Protecting your Work – Applier Creators

Ok, so if you’re like me, you’ve been noticing a rash of ripped materials appearing lately. LL seems to be having a hard time keeping up with it.
So in the meantime, here’s some info to help keep your Omega Appliers safe!

First the Tech Bits.

• Use Proper Permissions:
  • Remember to set all Config Notecards to No-Copy/No-Mod to prevent them from being read.
  • Remember to set all Config Scripts to No-Mod/no-trans. (No-copy is unnecessary).
  • Set other applier scripts itself to no-trans.
  • Set the applier prims to no-mod/no-trans.
• Remove the Configs: You can delete the Config Scripts and Notecards after they’ve been loaded into the applier script, this is highly recommended. Just make sure you:
  • Test the applier to make sure it’s still working after deleting the Config.
  • Set the Prim to No-Modify to prevent data loss from scripts getting reset by your customer.
• Use Breast Textures:  Omega uses a super secure alternating channel for all its textures except the upper body, which uses the channels used by all implants. If you’d like to avoid sending your full upper textures over this channel, there is a slot for a partial breast texture that can be sent to implants so that the full upper texture can use the secure channel instead.
• Avoid unsafe appliers:  Because Appliers ARE our business, we’ve made sure we have the most secure appliers in the business short of using an external server. We’ve gone so far as to make some mesh makers hate us (ok be ..maybe just mildly annoyed by us) because we demanded they fix their internal security in order to get Omega Support. However, while we’ve gone to bat over security when it affects our appliers, we have no say on how they treat THEIR appliers, so applier security varies a great deal! So if it’s not a brand you trust, use Omega Instead!

Next…the Bigger Picture

Use Peoples Laziness:
All Viewers…Firestorm, SL Viewer, and other viewers I don’t care about cause they aren’t Firestorm…..are just 3D Web Browsers akin to Chrome, Firefox, and Explorer. And just like their 2D brethren, they have no means of protecting your textures from those who know how to get to them. No special viewer is needed. Meshes being Mod, No Mod, etc doesn’t matter in the least. There is no hud to detect this activity, there is NOTHING SL can do to prevent Mr “I took CIS classes in Jr College” from getting at your textures.  We do everything we can to make sure that most people can’t get them via OUR sloppiness, but there’s just nothing that can be done to prevent theft whether you provide appliers or not.

Thankfully, however… just because it’s doable… doesn’t mean it’s not a pain in the ass.  Most means of theft involve getting a potentially dangerous viewer, looking at lines of code or installing little bits of code in places of your computer that 99% of us didn’t know even existed. It can be rather time-consuming, and in some cases, computer/account threatening.  Not because LL does anything about it, but because the required tools are made by hackers and thieves, and you don’t know what they’ve put in there! And the less experienced with it you are, the less likely it is you’ll know what will damage your computer and what will not!

This means one of the most important things you can do to secure your appliers (after the technical bits above!) is to just make sure it’s not worth peoples time to steal!

• First… practice kindness: Make sure you’re kind to your customers and competitors.  Most folks are good people, but even good people occasionally do bad things if they can justify it with “They were an asshole!”. So avoid the SL Drama Traps. Make yourself known for how well you treat others, whether they’re customers or competitors!
• Have Good Applier Support:  The biggest excuse/reason I hear for ripping or learning how to? (before I ban their asses from my sim and groups?) Someone didn’t have an applier for the mesh bit they were wearing!
  That’s why it’s super important that you:
  • Make Omega appliers. This will keep users of MOST mesh bodies from giving in to that temptation!
    There are very few mesh bodies that don’t take an Omega Applier!
  • Appliers for anything popular that isn’t covered by Omega but you’ve been asked about frequently.  You can ignore requests about non-sluv meshes and no-mod meshes without free/public dev kit access, since ripping your textures won’t help with these meshes, but any Mesh that is SLUV and Modifiable, either manually or via a public Dev Kit/Personal HUD is a temptation if it doesn’t already have an Omega Kit.
  • If you find a SLUV Mesh that doesn’t take Omega, poke them and ask them to get an Omega kit done! Even if you make appliers for them, ensuring they get Omega-fied helps protect others work, which in turn protects yours.
  • Keep your Appliers Reasonably Priced, and if practical, just roll the cost of them into the product itself. This can be difficult

Frankly, MOST people are mostly honest as long as you don’t tempt them too hard.  They have no issues spending a little money here and there to support creators they like.  They just want to get all these mesh pieces to look right together. If you make it easier to throw some Ls at what they want rather then learn how to rip, 99.99% of the time… people will throw the Ls!!  So Make it easy to throw Ls!

Don’t Publicize Stolen content:
I see it a lot. Angry Creators and consumers on social media crying foul because of a shop selling ripped content. And I don’t blame them. They are totally justified by their wrath. But If you’ve ever opened a shop, you know getting attention at first is HARD. Even awesome creators have to go through that curve of building up word of mouth. So why assume ripped content on the MP is going to get much attention?…. unless of course… people advertise for them! Frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised, if some of these posts are started by the rippers themselves! These posts spread fast and go far, so it’s a fantastic way to advertise what you’re selling!

• If you see one of these posts, tell them to remove the links! Especially if it’s YOUR stuff on the line!
• If you see one of these shops, notify the creator so they can do a report/DMCA and then keep it to yourself!
  If you want to vent on Facebook, do it! But leave the links and seller names out of it! Don’t help these creeps!

Lastly… remember to stay focused!
This goes for all creators… not just Applier Creators. It SUCKS when people steal things from you… it can break your spirit…make you question why you put in the WORK….. but remember you are a business. Maybe a tiny one, maybe a big one. Either way the goal is not to prevent theft.. but to sell! Theft can obviously cut into sales, but not as much as alienated customers or loss of creation time.  So while you’ll want to take any PRACTICAL steps to stop thieves, just make sure the steps you take don’t cut into your sales, either by pissing off your customers or taking away from your creation time! Better to sell 1000 Units and have 1000 more stolen… then to sell 10 and have no thefts at all!

But that’s all I gotta say on the matter. Be safe my pretties. And Happy Creating!

Read More about Copybotting in this Article by Caspervend!

In case it is not clear please note that we at Omega DO NOT condone Ripping, UUID snagging or any other means of acquiring UUIDs without the creator’s consent. I don’t care if the creator is an asshole and/or has/hasn’t followed all our security tips. There is ZERO excuse for UUID/Texture Theft, even for personal use. Anyone caught suggesting otherwise or peddling services for such in our chats/blogs/to our group members/on our sim/ect is subject to immediate ejection from all our Groups/Lands.