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2025-01-28 01:14:08

metasocieties@eicker.news

»Linden Lab Announces Plans to Escalate Legal Action Against Egregious Content Theft in Second Life« https://nwn.blogs.com/nwn/2025/01/linden-lab-sl-ip-rights-protection.html?Meta.societi.es #Metasocieties #Metaverse #VirtualWorlds #SecondLife

2025-01-28 09:15:53

Stex Auer

stexauer@mastodon.social

@metasocieties Any initiative concerning the protection of intellectual property is welcome, also considering two other aspects: the first concerns the Free circulation of ideas and the second the enhancement of creativity.

2025-01-28 14:34:58

Jupiter Rowland

jupiter_rowland@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

@Stex Auer

the second the enhancement of creativity.

This reminds me of how rampant copybotting of Second Life content killed off almost all creativity in OpenSim in no time back in 2015.

Speaking of which, I'm wondering if Linden Lab is specifically targetting OpenSim here. This could end up either impossible or not worth it or really ugly. If you've got too much time to read...

CC: @Metasocieties

#SecondLife #OpenSim #OpenSimulator #Metaverse #VirtualWorlds #Piracy #Copybotting #ContentTheft

2025-01-28 16:52:58

Stex Auer

stexauer@mastodon.social

@jupiter_rowland

Yes, I think opensim is one of the reasons for this action by Linden. Many who have moved to OpenSim have done so for economic or ideological reasons
For different reasons and in the name of a market rejection, they justified the copybot, giving reasons to Linden to no longer support the project and those reluctant to expand their market. A huge waste of resources and energy. Unfortunately.

2025-01-28 17:36:05

Jupiter Rowland

jupiter_rowland@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

@Stex Auer I know from personal experience that many OpenSim users expect OpenSim to be Second Life, free-of-charge, but otherwise Second Life. Including the same content, but free-of-charge. Or at least that subset of the same content which they desire. For example, that's what makes female avatars look sexy (or what these people take for sexy) and male avatars look badass.

Let me put it this way: Over the last years, more female footwear with 6" platforms and 12" spike heels was stolen from Second Life than with flat soles. There are more medium-heeled female shoes made in OpenSim and rigged for Ruth 2.0 RC#2/RC#3 than there are stolen medium-heeled shoes for all female Second Life mesh bodies combined. It's magnitudes easier to dress an Athena-based avatar like a completely overdone slut than to make a veritable and credible winter outfit. And I guess you can't even dress Legacy for autumn in OpenSim.

Fully legal mesh avatars are very difficult to make and maintain, especially if you don't want to run around with the same outfit on all the time. It's possible, but very difficult. One reason for this is because it isn't really worth making mesh clothes from scratch, especially free mesh clothes. If you have a male avatar, you have to trust certain merchants when they say that they've imported Second Life content with the consent of its creators. If you have a female avatar like @Juno Rowland, you have to make do with Clutterfly, textured Damien Fate meshes, skin-tight clothes as layers, and you have to know very obscure creators for the rest.

Second Life creators traditionally barely have any chance in OpenSim. This is largely due to that "Never buy in OpenSim" mantra which some seem to believe to have originated from OpenSim's own creators, but which was actually coined by the copybotting mafiya in the 2010s to get rid of legal payware merchants. Getting rid of legal freebie merchants was attempted with its own tricks.

Also, the vast majority of OpenSim users doesn't want to invest any money anyway, at least not beyond what little they pay for their sims. Most of those who cite anti-capitalism as the reason for supporting "Never buy in OpenSim" are either poor or just plain cheap.

The items that sell the best, both in Second Life and in OpenSim, are avatar accessories. You can't sell avatar accessories in OpenSim for money. There's next to nothing in this regard that isn't already available in OpenSim as illegal copies, at least not if it's actually (considered) wanted by the users. And even if you want to offer brand-new clothes, wearing them requires a stolen body. That is, unless you rig for Ruth2 or Roth2 which were made in and for OpenSim (terrible devkits notwithstanding), and doing so isn't even worth the effort in Second Life.

Lastly, if a Second Life creator offers something in OpenSim for money, and it's good in some way, you can be certain that someone else wil copybot it from Second Life and then offer it as freebies. In fact, I'm not sure if Studio Skye joined the Kitely Market before or after their beach kit was copybotted.

But I'd really like to see what happens if Linden Lab, with Second Life creators by their side, sue the owners of some of those small American or European grids that are built around massive freebie stores into submission, have their grids shut down and even make sure that they won't start new grids. I guess if the legal action that was threatened some ten years ago already is actually taken, and entire grids (albeit small ones, but with popular, significant freebie sims) fall victim to it, this may shock quite a few people. Especially if these grids don't pop up again within no time.

#Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #SecondLife #OpenSim #OpenSimulator #Metaverse #VirtualWorlds #Piracy #Copybotting #ContentTheft