Educational/non profit discounts are back

Some good news for from the Second Life site http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Featured-News/Updated-Pricing-for-Educational-and-Nonprofit-Institutions/ba-p/2098039

"Effective immediately, any accredited educational institution or any organization with a 501(c)(3) charitable non-profit tax status (or equivalent) is eligible for a 50% discount on private region set-up costs and a 50% discount on private region maintenance costs."

     Now if only they would give discounts to artists who create content for their users in addition to promoting the potential of the medium.   I won't hold my breath waiting but as Morpheus said in the matrix.. "Do you believe that my being stronger or faster has anything to do with my muscles in this place? Do you think that's air you're breathing now?"  Since there is no air in a virtual world then perhaps I will hold my breath for a bit.

Comments

Yay! Great news!

Sure, I'm down with discounts for artists. The thing about this structure is that you show them your 501c3 or registration in your country, they give you the rate, no arbitration on LL's part required. Since every resident in SL could "claim" to be an artist, LL would be in the position of becoming an arbiter of who qualifies as a "real" artist. A position I'm sure neither they nor we really want them in.

What if you have an MFA degree? What if you're represented by a gallery? What if your work subverts the gallery system? What if you have some number of museum exhibitions? It's all very messy and judgement call based, vs the clean of "501c3, yes/no?"

Of course, there could be a artist's collective that had non-profit status and sold land to artists...
Bryn Oh said…
Yes absolutely right Vanessa they would be in a position to set a precedent which could then become a headache for them, and that could make it easy for us not to demand anything from LL at all.

However, I don't really want to pre-rationalize for them and become an apologist as that makes it easy for them to just decline without having to be creative.

It is their world and should they wish to, they can change it. The population and regions are declining in SL and they have to figure something out, if they determine that one reason is because artists can't afford $300 a month to spend on a virtual region.. and then they consider that perhaps the population might grow if the world was interesting, creative and beautiful, content that artists tend to bring into the world, then they have to find a way to get around the problems you mentioned.

An artist shouldn't be a 501c3, they should be making income for their work, not restricting themselves as non profits. We don't have to ask for rational well thought out things from Linden Labs, we just need to ask and make them do the work to please us. If it really is too hard for them to do then.. hey.. we already expected that. But by asking there is the chance that we can be surprised with some creative thinking on their part.
Mireille said…
Hello, Bryn.
This is indeed good news - and not only for the education entities and nonprofits who are presently engaged in SL, but also for a host of others that could come in-world and share the benefits of their work of information and service. The discount will allow more of them with limited budgets to reach across the metaverse.
Perhaps it will not be too long in the future that we will see new pricing for artists who beautify our virtual world - and who deepen and broaden our experience here. The expansion of inner life is a big part of SL for me, personally, and encountering and experiencing your work has certainly inspired me in that regard - and in other meaningful ways as well.
Exploring SL and delving into my own creative flow has led me to stay here and to cherish the many gifts that await, seemingly around every corner (or every-other corner). I encourage LL to continue their explorations of what they can do to further support and enhance - deepen and broaden - the resident experience. To me, the virtual world is a vast, largely (as yet) unexplored horizon. This excites me and draws me onward...
Thank you, Bryn, for being such a beautiful, inspiring part of this experience for me - and for many, many others!
(With thanks to my niece, who is typing this for me since I injured my non-virtual wrist.) :-)
Mireille - from Ce Soir Arts

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