Is This The Most Precious Item For Sale In Second Life?

Enclosed within a steel vault behind glass and laser beams, the ornate and glittering GENESIS and NOVA lines of the JCNY Collection jewelry emporium sell for L$30,000 each-- about USD$115.  (To see them first-hand, here's a direct SLURL teleport link to the Vault.)  Only 30 of each will be sold (thus insuring their exclusivity), and come with a certification of authenticity.  It's one of the suggested objects in New World Notes' search for Second Life's most precious item, as determined by its beauty, price, and other variables.

What's your nomination for SL's most precious item?  After the break, read the criteria, and post your suggestions. In December, Iris Ophelia and I will select ten semi-finalists for a final reader vote.

Post your suggestions in Comments, following this general criteria:

- The item must be relatively expensive-- say L$1000 or above.
- It must be on sale now to the public-- in an SL store or e-commerce site.
- It must have been provably sold to several customers or more.
- It must be original to SL-- i.e., no blatant knock-offs of famed RL brands.
- It must be precious-- showing unique beauty, craftsmanship, innovation, and most of the other qualities we associate with valuable items.

The item you name can be almost anything-- clothing, vehicles, weapons, jewelry, art, housewares, magic armor, spaceships, and more.  Much like Iris' search for the hottest male avatars of 2008, we'll select numerous semi-finalists from your suggestions, and put those up for a vote.  And just in time for the holidays, Iris and I will feature ten of the most popular and acclaimed items.

In other words, we hope to make this a gift guide, a microcosm of the in-world economy, and a pictorial meditation on the value of virtual items, all in one.

When Iris and I choose the semi-finalists, here's items which we probably won't select:

- Likely not particle effects, animations, HUDs, or other temporary, non-physical objects.
- Likely not purely utilitarian items (unless they're extremely beautiful.)
- Likely not anything overly complicated to rez, set-up, and otherwise use.

So post suggestions in Comments!  We'll keep this forum running until the end of November.  And whenever possible, please name the creator, and the SLURL/URL where the item is sold.

In other words, we hope to make this a gift guide, a microcosm of the in-world economy, and a pictorial meditation on the value of virtual items, all in one.

When Iris and I choose the semi-finalists, here's items which we probably won't select:

- Likely not particle effects, animations, HUDs, or other temporary, non-physical objects.
- Likely not purely utilitarian items (unless they're extremely beautiful.)
- Likely not anything overly complicated to rez, set-up, and otherwise use.

So post suggestions in Comments!  We'll keep this forum running until the end of November.  And whenever possible, please name the creator, and the SLURL/URL where the item is sold.

Comments

[Vivienne Graves]

Beauty is highly subjective, and the utility most things is questionable in the context of a virtual environment where whatever utility something like a vehicle or weapon has is less important than aesthetics--how many people own SL vehicles and use them as static props, instead of driving them? How many people own pistols, swords, daggers, and use them more as accessories for whatever look their avatar has at the moment than as weapons?

Some SL products marry form and function in a way that makes them the best of their kind; two things that instantly come to mind here are the Dominus Shadow and weapons from C-Tech. Neither of these are limited editions, nor are they stupendously expensive in SL terms (L$2368 and about L$1500, respectively), but in the combination of both appearance and utility they have no real competition in their respective market niches.

[Uccello Poultry]

So by this criteria highly precious and valued relationships, experiences, memories, activities, aren't as valuable as virtual material goods ... items subject to the vagaries of the Inventory servers. :::makes notes that she's doin' somethin' wrong then proceeds to the nearest mall:::

[Jovin]

The most precious item in SL is that one you made yourself - the one you didn't know you could do until you did it. What's more precious than learning new stuff?

It certainly isn't the one with the stupidest faux-scarce marketing scam around it...