SL Revolution, I’m disappointed. I’ve waited for almost an entire month for a new post from you guys, and what do I finally get? A fashion post?! If I wanted boring crap like that I’d read IHeartSL or some other lameass blog. I read SLR for thought-provoking, interesting, relevant, and timely articles which often lead to interesting debate. OK, that, and, funny shit like “Life by XCite”.

Seriously, “oooh, lookit what I bought!” posts bore the bejeezus out of me.

Prad, Hawksrock, you guys: get crackin’, chop chop. My brain’s getting cabin fever here. I have SLR in my blogroll under “Good Reading” for a reason. Don’t be making a liar out of me now.

Mind you, I quintuple-checked the spelling of “Sheriff” to make absolutely certain I got it right! Here is one of very few stone buildings you’ll see in Mistletoe Creek: the Sheriff Office and local jail.

Click any photo to see larger.

The building has a footprint of just about 20×10 meters.

When you first come in, of course you can’t miss the iconic wanted posters. There aren’t very many because crime is so low in Mistletoe Creek. Especially since the town doesn’t exist yet.

A desk and oil lamp. I made the sculpts for the lamp myself.

One of the four cells. The bars are made of prims, not textures. This gives the building (with furniture and all) a total of 182 prims. I haven’t built doors yet; I prefer to add doors when the buildings are in place (and scripts are enabled).

And to top it all off, an American flag with 37 stars. This was the design of the flag from July 4, 1867 through July 3, 1877, made when Nebraska became the 37th state. A 38th star will be added in 1877, after Colorado becomes a state in 1876. I do my homework so you don’t have to.

So I hope you enjoyed this tour of the Sheriff’s Office and local jail. I think next I’ll begin on the town hall, which will house the Post Office.

Join me at Dreamers Irish Music and Dance Bar in Merina for 2 hours of Irish music. All kinds of Irish music, from Clancy Brothers and Chieftains to U2 to Flogging Molly.* The fun starts at 8 PM GMT (which is NOON Pacific and 3 PM Eastern).

*Just no Enya. I don’t like Enya.

Log onto the Merina region in OpenLife and follow the directions.

Can’t make it to the pub? You can listen at http://orange.neostreams.info:12958 .

I shall be Pokes Forum With Stick.

The scientist in me is satisfied. Thanks all who warned me, and accept my apologies for not just taking your word beforehand.

I’m getting more and more settled in here on the Frontier. I’ve gotten to know some neighbors and I think I can honestly say I’m forming friendships.

I’ve considered coming up with native-sounding names (a la Dances With Wolves) to describe some of the elders I’ve met. But I don’t know; Owns The Sim I Rent, Throws a Mean Festival, Knows His Scripting, and Gossips Just As Bad As Me just don’t have the same ring to them. They sound a bit, well, one-dimensional. And it makes me worry what name they’ll come up with for me (Pokes the Forums With Sticks? Only One In Chat? Too Many Alts?). Actually Too Many Alts is kind of cute.

I’m learning more and more about the history of the people of this land. I’m learning that whether you have tens of thousands of avatars or a half dozen, drama follows just the same. I just try to observe, learn, and stay out of trouble (while at the same time not taking any shit).

I won a pile of credits in a building contest on Saturday. I couldn’t be more chuffed, to borrow a word from my friends across the pond. There’s just no better word for it. I won enough credits to pay my parcel rent for 2 solid months (sorry, Owns the Sim, you’re stuck with me for at least as long…) and still have tons left over for uploading and such. Hell I may even shop. Or I’ll put them into savings toward having my own sim someday.

I’ve built a saloon and train depot for said someday sim, and now I’m working on a modest hotel. My friend Cate came up with the name for it: the Riverview has 4 little rooms and a small restaurant downstairs.

I’m teaching myself how to make sculpties. Tonight I made a simple rounded-edge cube in Sculptiepaint that I uploaded, to use for a cookstove I’m building. It kicks the butt of the one I’d been using. So I’m figuring it out, bit by bit. I got a way to go before I can start getting too fancy with them yet, but still.

Working on a new garment for the shop. Be looking for duster jackets in a variety of colors very soon.

All right, bedtime for this pioneer. Sweet dreams.

So I log onto the OLXchange Ning today to see the following post:

With great pride and satisfaction that we announce our exit of the OpenLife, for innumerable reasons. We go to cite some that are of the knowledge of all but not of the new users.

1 – Defective system
2 – Low Support
3 – Entrances blocked for new users(this have 1 week)
4 – Possessing 2 years of existence and having this amount of users it is probable that he is not “eternal”
5 – Residents do not receive well and friendly ideas from novices, thinking that the OL is the paradise, the Garden of the Eden, therefore it is not.
6 – The amount of prims and value of tiers is only for obtaining to keep its servers, in case of brusque increase of population this picture will move.
7 – The OpenLife is an identical copy of the code created by the Linden Lab, possessing in its functions some places where the name of the Second Life appears, in future will be able to generate conflicts between its creators.

We leave clear to that in them they consider noobies, that where Sakai learned to use a server we are masters, and creators of the best simulator of the history of games ^~

PHILLIPO LINDOS
POSTED FROM AMANDITA MAGIC ACCOUNT
“WE ONLY OBSERVE, THE WAY TO FALL IS EASY”

OK, for now I’ll set aside the sheer arrogance of calling one’s self “Phillipo Lindos”. In fact in the final statement, Amandita– oh, sorry, Phillipo speaking through Amandita’s account– tries to make it sound like the poster (whomever the hell it is) is a representative of Linden Lab. But that aside, let’s talk about each of his/her points one by one.

1. Defective System.

The OpenLife Grid is in Beta. It says it at the main page. It says it every time the login screen comes up. Instead of being manned by a staff of dozens, it’s run by a staff of maybe five. You have very high expectations of something that’s clearly still in Beta, especially compared to a system that’s been running for almost a decade.

2. Low Support.

This, I’ve got to agree, is OL’s biggest obstacle. Sakai, as one person put it, is a technical genius; but his people skills are next to nil. He’s got to learn how to delegate, as well as the importance of communicating with your consumers. We’re still waiting on the viewer that was promised us by November 17th…

3. Entrances blocked for new users(this have 1 week)

I agree this needs to be fixed. A friend of mine’s been having this problem and fortunately he had me around to suggest a workaround which happened to work. What about other new people, who don’t have that?

4. Possessing 2 years of existence and having this amount of users it is probable that he is not “eternal”

I realize English is not your native language, but I will say it again: BETA. Actually that’s not even English, it’s Greek. It means “Not ready yet”.

5. Residents do not receive well and friendly ideas from novices, thinking that the OL is the paradise, the Garden of the Eden, therefore it is not.

OK, this is bullshit in two parts.

First, remember my post on “loud” being the new “good”? This person is the one who inspired it. Her “well and friendly ideas” included repeated all-caps posts in the wrong forums, spamming her shop, on a daily basis.

Second, who the fuck called it the Garden of Eden? Certainly not me. I compare it to the Frontier for a reason: it’s rough, it’s untamed, it’s work. If you leave SL for OL, you have got your work cut out for you. You will have your patience tried in ways you never considered. If I ever gave the impression that it’s a picnic, especially compared to SL, then I apologize for my lack of clarity. It seems more likely to me that Amandita was expecting an “offshore sim from SL” (as one person put it); that everything would work here just the same as it did there, and that the money would flow in from suckers like it does from suckers in SL. Only, OL doesn’t have many suckers. It tends to be populated by people who put a lot of thought into decision-making.

6. The amount of prims and value of tiers is only for obtaining to keep its servers, in case of brusque increase of population this picture will move.

I believe a certain word applies to this situation. I don’t know its language of origin, but I believe its meaning is universal: DUH. If you were half the businessperson you claim to be, you’d be familiar with the basic rule of supply and demand. Of course prices will go up as the demand increases and the supply decreases. Incidentally if this is really a key reason for leaving OL, you may wish to seriously consider your presence in SL.

7. The OpenLife is an identical copy of the code created by the Linden Lab, possessing in its functions some places where the name of the Second Life appears, in future will be able to generate conflicts between its creators.

Hi. The word you’re looking for is “Open Source”. KTHXBAI.

In closing, Amandita– oh I mean Phillipo– I think you nailed it on the head when you said “We only observe, the way to fall is easy.” You most certainly do only observe; you surely don’t contribute. Then again I don’t think you observe very well. You haven’t observed– by which I mean really studied and learned– the differences between the two grids. The structure is different, the people are different, and– let me say it one more time to see if it clicks– BETA.

Don’t let the sim hit you in the ass now.

In other news, a shop space next door to mine appears to have opened up.

I got an IM from someone last night that was such a non-sequitur that I was sure she must have been meaning to talk to someone else. Then she replied with another non-sequitur and even sent me a notecard. OK, I decided, time to log on and clear this up.

I was at first mortified to learn that she had gotten IMs from me just that morning. I hadn’t logged on to SL at all yesterday (besides right then, to clarify). So I asked if she had a record of the conversation, and after a few seconds she found, copied, and pasted what she had gotten. It was from me all right– three or more weeks ago. Talk about a non-sequitur!

So having cleared that up and learning that no, my account was not hacked, I got an IM from another friend, casually asking what I’m doing on at this hour. I explained that I was clearing up a mixup from some long-overdue IMs and she mentioned that’s interesting, the same thing has been happening to her. In fact, she added about 5 minutes later, she had just then got a couple outdated IMs.

So, it looks like some weird glitch is happening with IMs. People are getting messages that were originally sent as much as a month ago. I don’t know if I’m going to have to start manually date/time stamping my IMs or what.

Just wanted to show off something I’m working on. As you saw on my map of my someday sim, the buildings can’t be too sprawling. So I’m making this saloon, the Queen of Diamonds, no bigger than 20×20m. Come along with me and I’ll give you a tour of what I’ve got so far.

Click each image to see larger.

I custom made the stained glass texture to go over the door. Himself says I may as well hang a bullseye overhead.

I put some of my saloon furniture (which is available at my shop by the way!) out to show where the bar would go in relation to the stage. Right next to the bar is a doorway which leads to a back room (more on that in a bit). I like the curved stage, which has two small backstage doors. One (which I’ll show you in a moment) goes to the same back area as the door beside the bar. The other goes to a small room in which I’ll put a little vanity and mirror.

When I make an out-of-tune piano, it will go between the back room door and stairwell.

Speaking of the stairwell, it’s a nice solid stairway with peach carpeting, to the far left of the entrance when you first walk in.

The upstairs opens to a gallery which will have a wooden rail added. After all, what’s a saloon without a rail to fall over?

I’m working on adding two modest rooms upstairs as well. The one directly in front will have access to the balcony (which you saw in the first picture).

Back downstairs, here’s the back room. It goes around a corner and comes to the stage.

Like so.

So, there you have it so far, the saloon that will one day be part of Mistletoe Creek.

A fine line exists between promoting your business and being obnoxious. When I used to work in RL Renaissance Faires, hawking was (often unfortunately) par for the course. If you walked past a shop, someone would be standing outside using whatever tactic– ethical or otherwise– to get you inside to look at their product. Once in, they’d talk you into trying something on. And they’d make the hard sell until you either bought something to shut them up or left in utter disgust. And of course merchants would have to do this in order to get attention, because if they didn’t, the cast performers shouting “You’re going the wrong way!” if you went any direction other than toward their stage would take their potential customers right out from under them.

This practice, sadly, is not limited to Faires. At Faire I’m somewhat willing to give the benefit of the doubt to those doing what they believe to be in period. But when I’m at the mall it drives me nine kinds of bonkers. Just yesterday my Little Sister and I were walking in the mall, and everywhere we turned, we were accosted by salespeople pushing ridiculous items in which we had zero interest. And it wasn’t “Hey, want to try our product?”; it was slimy tactics such as, “Can I ask you a question?” The worst was a handful of carnies when I was a kid, who shouted at me that I’d dropped a $20 bill. Dicks.

And that’s the very impression I get from inworld businesses who shout too much. They pile volumes of all-caps floating text in a variety of colors, add everyone who so much as enters the sim to their group (worst is the auto-invite notecard type groups in SL…), spam the forums (often the wrong forums) with ad after ad for their shop and/or region. And if you’ve actually seen their products, you see that they’re nothing special–probably not even their own product, but some “business in a box” deal; or barely altered open source skins; or, good lord, resold freebies. What they are, is overpriced and overhyped mediocrity.

What bothers me isn’t so much that people do this; it’s that people fall for it.

It’s believed by many that it was P.T. Barnum who said that one will never go broke underestimating the intelligence of the American (or any other) public. Often referred to as “Barnum’s Law”, it is actually a rewording of a quote by Henry L. Mencken. What Mencken actually said was that one can’t underestimate the intelligence of the American public. Whether he meant that it’s not possible or that it’s not right, I’m not certain. What I do know is that people who employ the tactics I mention above are probably staunch believers in “Barnum’s Law”; as well as the quote that “There’s a sucker born every minute” (also attributed to Barnum; also believed to be a misquote.). And, indeed, when people actually give in and give their business to the noisy and mediocre, they prove that the quotes– whether actually said by Barnum or not– are true.

It’s frustrating to watch. I spend hours and hours on each item I make by myself. I don’t have piles of time to overhype my products, because I’m too busy making quality products. It’s like back in the Ren Faire days, when my hubby’s band would get overshadowed by bands that lacked any originality or talent in their performance, and would instead promote promote promote. And because they hawked the bejeezus out of their act, they got the crowds; while hubby’s band was quietly brilliant.

So while it bothers me that noise distracts from the good, I will keep doing good work, and not stoop to the level of the noisy. I prefer to bear in mind an actual quote by the late P. T. Barnum:

Politeness and civility are the best capital ever invested in business. Large stores, gilt signs, flaming advertisements, will all prove unavailing if you or your employees treat your patrons abruptly.

This frontier is quiet and sometimes lonesome.

I’d gotten so used to making a routine of checking shop numbers and adding up data that I never realized just how much time it was taking up. Now that Clover’s Kitchen is closed it’s so much quieter in my inbox.

But, I’m getting lots done. Mistletoe Creek Outfitters is slowly growing its inventory, and damned if I haven’t figured out how to make prim hair. It’s not the best, which is why I don’t charge the most; but it is good, so I charge something. I’m especially wanting to have plenty of Stuff For Guys, so that’s been my focus lately.

I only have two alts so far, lol. One is the one I made for himself, of whom I posted a picture a few days ago. The other is an avatar I made over a year ago and nearly forgot about. I got both alts all dressed up and denoobified looking. Doc is the well-dressed intellectual; Liam is the rough-and-tumble cowboy (railway worker, actually).

Grey, a friend of mine who’s a jeweler, made what he calls man-jewelry: a pistol. And a really sweet looking one at that: a M1873 Peacekeeper. He told me I can do whatever I want with it, including resell it; so to show my gratitude I made him a head of hair similar to that in a photo I have of him, from the Old Country. So before too long, expect to see sidearms (even if just decorative) at the shop.

I’ll probably stop into said Old Country to disable group notices at some point. There’s still business unattended to back there; ends to tie up, boxes to close. There’s something left unsaid and I need to work up the courage for that. I also gotta set a new “home” location for all those alts.

So anyway, another quiet night under the stars.