SL Consumer Reviews

There may be other consumer groups out there, but this one has just started and is very promising. SL Consumer Reviews is a Second Life group that allows anyone to fill out reviews at a designated location and get paid a small bit of money (immediately $1 Linden, and then $10 L directly later if your review is considered acceptable). The form of payment promotes people to give their thoughts on various genres, ranging from animation overrides to clubs; there is also an 'other' category for stores that have offer a large variety or places that just do not fit in the standard categories. The immediate payment of only $1 L prevents people from spamming it with poor reviews, as well.

By being in the group, you are given updates as well as the access information to see the reviews. Currently, it is not open-open to the public, requiring a username and password for people to view the site. I believe this is because there are only a small number of reviews right now. The group is open to join, however, so it's not difficult to go in and find the information in the notices.

What I really like is this gives the opportunity to promote good content creators and potentially point out who's a thief. Frankly, I find people selling stolen products as an insult to my intelligence as well as a smack in the face to the original creators. This is a way for SL customers to speak their mind and take a stand for what they think is good and should be supported.

www.SLConsumerReviews.com

Content Theft in Second Life Pt. 2

Content Theft in Second Life Pt. 1

What if you’re not only an average SL citizen, but a content creator?

So you have an idea or a picture in your head that you think would be great to bring out and market, but you’re afraid to do so due to the recent rise of intellectual property theft in Second Life? I mean lets face it, what can you do to protect yourself? Well there is actually a lot you can do!

As the Lindens state in their Terms & Conditions, anyone person, group or company has the rights over what ever they create in Second Life. However, it is extremely hard to protect yourself and your products within because they state that it is up to YOU, the producer, to establish a system to protect you. Further more, the Lindens themselves also state that it is also up to YOU to prosecute should your intellectual property be subject to theft. So, what does one do to protect themselves and their creations? Here are a few ideas and suggestions:


1.) Exposure
Believe it or not, but getting your stuff out there in more forms than one shows more than once source of origination. For Example, say you have a skin you created- take the file and cut it up to make multiple fragments so it is harder to copy and put it in the ad. You could even add the image of the file in a banner you have created and post the ad on multiple websites. This will give the file more then one source of actual time stamped verification that the file was from you.

2.) Create Unique Traits
Make your product stand out from the rest by creating small details in the design the point to you as the creator. Like unique patterns of make up designs that will be hard to copy, or discreetly add your initials/company logo somewhere on the product. I would recommend encryptions, but unfortunately there is no such ability on Second Life as of yet. Be creative in your methods- the more creative the idea, the less likely for them to find the trait and deface your work in that area to cover their theft.

3.) Real Life Legal Protections
Now I will be the first to admit that I am no lawyer, nor a student of law. However, copyrights and patents are probably the only sure-fire way to get compensation for theft should it happen to you, and that is only if you have the funds and/or knowledge yourself to push this route. Linden Labs will not help in intellectual property theft, because lets face it: it is hard to prove you have intellectual property rights, and even worse, it is extremely easy to defend against the claims of intellectual property rights. So Linden Labs have the right idea, leave the law to the people in court rooms and stay out of the middle. Granted though, I am sure if you got a court order to have Linden Labs fork over data transmissions and tracking of who uploaded the file first, they would be happy to assist. If you want more information upon this route, I would strongly advise you to contact your lawyer, or find a lawyer if you don't have one and ask them about the best way to legally protect your virtual creations in real life law.

Add-In by the Girls: Companies like FlickR and deviantART are offering Creative Commons licenses for files uploaded to them. While not as strong as copyrights or patents, it is still something that traces it back to you. Keep in mind, though, that these companies may have their own Terms of Service, and you should read over and understand everything put before you. If possible, see if you can get these without going through a middle man.

4.) Avoid Avatar Shaping and Animations
It is nearly impossible to say that any one shape or animation is yours due to them being based off numbers only. That makes it limited in the possibilities and plausible that some one may happen to stumble upon the exact size and shape you input on to your avatar shape. So instead, try and use these as enhancers for your actual products. Some good examples are to create a shape that would make you skin look the best and explain how the shading of the skin texture would be better suited for the shape provided. Use animations to enhance an object(s) so that it seems like the avatar is actually using the object(s). Animations are hard to set up, but if you have it customized to your object(s), it would also make it that much harder to replicate or copy it, especially if you create your own enhancement agents.

Those are probably the best ways to protect your self. Are there other ways? More than likely, but as I stated above, I am not a lawyer and will not pretend to be one. So other than that, have fun and enjoy your self. After all, Second Life is a game and should bring you joy.

Conjuring a Chino Contest - February's Wicked Blog Contest

Ok, so I'm a nut for Chino Yray's blog. In fact, I'm bad about not sharing the link with others so I won't have competition for the weekly Top Commentator spot, and I've gotten into a 'commenting battle' before. But whatever- this isn't about my etiquette.

Well, actually...

Chino posed the following in his entry Thinking of a contest for February - Wicked Blog Contest:

Maybe because of my recent sickness, I can’t really think straight or get any idea for a unique contest this month. So instead, I’ll let you guys think of a good contest for me and make it a contest too.

What the hell Chino! What do you mean?

It just simply means that February’s Wicked Blog contest is suggest a good contest for my blog and the contest I will choose will be the winner. How’s that? You write a suggestion in your blog, contact me and send the link to your blog post.

So, after the kick-off post focusing on a severe form of rudeness (theft), and with some of the muck being stirred up now that the holidays are over (not to mention the politicians getting into swing for elections!), I think a great contest would be sharing stories of politeness in Second Life, and Chino could pick out his favorite. These could relate to incidents we've had or recount those of our friends, focus on going our of our way for others or seeing karma come around. By example, Green's told me about a friend of hers who, after being given some weapons to review for a magazine article, returned the guns back to the creator. Granted, her friend could have just kept them, but without a second thought, acted upon manners.

It can't hurt to promote positivity, can it?

Content Theft in Second Life Pt. 1

To seriously start the blog off, all of us would like to raise awareness about intellectual property theft.

What is intellectual property?

n. A product of the intellect that has commercial value, including copyrighted property such as literary or artistic works, and ideational property, such as patents, appellations of origin, business methods, and industrial processes.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

As Second Life is a virtual realm, it could be said that everything created is intellectual property, as it is all an idea in an imaginative world. However-

Why should people care about IP theft?

As much as an artist in "reality" cares about someone making a forgery of their work, an author cares about someone rewriting their novel under a different name, or an inventor cares about someone taking their ideas, so do Second Life content creators - skin makers, fashion designers, prim sculptors, and many more - care about their original works.

And there's also the fact that people can sell stolen goods for Linden, the currency of Second life (not just the last name of Second Life staff). Linden, in turn, can be exchanged for real money. Like US dollars, UK pounds, Euros- there are system that transfer this "monopoly money" into something substantial. So as much as rip-off artists can milk fakes for cash, so can virtual thieves.

Speaking as artists, the girls know that it can be utterly deflating and demoralizing after you put so much work into something only to have someone in little to no time duplicate it. Often, the copies are of horrible quality, too, adding insult to injury. If this persists, creators may give up creating for good.

What can you do?
As an average person and/or Second Life citizen:

1.) Don't take advantage of bugs.
The first thing you can do as an individual is don't physically contribute to the problem. Don't go ripping because Second Life can be manipulated that way. Don't do it just because you can. Even if you just want to take something and make a minor adjustment, you're disrespecting the creator. There are other ways to make yourself unique. If you are looking to make a quick buck, try to camp or do surveys- Chino Yray.Com has a whole bunch of information on how to do this legally.

2.) Be aware of what you buy.
While most store-owners and merchants are honest, if something looks very familiar to something you have seen before (especially from large names like Nicky Ree), appears copy-pasted, or just has a suspicious feel to it, investigate! Look around, for your instincts are probably right. Contact the original content creators to alert them of the situation, and if there is the opportunity, contact site or land owners.

3.) Be mindful of how you report.
This matter can really rile people up, but sometimes that can harm rather than help. Speaking from experience, one of the girls made a comment about on product on SL Exchange (an online Second Life product store, like Amazon.com) using inflammatory language. Her comment was removed and the thief lowered his price of the product, adding in later that it "wasn't his fault if others stole his work" and that he has been original for so many years. To our knowledge, it is still circulating (the original content creator is not pursuing action because it is such shoddy work, in her opinion). With this in mind, think before you act. Explore a website for its report options, look around an area for who to contact. This will keep you from looking like the bad guy while the thief gets away!

4.) Support originality.
Even just leaving a kind word with a creator can make their day brighter and keep their spirits high. By showing that you care, creators will keep creating, despite the hardships they are facing. If you have the opportunity, go to events supporting the protection of intellectual property or show-off with pro-IP items. Whatever you do, stay positive, for you, too, are one of a kind!

For more information, check out this link from FabFree.

Content Theft in Second Life Pt. 2