Iris Ophelia's ongoing take on etiquette & ethics in virtual spaces
I recently wrote about the pros and cons of templates and pre-made kits for Second Life content creators, and unsurprisingly the topic created a lot of discussion and raised a lot of questions. Though my opinion on the issue may differ from your own, hopefully my template etiquette advice will still be helpful!
I make things in SL but I use building kits and full-perm pieces. There's nothing wrong with what I'm doing but some people are really snarky and go out of their way to tell other people where I'm getting my pieces. Why do people resent what I'm doing and how can I stop it?
- Anonymous
Templates are controversial, and some people feel very strongly that they give people an unfair or uncreative advantage. Using templates "correctly", that is in a way that helps you grow as a creator and helps the market grow and diversify as well, is nothing to be ashamed of. If people ask, be honest and upfront about your use of templates and full-perm building kits. You shouldn't need to hide something unless you're ashamed of it. Simply put, anyone bullying you for using templates and kits correctly is in the wrong. Because opinions are so sharply divided on this issue you'll never be able to please everyone. Haters gonna hate, so focus on building things that you can be proud of, with or without the templates.