It happens- people copybotting, or taking advantage of a mistake in permissions. It’s not an exact correlation, but it’s as close as I can come up. The real sneaker creator lost man hours & materials and profits. Imagine someone stealing a truck full of some expensive tennis shoes, or creating labels for knock off sneakers, sewing those on, & then selling them. The creator who spent hours of their life has a bottom line that is impacted. It matters that someone takes a few moments to scan an item & uploads it for pennies, potentially selling pirated copies for untold amounts of money until they are stopped or exposed. Typically, in the past, accusations & news of intellectual property theft in SL finds its way into the grapevine via blogs & groups, especially when DMCAs are filed. Reporting blatant theft means a person wouldn’t buy the authentic product? Not entirely sure what “I am sure that there are many accounts who would drag whatever SL shops have copybotted content, but I question that they would be the same ones who would buy it from the original creators.” means. Not sure how one would verify that, but you are free to believe whatever you want. I highly doubt it could be proven that folks who spend money in SL also avoid freebies. It is great that you choose to spend your time & money on virtual products.Ī lot of folks enjoy freebie gifts as well.įree is not necessarily subpar, nor is it a guarantee that a gift is up to any particular individual’s standard. So why are they so hung up on copybotting? What matters is that I, and people like me, paid for it.

It doesn't matter to their bottom lines that someone who would never have paid for something got it free. People like me are the ones who matter to creators. I don't have the time or patience to drag a bunch of freebie shops looking for free, copybotted stuff. I am sure that there are many accounts who would drag whatever SL shops have copybotted content, but I question that they would be the same ones who would buy it from the original creators.

I suspect that most people like me behave the same, and I suspect that that group includes most people who spend actual money in SL. I am not willing to spend time and effort looking on freebie sites for stuff that may or may not be good quality instead of just shopping at nice shops that have good-quality stuff and paying for it. I am a woman who spends a lot of money in SL on clothing, avatar parts, furnishings, house parts, etc.

If it does exist, does it really matter? I have argued here before that it doesn't. Is it? Does it actually exist? Is it a myth? Recently, I have read about it on these forums as being a problem. I have heard about copybotting for many years.

Second life copybot viewers