some acronyms from the “business” world make me crazy – wiifm – is one of those
what’s in it for me is a self-centered, anything but altruistic, type of statement but . . . i find myself falling into that type of thinking when i think of sharing the stuff i make in OpenSim. i don’t like that mindset and it runs counter to my nature. i like sharing and as a generalisation, it’s a basic principle that has allowed human civilisation to grow
in the scientific community, much is shared so that others may build upon what has been learned. imagine if Newton had never shared his three laws of motion?!? and if no one else had shared their discovery of the same after his time – what a mess we’d be in. i guess we’d still be living in caves, like the neanderthals of France (hmm, living in France sounds pretty good to me! but who would have invented wine and cheese if we did not share discoveries?)
hi $$$ robot
Second Life defined “virtual world” for many people in OpenSim and part of that definition is selling content. there are lots of freebies inSL but for really good stuff, you pay for it. BUT . . . the cost for really top-of-the-line content is pretty cheap. the best hair and shoes can be found for $400L and expensive stuff can be $5000L
i remember paying $5000L for a robot avatar i really liked and i remember thinking that $5000L was a lot of money. the SL economy is really skewed because $5000L at that time was only S19.00 USD which isn’t much for a detailed 3D build (compared to prices on TurboSquid and the rest of the real world). i’m not sure why i felt that $5000L was a lot, i was averaging over $25,000L a day in land rentals and real-world freelance rates can easily be $75 USD per hour and up! there’s a disconnect there that i have never understood, yet it is a paradigm that i am still a part of o_O
great freebies do exist inSL
even with SL content prices being low, it’s easy to think that good content does cost and maybe that’s my dilemma with OpenSim content. on the other hand, so many iPhone/Android apps and useful web services are totally free and there is a certain expectation that a good deal of OpenSim content should be free too
why is that?
how can the OpenSim community foster content creators to create free content that we all can benefit from but still afford some recognition and/or reward to those creators?
Linda Kellie created some nice child avatars that i mentioned last week and i felt compelled to donate $30. $30 isn’t much but it maybe helps pay for website hosting. if we end up using her kids, then we’ll donate more
maybe one approach is to identify a good creator for something you need and “sponsor” them to create content for you that you’ll allow them to share as Creative Commons licensed
People do stuff for free for all sorts of reasons.
A feeling of accomplishment. (Wikipedia editors.)
Recognition of peers. (Scientists.)
Fame and glory. (Artists, writers, musicians.)
The happy feeling you get from doing something nice for someone else.
Reciprocity. (I’ll help them now, they’ll help me later.)
Karma. (I’ll help them now, someone else will help me later.)
To absolve guilt.
To leave a legacy.
And business reasons, too:
To sell some of them a premium service later. (Gmail, Skype.)
To show them ads. (Facebook, Google.)
To sell them related materials or services. (Any consultant who blogs.)
To develop a professional identity for a new career. (Some open source developers, many bloggers, performers of all kinds.)
To help improve a company’s brand image. (Greenwashing.)
To promote a sale, event, or new product line.
To bet on a new platform or direction — even if monetization opportunities aren’t clear yet. (Many dot-com companies in their early stages.)
Maria Korolov
21 Feb 12 at 10:06 pm
Another Great article. Your donation to my website was so very much appreciated.
Just wanted to add a comment about why I do what I do. There are many reasons but in the end it’s for selfish reasons. Not for donations or anything along those lines. But I have to have a creative outlet. I am rather tied to my house and my whole world is in this house. So being in virtual worlds gives me a life. Seeing people use the things I make makes me feel like a productive part of society. I think without doing this I would be very depressed. When someone takes the time to email me or IM me or write something in a blog (such as you have done) it makes me feel like I matter.
There are so many people in OpenSim that give. I am amazed every day. And I am sure everyone has different reasons for what they do. But I am just glad they do it. It’s like a perfect little life where everyone shares and helps each other out. Gotta love it. :)
Linda Kellie
21 Feb 12 at 10:18 pm
wiifm …
Fun. I don’t contribute much free content, but I am working on some. Space ships, actually. I enjoy it and, to be honest, my RL life is kinda crappy, so having something fun to do is a big thing.
And then there’s pride in craftsmanship. That’s another big one. Knowing I’ve put something together that others enjoy. And that isn’t limited to content. That’s the one I’m shooting for with Excelsior Station. Building something that others will enjoy.
wiifm isn’t all bad. What is bad about it is the accepted interpretation of the acronym.
Sarge Misfit
21 Feb 12 at 11:06 pm
@Ener “there’s a disconnect there that i have never understood, yet it is a paradigm that i am still a part of o_O”
This model that Linden Labs had (or still have) is before its time. We are seeing similar in Phone App pricing $0.99 to $2.99 for software that would have sold for at minimum $19.99 for similar functionality on a PC or Mac, and in a few examples, hundreds of dollars.
I read an article that app developers that get rich and in the news(ala Angry Birds) is quite low. The bulk are in the Starving Artist category. $15,000 income was average for something that needed full time dedication.
Breen Whitman
22 Feb 12 at 12:45 am
What I love about OSgrid is the culture of sharing and helping each other with no strings attached. For such a small population it’s quite amazing just how supportive and friendly most people are. In contrast, in Second Life I am more likely to get IM’s from strangers begging money or seeking cyber sex. On the other hand I would say OSgrid is a victim of it’s somewhat communistic way of life. Good name/brand creators avoid it and if they set up in Opensim grids at all it is the walled gardens that have the one piece of security that people tend to see as full proof (not that it is) – which is locking content in.
Nothing is free anyway. Even the hosting businesses which do make money out of OSgrid have their overheads and have to compete with others for customers. Pricing is definitely a factor but also the provision of utilities where some like Dreamland Metaverse can provide web-based services enabling tenants to do back-ups, restarts, etc, etc. You can’t escape the commercial aspect no matter where you go.
We have seen Nova just recently dropping prices to as little as $6 a month and even offing free Amazon cloud hosting but where are they now? Gone and unhappy customers left without their sims and not a word of warning!
Sharing is a wonderful thing but it may also carry the seeds of stagnation where creativity as an end in itself is not enough to draw in people and expand the population. In my view we need both the sharing culture and the commercial sector if OSgrid is to grow and it can’t do that until security is better addressed. I think Opensim needs at least some form of forth permission like Import/Export on/off so at least those creators who don’t want their stuff to leave a grid like OSgrid – even in an oar file – wont. The OutwardBounds permision used in HYpergrid that allows the grid operator to prevent content from leaving a grid is not enough, especially on OSgrid where it is left on for practical reasons.
In respect of content security the Opensim developers, bless their cotton socks, have dragged their heels for far too long. The proposal above has been in Mantis for as long three years already so I was told and even though it was proposed again recently. Each time it gets pushed back and buried!
In my view, and I know many others, the content security issue is long overdue for serious attention or the barriers to a free and open Metaverse will never be lifted and the best content will only ever be found on the walled garden grids and Second Life. People like Linda Kellie and Lani Global can only do so much and believe me there are more who give away their creations too but there is still a lot we miss out on in-world unless we go to web-based content sellers like Total Avatar shop. In my view, until security is addressed and some attention piad to the needs of the commercial sector are met OSgrid will always be limited in that respect and a truly open Metaverse remain a distant dream.
Gaga
22 Feb 12 at 1:06 am
At the moment, when we share content in Openism, we all gain. And we get Opensim itself free, so I feel by sharing a few things of our own, we’re only just balancing the books.
People do have to eat though, and I see no harm in making money to do that.u
But it struck me some time ago, much of the money spent on Second Life is never in Second Life. A research grant for a project using SL or OS will not all get spent in world – most will go on staff salaries for technologists and academics, and possibly external contractors. And the costs for their computers and RL work space.
I recently described my activity as a speculative hobby. It reminds me of my early hobby efforts with computers which eventually led to many years of gainful employment.
In the long run this might pay back, for now, I think just doing it is an end in itself.
keith selmes
22 Feb 12 at 2:59 am
Many believe that in order for the 3D web to become the web then the platform itself must be free. This comes from the belief that the 3D platform is like the coding languages that make the documents of the web, such as html and javascript. This is erroneous. The platform is a layer of software created to deliver content created in that “document” layer of web technology. In current terms, Agencies that USE Opensim (the CMS, if you will) are the “Amazon” of the 3D web. Free to browse, buy, wish, read, and not so free to sell, host apps..deliver content. Some creators wish to give their content away for free and others don’t. It’s all based on the individual business model and motivations for the content. I’ve used this analogy before and been told, “But Amazon is just a website built in c++, perl, java, etc.” Not so. Amazon is a DOMAIN which uses these technologies to create a platform to offer their services and deliver content to consumers. That’s why it’s free to go there..when’s the last time you had to pay a cover charge to walk into a mall? Does that mall pay mortgage or rent, utilities, taxes, all the rest? Did they pay for the building? So does Amazon! And….so do those using Opensim.
This is the reason for the closed commercial grids. Inworldz is the model – the Amazon, if you will – of the 3D web company. It’s free to go there, be part of the community, browse, have fun – it’s Amazon. Hell you can spend hours on Amazon without even realizing it! Sound familiar? It does to me. But if you want the further experience..you use a little more of the service, and it costs the company a little more, and you have to pay for that. You can still give away your content, or sell it..and neither is right or wrong. The site provider needs to pay their bills, the content creator has to pay his bills, and the users of the content need to be willing to pay for it in order to use it.
People have this thing where they talk about “IW” or “SL” and “RL” as if there’s a separation there. Is my typing this long on this comment not really happening? Is it any more or less “real” than my spending hours on a grid creating content? Your time is real – as is your expertise, your talent, your WORK and these things have a VALUE. Knowledge may be free, but the ability to use that knowledge isn’t.
ELQ
22 Feb 12 at 4:55 am
I love to create free items for people in OSgrid, I like the stress free in creating in OSgrid, I don’t have to create to get traffic in my shops or on our sims. I can’t create when the whim takes me, or if someone requests a particular item, or just creating things for me & my family. To me OSgrid is what SL started out to be before people became greedy for Lindens, I was like that too once, then I found OSgrid. I like the line “build and they will come” or something along those lines lol
Toy McBride
22 Feb 12 at 5:27 am
I never think “what´s in it for me when i share stuff i have built for myself. As i use free stuff I want to contribute with my stuff. Both in SL and OsGrid and wherever.
But if someone asks me to work for free and do something im not that interested in, I may ask myself that question. If its not a cause i want to support by other reasons.
Mera
22 Feb 12 at 5:41 am
There is a wonderful mostly forgotten play by Edmond Rostand about a Rooster who believes with all his heart that his morning song sings up the living sun (gutenberg.org/ebooks/10747)
He fights through doubt, and the greedy, hateful and hungry denizens of the night to get to his singing perch each morning.
This morning’s song is his version of a splendid call to duty, (his service to humanity).
When the idea of intellectual property takes the form of some fat bloated and greed ridden talk radio mouth-piece. It is not a form that can serve humanity, but on another hand, having a system where resources can flow, and empower better things is also important. Starvation is just as ugly as that bloated talk radio blow-hard who’s mantra is hate and greed. The best solutions come from platforms with balance and tolerance, not one extreme or another.
Araxie Longoar
22 Feb 12 at 1:19 pm
As I said before, Opensim would be have a lot of content if younger students or university students just get into opensim and show what kind of things they can do and build. Even Opensim can be used by computer science universities to show some scripting programming with LSL Script. It would be a good introduction and more students would be interested in development or who knows to share their builds to the opensim comunity. I doubt so much that some SL builders will do something to opensim but only on comercial grids like Avination or Inworldz. The best way is to show to the younger generation what they can do in opensim.
Xpontaneus
22 Feb 12 at 2:59 pm
Played SL didn’t like it (love OpenSim), so can I play the clueless one and ask (other than decent vehicles) What’s missing from OpenSim? Yes, a list would be nice :D.
Araxie Longoar
22 Feb 12 at 4:30 pm
The core of any economy is value. Most people think it is money, but value is more fundamental than money. To see think just think: Money can have value, but value can’t have a money. This shows that value must be more fundamental than money.
In any case of a trade, there are 4 values to consider in it.
1) The value you place on what you have
2) The value you place on what I have
3) The value I place on what I have
4) The value I place on what you have.
(Note: One of us could have money and we would each put a value on that)
If we were to only consider the monetary price in this and not value, then the trade would appear as a 0 sum exchange (the amount of money I give you for the item is the amount of money you get for the item). That is there is no net loss or gain over the trade.
If this were true, then no economy could ever develop, it would be stuck forever at a single point. But, as we all know and see, economies are not stagnant, they do indeed grow (and yes, sometimes collapse).
When we look at “value” in the trade, however, as there are 4 values, it means that I can value what you have more than what I have and you value what I have more than what you have (in fact, this is necessary for a fair trade). This means that in the trade, my total value increase as does your’s, and because both our values went up, there has been a net increase in value (and shows how economies grow).
But, what does this means for sharing?
When you share information that can be freely copied, then the trade you make is with the entire community (as everyone gets access to your stuff, and you get access to everybody else’s stuff). So the “Value” you need to look at for what you receive is the entire value of the communities works (as you value it).
So, when you add to the community, the value of the community goes up. This attracts new members, and when they join to the community (or existing members add new content) then the value of the community goes up. But, as your value is based on how you value the content of the community, then as the value of the community goes up, so does your personal value.
This is the difference between a scarcity economy and a post-scarcity economy. In a scarcity economy, because the content owned by people in the community is scarce, then the value of the resources needed to replicate (or even make) content can exceed the value of that content, then it is important to protect and restrict access to it (IP and other copyright regulations).
And, by carefully controlling the supply of this content, a developer can utilise the laws of supply and demand to control the value of their product (and thus how much people will trade for it).
In the post-scarcity economy, because it is easy to reproduce the content and the value cost for doing so is so low (or non-existent), then trying to control the value as one would in the scarcity economy actually reduces the net value of the community (and thus the value of the community members – including the content producer).
Until the information age (ie: digital information and computers), information was still in a scarcity economy (although the printing press moved us towards the post-scarcity information economy). But now that we have the internet and digital information, we have the technology to convert information into an almost full post-scarcity economy.
So, Wiifm?
Moving towards a post-scarcity economy (for information) will increase the value of the community, and thus the value of anyone participating in that post-scarcity economy.
What I hope, is that one day, even the material world will become post-scarcity (and with 3D printers, this could be the first steps – equivalent to the existence of the printing press for post-scarcity information).
Paul
23 Feb 12 at 5:28 am
Here’s how I usually went about things – one of two modes.
In SL, I didn’t have any problem purchasing content if I found something 1. I really loved/had to have and 2. couldn’t do myself. In fact, one of the last major purchases I made had been a gorgeous build selling for about a hundred bucks. I could’ve built it myself, sure, and rooted up a little fireplace script, door locks and window tints. But the work I could see as a builder that went into it made it beautiful, the creator spent some quality time making not just one build but a series of them and charged a premium fee for it. I shelled it out. I hate now that I did it since it’s wasted money.
The other mode is freebie shopping for components – this is when I’m usually not prepared to pay. Scripts and stuff (plus, scripters in SL are a pompous bunch, seeming to think their work is so top secret they can’t be bothered to discuss the how tos – those ones never got my money). If I am needing a quick solution – such as right now, desperately needing a friggin auto delete script or “function” to add to the boat script (that works out of the box), I want to go find it and stick it in there and have it work out of the box. If that happens, then I’ll be more inclined to patronize that creator for other things. If they’re helpful and willing to show me when I’m legitimately trying to learn how it works then eventually they’ll come up with something that lands me in the first mode – something I love but can’t do myself and I’ll easily come off the cash for it in the end.
My “wiifm” is that when I want it, I want it quick, easy, headache free and yesterday. Once that happens and it works without being convoluted or plagued with pompous whining about copyright people stealing my stuff wah wah get over yourself already – then I find that creator more credible so won’t have any issue purchasing other things later on. Or providing a donation.
When I make stuff, I build it because it’s creativity – that’s purely selfish with the end result as the goal…seeing what happens, what it turns into out of a block.I get so caught up in the zone I’ll lose track of time (or days) and the total immersion is amazing. Then I pull back and see it…I’ll put it out for free (did in SL, will again for OS). I always gave stuff out and didn’t think about getting paid. World building for me was payment unto itself.
And @Linda – of course you matter, lovely! We’d all be up a creek if it wasn’t for you! In fact, between you and me, I finally made this Kitely beach something reasonably attractive so soon as I leave here, I’m following Ener to the donation box. You gave openly without a lot of nonsense and that’s worth more than you know.
ALL CONTENT CREATORS – Ener, Sarge, and the rest – speaking of content, if you see this – we are putting together a promotional event for Kitely’s “coming out” party (but it’s not gay!) tentatively scheduled for April after the new login roll out. If you are interested in a little free promotion, we invite you to create items to be used in the games/giveaways for this purpose – you can get hold of any of us in the mentors group for more info (so I don’t hijack this, didn’t mean to)…I’ll put up info on virtual clover.net shortly as shout out but that poor site’s still struggling to get visitors after a hiatus ;p
Virtual Clover
23 Feb 12 at 6:41 am
wow! awesome comments, they all would make excellent blog posts! i think you covered all the possible motivations Maria! i like the karmic one! =)
thank you for the personal glimpse into your life Linda – most people just sit and watch TV (and by most i mean a good majority of the population of the US and Canada). your creative outlet benefits many others, including a bunch of kids today in Oz (see today’s post)
Sarge, i’m going to correct you – you do contribute more than most! you write about your experiences and that helps others take the leap! that’s a pretty noble thing to do. i mean what did Shakespeare ever do? just some goofy play scripts about the human condition (pretty smooth eh? have you ever been compared to Shakespeare?)
nice data Breen and that helps frame this in a more contemporary light – that’s pretty sobering about the $15,000 income! yikes!
great point on security Gaga and maybe something that is holding me back from donating content. i guess my ego would be happier knowing that my name stayed on all my creations. at least with sim-on-a-stick i can see total downloads and that helps fuel keeping it current =)
nice perspective keith! we do all gain and think of the unselfish nature of all of the OpenSim developers! wow, they are in great karmic shape!
i like that Amazon analogy ELQ! well said about being able to browse Amazon for hours – i use it constantly as a research tool for purchase – both from them and other places. i just got an economical treadmill from them but spent three weeks researching it from their reviews
ahh stress! or the lack of it! Toy you hit an important nail on the head! without the insane costs of Second Life, you can be more relaxed and creative with an OpenSim deployment
Mera, you are a true OpenSim community member and your attitude is probably greatly shaped by the fact that you started in OpenSim, then later went into Second Life!
dang Araxie! you brought a joyful tear to my eye (but i do cry easily). what a beautiful story and thank you for the link, I want to read about that wonderful rooster!
boy Xpontaneus, that is a great idea! i would gladly showcase student work and one way for teachers to do that is via flickr and also by packaging up OARs of those creations (and posting it on something like that google doc in the right sidebar here)
dang Paul!!! that is an outstanding explanation of value. i have always been in wonder of the stock market because that is all simple perspective. that original $35 dollar Google share that now trades at $300 (or whatever it is) is not really worth anything – you can’t cash it in (maybe for that original $35) – it’s all about value. it’s also like a $10,000 diamond – it’s only worth that if someone is willing to buy it!
same for me Virtual, i had no issue paying for things i wanted, like furniture. but now i have been making my own (99.9% of Enclave Harbour is Ener-built!). as far as being out, i’ve taken care of that already but am interested in that giveaway stuff for InWorldz! i may contribute and when you get your info posted, please let me know, i would love to echo that here as well – great idea!
Ener Hax
23 Feb 12 at 8:13 am