Recent Comments:
libSL transcript shock
Second Life Insider
Nov 16th 2006 2:17PM @Stuart RE:"Why am I completely not shocked by that? I hope this gets spread far and wide. Let them choke on their own arrogance. Debugging tool indeed."
I'm glad you liked my comment on the SLU thread enough to quote it. Next time, attribute it.
More Virtual Charity
Second Life Insider
Oct 26th 2006 2:11AM Prokofy, thanks for proving Aimee's point. You continue to be an endless fountain of irony!
Joshua, I hope your effort is a huge success, and good on you for doing this.
Blame it on Aimee
Second Life Insider
Oct 22nd 2006 8:52PM Prokofy wrote "People with numbers in their names tend to come from AOL. AOL now sponsors an SL blog -- Aimee's. It doesn't take rocket science to figure out that Aimee's high-profile and high-traffic blog, [snip], is bringing in droves of new accounts."
You're right Prok, it doesn't take rocket science. Science implies something more than unsubstantiated assumption and paranoid conspiracy theory which certainly isn't what you offered up. *laughs*
Here's a more rational assumption: SL is reaching the mainstream and appealing to a lot of people who aren't regular gamers - people who have handles they want to keep from wherever they came from. Many of those places have millions of users so that getting a handle there without a number appended is virtually impossible. They join SL and decide they'd like to have some continuity with the name they've been using previously so they bring the numbers with them. No tinfoil hat needed.
Reality bites
Second Life Insider
Oct 22nd 2006 8:41PM Welcome to the world of freelance art, hehe. I sympathize greatly with how you feel because it's something I've been dealing with in my RL profession since my first gig. It's the rare client who will let you have free reign to do something truly imaginative, and usually it's not worth the trouble to try and talk them into something other than what their preconceptions tell them they want. Usually the most pragmatic approach is to find the most direct line from a signed contract to a paycheck and a satisfied client, and that line rarely stops in fantasy land, alas.
Casualty of War - Torrid Midnight
Second Life Insider
Sep 9th 2006 6:37PM Elspeth wrote: "I can do anything I damned well please with it, as long as I'm not making bloody copies of it and selling them. If I want to purchase a skin, then modify it so that the words 'HAY I MODED THIS SKINN' cover every square inch of it, the designer of the skin *has no right to stop me*. Same thing as if I purchase a RL car and spraypaint 'I RULE!' on the hood; Ford *cannot* tell me not to do that."
That's not correct. SL assets are not tangible goods. They're part of the software. Ford can't tell you not to spraypaint your car, but EA, Blizzard, or any other game developer or publisher can tell you not to rip art assets from their game, and they do.
From the WoW TOS: "You agree that you will not (i) modify or cause to be modified any files that are a part of a World of Warcraft installation; (ii) create or use cheats, "mods", and/or hacks, or any other third-party software designed to modify the World of Warcraft experience; (iii) use any third-party software that intercepts, "mines", or otherwise collects information from or through World of Warcraft"
Look at the Terms of Service or EULA on any game from any non open-source developer and you'll see a similar clause. SL has one too but not as clearly worded. Using a GL hack to gain access to the textures being sent to your video card constitutes intercepting and mining content. If you'd like to challenge Blizzard in court let us know how it turns out. Clothing and skin content in SL is no different. The fair use argument is bogus.
Casualty of War - Torrid Midnight
Second Life Insider
Sep 9th 2006 12:47AM Wow, this sucks. There's not enough Midnight's left to lose any. What sucks more is that I can see both sides of it. I wouldn't be happy to find that someone ripped textures from one of my skins to modify it without my permission. No one wants their textures floating around out there with the permissions stripped off of them, and a lot of designers are very touchy these days because texture theft has become so easy and so common.
Having said that, every one of my skins that Torrid owns has been customized by her or Mistress, because they asked and I let them. I wouldn't do that for many people, but I've known Torrid and Mis since my very first week in SL and there are few people that I trust as completely.
I can understand being miffed if it was someone I didn't know whose reputation was questionable or unknown to me, because I'd feel an unacceptable level of risk. I can't think of many people who that description fits less than Torrid. I've always considered her beyond reproach and I hope that she'll reconsider. She and Mis have always been an asset to our community at large, and to the SL design community specifically.
I don't buy the fair use argument, personally, but to the offended parties, what's so hard about forgive and forget?
