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Virtual Fashion Thrives in Second Life
Carl Bialik from WSJ writes "The game Second Life — a simulated world with more than 700,000 'residents,' or players, who sometimes refer to their offline existence as their 'first life' — is breeding a virtual world of fashion design, with the same complications as the real world of fashion, the Wall Street Journal reports: 'A continuing headache for many designers is the ease with which others can copy their creations, and several have discovered boutiques that sell knockoffs of their clothes. A well-known Second Life designer was recently accused of stealing skin textures and withdrew from Second Life after receiving harassing messages. Linden says it investigates accusations of design theft, and repeat offenders can have their online accounts closed. Some designers, like DE Designs' Mr. Hester, have taken steps to copyright their work.'"
bypass TFA
"We found out pretty quickly that people loved owning things," Ms. Smith says.
there you have it folks.
some designers, like DE Designs' Mr. Hester, have taken steps to copyright their work.
Like what? Creating it. Because that's all it takes. Once you create a new work, it's copyrighted. Period. You can register the copyright which helps with enforcing it, but there are basicaly no steps to copyright a work.
Nathan Friedly
. . . there is this thing called the OUTSIDE!!!
But I'd have to put on clothes to go there.
KFG
...wants to be free!
Step into a huge movement. Don't Tread In Me.
>
> But I'd have to put on clothes to go there.
Aight. I put on my robe and wizard hat.
Seems like real-world clothing manufacturers could easily take advantage of such a system to provide low-cost marketing data. Is someone trying to pitch a potentially risky line of avant-garde designs? Create a quickie virtual mock-up and see whether the Second-Lifers go for it. Overhead is reduced to essentially nil, and you have the added opportunity to create a built-in customer base if you ever do decide to sell the clothing in real life.
"I instead got a big 'box' hat that covered my little character and said 'sucker' on all sides."
For what it's worth, the T-shirt was probably inside the box... Putting stuff in boxes is a pretty typical way to sell things. Not that you care, but just FYI.
I signed up for Second Life months ago. I was never interested in actually "playing" it (meaning, I suppose, meeting people, making friends, wearing furry costumes, having virtual sex, etc), but instead, I had a great time making and scripting objects, and subsequently selling them.
Seriously, tell me one other place where you can make your very own casino game, rent floor space, and make (or lose) real US dollars by having people play your game? Not everyone can make and sell clothing for real money, but you can in SL. There's something to be said for that.
Myself, I've made a few casino/dance club type games, as well as some treasure hunt type stuff, and have made a couple hundred bucks over the summer. Nothing to retire on, but, on some level, more rewarding than the time I spent playing WoW...
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