To copy, or not to copy: that is the question

A number of customers have pointed to the increasing problems with attachments in Second Life. That is, it’s not uncommon for attachments to: go missing, stop working, become invisible, or become damaged in some other way. And when your item isn’t copyable, you’re faced with asking the item’s maker for a replacement or buying another. Whenever this happens to Terra skydiving equipment, I will exchange your broken item for a new one, but I have noticed a rise in these incidents.

Why aren’t my parachutes copyable? As you know, products need to have either Copy or Transfer permissions, but not both. (“Transfer” means that you are able to give away or resell the item) The blight of freebie sellers has proven that Copy/Transfer is an invitation to scammers and cheats. In response to customer demand to easily buy parachutes as gifts or to set up legitimate skydiving shops, I changed all of my skydiving gear over to No-Copy/Transfer.

Now, however, the sheer number of lost or damaged chutes leads me to reconsider the Copy/No-Transfer option. With the copy permission, you could make backup copies, and even have 1 parachute copy per outfit. There’s little chance that you would lose it.

So I put it to you, my customers: which permissions would you rather have for your parachute? Copy or Transfer?