Rene Erlanger

Medhue Simoni wrote: Come on guys! It's not that big a deal. If you knew anything about the SL economy, you don't need LL's quarterly. The main signals for the economy are good. If things were really falling apart, we'd see it in the value of the linden dropping. It's not dropping when compared to the dollar. It is actually the highest value in dollars than I've ever seen it. That, all by itself, tells you alot. When we are talking about LL losing land owners, we are talking about 1-2 %. They have actually gained land in the Adult regions. 1800 sims abandoned since Jan 2011 from 32k.......I'd call that 6%...and it's still falling. (or $4.75 Million USD annualised lost revenue) Don't forget you're looking at a company that probably only has 10 -15% profit margins. Tateru thinks if 6000 more sims were abandoned, it would see the company go into "red"....i think it's nearer 4000.

2nd & 3rd class passengers on the Titanic didn't have any Formalwear.....maybe they could have stayed below deck to listen to the music? :matte-motes-silly:

You can also trade SL currency on 3rd party sites like VirWox, but again it uses LL Risk API.....so you might encounter the same problems. They also have limits for trading.

Chelsea Malibu wrote: The question one really needs to ask is how did this harm you? No, I am not advocating copy bots or anything that infringes on ones intellectual property however, what damage did this cause you? Did it inhibit your ability to play SL? Did it cost you money and or how much time did it take you to rectify the situation? If you get my point, you will just scoff it off and move on. Much more important things to get upset over. Truth is as mentioned, if its on your screen, it can be copied and if they didn't copy it from you, they will from someone else but it really doesn't sound like anything malicious took place. Not quite true...it alters the psyche...i would be questioning myself "what's the point spending money on this platform to create a unique self, if it can be cloned in seconds" Copybotting has knock-on effect on the SL community......to both consumer and creator asking themselves those type of questions.

Canoro Philipp wrote: you have to give Rod this one, is true that im mad about the decision to not go forward about Last Names, but im not gonna condemn the person, im gonna condemn the event. if i were a CEO maybe i would have done the same after the results that a lot of people got very angry with me after posting the results of the first roundtable. if i would select people for bringing that frontier feeling back, i would choose Jo Yardley and Marianne McCann between others. I have nothing against Rod H, he's probably the best of all the CEO's they've had......how much power can he wield or is he handcuffed by the Board of Directors?

You're a prime example of someone that is ignorant and hasn't left their bubble! Second Life is not all about Sex.....are you a reporter for some Media outlet?

Nothing new....I always stated that Second Life could have been much greater and popular then what it ended up as. The lack of growth is largely due to bad Management teams since it's inception. They didn't realise what a rough diamond they had found. Another bug bear is the inability of Linden Lab to market it's own product on a large scale like other MMOG platforms (IMVU & Habbo Hotel spring to mind) Those 2 platforms managed to grow it's concurrency during a recessionary period....IMVU 3 to 4 times the amount of 2009. I think Linden Lab have run out of steam....and probably better off selling SL to another company (like a Gaming or Entertainment company)...otherwise it will slowly dissipate into nothingness.

Sinks and sources are used to stablise Lindex....its a bit of balancing act. ..so those commissions from Marketplace get offset by sources. It can't be taken straight out of the economy.

I've never participated in the Breedables market....so no horse in this particular race! All I can say it's provided a lot of fun for 1000's of SL'ers and for that reason alone, I see it as a plus aspect to Second Life. I certainly don't see it as a Ponzi scheme. A pyramid scheme...possibly,.... but no one's arms are being twisted to participate. If it introduces more money into the SL money supply..I see it as a good thing. e.g more land being acquired, more sales to creators of Breedables byproducts.

Pamela Galli wrote: I don't have a problem with promoting Marketplace per se. It's just that for me it has been revenue neutral - it has not affected overall sales, just shifted them. Now, I suppose it does mean a little less money in my pocket because my tier does not change but the MP commission does increase a bit, plus I spend a lot on enhancements. If my overall sales went down, then I suppose I would need to cut back on expenses, which eventually might result in selling a sim. However I agree that overall, LL's strategy seems to be to discourage inworld shopping by ruining search, and I must be missing something because I can't see how it benefits them. I really want LL and SL to be around a long time. I'll lay money, that if you had a "Marketplace only" business right now....it would not generate the same kinds of Income, when your In-world store (and general In-world commerce) was flourishing. The reason being you can control the marketing of your in-world Store (or sims) in SL....whereas you're very limited in Marketplace apart from paying for listing enhancements. IN MP, your products are placed in a very large pot and spewed out in the order the MP Search engine decides on. In-world there are so many different marketing mechanisms which could direct traffic to your Sims (well historically that was the case), that you don't have to worry about competition or even the In-world Search Engine.

Luna Bliss wrote: Remember that there really is no such thing as a small job - even a small job requires drawing up the agreement/contract and much of the same customer support that most large jobs require. It's also important to get half your money up front and half when done, or if a huge project break it down into thirds so you get a payment when work begins and about half way through. I've had couples break up in the middle of a job and nobody wants to pay me. Ahh yes, this passage was missed by most of us....but very important especially with larger & more time consuming projects. (Stage payments just like in RL)

Pamela Galli wrote: What concerns me most is that LL is cutting its own throat -- yes, land pays the bills, but does LL not know that inworld stores pay for that land, and that the money comes from sales. LL ought to be falling over itself facilitating sales and giving merchants the tools that we need instead of taking them away. For crying out loud. I don't want to have to go sell stuff on Renderosity because LL killed Second Life. That's what I have been saying all along....the increased Commissions that Linden Lab earn from their new shiney Marketplace venue.. in no way compensates for the lost of tier income from all those Sims being handed back in the last year. The Maths just doesn't stack up.....not even close!! Dartagan provided a rough estimate of the likely commissions earned based on total MP sales in 3rd Quarter 2011..it was around 80k usd per month, excluding Enhancement fees and purchases paid via Paypal. (so maybe 100k max per mth) The closing down of shops or Merchants giving up their land, has a knock on effect on other parts of the SL Community.....for instance a lot of Clubs rely on vendor rentals, shopping Malls, as do Roleplaying sims with their Markets, as do Gaming sims and Adult venues. Those type of venues rely on Merchant rental income to pay part of their Tiers. Even large Estate Barons suffer with their Mixed zone or Commerical sims.

I think the answers will vary according to how you have invested into Second Life. I would imagine Land owners and many business owners would be none too happy with LL the company over the last 2-3 years, whereas someone attached to a roleplay communtiy might be having a great time right now.....or those that frequent Dance clubs or listen to live performers, or those that are emotionally involved with either a partner or SL Family...or others that have invested time & money into Breedables etc etc It depends how you use Second Life I guess.

Tyche Shepherd's GridSurvey website. Number of Estate sims w/c 26 Dec 2011 was 24,014......the number of Estate sims on 4th Mar are 23,058......so that's 956 sims. I rounded up...as an approx. figure. .

Ilyra Chardin wrote: There have been a lot of complaints about LL's promotion of MP, but I suspect that will not stop. LL takes 5% on all linden dollar purchases and a higher percentage of paypal and credit card purchases. Yet for in-world locations, they receive tier payments regardless of whether the land is residential or commercial. Just my 2 cents (L$5) Oh it will stop ...it will have to. LL have lost 1000 Private Estate sims since 1st Jan......if it carries on at that rate, the company will be in the "red" before the year is out. Losing Land Tiers for extra MP commissions does not stack up ...it's just a matter of time before they crunch the numbers and realise that.

Gadgets that provide unique traffic count for the Store are equally important...in fact if one can chart it for good length of time, it provides better info about trends, the effects of lack of marketing, falling down the Search ladder, climbing up it, seasonal, the effect of certian promotion and sales, the impact of a single Event compared to daily average Store visitors etc etc We know the root cause of decline of inworld traffic and thus sales......it's Marketplace!

....but would that not apply to a lot of roleplay in Second Life?. How does one analyse the participation in Rape roleplay....for either victim or the Rapist? There are all sorts of RL criminalities being simulated into SL roleplay, yet many SL'ers focus on the soft targets like child avatars. How many people or even youngsters...die from drug abuse or drug overdose in RL?.......yet no one bats an eyelid, with people roleplaying Drug dealers inside SL. Hence why i hate all the hypocracy & discrimination shown within SL (and outside it)

I think you're skating on thin ice, by repeatedly engaging the same person and her group. It's obvious that it's become personal matter....and even a vendetta. If you manage to get your account back, i would advise you staying clear of this Group. If you want to expose that High School for age-play.....either get a group of friends in there and take photos of the child like avatars engaging in sex-play by mass AR's to LL....or maintain your campaign outside SL (your own Blog highlighting your investigation)

Marigold Devin wrote: I must confess that the first time I encountered a child avatar in Second Life, I sent an photo of it to a friend entitled " sick sick sick", and teleported away from the child avatar, because I did not want to be in it's vicinity, because I was ignorant and did not understand why anyone would want to be a child avatar. At that time, I didn't have much of a clue about Second Life and the diverse nature of the community. However, I am now tremendously ashamed for feeling like that as over the years, like you, I've met a lot of really fabulous child avatars, and totally defend their right to roleplay as children without being bullied or harrassed by people who remain closed-minded. It really gets to me when people throw the "ageplayer" remark out and make assumptions about child avatars, and like with anything else in SL, and in RL too, it's always the minority that spoil it for the majority. I was exactly like you in my 1st months of Second Life.....but my discrimination was directed at Furry Avatars and Gorean Masters. With hindsight, I regret being narrow minded back then..., but it was partly due to not researching Second Life properly and discovering it's diversity. One Furry avatar ended up teaching me a lesson by repeatedly orbiting me into the sky after i had verbally insulted him -lol. I deserved it! One of my very first residential tenants was a little Bear avatar which caught me slightly off guard. I had to make a snap decision of whether i should rent to him or not....before engaging him. Thankfully i did rent a parcel to him....as we became very good friends thereafter. We shared our RL backgrounds (he was RL hermit) and experiences....he became a good sounding board whenever I was feeling down. it was during this phase, that i began to accept all Avatar forms regardless and judge Avatars on an individual basis...as opposed to tarring a whole community with the same brush!

Jennifer Boyle wrote: Marx Dudek wrote: If Linden Lab says an account has been terminated and there is no recourse, then there is no recourse. Not always. At least one person either won or settled (I forget which.) the lawsuit he filed in federal court after his account was terminated. ETA: I looked it up. The suit was settled and the account was reinstated. Yep that was Marc Bragg who traded SL Land http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bragg_v._Linden_Lab

I took 7-8 months off from SL last year as my enthusiasm was beginning to wane. I've returned but I don't necessarily feel re-energize. Running a business in SL is a greater struggle than say a couple years ago......LL have meddled too much in the economy for any kind of stability or growth. I think the mix of people entering Second Life are different from earlier years....seemed to have more pioneers, creators & land dealers before (more excitement and anticipation for SL)....now it seems more consumer orientated that want quick-fire solutions instead of trying to find or provide solutions. I think Second Life could have been a lot more successful and bigger than what it is.....with the right Management team applying the vision to move forward & growth in popularity. I believe it will become a missed opportunity for LL

That would make sense then....as "Best Selling" filtering made no sense at all.

I think he was talking about his In-world store as he mentions "Land Description" Merchant's Forum encompasses both Marketplace and In-World commerce.

Yep I noticed it with my Partners MP store too...it made no sense the way it was being ordered. Her best selling items were incorrect order as well as pricing! The thing is borked!

Tillyboy wrote: Speaking of jokes, I wonder if anybody from LL with any authority or sway in their company has ever read their forums. When I try to imagine a LL business meeting I always picture a bunch of dip-**bleep**s wearing suits, fumbling awkwardly on tech speak they can't understand, brainstorming solutions for problems they're still working to create and musing leisurely on those quirky nerd suckers who pay their bills. :I If you listen to any live recordings with Linden employees...they can all do with some conference & media training. More often than not, they mumble and stumble to get their messages across. Oz Linden is no exception if you listen to the sound file in his meeting with the TPV developers....in fact he came across rather arrogant, whilst his sidekick colleague was very smarmy in that meeting. They're not good communicators at all....aside from Philip Rosedale, who was a natural in that department.