Chic at Ebbe's Place

I understand why designers make their items no mod. I had someone contact me a few months ago wanting my "larger two bedroom Bayou Shack". Of course there IS no larger two bedroom Bayou Shake - LOL. You just gotta love the possibilities of mod.

Mostly I am fine with no mod items; sometimes I toss them as they are WAY TOO BIG for an average avatar. Some designers have resize scripts in their no-mod items and that helps, certainly.

BUT -- and here is there kicker -- there is a new world on the horizon. Maybe a year or two out there, it is still beckoning.

The largest alarm bell ringing for SL citizens that are voicing their concerns about migration is, "can I port my stuff over?". I have heard that so many times it is getting bor-ing.

Now the new world isn't happening next week, and logically I can only conclude from an historical perspective that content creators will be the bulk of the first wave of immigrants.  It is likely (no guarantee) that the folks that MAKE our stuff won't be quite as concerned about importing their inventories. For many -- in a pinch -- they can make what they need. I have done that on two worlds where it was make it or do without.

But there are still the everyday Joe folks, the ones that will follow when the world is a bit more filled and perhaps a bit more stable. And that brings us back to the MOD issue.

Now Ebbe (our current CEO) has stated that mesh will have no problem moving (or copying - that isn't still to clear although I did ask) items to the new grid. BUT -- and there is of course a but, both scripts and animations as well as our avatars will be VERY different. That leaves us with broken goods.

Not everyone in SL know how to build or even cares; I get that. But many do. And if the items are MOD, folks can add new animations and simplistic code (maybe not 32 choices of sits but just a few favorites) to their items and still have them usable.

So in the spirit of colonization (a thought I embrace from the SL forums) I suggest that designers start to think about the future. The people that are fixated on moving THEIR STUFF over to the new grid will most likely not be buying no mod (or even no copy) items. I don't know this of course and I personally don't care. But judging from the thousands (yes a busy reader these days) of comment I have read -- that's pretty much the theme.

My favorite designers all make mod-copy items. I seldom change them except for size. So I urge designers to start thinking about their permission systems; it might make a difference in their sales -- especially as we get closer to an unveiling of SL 2.0.