Socially|Mundane

Stroker Serpentine is a name that has been around in Second Life for quite some time.He also is a rather controversial figure and as is typical of those who are celebrities in their own mind, their view of the world that revolves around themselves tends to warp slowly over time. So slowly most people don't really notice it, especially they themselves, until something snaps.

Stroker is the majority owner of "Eros, LLC." and made his name selling sex beds under the moniker "SexGen" (Yes, I refuse to put a copyright symbol.)

I have been to his shop in-world looking around and my first impressions were no better or worse than most other places. I personally believe his stuff is over-priced and, in my own opinion only, that his prim builds are actually not all the great.

In truth and fairness, my last visit was a year ago, plus or minus a couple months. But I was so unimpressed, I never returned.

Stroker blew a gasket yesterday. I'll give the benefit of doubt and assume it was just a rant in drunken stupor or something because what he promises to do won't happen.

I dare you, Stroker, to follow through on all your 'threats'. But we all know you won't. or if you do, it will be for a day or two at most. At least you wised-up and left yourself an 'out' at the end of your tirade.

I have nothing against Stroker at all. Many drool over him because he is a so-called 'big name' in Second Life and that was true a couple years ago. Not any longer. Perhaps one-whole-percent of the SL population has ever heard of him and even less care. And that's true for all of us.

So Ol' Stroker blows a gasket over camper and traffic bots, ripped content that is resold, freebies that are resold as commercial and also the proliferation of freebies in general and so on and so on.

Sroker: I agree with you in all of it. Your whole rant is fully legitimate. In fact, there is a large chunk of the population that agrees 1000% with you. However, with your arguments regarding Linden Lab's reaction and inaction, you seriously must look at it from a business standpoint.

You are a businessman after all, aren't you? Linden lab is in business for Linden lab. Not you, me or anyone else. You are getting so much more than LL has ever promised to you. You are nothing but a paying customer. So learn to know your place in the Second Life universe.

I have.

In these rants, Stroker 'threatens' to set all his stuff to full permissions and release them for free into the wild:

Stroker sez on the SLUniverse Forums: "2. I am going to FULL PERM SexGen. I will flood the grid with it. Just as the MLP system that contains the animations that were never intended to be resold has flooded the grid. SL Forums However, I am going to license EVERY SINGLE copy. I am going to dedicate a team of employees to scour the grid for illegal copies. Since we have a trademark and the DMCA is our last great hope, I will have Linden Lab track down and remove every single UUID that violates our license. I have that right? Yes? Again..BAN ME!"

I won't hold my breath.

And even if he did such, I'd only be interested in the animation files themselves. Not the scripts because there are better scripts out there. Definitely not the primwork because I can do better - I just don;t have the time. Even the animations — as good as they are — aren't worth it to me to go out of my way to obtain, because there are a lot of really good animations by other creators.

A large part of the rant is how business is way down. Stroker isn't making the money he used to. Traffic is down in his shop(s). The unfair competition is sucking people away.

Here's a clue for Stroker and anyone else who is a SLebrity and all-mighty in their own minds:

Business is down everywhere. Back when the population of SL was around 8000 concurrency, you stood out as a creator and name. Your products were top-of-the-line and there simply weren't anything else that compared. People had nowhere else to go so they went to you.

Fast forward to today: concurrency is ten-times that now. The number of genuine quality creators is easily 20 or 30-times the number then. There are 50-times as many shops, malls, sex-things and a lot of open-source scripts and animations available so that non-scripters, non-animators and often even non-builders can create their own stuff and sell them and no, I am not referring to the thieves and plagiarists.

They make a fraction of a dent in the economy as a whole.

The fact of the matter is there are a few reasons why your business is down: the market to cater to is seriously diluted. You are just a pebble in the lake. Your waves don't go as far as they did back then.

That, along with a real world economy in the tank, the freebie accounts who won't spend a single real life penny for 200-times that amount in Linden Dollars, and on top of all that, the entitlement attitude that everyone owes them everything for nothing.

Additionally, it's a fact that these people, who are a massive majority of the Second Life population just don't care about quality. All they want to see is pixel-pose-ball-humping. A 10-frame loop of hips gyrating and they are content with 'ooh' and 'aahhh'.

Your stuff, my stuff and the stuff by any other creator, especially the quality-concious just doesn't mean anything to them.

You need to understand as I do and other 'big name' creators must: you don't have a name anymore. The public at large doesn't know you and they care even less.

In closing, Stroker: I respect you as a person and a successful person in Second Life. I do not worship you and i will not trip all over myself in excitement should I meet you. You are a wise, successful business person and I respect that.

The rant is humorous and I take it with a grain of salt. Competition is a bitch. So adapt. Change direction. Diversify. Create something esle that is a compelling buy that doesn't have to do with pixel-sex and you will likely see business improve.

The problem is that you are catering to the seedier side of attitudes. And when in business, it helps to understand your customer. The problem is that your target market are often cheap, selfish, misers who really don't care for the quality of product, only that it gives them cheap thrills.

As for your complaints against Linden lab's actions, reactions, or inactions, how about you have 'your people' talk to 'their people' about it all since you are so powerful and well-known in the Second Life community and to Linden Lab?

Could it be that your entire business model in Second Life caters to an area that Linden Lab is publicly trying very hard to distance itself from?

Just a thought, friend.

As for your rant in the SL Universe forum: you raise your voice when you should be reinforcing your argument to rally people to your side.

via SL universe Forums