Mad as Hell about SL

"I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad..." ~ monologue from "Network"

I have had two very uncomfortable encounters yesterday with users in SL. One was with a "land owner" who owns 100s of sims apparently, unhappy about how LL has restructured their customer service.

Second was with a friend who had left a comment on the Second Life blogs, showing clear irritation about receiving a report from the moles, saying that LL was not putting its money to the right resources when Qarl has been let go.

People are mad about SL and it's running over into conversations, relationships, group chat, everywhere. All this anger and frustation is not what I log into SL for. Bleah.

People are pissed about search, the changes in XStreet, the 2.0 and 2.1 viewers (including Chris Pirillo, and honestly, what a fail that was because he got saddled with 2.1), the Lindex, and God knows what else. They are even pissed Philip won't be showing up at SLCC to address the angry mobs (though if he did, tons others would be pissed he spent the money to go). A lot of it is hyperbole, half-informed garbage, and general crankiness.

However, it's reached a fever pitch. Linden Lab needs to do something--it's clear. Linden Lab, your user base is mad and soon they won't take it anymore.

That being said, I want to point out that the user base is not the Board of Linden Lab. As I have *always* argued, Linden Lab is a private enterprise. They have a right to make the decisions they make, to review their financial reports and personnel, to allocate their resources as they choose. They don't have to answer to us as anything but the consumers we are.

Nevertheless, this is the thing, LL. We are the consumers.

And when WoW becomes more interesting to me than fighting with the myriad interface weirdnesses of 2.0, and watching movies on YouTube becomes more compelling to me than spending my Linden on prim toes, and Twitter becomes more effective for me to spread my message, and Facebook becomes more fun for me to diddle away my time on, and Skype gives me better voice, and my iPad has better graphics, chances are I will put my money and time towards those things. It's happening already ;)

Because all this anger is a real buzzkill.

When new users log into SL and hear current users complaining about SL or read the blogs or try to get help and get the excuse, "Well, it's SL," you really have to wonder how long they will stay.

There's a better way to wrap your heads around all this impatience and anger, Linden Lab. The people above, the people complaining, the big whiners (and God, they *are* whiners sometimes--I agree)--a lot of them are as good as shareholders. They have plowed a lot of time and personal skills and resources into this platform to aid in its development and to sell it others. This isn't like WoW where we pay a subscription and get what we pay for and no more and no less. Or like Twitter where we get what we pay (nothing) and get 140 characters. Or YouTube where we can no longer fulfill our need for pirated works. No, this is the world we make ourselves.

So, Philip, when you address those mobs at SLCC using SL (and man, better make sure that connection is rock solid before you start talking), you had better start addressing some questions like, what happened to customer service? And what are you going to do about meshes? And when will search be usable? And why do you persist in pursuing 2.0 when it's clearly a fail? And why is so damn hard to purchase Linden? And why did you let go of so many personnel so quickly when clearly so many loose ends have to be tied up? And when are we going to stop being the laughing stock of the rest of the web (or even worse, completely missing)?

I realize it's not easy to address a shareholder meeting where the shareholders are angry. But many before you have done it. Give us honest answers, explain what is going on with the Lab so people can make reasonable choices about their businesses, their investments, and their time. Tell us where you think you made the wrong turn and where we're going from here. Face it--it's not going to be Fast, Easy, or Fun. But it is what it is.

I don't have a solution for you, Philip, for the above problems. That's your job.

All I know is, "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!"

Letter to Blue Linden

Tigerlily Koi, Delora Starbrook, and I had a discussion one day in the Designers in Seclusion group after I had received an advertisement which is normally sent to new players on SL. (I had created an alt for RFyre business.) We stormed Blue Linden's office hours to express our concerns. ("Stormed" is a heavy word. Our three little avatars showed up and brought up the topic. Blue asked us to send an email, which you read below.)

We agreed what was most alarming was the tacit approval Linden Lab gave to promoting free things to new players. As I had written in a blog last October, I think Linden Lab needs to do away with suggesting to new players that life in SL is free. It's a cultural cue (and yes, T Linden, there IS a culture in SL, just as corporations have cultures and groups have cultures) that imprints on players the moment they enter, and they chase after the "free" experience on everyone else's dime and time (including Linden Lab's).

Here is the ad in question, marked up as sent to Blue.

Dear Blue:

Thanks for letting us come to your office hours this afternoon and bring up our concerns about an ad we had seen that had been sent out to new users.

I am attaching the ad with mark ups so you can discuss the points made with whomever has to see it.

We are concerned with the ad as it discourages users in SL from believing that they have to pay for content in SL. We understand the reasoning behind it, but we believe it ultimately encourages a culture in which content is devalued rather than valued. We would rather see you teach new users how to register to purchase Linden right off the bat. We would rather see, if anything at all, a suggestion that “gifts,” rather than “freebies,” are available to new users.

Underlying all this is a general concern among most content creators about “freebies” in SL. We believe neither Linden Lab nor content creators in SL benefit from the “freebie culture” that has become so predominant. By talking about “freebies,” by making them a main focus on the first pages new users see, you are devaluing the work of content creators and ultimately, the value of Second Life.

Freebies are just that. They are content that is provided without exchange of the Linden currency to be put into people's inventories. We understand the prevailing argument about freebies—that for new users they allow them choice in defining their look and help teach them the mechanisms of customizing their avatar. For those first few days, it's a boon to Linden Lab to have freebies exist—they entice users into one of the experiences of Second Life that is so fun—the customization of one's visual and aural experience in world. They teach users that their Second Life is their own and push them to continue in world.

The problem we have is that some users never get past this point, and an ad like yours doesn't help. Content creators have seen a glut of “freebies” in-world and that has had direct economic impact on them. This causes downward pressure on content pricing and also forces creators to devote time to making items to give out for free just to entice customers to see their other content, hampering their ability to spend their time profitably. This kind of time expenditure for content creators can't last. Eventually, designers who were providing high-end content will flee to other opportunities and other worlds as downward pressure on the pricing of their content continues going on. Ultimately, you'll have a large portion of the creators that provide income and quality content for SL gone.

What that will mean for Linden Lab is a hit on your bottom line. Content creators who currently keep sims for selling their goods (and additional sims on which to do their building and work in-world) will stop being able to pay tiers. Free content creators will not buy sims because they have no income to purchase them and they will not exchange Linden because they have no income to exchange out. And no one will be exchanging money in because, well, everything is free! (Except for uploads, of course.)

We can't imagine the glut of free content is great for Linden Lab anyway. As individual inventories fill up with “free stuff”—a lot of it less than ideal—landmarks, useless textures, 20 colors of the same multi-prim piece, scripts, etc., your asset servers will fill up. While you want users to have choice, we are sure you don't want them to have their inventories up to 100,000 items of junk. Additionally, every click for a freebie is a click—and another tax on your system. Each transaction seems microscopic, but it has to add up. We also can't imagine you want the XStreetSL databases full of such things.

We, as content producers, all have experience with freebies. We tried using them to build interest and traffic for our businesses. Our metrics show us that they do not generate sales for us or for our associates. When we have given out freebies on our sim or at other sims, we have never seen an appreciable increase in sales during the giveaway or after. We see a spike in traffic but not in sales. However, we feel pressured to offer them in order to simply break through the noise of all the other items being offered. They take as much time to make as content on which we put a price but they give us little in return.

What we concluded is that the audience that typically looks for freebies is not the demographic that brings money into Second Life. If we are looking for a promotion for getting money-spending customers to see our products, this is not it.

Most importantly, our philosophy is that time spent producing content of the level that most residents enjoy is worth some compensation. We are real people spending substantial real time on content. Second Life has given us the opportunity to be compensated for our time and skills, and Linden Lab in turn receives a portion of that compensation every time we pay tier, move money in or out of the system, or upload textures. Offering “freebies” devalues those skills and time for us. It sets into the customer culture a belief that this work should be free. And it furthers the notion that replicating content and redistributing it (called “intellectual property theft” by some) is condonable. In the end, it will set into the minds of consumers the idea that what Linden Lab offers should also be free.

We realize that Linden Lab is a private enterprise; our success is yours and yours is ours. We also realize that the push for a “free” Internet is part of a greater culture that pervades the entire grid. Certainly Amazon.com, for example, offers free content. However, they don't offer it on their splash page nor do they offer it without a certain amount of diligent user awareness. We know that virtual goods is a multi-billion dollar industry with much more potential. Linden Lab has told us this. How would you deny us all this little piece of the pie? How would you cut yourselves off at the legs by letting your new users think life in Second Life is a no-cost proposition?

We want Linden Lab to succeed. We want you to retain new users. However, we want these to be spending users. Rethink your ads and your marketing approach. Consider what you're really selling and sell it well. Cut us all in on the deal so we can help make Linden Lab grow.

Sincerely,

Harper Beresford
Delora Starbrook
Tigerlily Koi
from Designers in Seclusion

P.S. A few days after this letter was sent, my account received another email with this graphic:


This is what we like to see!

Quick note: I do not think LL issued this ad because of my letter. However, Blue did email me that day to something more along the lines of, "Is this what you meant?" I do not attribute this ad to this letter. But I DO feel they heard.

Linking Content to Value.. How LL Might Do It

First, I am going to link you all to my fashion blog, Harper's Passion for Virtual Fashion. I have been submitting a blog daily to that endeavor for ... 70 posts now.. Ay caramba!

However, I would like to feature a little blog here about being a content designer in SL. Raven, my wonderful boss at RFyre, receives countless notices, IMs, demands, etc., daily. She is incredibly patient with them and beyond generous with her time and resources. Most of them are polite and well meaning. Some are rude. And some are just plain old stupid.

Read below:

Titled: EVENT SPONSORSHIP FROM SOMEONE'S NAME

Greetings, I own a multi-purpose adult entertainment venue & would very much like to have you sponsor one or more of our events. We would like to have you either send models or provide some of our employees with your fashions, that you are interested in showcasing. It would be fabulous if you could provide us with a prize of some sort, as we are HOUSE of RFYRE fans & are interested in promoting you in a very specific way. We already own & wear your clothing etc. & send others to you. Thank you for your time & consideration.

Sincerely,
Someone's Name
Owner~A Place~

We had a good laugh about this. So we wrote back (but didn't send):

Dear Someone:

We own a top of the line fashion line in SL. We would like to have you sponsor our continued existence and help Raven pay her tier and RL mortgage because to give you the kind of content you want, she does it full time. Please send models or send your friends over to shop at our store. We would love to showcase you. It would be fabulous too if you could provide us with a prize--something like buying more of our outfits. In fact, we think everyone in your club should purchase something. Then you could sponsor US by having a Best of RFyre contest.

We love your music and love to dance on your poseballs.

Sincerely,
House of RFyre

Then later I wrote this letter to Raven, just to push her over the edge:

Titled: *interesting* and *amazing* opportunity

(Insert Name Here) Raven Pennyfeather

I am writing because you are a very close personal friend of mine and I think you owe it to me and yourself to hear what I have to tell you and sell you because it's the best thing in Second Life. Not only will it *improve* your business but it will also create opportunities for you. Once you discover the synergies that are created, you will be amazed and wonder why you've never spoken to me before.

I will IM you at my earliest convenience because I am a busy man, selling this to so many successful people in SL like yourself. When I do, you will be *surprised* and *amazed* and will kick yourself for having never spoken to me before. It's very economical. For 10000L, leave it all to us. You will be astounded!

Here is a lm. Use it. I have no idea where it goes but it looks official.

(no parcel), Missing Sim (128, 128, 0)

Domogato MrRoboto
CEO of Synapse Enterprises, LLC

I passed the last letter to several friends. They all said, "Hmm.. who sent this and what is their service?" They DIDN'T laugh. I asked one why he didn't laugh, and he said, "I am so used to getting this stuff I thought it was another letter you received in your business...." He paused. "You mean it's not REAL?"

I am no longer surprised. There is a deep undercurrent in SL culture that denies the hard work of content creators. This weird sort of engagement comes from a number of different sources:

1. "SL is just a game." People still consider SL a game and therefore, try to play the game by exploiting everyone else to get their means achieved.

Some are doing this very well. A media conglomerate owner who can barely rez a prim has managed to purchase 4 sims, run a magazine, have a modeling agency, create a website, and, he recently said on his new SL TV show, make a RL living out of SL. He spends a lot of time making other people do things for him to create content. And he pays them nothing or next to nothing. Which leads to my next point....

2. "Content creation does not have value. However, my brilliant idea of how to assemble it does." Content creation--creating graphic art, building with prims, scripting, writing--none of them have value. However, deciding to make a club, assemble a bunch of people to create a magazine, renting land--those somehow all have value. Both have a sort of value. Graphic art would just sit around on prims if there weren't people pitching it. However, the business of making that art is still work. And at this point, it's more skilled and more difficult work.

3. "I can't afford to pay for this stuff." There is some weird mentality that says, "The computer I use that is good enough to handle Second Life, the broadband internet connection, the ISP, the electricity--none of that is free. However, I can't afford to pay for the entertainment that I find on the Internet nor for the content I expect you to provide to promote my fun and the fun of my patrons. Therefore, the time and skills you put into content creation SHOULD be free. And you should consider it a privilege I shone down on you."

Explain that one to me.

4. "I have no idea how it's really made. Therefore, it should be free." Marx once pointed out that we were separated from the means of production--we didn't understand how things were made--and this allowed us to buy into capitalism. (OMG, YES, I just said MARX.)

He had a point that still echoes today. Many in SL are disconnected from the means by which all this rich content comes to them. They don't understand that Adobe Photoshop CS4 costs $699, that Maya costs something I can't even find online because you have to go through a dealer, that Studio 3D Max, needed to be in Blue Mars, costs even MORE. This stuff takes skill, folks, and time. And for that, I have to pay someone a measly 2 bucks so I can feel gorgeous and beautiful and have fun with my friends? It's a BARGAIN!

It doesn't help that LL puts a "Freebie" area on each Orientation Island. Yeah, it teaches people how to dress themselves and teaches them how to "buy," but it doesn't really teach them about paying.

This is my proposal, and I hope Tom Hale (T Linden) sees this, because it was at Metanomics that he said retention in SL was based on first, making a friend, and second, investing money in your avatar. When newbies enter SL, give them 500L that shows in their account that they can use to BUY things but only in Orientation. Get rid of the "Freebie" area and call it the "Store." Allow them to shop at the Orientation Store. They can meet other new friends and mentors there and shop together. Once they leave Orientation Store, they lose whatever amount of Linden they had. And make sure the content they purchase is GOOD.

Explain to them in Orientation that SL can certainly be used for free; you can negotiate the whole world without spending a penny. However, if you want to dress up your avatar, have your own land, have a house, etc.--barring making it all yourself--you need to pay for it. And this is how you do it... and send them over immediately to sign up their credit card or PayPal.

This will somehow connect content to value, to cost, to real life money. Content creators built this world for you, residents--every darn beautiful pose ball you dance with, every stinkin' prim hair you put on your mesh head (over that skin someone drew). They should be able to make money from that. They SHOULD be able to "make bank."

DBC's JazzBaragge simulcast

Several Wednesday afternoons, I have inevitably found myself dancing at the DBC sim with my friends Lunata, Bavid, Iono, Pippi and Bergie (and sometimes Jaynine). JfR Beaumont and Mady Schumann host a live show from Zurich, chattering in English, French, sometimes German (as I struggle to understand the French--ha!).


DBC, which is an online television/radio station out of Switzerland, hosts a live jazz session at JazzBaragge, a club in downtown Zurich, nearly every Wednesday night. The musicians who play are top notch (heard members of Earth, Wind and Fire once). We dance to videos projected from the club of the band in the club and likewise, video of US is projected into the club. DBC mixes this in an interesting way to be shown on their website (that is Bergie and Pippi on the front page). You feel like you are AT the club at an intimate club concert.

Today we listened to Marc Sway.. on his RL birthday! He was incredible. I mean.. REALLY incredible (and cute!).

And JfR did us the kind favor of bringing us to Cannes when he went to the Film Festival. Yes, Harper can say she attended the RL Cannes Film Festival, even if only in pixels.


I could go on and on. I am always so happy and have so much fun at DBC. Search for DBC in world and join the club. They are doing amazing work.

This is what I hope for with my Second Life. A bridge between RL and SL, the ability to travel around the world and feel you are in an intimate space with friends, to be in a place you never thought you would ever have the chance to see.

SL's Sixth Birthday

Second Life is about to celebrate it's sixth birthday. During the festivities, we will be seeing what SL residents think the future of the virtual world will be. Undoubtedly we will see a lot of futuristic, glowy places, such as the Android Stage on the SL6B Android Stage.


However, this birthday is quite important to me, at least. My own RL son was born in March, the same year SL was born. (He's almost a charter member!) One of the most significant marks of his birth is that he managed to squeak out two days before President Bush declared war in Iraq. As I have watched him grow, I have marked the endurance of that war by seeing his progress. Through learning to walk, potty training, his first day of kindergarten, and his completion of Legos Star Wars (*sigh*), I have seen the growth of this beautiful child while my fellow citizens faced dangers unknown to me (and unnecessary to anyone it turns out) on the other side of the world.

This has relevance as we think about the birthday of Second Life. Philip Linden chose to launch Second Life during a time of great upheaval in our world. We had experienced 9-11 just two years before. We were and are witnessing our own world grappling with the agonies of a new war (and it involved more than just the US and Iraq--we have to acknowledge that), the fear of conflict, and the sinking of the world economy. And yet he, the Lindens, and the residents persist.

Probably it is a lot of hubris. We have to scoff at a group of people thinking they can make a new world. What did we think we are doing? Nation building? (Want to know what the folks at Linden Labs thought they were doing? Shameless plug here for a friend's book--read Thomas Malaby's Making Virtual Worlds--just released!)

I had a friend who asked me the other day, when you reach a goal, do you look ahead towards the next goal or do you look back and see where you have been? I said, look ahead, of course, because if I look back, I will just see all the things I could have done better. Second Life is choosing to look ahead, to see what the future of virtual worlds will hold (and, I will cynically say, picking the brains of residents for more visionary ideas of where to go).

Let me end this story about the conversation with my friend. He laughed and said, you need to look back and savor what you have accomplished. You deserve to acknowledge that. On this sixth birthday, let's acknowledge that our nation building worked out a lot better than Iraq. Second Life includes residents from all four corners of the globe, people with varying abilities (Virtual Ability), and people who love straight, gay, furry, and all sorts of ways. Despite all the drama, despite the lag, despite the lack of decent hair for men, it's pretty near utopia.

While we are walking through the 20 sims of exhibits at SL, let's take a moment to remember life without prim hair, without 25 groups, without 7 Seas and chickens, without 30,000+ sims, without sculpties and wings, without freedom from Ruth. Let's also a remember our world without Second Life. It would be pretty empty.

fashion bloggers--yea or nay?

The business of blogging fashion is a complicated one. It needs to be acknowledged. Fashion bloggers are, for designers and content creators, their "press" and a peek into their customers' psyches. They are the "word of mouth" creators love to have with a wider spread audience. They provide an invaluable service to consumers on the grid, and the continued proliferance of them can only be of benefit to designers and to the further life of Second Life.

Fashion bloggers are also content creators themselves. LL has made it blessedly easy for us to examine our avatars and dress them and also *mostly* easy for us to take screen captures of our avatars (that latest camera "fix" in the RC stunk--good thing they fixed it). The screen captures they take and then edit, the text they write, the links they make--they are all content creation. Some fashion bloggers do exquisite montages of the creative content that they have purchased or have received with elaborate web formatting and links, many of them only with the compensation of future free content or the appreciation of their readers. In other words, these folks don't get paid for this and as anyone who knows me, I argue that people's skills and time have value.

I appreciate their efforts because I do the blog for House of RFyre, and it can be a considerable time expenditure and cost to style the avatar, find poses and locales, create the image in world and in other software, gather the links, and write a blog. I am fortunate because usually I have the content readily available and Raven makes the final images.

Callie Cline recently asked me to be officer of her fashion bloggers group, one she created to send appreciation to bloggers. I accepted because, frankly, I like Callie a lot. She has shown to me nothing but pure integrity in her dealings with me and others and an amazing savvy about marketing in Second Life. Several people I highly respect have spoken with great admiration of her as well.

So it's to her credit that I agreed to help her because, at the time, I was pretty neutral about bloggers and honestly, I was damn sick of SL. I was tired of being IM'd in the middle of my play time or build time with sometimes selfish requests from random people, I was tired of the drama between friends and others, and I was tired of the stinkin' rolling restarts. I was plain old sick of arguing with everyone. Callie coddled and encouraged me and turned me around.

I wrote a response to an entry by HawksRock Gunawan in a blog he shares with several others, one of whom had her own word to say about his post (heehee). The gist of it is, I am glad I participated and I will continue to participate. I have a new appreciation and thought process about what fashion bloggers are up to. Doesn't mean I love them all. Doesn't mean I think they all do a great job and that none of them need improvement (and will post in the future the notecard I was allowed to send to them with fashion blogging tips). Doesn't mean I am all sweet and am gonna cheerfully accept random IMs in the middle of the night. Just means I now "appreciate" better.

Below is my response to HawksRock, reprinted here because I don't think anyone read it there (not that anyone will read it here either). HawksRock was gracious enough to IM me and compliment me on my response.

I was one of the first Callie approached to help be an officer of the fashion bloggers group when she opened it. She had a simple idea–she would have a Bloggers Appreciation Week. She would hold a party for the bloggers at the end of the week on one of her sims (not the one with her store, thanks). She would send out some nice little things she made and ask others to do so as well. She really only had half an idea of the mechanisms going into it. However, her mandate was pretty simple–she just wanted to show the bloggers appreciation.

I was cynical about the whole enterprise but tempered my cynicism because, frankly, Callie is a nice lady who always comes at things with the best intentions, and after a pretty crappy week, I needed some cheerfulness. SL was really getting to me–I was sick of freebie hunters, lag, rolling restarts, drama, and all of it. To Callie’s credit, I argued with her about some fine points but she talked me out of them in the interest of being NICE to the BLOGGERS. Her message never waivered. Her intent was pure throughout.

After she started the ball rolling, she IM’d me the first day with reports about the participants. (Along the lines of “OMG, we have 50 in the group! Yay!” I am not kidding–she said this. Two hours later, “We have 87! OMG! I didn’t think anyone would join!” She did it in with her characteristic 20 page breaks–two to three words per line.) This thing really did snowball on her.

And yeah, she has some secret underlying ability to turn things into a good campaign. This is not deliberate–she just has it in her! Maybe it’s karmic. Send out to the world what you want back. Send out bile, you get it back. Callie sent out positivity. She got it back.

And yes, the officers put a LOT of time into this as did many other people, including the designers who offered items to the bloggers and Charlotte, who built the party space on Callie’s sim. Callie didn’t do this alone–she never claimed she did.

However, Callie herself sacrificed a lot of time to this–time that would have been otherwise spent on her business. If you have ever run a business in SL, you know time spent in world suddenly has great value. Cost it out–the many hours she dedicated to this group in the many ways she did (including defending it in comments in this blog) will never be recouped financially. She ain’t ever gonna get enough sales to cover that time.

Frankly, Hawks, if anyone should be holding Callie’s feet to the fire for claiming success “alone,” it should be people like me (or Shelly above). You don’t have to do it for me.

The thing is, though, I got what I needed–I saw a lot of bloggers having fun, I received lots of personal thanks, I saw lots of people being excited and creative in their blogs, I met a lot of cool people and learned some new things, and I had a pretty crappy week get turned around by Callie’s enthusiasm spreading through the group.

And Callie personally and publicly thanked me many times. Whether you or any other blogger heard it, I am not sure, but I am satisfied.

So I drank the kool-aid. I came out better for it.

RL Art in SL

One of the residents on Avant Garde and one of my dearest friends in SL is KK Jewell, the editor of arcspace.com. KK has been an ardent proponent of bringing RL architecture to SL and taking SL architecture out to the rest of the world. She has written about Scope Cleaver, among others.

The fabulous thing about KK is she's the real deal. She knows architecture and architects. She also knows art and has many friends in the art world, including painter David Hockney. (Side note: one of the first sets of images I imported into SL for my own personal use were Hockney's paintings. I decorated my first house in SL with them. So of course, I almost died when I found out she knew him.) KK has always been generous with her knowledge, her stories, and her time and friendship. It's why I asked Raven to name a dress after her :)

A few weeks ago, KK passed me a photo of a "painting" that Hockney did on his iPhone and had sent to his close friends. It was amazing and we were both excited. KK rezzed a prim and put the painting on it and hung it in her home in Avant Garde and all the residents got the opportunity to view it and enjoy it. We didn't say much--it was a personal communication between her friend David and herself, and she was sharing the beauty with just a few close friends.

KK called last night with another of Hockney's iPhone paintings and sent me this photo.

We since found some articles about the Hockney iPhone paintings so we felt it was ok to make this public. (Read about them on the Sundance channel or below.)

British painter David Hockney revealed Thursday how he uses his iPhone to paint pictures, as a new exhibition of works he produced on his computer opened in London.

"I like to draw flowers by hand on the iPhone and send them out to friends so they get fresh flowers. And my flowers last! They never die!" he told the Evening Standard newspaper.

I am sure KK would be glad to share the beauty with others in SL. Knock on her door at our sim, Avant Garde or peek through the windows. She has a regular rotation of original wonderful art there. As do other residents on my other two sims. Will write more when I can.

Blogging about my sims...

Someone reminded me tonight that I have not blogged in a while. In part this is because I have been busy messing with my sims (Avant Garde, Vanguard and Iconoclast--by the way, does anyone need a place to live among silly intellectuals? I have a quarter left here....). I have also been blogging for some other blogs, mostly House of RFyre (shameless plug finished) and soon Nonna Hedges' Details.

Back to the sim thing. I have to say, the purchase of my sims was really an attempt to "engineer" a "living space" for some like minded adults. Kinda similar to a channel in IRC or a chat in AOL, I suppose, but with all the graphic fun inherent in it.

One of my newest residents said, "I can't believe how fun this sim is!" And I guess it is if you share our sense of humor and fun, which we all seem to.

At one time on Avant Garde, we would gather at a late hour (for me) and do the flamenco together, three or four of us. While I am in CST, one was in PST and one was in Europe, and she was just waking up, so she looked forward to her coffee and flamenco. We would discuss art, music and gossip about what was going on in SL. We were supremely happy.


Another time, another resident showed up with his dragon avatar and I dug a hole in the coast to accommodate him and his.. cookie.

Then there was the time a resident, moving to another of my sims, decided to blow up his residence REAL GOOD. As prims flew about, we crouched on a neighbor's roof and watched the carnage. When did setting physical become so fun?


A resident called one day to have me come see a house he wished to purchase and to meet one of the builders--the fantastic Fornicola Butuzova. I arrived and then called over the rest of the residents of the sim and we ended up having a party and laugh session with Forni and her business partner, Amo Lambeau. (Bah, lost the photo and it was good!)

Today I "decorated" a resident's garage with junk. Served him right. Who needs a GARAGE in SL? ;)


Recently, Mitch Wagner (I think I can "out" him), called me to show me his new avatar. I had to say I laughed because Mitch seemed so comfortable in it....


There is a point to this blog. It's hard for me to articulate tonight how communities are built in SL. Well, heck, people have written whole books about it.

What I know is there is a community here on my sims. We share a language of text and image, we laugh together, we commiserate, we enjoy the fruits of each other's creativity and work. We all find it very satisfying and we keep coming back for more.

I don't think we are unique either. I see pages and pages and pages of photos of people having fun with their avatars. I read quotes in picks. I hear stories. And I have been to SLCC (and hope to go again this year--seeya there).

Was this Philip's vision? What a grand one it was!


(Shakin' a resident down for tier. That's me with the eyes. ;))

Wishing I were in Berlin

Right now, as we speak, Chrome Underwood (SL name) and Rob Steenhorst (RL name but he is in SL) are showing their art in another show sponsored by Vision Planer and his company. At the Austrian Embassy in Berlin RIGHT NOW as I write this, my friends Chrome, Rob, Vision, Jaynine, Lunata, and KK are sipping champagne, laughing, enjoying each other's company, enjoying the art, enjoying that whole special feeling of being where you are meant to be.

I wish I were there, my dear friends. I am so glad to know all of you. Please come home to Avant Garde and Vanguard soon :)

Charities in SL

It's time for me to reveal to you all what I think about charitable requests in SL: I think the way they are handled sucks. Not the charities themselves--the requests and the way donations in SL are managed at present. I see many people--some of them treasured friends--collecting monies on behalf of charities. I know these friends are good for their word, but if you don't know them personally, how do you know?

To be honest, I suspect I have been scammed out of more Lindens giving to "charitable" causes than I have to anything else in SL. I ignore the emails from Nigerian princes asking for me to lend them money. How come I am supposed to walk into SL and watch my brain (and Lindens) go out the door? Not anymore.

I think you all kind of got a whiff of that last month when I posted RFyre's official statement about charities. I have come to solidify some of those thoughts based on the many charitable requests that have come across my virtual desk recently. The American Cancer Society has been very successful on SL, due in part to the incredible volunteer work of several individuals. Now everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon.

I have encountered "charitable" requests wherein a logo was used (easily ripped off the organization's website), a plea was made on behalf of someone's brother or dog or grandma, a personal avatar took the monies, content providers spent hours making one-of-a-kind things that sold for $5 USD when they were auctioned off, and events were staged that yielded less than my writing a check of $25 to the organization personally.

One special offender set up an "auction" for Relay for Life in SL wherein we put money in a box, but when our auction was exceeded, we did not get our bid returned to us. She could have said the item went to the highest donor. But no, she said it went to the highest bidder. And this was a high-profile SL personality (who always seems to have her hand out for one or another charitable thing--most of it amounting to keeping her sims open). I do not believe Relay for Life would have condoned how she went about her "auction"; however, she acted on behalf of them, using their kiosk and logo.

How come the content providers spend hours of time looking for others stealing their content have no problems handing over free content and time to potentially unscrupulous money handlers? Or even worse, bungling money handlers.

What it amounts to is this: I need to be assured that the monies being collected are being collected legitimately and sent legitimately. The onus is on the collector, not on me, to prove beyond reasonable doubt that they are handling the monies correctly.

In the "real world," non-profit organizations have to go through many iterations to prove this. We as donors should require the same accountability. A financial report should be presented. My alma maters do it for me every year. My charitable recipients do it. Those who ask us for money in SL should also be expected to do this. To pull out a .csv file and throw it in an Excel spreadsheet with a copy of a cashiers check or the receipt for the monies donated should not be hard to do. And it should not be a tax write-off for a recipient. In fact, if someone donates substantial monies for an auction here, I would expect them to get a receipt for THEIR write off.

What should be expected?

* Upon request, the address of the charitable organization can be provided and a means of contacting them so there is proof that they have approved of the charitable event and use of their logo for such.

* A separate avatar made solely for the purpose of gathering donations and accounting for those donations. The donations should NOT go to a private avatar.

* An accounting of the donated items that have been provided with an estimated value. This includes designs OR performances. This is so we ALL know that the content providers' time and efforts are being matched at least minimally with donated money.

* Information about how one can contact the organization for a receipt if the donation exceeds $25 USD.

I have yet to see a function operate like this. I honestly have not looked closely at the American Cancer Society thing, though people gathering money on behalf of Relay for Life have been, at times, suspicious. The closest I have seen was the Make-a-Wish promotion done at the Best of SL, run by RubyStarlight Writer. Ruby used a separate avatar for funds gathering (though she had a personal avatar gather money at the celebrity auction--tsk) and was able to prove that Make-a-Wish condoned her activities and had reviewed them. Am I *positive* that she will turn over all monies collected? No. But I am a lot more sure than if she hadn't done these things.

Finally, I wonder if it's ever been considered by anyone that if these charitable organizations are contacted for approval, they MIGHT have resources to help raise funds for them including better graphics, pre-written statements, photographs and web links? They might even *gasp* find Second Life interesting and send someone in to check it out.

We all complain about Linden Labs, their lack of professionalism, their lack of customer service, foresight, etc. Yet we don't demand the same of ourselves or our peers in Second Life in taking money from each other for charitable organizations.

In short, next time you have your hand out, expect me to ask questions. The next time someone else has their hand out, ask them questions. Let's bring Second Life back to the Real. You want my Real money, I think you should do it Really right.

SL Human Rights Festival (and a small gripe)

I received this card a couple days ago out of the blue:

"The 60th Anniversay of the Declaration of Universal Rights is being celebrated by a huge festival in Second Life. More than 60 concerts mark the 60 years and the talents of 100 artists and musicians are part of the celebration. More than 30 sims reflect the 30 articles of the UN Convention.

The festival is the first time a themed programme of events on this scale in Second Life has aimed at raising real life issues. It draws on the talents of artists, musicians and campaigners from many different countries including Argentina, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, South Africa, Sweden, the Netherlands, the UK and the USA. Some well know SL musicians are headlining the festival including:

AYDEN KRUH - CYLINDRIAN RUTABAGA - JAYNINE SCARBOROUGH - ZAPHOD THEAS - JUNIVERS STOCKHOLM - LONNIE NIGHTFIRE - RUSSELL EPONYM - NAPHTALI HAWKS - AYDEN KRUH - MAXIMILLION KLEENE - FREESTAR TAMMAS - LOUIS VOLARE LANDON - KOMUSO TOKUGAWA - THUMPER BOUCHER - RARA DESTINY - JANO RUNO - BLAIR BONDE - TJ OANONOUCHI - OHMY KIDD - MIA MAXSTED - VIENNA JAMES - KITZIE LANE - PILLOWFISH - VIRTUAL LIVE BAND etc etc

Artists whose work will be displayed include:

AURAKYO INSOO - ARTISTIDE DESPRES - AM RADIO - EERCHECK HICKS - ELFOD NEMETH - VELAZQUEZ BONETTO - UB YUFI - CHEEN PITNEY - FILTHY FLUNO- TOOTER CLAXTON - IZIKAEL NOVI - JOSINA BURGESS - THOTH JANTZEN - SALIANT INFINITY - NONNY WRITER - VALJEAN ANSAR etc etc

There will also be talks from Ghana, Switzerland, Poland and the UK, poetry slams and stand up comedy.

The UN Convention sets out the universal rights of all humanity. However as well as a celebration, the festival is also designed to raise rights that are breached - the right to free speech, a fair trial, shelter, rights of women and children to be free from violence etc.

The opening of the Festival includes a live interview from Paris with Draxtor Despres (Bernard Drax). He has just been awarded a Every Human has Rights Award for his machinima on the Guantanemo Bay build Gone Gitmo by Nonny Writer and Ping Rau explained " Virtual Gitmo is the prime example how an immersive environment, which has the power to collapse geographies and enable communcation in real time across cultural boundaries, can help people engage in important issues concerning human rights." He will be speaking about the award and plans to bring other awardees to the discussion at Angel's Nest at 8am SLT on 10 December. Then a concert by Jaynine Scarborough will launch the full programme of music with 12 concerts in the festival (including 3 at the Amnesty International sim) and other events around SL.

One of the leaders of the festival, musician Junivers Stockholm, has been appointed one of the musicians for the Amnesty International Small Places Tour (http://www.smallplacestour.info/site/). This is inspired by Eleanor Roosevelt's words "Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person... Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world." This is the first time Second Life has been the venue for concerted citizen action to highlight human rights across the world.

Junivers and activists Any1 Gynoid and Medora Chevalier explained that they are really excited about the growth and power of the festival plans.

Junivers Stockholm said: "Wow, this is growing! Person to person, network to network - the connections grow and we'll build on them to back actions for humanity now and in the future."

Any1 Gynoid said: " We have an awesome array of SL's finest talents backing the festival. Everyone says yes, they want to stand up for human rights. This is going to be a festival to remember! Woot!"

Medora Chevalier said: "There is a new mood of optimism spreading around the world. We no longer need to be divided. We can act and campaign together, as humans caring about humans, sharing solutions, making change happen. The connections made in this world make ripples spread across the world to strengthen human rights."

There are a range of good causes in Second Life associated with the festival. These include Amnesty (featured on 10th), Uthango™ a social enterprise based in South Africa (featured on 11th), Keep Kids Safe/DrivebyAgony (featured on 13th), Peace Train/Twilight's Peace (featured 14th). Many others are featured in the sims visited for concerts or exhibitions during the festival.

The Festival started with an idea at discussions following Carp's the Rings Rock Opera, which raises social justice issues using music and drama. The performance of the Rings on 14th December at NMC Labs will be the last for some time as a break is planned. It has been featured on the popular SLTV programme Tonight Live with Paisley Beebe http://www.slcn.tv/tonight-live-paisley-beebe-3

Festival details are shown in the notecards below; on http://slhumanrightfestival.wordpress.com, on the Festival Travel HUD available at Angel's Nest http://slurl.com/secondlife/Angels%20Nest/128/103/23 and at many many other supporting sims throughout SL.

For more information contact by IM in Second Life Junivers Stockholm, Medora Chevalier or Any1 Gynoid"

Please check out this worthy and important set of events.

That being said, I want to make a small gripe. Had I not heard about this from my friend Jaynine, who is a center of a very large and interesting universe in Second Life, I would not have heard about this at all.

Announced at the opening event I attended today with 36 others (five or so of whom were being interviewed in voice in a rather disorganized chatter and another 10 of whom were organizers) was that there are 60 sims devoted to this event (as opposed to the 30 listed in the card). Holy cow! SIXTY sims!

Did someone not ask the Lindens to take note of this? Where is the promotion for this? I looked on the Second Life blogs, on the New World Notes, on SLNN, on the Herald--nothing. Looked at plurk. Checked twitter. Nothing. Facebook? Nada.

I am sorry to say, but the announcement poster leaves a lot to be desired, which is a shame since there are thousands of worthy graphic artists in SL. And the notecard? It desperately needed an editor.

I can guarantee you, more people know who Miss Virtual World 2009 is than know about this very worthy and ground-breaking event because there were people doing graphics, writing concisely, and promoting Mimmi Boa's ascendancy. Take a lesson from these silly fashionistas, all ye high-minded people. The world of commerce has a lot to teach you.

What irks me is that there was a lot of work put into this. I can only imagine how much time and effort went into creating content for 60 sims. I know some were already done and linked in, but a HUD was made to travel them. That alone is a lot of time. I am sick to think that all this time was spent for only a few hundred or thousand to view it when we are seeing concurrencies of 70,000 now. If no one is there to hear the tree fall, has it fallen?

This points out a huge gap, a difficult gap, in our Second Lives--getting the word out. It's not easy. But it also points out that half of what you need to do in Second Life is not just content production but also getting the word out. Keep it in mind.

Do I have a solution? Nope. This is what I struggle with every day for RFyre. However, I think the organizers could have done a lot more than they have.

So I am doing my small part. My five dear readers, please check it out. Poorly-syntaxed slurl listed above or in the blog you can kind of read about in the graphic (and which is misspelled in the notecard).

Happy Thanksgiving!

This just in. Eshi got her Green Card!

[14:15] Eshi Otawara: guess what i am holding in my hand?
[14:15] Eshi Otawara: :)
[14:16] Harper Beresford: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[14:16] Eshi Otawara: mhm
[14:16] Harper Beresford: Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[14:17] Harper Beresford: john's singing, "Eshi got her green card, Eshi got her green card.."

Eshi wanted me to add this:
[14:33] Eshi Otawara: i am really greatful to SL community for supportive words and for getting involved
[14:35] Eshi Otawara: i wish they'd still remain involved because this cause affects not just me but many other families. It is important and I hope that my struggle will teach a few how important it is that we all be involved in out government, no matter how we might sometimes feel that our voice doesn't make a difference- it DOES.

I blow up a nightclub owner and game maker

I was busy today carefully patching up the big hole I made at RFyre when I got a call from my friend Jackson Vantelli. I put down the duct tape and prims I was using to try to patch it up and answered his IM. FYI, Jackson is the owner of Quarters nightclub, a rather fun place for dancing and gaming (though not my personal taste in music as I tend towards the less mainstream). He is also a supermodel, builder, publisher, and general SL extraordinaire. Jackson wanted to show me his new Blackjack table. I needed to get the hole fixed before Raven saw it, but I guessed I had time to see his new toy.

I tp'd in and Jackson offered me a seat at the table. When I went to take another, he said, "Oh no, sit here, Harper. Right next to me." He patted the seat. I was a little suspicious and narrowed my eyes. "Just want to look at those pretty green eyes, darlin'." Jackson is a notorious flirt. Somehow he gets away with it (and finds time to do it on top of all the other stuff he has going on in SL). I can't believe with all that he can survive in SL--women can be pretty vicious here. But he slides through.

I sat down and proceeded to get myself beat handily at Blackjack. Now, I know a lot of this is the luck of the draw, but the luck seemed to be falling on the side of the "dealer" and Jackson. I am glad the thing didn't take bets or I would have lost a bundle.

Then Jackson proceeded to explain to me that HE made the table, building, textures, and scripting. Now it all came clear. Jackson had to have coded that thing so he could win.

Well, all I could do was take out my own weapon--a sweet piece of candy. (You know what's coming next.)

"Candy, Jackson? Got an early batch of holiday humbugs." Jackson happily (and obliviously) took one.


I winced when, on the third crunch, Jackson blew. I guess this will be the last time you ask me to "hit you," hm, Jack?

An appeal regarding the Widow Penalty (do it for Eshi!)

As you know, Eshi Otawara is still pending notification about her status in the US. While recent news has been positive for her, things are not as good for all widows of American citizens.

Brent Renison is a lawyer fighting the Widow Penalty in the US. Eshi contacted Brent a few months ago after listening to a podcast both Crap Mariner and I told her about, and he agreed to help her with her case. At the same time, Eshi met my friend Mike in SL. Mike also contacted Brent, and they put together a case for Eshi. Mike forwarded this letter to me and asked me to forward it on behalf of Eshi and the other widows who have been unfairly penalized because their American spouses died before they were able to get a fair hearing.

Please join us in assisting Brent and Eshi in this cause. Click through to the website, read about, consider if it is something you support, and contact your legislator.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From: Brent Renison
Sent: Wednesday, November 19, 2008 3:30 PM
To: brent@ssad.org
Subject: 60 Minutes Exposes Widow Penalty - from Brent Renison

Hello,

I promised to let everyone know when I would appear on CBS 60 Minutes. The time has come. Barring unforeseen circumstances, Bob Simon, the most honored journalist in international reporting, will expose the “Widow Penalty” to the nation this Sunday night , November 23rd on CBS 60 Minutes.

America is deporting widows of American citizens automatically and without appeal when their spouse dies during bureaucratic processing of the green card application.

My sincerest desire is that, after watching the broadcast, Monday morning you will do something about this terrible practice. There are a number of ways you can help to end the widow penalty. The most important is to tell your elected officials that a change must occur in the abysmal way that we treat widows of American citizens. Whether you effect a change in the way the current or future Administration handles the cases, or push through a legislative amendment signed by the President, this practice must stop. Click on the box to find out how you can help.



Please be a part of that change on Monday morning, and please forward this email to just one person whom you trust to do the right thing. Forward to more than one person at a time, and accountability is lost – people will delete the email, just as you might delete mine.

Brent Renison

How Real is SL?

This is a linkback to Zoe Connolly's blog, on which I was privileged to be a guest blogger :)

Zoe Connolly's blog

Second Life as an Exploration of Culture and Diversity

I have the honor and privilege of having Young Geoffrion as the guest blogger for my blog, so kindly offered to me through Arminasx's and Vint Falken's Mix and Match challenge. So without further ado, I give you Young Geoffrion....

An explorer learns to tread carefully around marshy ground, and there is no landscape so littered with quagmires and fraught with hidden dangers as those of Culture and Diversity. Where does Culture begin and Personality end? Is Culture received by the individual or created? How is Diversity to be measured and characterised? And is Diversity a Good Thing?

Melting pot and multicultural communities have always struggled with such questions because the personal self-identity of its members is built on these shifting quicksands. We no longer have the luxury of living unquestioningly in the stone farmsteads built by our grandfathers, where most of our day is spent in the company of those who look and think and act like us. We live instead in busy cities teeming with strangers, foreigners, mixed classes and races, where personal roles and social ambitions jostle. A wilderness of diversity and culture sits at our doorstep and waits at our fingertips.

Second Life was created in such a community, sprung up in one the most culturally diverse cities in the world. Diversity is implicit in the promise of a world imagined and created by its residents, and promoted in its advertising. We are born to this Life as Ruth but immediately begin a search for our own identity.

However, the Second Life pursuit of personal self-identity reflects a Western preoccupation. Other cultures emphasize the relation between the self and others, by defining the interdependent self, often employing extended kinship terms. Such cultures tend to view conformity as a virtue and diversity as a selfish unwillingness to accept a role in the community, an indication of moral immaturity, or even a dangerous untrustworthiness. East Asian traditions, military and regimental cultures and religious communities generally eschew diversity as disruptive and dangerous. They offer clear roles for individuals who want them and find them useful; I have lived a large part of my life in such a culture, and my sense is that they are barely represented in Second Life.

Why explore diversity in the first place? Is Diversity beneficial for the individual and the social collective at large? It seems to me the answer depends on how individuals manage and integrate multiple social identities across culture, gender, class, or race, profession and ideology. In the United States, assimilation of immigrant cultures to the dominant American mainstream is encouraged, while in Canada and Europe one tends to see a public effort to maintain a separate identity or integrate multiple cultural identities. In other societies we see ethnic cultures marginalized. In Second Life, at least among English-speaking residents, no single dominant culture has emerged and identities are generally designed to be as distinct as possible.

Second Life celebrates play as a social dynamic. Though some come to work, the majority of residents are here to entertain themselves and their friends, and this too is a typically Western preoccupation. It could be argued that diversity is an advantage in a social environment designed for entertainment, but not in situations designed to accomplish other goals. Communication problems and relationship conflict hamper information exchange in diverse teams, and one way to reduce conflict is to emphasize the common identity of the team. On the other hand, homogenous teams may suffer from reduced group creativity and smaller skill sets by marginalizing or assimilating diversity.

Some avatars enjoy frequently changing appearances; I think most settle on a single appearance and experiment with a variety of roles within different groups. As Second Life permits us to participate in behaviors typical of identities other than our own, we learn to identify with multiple social groups and discover compatibilities between different cultures. This process unlocks knowledge and unleashes creativity. But whether it helps or hinders the pursuit of social goals is still unclear.

Second Life turns this morass into a playground, where diversity is a given and managing personal identity is a valued skill.

Business blunders in SL (or a treatise on requests for Raven's free time)

I am not sure if you all are aware, but I am Business Manager for RFyre. For over a year, I have worked for Raven Pennyfeather and her small business on a part-time basis for a real life wage.

Over the year, Raven will tell you one of the things I have firmly impressed upon her is the value of her time in SL and out of it. For Raven, who derives her sole income from her business here, using her work time wisely is incredibly important.

As a relatively well-known content provider, Raven gets a slew of offers and solicitations from people in world. They can be anything from charity events to fashion shows to magazines to freebies wanted. She passes these on to me because, frankly, she's a nice lady. She would like us to at least acknowledge these solicitations. I am not so nice. I have no problem saying no.

Let me give you the bottom line on this one. Raven's time is money. She doesn't give it out for free nor should she. Nevertheless, countless people ask her on a daily basis to do so. And they do it unprofessionally, rudely, and rather foolishly. (I call all of this stuff "foolishness." Raven finds that hilarious.)

That being said, let me share some correspondence that I received today for our involvement in a magazine... or something... not sure what it is because the corresponder was not very articulate (and let say, at least this person bothered to notecard, which is more than most do):

Hello Raven, I am the Business Relations Manager of a new SL publication called XXX that showcases all SL talent/creators from SIM makers, fashion designers, prefab and furniture makers, photographers, and etc. We are currently reaching further and making the publication international being published in 6 different langauges amongst other projects to further showcase SL talent. Currently we are looking for sponsors/partners and the support from (name of comapny) would be wonderful. I have sent you a folder containing the current issue and information on the publication. hope to hear from you soon. :-)

Many thanks for you time

XXX

I am sure you can see I bolded "(name of comapny)." I did this because I laughed when I read it. I responded thus:

XXX:

Thank you for your interest in RFyre. At this time we don't have time budgeted to contribute to your magazine.

Please contact us in three months to fill us in on what you have been able to do with the magazine and we can then reconsider participation.

Thanks for asking for our participation.

Raven Pennyfeather
Empress of RFyre
CEO (name of comapny)

Harper Beresford
Duchess of RFyre
CMO (name of comapny)

She IM'd me back and thanked me. I don't think she read below the first "no." I took the time to read her thing!

Regarding charities, I think it is time we all start asking about the charities asking donations of us. I know Relay for Life has been extremely successful and I fully trust that monies made in Second Life go to the American Cancer Society, which is a fine organization. However, there are many other "charities" and fund-raising things that go on in SL which have no documentation.

Therefore, I have written a policy for RFyre which I am sharing on this blog. You are all welcome to cut and paste and put (name of comapny) in it.

RFyre's Policy Regarding Charities

We are frequently asked to donate time, content, and/or money to charities in Second Life from various people. While we are sympathetic to many causes, in most cases, we feel that money is better given directly to these causes rather than solicited on Second Life.

However, we are always willing to consider any unique possibility for supporting charities in SL if they are viable and if our efforts will be effective.

To best persuade us to participate or donate to any charity event in SL, we need the following information:

1. Avatar name who will be handling the funds
2. Real life name of that avatar
3. Charity name, website and address
4. Means of contacting the charity to insure that the avatar's representation in SL for their charity has been cleared

Thanks for asking for our participation.

Raven Pennyfeather
Empress of RFyre
CEO House of RFyre

Harper Beresford
Duchess of RFyre
CMO House of RFyre

We also get requests for freebies to be offered in hunts on sims where we have satellite stores, for charity hunts, etc. When I was a newbie, freebies were a valuable way for me to learn how to shop, how to dress myself, and what a broad variety of looks can be achieved in SL. They were great--when I got them from Free Dove.

However, there are people who actively seek freebies on SL and blog about this. We have offered freebies. Hundreds of avatars stream in, jam up our store, and stream out. We found no spike in sales. In fact, Raven has packaged a 250L GC in some freebies and never had takers.

There has been a lot of discussion among content providers about this. I spoke to one content person who had a treasure hunt at her sim on Halloween weekend and marked everything 10L to 140L. She convinced me that this was fair and would still draw traffic--but the kind of traffic she wants--people who bring money into the economy and spend it. She had a terrific idea.

So again, feel free to cut and paste, putting your (name of comapny) in it.

RFyre's Policy Regarding "Freebies"

Our policy regarding freebies or "gifts" is that we are very reluctant to provide them. Therefore, if you are receiving this notecard, our answer to you is no, we are sorry--we can not participate.

While we appreciate the traffic that "freebies" can build, our metrics show us that they do not generate sales for us or for our associates. When we have given out freebies on our sim or at other sims, we have never seen an appreciable increase in sales during the giveaway or after. We see a spike in traffic but not in sales.

We can only conclude that the audience that typically looks for freebies is not the demographic that brings money into Second Life. If we are looking for a promotion for getting money-spending customers to see our products, this is not it.

Additionally, our philosophy is that time spent producing content of the level that RFyre provides is worth some compensation. We are RL people spending substantial RL time on this content. Second Life has given us the opportunity to be compensated for our time and skills. Offering freebies devalues those skills and time for us and other creators. It sets into the economy a belief that this work should be free. In other words, it's devalued if we devalue it by offering it freely.

That being said, we have adopted a policy of offering deeply discounted items to potential customers. If an avatar can come up with 50L, that is more than enough to purchase our promotional item. We will gladly set out a promotional item at 50L to supplement your promotions.

Thanks for asking for our participation.

Raven Pennyfeather
Empress of RFyre
CEO House of RFyre

Harper Beresford
Duchess of RFyre
CMO House of RFyre

Let it be said, finally, that we love our customers. We want to be good to them. There is nothing more gratifying to Raven than to hear a customer express their love of her art or tell her a story about how much her creations mean to them. We do offer special promotions, and Raven passes out free outfits rather freely (I know this because she gave me one the day we first met, more than a year ago, for no other reason than she was just a very nice woman.)

OpenSpaces has been addressed

So it's true. The truth is as simple as expected. Linden Labs rushed a product to market, found out it didn't work, and lost money on it, which had to end. They have heard complaints and HAVE reacted.

Occam's Razor, Hanlon's Razor. Whatever you want to call it. M Linden has responded.

"We wanted to get this product to market quickly. Openspaces was wildly popular.... Since land-owners co-habitate on CPUs, if one owner adds an ocean and one builds a carnival, the shared CPU gets overloaded. The ocean-loving Resident who followed the original intent suffers and we are called in to resolve the conflict. Second Life is much too large to do that."

In other words, Joe rented to sploder-lovers, got his residents on his butt, called Concierge OR filed a lot of tickets and cost Linden Labs a lot of money, just as I suspected. Unfortunately, the ocean-lovers who never filed a ticket and sailed along peacefully got smacked for Joe's or Joe's resident's ignorance and Linden's not-so-great product offering.

Linden Labs' mistake forced them to do something that NO BUSINESS wants to do--raise prices. Linden makes more money if everyone is happy--why would they intentionally piss off their customers? There is no conspiracy.

Linden Labs has come up with a compromise--a week and a day after their announcement. I can bet there were a LOT of meetings about this one but it appears they read the blogs. People will still complain, but M Linden says, "We believe this is fair." I agree.

On another note, "Go Obama Go!"

The First Hour

Well, Linden Labs giveth and Linden Labs taketh away. I think Linden Labs has taken a right step in the direction of new user experience by deciding to hook up with Big Spaceship to tweak that new user experience. Does this mean we will have newbies who hook into this space, bring in Linden$ and content and make this a better place to be? I am hoping so. We need some good news.

As a Second Life Mentor, I have been frustrated with the questions people ask--not just "how do I fly," but also "where do I get my free land?" (Apparently that little offer is still out there...) Perhaps Big Spaceship is up to this task. It remains to be seen. Prolly just a few guys out of Brooklyn with a slick webpage. Hope they can pull it off.

Good luck!

I encourage all of you to throw your comments about that First Hour on my blog or on LL's blog. Hopefully those guys are reading this and learning something....

The Openspaces Debacle... my take

I have listened in Concierge chat, read a lot of blogs and comments to the original blog from Jack Linden, and discussed this whole debacle about the Openspaces with several people. I have my take on it.

I am not sure about these statements about conspiracy regarding the manipulation of "land" prices, the naysayers predicting financial peril of Linden Labs (they have to make $50 more per person quick), or the doomsayers saying Philip is dying so they need to devote processor capacity to his life-sustaining machinery (OK, I didn't hear that last one but I am sure it's out there). If the folks at Linden Labs were clever enough to start a conspiracy, we would have more stability, more groups, and fewer bugs because they would be smart enough to fix those too.

Consider this to be a sort of Occam's Razor--all other things being equal, the simplest answer is the best. I believe that Jack Linden is entirely telling the truth about their problems with Openspaces. The description of their resource allocations (4 open sims per core in a quad core PC) is true, and I believe that people have "misused" the openspaces--simply because they can.

I put "misused" in quotes because I believe Linden Labs poorly managed customer expectations about these sims' performance. They should have driven into their Concierge customers' heads that these were the Yugo of sims and never allowed them to believe they were still going to be driving Tauruses when they moved to them. I also believe they should have limited the opening of these sims with clear instructions to the comsumers about what they should expect and been CLEAR and detailed about what "light residential" meant, over and over and over and then some more.

I believe, as a result, that they bought themselves a customer service nightmare with these Openspaces, and that is what this price increase is all about. I am envisioning this scenario: sim owner Joe is accustomed to access to personal Concierge phone service and calls whenever his regular sims are not working. Now he has Openspaces. He has just lost his butt on the land prices because of the change in regular sim entry costs, so he thinks this is another means of making money. He rents an Openspace to every Ruth and Philip who has $100 a month and a dream of having their own sim. They move in, put down butterfly rezzers and sparkly things and sploders and have parties every night at peak hours with 40 avatars. They have never owned a whole sim and now they can! They don't get fps, physics, any of that. They just know they wanted to have fun on their own little sim, maybe run a little business or start up a club. So they get a ton of lag and unreliability and the other three poor saps also sharing that core get stuck too.

Joe's residents IM him constantly about performance. In Joe's mind, he doesn't delineate between the sims he pays $295 a month for and the sims he pays $75 a month for. All he cares is that LL's sims aren't performing to his expectations. He calls up Concierge. The Linden on the other end goes patiently through a set of diagnostics and then explains for the 10th time that day the truth about Openspaces, which is they are not meant to hold 80 avatars or 120 scripts or whatever. The call takes 30 minutes and Linden Labs uses up half the tier the made on that sim right there in that phone call. The customer hangs up, mad that Linden's idea of "light residential" and his idea don't coincide. The Linden hangs up, and they are down half the tier they got on that sim this month.

What it amounts to is that Linden Labs put out a product that is unprofitable and not working for them. They are raising the price. That's business. It was bad business and now they are righting it--the best way they can. They are giving two months notice. They were honest about their error. They are saying they are reading people's suggestions, struggling for some compromise (and I really think they are because they can see people are unhappy). And they will suffer for this when some customers flee and find alternative virtual spaces.

That's my take on this. Linden Labs screwed up. Occam's Razor. That simple.