Should the Second Life® Library Be No Transfer?

I have created a ticket on the Second Life®  Issue tracker here. If you agree and are inclined please vote.

When I originally wrote this article I thought no transfer would be fine. But during a discussion it was brought to my attention that content created using textures within the library would be broken if it went no modify or that the textures should be full perm but something done about the objects/skins/clothing layers inside the library. With that discussion I thought maybe a better approach would be to fix the issue from the database/server side. The ticket on the issue tracker is to make all objects/layers in the library change creator once a user has modified it to a certain extent. I think, if done correctly, this can keep with the spirit of the Library as well as protect resident and non resident creators from headaches.

Since I’ve been in Second Life® the library has always been a double edged sword.  I’ve seen some benign, basic uses of the library (like various grid-wide clothing and furniture using textures from the library) and when I took classes back in 06 the textures they gave out were mostly from it. I’ve also seen some nefarious uses of the library, including sims griefed by various Lindens, and I bet you can remember what 800 of those damnable physical dominos dropped from the sky used to do to a sim back before the Havok 4 upgrade – the inevitable sim lag and crash.

The reason for all these uses, for good or for bad, is due to the fact that all items in the library are full perm.

With all things in the library being full perm, items such as skins or shapes can be worn, then modified. I have a couple skins and shapes I made that don’t have my name on them as the creator because I didn’t use the “Create Body Part -> Skin” or “Create New body Part -> Shape” option in the viewer.  In fact just now I flipped through some of my skins and shapes I have made to play around in, and sure enough, they were made using library objects first. No actual creator name… just library information.

I really think the full perm library objects wasn’t such a big deal until a few years ago, when Linden Lab put out a call to residents to create new library avatars.  The information that I got during that first call for content creators to submit library avatars was essentially that whatever you created for the library would be released as full perm. It’s a great opportunity to be able to do something like that for Linden Lab, and many people took the time to lovingly create new newbie avatars for future residents.  This is where the happy, touchy-feely, double-rainbow good stuff ends.

Sometimes residents will rip skins and clothing items from within SL® (effectively violating an artist’s creative rights, and occasionally copyright) and then use these default library items to build them, to mask who is the actual avatar doing either the ripping, or the putting together. It’s a complete headache for the resident who created the default library item, as now this skin, shape, or clothing  (in most cases it is skins, especially a more recent incident that occurred just a couple days ago) created using the textures ripped from within game, and put on the resident created library item are now going to be spread all over Second Life®.

Less experienced avatars who recognize the textures original owner will look to see who created it and Abuse Report the creator. Less experienced residents will also freely pass on the content or resell the content thinking since it is full perm, it is okay. The creator meant it to be that way.
Less experienced creators will use these library items to create items for resale and then get frustrated when they see they are not the original creator. It’s very common for new content creators to use full perm objects they find inworld to start their creations. For anyone who has had full perm objects ‘released’ into the wild, this is an absolute headache.

So what options are there? I interviewed Sachi Vixen about this problem because she has created two different sets of library objects. 1 set has her and her business partner’s name, Damen Gorilla, on them, and the other set uses a business avatar specifically for library content. She also discussed how she believes library items would be better off no transfer and has mentioned it to Linden Lab when she was asked to create the second set of library avatars.  Since everyone has the library in their inventory, making the objects inside the library modify, copy, and no transfer would make sense without sacrificing what could possibly be the original intent of having the library. New residents will have textures, clothing, shapes, hair, and all other objects to play with but they can’t resell or transfer the objects they make, thus reducing the chances of mis-created objects getting into the wild.

I was curious and asked Sachi specifically “On average, as a content creator how often do you spend dealing with dmca/stolen items related to people using the library objects to grief/resell?”  She responded, “Usually the equivalent of about 3-4 hours a week, with regard this weekends issues it has been all weekend and several hours on Monday sorting through notes, responding to IMs.”  That’s 3-4 hours a week  Sachi could be spending time with her family or friends or, if she inclines, creating fantastic outfits for us residents to purchase and enjoy.

After talking with Sachi I sat down and thought to myself about the situation.  Objects created by using the library objects, when used for purposes against the Terms of Service or Community Standards, can have an AR filed against them.  After a certain amount of abuse reports, I have seen residents suspended until the situation is looked at by a Linden.  It seems entirely unfair that in a situation where a resident, who has been in Second Life® many years and has contributed so much to the community, will automatically be banned because they had several abuse reports filed because objects with their name on it was griefing a sim or someone placed ripped textures on an object in the library. Granted, it would sort itself out in a couple days, but imagine that you own 3 or 4 sims in Second Life� and you have suddenly been suspended. You immediately panic because there is the possibility of losing everything you “own”  and invested in Second Life® (I think the TOS now states we don’t own virtual land – we rent it or it’s a ‘service’ one pays for).  I doubt abuse reports on Lindens even reach a person, they probably are forwarded to the electric trash can. I am not saying this happens now but there is the possibility it could happen.

I also asked Sachi for some final thoughts about the whole situation and here’s an excerpt of what she said:

I just feel uncomfortable that my name keeps appearing on things that have nothing to do with me. It can be exhausting trying to explain to people who don’t have good English, for instance, why it has nothing to do with me. I get a lot of guys looking for male skins people have made on library items (probably rips) and they seem to find my explanation hard to accept. ‘But it has your name on it.’  They keep saying it, even after I’ve gone through the explanation of WHY it has my name on it. You start to feel harassed by the whole situation. I did think hard before working on the library again this last time, but I felt we could do a good job and it meant something to us to make that contribution to SL so we went ahead but sometimes you feel like you are thrown to the wolves a bit.

I’ve had people threaten to AR me and all sorts because my name is on things and it just isn’t that nice to be the centre of so much controversy. I just want people to enjoy the things we made and be happy!

I guess I knew they were full perms when I went into it, so it is just something I have to handle, but the first time round when we made the girl next door and professional female we had no idea of the hassles that would come along with it.

I think that library items can be made no transfer and still be there to help show new residents how shapes, skins, hair, eyes, clothing, objects, scripts, and textures work in Second Life®.  I imagine it is absolutely frustrating for people who have objects out in the wild that are full perm and people are using/abusing them.

What do you think? Vote in the poll below and feel free to leave comments:

[poll id="4"]