Europe Group Changing Rules on Digital Products
Note that this is rumblings and something to watch for in the future -- and of course do your own research -- especially if you are a creator -- something to keep in mind as we move through the year. A "what if" thought process.
Some new rules concerning digital products are on the horizon across the pond from Linden Lab. Games for the very young are the biggest target. You know -- those "free to play" games that you can't really win without leveling up and leveling up is almost impossible (I made it to level 32 once in this main targeted genre and never spent any money but it was NOT easy). Charges sometimes with many zeros show up on the credit cards of not so wise parents.
But the rules will apparently be universal to any game where you BUY -- products, power ups or virtual currency. Will this impact Second Life like Lootboxes and gacha rules have in the past? It seems like it must.
Video link at the end of this post.
One path of dealing with the new rules would to keep all CPC (European) citizens from using Second Life --- or let them log in but never spend any money but that seems unlikely. This is a big section of the population (448 million or 5.6 percent of the world population) as well as a big chunk of the global economy.
Another choice of course is to follow the rules if and when they become law.
There would be a return policy. STEAM already has that and you can return a game up to a certain number of hours played. Those "Free To Play" STEAM games are another matter and would need to be changed in order to follow the rules. Part of the change would be as I understand it (so far of course - changes can happen) is that Linden dollars would have to be sold for the exact amount of the product one wanted to buy. So no more Lindex as we know it.
Kitely does this already so far as their Market -- and actually DOES hold the funds for 45 days and always have. This may be some law in Israel but it is also not to get charge backs from Paypal which is how the Kitely Market sells products. Kitely also already offers a full refund on sim purchases (there is a time limit of course). Items sold inworld ( both in Kitely and on other platforms would need to be transfer in order to return.
The only way I can see this rule following working in SL would be to run EVERYTHING through the vendors Marketplace -- especially since inworld items would need to be transfer in order to return them and no copy items are NOT popular. This was actually how things were done in Sansar. Since The Lab already owns Capervend (and yes I did see the possibility of this happening when the vendor company changed hands) that could work although it would be lots more work for Tilia ^^. Linden Lab could decide to withhold payouts for a certain period of time for "returns". Two weeks was mentioned in the video but again nothing is certain at this point as far as I know.
Since most rentals run through Caspervend also that would cover private rentals too. Main stores would pretty much disappear then or just be for demos which is primarily what mine is now. As far as I know I was the only one in SANSAR that had a demo store "experience" (yep it is still there ) and only because I believe folks should be able to see what they are buying. In Sansar when an order didn't clear the credit card company the money was removed from the seller's account and the products of course deleted from the buyers inventory.
Premium subscriptions would need to have a refund period also which is actually a good idea in my book. There is a question whether the different levels of subscriptions would be "legal" under the new rules.
And this is apparently one comment from an industry group.
And here is a closing thought. Perhaps since this change in how game tokens are looked at is targeted mostly toward protecting children (and there sometimes not so smart parents) the fact that Second Life is NOT available to children (unless they lie of course) may solve much of the issue. At the same time because Linden Dollars can be purchased and redeemed they really HAVE seemed like "real money" all along -- to me anyway. I guess we will find out eventually.
So take a look and research yourself and see what YOU think this might all mean.
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