Second Life and Virtual Worlds
For years we have in Second Life™ have complained about how poorly Linden Lab communicates with users/customers. Over the last couple of years that has improved. But, there are still areas in which the Lab seriously fails.
Daniel Voyager Plurked about Grendel’s Children Saved From Shutdown. This a somewhat common occurrence. I’ve long thought anything one wants to do with Lab will require far more time than one will imagine. This is another story adding support to my thinking.
The Viewer Managed Marketplace (VMM) is coming to Second Life™. Soon. The Lab will transfer products to the new system with some limits. Kate McLaglen put in a support case to find out the limits. Dakota Linden replied with a message. Kate posted the response. It came up in my reader, but I cannot access the page in the SL Forum. Go figure.
June 1, 2015, 7:31 a.m.
Dakota LindenHello Kate McLaglen,
Thank you for your comments regarding the notification about the automatic migration of your products from the current systems to the new Viewer Managed Marketplace system.The automatic migration process has a cap of 5000 items. If you have more than 5000 items, this number must be reduced before the auto migration process can occur for your store.
Any products that have not had a sale in over 1 year are archived. If you do not wish to have your products auto migrated, I will be happy to notify the Marketplace Team of your decision.
Your products will then need to be manually migrated to the new system before the Magic Boxes and Direct Delivery are discontinued as all products under the old system will automatically be unlisted from the Marketplace website.
Please confirm that you do not wish to have your store auto migrated and that you will manually migrate your products.
Once I have received your confirmation, I will notify the Marketplace Team of your decision.
Kind Regards,
Dakota Linden
—
Linden Lab
SL Marketplace Customer Support
https://marketplace.secondlife.com/
http://www.secondlife.com
There is a thread in the forum where discussion about the VMM has been/is ongoing. There are several comments from the Commerce Team in the thread. So, the Lindens are watching the thread.
It may not have occurred to you, but a number of products in the marketplace are those of people that have left Second Life. I wonder if the Lindens will archive the items of those that have not logged in for a year? Probably not. If it is selling, they are likely to leave it or at least I think Dakota’s comment suggests that.
Everything ends. It is just a matter of when. We hear this story of Second Life™ ending all the time. It is not new. Lots of Chicken Little. That SL has not ended, does not mean it won’t. The sky COULD fall. But, I think we will have plenty of warning should the end draw near.
I came to Second Life from Myst Online, which has closed and come back a number of times. So, I’m used to games I like closing. Rizom is another one I liked and played for a time. It too closed and came back. Others just closed.
VMM or Viewer Managed Marketplace, is getting close. There is a recent wiki page that was created in November 2014 that has just updated. The beta testing information is still there. It instructs one on how to get involved in testing and refers people to the LS Knowledge Base for more details on using VMM.
Someone in the forum is thinking now is the time to cash out their dollars for Euros. It might be. But, it is not a simple decision. Both market and personal factors set when is best.
Today the exchange rate is US$1.00=€0.95. (That changes by the minute) January 1, 2015 it was €0.826. So, if you cashed out US$1,000.00 in January you got €826. If you cash out today, you will get €951. Is that a good deal? It depends.
According to the graph the trend is a strengthening dollar and a weakening Euro. So, the longer you wait the more Euros you are likely to get for your dollar. Said another way, euros are getting cheaper, losing value. The problems with Greece and the European banks is portending big problems. People are abandoning the euro in anticipation.
This is an ongoing saga. Capital Exchange is a stock market simulation game caught in the Lab’s rules for Skill Gaming. For months they have been arguing with the Lab’s attorney (s).
There is a new update on the process: March 2015 Skill Gaming Update.
As I read the account of what is happening. I notice a similarity to many politically based legal disputes; delay, require more paper, drive legal costs up, never provide a clear point to oppose, … just an endless stream of obfuscation and delay.
Is the Lab deliberately using stalling tactics? Are the attorneys billing hourly? What’s going on? We can’t know.
Whatever the case, Skip Oceanlane, CEO, is now asking for your help. I suggest you read the articles he has been posting for months and make your decision as to whether you want to help. As it is now it is looking like the Lab, deliberately or not, has reached the point of abusing this SL business owner. It certainly appears to be the way to drive businesses out of Second Life.