Second Life Merchants: What Do You Think of This Epic Anonymous Rant on the SL Creator Economy? Take the Survey at the End!

When I ran an anonymous survey of Second Life merchants to help prepare this Patreon report on the Second Life economy, I included an open form option that asked, "Is there anything you'd like to say that wasn't covered by this survey?"

One merchant delivered in thunder and fire. Read it all below, and if you're an SL merchant yourself, take the reaction survey at the end.

Preamble

The ones who have the decency, the respectability, the mutual understanding: they became a rare species; we do see them, we do appreciate them. 

The following is about the ones that fall out, are loud and demanding, and strikingly overshadowing the good-hearted souls. We are convinced that it is a societal issue being reflected in SL.

Entitled Customers: 

They expect life-long and free updates whenever a new product or feature is released on the market; e.g. mesh body or matching add-ons, PBR. There is no appreciation nor a will to pay the minimum for the required time and effort dedicated by creators to improve their skills. 

Customers refuse to comprehend that a so-called fatpack is the actual full product with all features included, and that single colors/packs are restricted versions of the full product but for lower budgets, thus, even those with less L$ could have a chance to enjoy the same product to an extent. But these single offers are passionately condemned even though its principle does not differ from how, for example, RL mobile phone contracts are handled, ie. "Lower $ rate - you can make phone calls like everyone else, yay! But, less data volume for Internet user". 

Even the most generous creators get attacked, insulted, badmouthed in public if the customers don't get what they want. This kind of customer wants it all, wants it now, and wants it at no or very low cost whatsoever. Their reasoning? "Our hard-earned money", denying our time, effort, investments.

In the past, we reacted to customer requests, like, If we would sell them a customized single version of a product which wasn't offered officially. If it was a simple and reasonable request, we didn't mind since it happened rarely, and people were asking politely without demanding. We were happy to make them happy. 

Those times are gone. Nowadays, customers regularly breathe fire and brimstone in our DMs. 

One of those recent out-of-the-blue anecdotes is this example: "Fuck you, fuck your product, fuck your store." When one of our team members wasn't able to respond right away, they approached the next team member shown online who couldn't react right away either. 

They came back with "Fuck all of your staff, you're all fucking thieves!" Mind you, the cause for this particular complaint was a genuine mistake that happened during original boxing. 

The whole interaction with this sophisticated customer happened within seconds. Both of the messaged staff members were in a call. In the middle of updating info in-world and on social media about the re-deliveries of the fixed version of the product in question being sent out. 

It was a dollarbie. 

Comical. Yet, this story exemplifies the new normal. We don't give second chances anymore. We don't hesitate to ban and block polemic customers forever. We're done.

Next: On Exploitative Event Owners and Lax Bloggers:

Exploitative Event Owners:

This special entity has made it into our hearts and earned themselves the dignified pedestal of skilled entrepreneurs. Every other own horn blowing event owner praises themselves for their preeminent cleverness: luring customers to the event with new and notably discounted items and free gifts, the latter required to be new, limited to the event so absolutely no selling of it at the store after the event, representing the high standards of the event. Impressive! 

To reiterate: that one groundbreaking finding that everybody hushes about because if this secret was shared with the public, all profit margins would be cut? Indeed, it is the magical gift. 

Group rewards, freebies, gifts are the pivotal infernality why new customers were required to shop till they drop at creators' event booths. Billionaire! 

This stupefying idea of capitalizing on creators by asking them to provide these new, discounted and free items is mandatory for joining the event. Call it marketing outsourcing. Smart! 

Event owners' next move is joining each and every event coverage website because most do it for free. Bold! 

Money has been saved for hiring a DJ for the event opening. Publicity! 

However, the DJ's audience joins for the show, not the shopping experience. And even if they were, any lag would make sales impossible. In the meantime, some creators point out that their regulars cannot buy their products at the event location because the region is full, constantly. 

Darn, the event owners almost blew that one up but the good news is, the event runs another ten days. Exclusivity! 

Now hold your breath, here comes the next venturous flash of genius: raising event fees because "the world-wide(-web) crisis affects ‘all of us’ terribly, we stand in this together". 

A flash of nostalgia warms our hearts as we are reminded of the familiar feeling of cohesion when we nonchalantly clapped for the aghast nursing staff members. Admirable! 

Creators complain about significantly declining sales, not even remotely approaching break even point. The event owners understand their creators' needs: marketing strategies have to be developed, increased, paid for. 

Note to themselves: event fees need to be raised again. Brilliant! 

Let's explore unprecedented tactics for how to increase visibility and escharotic customer participation with the event's social media posts: 

"Leave a like, comment your in-world name and get a chance to win a megapack of a product of your choice from any of the participating creators." Nailing!

Finally, cue in the selfless marketing experts aka bloggers and vloggers. The event owners explain that sharing our products with their event bloggers and vloggers will, again, increase our sales re-mark-ab-ly. 

The vloggers’ vlog slide shows of the booths which almost look like the event coverage websites but: it is animated. With copyrighted music. Innovative! 

The bloggers need to be high profile bloggers who are part of 15 different events. Networking! 

In an attempt to solace those creators who participated for years and still get ignored every round, as well as the other two dozen creators who wonder why in more than three years they've only been blogged three times (Coincidence? All good things come in threes!), and the now jobless bloggers who are shattered that their favorite creator called it quits and offer blogger boxes no more, the event owners hire a blogger manager. Succeeded! 

The blogger manager takes their task seriously and reminds bloggers strictly and regularly to fill in their full blogging reports but never communicates to creators if and which of their items were included in a blog post. Mysterious underdogs! It's a life style! 

To be fair, though, event owners do their part of the job: they upload the creators' advert pictures on their social media platforms. Event owners are busy people so these advert pictures have to be provided with the required resolution and size by the creators, without distortions, please, this is a reputable event. Professionalism! 

Last but not least, the never-ending merry-go-round within the event business community. Supporting each other by networking with other events. Marvelous! 

Drag the customer flock from event to event. Needless to say, there's a little downside to it since the same target group gets to see the same offers, and sooner or later the customers see through this complete farce and skip the rat race. 

Here's to the rescue: promising start-ups with fresh designs! A friend of a friend of a friend who has a store felt in the mood of doodling another logo sketch. By pure chance, they accidentally ended up with a brand-new sub brand. Re-branding! 

Offer them a free sponsor booth, generously sponsored by the other paying participants who missed out another offered opportunity to increase their visibility, and create the illusion of competition and flourishing business through cronyism. In order to keep the event's standard high, the friend of a friend of a friend who might just be your billionth lousy shop operator is required to offer a gift; pro tip: no one will remember that retired item from their original store, now an exclusive, brand-new gift thanks to the invention of recoloring. Gobsmacking shrewdness! 

"Bollocks!", we've said, and never looked back when we left well-known, popular events whose owners wouldn't stop establishing ten more originative suggestions ("not mandatory but highly recommended") to exploit us for their personal gain. 

We're done.

Lax Bloggers:

They ingratiate themselves with a potpourri of dizzying flummeries, elaborating the high potential of positive outcome if we only agreed to collaborate because their work would have a significant effect on our sales (reality: it doesn't even happen with high profile bloggers), how they want to support start-ups (we've been around for a decade) and how they are so convinced about our products, they'd actually use it on a daily basis. 

Apart from their often mediocre effort into pictures, it turns out, they don't follow our social media, never liked any of our posts, aren't part of our in-world store group, never bought nor blogged any of our products, not even a free gift of ours. There are no ties to us, at all. This happens more often than you'd expect.  

From our experience of working with bloggers in the past, roughly 10% of assigned bloggers were willing to meet minimum requirements which was to blog all of our products; a ridiculously low requirement with 1 new released product every 3 to 6 months. 

We've been fobbed off with demonstrably false excuses when we asked about missed blog posts. We've discussed this situation with other creators since initially, we blamed ourselves and thought we must have done something considerably wrong. But they've told us the same stories. 

We don't work with freebie hunters and self-proclaimed sales experts anymore. 

We're done.

Epilogue -- And Hope

We ain't mad. But we've gotten tired and exhausted. We'll probably never share anything like this trivial novel again. Funnily enough, this was the first and only "public" outlet ever because it seemed to be an appropriate instance for giving an insight. Anonymously because cancel culture is highly popular, and many of our creator friends are still heavily involved in this kind of business and don't deserve being dragged into ours.

We, however, moved on already. It's been a good while ago by now. We've decided to focus on creating for ourselves solely. If anyone likes our creations, they're more than welcome to grab a copy offered at a fair price. 

Maybe some day we'll return into the business. At present, we are happy again. With only a handful of customers. But happy and loyal customers. Sometimes, we teach them a trick or two, accept their invitations to an art gallery opening, join them in activities like base-jumping, discuss politics, society and sports with them, listen to their worry, hang out for table games, and have a good laugh and an enjoyable company. Life is good.

We doubt that any of those who should change their attitude would actually listen. But maybe it gives a few fellow creators a chuckle and some relief that they ain't alone.

Peace out ♥

SL MERCHANT READERS: What's your opinion of this essay? Take this anonymous essay below (use mouse/trackpad for best results).

Results published soon!

Comments

[Ilsa]

I mostly disagree.
A year or so ago I IMed a designer and said "hey, I just saw you were still around! I love your stuff and I will start shopping there again!"
And
Her response was a ration of crap about how I should leave her alone and she does not want me at her store anyways blah blah blah...
So I don't go back. I don't care why, she was rude and I do not need abuse for being happy for something.

A lot of sales people in SL do not realize they are... in sales...

Recently, unasked, a designer changed to a new style. no backwards compatibility, no warning, just "get the update"... which to me, is annoying as I like my clothes and have no interest in buying a new version of a tank top I already own.
It was flaming for a few days and I was "listening" to the chat in an associated group ran by a member of the store's staff. A staffer said something nasty to a customer and I basically "that is why I used to have you blocked".
That got me booted :-) What I will say about that is... if you are around SL long enough you know everyone and have blocked someone someone knows at least once...
On the plus side I do not have to buy stuff for the new thing, I just switched to a different one that was already supported. Word got back to the designer and the designer's response was basically "well, i do not run that group".. well, I am sure they do not, but it has their product name int he title and is ran by one of the staff of their store. Be an adult, not conflict avoidant and do what is right to keep long term costumers.
I have no problem being polite to people, and I think that is why I have stuck as long as I have in Second Life, but I do not go in for the "I am more special than you because ______" thing that so many are in to nowadays.
Want a better SL experience? recognize that it is sim pricing that is why you cannot afford a store, not because the economy has tanked and no one can afford your prices... If the economy as better, or if LL was willing to lower sim prices where you could afford to charge less, they might sell better...
Also
Looking at sales points, you are not really needing 2 year old items in y our store, get a smaller store, put the rest on the MP and be happy.. and if you sell at a lower price you can sell two for 200 rather than one for 400 and still make money at the same rate. - there are items I go "I will wear that once, that is not worth 500 for me"

Basically, although ranting, I am wanting everyone to be like they were when I showed up in SL, friendly and not looking for a way to figure out how to get something on someone.
I do not create (much) but whenever someone does me a favour I always have a gift to give in return.

[Arwyn Quandry]

I love how this creator rants about terrible customers and horrible greedy event owners in the same breath, without taking a moment to realize that they likely are one of those terrible, greedy customers to the event owners. Not a lick of introspection on this one.

For my part, I've had some great experiences with customer service. Those experiences have made me avid supporters of the stores. I will never forget the creator who gave me a partial refund for an accidental purchase and I think about it every time I buy something new from them. I make a point to support them because they were so good to me over ten years ago.

Your attitude can shape the attitude of the people you encounter. If, as a creator, you're giving this kind of attitude to the customers you deal with, it's no wonder they're responding in kind. If they hear that you're a jerk, they come prepared for a fight. Try changing your own attitude and see how it changes your encounters.

[Peter Stindberg]

I think this rant mostly applies to the fashion industry in SL. In my niche (business tools, gadgets, clubs, store-owners, real estate) it is much more civil.

There is one(!) secret sauce: I reach out to every new customer a few days after the purchase, and ask for feedback and offer assistance. Many do not reply, some reply simply with a brief thank you. But with some an interesting conversation starts that provides amazing feedback into their areas, and for product improvement.

I sell a handful each day, and contact new customers once or twice a week. I realize of course that a fashion shop selling hundreads a day can't do this. Hoever, in my 17+ years in SL, I never got contacted by a single fashion shop owner after having spent severel thousand L$ in a single spree at their shop.

Every coin has two sides. That merchant rant could have it's buyer's rant on the opposite side of the coin. The truth, as usual, lies in the middle, and comes down to individuals on both sides of the counter.

[Aliasi Stonebender]

I do like how the rant leaves out "exploitative fatpacks" (or how for many items it's the five second work to change a color channel in Photoshop/GIMP; I remember the days clothing was often copy/modify and you could tint it your own damn self!) and all the other tricks that make buying things such a hassle in reality brought in to SL. I'm not entirely unsympathetic, mind you: some people really do expect too much and I'm always quite grateful when a major update is free; heck, I'd be happy with a discount for owners of the old product. It's doable with vendor system. Events are nuts these days, the Marketplace is a joke, it's hard to get word out. Items are harder to make these days (the days when someone who was decent with image software and good at in-world building are long behind us: learn Blender or GTFO) and take more time and expertise and that *should* be reflected in higher prices than the items of yore.

[Missa Sprout (submissa69)]

I make things in SL more for the joy of creating rather than trying to make a living at it or paying bills. I can do this because I have a RL job that is unrelated to SL and so it's more of a luxury hobby than a work product. But I know many creators are trying to pay bills and even try to make it their living. I applaud their determination, knowing that they're having to pay entry/booth fees, produce exclusive event items, deal with ungracious customers and handle marketing of their creations or keep an eye on blogger output. Its such an unforgiving process and I can't imagine, especially for clothes makers, the pain in the ass it must be to rig for an ever expanding number of bodies. I do wish people would comment more on their purchases, and the nice comments too on how they appreciate a certain detail in the design. It seems a lonely business putting out a constant line of items without constructive feedback. When I buy stuff in SL, on the MP and in shops and events, I make sure to post about it in the Socials, with photos and links, because I realize how much effort these creators are putting in and we are all part of this community. It shouldn't just be: SHOP BUY IGNORE, leave that for the Brick-and-Mortar RL stores, try writing more upbeat reviews for creators, they're not assemblyline A.I. robots, they're people trying to express their creativity and maybe pay for food, or their mobile phone bill.

[Medhue]

Seems to be a person in the throws of a declining business. You try every avenue only to be kicked in the face over and over again. Just not much that can be done about it. The good thing is, that SL isn't dead, and the LL team has been working on some really great things. The mobile app seems to be made well, although I haven't actually used it yet. I been too busy to do SL lately, but I was pushing for VR in SL, after all the pbr stuff and mirrors. They seemed up to it, and it is possible tech wise to actually make a good VR viewer. All these things could gradually bring SL back. VRchat proves there is a decent market for this, and SL would kick VRchat's ass, as VRchat is still just a bunch of tech shoved together with no real vision. Just my thoughts.

[Stone Johnson]

Well I'm sorry the author is so upset. Welcome to SL where just like RL there are good actors and bad actors and everything in between. The customer and the market have to sort out what is good and what is bad. There are so many simply great gadgets and objects that creators have made. SL is not a consumer utopia, but it does offer a huge number of choices. And bad reviews are just part of the scenery, just like in RL. If you are a seller-creator you have to be prepared for criticism and you need to remember the adage "the customer is always right".

Definitely the many shows that you should pay L$10000 and make two "absolutely new products" to display at (I decline to name names but you know who I mean) are just scams - but there are good shows too! SciFi Con and SL21B are two shining examples (really enjoyed both recently).

The grim reality is if you are planning to really make a RL living selling stuff in SL - it's really really hard! Instead, enjoy creating as more of a hobby, and making other peeps a bit happier.

BTW if you want an LLM AI-powered sexbot - we've got the best ones in the Metaverse!

[Ava]

So far there's been comments here from customers and creators perspectives, but I'd like to chip in for the Bloggers that also got ranted at. Yes there are some bloggers that are just after free stuff, I've met some that do seem to think they're SLs gift to Merchants as well. I wouldn't say however that's 90% of us (ranter claimed only 10% met their requirements). What they also seem to forget is that bloggers aren't paid, it actually costs money to run a blog, we also have lives like they do. Most of us do it for the joy of doing it, even though some aspects are tiresome, it's fun to do. I think the ranter has tarred far too many people with the same brush.

[Sheree Honeyflower]

I am not a creator but a consumer so I am appreciative of quality builds. There is good and bad in all camps. I have met some amazing builders over the years and enjoyed hearing what they had to say about their SL business, what they build and why. I've also come across the builders whose attitude is so bad, there's no way they would survive in the real world. Some block/ban customers from entering their stores and some block customers from using the product over a simple misunderstanding. There's one that comes to mind who removes people from their discord and adds the customer's name so the script won't work in their product. I was only removed from her discord because I didn't know this person had a falling out with another builder they worked together on products.

Bloggers that do annoy me are those who photoshop the product so much that it no longer looks like the product.

And finally, the fatpack. I understand there are costs involved. Some creators are abusing the fatpack system.

I am a blogger but not for advertising. I don't represent any SL business. I'm happy covering destinations.

Many people are at each other's throats as they're distracted by the very wealthy. This and other societal issues carry through online including Second Life. Too many on all sides expect the world given to them in all the wrong ways when we need to come together.

[Petrov Cookies]

For whatever reason, too many really to count, and to point at, from the growing entitlement of users who want AAA goods for pennies, disrespect of creators time, the obvious support displayed here and on the forums to continue to discourage any reason to continue making stuff for SL, how LL treats its customers and creators, bla bla bla bla bla.
In the end I just closed my store as after doing all the math, the ROI was no longer there, and not worth the insults, disrespect and general attitude of entitlement by many for 'other people's stuff'. Was very disappointing to do so, but the world has changed, SL has changed and it simply isn't the fun and happy go lucky place it used to be. Too much whining, too much AR'ing, too much demanding, too much bannings, too much antisocial behaviour - and as a creator that will utterly destroy your will to continue contributing hours and hours of labor for pennies and typical online hate in return.
LL themselves will also continue poisoning their platform with deluded 'industry standard' workflows that are found nowhere else but in SL, for SL and specifically FOR SL - wasting the time of creators who actually know what they're doing. Recent changes will continue to widen the gap between the average user and the 'know-it-all' failure 'experts' to pretend they are better than everyone else until the platform withers and dies.
Narcissists win... they get the platform to themselves, and even if they're the only one's left.. well at least they have a new PBR mirror to keep them company.

[JellyBoa]

I kind of agree with what was said.
Some creators are abusing things. Some Customers are abusing things. Most people are not in either of those camps. For every customer who literally acts like they have purchased a diamond ring at Tiffany's and expect the service, customization and fawning over them for their 199L purchase, there are still ten customers out there who genuinely enjoy the item as it, don't need support and quietly enjoy the item.

It can be easy to get distracted by the outliers. I am a new creator now PBR is here. So far I have had a few customers and one who was a total nightmare as they did not understand how to use the new PBR viewer. Creators get hit with a lot of support that LL should be better at. I have been using SL for 4 years so know how to figure things out. I just had to ban them in the end as they said they would stand in my little shop and tell all customers that my item is broken so it had a blue hue on their viewer. (Their EEP setting/LL's PBR implementation).

I am not Tiffany's I am not even an Etsy store. I am kind of the person who has a few random things on a small village market stall I cobbled together and they are priced accordingly.

[Pervoky Megasmit]

Completely agree and it looks like LL's fingers are reaching out to nearby blogs to keep their image, and the bloggers are participating by deleting comments that are critical of LL and their practices. Almost like they're attempting to sell the place again.