The TOS debates continue, over at SLUniverse Desmond Shang suggests: “We need a name for what’s happened. The great User Rights Theft of 2013?” Personally I’m not sure that’s catchy enough, previously we’ve had names such as GOM, when Linden Lab took over the money business and of course there’s The FIC.
Then at other times things just end in fiasco or debacle, such as The Open Space Fiasco or The Adult Content Debacle. Something catchy and short is needed, answers on a postcard to ….
However on a more serious point I’m seeing a lot of speculation that the terms of service change is a sign that Linden Lab are getting ready to sell Second Life. There’s one big flaw with this theory, the same terms of service link appears on the pages of other Linden Lab products such as Dio, Blocksworld, Patterns, Creatoverse and Desura. This ties in with the statement Linden Lab sent to Inara Pey in September, which in part said:
“Recently we updated our Terms of Service to unify the existing terms of service for our various products into a single version. This updated version included a clarification with respect to the specific rights which a user grants to Linden Lab when submitting user-created content (referred to as the ‘Service Content License’) and, except as set forth in any related Linden Lab policies (referred to as ‘Additional Terms’), the right to ‘re-sell’ such user-created content.
“As previously indicated, the updated Terms of Service encompass a wide variety of Linden Lab products and services. We made every effort to incorporate Second Life’s existing policies in a distinct manner. We realize that the general nature of portions of the new Terms of Service may have led some individuals to believe, mistakenly, that Linden Lab was renouncing existing Second Life policies and practices or attempting to expropriate content created by Second Life residents. To that end, we want to further elucidate and reiterate our practice with respect to the Service Content License (and specifically Linden Lab’s right to re-sell user-created content) in Second Life.”
Whereas that statement has not placated Second Life content creators, it does suggest Linden Lab are trying to implement a one size fits all TOS across their product range, with the exception of Versu, which may well have been an oversight. Will Versu ever appear on Android? Anyway, I digress.
So Linden Lab want a TOS to fit their whole range, this doesn’t address the concerns of content creators. I mean this certainly doesn’t make the TOS change ok, if anything it highlights why a product range as diverse as Linden Lab’s does not fit a one size fits all TOS.
There are parts of the TOS that are completely irrelevant to Desura. There are parts of the TOS that are completely irrelevant to Blocksworld. However the TOS is pretty much 100% applicable to Second Life and therein lies the issue. I haven’t seen complaints about the TOS change from the Desura crowd, but maybe they already feel they give the rights to resell when they list a game on that service.
Linden Lab’s response to the outcry has been disappointing. I can understand how they want to tread carefully, especially with a TOS, but beyond the initial statement sent to Inara Pey and then other bloggers, I’ve seen little engagement and this is where the loss of town hall meetings, Office Hours and user groups really hits home because in the past people would have felt they had a Linden with whom they could raise these issues and that loss of community engagement is a loss to the Second Life community.
On the other hand, the Lindens who did engage with user meetings did at times get a hard time for providing that service, but it’s an important service and it’s a shame that LL take such a hands off approach to community relations these days.
However Second Life goes on, people will keep creating, people will keep buying, the sky certainly won’t fall, but for some users it’s another nail in the coffin of their Second Life experience.