And now, Forbes magazine agrees with me. I'm warning you - the tax man is coming and it won't be long. The greedy politicians are salivating over the money that is exchanging hands in Second Life and other virtual world and MMORPGs. They are no doubt frantically trying to find aa way to stick their hands into your back pocket.

The hearing that occurred on April 1st this year was supposed to be some kind of exploratory thing. But in truth, and you really know this, whether your believe it or not, it was really kjust the first step into taxing anything and everything you own, whether it is real or not.

Read this Forbes article. Man-o-man do I feel so vindicated.

Indeed, the minority staff of Congress' Joint Economic Committee has a study underway, and academics are already churning out papers on the proper tax treatment of pretend online worlds with their own economies and commerce. You can buy weapons to use in battle in "World of Warcraft," or sexy outfits to go out dancing in "Second Life," or furniture to decorate your igloo in "Club Penguin."

Taxing Virtual Worlds - Forbes.com

A very hot debate about content theft (technically plagiarizing) is flying around the SL blog again. We'll simply have to agree to disagree. Part of the replies to my post are also misunderstanding the spirit of my posts.

I've had my say and my say is this:

First - most content created in SL is pretty good. Not too bad at all, nothing that will cause a double-take, but on the whole, not too bad. Then there are those items which are absolute must-haves. The top-of-the-line stuff.

Now as for the whole content theft business goes, my basic presumption is this: if your stuff is really good, well designed, it will get stolen. If not stolen, then coveted and copied (facsimile) at least.

This won't sound pleasant, but you should be honored. It's a sign of the quality and popularity of your product. Now, don't think I don't care - I do. I sympathize with you and it is wrong. But the fact of the matter is if someone wants to steal your work, they will find a way to do it.

Why bother locking your car? If they want your stereo, they'll just smash the window.

Now, the first problem has to do with how are these people 'ripping' or otherwise able to create full permission copies of your stuff. Three ways I am personally aware of: a prim duplicator, a texture ripper and copybot.

Prim duplicators are very useful tools. I use one almost regularly. If you want to know how or why, IM me in world and I'll actually show you, beyond just explaining it. Suffice it to say I build stuff I give to my better half to sell, and i would prefer she be known as the creator, among other uses.

The only way a prim duplicator can work is that the prims being copied must have modify permissions. Without that - it won't work. Additionally, scripts cannot and will not be copied. So the copy is just an empty shell.

Yes, many will use prim hair as a classic example of content ripe for being stolen this way. Two answers to that: make it no-mod and insert a 'resize' script, allowing the customer to resize it without having mod permission - a headache to be sure (no pun intended.)

Or, accept the risk - more on that later.

Texture rippers - I honestly don't know much about them. I know it is easy to script a prim to take any texture that you know the UUID (Universal Unique IDentifier) and display it on that prims faces. As for the next step - I really don't know.

However, textures in SL always have been the least secure to prevent copying. And the majority of textures in world are all illegal anyway! They are downloaded from the web or stolen from out-world content CDs without proper license to upload them into SL. Now, I agree, the skin creators do not usually fall into this category. Unfortunately, there just isn't much you can do about it.

The third method, which works for prims and textures, et alii, is the greatly feared "copybot". I've read about it and based on what i know about how SL, databases and computers work - there just isn't anything that can be done about it.

I see posts demanding Linden Lab put a stop to its use. That's an impossibility. The copybot works on your local computer. It grabs the data from the internet stream as it goes through your computer to the graphics processor. So, unless you want to allow Linden Lab full access to your personal computer and to render the display inoperative - there's nothing that can be done.

Now, it already is known that anyone caught using copybot will get an instant ban from the service. However, there are too many easy ways to make alts and start over. So, with copybot, there really is no defense. Fortunately it is near impossible to actually meet someone who has actually met someone who has actually used one, it is that rare.

The real issue is that people purchasing a product from a vending machine or sales box will have no indication as to the authenticity of that product. How will they know they are buying a stolen copy? They don't. So, you really can't blame them - and yes, I know that ignorance of the law is no excuse. But it is what it is. Even if you know the law, you also have to know when it is being broken.

So - do you simply lock everything down tighter than a drum, or simply take the risk?

SL is a very big place. If your items are stolen, it is highly unlikely you (or anyone else for that matter) will ever know it. Unless a friend or someone familiar with your designs happens across it.

The only other way to know is if you search classifieds for your keywords and find your stuff that way. In which case, you have a stronger case to fight it with. The fact is, if your stuff is worth stealing, it will get stolen.

Do you sweat it out, or just be aware and try not to worry about it until it actually happens. When it actually happens, then, and only then, evaluate the situation, determine the damage it will do for you and then take the appropriate action and move forward from there.

In the case of the stolen commercial skins. If it were me - I make the stolen skins freebies, and be sure that most popular freebie places have them: New Citizens, Inc., Sara Nerds place and all the others. Make sure it's in a box with information about the skin, who created it and where to find more (landmark).

I know there are many who would disagree with this approach. But, it's the approach I feel would work for me. The best preventive action we can take is to educate the resident public at large. The problem is there is no CNN or other "Nightly News" that everyone turns to for information. There is no central news authority where people learn about what's happening.

Even the SL blog is visited by a tiny fraction of active residents.

So... how to let people know when they are buying a stolen copy? Easy, find a way to let them know they are buying a genuine authentic. How do we do this? It will take a lot of work and effort and help from Linden Lab.

Charlotte Bartlett (Post #139) says it best:

"Why can’t we simply all join together sim owners, content designers and creators and become one group. We can work together to create our OWN validation tool and council and work with Linden Labs to take this platform forward. Hey I know groups tend to crash - but I am personally sick of the 10 plus groups I try to stay membership of all dealing with content theft and each with their own champions."

Hey, I'm game.
I already put an "Authentic" logo on all my products and in my boxes and I do everything I can to make sure that part of my design is locked down as tight as SL will allow. But it's really not enough.

So, Charlotte, shout at me when you get this idea of yours initiated. Count me in.

Read the full Linden Lab post here:
Protecting Your Copyrighted Content « Official Second Life Blog

Oh, and a footnote: yes, I have had stuff stolen and sold out from under me. I went the "freebie" route I explained above. it worked... the stolen versions dried out and eventually, I removed the freebie version and retired the design. So, yes - I have been there and yes, I can relate to those offended by plagiaris...er... theft.

SLEX DCMA’s: Violation of Linden Lab TOS « Shopping Cart Disco

There's something to be said for everyone getting booted off the grid for twelve-plus hours while LL fights with its internet service provider.

Tenshi Vielle of Shopping Cart Disco fame brought to my attention today a stunning blunder worthy of the fumble of the year award.

In the article she quotes an original piece explaining how SLX's butterfingers handling-style has caused one SL organization to suddenly understand the meaning of the phrase "personal space". I'll let you read the articles for yourself, but the point of this post is -- we need to send a message to SLX and tell them that it is, in general, not a good idea to fork over our personal information to people who were already causing us harm without concern for our emotional or financial well-being. It sounds like what could only be a major oversight -- at least, I hope. No major business I've ever worked with has directly sent a DMCA to an offender because they knew what kind of information was on it.

Let's do something about this before more respectable developers have to give up their peace of mind. And let's ask that they be compensated for this pain in the ass, while we're at it.

Do not throw caution to the wind. Anything you create or even edit with the new Photoshop® will become property of Adobe Systems®... for all intents and purposes.

Okay, let's clarify a bit here. Intellectual Property (I.P.) rights is a big issue in the world. It always has been. Just turn an eye at what the hoopla about the music labels and movie studios cracking down on all those who file-share.

The issue is no more important, but incredibly intensified within the world of Second Life®. I.P. issues are being raised with louder and more forceful voices. What you work hard to create is yours to decide what is and is not done with it.

You rightly should retain full control.

Anyone who copies your Intellectual property - especially the intangible stuff, such as artwork, textures and photographs - is plagiarizing you. It's theft by another word. It happens quite often in Second Life (SL) and real life (RL) quite often.

Now, back to Adobe: Adobe has seen fit for the last few releases of most of their software to cram down out throats a side-application called Adobe Bridge™. It can be useful, but personally, I think it's an overweight, bloated pig whose tasks are accomplished by better tools and utilities that are either built into the operating system or via lightweight free mini-applications available on the Internet.

One of the functions of Bridge was that it provided access to Adobe Stock Photos™. Now, Adobe didn't really own a stock photo library. Rather, it was simply a clearing house for about six or seven other stock-photo resellers. Adobe sold these for them on commission.

As of April 1, 2008, Adobe Stock Photos as a service is dead.

[Indemnification: the following is strictly my opinion and conjecture and not fact. It is the conclusions I have come to based solely on my own reasoning based on what I know, suspect and have heard. So, I may be way off-base here.]

Did Adobe kill it? I don't know and I don't care. I suspect the providers all simply pulled-out as soon as their contracts were up.

However, I also suspect adobe found it to be quite lucrative and it earned them a lot of easy money.

So, what to do? Find a way to host peoples artwork and photographs... much like Flickr or Picassa... but then how to gain the rights to use all that stuff, either for your own use, or to sell... in the same way the stock photo houses do? And, how to do it without paying a single cent in royalties?

Create an online 'lite' version of Adobe Photoshop, allow anyone to use it for free, and sneak the creepy language into the terms of service that no one ever reads.

Photoshop Express link: https://www.photoshop.com/express/

The terms basically say that anything you upload to Photoshop Express is free to use by Adobe... any damned way they please - including selling it and not paying you a single cent.

News article here: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Apple/?p=1477

Now, the same basic terms apply to anything you pump into or create inside Second Life. However, the difference is this: Second Life is, as Prokofy Neva calls it, a "walled garden" - it's more or less blocked-off from the rest of the world. [Second Life TOS: Intellectual Property]

So this isn't as big an issue since anything you put into SL, stays in SL (provided you lock it down according to the permissions system.)

The huge uproar and backlash has Adobe reportedly reconsidering, or at least rewriting their terms of service.

Article is here: adobe-joins-list-of-companies-not-reading-own-eulas

So, do you read the terms of service every time you sign-up for some online service? Cloud computing is becoming increasingly popular. And remember, these services will write their TOS in a way that benefits them, not you.

What's your take on it?

The problem is that it is unlikely you will even notice it, but the friends list on the web has been hosed for a long time. Some say since January. I think it's really more since mid-February, for this SNAFU, anyway.

If you rely on the "Friends Online" page of the Second Life web site, you should go to the public Jira and cast your vote (link at the bottom of this article.) Here is the issue:

The friends list web pages are stuck. They are frozen in ice... time... whatever you want to call it. The reason you might not notice is that the list appears to be actively working and here's why:

For most of Second Life's web pages, you'll notice the URL address changes. Yes, obviously enough. But what I am referring to is the sub domain: the server that page is being served from. For example, with regard to the friends page it can come from:

The sub domain is that part before "secondlife.com" - the part that says "secure-web5." This means this page is being served from web server number 5. The server the page is served from each time you click the "Friends" link is chosen pretty much at random. (Not really, there are forces that determine exactly which server is selected, but that is beyond the scope of this post.)

So, clicking this link each time will get you a different server - and, likely a different resulting friends list:


Now, once you are on that page (and server) hitting your browser refresh button will get you the same list every time. You are simply refreshing that page from that server.

So do try this: manually change the address. Simply change the number to another number between 0 and 25 - press enter and you will likely get a different list or a notice that there are no friends online.

Something happened to cause these pages to 'freeze' - obviously at different times, which is why each server seems to have a different list - they were broken in a different state. But needless to say, the servers are not connected to the live grid, or at least are not parsing the information it finds there.

However, because each time you click the "friends online" link within the web site and get a different listing - many people may not even realize the listing is broken. Until they notice two awkward things: The first being that a friend who allows mapping cannot be teleported to as the SLURL is wonky:

Additionally, one might cock their head sideways to see a name on the list who has not been in your actual friends list for a very long time.

It has been given the level of "Show Stopper" in the Jira. I agree.

Please go to the public Jira and vote:
[#WEB-511] "Friends' Page incorrectly reporting avatars online - Second Life Issues

The content theft in Second Life is starting to gain attention out in the real world - places and bloggers that don't usually report on Second Life.

Though in my opinion, the content theft in Second Life is not actually "theft" by definition of the word (the creators are not actually deprived of the creation,) rather it is plagiarism, I also can understand why the term is used. It packs a heavier punch, even though the real reason the term is used has more to do with our laziness and lack of true understanding of our own language. And many can be rather niggardly about it.

This is a good read.

Not so much that it's about the complaints, (and even shrill, in some cases, whining,) about the current lead of comment, but because it applies to all plagiarism in SL - including those who 'borrow' from real life, such as popular names and logos.

"What these programs do is allow users to copy models and designs from others of the Second Life universe. However, typically these creations are sold in virtual shops and are not designed to be copied. In fact, Second Life has a permissions system that, theoretically, is supposed to prevent such unauthorized copying."

PlagiarismToday - » Content Theft and Second Life

Oh the joy!
Like the Rezzable Dinosaurs, SL went kablooey. Again.
I really should have known better!

I was working on a few things. Suddenly, I noticed the scripts weren't working. No response. They weren't resetting. In fact, it was bizarre: I got the old error that there are no scripts in the object.

Of course there are scripts in the object. I'm looking at them. Just put them in there as a matter of fact.

So I took the object back into inventory and set it out again. Now, the delay in the object jumping out of world and into my inventory should have beena loud, bright clue. But it went eventually and I was multitasking in Fireworks and Photoshop at the time, so my full attention wasn't in-world.

When I set the object out again, the scripts should have reloaded. Nothing. Hmmm...

Okay - let's restart the sim.

I go back to work off-line and return about 10 or 15 minutes later. "Region unavailable, you are being moved to a nearby [read: half-way across the SL globe] location." I end-up at my home location, currently set to Naoki's shop.

Okay - I go to map and search for my estate. There it... why is it still red, reading "offline"? Okay - just stand there, go back to offline work. 10-minutes later, search the map again. Funny. Still offline. Must be my viewer.

I log out and back again. STILL offline. Okay - contact support.

So, in the chat, TJ tells me he'll get the sim marked to return to online status, but that it might be very slow because of the database issues. I thank him and move on.

Not two-minutes later comes the Linden in-world notice to not perform any land transactions or L$ transactions at all. LL BLOG is updated.

I laugh.

Yes, laugh.

I am not going to whine and be all pissed-off because the database is borked, my sim is down and all money I earn in SL is in or on (vendors and servers) that sim - so as my sim is offline and effectively dead to the SL world... I laugh.

I don't consider SL to be a game. But I don't stake my life on it either. And, I have no doubt the Linden weekend crew are jumping through bootstraps to get things working again.

So, back to offline work for me... with a chuckle and a smile.

Did the Sunday database borking piss you off?
If so, I can only shake my head and ask why?

Creating in Second Life is creating.
Starting a business in Second Life is starting a business.
Marketing in Second Life is marketing.

Okay, starting a business in SL is pretty straight forward and the easiest of these three. Find a mall, plop down some Linden Dollars (L$) into a rental box - all set. But what do you sell? The first option above is a bit more difficult.

Creating in SL requires a pretty steep learning curve. And, there are multiple facets to it: Prim building (creating that sofa,) Texturing (Using your favorite image editor to create the image files that, when applied to your prim sofa, will allow it to look like a sofa,) and then scripting (adding pose balls or something more elaborate.)

Many will go the easy route and purchase a "Business in a Box" (BIAB) - unfortunately, this is a bad idea. First, BIABs are usually just chock full of freebies or someone else's throw-aways. The items are not very good, quality-wise and the prim items are usually quite bloated and heavy with inefficient prim-building design.

On top of that, if ten people buy the same BIAB and all set-up shop in the same mall, what does that do for each of them?

The next best thing is to learn to build prims. Then head off to a texture vendor to shop for textures. This saves time, and doesn't require image-editing talent or upload costs. You buy the textures, plop them onto your sofa prims and away you go.

The same for pose balls. You can buy 'resale' pose balls that you can attach to your sofa, and sell the whole kit-and-kaboodle at will. of course, this route requires a monetary investment (resale pose balls are not cheap!)

Then of course, you could simply do it all yourself, taking the time and effort to learn what you need to learn to make things happen, or a combination of all of the above, except for the BIAB.

Then comes the marketing.
Ouch.

This is by far the most difficult of anything you can possibly do in SL. The reason is that it is too easy to just buy stuff. There is always someone who creates what you create. Many will be lower in quality and many will be higher.

The problem is that there is a mall or shopping vendor in 99% of every place you could want to visit. In fact, SL is really just one gigantic shopping mall. Everywhere you turn, there is always a vendor machine or box with something to buy.

So how do you market your wares and not get lost in the 'for sale' desert?
One idea is to put your vendors in as many places as you possibly can. But be careful, this can backfire. Personally, I am so sick and tired of seeing that horrible pink "Kinky-O" logo every damned where I go. To the point that I refuse to buy anything from the creator or visit her properties (her properties are owned and run by her alt - or vice-versa.)

So, you really need to work the classified and search system. Doing this, and marketing in general is beyond the scope on this post. But suffice it to say, there are those who cheat in this, too.

We all know about campers. As soon as I land at a mall or shopping location, or any venue where I see campers, I teleport out to the next place before the floor even finishes rezzing for me.

I also stay away from bogus logos.
I've written about this before.

And yet, here is another column about the plagiarism of logos. If you use a logo without an explicit license or written permission from the logo owner, beware. The wolves are out and they are hunting. If you don't believe me - put up anything that looks like or mentions "Mickey Mouse' related to your product. You be on the national headline news before long. I guarantee it.

Yes, we all know Coca-Cola has given explicit permission for Second Lifers to use their logo. But Coca-Cola is open that way. And others like Apple Computer just brush it off, knowing it is all fandom-created anyway. But be careful, I say.

• Supply the graphics--provide the quality and type of graphics you want the licensee to have.
• Exclusivity--exclusivity is always dependent on the negotiations.
• Jurisdiction--It is important that your licensee has some ties to the U.S. so you'll have an effective method to enforce rights.
• Tarnished brand--consider the environment in which the products are sold.
• Enforcement--the licensee should have a responsibility to the property owner to make the licensor aware of any infringement.
• Marking product--additional marking of the object's Second Life profile may be worthwhile.
• Royalty rates--a detailed conversation with your future licensee can establish an appropriate royalty rate.
• Payment reports--detailed reports should be provided and include information about any purchase, the name of the purchasing resident, the date and time of the purchase, and pricing."

Second Life Brings Infringement Risks and Licensing Opportunities, Top Trademark Expert Says: "-- Know your licensee.

I was doing my weekly sort-through of my snapshot folder, in which I convert most of the images to optimized JPGs for the purpose of filing them into my Flickr account, and found the image I took of myself standing on the lot of that sim Ari posted about before. I was so in love with the parcel that I titled the snapshot "new home".

What a cretin.

Don't get me wrong... I think the way things are going to work out is much to the better, much more suitable. But it doesn't stop me from hating that guy for being a total fucking tool to us for no reason.

I think I'm still mad over it for the same reasons that it's hard not to argue with people online. You know better, but... ARGH!

Residential Land on Private Estates Suck.

So many - no almost all are so incredibly under-creative, overpriced and full of horrible builds. The mainland land-barons have shifted gears and are ruining the estate business, costing the regular Janes and Johns to spend more money and become increasingly more frustrated. Sometimes SL just totally sucks.

As for the land-barons: boneheads all, I say.

it used to be that if you wanted to buy a sim, search for someone selling one before buying a shiny new one from Linden Lab. The problem is all the amateurs trying to start or run (sloppy) estate empires are buying them all up and sucking the pool dry for those of us that just want a little sim we can call our own.

Now, obviously, (on the mainland) a few give the majority a bad name. However, with regard to private estates, it's the other way a round. The majority give the few a bad name. There are some reputable land-barons and land dealers. They do it for the enjoyment of flipping land and playing the real estate game, more for fun than profit. Awesome customer service and very personable. I salute you, you know who you are.

Unfortunately, the greedy land-barons, (estate-barons?) always trying to make a quick buck, have decided to follow suit with the Anshe Chung recipe. Buy a private estate, develop it, then rent or sell the land on it and a higher tier than what Linden Lab charges for mainland, covering their own tier costs and reaping profits in the process. Some of those profits might be a bit over the top, if you ask me. But, I digress.

Now, when I say land-barons, I'm not necessarily referring the the ones we've heard so much heartache about. But rather the amateurs looking to make that fast buck through the private estate (private island or region) business. In other words, the sim owners who buy a sim for the sole purpose to this end.

But before the cause, let me go over the result very quickly.
Here's how I reached my epiphany...

I am sim-hopping left and right and up and down for private estate land to buy or rent. Holy crappola!

I can't believe how many boring, uncreative, downright ugly private sims there are! Wow! Let's start with the fact that most are just big, flat, ugly squares in the middle of the ocean. Then, some will add 'canals' to separate the parcels. Can you say 'sand-waste' or 'sand-bar'?

Now let's add the fact that most are totally overpriced in weekly and monthly tiers. Then, let's add the fact that many that are already populated somewhat are loaded with horrible, laggy, unsightly builds. It's as though there isn't any management. Might as well just go get land on the mainland.

Anyway - this is what I discovered in my private estate land search... which is more of a scavenger hunt. if you own or know of a sim where a little loving care was put into its design, and reasonable tiers, please let me know. I am still in the market. For a time further anyway.

I've now decided screw it, I might as well buy a new sim and make it the way I want it to be.

Oh, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
Let me turn to what started this search to begin with...

I own my own sim. it's a mixed residential/commercial sim. It's about 80% commercial and managing it goes well. Most days it is almost no, or very little lag, except when someone has an event. But that's tolerable and fair. In all a very pleasant place to be.

Well, there's really no need to have a 'home' in SL, so I didn't bother saving any space for myself there. I also bought the sim from someone else, and it was already established with residents, so redeveloping and designing the terraform the way I'd really like is out of the question. I simply can't do that to the residents that are already here.

I try to be honorable that way.

Besides, the sim supports itself in tier and I'm not out to make a profit. So I'm happy enough with it.

My better-half does have a place she rents through another 'Estate Management Company' - but we have decided it's much larger (in prims) than we really need and we'd like to cut down tier costs and reinvest the money elsewhere.

So I go land-shopping; sim-hopping.

I do manage to find a wonderful sim designed in a tropical style. The terraforming is very nicely done and the tier rates are reasonable. On top of that, it's a straight rental. L$1 to buy the land and pay the first week's tier fee - done. I'm thinking it's a great find.

This land requires membership in a group to use the 'public facilities', so I contact the sim owner, ask him to add me to the group along with my sweetheart. Later, he comes online and does so (we play offline ping-pong over a half-day, overnight).

He welcomes us and, later my better-half comes to see the place and falls in love with it. In my openness, I happen to mention to the sim owner what a wonderful place this is and I'm happy to be there because there isn't any room left on my own sim. He's offline again.

A few hours later... a sudden IM comes through: "You have been ejected from [insert name] group" - whoa! huh? What? No IM from the sim owner, no email, no contact whatsoever. Must be a mistake. I send an IM to the sim owner. No answer - but he's online.

Hmm, let me TP over there so I can find out what's going on... "You are banned from the region" WHAT?

I tell him "Why am I ejected from group and banned? I paid tier"
He finally responds after a long delay with "You have to ask?"
I told him of course I have to ask, I totally don't understand.

He claims that he will not "allow griefers and poachers to squat" on his sim.
I told him I wasn't either. I paid tier and I'm on the up and up. I'm not even sure he got that message at all because it wasn't long before I realized I was muted. (It sure would be nice if the IM system would at least let you know when you're muted.)

First, this guy is a complete idiot and amateur.
If you own a sim - I'd love to have you rent land from me. As long as you pay your tier, what difference does it make to me? I don't care. Besides, what's to keep you from creating an alt and renting from me anyway, round-abouting such a policy?

Second, this guy is not only an idiot, he's an idiot asshole. Refused to refund my money. I paid only a week in tier, so I wasn't too worried about it. What burned me more was the whole scenario. The sudden rudeness, ejecting and banning without so much as allowing me to at least explain why I wanted to rent the land from him. Eventually, he did refund the tier I paid, but only after I reported the incident and sent logs to a well known blogger about the issue, who loves to blog about these scenarios.

I thought 'cool - I get to be a subject on this lady's blog!' ...and I have to admit, I did chuckle about it.

Not only is this sim owner an amateur idiot asshole, but he's a totally childish amateur idiot asshole. Had he simply spent five minutes to allow me to explain why I wanted to rent his land even though I already have a sim, not only would he have a new tenant, but a positive vocal voice for referrals.

You see, I don't own a sim to make money and turn it into a business. I'm content with one (I keep my own store there - that's the whole reason for it) - so I'm not in competition with these knuckle-heads ( and respectable non-knuckle-heads alike) - so I would have gladly referred friends to his estates and really talked him up good.

But now, not only will he not get that good word-of-mouth (I'm sure he's sold the plot by now) - but now he'll get a bad wrap every time I even speak about a sim owner - any sim owner - under any context. His name and sim name and group name (yes the names) will be spat out like sour milk. (I won't mention any names here, because as it turns out, even though he's a complete amateur and childish asshole at the same time - he did eventually return my money - after arbitration with a third party. And, I'm really not a griefer. So it wouldn't really be justified to do so.)

Now I also have decided to compete. Directly against him. It's become a vendetta now. Buying sims left and right is not beyond my means. And running the one I have now, I have really good experience managing them and turning them to supporting themselves. And my current tenants will surely provide wonderful references and testimonials as to my management style. oh, and since I'm in the communication, promotional, entertainment business in Real Life, I know every dirty little secret in the book when it comes to direct competition.

So I will now begin my own estate company. Can't mention my intended name here, not yet... need to establish it first. And I'll model my sims in terraform design similarly to his, intentionally. As long as I do the RAW image files myself, there can be no complaints about Intellectual Property rights or copyright, because you can't reserve a concept.

So, look out, bonehead.
I'm coming, and you're in my sights.

As for my readers... I'll let you know when the first residential sim is ready. Come on over and take look. Since I'm happy if the sim simply supports itself in tier, I can guarantee I'll have among the lowest weekly and monthly tiers in SL.

hmmm... still contemplating on posting the IM log here. It's not against LL TOS to post that stuff outside Second Life. Or, maybe I'll just update later and plaster this idiot's name all over the place.

Nah... he's not worth the effort. And I'm not really like that. But, if you are shopping for estate residential land to buy or rent - and you want to know who this is so you can avoid him (or run to him, whatever) - IM me in world. I'll be happy to spit his name out like sour milk.

So, have you had any sucky landlord experiences in Second Life?
Tell me.
I'm curious as hell.

Phil, 48, hasn't had sex with his real-life wife, Sara, in more than a year. Their marriage has deteriorated into daily squabbles over raising their 9-year-old hyperactive son or whether to have Sara's recently widowed mother move in. Instead of trying to work this out with Sara, Phil has escaped to his computer. He spends hours online living his imaginary existence. Phil's avatar, Frank, is everything he's not -- young, muscular and great in bed. Frank never has a problem with his erection, and his lover never turns him down. He's become obsessed with his avatar love, Diane, a cocktail waitress with beautiful red hair and amazing legs. When he's not 'in the world,' he's thinking about it. . . . He's worried that this 'game' has gotten out of hand."

Phil has a problem. A real one.
Yes, I saw that BBC special where they follow two real life couples who are together in SL and meet-up in real life. One is a happy story, the other a lot more likely (in terms of the interaction on meet-up - but not necessarily with her real life situation.)

This is a pretty good article that basically shows-off the same concepts. However, I also believe stories like these are really the exception, rather than the rule.

It's like the myth that 'most people' in Second Life are all out looking for virtual sex. Though there is real research and demographic to show this isn't true (about 18% of SL residents relax with porn of any kind, compared to 20% of web users - actually less than the established 'norm') - I don't have any statistics for my own claim. Let's just call it a gut-feeling.

Still, and interesting read, whether you take it as gospel or a huge pinch of salt:

The Pitfalls Of Online Role-Playing Games -- Courant.com: "As graphic technology advances, virtual social interactions are blurring the lines between fantasy and reality. More people are so transfixed by the imaginary, they prefer it to their mundane existences.

Caveat:
Noun
Warning, caution, admonition, proviso, condition, stipulation, provision, clause, rider, qualification… A warning or proviso of specific stipulations, conditions, or limitations.
Origin: mid 16th century: from Latin, literally ‘let a person beware.’

Ceveat Emptor:
Noun
the principle that the buyer alone is responsible for checking the quality and suitability of goods before a purchase is made.
Origin: early 16th century: literally ‘let the buyer beware.’

So we all know the ‘buyer beware’ rule. And it’s especially true in Second Life.
However, it’s also true for the *seller*.

We are all buyers. Even the sellers are buyers.
For example, in SL - all sellers need a place to sell from. That’s not usually an issue. You throw your stuff up on SL Exchange or OnRez.com and away you go. Though most will either buy land to set up shop or rent space in a mall or island.

So, even when shopping for a place to sell , buyer beware.

Don’t you just hate when the mall owners just start dropping notecards on people for no reason at all - advertising their malls in the hope you will be anything other than annoyed? Perhaps enough to even consider considering it?

It just so happens I received one of these. It also just so happens I was already in the process of considering vendor space in a few malls, even though I already own my own sim and 1/4 of it is dedicated to my own showroom.

Of course it had the usual over dramatic, overstated hoopla. I won’t mention the sim, the mall or the owner who spammed me… but even his exaggerated claims were lackluster at best. “the sim had more than 10,000 traffic last week.” Okaaaaaay. My 1/4 sim fluctuates between 8,000 and 13,000 every day. So whats so special about a whole sim doing that?

And we don’t use camping chairs or dancepads. (Full disclosure - since all this has happened, we did add a sim camper - but it’s an object camper that give prizes - and you aren’t tied to one spot.)

He told me “no campers”. I said “sell me - why should I rent space from you?”

He didn’t do a very good job. No compelling reason at all to even go look. But, I’m short on time and don’t want to make the effort of shopping, so I agreed to look around. When I landed, I was immediately unimpressed.

The ’sim’ was packed. I wondered if there were any available vendor spaces at all. But I saw camping dance pads immediately. And it was a forced landing point. So, my first thought was which vendor booth can I see from the landing point.

Nothing.
So he shows me a booth. There’s one right next to a very prominent, high profile retailer. I take this booth. I pay the rent (first month is free, so it was immediately refunded). It takes me a couple days to set up my temp-rez vendor (Zodiac House sells furnishings) before I can set anything out.

So I return in three days.

My booth is full of someone else’s stuff.
The rental box still has my name on it with 27 days to go.
On top of that - I check the parcel to learn that the mall owner only ‘owns’ about a 1.4 of the sim - and there’s only about 6 prims left. That with about six or seven empty vendor booths left - and no doubt, spam notecards still being distributed.

So, in a rage I Instant Message the owner - and in a someone friendlier tone, the owner of the vendors that are in my booth. To make a long story short - the mall owner had the vendor as a tenant… right where she was. Then he rearranged a bunch of booths (adding more, no doubt) - and returned all her stuff.

Before she could return her things, the owner sold me that booth. But, since I didn’t have time to place a sales box yet, the original renter returned, unknowing of my own purchased of that booth. So then I am offered to pick another empty booth and my rental box will be. On top of that, the whole parcel has a whopping sic prims available for me. I should have gotten a clue when the owner said my booth was good for “25 or 30 prims”.

Well, I just let that one pass… I left the group and such is (Second) life.
The ironic thing is that I’ve been in SL since spring 2006 (in a previous account) and have run successful businesses in the past. never had any issues with vendor space and malls, …until now.

So, even as an ‘olbie’ - I’m still learning.

Caveat emptor.