Your2ndPlace

How long is it going to be before people accept that SLExchange has changed its name? I just can't bring myself to call it XStreet SL despite the logo, it's SLExchange. These things take time, the bus stop in town in Tesco was still the bus stop in town by Tesco years after Argos had moved into the store. Nowdays however it's the bus stop by Argos so eventually a change makes its mark.

I've been perusing showcase lately. The evil heinous showcase that has fashion as a section when it simply shouldn't be there. Take fashion out of it and it merely becomes questionable, fashion shouldn't be there, it's just plain wrong.

However I do find showcase to be useful. Who knew that Journey had a sim? More to the point, who wanted to know? You see search only finds what you want to find, if you're lucky. We do need more than search, despite what the perfectly prim lobby would have you believe. There's none so blind as those who can't see.

It's not just the showcase though, I was out checking a former ad farm area today and not only did I find a train track, minutes later a plane flew past me. I had been told about the SL railroad before but I hadn't checked it out, it's a really nice feature, but who would pay to ride it?

So I've been to a giant maze, discovered en garde, been ice skating (although I knew about that one already) and I'm planning on going skiing. I wonder at times how entertainment venues make money. Greenies have been charging, to much negative vibes, but this is a culture issue. I don't like the fact that they charge and I won't go there whilst they do, but why shouldn't they charge? They have to pay their tier fees like everyone else. My mind can't quite understand why I find this concept wrong.

So it came to pass that a giant monster was unleashed on the mainland, not in the shape of a 16M parcel as first feared, but in the shape of those whom now want to shape the mainland in their image.

Jack Linden's office hour tonight was arguably the ugliest office hour since Jack's last office hour. Those who sense victory on the ad farm issue, whom have largely achieved their goal now have a bigger goal and it's one I'm extremely uncomfortable with.

Instead of thanking Linden Lab for cleaning up the mainland, they now want more, this isn't an Oliver Twist type more, this is the screaming tantrum style more of a child who can't get his own way. The meeting at times descended into schoolboy farce with name calling and threats of abuse reports being submitted by one member of the audience if someone used the word "Extortion", whilst another person was threatened with being sent outside the classroom by Jack himself. All we needed was a threat of detention and the picture would have been complete.

The aim now of some is to have all 16M parcels wiped from the landscape, or, if they must persist, to be sold only for a fair market value. The question of to whom was never quite answered but I suspect there's plenty of self interest going on here.

I'm not a fan of 16M parcels, I've purchased some recently near my land and joined them, they're currently designated as empty spaces with their prim allotment used elsewhere on the sim. I won't pay over the odds for a 16M parcel and now with the elmination of the use of "adverts" and banlines, nor should anyone else. There's no longer a need to buy back the view. That was always the argument, these parcels spoiled the view. Now that that argument has been won the new argument is that 16M parcels spoil full stop.

There's an interesting article over at the Motley Fool discussing, a little tongue in cheek, the Second Life economy.

The financial statistics aren't encouraging, a drop in spending, a drop in the value of the Linden dollar and yet, they point out that usage growth is up. Indeed concurrency has been hitting the 70,000 mark recently. So who are these people? What are they doing and why aren't they renting my land spending money?

Some people are still making healthy profits, over on Caledon I can almost hear Desmond saying "Crisis, what crisis?". However there does seem to be an increase in people questioning the state of the economy.

This needs to be put into perspective, ever since I arrived in March 2007 I've seen people stating that the sky is falling or that sales are down. So it's not unusual to see these complaints but there seems to be an added sense of gloom around at the moment.

Personally I'm still not happy with search, I don't think it's a useful business tool in its current guise. However even allowing for that, that's an individual issue, the money should still be being spent somewhere. There was of course the gambling ban, which did hit the overall economic stats although not in the way some thought it would. I always felt that gambling money largely stayed in gambling circles.

However gambling bans are so 2007, so why does it seem we're getting less for more at the moment? More users, less spending, something is amiss. The stats aren't startling, they aren't even worrying, but something doesn't feel quite right at the moment.

The RL issues, which are both startling and worrying, could kick in at some point, but I don't think that's the issue just yet. There are also people still carrying extremely expensive adverts.

There's a theme you know. So I'm reporting live from my home after just attending Jack Linden's office hour and what a vicious office hour it was. The mob were in the house, the monster and his sidekick were in the house, Jack Linden was in the house and by the end of the meeting someone with the ominous name of "Beware Hax" was asking questions, which had an eerie feeling to it as earlier in the meeting someone reported that the notorious Hax himself had been inworld at the weekend, however like reports of the loch ness monster and the yeti it's a case of "Pics or it never happened".

So what's the skinny on the lowdown I hear you ask. Well here's the rub of the green, rental boxes are a pretty core part of business for many landlords in Second Life, yet they're advertising aren't they? For sale signs are covered by the ad policy, the policy aims to be consistent and well, many a mainland landlord is going to be in a bit of a pickle if rental boxes are covered by this ad policy.

Jack isn't sure at the moment if they are covered, yet he did say the policy has to be consistent. This is a big can of worms, not least because it could well have implications for some big inworld companies.

This is careful what you wish for territory, a bit like searching You Tube for "You shook me all night long" and finding yourself inexplicably drawn to a Celine Dion cover of the song, well it beats Baccara and "Yes Sir I can Boogie", some people have a lot to answer for.

We're sleepwalking into silliness over this ad policy. We all know what an ad farm is, we all know what an eyesore is, we all know what an extortion plot is, and many of us are going to find out the complexities of strict enforcement of an ill thought out policy come October 2nd.

I'm mightily impressed with the support I received from Linden Lab this week regarding some microparcels with banlines next to my mall. They were owned by the notorious Governor Linden, so after a nod and a wink I found myself in possession of said parcels for an absolute bargain price. I won't name names, but thank you!

There's an interesting article by Mitch Wagner over at Information Week about where Second Life might be heading.

All the usual issues are raised, performance, concurrency, questionable figures, nobody quite knowing what the platform is for. It's an interesting read, which is generally what I expect from a Mitch Wagner article. However it still leaves an empty feeling of a platform that is a jack of all trades and master of none.

There are some issues that just won't go away and one of them is simply group limits. Whatever has to be done to sort out group limits needs to be prioritised. I pay for extra groups, I use Hippo for that purpose. If Hippo can come up with a solution then Linden Lab should be able to come up with a solution. I mean no disrespect to Hippo there, they're innovative, subscribe-o-matic has been here for quite some time too and shouldn't be forgotten.

Whether Linden Lab completely revamp the group system, introduce paid extra groups, have message only groups, provide more roles, they simply need to improve this feature, it's a key tool.

Then there are issues such as broadcasting, broadcasting should be massive in Second Life and yet we're tied so closely to quicktime but Linden Lab should be actively engaging the news corps because if there's one thing this platform is good at it's discussions. There are lots of discussions going on, from the banal to the fascinating. Bring on the meaty debates and issues.

I can post the full text of Jack's Office hour tonight, without fear of any retribution because here is the official text:

"

"

Yes there you have it, Jack didn't show. One of the most eagerly anticipated office hours of recent weeks and not only does the organiser not show, nobody can be bothered to inform the rampaging mob until the meeting was due to finish anyway.

This is really piss poor customer service. I know people get held up but they knew people were awaiting this meeting due to the current debate and they couldn't even be bothered to get a message to the people attending. If I was writing this on livejournal there would be a "Mood : Pissed Off" icon.

I know people get busy but surely a Linden somewhere could have put a bloody sign up.

Those who did wait around discussed Cockles and Twinkies until Ancient Shriner arrived to start a discussion about advertising, aided and abetted by Gnusense Shepherd, the TAG team tried under difficult conditions to defend their practicies. How Ancient Shriner doesn't know who RN Footman is, is beyond me, but that's a side issue.

If TAG actually had responsible advertising I'd happily use them. I'm not happy with the advertising available within Second Life, I'm always on the lookout for opportunities but utilising TAG now would do far more damage to my product than it's worth, I won't touch them with a bargepole in their current guise. I'm happy advertising with Marston Davids at Club Carnage.

Marketing within Second Life just doesn't seem to have the oomph one would expect and part of this is due to the scourge on the landscape of ad farmers. Advertising is a dirty word. So when TAG say they're working on a solution that means working with parcel owners, I'm hopeful but not optimistic because they've been telling me this for some time.

The whole ad farm issue is too depressing for me to want to discuss right now, monsters have been unleashed on all sides with extremists trying to get their way on an issue that really shouldn't be this hard to solve. Harassment and griefing were already covered in the TOS, there was also a ban on ad farms, I'm not sure why there has to be all this turmoil.

Then there's the land market. I have a little mall in Second Life, there are some odd advertising plots nearby with Vote McCain type boxes above them, and strange slogans. Then there are 16M parcels with banlines, not for sale and owned by Governor Linden and then there are plots for sale and if you want to despair at the land market then these are the plots to look at.

A 1024M for sale for L$12,000. That's around the price I paid when I purchased land in that sim. Then there's a 1024 for L$8,650. However then we see the reality of today's prices kicking in, a couple of 1024's for L$5,700 and then 512's, that tell the story of where we're at. One is for sale for L$2,000 and one for L$1,980.

For less than L$4,000 I could own a 1024 (the plots are adjacent). That's the land market for you, but there's a massive disparity of prices in that sim, the guy selling the plot for L$12,000 is going to be waiting a long time for a buyer there me thinks.

However as that's all much too depressing I thought I'd delve into the wonderful world of the Jira. A monstrosity of a tool for the average user, but a useful tool in the greater scheme of things.

The problem with the Jira is that it is so cumbersome. Linden Lab want more people to report faults but when they do report faults they'll receive curt replies that it's already been reported, that more information is needed, that the problem can't be reproduced.