The potentially funky new beta viewer can be downloaded from the downloads section of the Second Life website. I’m not going to review it, I don’t generally have the patience to do reviews, however if you do want to read a review of it than I suggest you read the review by Inara Pey, who is an excellent and patient reviewer (patience is not one of my virtues) or/and the review by the wonderfully positive Daniel Voyager.
I’m here tonight to talk about the big Elephant in the room, well actually I’m contemplating whether The Villa will beat The Baggies in tomorrow’s big local derby match, it has been a long time since The Baggies won at Villa Park and I’m seriously hoping that continues but I’m suffering from pre-match tension … where was I? Oh yes, The Marketplace Elephant in the room, in the new beta viewer, it has started to loom even larger and I’m quite bemused as to where this is all heading. The top bar in the beta viewer has a shop link, which takes you to The Marketplace.
The Marketplace must be working wonders for Linden Lab’s bottom line but I really have to ask if it would have been that difficult to have inworld and marketplace icons on that bar, with the inworld one taking you to the shopping category of search and The Marketplace one taking people to The Marketplace.
Inworld shopping is not what it once was, some people will celebrate that fact, with my landlord hat on I don’t, with my affiliate vendor hat on, I don’t, with my eye on the bigger picture, I don’t, because as has been said many times, inworld stores help to offset tier costs, they are a necessary way of life in Second Life, creative types and those looking to make interactive experiences aren’t going to replace stores with tier prices as high as they are, that’s the whole reason there have been so many stores and malls in Second Life, that’s the trade off, it may not be a marriage made in heaven but it’s a cold harsh reality.
When The Marketplace moves to direct delivery, there’s even less reason for some merchants to have an inworld store, I know some merchants are now marketplace only, soon they won’t even need a 16m plot. Do Linden Lab have something up their sleeve to boost the land market, I know we have the weekend sale on full regions and homesteads but I’m talking generally here.
The Marketplace generally does not generate direct income for Linden Lab, like you or I, to turn Linden dollars into US dollars, they need to be sold. The only direct income stream on The Marketplace is via Paypal. This isn’t to suggest that The Marketplace doesn’t help to generate income, because it quite clearly does, why else would Linden Lab be pushing it so hard?
Maybe The Marketplace commissions have allowed Supply Linden to start selling again, maybe the steady hand on the exchange rate is helping Linden Lab to make plenty of money off Linden dollar sales and purchases, there is something in the formula that is quite clearly working, but at what long term cost? Stores leaving inworld for The Marketplace mean landlords get less rentals, this on the face of it may not look a big issue but a few sims at 50% occupancy will mean sims being returned to Linden Lab with renters moved and landlords downsizing and paying less tier.
Who is going to replace the missing inworld stores with tier prices at these levels? This is the big question that needs to be answered, this has always appeared to be a dangerous road for Linden Lab to tread from where I sit, it seems to be getting muddier.
However, the other big issue here is why can’t they have two shopping links on that top bar, because when a new person joins Second Life and installs that viewer they will see a shop icon that takes them to The Marketplace, it’s completely intuitive to follow that shop link if you want to go shopping, to the detriment of inworld stores, inworld stores deserve some loving too.
I have been singing this song to deaf ears for a long time. It seems impossible that LL’s cut of Marketplace sales is more than tier on in world stores. I go out of my way to shop in world whenever possible. More than half the time I buy more that what I expected to at a store.
I can’t see how it’s more productive for LL to take marketplace commission instead of land tier either, but LL do seem very happy with it. I prefer shopping inworld too.