Socially|Mundane

Nobody Fugazi have been in Second Life since about the same time I joined-up with my very first account (July, 2006) and I had learned of him (heard of him) as an influential resident since early-on. I respect him, even though I strongly disagree with a majority of his views. But we respectfully agree to disagree.

He wrote an article on his blog (Your Second Place) that I find interesting... but more in the 'I told you so' category. No, I never said that to Nobody Fugazi or any other specific person. But to the users of Second Life at large.

Nobody has said in his blog what I have been saying for two years:

Business and Second Life | Your2ndPlace: "Second Life loves no one. Linden Lab loves some people, you can see it on their site quite clearly who they love, but they don't love everyone. And either they don't care about inworld businesses such as Sarah's, or they honestly have no clue. Given that Sarah's been going to the Linden meetings and trying to affect the course of what is/was happening, it seems that Linden Lab doesn't seem too interested in virtual land businesses run by users."

Note to Nobody Fugazi: this is a 'duh' moment. Linden Lab is in business for Linden Lab. The only thing you can expect from Linden lab regarding 'customer service' is in reference to the service you receive: connection issues, account issues, access issues, and if you lease a region - region up-time issues.

Linden Lab promises everyone absolutely nothing. There is nothing in writing that says Linden Lab guarantees the value of the Linden Dollar because it's not real money. The very fact that there is an exchange is actually amazing, and there is no promise to pay you anything. There is no promise to exchange anything. There is not promises...period.

The only reason there is an exchange at all is because Linden Lab has created monopoly money that only has worth in the eyes of the monopoly players. They can turn off the exchange in the blink of an eye and there is nothing any of us can do about it.

The only thing Linden Lab promises anyone is that they can and (at their whim) will shutdown your account, confiscate all your monopoly money and 3-D prim description files (which are all really their property to begin with) and lock you out of the system for any or no reason whatsoever.

That is the only promise, read guarantee from Linden Lab. You and every one else agree to the Terms of Service when you signed-up. The problem is you and Sarah Nerd and all the in-world banks and stock exchanges and everyone else are all taking it too seriously.

No, it's not a "game" as the word is usually defined. But it really is a game and all of us are playing a game every-time we spend any money, funny-money or not.

So, you write about something you have been saying for two years. So have I. The difference is when I write about it, I am wagging my finger at all the others who whine about it.

/me looks to Nobody Fugazi and gently wags his finger.
via Your Second Place