've all heard that SL is slowly declining. But why? Because people are so reluctant to spend. No customers no creators , no world. Go figure. Have you noticed lately that the larger more established businesses don't advertise in search anymore, Their traffic stats are ridiculously low. Its a real shame... SL winding down like an old worn out grandfather clock. Slowly ticking,ticking away and then one day shuddering to a halt. So do something about it ... support the creators who make SL what it is. I've a sneaking suspicion that, with the global crisis which is upon us, people are more concerned with supporting their RL families. People are odd that way.

greek Wingtips wrote: Ann why don,t you get to the point your trying to makin and stop dancing around the bush, and if it's what i think you trying to say then I am sure you will get answered. I beg your pardon?

Venus: SL allows any resident to choose a gender and skin color. If one makes more than one avatar, one can craft all sorts of combinations. For the purposes of this OP, I am interested in your original choices. You can, of course, diverge from that if you like. C.F.: Oh, gawd, another of those bloody uni students expecting us to do their thesis for them… Oops. It’s you, Venus… *waves and smiles sweetly* Venus.: When you first rezzed, how did you decided upon the gender of your avatar? How did you decide the skin tone/color? C.F.: Well, call me unimaginative (yells from sidelines “Unimaginative!!!”), but it never dawned on me to make a male avatar. I assumed I “had to” be as much like myself as possible. Hence my very first finalised version had my own hair, skin and eye colouring, though was miles younger and quite perfectly beautiful. Venus: How did you make your choices? Did you switch somewhere along the line by choosing either the other gender or a radically different skin tone/color (and why)? C.F.: Yes, I did. It suddenly dawned on me that I had no reason to stick with being a white female, and so I have been variously female, male and something in between, white, black, Chinese, Japanese and Latina, young, old, pretty, ugly, thin and fat. Why? Well, why not? Where else will I get the chance of living in another’s skin? The conclusion of my experiments is as follows – age, ethnic origin, physical type and level of beauty, in no way affect my sense of “me”. Using a different gender does. Skin colour really is just “skin deep” – gender identity is a far, far deeper thing altogether. Venus: Do you wonder what it would be like to operate an avatar of another gender? Take on an ethnicity that is different from what you started with? What would stop you from trying something different? C.F.: Well, unless somebody brings out an hermaphrodite Eskimo skin, I think my experiments have reached their natural end and I don’t have any wondering left to do. Carole is permanently white, whereas my other accounts are permanently Asian and Latina. They’re all me. Venus: Discuss. C.F.: Yes, ma’am. Oh wait, I already have. Now do your own bloody homework.

Pussycat Catnap wrote: Bree Giffen wrote: I think most of the large skin stores have at least one or two asian skins.Curio, Laq, Redgrave. If a place specializes in Caucasians, as most of those do, then their non-white skins will usually just be 'tanned caucasians' lacking good features. So I'd actually recommend hitting those places -last-. Actually no. Redgrave did (not sure it still does) a skin called Sakura which with their shape looked only vaguely Asian, but, with the right "hand-made" shape, it was the best Asian skin I ever found. And I tried loads of them. ETA moment of inspiration - MrSigmund - does a nice Gong Lee look-alike skin.

Ann Otoole wrote: What viewer and version are you using? Don't lie because LL tracks this data. And, uhm, what, pray tell, will LL do to him should they discover he fibs on the forums about the viewer he's using? They don't have time to sort technical issues or payment problems or even copy-botting and severe griefing problems - you seriously think they're going to spend time checking the claims of one poster who says he's using X viewer in case he's telling fibbie-wibbies?

Ah. Nice question. Let’s see…. Buying my first skin and getting my first AO and moving from default waddling badly drawn cartoon to a shakily wiggling (was a freebie AO) hawt babe. Or so I thought. The fluorescent blonde flexi-hair I bought seemed so glam at the time… Renting my first house a few weeks in. Oh, Lord, was I a happy bunny, even though it was fully furnished and had little to do with my taste. I hadn’t understood you could buy furniture and houses and place them on rented land. Building a Japanese tea-house. My very first creation. I was sooo proud. You’d think I’d designed Versailles. My first broken heart. Only a couple of months in, I had a “boyfriend”! Yay! Was a scum-bag! Boo! Told fibs! Oh, yes. Incredible, huh? Thanks to Eloise and Kwant, I eventually managed to make skins and clothes. That was after two full years in SL. I’m a slow learner. My first post to the forums. To any forums, for that matter. WoT par excellence. I’m a great believer in starting as you mean to go on.

Wouldn't the criminality element enter the picture if a person supplied false information to LL when they open their account and not in the creation of the avatar? Like lying about date of birth, for example? Which. all things considered, in light of the fact that minors and adults mix in a platform which does provide the opportunity to get "intimately acquainted" maybe isn't such a bad thing?

Void Singer wrote: zombie michelle with a bottle of jamesons full of pureed brains? I do so miss those "corrupt a wish" threads that were all the rage once. Oh, I think it might be sufficient to show Michelle what he wrote about older ladies in another thread, then stand back and observe how a dream can become a nightmare.....

Orfeu Miles wrote: Well Pythagoras certainly was an occultist...had his own school....with some very strange rules. And they had spells involving the holy power of 10. I believe you could study the occult at university at one time...I think France was the last place to have classes. Well, there you go then. I was on the right track. Didn't remember or know (and I don't remember or know whether I didn't know or remember) about Pythagoras, so actually I was being dead deep and intulechewal. On re-reading the above, strike the last claim.