Second Life Residents have been experiencing what seems like theft of their land. It happens in the window regarding selling a plot of land.

Cima Zeevi, a victim of land bot activities describes it like this, “I was transferring the land from group onto my own name but instead of selling it to my name, I made the mistake of setting it to sell to anyone.

Immediately, a landbot called “Hana Campanese” showed up and captured the land by purchasing it. She was willing to refund, but .. I had to pay L$ 10,000!

The owner said it was to cover the tier, but I considered it to be extortion. I didn’t want to loose the land, so I just paid this owner to have my property back. Hana Campanese bought the 8192m2 land for L$ 1. It is the landbot of Celene Ballinger.” Cima adds, “Please look 2 3 or maybe 4 times when you put your land for sale.”

Some don’t intend to set their land to sell to anyone for near nothing, but with Second Life’s interface lagging and server asset issues, users that get impatient may be doing things they don’t intend while it seems they are frozen.

It is very important to be careful on the screen that offers your valuable land for sale way under market value. How should land owners protect themselves?

Auto Oh, landbot operator says, “Rewrite the system. The problem isn’t the landbots its really the system. If you set the price, and set it to sell to anyone and then click ok, then confirm the action you are taking and you click OK again, You are either not reading or you are just randomly clicking. If you own a lot of land and have invested 50 to 100 real dollars, you should at least read the warning prompts that effect the sale of your land.”

As of Second Life’s viewer version, 1.19.0(4), Linden Lab Added a warning dialog to the Land Sale process to warn against selling land to Anyone, February 28th, 2008.

One bot operator said, “If LindenLab would create a transfer button that worked the same as “sell land” and this were the default setting for selling land, it would drop 70% of all mistakes, but, nothing will ever cure stupid, but it would help.

Bots make mistakes, and it’s a lot more devastating when you’ve automated it. Our operator sold all of our most prime land at the bottom of the market twice. It hurts when you lose $5,000 USD worth of land.”

SongbirdClone Writer says, “on Dec 24 & 25th, 2006, I had just purchased a 1024 sqm lot next to the land we have at Zecksnine 90, 195, 46 (Habitat Trust for Wildlife) when ALL our land 10752 sqm got pirated by a BOT belonging to the group SUPREME FLOCK OF LAND NINJAS. This was a terrible mistake!!! All of our land was NOT for sale. I only meant to sell 1024. Not all the 10,000.”

The land was intended to benefit her charity. Songbird started a group “Anti Land Bot Coalition” dedicated to stopping the use and abuse of land bots. In Real Life, Real Estate transactions are serious business, handled at settlement meetings. SL has weddings, maybe it’s time for SL to imitate RL in yet another way.
Submitted by Jim Stella

As anyone who inhabits Second Life knows, the virtual world has its own fast growing economy. Without some sort of infrastructure regulating the way businesses are being run, Second Life will become a desert that people will not bother to come into. The majority of people that join Second Life like to make the most of their appearance. They may be ‘sweatshirt and jeans’ people in real life, but the virtual world opens up a whole new concept to them about how they would really like to look, some picking catwalk model clothes and others wanting to look like robots and dragons and many other themes, which add so much colour to Second Life.

Therefore, designers, the clever people who make this possible, are the most important asset that Lindens Labs could possibly have. When you think about it, everything in Second Life is created and designed by someone, from the clothes, to the architecture, to the everyday small things that we take for granted. That’s why it is astonishing to find out that these very same people, who make Second Life so enjoyable for all it’s inhabitants are experiencing theft of their creations and no one is doing anything to protect them. There are many designers in Second Life and I was privileged to meet one group who agreed to be interviewed. The emotions are running very high in respect of these thefts, as this is not only a business in Second Life for most of them, but it also gives them a living in the real world.

People that dismiss this as just a game have got it so wrong. To most business people ‘in world’ this is their lifestyle and helps them to survive in real life. The thefts, known as ‘Content Theft’ are becoming so widespread that action will have to be taken very soon, as many designers are getting so frustrated, that some are even quitting altogether. The people that commit these thefts are very well organised and have access to various methods that allow them to steal, either directly from the designers’ inventories or from the rezzed item itself. They make a copy, to either sell cheaply or give out freely, just to scorn the original creators. There is little that the designers can do in respect of recourse, they are told to submit an abuse report or fill out a DMCA (copyright infringement notification) to the Linden Labs, but this seems very ineffective. The alleged thieves, even if they are banned, simply return to Second Life as an alternative avatar and carry on where they left off. Some of the offenders are doing so well they have even bought their own sims to run their ‘so called’ business from. Many Landowners who rent out shop space are no better, as most of them are only concerned with collecting the rent and turn a blind eye to the type of business these people are running. The designers spend a great deal of time policing Second Life, tracking down their copied stock, in so doing, wasting precious time that could be used for designing new items, which in turn restricts their businesses even more.

The alleged thieves are generally so fearless, that they openly attack the designers by griefing and goading them without worrying about the consequences. So far Linden Labs have done very little to help, or offer any useful advice. The designers have the view that Linden Labs are only interested in making their money from Land and therefore are not worried about these thefts. Although it should be feasible to take these industrial thieves to court in the real world, it would prove problematical because of universal laws, as Second Life is made up of such a diverse population. Unfortunately for the Linden Labs, this is an ‘in World’ problem and if they don’t act soon, they will see designers deserting them in their droves, and who could blame them.

Can you imagine Second Life without shopping, well for the girls and most of the boys, this would be a disaster. The designers aren’t without friends, and one such good friend is Chez Nabob. Chez is launching a campaign this week to bring this content theft to everyone’s attention. Hopefully this will bring other designers together to lobby the Lindens for more help, as well as making everyday avatars aware that they may be buying stolen goods. At the present Chez is distributing the campaign ads through the creator-focused groups. You can find out more at http://shop.onrez.com/item/533825.
Submitted by Janey Bracken

SciArt Media, a Temple, New Hampshire, based web design and publishing company, is opening a new office and more today, January 18th. What is unusual is the location of the new office: it is nowhere in the real world – it is entirely virtual – located in the realm of Second Life. The entire complex will be known as the SciArt Media Center.

This center consists not only of a virtual store (where both real and virtual items and services can be bought and sold with in-game currency called Lindens, which can easily be exchanged for real money), but other, less traditional, areas as well: In addition to the three-floor store, there is also a classroom and lecture hall, where educators can book time for free and teach classes that have up to forty-two students at a time, as well as a “Geology Lounge” where people can sit and relax beside an erupting volcano, a jazz and blues club called the “Be Bop” where people can dance or just kick back with a virtual drink, and an area for virtual skydiving.

James Maynard, the New Hampshire native who is both the owner of the real-life company and the owner/designer of the virtual media center, said that he is “quite excited about the possibilities open to businesses within the virtual world. Companies such as IBM, Microsoft, Coldwell Banker and Ben and Jerry’s, as well as organizations such as Jet Propulsion Laboratories, have all opened offices in Second Life. Artists such as Suzanne Vega and Duran Duran have played live concerts in the same virtual world, as well,” he explained.

The SciArt Media Center covers almost two-thirds of an acre and was nearly a year in construction. During the grand opening of the store on the 18th, people will also get sneak previews of the rest of the complex, including the jazz club and lecture hall, each set to open soon. People wishing to come to the grand opening at 1 pm EST (10am Second Life time) can easily join the Second Life community and appear at the center by pointing their internet browser to: http://secondlife.sciartmedia.com. There is no charge for the event, the game download is free, and the public is welcome. For any questions, please call SciArt Media at: (603) 397-0053 or by e-mail: secondlife@sciartmedia.com.
Submitted by Sciart Media

Got questions on tax preparations? Come on down to H&R Block Island and meet with Hope Bechir and Ribbons Whitfield to get all the answers you need.

For the second year, H&R Block representatives will be in-world every Tuesdays and Thursdays, 5:30-7:30 SL time, in February and April.

This year they have recruited Nexeus Fatale, SL DJ extraordinaire, to spin his sounds and keep everyone’s mind off this annual ordeal. Who comes to these evenings? Despite offices in the US, Canada and Australia, Hope Bechir says that people stopping by were mainly US citizens.

Do they get more personal tax questions or questions from small SL businesses owners?

“It tends to be a mix. It seems that a good chunk of the small businesses are single-person”, offers Hope Bechir: “Either sole proprietorships or single owner LLCs, so the business tax stuff just gets reported on the personal return. It’s hard to tease them apart.”

One of the products featured this year is Tango, an online tax preparation tool. More information can be found on H&R Block Island, as well as online at http://digits.hrblock.com.

So, got a tax question? Curious to find out if grooming costs are tax-deductible if you’re a furry? Come and talk with Hope and Ribbons. They’ll be happy to help you.

H&R Block Party Tuesdays and Thursdays February and April 5:30 -7:30 SL Time SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/HR%20Block/161/182/58
Submitted by Maxie Mostel

I own a swimming pool design business in Arizona. I design the entire homeowners backyard in 3-D CAD design and can burn a movie of their new yard including swimming pool, spa, gazebos, outdoor kitchens, fireplaces/firepits and patios in a video that shows how their new backyard will look and feel. The key to my success is to always listen to the customer, never think about the money because by doing your best the money will come. Bonnie Langlitz President Lantana Designs, LLC Arizona
Submitted by Bonnie Langlitz

Invited guests were treated to a fashion show and launch party today for Glam sl magazine, the newest fashion publication to hit the grid.

Created by Minnu Palen, Thora Charron, Onyx LeShelle, and Beauvoir Rousselot, Glam sl aims to “introduce high quality and high end fashion to Second Life”.

The magazine will be available in three formats: PDF, in world, and via the website: http://www.glamworldsl.com/. Visually stunning is a description that comes to mind while viewing the pages.

Much in the style of the recently launched Homme Magazine (http://www.thehommemag.com/), one of Glam sl’s most striking attributes is the sleek, amazing photography.

Images that just pop out at you and make you want to blindly toss in your lindens to have just a smidge of that glossy style… *that* look. After a brief and somewhat uniformative press conference regarding the magazine launch, festivities kicked off with live performance of the beautifully-voiced Eliz Watanabe, followed by a fabulous and extremely well-executed fashion show -featuring 11 designers in all- and wrapping with a party.

Kiosks for the magazine should be available Monday. Minnu Palen and Thora Charron are creators behind MM skins and Glam World. Onyx LeShelle and Beauvoir Rousselot design for Maitreya.
Submitted by Rosie Shark

Ironhide(219,29,23) held its grand opening Friday, February 8 with a live performance by singer Mia Maxsted, pictured center.

It ran smoothly and was well organized. There were many activities and $9000L were slated to give out.
The sim is running on the as yet little used Havoc 4 server.

I asked myself what made this club different than others. My answer came upon meeting and observing the owners in the two hours prior to the opening as well as during the event. Both young entrepreneur owners Criss Bellman (aged 19 pictured right) and DulceRebeca Masala (aged 24- pictured left) managed to stay friendly as well as focused on business prior to and during the event.

Criss’s abilities as DJ and leader combined with Dulce’s vibrant Latina personality and business sense make for a dynamic team. In spite of the immense effort and knowledge necessary to open a club, they made it look easy. Both Criss and Dulce feel that they represent a growing number of younger people in SL.

They want their club to have all types of music and performers. Their focus will be on live performances. New performers and bands are welcome. If you are interested just contact either Criss or Dulce.

Future events include a Valentine’s Day party and there are plans for a carnival in the very near future. Criss and Dulce’s ability to throw a good event, along with their agenda to have varied types of live performances, make this a club to keep an eye on in the events calendar.
Submitted by Deirdre Faulds

There are black women in Second Life, but many don’t reveal it. This makes Lindsay Druart even more unique being a woman, and black, and partner in owning and running several Second Life businesses. These include a bank, a credit union, a brokerage, a credit reporting agency and real estate company.

She originally heard about SL on a RL plane flight, [I] “got into a convo with a guy and he said that some woman was a self-made millionaire in a video game. Ansche Chung….I couldn’t believe it so I had to come in myself to see what the hubbub was about.”

Asked if she suffered any prejudice in SL, she says, “No one realizes I am black until they see my first life pic. I have only experienced one situation of prejudice in SL and I just found the guy to be ignorant.”

Lindsay met her business partner at a club when she attended Trivia Tuesday. “He hired me to host for him and we have been inseparable since.” Lindsay also Role Plays in Dark City and Obsidian City.

Asked how she balances work and play she reports, “Well I do them simultaneously. I run the business in IMs and RP in chat so I would say I spend a great deal on both.”

The L & L Website says that L&L Bank and Trust was founded with the notion to return funds lost in the bankruptcy of Second Life Investment Bank in May 2007. Lindsay says, “We were able to refund about 80% of what was on deposit and most of those people are still customers today because of that.”

What is her vision of Second Life’s future? “I see SL being a bit of a ghost town in a year. Nothing like it is now. Open source and Linden Labs unthoughtful rules will be its demise. It will be a corner stone, yes, but nothing like now. I expect to be running my own grid one day.”

Some non-Linden Lab grids inlcude DeepGrid, OSGrid, OpenlifeGrid and CentralGrid with over 750 regions and more that 10,000 users. LindsayGrid may not be far behind them.
Submitted by Jim Sella