Virtual-Secrets, Week 611

Hear, hear! It’s pure ignorance that makes people think making their items “no mod” prevents theft in any way.

And what you’re still not getting is that they are doing it uselessly, and it only penalizes people who pay for their items. It doesn’t give any kind of security whatsoever against copybotting, except when it comes to scripts, and you can make scripts no-mod without making the mesh itself no mod. I get that apparently a lot of people who read this little blog really want to believe that it matters, but no matter how many times you frown and hit that little thumbs down, it won’t change reality.

It’s about design. I take pride in what I make and how I model and texture it. I don’t want to see people walking around with tinted colors and glowing shit or combined mesh then calling it my brand. Tinting or trying to change the texture of a thing with baked in textures it’s a mistake. Even adjusting the size manually for some objects can mess up the textures. The end user should receive a great experience without tinkering.
Regarding the demos. Releasing demos with all the textures and a hud would be a mistake. It would absolutely be a copyboters dream. They will even go so far as removing the text from the textures. Stealing mesh off people won’t get them all the colors and a hud.

@Cook: I’m gonna be the one to puncture your ego a bit on that first point though. Most customers who want to modify do it to make it work or fit with other things they’re wearing. It’s not a statement on your quality of work. And even if it was, maybe they don’t like a small part of the product but like the rest of it overall. Why would it matter? They’ve paid you for it and now they want to enjoy it. Trying to thwart that on principle alone is petty. I’ve never tried to stop customers from enjoying my products for a reason like that and most seem to really appreciate that and even come up with new and interesting ways to use what I’ve offered them. What you’re describing is restriction for vanity’s sake.

@my two: I’m not sure why you keep going on about demos. No one wants the ability to tint demos or edit them. There’s no reason to make a demo mod. Making bought products no mod does not make theft less dreadful. That’s exactly the point everyone is trying to make for you.

Yes, it is vanity and ego and anything else you’d like to add. I know that I sound like a stuck up bitch. But those are good things in the fashion world. If you don’t take pride in what you make, then you’re just making things for the 99¢ store. I spend days, sometimes even weeks on a single release and it has my signature on it. I care about that and care about my brand. Not all shades of pink should be the same in all SL. If I wouldn’t care, I’d just release a white t-shirt with a tint hud.
Now, this is just my opinion and why I do it. Other store owners can do whatever they like. It’s not reason enough to ask everybody to be the same, or even more dreadful, pointing fingers and being arogant as hell while doing it.

Regarding demos, I see there’s some misconception.
I’m talking about full featured demos. Permissions are irrelevant for thieves.

@cook: You can have pride in what you do without doing any of that. Even in RL, fashion people are going to customize and change things to make statements; even doing things like painting on expensive designer bags. That’s what fashion is for, breaking boundaries and expressing yourself. This has nothing to do with how hard you work or how much you care about your brand or ‘fashion’ in general. This is an insecurity speaking, and to romanticize it as anything else is disingenuous.

On a platform like SL where we can do and create almost anything, finding ways to thwart that that are rooted in shallow reasoning is depressing. Like you said, not every shade of pink should be the same, but you’re asking your customers to do exactly that: Only wear the shade of pink you choose and look the same if they want to enjoy your work (and before we get stuck on the topic of tinting again, that’s only a facet of editing, but it’s the one that was referenced).

There is a constant feeling of tension in comments so I get it. But yes, my question was if tinting them meant they’re mod. Thank you for the answer (and maybe the answer you’ll post after this, I have to go to log off.)

Okay, but no one is expecting someone to hand out a demo with mod permissions. So the example is a moot point for this entire discussion.

Mod or No Mod does not stop the people who are going to steal from stealing. It doesn’t make it harder to steal by making it No Mod. It actually does the opposite because typically, if you make products people like and then make them no mod, copybotters hit your stuff harder. Take a look at any of the copybotting trade sites and it’s nearly almost always true.

The only things you should be making no mod are things like scripts, HUD’s (but sometimes these shouldn’t be no mod depending on the item and the function of the HUD), and included notecards. There is never going to be a way to stop copybotters from getting what they want, and applying the false security blanket of “no mod” is pointless and drives off customers.

Yup, I somehow remembered the secret as asking the creators to let people modify the demos. Mea culpa.