I'm not quite sure what your position is here -- not only is your
analogy ill-conceived and simplistic but you assume that something
doesn't have value because you, personally, don't think it has value.
A JPEG image doesn't have any inherent value--it's given value by the
market. I could license a rights-managed photo for Web use for $800
from a stock photo site. It's a high quality photo taken by a
professional photographer and I am afforded some exclusivity because
the price is high and it's not royalty free. I feel pretty
comfortable that I can use this image and the likelihood of another
person using in the same space is relatively low.
Let's say I hire a photographer for a shoot and I pay to have an
exclusive license to those photos which will then be used in an ad
campaign in signage, print ads, online ads, and on my Web site. I've
paid the photographer $10K for 10 images. People see the images and
associate them with my brand. Those JPEGs on my Web site have a lot
of value to me.
Now if you take those images and start selling them -- not only does
it de-value the images themselves, it pollutes my branding and
negates the exclusivity of those photos.
I don't believe CopyBot is going to do much real damage to the SL
market. I support the endeavors of the LibSL group. What CopyBot did
more than anything was reveal the fear that both creators and
business-owners share: will something I've worked hard to create and
build, which currently has value, be rendered valueless. It's a fear
I can appreciate.
In addition, your implication that "shoes" and "hair" have no value
within Second Life is simply false. Just because you don't find
something compelling doesn't mean that other people share your
opinion -- all it takes is one look at the market to disprove your
position. Suffice it to say that a lot of "shoes" and "hair" are sold
in Second Life everyday, along with a whole host of other non-
compelling items.
On Nov 16, 2006, at 9:05 AM, Ryan Gahl wrote:
Very true. The people complaining are those that have based
businesses on basically selling what amounts to the 3D equivalent
of a JPEG on a web page. I can right-click on a web page and save
any image I want, but the site doesn't shut down because they
actually have a _compelling_ application with a backend or content
that goes beyond the JPEG.
People either have to learn how to make stuff beyond "shoes" and
"hair" (i.e. something with more value than a JPEG), or give up on
the platform, cuz those people just don't get it.
_______________________________________________
libsecondlife-dev mailing list
[email protected]
https://mail.gna.org/listinfo/libsecondlife-dev
http://www.libsecondlife.org/
