Nacy Nightfire

The problem with your model Vivienne is that in time, and the time perhaps has come, Second LIfe will be super saturated with stuff. Free stuff that has been donated, or stolen, or given away by people who no longer play in SL. These stuff never wears out, it barely goes out of fashion (judging from what I see). It's FOREVER and there's little more that needs to be added, unless its particularly innovative. In the realworld we would be buying a new couch every time the dog chews it up or pees on it, here it remains pristine. Forever. So the heady and lucrative days of commerical creation are over, in my estimation. And I have invested time and money in Second Life while it was entertaining. I'm not interested in joining another virtual world and spending more time starting from scratch and learning my way around and leaving behind all the stuff I paid for. And I don't happen to feel the fees charged by LL are unreasonable. THIS is where I want to bring in my 3D creations and amuse myself and share a laugh with an onlooker or two. Clearly you have your own self-interest in mind when you say that commerce and playing the merchant are THE essential part of SL. I don't remember reading that in any Mission Statement..but I'll check on that.

Hmm. so there has been 15 years of mesh creation...what does that say about the movie industry. Should we close down the film schools..are we decades too late? Hold on while I toss my camera into the trash. Just because its been done before doesn't mean there aren't a ton of people who want to experience it for themselves. Its self expression. The uniqueness of assembly and texturing. This is recreation, yes people paint, sing, dance, etc. very badly as hobbists and beginners, but we don't all have to do it perfectly. Its ENTERTAINMENT which is sorely lacking in SL these days. And every sculpty shape that could be made has already BEEN made and put up for sale. They are also 3d mesh objects. SL has already been flooded with free and stolen cr*p. It too late to worry about that and any mesh imports won't make a dent. I'm guessing the economy has leveled off to a point where its not worth anyone's effort to set up a shop of stolen goods, there's no big money to be made, I'm guessing. And that's a good thing.

Or they will re-invent themselves and find a new inventive way to make their tier. Or, like so many others (and myself much of the time in SL), they will be homeless and enjoy sightseeing, building in sandboxes, taking classes, listening to live entertainment (lets not forget the people who make money in entertainment who will be uneffected by meshes) and just hanging around in "coffee shops" and telehubs chatting with friends. Unlike real life they can still participate fully and be homeless without tragic results, except perhaps to the landlords. As to Blender..I learned it. Its not hard. There are a million free tutorials on you tube and throughout the web that are excellent. 3d is an interesting hobby and Blender is free. The newest Beta version is a complete overhaul and is much more inviting. If people want to create they will adapt. If they don't want to create then they are not contributing to Second LIfe in a meaningful way.

Ok then. The rl business is a myth. I don't waste my time hunting down statistics about this. But its not a closed system. For people to make money to fulfill their tier they need to get it from people who spend it. I think that the Lindens are better served by the people who bring the money in to buy things, to upload textures and to pay to be a member, like myself, then those who set up shop to extract the money to for a free ride. If I find the environment disagreeable because of the emphasis on whether changes in Linden policy effect the people who want to earn a free ride rather then pay for the entertainment value of Second life like they do in real life - say by rending a movie or going to the theater, then Second Life suffers. If everyone was a shop owner and there were no customers..well fun!

I'm disinterested in making money in Second LIfe. I think the people who made it while it was "hot" had a good run while it lasted. I don't think that's sustainable. And I'm bored by all the emphasis on making money in Second Life and the expectation that once people found a gimmick everything had to stay in suspended animation (that wasn't intentional ) to protect a segment of the population whose made a business out of this. Its an odd thing. And Second Life not EBay, its many many different things to different people. For me, I'm not here to make money, although I'm not adverse to PAYING a talented artist if I see something that someone has made and wishes to exchange for lindens. I have more artwork in RL then I have walls to hang them on. It doesn't stop me from supporting artists. However all this emphasis on the rights of shopkeepers and landlords makes my skin crawl. If you want to set up shop in the real world and deal with arbitrary zoning and the whims of the economy, that makes sense. But you take your chances doing that on that in another persons for profit private company seems risky and a waste of time.

""I might just start spending money again and rent a bigger place to store the stuff." I really wonder why you want to "store" stuff for money. Isn´t your 3D software packed hard disk good enough for that?" Actually I enjoy taking my stuff into an active 3d environment and interacting with it. I can't do that with my hard drive. I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "store" stuff for money. That's a distortion of what I said, and unnecessarily facetious. And my point is, if Second Life was more interesting to me (and it WOULD be with the new mesh import feature) I'd return to be a participant in the overall economy. Although I enjoy making my own things, I will always spring for something I admire to support a particularly talented creator.

As a person who used to enjoy Second Life, I've seen too many friends get bored and drift off to other virtual worlds and games. I've spent a small fortune renting land and buying pixel stuffs. I've also been a paying member from the start since I feel its fair, I'm an adult and can afford it. Now I spend a small fraction of the time I used to spend in Second Life and I just hang around in my linden home making things. I'm not interested in pixel romance , I'm uncomfortable with teenagers being invited on the main grid (it was bad enought that they easily snuck in as it was..but at least it was a ban-able offence) and I don't have the energy to start the whole friend thing again. The only thing that keeps me here is 1) my fabulous inventory that I can't bear to part with and 2) I discovered I really, really, really enjoy making things. Just for myself. I have no interest in being a shop owner or a merchant, no matter how much people have told me I should. So with no prior 3d experience and thanks to Second Life, over time I bought an old version of Poser for about 50 dollars, I learned a bit of Blender and Wings3D, bought a couple of fairly reasonably priced bits of 3D software, (Modo and Zb rush). I'm no longer interested in sculpties, something limited to Second LIfe. I want to work on real 3d meshes that have some meaning outside of Second Life and make full use of the software I purchased and LEARN some things that are useful for both my Second Life activities and other potential interest in 3D. THAT interests me, not fulfilling someone's dream of being the ideal shopper/tenant. So this news has reinvigorated my interest in SL. And if I start seeing some new and interesting well made stuff that doesn't start out looking like a scary blob, I might just start spending money again and rent a bigger place to store the stuff.