Last night I read about the malicious theft of several of Rebel Hope’s and RH Engels sims. Another heartbreaking story with this one affecting the real life income of a family. (As of this posting the Lindens came through and Rebel is happy to report that all stolen content from her shops were removed from SL). Unfortunately this happens every day in SL, leaving content creators feeling frustrated, uninspired and angry.
Saffia of Prim Perfect wrote an inspiring post on content theft and she is absolutely right. It is time for a massive campaign to educate residents on all aspects of content theft. There needs to be a universal understanding within SL that theft will not be tolerated on any level, and that the content creators of SL are to be respected for the work that they do and the time that they devote to making SL the beautiful place that it is.
There are a lot of people that enter SL thinking that it is just a ‘game’ and they don’t understand that everything they do, click on or wear in SL is created by someone who put in a tremendous amount of effort and time. So the education needs to literally start as soon as they enter through the gates of SL registration. The standard needs to be set AT THE DOOR. It needs to be immediately understood that there are consequences to be paid for stealing or passing around stolen work.
There are a lot of people in SL who are so good at so many things and we can use the creative and technical talents that we all have to get the message out there.
Here are some ideas that can be done on a massive scale throughout SL:
*Interactive posters in all stores, high traffic areas, and portals giving people information and directing them to websites that give information on content theft.
*Information Kiosks that people can subscribe to that send out updates on the campaign.
*Public Service Announcements, via magazine ads, radio, virtual television and youtube that can be given out to shops and places of business. PSA’s with visual impact, plenty of machinima geniuses in SL that can do this. These PSA’s can be played anywhere or run like an ad spot.
*WANTED posters. Outing thieves and those who conspire with them. Their names, the names of their alts and the crimes they commit needs to go onto WANTED posters outing them to all shoppers and residents. Anyone good with graphic skills out there can create this or make a template that can be passed around and used by shop owners and blog owners.
*Video Tutorials on how to spot and report content theft. What to look for and how to tell if what you have in your inventory is stolen. Visually break down the reporting process to residents that don’t know how.
*An incentive to residents who turn in thieves and stolen goods. Just like RL, you turn in a thief you get a reward!
*An inworld Hotline. There has to be a way for people who are suspicious about possible theft to hand over whatever info they have so that it can be investigated by someone with more knowledge on what to look for. Maybe a mailbox that people can submit tips to, or some other interactive easy way.
These are just some of the ideas that I have and that others thought of today. This must be an inclusive campaign that makes it easy for residents to participate in. The freebie bloggers are vital to this campaign, the freebie community is a massive one and if we can educate freebie shoppers on what to look out for that will make a big difference.
Until content creators are given the legal protection they deserve, we as residents must do all we can to protect the people enrich our lives in SL. Education is a powerful tool and we should use it.
I also plan on doing a whole show on content theft that will run on Treet TV. If it werent for the designers out there I would have no show, so it’s the least I can do. As bloggers, writers, artists, photographers, machinamists and shoppers ask yourself what you can do and let’s get it done!
It can be re-sized and has one strap going across the front of the chest.
Say What?