Tag: SL Marketplace

BREAKING NEWS (Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies Edition): The Free Kalhene Ariadna Mesh Body Has Been Removed from the SL Marketplace Due to a DMCA Complaint

Please note that I am taking a vacation from the blog for the next two to three weeks, except for sponsored blogposts (and the occasional breaking news story such as this).

Have you heard?? Minusseven has posted the following comment to my most recent blogpost about the Kalhene Ariadna mesh body:

Unfortunately, the Kahlene body has been taken off the marketplace. I heard it was because Maitreya had complained to LL, but that might just be a rumor.

I have checked and it is, indeed, now gone from the SL Marketplace. In the back of my mind, I think I knew that this might happen, which is one of the reasons I loaded up all my female alts in SL just to pick up a copy of this freebie.

I’m not sure if Linden Lab has the ability to actually remove content from people’s inventories if a product is deemed to be somebody else’s stolen intellectual property (I seem to remember that they can, but it is not used very often). Daisy Winthorpe (who knows more about this than I do) has informed me that:

Linden Lab can pull the UUID of the mesh and the UUIDs of the texture. If the person who filled out the DMCA has proof enough, I am sure they will.

So, it would appear to be possible that we could lose all Kalhene Ariadna items in our SL inventories. I hope it doesn’t come to that, but we’ll see. I will be sorry to see this beautifully-crafted female mesh body go; in a very short period of time it made a big impression!

The creator, Claudia Urdaneta, posted the following notice to the Kalhene Second Life group:

Hi all. I want to communicate something important about the ARIADNA bodymesh. I have recently received a DMCA for my work, and according to Linden’s rules, I must remove the content and disable it from sale until this whole issue is resolved. In the meantime I will continue to work on improving, and on new items. I ask you for patience and I want to thank you for the welcome that my work had. I hope this matter will be solved and it will be available again soon.

DMCA refers to the U.S.’s Digital Millennium Copyright Act. When Linden Lab receives a complaint against a store or brand, they must act. You can read more about the process here when I blogged about a DMCA complaint filed against The Genus Project, which led to the closing of their in-world store.

Hoo boy, the people over at Virtual Secrets (the National Enquirer of Second Life) are gonna have a field day with this one! Everyone is gonna have an opinion, and point fingers (probably at Maitreya). There will probably also be something on the SL gossip website The Whisperer, who tends to keep tabs (and provide receipts!) on the never-ending drama and intrigue in the Second Life fashion community.

Stay tuned! This could get interesting.

Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: Three L$1 Gowns from Higgle

I heard that Higgle was having a L$1 sale on the SL Marketplace, so I took a peek at their store on the SL Marketplace, and landed up buying three gorgeous dollarbie gowns!

Gown #1: Classic

This is the simple but elegant Dress Gown Black, which comes with an optional flexiprim jacket:

Gown #2: Romantic

The romantic Niellys dress in a soft pink colour consists of an applier top and a matching mesh skirt with optional flexiprims:

Gown #3: Dramatic

And if you are looking to turn heads, look no further than this stunning mesh gown, the Dress Dreams Charms in red! This is truly a gown that makes a statement. Something with such a wide, sweeping skirt would be completely impractical in real life, but you can certainly rock this look at your next big function in Second Life!

This beautiful golden Nefert choker in the bottom picture is a free group gift from Poison Rouge at the current round of the Très Chic shopping event (you can join the Très Chic group for free). Note that this choker is also a simple but elegant fix if you happen to have an avatar with a slight skin tone mismatch between the head and body!

Editorial: Second Life Users Are Less Than Happy About Linden Lab Doubling Commission Rates on the SL Marketplace from 5% to 10%

Have you joined the RyanSchultz.com Discord yet? You’re invited to be a part of the first ever cross-worlds discussion group, with over 300 people participating from every social VR platform and virtual world! More details here.

Image by 3D Animation Production Company from Pixabay

On Nov. 21st, 2019, Linden Lab (the makers of Second Life) announced:

On December 2nd, 2019, commission rates on Marketplace sales will become 10% of the item price. This will be the first commission increase since the Marketplace debuted a decade ago. This new rate remains significantly lower than most digital content commissions across the industry. Apple and Google charge a 30% commission on sales in their app stores, as do many other popular virtual worlds, VR and gaming platforms, such as Oculus and Sinespace.  

Many SL users have grumbled that the 10% figure (which will be double the previous 5%) does not accurately reflect the complete picture of how Linden Lab makes its money. Some have pointed out that comparing the 10% figure against the 30% commission charged by Apple and Google is misleading, given all the other transaction fees LL has implemented.

One commentator stated on the official Second Life user forums:

I did this calculation:

If I buy 2500L$, it cost me $9.73, and with transaction fee of US1.49 the final cost is US$11.22

If I sell an item on the MP for L$2500, I now get L$2250 for it. (10% LL commission as of Dec 2nd 2019)

When I sell the L$2250, I get US$8.13. (3.5% transaction fee to LL)

When I withdraw the balance to my bank, I get US$7.72 (5% Transaction fee to LL)

So if a SL member buys L$2500 and the merchant cashes it in, we are seeing a transformation of US$11.22 to US$7.72, and LL are effectively taking 31.2% for themselves.

LL say in their blog post: ”This new rate remains significantly lower than most digital content commissions across the industry. Apple and Google charge a 30% commission on sales in their app stores, as do many other popular virtual worlds, VR and gaming platforms, such as Oculus and Sinespace.”

They refer just to the 10% MP commission, but we see that LL is actually creaming off over 30% if you follow the money from start to finish.

10% MP commission is one thing, but then all the other charges just add up to something that is somewhat unfair.

I found this explanation very instructive, so I wanted to share it with you. If you want to read the entire thread on the forums, here it is. You might also find this conversational thread interesting.

I think that this is yet another step in a long-term strategy. Linden Lab is continuing a multi-year, concerted effort to shift its main income generation away from charging for land, and more towards charging for services. Once LL successfully launches SL sims “on the cloud”, as opposed to running its own expensive servers, I do expect that the cost of buying (or more accurately, renting) virtual land in Second Life will decrease as a result. But obviously, we aren’t quite there yet.

So, what do you think? Is this a price gouge on the part of Linden Lab, or a necessary cost of doing business? Please feel free to leave a comment below, or even better, join us on the RyanSchultz.com Discord server and tell us what you think there! We’d love to have you.

Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: META Basic Mesh Body for Male Avatars

Cat Pink, whose YouTube videos you should follow regularly if you are at all serious about tracking down Second Life deals and freebies, has found yet another inexpensive mesh body for male avatars. It comes from a store called META and it is available on the SL Marketplace for only L$1:

META 3 24 Jan 2019

The body is fully adjustable and includes Bento hands and a HUD with a complete set of alpha selections, which means you can get just about any clothing to fit it. Please note that it only comes in the one skin tone, a dark tan. This dollarbie version of the META body is not Omega compatible, but there is an Omega-compatible version for only L$699.

I paired this body with one of the free male Bento mesh heads I picked up from Akeruka, called Leon (remember my tip: join the Akeruka group for only L$150 and monitor the group notices for announcements of future free group gift heads!). The head comes with ten different skin tones, so I picked the closest match and hid the slight seam using a unisex choker from the excellent freebie store at Ajuda SL Brasil. Here’s what he looks like:

Meta Leon 2 24 Jan 2019.png

I especially appreciate the detail on the hands; they are particularly well done! This body is a good choice if you don’t want an overly-muscled look for your male avatar.

META Leon 24 Jan 2019.png

This casual outfit is one of the four free male outfits (including shoes) available at the Steamworkz Bathhouse & Resort Gay Beach (here’s a SLURL to take you directly to the spot where you can pick them up). People often overlook LGBTQ spots in Second Life and I have found that they can sometimes be a great source of freebies (you can even pick up a free penis attachment if you’re looking for one, to avoid that “Ken doll” look 😉 ).

This is an excellent addition to my list of free and inexpensive male avatar heads and bodies. You do not need to spend a fortune to have a good-looking avatar in Second Life!