Socially|Mundane

How do you move or transfer virtual land without throwing real money away by tiering-up?

I recently jump through some serious hoops wanting to tier-up and discovered that even after four-years on the Second Life (SL) grid I still have much to learn. Among all the things you can do and create in SL, among the most nerve-wracking and apprehension-inducing is land-management. This primarily has to do with the fear of accidentally owing Linden Lab more real life legal tender than you are willing or desire to pay.

The first article in this little series I am presenting is on how to read and use your land-management control panel on your Second Life account page - which you can review here.

In my last post here, I covered the "Land management" area of your SL account page in detail. So now it's time to show you how to save some real money when flipping, transferring, trading or otherwise moving your land holdings around.

Linden Lab finally released their "Linden Homes" to public consumption yesterday. A Linden Home is being provided to all premium account holders as an option, where the existing tier-free allotment of land ownership can be applied here - and receive a themed house to go along with it.

It comes with 117 prims. And this is the important part to pay attention to, as when you pay tiers, this is what you are really paying for: the number of prims you may use.

Many will complain that 117 prims is useless because one cannot properly furnish these homes. I beg to differ as we (Zodiac House) have been working the last few weeks to prepare complete home furnishings for these Linden Homes allowing you to furnish every room: Livving, Bed, Kitchen and Bath in about 100 prims - leaving some for whatever else you want to add. These will be released for sale this weekend.

But I digress...

The reason I bring-up the Linden Homes is there was a comment on the LL blog where someone had mentioned they owned some land already, then took a Linden Home and it caused them to "tier-up". Had that person used the Land Manager on their account page, they would have clearly understood this would happen long before their error.

Among all the things you can learn to do and manage in Second Life, by far the most confusing and even tricky is: land ownership and how it affects your tier - the real money you pay to Linden Lab for the privilege. This is a primer on that.

First, what I speak on here has nothing to do with Estate Regions - private islands that sit in the middle of the ocean. Rather, this little lesson is on any virtual land you own where you pay your tier fees directly to Linden Lab - which I personally feel is the best and safest arrangement for any long term land ownership.

Linden Lab will never evict you for any reason other than your account going too far into arrears. Beyond that you are free to do with as you choose on your virtual property within the confines of the Terms of Service and Community Standards. Linden Lab will let you be for as long as you want.

The tricky thing is understanding tier...the monthly fees you pay to Linden Lab for the privilege (you must be a premium account holder or manager of a group authorized to purchase land for the group).

So here is your first lesson with regard to mainland parcel ownership.

The first thing you must understand are the tier levels. And they can be a bit misleading at first. But having a clear understanding will actually save you a lot of money and allow you maximum number of prims for the least cost. Since non-premium account holders can technically buy land for a group, it should be made clear this tutorial does not involve them. Take this information as a personal instruction for personal land-ownership.

You can view the land tier structure from your account page at Second Life.com. Go to SecondLife.com and in the left-hand rail menu, choose "Land Manager"->"Land Use Fees". It is important to understand that though this is called a "land manager" - it is more or less for informational purposes only. You cannot actually "tier-up" or "tier down" solely from here. It works in-conjunction with your activities in-world.

In this "level 101" of my land tutorial, we'll cover what this page is, does and how it helps you understand what is going on with your virtual land ownership responsibilities as it pertains to real costs to you. Upon selecting this page, you will be presented with the "Land Management" page:

Here you can see what you have, what you can buy without adding to your costs and what the costs will be if you add more than your "tier level".

It is highly important to understand: Any changes you make here does not affect the amount of money you owe to Linden Lab each month or the amount of land you own in-world. It is simply an informational calculator for the purpose of giving you an overview of your virtual land holdings and helps you to plan your land-ownership transactions. There are two sections to this manager, let us look at each in-turn.

The first section is the actual tier calculator. The purpose is to show you what you have and owe now, and "what-if" scenarios:

Let us look at this section line-by-line and what each means and can do for you. First, the headers along the top are misleading. "Current Fees" and "Estimated Fees" only apply to the last line of the table. These headers should really only state "Current" and "Estimated" without the word "Fees".

• Line 1: Square Meters Owned.
  In the "Current" column, this is what you actually own in-world. Looking to the last line in the table you can see clearly what your cost obligation is to Linden Lab. This cost is only for actual, currently-owned land. You must be careful as this is not the actual monthly billing amount.
  
  This is the amount you will owe on your next billing date, not the billing date coming due. If you enter a number of square meters in the "Estimated" field and click the "Calculate" button at the bottom of the section, you can see what your new cost obligation will be. It is important to understand that your first 512 square meters (M2) is tier-free. It costs you zero because it is included with your premium membership.
  
  Example: You own 512 and are thinking of purchasing a 1024. Enter this into the Estimated field and click the calculate button. You will see the cost obligation. However, if you plan to purchase a 1024 M2 in addition to your 512, then you should enter 1536 in the estimated field (512+1024).
  
  
• Line 2: Square Meters Donated.
  Rather than owning land outright, you can donate tier to a group. Groups cannot own land or pay tiers, so members of a group must donate the tier "responsibility" so that the land can be deeded to the group. Then all members of the group "share" ownership of that parcel, each obligating themselves to cover the tiers required through their "donation".
  
  If you have any donations to groups which own land, the Current will show it. If you are thinking of donating M2 to a group - the Estimated will show you any new obligations. If you are thinking to deed land you own to a group, you must donate tier shares to the group at the same time. Enter that amount here.
  
  Note: groups receive a 10% land bonus. Meaning an additional 10% of the donated shares can be owned (deeded) to the group tier-free. We will cover group-shares and donations in another post.
  
  
• Line 3: Premium Bonus in Square Meters.
  This always will show as 512, unless Linden Lab changes or revokes it (or you are not a premium account holder). It is presented here to help with your calculations.
  
  
• Line 4: Paid Tier Level.
  This is the total of M2 that you own and are obligated to pay tier on. The estimated column forecasts the new level upon which you would be obligated should you sell-off or purchase new virtual land. Note that this number is the sum of "Owned" plus "Donated" minus "Bonus".
  
  Thus, if you own 1024 M2 of land that is deeded to a group and you own a Linden Home, the current column might look like from the top-down: 512, 1024, 512, 1024. meaning that even though you technically own 1536 M2, you are only responsible for paying tier on 1024.
  
  
• Line 5: Available Square Meters.
  Probably the most important line in the entire table, next to the bottom line. If you have M2 donated to groups, you get a "land bonus" - ability to own additional land tier-free. The real purpose of this line is to help you maximize the amount of land you can own based on the money you are paying to Linden Lab.
  
  If you own 600 square meters, you are paying tier for more land than you own. It is a waste of real money. This field shows you how much more land you can buy without bumping-up to the next tier level, thereby maximizing the amount of land you can own for the same money you already are paying.
  
  The key here is this line shows how much more land you can own before you are obligated to bump-up to the next higher tier level. You can purchase this much more land and your monthly tier bill will stay the same. Of course, more land give you more prims (if it is in the same region). Had the member I mentioned above who requested a Linden Home and "accidentally" tiered-up looked at this line on his account page, he would have clearly seen that additional land would cost him more money.
  
  Remember: it is your first 512 M2 that is tier-free. Not the last.
  
  
• Line 6: Monthly Cost.
  This is the actual dollar amount that applies to Line 4. Note that tier levels are fixed levels. Meaning if you own 1024 M2, purchasing 10 square meters will bump you to the next level - as though you owned 2046 M2 - even if you own that last 10 square meters for 10-seconds. We will go into detail on this concept in a future post.

The important thing is to understand why the calculator is here, why you might want to use it and how to use it to more easily manage your tier obligation to Linden Lab as you consider purchasing or selling virtual land in Second Life.

The second section of the Land Manager page is simply a reference:

These are the different tier levels available. Selecting a higher tier level does nothing but more or less show you what you have "budgeted" for yourself. Other than that, it apparently does nothing at all. You cannot select a lesser tier level than what you are responsible for, based on your actual land-holdings and donations in-world. However, if you own 1024 M2 and select 8192 M2 on this chart - nothing will happen.

Linden Lab will only bill you for what you actually own, based on your peak-ownership level for the previous month. It is simply (more or less) a reference. At least, in all my years in SL, I've not found it to affect anything one way or the other - other than to be a simple reference for my own budgeting needs.

Next article: How to buy and sell land in a way to save the most real money with regard to tiering-up or tiering-down and not get nabbed by a mistake that could cost you huge sums of real money.

Whew am I rusty.

Got my hands dirty in the CSS blog theme and template design again. I forgot how much I enjoy it. It's a strange mixture of creativity (where a creative's mind is a wild, untamed thing wanting to always be free) and the hard, logical 1+1 always must equal 2 disciplined routine.

Linden Lab had it right:

"We'll do the non-flexible world-container coding side of things and let you be the creative types to build the world."

I think I'll offer blog-theme design as a "product" in SL. I'm thinking L$5K for a custom theme.

Muahahahah!

When I set my draw distance out 10 years and envision Second Life then, here is what I see:

Everyone has an avatar. Avatars have the ability to travel across virtual worlds, maintaining their unique identity (and inventory) as they go. Some are stunningly vivid fantasy avatars and others are hyper-real. You express yourselves through your avatar using interfaces we weren't able to imagine in 2010.

I subscribe to a lot of blogs and news sites, most of which are Second Life-related and one thing I've noted over the last couple years is how people will start a blog and then kind of fade away posting less and less often, allowing that blog to sooner or later fizzle-out. It was started in excitement, for the fun of it and eventually the fun turns into a chore and it eventually withers.

I started this and several other blogs for the same purposes and yes, it has definitely at times turned from fun into a chore. But I've tried to keep at it, especially with this one and my other, not-so-SL-related blog that I ironically call "Blackthorne inSL".

Common Sensible is officially more than two-years-old now. In the beginning I had no idea what I was doing and I tried to emulate others, such as Hamlet Au (by just finding news and reblogging it) - which to me didn't really feel "genuine". I never considered my own experience on the grid that interesting to others so I never approached it from the "personal journal" aspect, but rather from a "big picture" aspect like what New World Notes (even though it is 90% reblogging other stuff) and Massively and Dusan Writer and those guys do. But this is difficult because the "news" comes in wild spurts with a dozen today and none for a week or two and often it is the ridiculous reactions by the vitriolic loud minority that makes it "news" to begin with. It also is hard to "sand-bag" stories of any kind of time-sensitive nature and no one is interested in "old news".

But I stuck with it.

I have a lot of other blogs, too. Most are just kind of sitting in the wings until I decide what to do with them, but I have always had at least two going at once and for the last month or so: three. The third being where I am head to now as I have "plumped it up" for the last month or so.

As I have witnessed so many personal blogs about Second Life just kind of slip away quietly I figured I'd do the same with this one. After all that's a pretty common thing, right? I've been thinking about this over the last three or four months or so and it's crossed my mind even earlier in the year. Primarily because I'm not so sure my own perspective on things is really shared by a lot of others in the "big picture" aspect. But more so because even though it's all a labor of love, it's still labor.

Then "Not Possible In Real Life" (NPRL) Blog did what the television show "M*A*S*H" did in 1982 that was utterly unheard-of at the time: ended the series while they were still "on top" in the ratings, rather than allowing the show to simply "fade away" or continue until practically all interest was lost in it and canceled by the network.

Hence the "series-finale" phenomenon which is pretty common these days with popular televisions shows.

I don't have a lot of readers. Well, I do, but I don't. Either way, I certainly am under no illusion of being "on top" of anything. There are many who subscribe to the RSS feed and many who come to this web site - a lot more than I ever expected. I don't advertise, it's not about raising any money or anything like that. It's about simply voicing and sharing my opinions and perspectives on things and I suppose that's interesting enough for some.

To those of you who have and still follow me here: thank you.

Really, thank you. So rather than just "fading away", I am going to call this the "series finale" of Common Sensible and focus on my other SL-related bog which will be handled with more of a personal perspective of the world closer around me in SL and not the bigger picture as much - more to the "personal journal" style. I also will continue my own bizarre, twisted humor at Blackthorne inSL - more or less mostly non-SL-related. (Ironic, huh?) So if you choose to follow me there, be forewarned; you'll likely discover what a weird one I am in first life!

If you want to follow only my SL-related stuff, please follow me to Socially Mundane. Or if you want to follow everything I aver - SL-related and FL-related, then I dare you to come-on over to my Blackthorne inSL blog at AriBlackthorne.com. When I post to SM (snickers) blog, it will be noted with a link on the inSL blog, so that would be the only one you need to follow.

As for all the posts and comments here at Common Sensible: it's not going anywhere. For a while, at least as I don't know what Blogger does with inactive blogs after a time...if they are allowed to just sit forever (I think so) or are eventually deleted. So, to be safe I also will import all the previous posts and comments (if I am able) from this blog into the SM blog - for posterity and archival sake.

So, to those of you who actually did follow me on a regular basis (whose cats have obviously gotten your tongues as you rarely, if ever, commented on my diatribe)... thank you. I hope you will follow me to AriBlackthorne.com, or if not that, then SociallyMundane.com.

So, here we are at 11:59;59 - the very last second before the brand new decade, I stand, turn about and wave.

And as was said in the book "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Earth's second most intelligent species, the dolphins, to Earth's third most intelligent species, the humans, just before they left the planet due to its inevitable destruction to make way for the galactic super-highway:

Everyone in Second Life is cheating on First Life (SL) and each other. No, I am not speaking on pixelsexxx. But rather the way SL allows us all to actually cheat life itself - at least the "pleasures" and trials of life anyway. Think on this: we don't have to walk to get anywhere. We can fly and if really impatient: teleport and poof - you're there. Anywhere you want to be. Look about everywhere you go: Gigantic castles and mansions, five-hundred-foot yachts, royal palaces, private helicopters and jets, massive household "estates" and all that.

Nothing wrong with this at all of course. SL empowers us to have and do what we simply cannot have and do in first life and that is the draw to the platform. It's a wonderful thing!

I spent the first-half of my life on Maui, and my family were not all that well-off financially. So I grew-up with a practical mind-set. Perhaps this is why I don't keep a house in SL at all or go for the "dream"...whatever: house, car, any of it. I just don't see the use in it and view it as a waste of money. Growing-up in Hawai'i (quick lesson: pronounced Hah-vai. Eee LOL) exposed me to the ocean all the time. For swimming, not sailing. That kind of thing just wasn't in the budget.

In Lahaina there always was as long as I could remember a tall ship berthed there called the Carthaginian. It was an original restored 18th century tall ship, not a replica. I was nine-years-old the day it ended-up sinking and shrugged it off. They then made a replica and brought it in, calling it Carthaginian II, but nothing was ever the same, even for me, a nine-year-old kid who couldn't really appreciate what had really happened.

Did it. Done it. Loved it. LAG: minimal at worst.

How HUDS Hobble:

So, how can you achieve the same result of minimal LAG consistently? Well, that's an industry secret. Muahahaha! Okay, okay, I'll tell. But you have to shush-up about it. Too many people figure this out and we won't have a corner on the market of LAG-free SL experience any more.

For anyone who cares (and I already know, you don't) I've been bouncing around all over the Second Life grid looking for any parcel of land next to a decent body of water where I can rez my tall ship so I can go sight-seeing from the water.


Hades' Strumpet spanks an unsuspecting Privateer.

If you've driven around in a car, plane, or just flying around the grid (dragon avatar or not, heheheh) - you know very well the chances of crossing sim borders is incredibly high. If you think crossing sim borders can become frustrating while walking, you should try it while sailing (not "driving" like an SL car, but "real" sailing where you are at the mercy of the SL wind.)

Eternus Soulstar commented on the Linden Lab blog topic of "Copy/No-Trans, Ethics &TOS" - a reply to another user in a very long thread. After reading her comment and thinking on it, the more I actually like the idea.


A quick reprise summary: regarding the ethics and how it fits with Second Life Terms of Service: what does it mean if someone where to buy a copyable item, then create a business of advertising these items "for rent" or, rezzing these items all over the grid for friends?

There are two ways to react to anything: emotionally or logically. It is those who step back and look at things logically who suffer less stress and often "get ahead" of the pack in all things they do. I find it that self-proclaimed "successful business people" in Second Life tend to react emotionally every time Linden Lab sneezes. They should buy my book then if they think they are successful now, they'd be in for a hugely pleasant surprise.

But I digress. In a nutshell, it seems the vocal minority hates Linden Lab (LL) and all Linden Lab ideas and policies simply for the sake of hating all Linden Lab ideas and policies. Case-in-point: Linden Lab will soon begin "testing" the idea of giving a free 512 square meter parcel of land to all premium account holders, beginning with a few to see how the idea flies:

In a few weeks we will start beta testing a new addition to the Premium subscription, to see whether we can dramatically simplify owning your first home in Second Life. We believe that, if we can make owning a home both easy and welcoming, it will increase land interest overall, leading to more consumers of both land, content and other inworld services.

This new addition to the Premium membership will be called a 'Linden Home'. This is not the same as First Land, not least because it is about providing a home rather than just land, but it does share the same goals.

I've been thinking about allowing Common|Sensible blog to lapse. Retire and fade away slowly and quietly. I mean, this happens all the time, right? Besides, there's something like six-times the number of blogs about Second Life than there are about World of Warcraft so I am not so sure it will be missed. I was cleaning-up my Blogger Dashboard as I prepared this blog for resurrection. (I "own" a couple dozen blogs or so, but only show a few in my Google Profile. Kind of like hiding groups in your SL profile. Go figure.)

One of the really slick features of Blogger is the ability to "follow" other blogs, much like "following" in Tumblr. However, on Tumblr, you can 'follow' other Tumblr blogs only, whereas on Blogger you can "follow" any blog or news site or even web site for that matter.

"Following" on Tumblr places new posts on those blogs into my endless dashboard over there, including posts from my own Tumblr blog. With a Google Account (and a Blogger Dashboard) you get the same thing. So I looked at all those blogs I added to my Blogger "follow" list more than a year ago. 46 of them and all SL-related (I had 'unfollowed' 3 or 4 before I took the screenshot here.) Hell, I have even been following Second Life News Network (SLNN for all you oldbies out there) - where I first discovered Tateru Nino's writing - which has been rolled into Massively as long as I have been blogging.

I decided it was time to review and clean that list-up. Of the 46, only 30 of them are still posting anything within the last 90-days and a majority of those stale ones don't even exist any more.

The roll-over in SL-related blogs seems to be quite high. Not those that are irritatingly riddled with advertising like New World Notes and Massviely as those are all about making money. But rather all the home-grown blogs that were started with passion and good intention for no reason other than sharing their own SL experience. No advertising or intentional sensationalism to get more readers and all that.

Common|Sensible is one of those.

Tomorrow is the traditional day of "thanks" in the United States, and possibly other countries. Per the "wikipedia": Thanksgiving Day is a harvest festival. Traditionally, it is a time to give thanks for the harvest and express gratitude in general. It is a holiday celebrated primarily in Canada and the United States. While perhaps religious in origin, Thanksgiving is now primarily identified as a secular holiday.

Supposedly the first "thanks giving" celebration occurred in 1621 at the site of Plymouth Plantation - in the United States before it was was such. Nowadays most people simply look at it as an excuse to take a day-off from first life work and get fat on a "Thanksgiving Feast."

Additionally, the original giving of thanks for a bountiful harvest has become somewhat lost on the holiday as we are reminded to "give thanks" for whatever it is we might be thankful for.

Because the Thanksgiving holiday occurs tomorrow, and thus today is Thanksgiving's eve, I am going to cheat a bit: I want to give thanks to the people of Linden Research. (Okay, you readers may slap me now, but I assure you I still am in-charge of my faculties.)

No, not thanks to "Linden Research" or "Linden Lab"... thanks to the people who work there. All of them.

Why?

Because I am thankful for the enjoyment I get goofing around in Second Life. Seriously. I get to do it for free and yet, all those people work hard, for them the primary focus is to make a living, putting the food on the table, paying the mortgage and all that.

And I know for a fact a lot of them work hard. Especially when we, their customers and visitors (I am of the opinion you actually must have payment info on-file and owe Linden Lab legal tender in tier fees to be called a "customer") - get really stupid and shrill and vicious and slam-down on them verbally for trying to make the virtual world they have created and maintain a better place in the long-run for the most people.

I always have believed this, but it really hit "home" for me the last few days as I was sailing around in my Tall Ship (the Hades' Strumpet, woo-hoo!) through mainland areas on Linden-owned water sims. I find it a great way to go 'sight-seeing' through SL where "walking" all over the place is too slow and cumbersome and 'flying' just doesn't do it. Sailing along the coasts and inlet waterways through SL mainland is actually a fascinating experience.

And I came to realize something: as complicated as the grid is technologically, the high-cost of running and maintaining all these sims (simulators) - and Linden Lab actually provides a countless number of them at no charge to anyone, for everyone's free use. There is the complete Blake Sea - a massive "water continent" easily consisting of two-dozen or more (I haven't counted them) sims - all for public use. And the many other "destination" locations through-out the grid that practically no one even knows about.

I read a few months ago about the Linden Memorial Park, an area that Linden Lab has created from scratch for the sole purpose of SL users to place little memorials to people they miss. I have no reason to go there other than for sight-seeing purposes, so I never bothered going, but thought it a nice gesture on LL's part anyway.

So I plopped the "Stumpet" down on some rezzable area on the north coast of some mainland continent I didn't bother looking-up and started sailing away doing my sight-seeing, admiring (and frowning at) the many resident-built creations along the virtual coast. Peeking at the map every once in a while to be sure I don't get too close to the world's edge (in SL, everyone else besides Columbus was right.)

I can see a very large island, too small to be a sub-continent but too large to really be called an 'island' as geographic islands usually go, but by definition definitely an island just the same. A very large (full sim) expanse of water between the mainland proper and the southern shores of this large land-mass.

As first all I saw was flat land with nothing on it, not even a tree or two. My first thought that it is something new Linden Lab is building. As I got closer, some of the detail further-in started to appear. On the southern shore there was a tiny 'hump' in the terrain with a simple post on it so I furled sail and came to a halt just near it and cammed-in.

I found some kind of memorial pillar that had some virtual flowers and names posted upon it and I realized what I had found.

I have never done a "photo essay" on this blog, not because I don't want to, but rather because I am always forgetting to take snapshots in-world. However, in all the blog entries I have read about the Linden Memorial Park and all the snapshots I have seen of it simply do not do it an ounce of justice.

I was and am still stunned at the size (several sims) and scope and care and quality of build that is the Memorial Park 'complex'. It has to be among the more beautiful "Linden" builds I have seen in all my three years on the grid.

And so, as the SLogosphere will be plastered with "thanksgiving" posts all over the place tomorrow, a practice I try not to participate in (that being the 'follow the herd" in blog-post subjects) - I will be posting (along with the SL Selling Tip) my own "Thanksgiving" blog post.

But it won't be the usual "first life comes first so be thankful for the food on your RL table and all your RL things to be thankful for" and yadda-yadda-yadda.

But rather to accomplish two goals: "Thank you Lindens (the people) for what you do and give" and also " be thoughtful of those lost friends and be thankful for the joy (or not) thay had given" ... I guess.

Yeah, I apologize if you've made it this far as I guess this one was a wasted read, wasn't it?

art: Vidar Andersen; Crap Mariner

For those in the know, I am posting 15 Second Life Selling Tips here at Common Sensible, the first beginning here. They are posted every Tuesday and Thursday at 6 a.m. Pacific (Second Life time). Since this is about the old "road to a merry merchant Christmas" (the 15th selling tip will be published December 22 - just before the 'big day', I wanted to point out to you that Pink Linden is sending out an email to SL Residents.


Another good reason (if you take your SL business seriously) to take your SL ccount seiously and register your first life contact information and a real email address.

When you get the email asking you to take a survey, I very strongly encourage you to participate. Linden Lab takes these surveys seriously and really do take the reults into heavy consideration with regard to many things SL that face us, the users.

There is the email I received from Pink:

Dear Ari Blackthorne,

Second Life always seeks to improve your experience with us. In order to improve that experience, we are surveying merchant opinions to understand more about how you sell virtual goods now and how you might like to sell them in the future.

The survey presents several concepts that are example of ways Linden Lab might be able to further support Second Life merchants and the inworld economy. None of these concepts are currently on our development roadmap, they’re just hypothetical scenarios that we’d appreciate your thoughts on.

Please take the survey (link below) and give us your input. It should take about

10 minutes to complete.

*Follow this link to the Survey: *

Take the Survey (Link is provided here)

If you have questions about the validity of of this survey, I invite you to contact me in world.

Thank you in advance for your time,

Pink Linden

Yeah, yeah I know it's just a form letter and Pink hasn't the faintest I dea of who I am or any of that. Doesn't matter. When you get the email, go to it.

...but only barely are freebies better than bots. They are still eeevil no matter what, primarily because they create ridiculous entitlement attitudes, which are often rude.

Shopping in Second Life is seriously hit-or-miss because the entire grid is like one gigantic strip-mall, infesting the virtual landscape the same way those pesky "Borg" infested planet earth for a fleeting moment in that Star Trek movie called "First Contact".

The entire grid is, for all practicality one giant wall-to-wall bazaar where everyone is pitching anything and everything. No matter where you turn, there is the vendor, often with loud images (sometimes of rather blush-worthy imagery barely suitable for sailors on shore-leave.)

However, with all this 'competition' for your attention and scrawny Linden Dollar, it might even be considered amazing that we don't "window-shop" as much as we might.

Ciaran Laval wrote a piece over at Your 2nd Place about how malls are closing-up because the merchants are leaving because traffic is falling like a rock because the mall-owners have removed their bots. (To clarify, Ciaran is describing  a couple particular malls he knows of - not in general 'across the grid'.) I have proclaimed the bots were the first problem that begot all the others. Ciaran feels I am missing the point as 'while the bots were there, so was "real" foot-traffic, and now that the bots are gone, so is the foot-traffic, and thus traffic ranking falls and so the merchants leave'. In the words are our great fore-forefathers:

poppycock!

Of course we each see things from our own perspective, so I will rebut Ciaran by stating that he is misguided and misinformed (from my perspective): the point being that those real people who were there were not "window-shopping" with money burning a hole in their virtual underwear. 49 of 50 of them were there because they teleported directly in looking for a particular merchant's wares. They certainly weren't there because of the bots.

The merchants were there because they were hoodwinked into thinking there was genuine traffic at that location (and they were wrong for assuming very many were window-shoppers to begin with.) Since the bots are gone, these foolish merchants think the mall has become unpopular, so they leave (most likely still unaware they were tricked into thinking the traffic was genuine, and still unaware the wool was pulled over their eyes with bots.)

When the merchants leave, there are fewer merchants. Of course the "real" traffic will diminish: there are fewer destination merchants that people are teleporting to.

This is serious "duh" deductive-reasoning.

The fact of the matter is that 99% of all shoppers will use search in-world or XSL and then teleport directly to the merchant they believe carries what they are looking for - not waltz around some virtual mall just because there is traffic there. Thus, malls are moot. Bots are evil and actually create a cascading failure (as described clearly in Ciaran's post - linked-to above.) To Ciaran and other merchants of that mall: you were hoodwinked (and you are still hoodwinked thinking disappearance of previous traffic bots are causing the people to not come to that mall.) I don't mean this in a bad way. Some people can put one and one together and still come up with "three".

Of course this is not a "black and white" issue. There will be some truth to what Ciaran describes, but that is a minority portion of the big picture. Of all shoppers who appear at one of these malls,  perhaps 2% to 5% of them will actually take the time to "browse" around, and certainly what got them there to begin with is almost always one particular merchant (unless it is a role-play or other specific "destination" sim, etcetera.)

People haven't stopped coming to the mall because the bots are gone and parcel traffic count is down. They have stopped coming to the mall because the merchants they are looking for are not there now.

Searching for product to buy is painstaking at best in Second Life, both in-world and on XStreet SL. This is why we will gravitate to what and who we already know, meaning that when we finally make a purchase that we really like, we will return to that merchant time and again because they are a known quantity.

All bots do is slow-down the shopping process and making the experience less than desirable and they clog sim resources and suck-up the same bandwidth I'm trying to use to rez product pictures on the vendors of the merchant I want to buy from. (This is why in my book "Successful Business in Second Life", I oh-so-strongly recommend all merchants set-up shop in parcel where traffic is the least!) As for returning to our favorite vendors, the problem occurs when we buy them out. Meaning we have purchased all the stuff they sell that interests us.

So we are forced to go on the search. This is where, even though freebies are the evil-incarnate scourge of the grid, they can come-in handy: as a resource in the shopping process. The blog "Themed inSL" is based on the idea that there are quality freebies to be had on the grid, a means to equip and outfit yourself on a budget. The one good thing about this blog is that it might be the one single break these creators are trying to get by offering freebies to begin with: generate interest that turn into actual sales.

Most people who gather freebies rarely, if ever turn into purchasers. Thus, the effort and kindness of these creators goes unrewarded for the majority of time. Return on investment probably isn't very good at all, unless the freebies are of the normal product lines and either considered old and placed on "clearance" or only temporarily put into the freebie box.

However, even those of us who believe the freebie never should have been invented can use the inevitable freebie bazaar to our advantage by following such blogs as "Themed inSL" - because it is a way to see and discover new creators creating what we often find ourselves frustrated in searching for - all without the waste of teleport time and rezzing frustrations. Specifically, the kind of thing "Themed" is covering: role-play-specific content. And the best part: none of that crazy, stupid, ignorant fashionista drama nonsense that all the freaks feed-on. Just plain, simple, straight-forward and pithy "here's what it is and what you get". Nothing more, nothing less — it's as though the author has some kind of empathic pity on all us guys!

Everyone makes dresses and jeans and shoes and silks and veils and... you get the idea. However, as someone role-playing a 16th-century-era Profiteer (simply a pirate by another name) - I need specific styles and searching for them is a pain in the backside. Along comes Themed inSL - a blog about freebies of this very nature.

And I want to be clear about something: I am not looking for the freebies at all. But rather looking at the quality of what is featured so I can "shop" for new creators who create the quality and styles I am looking for. I will be able to spot creators new to me that I simply must go check-out with regard to their 'regular' line of products as I can judge the quality of their work through that blog. No more rezzing all over the grid on the hunt, dealing with stupid bot slogging my bandwidth and rezza-rezz-rezz with each teleport, wasting time waiting for vendor images to appear and so on.

(Hint to all you merchants who use picture-changing vendors: find the place with the least traffic. You'll be doing your potential customers a huge favor.)

Yes, freebies are still evil. But in this one case, because there is no stopping them anyway, I will use that evil to my own advantage. I've added Themed inSL to the blogroll at the bottom of this page. And here is a direct link for your convenience.

Now, as a sideline notice: I have pre-written 15 selling tips for all merchants who sell products in Second Life and they will start appearing here beginning November 2nd. They already are posted, but scheduled to appear every Tuesday and Thursday at 6 a.m. Pacific time. These are specific techniques you can use to improve business and all are summaries of many of the techniques I cover in my book (linked above). The post titles will begin with "SLST #01:" ...and through "SLST #15:" - and these will be pithy 500-word or less posts. Two or three-minute reads.

So, no matter the state of business for you, follow these Second Life Selling Tips and I guarantee business will improve over whatever it is right now. Topics will include how to optimize for Product Art, Traffic, Marketing, Referrals, Item Permissions, Vending, Word-of-Mouth generation, Pricing Techniques, Customer Care, ...okay, okay - I don't want to give it all away here. Just keep your eye on this space for the next fifteen posts to this blog (there may be additional non-tips posts between.)

If you have been following the Slogosphere the last couple days (of course you have, you're reading this SLog, aren't you?) then you are surely aware that Linden Lab has added a new preference to your Second Life account via your preferences page at Second Life dot com.

This new preference is something Jack Linden mentioned way back when in his posted announcing the policy threatening all SL Residents of being banned from search results if they "game traffic" via the use of "scripted agents" (a.k.a. "bots") or "camping devices". In that post, Jack mentioned the idea if allowing user to set a preference in their 'bot' accounts that would identify them as bots (group-inviter, clothing models, etc.) - and therefor not count in system traffic statistics.

At first blush, this is a great idea.

I noticed the original OSLB (Official Second Life Blog) post that finally announces the availability of this new preference early-on and no one had yet asked the question that suddenly ran through my mind:

Oct 21, 2009 1:25 PM

Ari Blackthorne says:

SWEET!

Does this mean I can set my regular every-day use normal account to also act as a "scripted agent" and then everywhere I go my activity will NOT count toward their traffic - even though I am using the account 'normally'?

I know it sounds like I am being sarcastic - but it's a serious question! Really! (I am genuinely curious)

Of course at this point nothing happens when you set this preference, other than some field in the database is turned from a 0 into a 1. How Linden Lab will eventually use that field is anyone's guess right now, though Surname Lindens have been suggesting or reacting to suggestions that these accounts be visually identifiable on the grid proper. Some suggestions have been to change the color of name tags and even add additional text to them, much the same way as the Emerald and other after-market viewers do to identify the viewer a user is connected to the grid with.

But right now, it's still just an ineffectual exercise, as Tateru Nino makes clear at Massively:

"[...] it's sort of like being asked 'Would all citizens who have firearms and do not use them to break the law, please leave your name at your local police-station.' That is, there doesn't seem anything actually wrong with the idea, but you've got to wonder why it is being asked at this time."

Some of the comments that appeared after mine are fascinating as well, things I admittedly didn't think of, like this one that was posted immediately in answer to mine:

Mackenzie Ariel says in response to Ari Blackthorne:

That would be great Ari - not only can the cheaters pad their traffic with ILLEGAL bots and alts that they WON'T register but they could register themselves so that any place they go they won't be counted as traffic for someone elses place. They get THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS!!

Yes, this one did occur to me and Ms. Mackenzie makes the most important point of all: the cheaters will cheat always. The preference is voluntary and thus, they the cheaters won't set it. As for some applying my question to their own accounts, Tateru gives what is among the best reasons for doing this:

[...] teachers and site staff would like their own time on parcels not to get tangled up with actual traffic figures from visitors, students and guests, so that their own traffic metrics are more useful to them.

Again, I would refer them to a "greeter" or other traffic-counting device as they are more flexible, many able to ignore the owner and anyone on a "white list" and some even able to count the length of time a visitor stays along with other data.

Ooh, and then there was this:

Ceka Cianci says in response to Mackenzie Ariel:

The thing i would see being a problem with people setting their main accounts they use as a scripted bot and going to other places is this..If you are indicated as a bot with some sort of tag that comes with the identifying proccess..It is going to be pretty easy to spot you out in my business..People are gonna be like.. What the heck is this bot doing that i don't own walking around my store for?

Maybe it's a copybot hehehe..Ban hammer it and get it out of here!! Spread the word this bot is out roaming stores..

Okay that's a real good 'yikes' factor. Then  there are comments suggesting the ability to 'ban' these bot accounts from entering parcels (as part of the parcel preferences) as there is no reason for a bot to be traveling around the grid, save for those "land-bots" that run around buying and reselling virtual land. I actually concur with this. There is no legitimate reason a genuine bot should come to my place.

Of course there are the boneheaded traffic-gamers who try to operate under the guise of "group-inviter" or "models" (what the hell reason is a bot needed to model furniture for? If I want to see what poses are included, I'll use the furniture myself. Obvious traffic-gamers.) who are now splitting hairs over the term "scripted agent". Not only are they laughable, but also quite deeply pathetic.

Warning...dip-shit alert:

Phil Deakins says:

"Scripted agents" is a very poor term to use for what Jack possibly means. So poor, in fact, that many store models aren't scripted at all - they are just on poseballs. For instance, I have 4 demo models in my store. They are on poseballs on furnutire, and people can use the furniture menus to see the animations that are in it - the models perform the animations. They are not "scripted agents" - they are not scripted at all, and could never be reasonably described as such. They do fit some people's idea of bots, especially since they are logged in using OpenMetaverse but they could be logged in on viewers and be just like any other agent because the keyboard would be manned. (That how they used to be)

So it's not altogether clear what Jack intends to mean by "scripted agents". It's clear what scripted agents are but it's not clear if he intends that other agent types are included.

Wait... are you serious, Phil? Do you really assume everyone on the grid and the Surname Lindens in-particular are that stupid? I hope people who see your set-up choose to TP away and spread the word how shady and unscrupulous you really are.

The simple fact of the matter is that gamers will game no matter what. This comment, pithy and to the point says it all:

Itazura Radio says:

/me waits patiently for the first person who decides to make a bot army so they can plant them around their competitor's sim to max it out without adding to their traffic.

 /me sighs.

True. So true.

The problem, as many have been saying since the beginning of SL time is that there is a traffic count appearing is search result listings to begin with. All Linden Lab needs do is remove that statistic from participating in the ranking or sorting of the search results. It's that simple, really.

One way to do it is to leave things status quo - just don't show the traffic number in the listings. Keep that number private by only allowing it to be displayed in the "about Land" widget. That way, the number itself won't be a major influential factor in the search result listings and these traffic gamers might actually ease-up on their efforts. Yes, they still will game traffic, but it will be far more difficult for them as they cannot see everyone else's traffic via a simple search result list.

Hey... that's a good idea. Maybe I should put in a JIRA project suggesting that. Nah - too many JIRA projects, it will get lost. But I think I will make that suggestion in the thread right now!

/me bails on you,, leaving you standing where you are as he runs full-steam toward the OSLB to post a comment reply...


**********
Even though I spotted the original Linden Lab blog post and commented long before I saw Tateru's article, I want to give her credit for the original story:

source: Second Life users can flag accounts as bots, to no effect - Massively

I would expect the more 'vocal' of the better-informed of Second Life residents actually, do freak-out every time Linden Lab "sneezes". The issue comes down to reading too far into what Linden lab says, often via their 'Official Second Life Blog". It is the "better informed" who read that, and this and many other SL-related blogs, so they are "in the know." However, they also tend to be rather highly social, I suspect more-so than the average SL resident. And, in that, have a serious propensity to react emotionally to things first, rather than logically. This also tends to mean they are easily influenced.

Gather a throng of these people (SL-Universe or Shopping Cart Disco, anyone?) and you end-up with a throng that easily can turn into a mob because they constantly influence each other, most of whom are like-minded and so any 'debate' turns into a shrill, vitriolic cry for blood.

Ciaran Laval has written about the return of "Eyecatcher" and "Slapt.me" to the Mature lands of the virtual world, first emigrating into Zindra as was (and still is) though by the majority of "informaed" residents, then realizing they have overthought, or "over-understood" the "Adult-rating" policy.

I say good for them!

And here is the crux of their decision, which is not a change in the Linden lab policy, but rather a clearer understanding of what was always there to begin with:

Fetish clothing, collars, items for use by adults but in reality, this is mature content, use of the content could well be deemed adult but the items themselves are really mature items when being sold.

Read the article and it's a good one. I like Ciaran's writing, even though I feel there is often a bit of "panic" in there, but that could simply be writing style. So, I threw-in my obligatory rhetoric in long-form as I usually do (with corrections and formatting here):

I have been saying this all along: people are (were and are still) over-reacting about the whole "adult-rating" policy. It's just like the Bots and Campers policy: it's not "illegal" to have and even use them. What is "illegal" is to use them to "game traffic ranking". The only penalty: removal from all search result listings. As for the adult-rating policy, if you go astray it will only affect your listings (or lack thereof) in search results, unless some bonehead decides to Abuse-Report you, then Linden lab will come and evaluate whether it's a justified AR..

The issue (problem?) is that people always try to read "into" what Linden Lab says, and I am referring to SL Wiki, Knowledge-base and all that stuff - not live chat by Linden Surnames. The situation stems from people who rather than trying to understand what is actually being said at face value, they try to figure-out what Linden Lab is implying. It is better to read word-for-word and take the meaning exactly as stated.

I sell "role play" thrones. In my thrones are many menu options, of those many one is called "intimate" which contains the requisite naughty activity. However, the throne itself is not "adult-rated" because it is not designed explicitly for "adult-rated" activity. It just happens to contain that ability.

My retail point of sale also is in PG-rated land. And it is fully "legal" per the policy on what is allowed on PG-rated regions. if there ever is a question, no worries: I simply disable that portion of the menus on my display models. As for listings in search results, I simply have to be more creative with my descriptions and the same with my parcel.

I salute Eyecatcher and Slapt.me for taking charge of the situation and moving back to the un-walled mainland (or estate - whatever).

It cracks me up to no end how hysterically paranoid people can be every time Linden Lab sneezes. Sure there are times when the outrage is justified (Openspace to Homestead, for example) but most of the time it is wasted stress on the part of the often panic-stricken. Linden Lab, as I have said again and again on this blog, are not tyrants (though some of the Linden surnames can be) and they will not run around just dropping the hammer on everyone's heads all over the grid.

I have seen Ciaran write about (imply) how horrible it is that Linden lab will start crucifying people who don't follow this new Adult-rating policy to the letter and at other times write how horrible it is that Linden Lab not enforce their policy by dropping the hammer (Bots and Camping to game traffic). Obviously I am not claiming Ciaran is a hypocrite or anything even remotely close to that. Bloggers write based on whatever emotional chord has been struck at the time and with passion. I highly doubt Ciaran has even looked at his own posts in the very context I have just described. (I am only useing Ciaran as an example because I am quoting his article, but be clear that I am referring to a huge population of bloggers, no-matter the subject matter.)

As for the hysterically panicking throngs of residents on the grid sweating bullets in worry that Linden lab will drop a piano on their heads over the Ault-rating policy, I say please do continue your ulcer-generation-techniques. I, on the other hand, use all of that to my advantage. I have acquired my 8600 square-meter parcel (rounded of course) for about L$1.3 per meter at the height of the trepidare exodus from the mainland into Zindra - because of the rush to move into Zindra.

And I still use all of this, as it continues, to my benefit with regard to marketing and maintaining business. Business has never been better - no slump. Simply because I paid attention to what Linden Lab is doing, made an effort to understand it, applied some actual common sense and adjusted operations accordingly.

As for Eyecatcher and Slapt.me? Good for you, welcome aboard the wise-boat. Hopefully not too many others will stop and think like you did, else my competition will increase again.

Source: Eyecatcher and slapt.me move back to mature land | Your2ndPlace

art: "Zazzle"; George Grie (via Neo Surrealism Art)

An old saying we used to throw around in my Army days is "they can kill you, but they can't eat you." I know, I know... "Huh? Wha...?"

It's just another way of saying they can beat you up, hate you, make you miserable - but in the end, they can't take away your principals. And so, I now hereby open myself up to whatever flaming, trolling, vitriolic hatred might come my way when I make my genuine opinion here known to the world.

Not a secret, but never before openly and loudly shouted out to the Second Life enthusiast world. So, please allow me a moment to get my helmet and flame-retardant armor on and buckle my seatbelt, 'cause here we go...

I came.

I saw.

I left.

Gwyneth Llewelyn wrote a wonderful piece, probably the most accurate on the subject thus far. But most of what I'm seeing appears to be the drooling excitement that an alternative to Second Life is finally at-hand. Ummm — no.

As Gwyneth mentions, the developers of Blue Mars are really targeting content creators right now. And, as a content creator myself, I can relate to the excitement this brings. However, as I step back and look at the larger picture, I see problems.

Big ones.



Before I jump up onto my soapbox, allow me to be absolutely clear:

• Yes. I know Blue Mars is in beta right now and much of what I speak of will be changed; fixed; tweaked; made "better".
• Yes. I know that comparing Blue Mars to Second Life really isn't very fair - they are two completely different beasts. However, the developer admits Second Life is a model with heavy influence. But much of that influence has yet to be seen. Perhaps later when the platform matures more.
• I want to be clear that my comparison isn't with the software, the world, the animation, the builds, the... anything. My comparison is with regard to my user experience.
• No. I am not dissing on, slamming, or in any way attempting to put a negative spin on anything Blue Mars or Second Life or their respective creators or even those who've blogged about them.
• This is not a review of Blue Mars. It is simply a reflection on my initial experience.

The first issue I have with Blue Mars, (Mars for short; "BM" sounds too much like "Bowel Movement" to me - sorry for that mental picture,) is with the marketing and how they describe the system requirements. It is unethically misleading to say Blue Mars will run on Microsoft Windows and "Macintosh with bootcamp installed".

Okay, ummm... sorry. But that's a flat-out lie, the way I see it. The system requirements for Operating System is MS Windows, full stop. A Macintosh with bootcamp installed only means there is a DOS partition. Mac users still must spend $250 or more for a copy of....

Wait for it....

Wait for it...

Microsoft Windows to install onto that bootcamp partition! I will not hold my breath on ever seeing an OS-X native version of Blue Mars any time soon. I'll explain later. Meaning that the first statement ('requires MS Windows') is still the case. I believe it's their way of saying "screw you Macintosh. You want-in? Then run MS Windows!" - but in a covert, underhanded way.

The next stunner is the sheer size of the download. It is a 1.3 GB - (GIGA-BYTE!!!) beast. Yes I have broadband. Yes I have enough bandwidth allotment to download it, though I know there are those with tighter bandwidth caps than I have.

Okay, so the download is massive (read: bloated). It's because most, if not all the content I will see in-world is included in that download. This provides for a 'better' user experience by allowing the entire world ("city" - or "sim" in SL terms, albeit much larger each) without any 'rezzing' issues.

Why is this a problem (in my own perspective, remember)? Because it's a lot of wasted stuff. I will not see it all. I am downloading a lot of content I will never see or use. Or, if I do see it all so easily, I suspect the world will become redundant and boring rather quickly. America Online was sued (and lost) over the downloading of extraneous content - because it is wasted and simply sucks-up resources (file size-bloat; bandwidth to download it, etc.)

In this case, all that extraneous content is being force-fed to me in the guise of a bloated initial download.

The first cringing, tooth-grinding, hair-standing on the back of my neck moment occurred when I went to install the viewer. I was told I must install Adobe Flash Active-X.

I won't bore you with a long-winded rant about Flash or anything Adobe for that matter. But I will briefly say why I personally don't like it. First, Flash is bloated. It used to be lean and mean. Now it's bloatware, poorly-written and sucks-up a lot of computing resources. Adobe is trying hard to make Flash all things to all people for all purposes.

This makes poorly-written software into bloatware. The majority of every single thing I see in Flash format is advertising. Which is annoying. Standard advertising using regular image formats are fine.

The only other thing I see Flash used for is video. Which is a bastardization of the video-viewing experience. The Quality to file size to resource consumption ratio is abysmal. It's one of the reasons why YouTube now offers viewing via standard H.264 and foregoing Flash altogether (though you have to manually set your preferences to fore-go Flash.)

The only other reason to use Flash is web-application, most often games. And there is your answer. Eventually, I'm sure, they will make the viewer embeddable into a web page - because it's Flash. It even looks like a Flash The reason I won't hold my breath for an OS-X (Macintosh for all you Windows-heads out there) native version is the Active-X aspect.

Most web developers whose circles I find myself in do not like Active-X because it is too limiting (platform-wise). They don't despise it, but rather it's just that anything created with Active-X can only be run on MS Windows (and for a time Internet Explorer-only.)

I don't usually like Active-X tools installed on my machine, but I'll go with it if there is not other way or alternative. So the Blue Mars view is based on Active-X and Adobe Flash.

I thought it odd that after installing the Active-X Flash tools, the 'installer' became an "assembler'. At the end of it I received a message that the "Setup" has been successfully "assembled".

Only after launching the viewer did I realize "setup" means the avatar set-up. Moving through this process was pretty simple and straight forward. The interface was smooth and slick. In fact, it had a very "Flash"-like feel to it (go figure.)

Once 'in-world' I discovered I was at a "home" screen. Apparently the permanent starting 'location' for everyone. I kept waiting for the floor to rez. it never did. It took me a while to realize there is no floor. The swooshing water fly-over was the intended design. My, my, my all those times of teleporting into a new sim in SL and waiting for the floor to rez had caught me in the habit of waiting... for the floor to rez. (/me laughs.)

To keep my rhetoric short, I'll just bullet my main first impressions here - and remember, this is beta software so all this will likely change for the better:

• Feels like a FLash-based, enbedded web game. Like those the little kiddies like to frequent, albeit with far better-looking art.
• Even though all the content is already on my hard disk drive, entering a city (sim) still draws piece-by-piece the way Second Life does (building the scene), though more quickly. Perhaps twice to four-times faster (yes, that's it - I expected almost instantaneous drawing because the content is already on my hard disk. But, it's "Flash" /me groans.)
• I have a nagging feeling the majority of the content included in that bloated download is completely wasted. I don't see it and I'm not so sure I could find it if I wanted to. I much prefer the à la carte way Second Life (or any other virtual world) serves the content to me as I need to see it in a predictive way, rather than the pig-in-a-poke method (providing everything whether you need it or not, want it or not is what I really mean. "Pig in a poke" is just a fun term that comes close.) :P
• Movement is elementary - by left-clicking. Everything. Left-click the side of a building and you will (try) to go there. I found it rather juvenile-feeling and limiting.
• Right-click to interact with anything and everything. This was a bit awkward, though not an uncommon interface paradigm. I just haven't used it recently. But it also means everything must be done via a context menu.
• Who is who? No names on anyone. Everyone is anonymous. As I have mentioned above: I am Ari Blackthorne on Blue Mars, but you'd never know it unless you found me and I told you. Even right-clicking on an avatar (which can be a little tricky to do correctly) doesn't show their name. I know: it's beta software, this will be corrected in time.
• On the right-click paradigm - it also is how you move your camera - move your mouse while right-clicking and the camera moves around. However you leave your camera is how you remain, even when you begin to move around. The camera remains fixed according to the world, not your avatar. Again, not an uncommon paradigm.
• There does not seem to be any easy way to zoom the camera in and out to change your field of view. For instance, there was a large billboard sign at the home location. I found it difficult to read. I had to walk to the correct position in order to see it clearly. Then it began spinning. (/me rolls eyes)
• "Eye candy" (the actual look of the place) is okay. It looks good, but for some reason I had the impression of a Hollywood movie set: pretty textures on cardboard. The quality of the art in Blue Mars is marginally better than Second Life. But the look of the place isn't the draw, it will be the social aspect. The look of the environment only adds atmosphere, so the actual quality (as long as it's not garish) doesn't matter as much. We all know Second Life has more garish environments than not. But that doesn't stop people from congregating in those places.

In short, Blue Mars is a good place to explore. Unfortunately, there isn't much in there yet to make exploring a compelling option. An empty city is just that. In short, it's still an empty suit.

Am I impressed with what I saw? No. Now, I don't mean to say it's bad. It's not. Actually it has huge potential, but it's nothing like Second Life. Not in terms of the viewer (/me shivers at the requirement for Adobe Flash,) not in terms of the interface and how it operates, not in the 'look' of the art (environment), and certainly not in the interaction.

As Gwyneth mentioned (paraphrased), it is indeed "Second Life circa 2003" in terms of where it is now with features and function, it has a long way to go. Unfortunately, with a minimum requirement of a video card with 512MB of RAM, 4GB of hard disk space and so on, the target audience will be the 'technologically leading-edge' crowd.

Well, people like the ones who frequent Second Life. Except those people in Second Life like Second Life on so many different levels they aren't even aware of yet. Until they experiment with other worlds like Blue Mars.

In short, I think a lot of the hoopla in the SLogosphere, the excitement being expressed and all that stuff, though certainly justified, is a bit over-the-top from where I sit as Mars is a bit underwhelming at this particular point in time in my perspective. Will that improve? Most certainly. So for now, Blue Mars, to me, is just a blue moon .

I came.

I saw.

I wasn't impressed.

Rather, I was amused and bemused.

But I haven't uninstalled it yet. And that's a damned good sign.

art: Aberrant Corpses

It's true in Second Life as it is in first life: making money requires the golden rule to be observed and practiced. Unfortunately, you don't have much control over the golden rule; only the ability to influence it.

In my last post I discussed how most merchants in Second Life do not properly utilize the tools at their disposal, specifically the search tools and how they will appear in the results of a search, if at all.

A 'merchant' is anyone with anything to sell. That 'thing' is your product, which could be a creation, scripting, service — whatever. In order to sell your product the "golden rule" must apply. That golden rule is simply a triumvirate of requirements that must be met before your potential customer parts with their money in trade with you for your product.

You have likely by now read the news about how Linden Lab is revamping policies and terms of use at XSL (XStreet SL, a.k.a. SL Exchange, a.k.a. SLX) to bring it in-line with the Content Management Roadmap.

Certainly it was planned all along, but now the Lab has finally updated the X Street SL policies to bring them in-line with in-world policies

[From Blackthorne inSL™, Ker-Punk!]

In other words, Linden Lab is finally going to take a little responsibility at enforcing some of the rules they've been harping on us all these years. Good for them. Of course there is a long thread of talkbacks (a.k.a. "comments" for all you blogodicts out there) and one in-particular that caught my eye - and I won't post the name of the poster, but rather simply repeat their statement:

Can you clarify use of keywords? When the search was revamped a couple of years ago, I seem to recall the Linden giving advice to business owners on placing ads, to use proper keywords to make their ads stand out and get more hits.

Here is the AD to the store we have in our sim.

High quality low priced Kitchen living room bedroom couch sofa lamp table entertainment center rug carpet chair animated bed art plants curtain drapes vase pottery dresser

Is this keyword spam?

The bold emphasis is mine. That is their advertisement in-world verbatim (according to them) - I ask you to read it again.

What is wrong with that picture?

I always have said that I stand behind most of what Linden Lab does regarding ideological policy and "code law". I have harped time and again that employees of, and Linden Lab itself as a whole are not tyrants (though a few likely are or could easily be cast into that category.)

I also have harped on the fact that Linden Lab turns not on a dime, but rather more like the Titanic or other behemoth, whether it really is or not. This is due to the nature of relationship Linden Lab has created and maintains with it's customers.

They are not wholly transparent (and people actually will whine and bitch about this,) but they are far more transparent and accommodating than (choose your country) your Federal Government, your Automobile manufacturer even the very ISP you use to connect to the internet proper.

Case in point:

Intellectual property infringement is a serious matter, and we trust that those developing copying tools will view it that way. The penalties for copyright infringement under U.S. law include damages in amounts up to $30,000.00 USD per work and in cases of willful infringement up to $150,000.00 USD per work.

[From Official Second Life Blog]