http://thegorgrid.com/index.php?page=create&btn=7&Itemid=55
I've put a few days in helping to set up the market and welcome center to the new 'Gor Grid' . This is an independent grid dedicated to Gor RP.
It looks entirely possible that the Lindens will ban Gor from SL in the near future. If the teen grid really is combined with the main grid as proposed then Gor will be one of the first go. If this happens expect there to be a stampede into these grids.
It's worth all merchants making at least a foothold in both these grids .Be warned though, the owners of the 'True Gor ' grid don't like merchants who just want to make money. If you are not a Gorean lifstyler you won't be welcome as a few merchants have already found out. The owner is a very nice Guy who believes all members should give their time and efforts for the love of Gor.It's a beautiful ideal and I wish him well but this might prove a death nell for many Gorean merchants. The Gor grid on the other hand is going to leave the market to it's own devices as in SL but contained on a single market sim to separate it from the RP.
If you want to set up a stall in the Gor Grid for a month or two free just join and let me know where you want your stall. This is pure speculation. It might work it might not. but can any of us afford to wait and see ?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
It looks entirely possible that the Lindens will ban Gor from SL in the near future. If the teen grid really is combined with the main grid as proposed then Gor will be one of the first go. If this happens expect there to be a stampede into these grids.
So where do you get this wisdom from?
It looks to me as nothing more then assumption from your side in combination with interests you may have with one of these grids.
Minus
all things are possible. we should be glad that there are people out there willing to invest time and effort into opensims. Right now these places are in a very young state but still worth a visit. I for one was impressed. It can only be a good thing and will help to improve quality in sl to have a bit of competition. Unless you have a vested financial interest in LL I can see no reason why anyone would feel threatened.
Personally I would think banning Gor is extremely unlikely to happen. It's true that the Lindons have been looking to incorporate TeenSL into the mainstream for a while, and their abortive attempt at an age verification scheme was an attempt to pave the way for that, but we've seen very little movement on that front for well over a year now, in part because of the outcry that arose in the general SL population when they tried to encourage it. Gor is really quite a mild issue compared to the other 'Adult' subcultures around SL and indeed because it's very much confined to it's own sims would be much easier to regulate than say BDSM where there's small dungeons and the like scattered liberally across the world. Most Gor sims contain no actual porn and remarkably few sexual poseballs or the like – indeed I'd venture to say that the average density of 'adult' furniture is higher on a random sim of non-PG mainland than in any Gor sim. Banning Gor on a content basis then simply isn't feasible, banning on a name basis would be futile ('parallel earth' sim anyone?') and the Lindons have yet to work out a way to ban the far more contentious issue of ageplay, so banning on behaviour wouldn't work either – not to mention that's total anathema to Philip's philosophy. Of course historically one of the reasons for the success of the earlier Gor books is that they were a vehicle for publication of BDSM themed erotica at a time when straightforward publication of such would not have been possible, so to some extent Gor is designed to work under the radar.
Now to the issue of separate Gor grids. Personally I think the development of alternative grids is a great idea, I've already booked my place in the market and will support with a few items. However I have doubts – the following is extracted from a discussion on Gwyneth Llewelyn's blog and elsewhere
I’m not at all convinced yet by the OpenSim alternative for widespread general use. Not because of any technological issues - I’ve been loading OpenSim builds onto my own hardware and exploring them for the past year, and as Gwyn says the progress has been amazing (although I would point to the known rule of software that the last 5% of development always takes up 50% of the time). I’ve even recommended it as something to explore to a client interested in producing an interactive archaeological model.
More my issues are that I don’t see any feasible mechanism for a substantial migration of any community from SL. Quite the reverse.
Now, in many ways the RP communities are perfect candidates to migrate to OpenSim grids. Gor for example had over 300 dedicated sims on the main grid at the last count, several of which are in small continents (and wouldn’t want to be connected to the main grid anyway). Roleplayers tend to be at the more dedicated ends of SL residents – it’s generally something you don’t find until you’ve been around the grid for a fair while and most people dip their toes in it a few times in different environments before settling into it. It’s also highly community orientated so people tend to make friends and stick around.
On the face of it a RP community would be a perfect test case for migrating a group of residents en-masse off the SL grid onto a set of dedicated OpenSim servers. Commited, experienced SL users, good community, and they operate on the grid like they were half off it already.
Except two factors run heavily against…
Firstly all RP communities need new blood. Sometimes is people new to RP, sometimes it’s people moving between communities. In most RP sims it’s quite common to see normally dressed avatars wandering around with ‘Observer’ tags. Or often people will set go and play in a different environment for a while as a change – the Arabian Night’s or Medieval Worlds sims seems to be a common diversion from Gor for example – or I’ve know people swap between Vikings and Jedi within the hour. The drag against OpenSim here and for SL is that in SL the barriers between environments is just a teleport, whereas use OpenSim and the potential player has to both find the alternative grid and set up the client to go to it. It may not sound that much to a techie, but the difference between the success of Flickr and the failure of previous photosharing sites was reputably one mouse click.
Secondly, and even more important, is content. RP sims are often among the best constructed in SL and the general standard of avatar clothing and equipment is also very, very high. This isn’t accidental of course – good builds attract players and Roleplayers are basically playing Amateur Dramatics online – so they like to play the part and show off. An OpenSim grid without great content would simply not attract players, you have to get the good content providers across first, in sufficient numbers, to support the new grid community. And this isn’t something where you can half succeed – a RP sim needs a critical mass of players or it fails completely.
So to make your OS RP sims work you need to get the content providers in. And sure as one myself I’m interested, but to be worthwhile I have to know
1.That the amount of effort that I put into adding items into your new OS grid is going to be financially worthwhile – as compared to spending the same amount of time releasing new lines in SL. That means I have to be confident you have a working, trustworthy, payment system in place and there are going to be enough people present to buy with it.
2.That I can trust your permissions system and your integrity. Gwyn says this is true of any new startup website, but in the cases she cites all the new user is exposing is the new content they put in the website. Unless I specifically create new content for the new grid (hence upping concerns with the above even more) I’m also risking my income stream from the content I already have in place in SL – and even with new content I could end up seeing it release C/M/T around the SL grid or sold in direct competition – no way would the Lindons pursue DRM issues with that.
So what’s to tempt me as a content provider across to this new RP OpenSim grid? If I go at startup I risk wasting time creating/moving content AND my existing income stream in SL, for which I might gain a groundfloor place on a new grid – but only if everyone else – content providers and players move with me. On the other hand I can wait to see if it does succeed and trustworthy, let others take the initial risk, and when it’s growing I can join and I’m still sure to be welcomed – except in that case it’s likely that most other designers won’t have taken the risk either, no players will have followed, and it’s fallen flat.
So now the barrier to success starts to look alarmingly high. It’s like an stable equilibrium – you can have a successful RP community on a set of sims in SL, and you can imagine having one on OpenSim, both take about the same amount of ‘effort’ to maintain (if the recruitment issue can be solved), but the process of moving SL to OS? That’s a whole different ballgame – there’s a massive fence there that’s only apparent when you look closely.
Myself I suspect that the only way that an OS RP grid can significantly succeed is if SL itself fails – either completely, or relatively if the technological advantages of OS over SL become so great that people prefer OS because of the greater realism.
Very good post Hiri...
I as a creator have also read alot about this. And my conclusions is also that this is not the time (yet) to try to sell my content in open grids. Its not safe (yet) period. No mather what the grid owners claim. That is absolutly misleading. The programmers are very honest about that, the grid owners not. So to prevent problems, I will wait until this alpha software will be matured, and listen to the people who know what they are talking about.
The website you mentioned http://gwynethllewelyn.netis a very good start to read. I recommand everybody who considers to sell their products in open grids to read it very carefully.
For the people who doesn't like to read a lot (because it is!), at least read this page http://gwynethllewelyn.net/2009/01/01/opensimulator-the-choice-for-2010/7/
That should say enough.
Post a Comment