Updatelings

Petal on the Road updates will probably happen weekly, on Tuesdays. Joline’s health is such that we don’t know yet if she’ll go home, or if she’ll stay along with Petal. Send your get well wishes to Joline by way of Petal (username Petal LittleBoots).

I’ve been terribly, terribly slack with the Plucked Wing. I make no excuse for this. I really need to plug myself in more. I’m finding myself having a hard time getting motivated. But I’m going to work to rectify that.

Clover’s Kitchen has had a record sales month in March 2011. Half of her gross sales were Marketplace. I’m still working on getting listings there up-to-date.

Love 146 in Second Life will probably not have a Clubhouse for a while. Funds are kind of drying up since RFL started, not to mention the tragic situation in Japan. However, I recently cashed in just over $130 US to send to the real life Love 146 as soon as it clears in PayPal. (Update: cleared, and sent.)

Tell ya the truth, I haven’t logged on much at all in the past week or so. Just been a busy week IRL I guess.

Window-shop from SLM and Buy Inworld… if ya want. Or not.

Please note: this is a post from 2011 and rather outdated. Read on with that information in mind. -ME

This is in response to Toysoldier Thor’s recent post, “10 Reasons SL Shoppers Should Window Shop SLM & Buy Inworld“. I think he’s onto something when he suggests that the Marketplace (SLM) should be used to find objects, but that it’s better if consumers go inworld to make the purchase. After all, he says it and so do plenty of others: Search is unreliable.

Before I get to the list point-by-point, I have to be Grouchy Old Elf for a moment and express my dislike of the hyperbolic use of the word “rape”. I quote: “Basically LL is raping all the Merchants with higher priced items and not fairly spreading the costs of SLM operations among all the SLM Merchants’ sales.” I have to disagree with taking an equal 5% percentage out of every item’s sale being comparable to rape.

But that’s not what I’m here to discuss, really; that’s just an aside. On to the list:

1.When you buy a product from a Merchant’s inworld store, the sales transaction is direct between your Avatar and the product vendor (for basic vendors). This reduces the chance for a delivery delay or failure. It can still happen but far less likely than the frequent delivery failures that are occurring between the SLM website to the Magicbox to your Avatar inworld.

2.Your product delivery will almost always be instant after paying the inworld product vendor.

Reasons #1 & #2 are really just the same thing, so I’ll address them together. I recently found that a sizeable percentage of Clover’s Kitchen’s gross sales–anywhere between a third and a half, varying month to month–come from Marketplace Sales. I get to see in my email inbox, a message of the purchase, followed by a later message of delivery. In nearly all cases of sales, be it from my inworld vendors or from the Marketplace, delivery has been within 1-2 minutes of purchase. In those rare occasions that it takes 5 minutes or more for a delivery, I see no substantive difference between the inworld vendors or the Marketplace being responsible for the delay; they’re about equal there too. On the very rare occurrence of a customer needing to IM me, to tell me they didn’t receive their purchase, what few of them I’ve experienced are almost always inworld sales.

Ho Ho Ho

Yesterday, I cashed in the over 50,000 lindens donated to Love146 and as soon as the transaction goes through to PayPal, I’ll be sending them a nice little Christmas present courtesy of many generous folks in Second Life. By raising awareness of them in Second Life, they’ll have gotten close to $500US by way of generous donations from avatars this year.

As for my own Christmas stocking, today I cashed in 20,000 lindens from my own savings. My rents are all paid up for at least a month. I’ve got a small cushion in case I don’t see a dime in the coming month (which is unlikely; Clover’s Kitchen’s slowest month in ’10 netted 3k. That’s net, so after rents are paid.) Plus I have weekly DJ gigs for some additional spending change.

So all in all, a decent year financially in SL. Not super awesome; but I took out more than I put in and that’s always good.

Peace and Quiet

Working on a pair of socks, at Clover's Getaway in Lionheart

Nothing like autumn in full swing, and the whisper of winter on its way, to get you in mind of what’s really important.

Both in RL and in SL, I’ve been working on clearing away the clutter, saving up for winter, and otherwise making preparations. Today IRL we got our mailbox raised (a project we’ve been putting off for too long now), got our outdoor furniture and grill brought indoors, got our snow shovels out of the shed and onto the porch. I placed an order for 100 gallons of heating oil, which will arrive tomorrow, because I can actually afford it now that I have a paycheck. I’ve almost completed knitting one pair of socks, which will make my loose-fitting winter boots more snug, and I’ll continue to make more socks for gifts and even to sell.

When you think about things like winter in a rural town in central Maine, you realize how insignificant and unnecessary some of the things in SL really are. Junior high school level political struggles top that list. Despite all the things I want to say in reply to the adolescent stupidity, I realize, it’s just not worth it. I have shit to do. So instead, I’m clearing away the source of the noisy distraction and enjoying my free time while I have it to enjoy.

Got a few new items at Clover’s Kitchen that I’ve got to add to the blog, plus I have some more to work on as well. Had a great conversation with a couple of my neighbors (one current, one former) catching up on things. As always they’re great for offering perspective.

Anyway, I’m rambling. Shit to do.

It must be July.

This seemed to happen a year ago too. I’ve been getting this overwhelming feeling of being, well, overwhelmed. I dream at night about running my pub (only in dreams it’s a weird mish-mash of SL and RL). I feel chained to my computer for hours and hours at a time, just so that I can make tier to keep doing this. Meanwhile Clover’s Kitchen is experiencing its longest dry spell in its history (eight days ago there was one L$50 sale; it was the first in nine days). I’ve run out of both ideas and will for any new products. The brief creative spurt for Elflet now has me thinking, great, now what do I do? I better do something. And the fact that I totally flaked on our rescheduled gig this Wednesday has me feeling stupid and unreliable. Top it all off with a feeling of futility. LL’s just going to take fees and let people rip off my works anyway; if I ever get big enough to actually make it on SL income then I’ll be big enough to be ripped off. And I’ve seen it time and time again: there’s no real recourse when that happens.

It’s supposed to be fantasy fulfillment. It’s supposed to be magic and interesting and fun. Where the hell is the fun?!

So I feel like I’m at a point where I have to make some decisions. I closed up Living the Dream after such a decision a year ago, and scrapped a festival plan I had in the works.

I feel like if I could put as much energy as I’ve put into SL into something in RL, I’d be doing pretty well financially.

“For shoppers, it will be business as usual as well.”

What in the name of cream cheese is that loud, shrill, beeping sound? Oh wait, I think I know what that is…

So, have ya heard yet? If you didn’t, here’s the rundown:

Today, we are pleased to announce the upcoming launch of a completely redesigned web-based shopping experience for Second Life, set to release in beta this summer, called Second Life Marketplace. Our goal is to continue to improve upon the work we’ve been doing on XstreetSL and provide an easy, enjoyable and more intuitive site for shoppers, which in turn will benefit Second Life merchants through the opportunity for increased traffic and sales.

–Pink Linden, May 3, here.

“Plus Ça Change…”

“Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. Plus c’est la même chose, plus ça change.” –French, “The more that changes, the more that stays the same. The more that stays the same, the more changes.”

I’ve closed up the western goods shop in OL, though I do still have a small location in Talian. I’ve also closed up Creek. Just not time yet.

I’ve rented a parcel in Merina, high above which I’m building a tiny quaint village. It includes the manor house I’ve always wanted but never had primmage for, a small pub, a couple small shop buildings, and some trees and fountains and pretties. The whole to-do is 4096 sq. m. The manor house is going to have a kind of Norman castle look about it, with some timbers and some wonderful “bumpitty” stone edging at the top wall. The dining hall has arched alcoves in the wall and a grand fireplace. There’ll be stained-glass windows with Celtic designs, torches, tapestries, all that good stuff. I still have some 800 prims left to play with. The pub will be called “An Réalta Thuaidh”, meaning the North Star, and have plenty room for a dance floor and a stage. The varied shopfronts will give a good venue for the varied items I make. One for clothes, one for household goods, etc.

Pics forthcoming.

For the first time in ages I was excited about building, without being overwhelmed by scale. I know it sounds appealing to have a whole region to play with, but I have to admit, having experienced it, I have more fun with a tinier workspace. It may not be logical but there it is. I had a hard time tearing myself away from doing “just one more thing” on my parcel tonight.

Also, Clover’s Kitchen is making a reappearance in SL. There are a few items now in the Role Play Market sim (see the Medieval/Renaissance section, third floor), and before long at least one officially authorized vendor will have pretty near all 150 of Clover’s items available. Will Clover make some brand new items? Probably. I just can’t say when.

So, there’s the news for now. I have got to get some sleep now.