mikes opened this issue on Jun 04, 2002 ยท 44 posts
Freakachu posted Wed, 05 June 2002 at 5:17 AM
When I created the Kaz Morphs for freestuff, the download generated about 10 queries asking why the hair didn't work, or where the geometry files were. (answer: they're at DAZ3D.) Several other folks responded that the freebie had prompted them to purchase Patrick Martin's product, and I was thrilled. I loved the simplicity and untapped flexibility of the model (it's not loaded down with countless "layers" and can be easily shaped). I was also able to do some nice morphing work on the hair to generate unique hairstyles for some of my characters. I felt that the possibilities that I didn't explore with the morphs were being wasted on my harddrive, so I uploaded them to free stuff. The original intent was to add variety and functionality to folks who owned the original product; the unforseen side affect was actually generating sales for another community member's product (which, when it comes down to it, is exactly how community support should work). I predict the addition of a new subcategory for freestuff will generate even more forum arguments based on semantics than the "Product Showcase" has. If a vendor blatantly abuses the freestuff area by swamping it with crappy promotional add-ons, they've done the community a service by steering members away from that merchant's site. Within the span of a week, the offending files are usually buried deep in the database. It's pretty obvious to the members here, which vendors are providing real upgrades and add-ons to their products to add to their value, and which ones are just trying to direct traffic to their stores.