Let's Fix the Marketplace

Some time has passed – long enough, actually, that I can't tell without looking – since The Lab surveyed Residents to learn about how the Second Life Marketplace might be changed for the better. Let's review the results.

None.

It is time now to fix the Marketplace and as The Lab takes a commission on sales, it is certainly worth their while. Errors, usability issues, and general maintenance all need to be examined. Here is a brief list of mine just off the top of my head:

Fix the "Cannot Add" bug. It happens some nine out of ten times I add something to my card and yet the item is actually added. Quite often if you hit the Add button again, everything seems normal. How many of us have bought two of one item because we didn't thoroughly check our Cart.

The service often lags harder and more often than Bay City during a big event. Amazon and other shopping services operate on a much larger scale and yet have swifter page loads.

The Lab needs to inject some elephant memory DNA into the system so it can remember my preferences. True, there really is only one preference to set – how many items to display on a page – but it is not remembered between sessions and often not when simply loading another page. The DNA upgrade could also make for a far more efficient Favorites list.

Speaking of which ... at least something never forgets. Items will remain in your Favorites even if they are no longer for sale. This list needs to be dynamic, reflecting not only the item's availability, but any price fluctuations or product updates.

A Wish List would be a great addition to the Favorites list. Or call it a Gift Registry. Any list where others could see items that I would like to own but for some reason or another I have not purchased.

Only two items listed per page of Reviews? Don't be silly. And your place in the sequence will reset if you click on any other tab. Say you are reading a review on page eleven of twenty and you wish to check the Features to investigate something the reviewer wrote. Click Features, read, click Reviews and you are back on page one.

On the topic of the Features tab ... it should be the first up when a page is accessed. Let the Details tab be second for folks who need more information.

A larger font, please, or the ability to control fonts. I'm 8 years old in SL and that means my eyesight is failing in my dotage. Oh, and lots of Residents have vision impairments. Sure, there are nice viewers like Safari that allow folks to easily enlarge portions of a page.

Lastly (for now), a true nit-pick: The interface is just so last century. Time for a refresh.

How easy it is to be a Noob? Part I

The Lab's recent announcement (not on the Official blog, mind you as that would be too easy, but here for one source) of its new CEO, Ebbe Altberg, has many people thinking about what might happen to Our World. Most of the comments I've seen in various sources has to do with The Lab's famous inability to communicate with the Residents – like not making their announcement on the official blog, as noted. One of my first concerns has been about the New Resident Experience. I had both of these in mind when I made a late night purchase from the Second Life Marketplace.

For many of us with our own land its natural to just unpack things at home. Long time Residents might even have build rights on some group land for said purpose. At minimum, experienced users know of at least one sandbox location (I keep two in my Favorites so I can log in to one right away). For the rest the question Where can I rez my purchase Inworld? applies. Thank goodness the Marketplace is there to help us on the post-purchase receipt page (or so they call it, but its not really a receipt). Click the handy link and you are whisked to the Opening Boxes page on the SL Wiki.

Then find a buried link for "this list" of public sandboxes and click ...

... then scroll almost to the bottom of the page for a list of links to public sandboxes (or keep scrolling for a list of privately-owned sandboxes). Easy as pie, right?

Cool Beans Gacha Yard Sale

One of the people I admire a lot in Second Life is Sean Brady, entrepreneur extraordinaire. He's the owner of many properties, including the Cool Beans Cafe that I frequent (SLurl) and the newly rebuilt Cool Beans Gacha Yard Sale (SLurl) included. Sean always seems to have fun with whatever he does, but it is clear that he especially enjoys landscaping and coordinating the best pre-fabs in SL to make his properties some of the best builds I've seen. As an example, check out the new "Yard Sale" ...

That's Sean behind me, pacing. One of the few times in recent memory I've seen him in human form. He loves to play with Furry avatars and the cute ones he gets from Gachas.

Whoa .... this isn't your mother's yard sale! This is a lovely little shopping district with several rentals available so you can unload re-sell your spare Gacha goods. Of course, some great vendors are here already and it is not unusual to find items at less-than-retail price. Sean's place is my first stop for shopping when I need a gift or to find a Gacha item I want but don't feel lucky enough to win.

Happy Yet Sad: A Touch of Ireland

How did I not know about A Touch of Ireland (SLurl) before yesterday when I got the news that it was closing and was having a massive sale? Admittedly it looks familiar and I think I saw one of the Oktoberfest dresses on the SL Marketplace (SLM) when shopping a couple months ago, but I don't think I've been here ere now. Yes, the sale makes me happy yet I'm sad that the shop is going away. Take a look at some pix of the amazing clothes and product shots in the shop.

Tons of holiday costumes, many with special skins or accessories, like these for Día de los Muertos. If there's a national holiday somewhere, I bet you can find a costume for it in this shop.

I bought these devil and angel costumes for only L$50 each, normally L$375 apiece, wings, horns, halo, and skins included. Most items look to have the same markdown. And aren't these pictures stunning? Each product prim is like a work of art. I also bought a Wizard of Oz Scarecrow Girl costume at a huge discount (Web).

I bet pictures like these could be sold as art either in Second Life or on Web sites that feature art.

Squeeeee! I'm so not femme enough to pull this off so I only looked. Despite the gown being just L$50, the matching jewelry pack to the right was L$200 – a fair price or a steal combined.

Of course A Touch of Ireland has Irish clothes! I don't remember if I bought this one or not because I was just clicking and paying, clicking and paying until my L$500-something purse was nearly empty. I bought one item for just L$1!

I hope that AliciaKay Kilara can bring her shop back in-world sometime but until then you should stock up now, ladies, as the shop is going away on the 16th!!. Only a few items will be available on the SLM (Web) at full-price. Guys, too, should stop in as there are many outfits for the gents.

Shop Local

Our family — like most, I'm sure — is no stranger to shopping online or via the TV shopping channels, but whenever possible we prefer to shop locally, such as at the hardware store a few blocks away, rather than take our custom elsewhere. This supports the local economy, builds trust with frequented shops, and is actually more convenient in many respects.

Without consciously thinking about this, when I logged into Second Life for the first time today and wanted to look for some particle scripts, I immediately proceeded to Outy's in Nangrim (SLurl), my home sim to shop "locally" ... and then it hit me. That's not really a "local" shop for several reasons, not the least of which is that there seems to be one every few hundred meters on any SL roadway. That makes it a "national" chain and not a local "mom and pop" store. And the Mainland isn't all that big anyway, if you were to outright measure it (as seen here) so everywhere is "local" if you think of it.

The real comparison, I suppose, brings us back to shopping online versus going to a "brick and mortar" (or prim and physics-defying principles in virtual terms) shop. Many merchants have left their in-world shops to sell their goods only on the Second Life Marketplace since that requires little at all (or now with Direct Delivery, no land). This has got to affect the economy much as it would in Real Life. Residents are ditching their private estates, huge tracts of land lay empty, often abandoned, on the Mainland. My friend Daniel Voyager keeps track of this sort of thing (he's very bright and never seems to sleep) and just recently had a post on his blog noting that total region count (and thus land area) has dropped yet again.

This has to effect The Lab's bottom line as land rent is probably their main source of income (I could be wrong since they also have commissions from the Marketplace and premium membership fees as revenue streams, though I don't know which might be larger). But what about in-world merchants? If shoppers rely more and more on buying from the Marketplace, trips to in-world shops will decrease and the land will become less economical to keep.

See a cycle starting? Makes one want to shop local more often.

Fantasy Faire 2012

It looks like the Fantasy Faire for 2012 is now open! Visit the Official Web Site for official information such as maps, lists of vendors, and of course, vital information about the charity, Relay for Life.

I'm not an official blogger, but I'll try to post my favorite sights and purchases. Don't forget to check my Second Life Profile Feed now and then for some pics with direct teleport links, too.

Remember, everybody, this is for fun and for charity. Let's make this a big win for everyone!

Cadeling Garden

Looking through some landmarks that seem to have fallen to the bottom of my handbag, I came across Cadeling Garden (SLurl), a delightful region that looks to exist more to be joyful than to support a wonderful little shop (avatar skins, clothes, and more) and a fabulous art gallery. As I explored, I realized that the region itself is the true art gallery. Ling Serenity (a Real Life artist) has some truly marvelous pieces set out, many made by her but quite a few from the collections of other Second Life creators.

In a style representative of many, many Japanese regions, much of the landscape is flooded ankle deep, with land portions rich with colorful flowers and plentiful other vegetation. Also, the structures are a time worn to the point of being disheveled, but the region's oft used design trope works very well at Cadeling Garden. Visitors who choose to poke around will find many places to sit and relax as well as joyful bits of Not-Possible-In-Real-Life whimsy. I especially enjoyed the poem in the water near the couple's swing, under the power lines.

Without further ado, the gratuitous landscape porn (taking license to use the Verdigris Windlight pre-set and the Glassy water pre-set — region default seems to be perpetual dusk):

The ladder leads to nowhere, but with such sumptuous scenery, there is no where else you need to be.

A view of the main shop. Some nice bargains on skins, textures, and more. There is a tiny carousel for those who explore.

On the art gallery side, there is a nice couples swing and a poem in the water for the vigilant among us.

At the main shop with a wonderful view of the eastern side of the region.

Now that it is just you and me left, everyone else having looked at this post and moved on out boredom since it isn't about fashion or sex, I'll let you in on a secret. Not all the waters are ankle deep nor are all the attractions within sight of sea level. Poke around and you'll be rewarded.

Modesty Hair

My new "Sebastianne" hair from Wasabi Pills (SLurl) means I'm legal in G-Rated regions even when I'm topless, right? I wanted one color out of the "reds" pack and one color out of each of the "fun colors" packs, but there is no pic and choose, so I just got the former. I wish all creators would have a "Basics" colors pack for hair with blonde, brunette, red, black, and a "fun" color.

Interview: Kaikou Splash

Kaikou Splash

One of the great draws of Second Life is people. No wonder The Lab is trying to MyFace-ify Our World into a social Web experience. What many social Web venues miss, though, is the simple conversation, two or more people just talking. The other day I was chatting with my friend Kaikou Splash, owner of Splash Aquatics (SLurl) about his latest treasure hunt with a mesh alligator prize (as seen on the LKC blog here) and he told me that his next mesh project would be an Orca (AKA Killer Whale) to add to his shop's large selection of swimming critters. You've probably seen orcas elsewhere in Second Life, but you've not seen one like this.

Swimming with the new Splash orca! Like the new mesh dolphin in the background, avatars can ride the critter in various modes, or by themselves the critters will explore the waters in an area you define. They even have special, optional behaviors for when avatars are in the water.

At one point the idea of an interview with Kaikou for my blog got bounced around so others could join our conversation, in a fashion.

Uccello Poultry: The new orca is fabulous. Someone jumped on it right away and started riding it as soon as I put it out. Is that a feature folks ask for often?

Kaikou Splash: thank you :) I've tried to strike a balance with prim count and detail and give it some character too.. I don't get asked for much really but then I have to be honest.. not many people talk to me :[

Uccello: People really should talk to you. I've enjoyed our conversations.

Kaikou: ;) I just wanted to give them as many features as I could and it's ace fun!

Kaikou: aww me too uccie! you're awesome!

Uccello: It's a great feature, and I saw that your new mesh dolphins have that, too. But is the orca the first time you've made one?

Kaikou: yeah, the new dolphins have loads of features too.. and yes it is the first time I've ever made a killer whale! I've been in second life now for more than six years and when I arrived there was a legacy of very good killer whales still around. I didn't think I could do better until mesh came along - it's given me the freedom to build the dolphin and orca models with the kind of detail I really wanted.

Uccello: You've come out with quite a few mesh products, some never seen before in your shop, like the Alligators, but some are like existing products. Are you replacing "older" items with Mesh or will they exist together?

Kaikou: the new gators are a bit like the orca, in so far as I always wanted to make them but didn't see how with the tools around at the time. other mesh products like the swan and piranha are definitely replacing older products - the old swan was 13 prims or something.. the new one is 1! I have no idea what made me make a platypus though! :]

Uccello: LOL. I have the old swan and my brother bought the new one. Quite a difference in prim count, for sure. Would you be telling a secret if you let me know what you might have planned to release next?

Kaikou: Good question! well once I have the new Orca's up for sale, it's anyone's guess! I quite fancy making a new fishing game to rival all my previous games, but I'm so into mesh at the moment, I keep finding myself loading up blender and tinkering! Perhaps your readers would have a good suggestion for what I should make next?

Uccello: I'll ask them what they might like to see, of course :)

The shop features a delightfully scenic area where you can try the unique fishing game and compete to win prizes.

Uccello: Your fishing game is a classic and I see it in many places across Second Life. In fact, it's hard to find a well-decorated place that /doesn't/ have something from your shop. Have the Lindens recognized this legacy you are leaving?

Kaikou: I don't know really! I hope so but I get so much from the creation process, I don't really think about whether or not I'm leaving a legacy. I do love running into my products when I'm exploring though! Those linden folks are quite nice to me, so I must be doing something right ;]

Sneaking through the "moon pool" on the roof, near a vehicle display, one can dive into the huge aquarium and swim with the fishes! Landlubbers can access via the shop a tunnel that lets them stay dry as they enjoy the multitude of creatures in a very realistic setting. Like many parts of Splash Aquatics, the aquarium is informational as well as beautiful.

By the way, that's me in one of the several SCUBA sets available in the shop, though you don't need one to dive in.

Uccello: What I had in mind, specifically, was the phenominal aquarium you have at your shop. I can tell it is a work of love and not just a marketing gimmick. Its one of the first things I saw in SL after I hit the main grid. There don't seem to be many major aquariums like yours in Our World. If you were to ever need to leave SL, I'd have to talk to the Lindens to preserve it.

Kaikou: aaah Deep Sea is very much a labour of love! *immediately sits up* this is a subject very close to my heart, being a diver and aquatic conservationist in my part time in rl. When I first started Splash Aquatics I simply wanted to set up an aquarium shop, but as my land and product range grew the natural progression was into sea creatures.. Those sea-life centres are my favourite places to visit in the whole world. I must've heard "wow this is just like my local sea-life centre" a million times! it's ace! :]

Uccello: Its very impressive, as was all the hard work you put into the now late Dive World sims. I'd dive there almost daily. Do you think that something that spectacular might be built again, perhaps as an educational tool?

Kaikou: I'd love to build my own sim one day, for Splash Aquatics. I'd go absolutely mad with dive sites, no doubt about it! I'm not sure if we'll ever see those big corporate sims any more, which is such a shame. The Dive World sims I worked on for PADI, the Professional Association of Diving Instructors, and the Cocos Island sims were amazingly good fun to build and gave people such a wonderful underwater experience.

Uccello: If someone wanted to hire you to complete their seascapes (or any bodies of water), are you available?

Kaikou: of course :) I can hold my breath for hours..

Uccello: LOL

Uccello: Someone at Dive World told me that at the time you had just done your first RL dives. Is that true? Do you get much diving in of late?

Kaikou: yes that's right. I got into diving whilst working for PADI and I'm so pleased I did. I got my PADI Rescue Diver last year and am going for my Divemaster this year. It's been a bit cold to dive recently but I'm off this weekend with a buddy to dive in a quarry with tanks and helicopters in! so cool..

Kaikou: it's really helped me make more realistic seascapes too, and of course, helped me improve the realism of my scuba gear.

Uccello: Thats awesome. One of the items on my 'bucket list' is do dive some. But speaking of "the end" ... RL needs me, so any parting thoughts?

Kaikou: Thanks so much for talking to me! If there's one thing I want people to get about me, is that I do this for the love of it! I'm always happy to chat and help people out.. Second Life has had it's ups and downs but if we all make a little time for other people I'm sure it'll be here for years to come.. and so will I (despite the age of my avatar!) ;]

Uccello: Thank you, Kaikou, for your time today and for all the wonder you bring to Second Life.

Walking through Splash Aquatics, you often forget that you are in a shop. Everythign is so beautiful; Its like a tourist attraction. In the top right you can see a glimpse of the new picnic area. Interesting and informative movies are also available in a cozy theater or you can just explore the grounds, gathering ideas for your own landscaping projects.

Splash Aquatics is a wonderful gem in Our World and Splash Kaikou is a wonderful gem of a person. I highly encourage you to become better acquainted with both.

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Would you like your own FREE Splash Aquatics orca? Drop me a note card in-world with your name, the time you are contacting me, and the date and I'll send one to you ... well, the first TEN people only. Sorry, but quick is good! Many thanks to Kaikou for his generosity!!

Mysterious Appearances

The other day I noticed that a few landmarks I had never previously seen were in my Inventory. Obviously someone had sent them to me, either directly or via some sort of giver, but danged if I can recall who or how. Here's where I wound up when looking at them, in no particular order.

San Deigo 3D (SLurl): This is the Balboa Theater in what is probably a re-creation of San Diego, California (USA). Having never been there, I can't be sure. Near by is a landmark giver for other destinations in San Diego. I grabbed one for the Zoo because at least I've heard of the famous RL place with the same name. The girl standing there is SanDiego3d Resident. Maybe they named the place after her.

Under the Sky - by Yooma Mayo - LEA17 (SLurl): Noted explorer, blogger, and gadabout Honour McMillan might have snuck this into my Inventory as she's a big fan of the Linden Endowment for the Arts (LEA) and large-scale virtual art projects. Always be wary around Canadians and other extraordinarily polite people. They have agendas.

Anyway, this artist has special Windlight and Water presets in place so if you visit, make sure you have everything set to the region defaults. Then put on your running shoes because those really are giant ants. More giant bugs are throughout the region and some other impressive art installations are on the adjacent sims.

VC Designs (SLurl): Not sure if this is post-Apocolyptic, another planetscape (there are two moons), or what, but the landing area has some really clever lighting effects and the generally depressing textures are skillfully done throughout. There's shopping and some prize boards. Maybe that's how I got the landmark for this location.

Drowsy

I got a message from ace reporter Zyx Flux about the Drowsy region (SLurl). In a word: Fantabulouslywow. Here's more of what she said ...

The Lucky Kitty Crew was at Drowsy and the group chat told me they were having fun. You know I'm not big on grabbing many store gifts and freebies, but like I said, they were having fun so I went and then I saw the sim ... Fantabulouslywow. I was in love. If fact, I offered to marry the creator and let someone else have the babies (our friend Serenkitty, to be precise). Everything I look for in a great landscape was there. Natural land formations as if Mother Nature herself did the work. Plenty of foliage. The key there is density, density, density. A great land texture can only do so much. Well placed grasses in great abundance with plenty of trees and other flora really give a sense of lush, realistic growth. And lastly, structures that appear to belong to the precise spot where they are, not just dropped in place. The types in Drowsy are not just logical, but the textures look like they've been acted upon by the environment. Here are some pictures I took.

There is lots of water in Drowsy and it attracts a variety of animals. Look for unusual species.

This seems to be the main shop as that is where I landed every time I entered the region.

Normally pixies aren't big fans of water, but I just had to do a floaty in this inviting lake.

Speaking of unusual species ...
This area is a great example of the landscaper's overall plan: Take a space and make fill it with as much as you can. All the Kodak guides on photography had the same advice ... "Fill the frame."

There are shops scattered everywhere. Rather than be organized with rows, racks, shelves, and the whatnot you usually find in a shop, goods are scattered amongst various tableaus, like this library. The lizard isn't for sale. That's a patron.

Another example of a shop on Drowsy. I managed to buy L$300 in goods while here and everything is top-notch. This is one very creative creator. Folks from the Linden Endowment for the Arts (LEA) were touring around and admiring everything, including my friend Claudia222 Jewell.

Many thanks to Zyx for letting me know about Drowsy. I'm heading over myself as soon as I finish this post. I'm sure I can say without a personal visit that if you like interesting builds and great landscapes, this is the place for you.

Who was Minding the Store?

An important part of the upcoming introduction of "Mesh" to the Second Life Grid appears to be an increased emphasis on protecting copyright (see Mesh Update: Part Deux). Very interesting as this 2009 official video demonstration of mesh uses the Hulk character copyrighted by Marvel Comics:

Between this and news about copyright from elsewhere in the tech world -- Samsung postponing a product launch pending resolution of a lawsuit with Apple (Web) -- makes me wonder "Who was minding the store when I bought an "Apple" laptop in Second Life and an iPad just yesterday?"

Is that a DC Comics-regsitered superhero logo on my shirt?

The Apple logo on the "laptop" is a violation, I'm sure, as would be the photo-texture rendering of the keyboard and ports. I found it on the SL Marketplace by searching with the term "Apple." Amusingly, the iPad there is the kicker considering the Samsung/Apple news. Sure, it was a freebie in-world, but its a very accurate reproduction, right down to the icons -- a key part of the Apple lawsuit against Samsung. It was positioned near accessories the creator probably hoped I would buy to compliment the gift.

So who at The Lab is in charge of policing copyright violations? If they leave it to the public then I doubt brand-name violations like this will be officially noticed. There's no incentive. One merchant turning in another to trim competition? Probably not as they'd be caught, too. Would real world brands go after individual residents? Gucci was involved with that back in 2007 (Web) yet a current search of the SL Marketplace (Web) turns up over 100 items using the name in some fashion, if not outrightly. The furor of old really hasn't had a huge effect, it seems.

Much like real world "KIRFs," I suppose. After all, someone in China recently cloned a whole Apple store, right down to the t-shirts (Web). The shop I visited when looking for a new Second Life laptop and tablet was a pretty good clone, too, though the owner wore a suit as he leaned against a table that could have been hauled out of the real world Apple store an hour from my house.

Gallery Gift Shop

The Gallery Gift Shop (SLurl) is a quirky sort of place, not because of the scenery or the structures, but that it seems to be more art gallery than retail shop. And then rather have the shop focus on one creator, the retail portion is made up of goods from many vendors (such as doP Kidd, hiroy Boa, Lindsay Rozen, Pandora Popstar, and a wonderful free prefab studio structure from Lindini2 Lane, along with others) presenting a rather eclectic selection of items. The shop itself is a delight, but the art is what held me there.

The wall art, according to an info note card, comes from SL's Flickr artists, but no Web addresses are listed.

I spent well over an hour wandering the rather small space, closely admiring works from the many, many artists represented (Agatha Latte, Pumpkin Tripsa, Khyle Sion, AM Radio, Yaskui Beck, and Trindolyn Beck, and Cory Edo, to mention just a few). Just about anyone should be able to find a sculpture, some fine wall art, or creative landscaping (yes, it's an art, dammit!) they will find breathtaking. The curator(s) arranged the selections tastefully and in a pleasing fashion. I felt like I was at a fine, yet casual, museum.

Be sure to step outside the shop to look about. Many hands cooperated to make this harmonious landscape. I can hardly wait to see what it looks like every four weeks!

According to a note card that came with a souvenir bunny sculpture (on the 2nd floor of the gallery), "This special event will be on a 4 week rotation. Items sold will be discounted, exclusive, transfer, or new released here first!" I'm marking my calendar to come back at least every four weeks.

I'm pleased to see AM Radio represented here, but he is just one of several prominent SL artists showcased.

I would be remiss if I didn't thank SpaceCase at The Virtual Vagabond blog for finding this shop and writing about the freebie inside (which I then shamelessly posted on the LKC Blog). One of the best ways to explore Second Life is to see where other folks write about. The effort to post, while often trivial, shows an appreciation and value.

Quick Visit: Looking Glass

Honest, I was just shopping when I found it!

Long story short, I was looking for a unique cottage and the TLG Wizards retreat (Web) certainly seemed to qualify, so I went to see it in-world at "Looking Glass" on the Horizon Dream sim (SLurl). That's when I saw this view and had to snap it. And it was a good excuse to try the official beta viewer's new environment controls. This is the Tropicala day cycle preset paired with the Murky water preset. Graphics quality was set to Ultra but turing on Lighting and Shadows destroyed this beautiful sky.

L$2000 and Some Land

I've always been a fan of the Gardens of Dreams (GOD) "skyboxes," but whenever I have the money to get one, I don't think of them. And when I think of them, I don't have the money. Worse yet, every time I visit the shop (SLurl), I swear I find new skybox scenes that I want to buy. Here's the latest L$2000 goodie that I've lusted after:

The Hidden Cove. Available in-world or on the Marketplace.

It's only 270 prims so I know a few places where I could rez it without upsetting the land owners about prim limits so long as I cleaned it up when I was done, but it takes up 55 meters of space on each side, so finding a place to rez it without going over property lines might be hard.

When when I get it, the problems will really start. There are at least four other scenes that I want. GOD has a wonderful Roman bath, a great treehouse, a gorgeously detailed provincial village, and an ocean habitat bar rather like one I started a few years ago but infinitely better than I would have made.

Second Life is truly magical, but rather spend, huh?

Why I don't keep Landmarks

As much as I love the Favorites bar in the current viewer, I have a love/hate relationship with Landmarks in general. In fact, I seldom keep them. Why not? Things change. In Real Life, places seldom move. Tokyo, Chicago, East Millinocket (there is no West Millinocket), Cardiff, any number of places you can name just don't move. But places within places can move. My favorite place to get BBQ ribs locally has moved three times in the last year. If I need to know the address, I search the Internet or ask around. Well, to be honest, I really just get in the car. Someone else drives as I don't have a license and with any luck they know where things are to be found. Goodness knows I haven't found Urban Spoon, Yelp, or similar services to be accurate in my area.

Second Life is worse as whole regions can move or disappear. Then places within places move like drops of mercury in fishbowl (don't ask how I know). When I had a retail shop it moved something like seven times. My home has moved at least as many times. I can keep up with landmarks for those places. But I was about to send a noobie to some freebie shops when I thought "its been a while since I've seen them ..." and popped out to find them. Gone. Four really great places. Gone. Not to mention ones that I knew had gone away, like the fabulous Gnubie Store.

Another reason? Most folks don't maintain the Landmarks they expect us to use. When shops move they sometimes don't update the Landmarks in their packaging or the SLurls they publish in blogs or on The Marketplace. For instance, after I checked the freebie shops I'm off exploring at a well-known shop where I take a Landmark from a marked giver to go see a pre-fab demo I would like to buy ... no such place. I even flew 100 meters around the destination and found no such place. The shop is there. One of the many other demo pre-fabs was in place. But not the one I wanted to see nor were some others.

Delete ...

No, I don't keep Landmarks, as a rule.

New Trails Tree

Zyx Flux, my wee pixy alt, is my landscaper. To help keep my inventory under control I've transfered what I can for landscaping from my inventory to hers and all new purchases go through her. So when she found a wonderfully mossy fallen swamp tree at New Trails (SLurl), I just had to send her the money.

Zyx posing on the tree she bought at New Trails.

Without sit animations, the price is L$195 for Mod/Trans or L$1750 for Mod/Copy. She bought the L$350 Mod/Trans with nine animations (for two people), though the L$2950 Mod/Copy version was tempting. Hard to believe that something this beautiful is only 3 prims if you use the included shadow. Even prettier are the pose-free mushroom-sprouting versions near by. One day. One day.

Bounce Bounce

When a certain Third Party Viewer (TPV) added "Breast Physics" to it's bag of tricks, the idea of using a viewer not from The Lab became quite popular. Our World's biggest demographic, The Pervs, rapidly adopted the application en masse. And now the Lab is giving into the depravity trend by adding this feature plus Belly and Bottom Physics to an upcoming release. Hamlet Au broke the news a day or so after it blazed through in-world communications with his post yesterday and gives a bit more information. But as fast as things go his post is a bit out of date already. Here is what I know and then some, starting with a demo video:

The Snowstorm Development Viewer version as I write this is Second Life 2.6.4 (225759) Apr 5 2011 10:30:39 (Second Life Development) and can be downloaded from the Latest Development Viewers section of the Snowstorm Wiki. Check the version after download because for some reason I kept getting an older build even after getting the correct one (I kept at it for testing).

While you are waiting for it to download, head to Nyoko Salome's Marketplace page (or go in-world) to get a free "Bounce On Toes" set for animations to test the feature and a basic pre-set to wear.

Yes, wear. A new "layer" is added to your avatar so you can set how your breasts, belly, and bottom react to bouncing and swaying. The TPV feature was one general setting that made every set of breasts behave the same way. Now users can define how firm or saggy "The Girls" are, how much the trunk junk moves around, and how much slosh you have in your beer belly regardless of how others have set their preferences. Of course, those perving you will need to use a compliant viewer, but with The Lab making this a standard, the vast majority of Residents will enjoy (or be offended by) your tastes. Be sure to check all your adjustments with all the anims in your AO and other frequently used motion anims because the test ones from Nyoko only show up and down motion. My poor little pixy alt's butt bounced so much she nearly fell over.

No word on when this goes mainstream, but with the recent emphasis on fast release cycles, I'd say it should be soon. And word has it that the Kirsten's Viewer and the Firestorm Viewer will add this feature, but don't hold me to it. That's all hearsay right now.

New Eyes

For a long time I've used and recommended Prismatic Natural Eyes from Santana Lumiere's Nevermore Studios, wearing the green #86 myself since September 3, 2006 with infrequent changes. At L$25 they are great quality and a good price. Last I saw, my wife still wears the purply #84. The whole collection is hard to come by, though, with only a few now available on the SL Marketplace. None of these were acceptable to a noob I was helping so we buckled down and did some research. Lo and behold, I now use a new set, retiring the Prismatics to rest with the dozens of other sets I've managed to collect. My new eyes are from BSN (store SLurl) and are simply called Green Eyes (yah ... really basic name there). A great bargain for L$10 (though you can get a set with 5 colors for L$30).

In this split-image picture, the eye on the right (my left) is the Prismatic. I love the shading of the iris and the little flecks of brown. On the left (my right) is the new BSN eye. The sclera is much more natural. I wish I could combine the two, but overall I prefer the new ones. Now to decide if I want to be blue-eyed most of the time or stick with my real life-like green eyes. Yes, I bought a few pair ... I did mention I have a lot of eyes in my inventory.

The Death of In-World Retail

Some bittersweet news came my way yesterday. One of my favorite stores was having a 50% off sale. They were having the sale because they were dropping their in-world presence. BINA Gorean Clothing (SLurl) moved from a beautifully crafted full region to a nicely crafted Homestead region that retained the essence of the former despite the loss of detail last year in what I assumed was a move to economize. A number of stores had done so about the same time and quite a few malls had completely closed. It looks like the process is continuing.

Cymoril Lightfoot, BINA owner, cited "several factors" in the closing in a note card to her group, but I'm betting that the declining in-world economy and the emphasis on the use of XStreet SL (soon to me SL Marketplace) by The Lab since it acquired the service are factors. Like many, Ms Lightfoot will maintain some land in-world to house her XStreet server box so she can continue having a presence in the economy. Without having to pay for large tracts of land this could be a boon.

Its a calculated risk and I'm not merchant enough to discuss the merits of such a plan. After all I've opened and closed more shops than I can count. But I will miss visiting BINA for the atmosphere as well as the high-quality clothes. Shopping should be an experience and I like supporting merchants that feel the same way. Spending time exploring the environment that sets the mood for the merchandise is a powerful sales tool. Some in the Real World have derisively called it the Disneyfication of retail -- stores and shopping malls becoming a destination -- but it works (Web). Yes, I often use XStreet to shop, but mostly to find the merchandise and to find where I can see it in-world. It also gives me a certain satisfaction to buy in-world because the merchant doesn't have to share the sale by giving The Lab a commission.

To support shopping in-world, especially at themed shops and malls, I'm going to make an effort to post profiles of such places on this blog. You'll also find some on the Lucky Kitty Crew blog (Web) in as many of my future posts as I can get away with writing. In my previous posts there I frequently advocated getting out and exploring beyond hitting the Lucky Chairs or the Midnight Mania boards for the fun of it (as well as finding more freebies).

But while you can, visit BINA. You don't have to be Gorean to appreciate very high quality clothes, a great sale, or just a great build to explore.

(Thanks to Zyx Flux for tipping me to the closing and for posing with me in the pic above. She's a cute and clever pixy. The store closes August 30th.)