CorBlog

Corvaire on Second Life

I knew once I did find the time to blog on Corvaire again, it was going to pertain to the wonderful world that is Second Life. An absolutely fascinating and cutting edge metasphere (digital 3d world) consisting of in-world building tools, ecommerce and it’s own currency exchange system, genre clicks, games, events and even volunteer support groups. Second Life is far above it’s competition.
Unfortunately, with recent policy changes concerning “free” accounts, and what seems productive for SL, has become a nightmare for the very people they are drawing in and once retained. With buggy issues outstanding, corrupt investors, griefers and overload problems, it seems they may have gotten the cart before the horse.
The implementation of free accounts, in my opinion, was not needed. If they had allowed the natural progression of word-of-mouth and “buzz” articles, they would have the right amount of individuals streaming in equaling that of there technical evolution and hardware/software support and growth.
As it is now, the griefers get greedier and the humble get burned. With the allowance of alternate accounts, folks who mean you harm can just make some email address at yahoo, microsoft, etc., sign up and then give you a hard time until you either leave or give them what they want, such as land, a better piece of the pie or your genre out of an area they prefer.
Not only can they do this with one alternate account, but as many as they would like. Leaving the “abuse” system completely useless. Not only can they just come up with new accounts, but the system actually takes 2 weeks to receive attention. Why use it?
One simple solution to this problem is to just charge $5.00 to get some kind of account on file and give them Linden dollars to spend or trade back in the same amount. It would still be considered free, gives the user something to work with, improve the ecommerce and puts a patch on a gaping hole that is accountability.
After all, even if someone has 5 credit cards to make alternate accounts, the griefing will eventually catch up with them and there real identity will be on file for the Lindens to work with and curb.
This change in policy would not only repair what is wrong with the current state of Second Life, it will give a more accurate number for investors to rely on if ever SL goes public. I will now pull my foot from the door and close my opinion for others to reflect and comment.