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Lexbot Sinister

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Posts posted by Lexbot Sinister

  1. 2 minutes ago, MBeatrix said:

    Good point. That is a strong possibility but how dropping listener traffic helps reducing costs? Unless they're going to reduce the number of listener slots per channel... But I thought that the whole thing about media businesses was having as much audience as possible. For SomaFM, if they survive from donations, having larger audiences increases the chance of getting more donations. Nope, the whole thing doesn't make sense to me, and I just hope it does some to them.

    That gets me even more confused about "scrobbling". Without it, what station and music is played gets obscured entirely. What if you go to my parcel, really like what you hear and try to find where it comes from? I would figure it's much easier to find the station & donate if it's actually clearly stated what is playing....

    • Like 3
  2. Thank you for investigating this issue.

    As of a few nights ago, i also noticed the stream on our parcel vanishing. It is a great shame, since i haven't been able to find another stream with ambient sounding music as fitting as one of Somas stations, for our sci-fi themed build.

    I do kind of understand their reasoning, they get a lot of listeners and sit on the responsibility to pay royalties, while people stream their stations similarly to what one would do in a grocery store, restaurant or similar. At least here, that makes the store/restaurant/etc owner liable to pay a fee for playing radio in a public space. (license fee to STIM)

    The problem is that the SL viewer is more akin to the radio apparatus itself, than the apparatus owner and streamer. The person that enables the stream for public listening is the parcel owner. How would you then track who has paid a license fee, or not? If the parcel setting are set to entrance for group only, it could be debated that it is not a public, but a private space. A setting that can be changed in a second.

    The only way to squeeze some money out of all this, is to go to LL directly, but of course LL has nothing to do with what people stream on their parcels. The only thing they could do would be to monetize the ability to stream music at all (but isn't that already paid for, with the land rental fees?) and then split the dividends between the stations used. I don't really see that as a feasible route for LL to go.

    So in the process, SomaFM is cutting their donations off from any SL user, that is no longer able to stream the radio on their parcel. There is even no way to pay to stream.

    I guess they did the calculations and figured the streaming to SL costs them more than they get in return, and there is no debating that really, that they should supply us with music and then pay for it, too.

    But since there is no way to actually monetize it, i suppose that is the end of this story.

  3. On 10/10/2019 at 10:58 AM, Elvina Ewing said:

    and when LL finally notices their MP revenue has gone down because half of the MP is unlisted and merchants have no idea, do you think it will ring a bell or two? Nope, they will just raise the fees again and continue on their merry way....

     

    Are you an oracle?

    • Like 2
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  4. I think the others are very politely telling you that a single random image won't sell in SL for more than the upload cost.

    So i'll say it bluntly.  Unless the art image is something very spectacular or very unique (trees and landscapes are pretty abundant), it's going to be worth the upload cost, at most.

    Consider also your competition, there are hundreds of framed photos and other art for under 100 L$.

  5. Oh btw, found a post that did the math:

     

     

    Quote

    I did this calculation:

    If I buy 2500L$, it cost me $9.73, and with transaction fee of US1.49 the final cost is US$11.22

    If I sell an item on the MP for L$2500, I now get L$2250 for it. (10% LL commission as of Dec 2nd 2019)

    When I sell the L$2250, I get US$8.13. (3.5% transaction fee to LL)

    When I withdraw the balance to my bank, I get US$7.72 (5% Transaction fee to LL)

    So if a SL member buys L$2500 and the merchant cashes it in, we are seeing a transformation of US$11.22 to US$7.72, and LL are effectively taking 31.2% for themselves.

    LL say in thier blog post: ”This new rate remains significantly lower than most digital content commissions across the industry. Apple and Google charge a 30% commission on sales in their app stores, as do many other popular virtual worlds, VR and gaming platforms, such as Oculus and Sinespace.”

    They refer just to the 10% MP commission, but we see that LL is actually creaming off over 30% if you follow the money from start to finish.

    10% MP commission is one thing, but then all the other charges just add up to something that is somewhat unfair.

     

     

     

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  6. On 11/23/2019 at 6:10 AM, Diane Soulstar said:

    I am glad that they think of the creators and only raised 5% more just and kept 10%. Please understand, that 30% is industry standards. They charging way way less. I don't understand why people even complaining. People are using a service. If one not happy on 10% then unlist MP store and be happy with in-world store then. Imagine how Amazon, Google, Apple charge... way way more.

     

    LL is not being honest about the "fees" being just 10%, compared to other stores like turbosquid etc. Last time i checked, Turbosquid didn't have any additional fee's to exchange dollars into playtokens to buy items with, or require the merchant to exchange those tokens back, nor do they have any fee for processing credit. So saying that the fee for selling goods in SL is just 10%, is dishonest.

    I was trying to make a calculation for how much LL  would get off a customer taking in 10 000 L$, using $40.25, but, i got stuck on the process credit as it's no longer possible to view or read about the charges unless you are verified Tilia account holder (and verify and give them your RL info). If you try to find the fees for process credit, you are sent to a knowledge article, that links you back to the page on your dashboard that linked you to the knowledgebase to begin with.  How very transparent and all!

    So i'm not surprised that many will not even realize there is more fees.

     

    • Like 3
  7. 10 hours ago, Chic Aeon said:

    I think it is champagne. I am "in" Sansar at the moment LOL.

    While there may be no need for mannequins (a comment above yours, I just hit the quote button) they are FUN.

     

    DID WE FORGET WHAT FUN IS?!?!??!

     

    I think many have. 

    We used to have manequins (I was one in my first year out of the pod. Earned a little money. Got some free clothes of my choice.)

    We used to have lucky chairs (yes, there are still some boards but not as fun as the chairs and certainly not as prevalent).

    We used to have camping chairs where you could "earn" products. 

     

    There are a LOT of things that we have lost.

     

    And  to Lexbot Mollymews is NOT new.   She has many times more posts than you do. 

     

     

    I was being sarcastic about Mollymews being new.... because anyone who shops clothes in SL (both from the marketplace and inworld) already knows that a mannequin is of no use other than shop decor to remind us of RL stores.  Also, number of posts doesn't signify overall SL experience or who is more new than not... it just shows if you are chatty or not. Anyhow, age is not a competition, it just seemed to me like such a beginner idea, without knowing how clothes in SL work nowadays.

     

    Yes, SL used to have mannequins in some few stores, which were mostly a disguise to get people to camp for traffic. They did fill a small purpose of showing clothes off, since this was the time before demos had become commonplace. Hair already had demos, and skins as well, but prim and sculpted clothing didn't, as far as i can remember. Then came rigged mesh clothes, but, rigged only to bones and not adjusting to breast size or body fat etc etc. Needless to say, by then, it was IMPOSSIBLE to say if something would fit your shape, mannequin or not! So then came " standard sizing", on which merchants somewhat agreed what would be a size small, medium and large etc and now also clothing demos.

    Since then, no mannequins have been necessary or needed, other than store decor. And as it comes to store decor, there are more fun things to do with the store space than put up mannequins, maybe.

     

    It's true that we have "lost" a lot of things that would artificially bloat the traffic numbers, but i'm not too sure those should be missed. These were means to get your store more visible in search results, as traffic counted as a bonus to float your store up to the top of the search results. So the campers were paid to get your venue easier found and visible. This got of course abused to no end. Lucky chairs and group gifts still exist in no shortage.

     

    • Like 3
  8. 2 hours ago, Mollymews said:

    it can be not quite zero.  In the same way home and garden places have rezzers

    a bot store mannequin could work the same way, to get an idea of how the outfit will display in 3D. Click a Console button to rez the outfit on the mannequin. Click another Console button to see the textures.  Click again for next outfit.  When think ok I like, then click the Demo button to get

    the mannequin is doable as a NPC, but I would most likely go with a bot account, using Linden Experience and Temp Attach. This way all the outfits can be stored in and managed from the Console

    it would most likely cut down on the number of demos we take. As when see it in 3D as opposed to 2D then we have a better idea.  Being able to change garment textures I think would be quite useful. As sometimes 2D photo isn't quite the same as when seen in 3D on the garment

     

    Hi and welcome to Second Life!

     

    Store mannequins have not been needed since the invention of rigged mesh and demos.  There is zero need for a store mannequin to demo clothes for me, that i'm just a second later supposed to demo myself.  The store mannequin doesn't have my AO, and i won't see if the rigging is acceptable or not. Also, considering how many clothes need alpha cuts to be activated on the mesh bodies, your bot would need to know how to use the different mesh bodies HUD's and alpha settings.

     

    But you know what store mannequins can increase? Customer complaints to the creator, after not demoing the clothes on their own avatar, and looking at the store mannequin instead.

     

    Item rezzers are great for items that are not supposed to be rigged and worn on your body.

    • Thanks 2
  9. 4 hours ago, animats said:

    Maybe it will encourage inworld stores. HippoVend, which competed with CasperVend, went out of business a few months ago. Maybe someone could find the owner, buy up the rights to that system, and go on from there. Competition is good.

    In-world stores could be more active places. Mostly they're just static displays. Do better. There are avatar bots that can model clothing. A clothing store should have one or two of those, showing off the various outfits on sale. Customers should be able to ask for an outfit to be modeled so they can have a close look. Store systems should be able to read an avatar and know what will fit it, to help customers. That would give in-world stores an edge over LL's web-based marketplace, with its tiny, cluttered product pictures.

     

     

    Hello, are you new in SL? Or just new to clothing?

     

    There is absolutely zero need for bots to "model" outfits,  because if i'm in the store to shop, i pick up demos and model them on MYSELF, with the exact same ease as some store mannequin, except much, much better. Many stores also have their items mesh rezzed, so i can have a look at the textures and model without having to demo it first. But that's just clothing stores. There's plenty of other types of stores. Furniture and item stores usually have their items rezzed out.

    So what you are saying, is that you would like store owners to re-invent the wheel, just slightly less round.

     

    When looking for furniture, it's almost impossible to get a good idea from the marketplace anyways, since animations need to be tested, etc. Practically speaking, i don't need the stores to be any more "active" than they already are. It's already a lot to rez, and i might only be spending 5 minutes there anyways, realizing they don't have what i want to buy. If it takes me longer than 5 minutes to rez and find what i was looking for, i might be moving along anyways. There's nothing wrong with stores looking nice, but if i'm there to buy a couch, i want to buy a couch.

     

    Either way, LL is making sure they are getting their cut out of creators pockets, no matter what you do. Don't like to pay 10% for the marketplace? Fine, have an inworld shop then, pay for the land... Don't want to host your own store? Fine, sell on the marketplace...

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  10. 2 minutes ago, Alyona Su said:

     How many BDSM *-plugs does anyone need to choose from?

     

    Since most of creators catering to that niche have quit or became inactive, the vanilla creators have taken over and started to fill in the gaps without any understanding of what this niche is about. There are a few left, that still make useful products, but they are quickly drowning among items without functionality.  At the adult sales events, you will find things like bondage beds, without any bondage poses or bondage functionality.  Toy racks, that don't give out any functional toys. Spanking horses, without a single spanking option, or even any bound pose. I can go on and on. At first glance, it looks like " This niche is catered to already" but that is as far from the truth as it could be.

    So in my perspective, it hasn't been a survival of the fittest, it has been a survival of the blandest of the bland, diluting anything of interest, as the bigger businesses stretch over niches where they don't belong, with their lack of understanding what the niche is about. In my experience, this goes also for lot of steampunk and sci fi. The larger stores, with a team of mesh creators can make a mesh to specifications, and it will look good. But people outside if a niche don't understand what is actually needed, and what specifications a product needs. And then when their items don't sell, because they entirely missed the point by miles, they go back to selling..... mainstream decor and bland clothes.

     

    So how many bdsm *-plugs does one need to choose from? Well, there are thousands..... but i haven't seen one with the actual animations and functionality of a *-plug since 2009.

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  11. 1 hour ago, Alyona Su said:

     Deal with it or quit.

     

     

    Wonderful advice! (/sarc)

     

    This is however exactly what merchants have been doing, and exactly what people will continue to do. The market of goods is starting to rapidly narrow down to very mainstream fashion and objects, since increased costs for conducting business pushes niche creators out.  That in turn generates less interest to stick around, since the culture of SL is becoming increasingly bland.

    The whole idea of " don't like it, then quit, but don't whine" is making me sad, because that is exactly what is happening. People are quitting, we see it on the number of people logged in.  The fewer people that log in, the less  business opportunities for creators. So those quit too.

     

    Me personally, i much prefer if people get very vocal about how these changes affect them, and don't quit. As long as they don't quit, then there is still opportunity for positive changes.

    Maybe you haven't noticed, but those who quit, don't get replaced by new people coming to SL.

    • Like 9
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  12. 1 hour ago, Lindal Kidd said:

    There's an easy way to avoid losing that benefit though...just wait to downgrade your membership until a day or two before the renewal date.  Problem solved.

    Or, it could actually work like a normal subscription to a service, but what do i know.

    I still don't understand what people get out of defending this consumer-hostile practice. Does it benefit you to belittle people who figure they want to have what they are paying for?

    • Like 2
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  13. 6 hours ago, Alyona Su said:

    Furthermore, though each year a premium subscription will renew, it is still an upgrade that you must proactively choose to acquire. So when you downgrade you are doing precisely that: downgrading. It is not a "non-renewal" or "cancelation" of services, it is an explicit pro-active choice and action on your part to downgrade.

     

    No, it's EXACTLY what it is. It's a notice to LL that i will not extend my subscription past it's due date.  It's NOT an agreement to forfeit what i have paid for, in any form or way. That is not how subscription cancellation works anywhere, except in the wonderous world of LL

     

    So far, i have seen exactly zero examples of other subscriptions that end the moment you decide not to renew, and cease delivering a service already paid for.

    Imagine if you were subscribing to a magazine, and decided not to renew your subscription for another year, giving the magazine a notice in good time. And they decided that you didn't get any magazines anymore, even though you had paid for another couple of months...

    It's unheard of.

    • Haha 1
  14. On 10/17/2019 at 5:16 PM, Alyona Su said:

    They do not withdraw benefits; you choose to give up and forego benefits. It's all on you, no one else.

    How is that a choice when no choice is given?

    I did not choose to give up and forego benefits i have already paid for. I chose to not re-subscribe to a service. It should not matter if i make my decision one day before the subscription end, or three months. I have paid for the full time.

    It's LL that should be given the choice... honor my subscription to the very last day, as paid for, or refund me my money for the service no longer offered.

     

    Besides, scripting a timer-based land abandonment should be absolutely trivial. If i decide to abandon all my land  holdings at the exact moment my premium subscription runs out, no matter amount of sims and prims returned, it should be in my right to do so. 

    By all means, it could be optional. But right now LL gives premium holders actually no choice in the matter whatsoever.

    The day you decide to unsubscribe, all your mainland landholdings have to go.  That isn't a choice, that is arm-twisting.I'm also an european, so to me, from consumer standpoint it's an unacceptable practice.

     

    It makes me actually confused to see people trivializing and belittling the people that lift this up as a problem. Are they harming you in some way? Would being able to keep full premium perks until the last day of subscription ruin your SL in any way?

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  15. When i discovered this, i was also quite upset. I don't see how it could be possibly legal to withdraw benefits that are already paid for, ahead of time.

    I frankly don't care about the technical aspect of it, even though i understand quite well all the "why's" and "but's" . It simply doesn't matter, if they are unable to solve it with a technical solution, then too bad, refunds are due for the time i can not use the service as paid for.

    I did also talk with support about it, and to boil down the conversation, no reasons were given, aside " it is how it is, live with it, whatever, are we done?"

    Of course this is very handy for LL, to make people wait to unsubscribe, with always the chance they will forget or otherwise be unable to unsubscribe, and then they automatically get billed for another period of time.

     

    I'm not buying the whole "but boohoo, what if peoples stuff gets returned?". Yes, what of it? Private landlords have been returning items after lease end since the beginning of SL landlords, and while some confused newbie gets upset, it's pretty simple to understand that the day you are no longer paying for a service, you get evicted. Whole sims have been returned that way, as well with sub-renters (rp sims etc) and it's up to the sub-renter to take their issues with the person they paid to.

     

    There is nothing in this practice that will somehow automagically prevent your items getting returned by LL, if the main landowner fails to pay for the subscription. Cancelled credit cards, someone dying etc should have the same result, with the exception that LL continues to try to bill the original owner. Group land will be left to squat, at least for a while, but getting items returned by LL if no one is paying for the land, is still inevitable.

    So it's not of any kind of protection for sub-renters from getting their items returned in the long run. LL doesn't contact sub-renters to tell them their main landlord has defaulted on payments.

    To me, this seems extremely backwards. Protect those that have land that is unpaid for, but penalize with withdrawn service, those that are still paying but have an end date?  Odd way to prioritize...

    Imagine other way around though, renting from a private landlord, you tell them you will need to end your sim lease in two months. I would say, most will thank you for the heads up, being given some time to plan ahead.  But imagine they did it the LL way. You tell them you will end the lease in two months time, everything is paid ahead, and they tell you to take your things immediately and leave. No money back. I know i'd be pretty livid.

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  16. I think the backdrop situation is getting increasingly depressing. For about three months in a row now, i've gone to every event more or less, hoping to buy some more sci-fi -ish looking additions to my build. With money in hand, please, sell me something. There are things that would have fit- except they are waaay too high in Li backdrops. It's so obvious that the creator is talented enough to make wonderful creations that would be a great addition to any sim, but, have decided to not bother. Or maybe the backdrops are just.... sets bought from a 3d website...

    Either way, the backdrops seem to increasingly push out anything more substantial out of events at least. There's fewer and fewer actual houses and environment pieces.

    The latest's i've seen, was a backdrop kitchen. Is that where we are going now? Because if that thing is 200 Li, a smaller plot is then filled, no house, no decor. It makes me really sad. There's no meaningful way to incorporate them in builds.

     

    This shift makes me spend less on SL.. i guess there's a good point in that in some way...

    • Like 1
  17. 11 hours ago, Rolig Loon said:

     

      A static airplane is pretty useless.  So are pendulums that do not swing, lighthouses that don't have beacons, and animesh pets that just sit and stare..  People are drawn to things that they can interact with and that make SL environments dynamic.

    See, i fully agree that it's scripting, and interactivity that make objects in SL interesting, but i also see more and more of the above. Lighthouses without a beacon, static pets to hold that are not animated (but still look just as good in a photo), cakes you can't have a slice of and lamps that don't even turn on and off. And this, not from any beginners but high-earning creators visible in many shopping events that draw crowds.  It also seems that the buyers are so used to non-interactivity that they go for visuals, and interactivity is just an added bonus, not a salepoint.

    • Like 1
  18. SL has a limited amount of users, with limited amount of L$- the money to be made is finite. Making a splendid house, or skirt won't make more users to join SL, or the average SL users pockets to grow deeper- all business are competing for the same money.  So while one might argue that backdrops don't offer the exact same thing as full house builds, i feel that they are close enough that one cannibalizes upon the other.

    It's similar with the number of content creators, although there the number is more flexible depending on skills, and how much/little earnings is the threshold for giving up.

    Since the introduction of mesh in SL, creations have shifted very largely towards visuals, and further and further away from interactivity.  New creators came in with already pre-existing 3d creation skills, and the learning curve for SL imports wasn't that steep. LSL coding however, is an in-house -special, so you can only learn it within SL. Interactive items that can't use a pre-exising posing system, were pushed out in favor of the much prettier, decorative mesh items.  It's cheaper and less effort to make a static coffee maker, than one that actually fills up a coffee pot over time, and has movable parts and gives you a cup when done.

    So why bother with finding a scripter and all that fuss, when the item can compete on the marketplace with looks alone, and nobody that has joined past 2013 will ever know it didn't use to be that way?

     

    A creator with the skill of making environments, houses, roads etc, why would they want to spend the effort and time on making an environment, trying to keep the LI as low as possible, making sure all the physics are right, that doors etc work.... when they can just sell a backdrop to the same customer, getting paid roughly the same?

    And the customer might even no longer have an interest in curating an interactive space, paying for it to remain online, etc. When it's cheaper and convenient to just take snapshots in a booth.

     

    Times are changing and whatever flaots peoples boats. But from my perspective, SL isn't getting any more interesting from it.

    • Like 4
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  19. I hear a lot of people speaking about "sleeping" accounts and the money collected there, and the idea that this money could now be harvested.

    I don't see how this could work for already dormant accounts, as they will not accept Tilias ToS, logging in or otherwise. They can not be forced in under a ToS they did not accept.  So i don't see how LL could drain the USD from old accounts, and that being legal.

     

    It will however deal with new accounts going stale, as long as they have accepted the Tilia ToS.

    • Like 4
  20. On 7/3/2019 at 10:29 AM, Beggar Mayo said:

    Thank you very much Lexbot. I think I have detected some needs between avatars and, answering your questions (mine too) I plan:

    1. To find some fullperm stuff that can satisfy such needs to resell, some could be get from gacha. I am thinking also about vendors and/or franchises.
    2. To find a way to resell as outlet some old stuff I have in my inventory that, even I don't use it, I know could be useful for some people instead of just throw it away.
    3. This meanwhile I am learning how to create my self some stuff to satisfy such needs, since I am developing some skills.
    4. Principal objetive, offer to people good quality and cheap stuff, since I also have in mind an specific target. I am interested in understand also how this 1L1H offers work I would like to use it more or less often combined with other kinds of events.

    So, in synthesis, my idea is, to develop my business in parallel with my self development and getting enough profit to, at least, make my tier and account self sustentable.

    1. Gacha things are never fullperm, and nearly no fullperm objects can be resold as-is. That means you have to make substantial changes or/and additions to the objects yourself. Also when you re-sell pullperm objects, you have to abide by the ToS of the seller of the fullperm pack, which usually at minimum means you need to change permissions to copy/mod/no trans. Keep that in mind in your business model.

    2.  Things in your inventory need to have at minimum "trans" permissions in order to be sold or given away. If they are no trans, then it doesn't matter if you use them or not, you can't transfer them to another avatar.

    3. That is a good idea!

    4. Not sure what you mean with 1L1H.

    • Like 1
  21. I think the first and foremost you need to figure out, is what you want to sell.

     

    Is it re-selling gacha items? What is your plan for profit, will you play gacha machines and hope for a rare that you can sell for more than you have spent? That is going to be a gamble and you can not count on breaking even.

     

    Are you going to buy fullperm packs, and re-sell those?  Most of the time, the original creator doesn't permit that, at least not without you making some new textures and alterations. There are still "business in a box" pack circulating around, they are OLD and i would be very skeptical if you happen to find one somewhere. Don't fall for it.

    So then it comes down to, what is the skill you are offering? Being a merchant always comes down to having a marketable skill. Either it's being a great organizer, with a ton of knowledge how to market events etc, or it's an actual creative skill that you can apply to make things to sell.

    If you want to sell things, you need to figure out what you want to sell, and why people would want to buy it from you.

    Everything else is secondary, you need to figure out step one first.

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