I want to preface this with the following disclaimer:
I am not trying to shame anyone, nor am I trying to start a riot. I simply want to share this information with the community so that folks can make an informed decision as opposed to, "Well, I read I could do this, so I did it."
God Mode has helped many of us out, especially when it comes to adjusting, retexturing, or outright fixing a mistake. When an avatar leaves a grid or can't be reached to fix permissions on an item they've acquired from a reseller, God Mode makes the impossible, possible. After scripting a full fledged system and then "selling" my parcel with items without setting scripts to full perm, God Mode fixed it. When I accidentally deleted my original 3D model and didn't have the full perm version in my inventory, God Mode came to the rescue. In short: There are times when God Mode is useful and the use of it is justified. Though along the same vein, there are times when God Mode should not be your first choice.
The reason I bring all of this up is that it came to my attention today that an item I spent many hours over the course of many days scripting, adjusting and creating custom textures for, even watching a YouTube tutorial on how to make edits to the mesh in Blender for, and eventually sharing with no-mod script permissions and copy/mod object permissions, was made full perm through the use of God Mode. To add insult to injury, the script was then offered for sale on the Marketplace, where I had intended to sell a good portion of the script myself, sans the model and textures. To be clear, the mesh was not created by me, nor were the original textures, though the textures I included were my own modifications/creations. I take no issue at all with the fact that someone wanted a full perm copy of the mesh, nor do I particularly care about the textures. What I take issue with is the scripting that is now full perm, open source, able to be hacked apart and broken off for use in different ways, and (most infuriatingly) being sold from someone who apparently had no idea how to script to begin with.
As a scripter, and an active store owner in SL, one of the things I love about scripting is that I am secure in knowing that sending out something no-mod means exactly that. Objects, textures, sounds, animations - these could always be accessed or downloaded in some way, form, or fashion. Scripts, on the other hand, were the Fort Knox of creations that could be shared securely. In OpenSim, things function differently; this I find both refreshing and maddening all at once. I spend the majority of my time working on scripting projects and ignoring the builds on my SIMs, partly because I find it engaging and partly because it's something I can give back to the community.
I realize that it sounds very hypocritical to complain that my scripts were made full perm when I essentially did the same thing with the mesh model. I get it. I hear you. I agree with you. To that point: Unlike the case of the mesh model, which the original creator of is not willing to bring over to OpenSim (and yes, I did inquire), my scripts are being created here and shared with the community for free. I offer my scripting ability to the community because I realize that there's a lot of functionality that is readily accessible in SL that can't simply be Marketplaced for cheap, or in most cases for free, for OpenSim. I revel at the idea that something I've made is being shared and appreciated by those who have come across them and/or shared them. My only (simple) ask is that you respect the permissions of the scripts that I provide for use in OpenSim.
I tend to think of myself as a friendly, giving person and I strive to be helpful whenever I can. I'm readily accessible, both in and out of world, and am more than happy to provide you with full perms with nearly anything I create - you just have to take the time to reach out to me and allow me the time to provide you with it. In previous cases, I have never denied someone who has requested a full perm item, nor did it take me longer than 48 hours to respond to the request. Depending on the request, I may not be inclined to provide full perms for a script, but I am more than happy to adjust/change the functionality to suit your needs. This may be because I plan on selling all or part of the script on Marketplace, or because the script was made for a particular use/case, or because someone requested it and asked that I not share it, or simply because it's a script someone paid for and needed adjustments to but didn't know how.
With that said, from now on, I will be including a script/snippet in all of my scripting projects that I release. This will check the creator and permissions of any scripts that are included in the item; should it find that the permissions or creator have changed on the script(s), it will delete the scripts and you will be banned from accessing my regions. I really do hate doing this, but I feel it's necessary to ensure my kindness and time devoted aren't being taken advantage of. So, to reiterate: If you want something of mine full perm, please reach out to me here or in-world instead of using God Mode and alienating yourself from me, my SIMs, and my current/future shares.
TL/DR: God Mode can be your friend, or it can add you to my ban list.
[ Edited To Add ]
I appreciate those of you who came into the comments section with curiosity, concerns, encouragement, and constructive criticism. Quite a few of you have directly messaged me regarding this and I greatly appreciate the thoughts you've all had, ideas offered, as well as the thought provoking insights. At this time, I feel the conversation is getting off topic and becoming less productive and more of an entertainment source, so I feel it's best to leave this one for the archives and lock comments.
| DuncanSteuart: Just to play Devil's Advocate, what would stop someone from rezzing the object, stopping all scripts, changing permissions, and copying the script text? Delete the detect-remove-ban routine, rinse, a... 2 months ago |