Furnation speaks
I received the link for a webpage in which Nexxus Ambassador relates the very disurbing tale of events over the last month in Furnation. It makes for disturbing reading, and is a cautionary tale for those who run sim maintained with donations. As I have often told my children, if something seems too good to be true, it generally is.
I have recently made a couple of items which I have donated to ROMA! to help Torin Golding with offsetting the upkeep of his sim, which I thoroughly support, and I think this may be a way forward for other sims too. Opening shops which carry items which are sold in aid of the sim is a great way of providing revenue for them, and can also provide explorers with something to put on their mantelpiece at home. I love the souvenirs from Suffugium, and once I restore my house, plan to put them in a place of honour.
I hope that ways can be found to support the Furnation sims, as they have always seemed to me to have a strong community and to welcome others who have travelled there to explore.
January 11th, 2007 • 
Caliandris Pendragon • 
comment | January 11, 2007 at 17:57 | individual comment-link
Caliandris, thanks for bringing these issues that Nexxus Ambassador faced in recent events to the VTOR readership. The events that Nexxus relates in his blog post raise some serious issues regarding Linden Labs. During the time that I have been an SL resident, roughly one year now, I seem to recall a number of instances that brought rise to serious questions regarding the actions of Linden Labs. Now what if there was fraudulent activity, similar to that which transpired with Furnation, was involved with any one of the sims of companies like Dell, Sun, IBM, or any one of the other big business that have an SL presence. Would Linden Labs have treated this in the same fashion? I for one, seriously doubt it. How about you?
I wish there was a way for the residents of SL to band together and press Linden Labs on issues of this nature in order to protect those of us who are honest and abide by the TOS (terms of service), plus our time and monetary investments, and the communities that we build within Second Life. But I do fear that their TOS pretty much eliminates any chance of that. The blatantly unfair actions of Linden Labs must cease if they intend to carry Second Life to the next level. But perhaps they no longer wish to carry Second Life further along, which could be a reason behind the GPL move.
I whole heartedly agree with Nexxus, the 3D virtual world platform has a vast untapped potential for many great things, far beyond that of being merely a vehicle for ecommerce. With Linden Labs moving the Second Life software to a GPL license ensures a brighter future for all who wish to develop & build a thriving virtual community that endures.
pingback | May 25, 2007 at 23:31 | individual pingback-link
[...] it seems very risky especially reading about other people having problems with money in SL. [ furnation money problems ] [ dark life robbed [...]