Tag: SL News

Further to the commentary on the closure of Apez, the hoped-for deal with CasperVend appears to be going ahead. Today a Notecard with circulated by CasperVend to all Apez customer, outlining a means to migrate to their vending service.

The Migration kit itself is located on SL Marketplace. It appears to eliminate some of the work required in setting-up vending systems, etc., completely from scratch, although from the outline description there is still a fair amount of work to be done.

I have no exposure to CasperVend (I use a combination of VendBob rezzing vendors and Hippo systems), but this life raft would appear welcome, even if those taking it are faced with a 1% increase in payable commissions or to pay for a “replacement” system.

Kudos to the folks at CasperVend for making the offer.

There are still concerns surrounding Apez I would hope Cenji (or someone will) fix, including:

• What is happening with the refund of all deposits, given the caveats appearing in the last announcement
• Why is the website otherwise appearing to offer a “business as usual” face to the world

I’m not suggesting any improper has occurred by asking these questions, rather simply that they need answering, and leaving both as they are could lead to further upsets, confusion and general bumpiness down the road.

But well done to Cenji and CasperTech for offering a first ray of hope in the matter.

A rumour is circulating that Universal Studios have issued a DMCA take-down order against Battlestar Galactica-related (BSG) merchandise within Second Life, and Linden Lab have compiled.

Cairan Laval carries more word on the matter – and its possible speculative nature –  and of the potential meaning, if true.

Doubtless, if this is the case, then a lot of swearing is going on within the community; but the fact is, neither Linden Lab nor Universal Studios is the villain here. Whether we like it or not, BSG material is copyrighted. Full stop, end of conversation. Unless those producing BSG merchandise actually have a “little” thing called a “licence” to produce their goods, they are in breach of said copyrights. The same goes for those producing Star Trek, Star Wars, Simpsons, Disney, or any other merchandise directly based upon or utilising copyrighted or trademarked images and items.

I actually find it ironic that there are those in SL who scream blue bloody murder on subjects like copybotting, but who routinely pop out to the web and grab textures for use in their products or who routinely created merchandise for sale regardless of any copyrights on said textures or objects. It matters little to the size of the corporation behind the objects, be it Pepsi, LucasFilm, Viacom or – as in this case – Universal Studios. A copyright is a copyright, period; the “well they can afford it” attitude attitude doesn’t cut the mustard in exactly the same way it doesn’t when an in-world content creator finds they have been ripped.

Nevertheless, as Ciaran points out, DMCAs are perhaps not the best reaction from the corporations themselves. He has a valid point that SL could represent an (admittedly small) audience that is guaranteed to generate income – and more importantly – goodwill. So why not enter into modest licensing arrangements with content creators? Why not grant them the rights to produce goods on all OS-based grids? This would create massive feel-good for all concerned and once and for all lift worries and concerns over copyright breaches for those who’d like the assurance they are operating “within” the law, either as a merchant or a consumer, and be secure in the knowledge goods and products aren’t going to suddenly poof in the night.

 

Apez, the supplier of vendor sales systems, land leasing systems, a web merchants portal (like SLM) and other service has today announced it is suspending all business.

Apez has recently been looking for a potential buyer and has had other issues that have impacted the business, and these factors appear to have combined to adversely affect the business and cause the decision to suspend operations. The following was posted by Cenji earlier today, Monday November 30th:

Unfortunately, recent events including my recent announcement that we were seeking parties to take over Apez has resulted in a ‘run’ on the bank. This has resulted in depletion of the immediate L$ reserves. We had hoped to avoid this situation, but now that it has occurred we’re forced to suspend deposits and withdraws temporarily or perhaps permanently if we’re unsuccessful in attracting interest to keep the system in operation.

Unless new management is obtained, we’ll attempt to effect an orderly closure. Some immediate steps planned:

• Keep the vend and lease systems operational in the short term to enable customers to transition their information
• Proceeds from liquidation of assets will be used for satisfying withdrawal requests as funds are available
• Develop a solution for liberating user data in a useable way.

We’re currently working with CasperVend to develop a migration kit that, when dropped into an iServ, will cause Apez.vend data and purchase history to be automatically transfered over to CasperVend’s system. We’ll provide information about how to obtain the kit once it is available. Note that CasperVend is otherwise unaffiliated with Apez Corp, so please don’t ask them for support with Apez products or services.

We’ll be seeking a similar solution for the lease service also.

Note that while ATM deposits have been disabled, we have no simple way to remotely stop iDeposit, iVend and auto-lease products from making ‘deposits’. Consequently, when we re-enable withdrawals, we’ll attempt to satisfy vend and lease ‘deposits’ from this time forward, first – and we hope to be able to satisfy all outstanding withdrawals eventually.

As I learn more of the unfolding situation I’ll post updates here.

Thank you,
-Cenji.

This is a major blow for many in SL – merchants in particular, where waiting for a promised migration option to keep things running smoothly may not be an option. Those using the leasing systems are in a similar dilemma.

Currently, it appears as those funds are finding their way through the systems from vending boards to Merchants’ accounts, but there is clearly no guarantee as to how long this might continue.

There are some questions here as well: Apez, despite operating a “banking” system, was not in fact a regulated financial service; so throughput should be direct in terms of money deposited and returned.

Ergo, there shouldn’t be a major issue in ensuring people can withdraw amounts deposited – less, of course, applicable commissions for the various iServices provided; so a “run on withdrawals” shouldn’t cause a major liquidity issue, unless said funds were being used to offset other aspects of the business that required funding beyond the means of commissions, etc., to meet. That there now appears to be insufficient funds to honour outstanding withdrawal requests, as the “hope to” and “eventually” in Cenji’s final comment imply, is something that is certain to raise eyebrows.

Nevertheless this is a sad – if not entirely unexpected, in many respects – turn of events. One hopes that is it resolved amicably, professionally and satisfactorily for and by all concerned.

Jessica Lyon over at Phoenix posts a blog article of Display Names and new SL account names. This isn’t precisely a new topic – I commented on Display Name in particular a while back myself.

Like Jessica, I think that one the whole, the concept of Display Names is good – why shouldn’t people be allowed to adopt an alias for roleplay? What I have had – and still have – is concerns about the actual execution of the new system – particularly that:

• Anyone can adopt any name they like – including the name of any other avatar (unless said avatar has a name ending in “Linden”, it now seems). Sorry, but I don’t particularly care how many other people share me name in real life; within the virtual environment I *am* ‘Inara Pey’  – I’ve invested time and effort in developing this avatar, and defining exactly what of me I’d like to reveal through her. I’ve done this for Second Life, for a number OS Grids I jump about to and for Blue Mars; in all but the latter, I’ve even gone to the extent of ensuring Inara appears consistently (save for the available fashions) in each world. What’s more, I’ve also spent money in SL in helping her to mature over the years to her current appearance. That someone else can arbitrarily grab her name and use it as they please, does tick me off I have to admit
• Display Names take precedence over actual avatar names. This means that anyone grabbing my name will be seen by others using Display Name capable Viewers as “Inara Pey” first. They’ll also show up on Contacts and on people’s SL “dashboard” as their chosen Display Name. While there are means to reveal the actual avatar name – and leaving aside any opportunities for mischief-making on the part of those “borrowing” another avatar’s name, this is something of an open door for confusion, angst and annoyance.

While not absolute show-stoppers, it would have been better if LL had ring-fenced existing avatar names as they have now apparently done with the name “Linden” – if only to prevent the cries of outrage when people do find their name re-used.

The one good that that seems to have been implemented since Display Names was announced is that both the Display Name and the avatar name are now displayed in-world by default, rather than just the Display Name with the option of displaying both. While people can still opt to hide the avatar name from their view, this simple step removes some of the confusion.

Although the risk of confusion / angst does still exist elsewhere – such as only seeing Display Names in Contacts, and the chat and IM windows. I’ve experienced this first hand myself when I’ve logged in on the Beta Viewer to find the likes of “The Lord of the Flies”, and “Belinda’s Babe” sitting in my Contacts list and thinking, “Who the devil is THAT?” Do I IM them and ask “ER, ‘suse, me but who are you?” with the risk that a) I feel two inches short of a complete twit for having to ask; and b) they actually get miffed at me for not simply knowing who they are without the need to ask. Granted, both are little niggles, but such storms-in-teacups have been known to ruin friendships.

Display Name capabilities are coming to TPVs as well – Phoenix will have it soon, and doubtless others will, while the Viewer 2.x variants may already support it. It’s good to read from Jessica that Phoenix will provide options to see people’s actual avatar names in chat and IMs.

There has been much scaremongering around the subject of Display Names – such as they will invalidate the use of things likes security tools, and that Display Names are “yet another tool” for griefing. As such, and as Jessica comments in her blog, scripts are already doing the rounds that can ban avatars on the basis of them using Display Names: and this is akin to people who ban people on the strength (literally and figuratively) on the basis of their Avatar Rendering Cost. Such scripts are simply unwarranted and are one thing related to Display Names I’d personally see nipped in the bud before we see two many pairs of jackboots sitting in people’s closets alongside the ones that have labelled “ARC Police”.

As far as security tools are concerned – I can state without hesitation that Display Name do not circumvent them – at least, not the decent ones. These utilise the Avatar Key which remains constant, no matter what Display Name an individual chooses to use. The same goes for the sim  / parcel ban options. True, it would have been helpful if LL themselves had responded to the questions raised on this matter when first raised in their own blog (however obvious the answer appears) – but that’s just par for the course where they are concerned.

As to the idea that Display Names will be the next “big thing” for griefers – no, I don’t see it. Yes, I’m sure some will find their names used by others – but I think in the vast majority of instances, this will be for fun, not malice. Should anyone discover that their name is being used maliciously – then the Abuse Report form is there to be used.

While not absolutely perfect, Display Names could be a lot of fun for many people, allowing them to assume names more suited to their role-play characters – and they should really be treated as such, not as “yet another LL evil” as some out there are portraying them.