The Shape of SL Society

Monday I felt tired all day, I had my RL commitment in the evening. so I only logged in to SL for a few hours to update the SL Events Listing with NCI's classes and events.

The above is a bit short for a blog, so I thought I would put my thoughts triggered by a post Lillie Yifu posted about the sort of society SL should become. As the only folk who will read this are close friends, I think I'm safe to say what I like *giggles*.

When I joined, I found a society the reminded me strongly of Michael Moorcock's Dancers at the End of Time series. It is set in the far far future, at the end of the Universe and features a society in which anything a person wants can be created by thought alone. The landscape is littered by failed and abandoned projects, as well as some beautiful creations. The inhabitants live a life in which they can change their appearance at will, one in which sex is a pastime, love, hate, the emotions are but passing fads. Yes, it's a decadent society, but the inhabitants are effectively immortal. It is a society in which there is no currency, what is the point of money when you can create what you want? The power to create is in the hands of a small selection of inhabitants, the original humans and time travelers who understand the power.

SL is a society that currently revolves around two axis, the monetary one and the open source one. Most new residents I meet first ask how to make money, my answer is why? Now I ask it of SL as a whole, why? We all know of Anshe Chung, but she is the exception, Tateru's Mixed Reality Headcount, shows an interesting picture that big business dose not do well in SL.

In RL, everything costs, folk have to work to collect food and raw materials to be processed into products that we consume. It is impossible to survive in RL without doing some kind of work, even self sufficiency requires work. Yet in SL this is not the case, it is perfectly possible to survive, more than just survive, live, with no money and no work. You can create anything you need, and if you don't have the skills, there are folk who will happily create things for you because they enjoy creating things. I have both given and received many items for free, and many shops and stores sell things at very low prices (eg ballroom gowns that could grace a queen for L$50, thats less than 20c!). Why is this the case? I believe its because the creators enjoy making things, beautiful, clever, artistic, things. The value of what is created is not counted in money, but in appreciation, in pleasure, both in the creator and the receiver.

Perhaps SL should revolve around a different axis, one based on mutual creation and consumption. Folk who love to create, create and release what they wont ( keeping full rights to themselves, not open source). Consumers get to choose what they want from a selection who's value is based on quality of construction, on artistry, not price. Advertising spam would be pointless, as would money scams, the selling of freebies, and the selling of 'Businesses-in-a-box'. What about those trades that some folk only do for money, like escorting? I'm certain some residents only use the requirement for cash as a cover to satisfy their own desires, and those who escort to earn money will not need to. The sex 'industry' will revolve around different values, men will still come to SL looking for sex and there will still be female avs to satisfy those desires.

What about land, that dose cost money, and will continue to. But think about it, the cost is small, very small, the tier on some land I jointly own is L$4800 a month, thats US$18. In many places you can rent land cheaper, so the cost of land is not large, no worse than a night out. Is this excessive to pay for a system with the creative capabilities of SL? I think it is cheap. Islands cost over a thousand dollars to purchase, but, with a group of friends, this could be reduced to the cost of a good meal out each, and the tier is not excessive.

How will these ideas affect big business that LL is trying to attract? It will make little difference I think. RL business usage of SL is to increase brand awareness (which, with the current paradigm, they are failing to do anyway), and as virtual meeting places. Only SL born businesses would want a monetary based economy, RL businesses already give content away free, and the prices they could charge are peanuts compared with RL prices.

Anyway, thats enough of that I think, I'm probably wrong on a number of points, but if it gets you thinking, good.

Have Fun

Afon