Donations

This is a kind of continuation post from my last blog post entitled The Greenies Problem. This entry is going to be about Donations.

If you ask me, it is entirely reasonable for any place in Second Life that offers an event to the public to have a donation / tip jar area for offering events or resources. When we look at something like the Greenies, they would likely make a lot more money from donations than charging an admission fee.

One example of an area in Second Life that offers free entertainment but gets donations is the Music scene. Every musician makes a good sum of money for doing the music and also the venues make money from it as well. The venues could easily say “You can’t get in without paying L$1000″ and in some cases they do when it is a big musician like Louis Volare.

Another place in Second Life that offers a service to residents is the Destination Station. Itazura recently added a tipjar for people to donate to. Again entirely acceptable because they make no money for promoting these places free of charge and is a hell of a lot better than any standard telehub.

Soon enough SLPN will be getting a donation jar as well and we have some cool stuff coming down the pipeline.

Harper Berseford made an interesting comment on my last blog post on the Greenies that I completely understand the point of view of.

“They have to insure the survival of their business so they can provide MORE content and pay the electric bill to keep the server running.”

Again, my argument has always been, If they people like it, they will be more than happy to donate. If I ever see a donation jar at a sim that is fun, helpful, informative, entertaining etc. then people will donate. Combine that with Merchandise (Greenies sells merchandise already!) then THEY will surely make money.

The Greenies Problem

I know this is old news but I feel like I had to write about this. A while ago on Podmafia we explored the Greenies sim which is an amazing build that all newbies and oldies should see. However they are now charging for entry into the sim, which in my opinion sucks.

OK L$99 doesn’t seem like a lot of money, but to a newbie that’s like L$1,000,000. When a newbie joins Second Life it can be a daunting experience and I think it is important to let them know about the good stuff quick so they can understand what is cool and possible about the virtual world.

What I’m trying to say is that Second Life builds when its a public place that you want people to visit should not be blocked off at all. The only times something should really be blocked off is a residential area or if someone has been banned.

When you think about the Internet  you get websites that need to be paid to gain entries to certain areas, most of which never really work out well. Second Life is entirely the same, people expect to visit somewhere and be able to explore it for free. Sure there’s a cost attached to it for the service provider but they can make money other ways like Donation kiosks that can help facilitate the venue or merchandise.

I’m sure that Rezzable is making some money from the Greenies but to be honest I think they are already successful enough to not need to offer a charge for admission. I’m sure events like the Hair Fair make them money and the Greenies has always seemed to me like a good promotion of what Rezzable does.

Basically, charging for admission in my mind is a stupid idea and if people start copying the idea then it will negatively impact Second Life.

I am sure most of what I said has been said before but I don’t care because this is my opinion that has been badly written. Also thanks to Dakota Blackmountain for pointing out a typo

Moving On…

So. Maybe you have heard or maybe you haven’t.

But I am going to be leaving Nowhereville. Why?

Well. I figured that I would leave to make way for a change to Nowhereville. Theres some prime candidates who want to move in and it makes sense that I should leave to make way for change. I have always been a big believer of change and the good it can do but having looked back at Nowhereville I just don’t think it has changed all that much. The major changes to the island were mostly on my parcel(s), Gomem’s parcel, When the Newggenheim came in and when Caleb changed things around. But now it probably needs a major change and I believe that may be around the corner, and it’s gotta be good…right?

But what about you, Stuart?

Well. I am moving to Podcast Island. Why?

To be honest not a lot happens there. It needs to be injected with new life and events to make it seem more active. The main event that happens each month is of course the Podcaster Meetups. But with SLPN moving in there will be more events garunteed with the live podcasts we are starting to do more and more at SLPN.

Biography

Currently…
I am Stuart Warf. An avatar who was born on the 2nd of May 2006 in Second Life. My avatar is an evil timelord who’s TARDIS was left stranded in this world remaining in the current timeline until I can escape this virtual world (In case you don’t know, Heres a Doctor Who Wikipedia Page). My hobbies include Physical Prim tricks, building and podcasting. I currently live at Podcast Island where the SLPN Studios lie.

A Brief History of Stuart Warf
I originally joined Second Life in 2006 when alot of the podcasting community discovered Second Life and thought that it had amazing potential, which they were correct but failed to see it and left when the eighties has-been left. During 2006 I, along with Gomem Desoto, formed a group called The Podmafia (the actual group name is The Pod Mafia), which later in August - September had 5 episodes of a podcast called The Podmafia Podcast, which originally was aimed at going around places in Second Life and teaching the masses about podcasting.

Then came 2007. In the early beginning I was partnered but that soon ended. So became my life of living. For a month I resided in SoHo, but for some reason I just didn’t like renting there. So I left but still hung out to see the crazy and wacky stuff going on there. It was around this time when I temporarily brought back The Podmafia Podcast for 3 episodes. Then came Life, Living in Nowhereville. From around March until August I rented land under Madison Carnot while hosting the Take it or Leave it at Nowhereville. This however stopped for me when Take it or Leave it ended. But that was short lived when Crap Mariner injected new life into Nowhereville shortly after the Second Life Woodstock event that took place in the Five Islands. During August Podmafia Podcast came back after troubled times and stayed strong with Yxes Delacroix as host. I re-rented at Nowhereville under Crap Mariner and continued to live there.

So in comes 2008, When I launched SLPN, a network dedicated to podcasts for the metaverse. During the year I continued to work on SLPN by bringing in new shows and new challenges such as live podcasting in Second Life. Up until July 2008 I had continued to live at Nowhereville. However after some thinking and a polite request I decided to leave Nowhereville and move to Podcast Island…

That’s the story so far…

Last Updated on the 18th of July 2008

Avatar Rendering Cost

Another new thing in Dazzle in the Advanced section is called Avatar Rendering Cost. This helps to calculate the whole lag that an avatar is ultimately causing. This can help banish some myths about avatars and prim hair stuff etc.

My avatar usually doesn’t wear prim hair since the skin has hair painted on to it. All I really wear is 2 trainers (sneakers to the yanks) and a suit (which is actually a nod to the Tenth Doctor in Dr Who).

Anyway, I tried out this setting and found that my rendering cost was typically 105-110. Which is actually a brilliant score. Compared to Jane2 who at the time had a cost of 2500.

I also tried it out with some prim hair on and that brought it up to about 505. So in a sense I am happy because my avatar is grid friendly and stuff and in a world filled with lag. Especially events, I am doing my part to bring down my “Prim-Emissions”

Sport Relief in SL

Every two years, the UK holds an event called Sport Relief. This is a telethon charity aimed at bringing an end to poverty. Now it seems like it has entered Second Life. One thing that I enjoyed about the sims were that you could camp on some treadmills and for every 10 minutes L$100 would be donated to charity. This is far better than the standard L$1 every 60 minute rate that you get in boring lag-filled places. I’m not sure how long these sims will exist but if you go in to your world map and search WeAreHere (all one word) you will make it to one of the four sims.

The Monday Meetup

Better late than never I guess…

Last Monday at Podcast Island the monthly Podcasters Meetup happened. Now I never really go to the meetup but I felt compelled to this time round because Cali Lewis was scheduled to appear…

But due to a scheduling cock-up that didn’t happen. I still ended up going though and we had a different topic come up.

During the discussion a big issue we discussed was how content is enjoyed in the new media age. For some reason I personally prefer using audio based podcasts to video. Why?

For the same reason as Crap Mariner

It takes up less space on my iPod touch and I can listen to it wherever I go. The only thing that really annoys me about the SLCN shows is that I feel like I have to watch it. I would prefer it if a lot of those shows were in audio. The only things that video seemingly works on SLCN is for the sports like “Sail On” and “SLascar Racing”. I should note that I am not really attacking SLCN’s method because after all…I am the “Chief Architect” of the Second Life PODCAST Network which is all about Audio.

Alot of the discussion was about SLPN (mostly cos all of the SLPNcasters were there)

Sure Video killed the Radio Star but does the same apply to podcasts that can be taken anywhere.

Anyway, it’s time for some PHOTOS

Remind me to go to more of the meetups because I really enjoyed this meetup.

AND a final note… the StuartWarf.com site is currently going under a change, just like the Podmafia site. I want to finish off and fine tune all of my website first though, because it will be the easiest to do.  However, I want to eventually tag every one of my 450+ blog entries… that will take probably a year

Podcasting History

When I joined Second Life in May 2006, a large factor of my life revolved around the podcasting community. Along my journey in Second Life, I have had the pleasure of doing many podcasts. Alot of them went podfade (that means the podcast just shut down and died). Others continue to live on….for now. This page will document every podcast I have done with a brief description of those shows.

Current Podcasts

The Podmafia Podcast
The Podmafia Podcast is a weekly audio adventure with myself, Gomem Desoto and Yxes Delacroix. With varying topics such at the latest stuff coming to Second Life, shopping and many many other topics. Each week I record a show with these awesome co-hosts is amazing and makes me feel all happy and stuff.

Link to the Podcast

Building with Warf
This is the first ever video podcast that I have ever done! Building with Warf takes a unusual change to the way I do podcasts. I am for once teaching people something. In this podcast I teach people how to build in Second Life so that hopefully they can avoid the mishaps that many builds can be produced in Second Life and maybe, one day, people can start making a living in Second Life from skills they have learnt from me.

Link to the Podcast

Podfaded Podcast History

The Weekly Warf Show
A short lived attempt at a podcast about my virtual life. I quickly figured out that The Weekly Warf show would not work because who wants to know about some guy’s life. One thing that I have learnt about Second Life podcasts is that most of them are hard to do without a gang to do the show like Podmafia or Going Broke with Daphne and Tamara.

Psichonico’s Daily Podcast
This podcast was supposedly daily but it was more of a twice a week thing. A lot of it was a sort of secret parody of Daily Source Code (and eventually The Gomem Show). Most music-casters listen to the music and choose something good. I mostly would choose something randomly and very rarely would stop the madness. It was a bit like The Weekly Warf show where I quickly lost the will to do it but Gomem and his “podfade” comments somehow spurred me to do about 30 more episodes than I wanted to.

It had a very stubborn death…

Inside the Boxes
This is the first ever podcast that I ever decided to do. It started up in March 2006 when I first got a microphone and wanted to do a podcast. The show was based on the TV game show Deal or no Deal. Sadly the community I was creating it to had no clue about what podcasting is or was. So such a podcast was bound to tank.

The Ten Cast
The Ten Cast was a weekly technology news podcast in which I discuss the latest techology news in the world. Since I am a big geek I love technology and all the stuff that it creates. You can still listen to the show at PodcasterNews.com if you want to listen to the show.

No Longer Contributing To

MetaNews Weekly
In it’s short history MetaNews Weekly is a podcast revolved around the news of the metaverse. Originally hosted by myself and Gomem Desoto. After 3 episodes we decided to hand over the keys to Mal Burns and Tara Yeats. The show is currently on Hiatus until my machine returns and will then return in a Live Streaming format

Link to the Podcast

Appearances

Night Guy Episode 45
Guy David, host of the Night Guy podcast, invited me on to his show for the first of three episodes called “The Podmafia Chronicles”. We talked about some of the stuff that I was doing and also was the final podcast that I used a headset on since it pretty much died in the recording.

Link to the Episode

SL Under the Radar Episode 24
In this episode of SL Under the Radar, Radar invited me to talk about SLPN. I decided to do reverse psychology on the listeners to trick them in to thinking why the network was bad and make them visit in order to wonder why it was so bad…

I think it worked…

Link to the Episode

SL Under the Radar Episode 33
It was a week of change for me, I was working on moving SLPN to a new server and moving SLPN’s HQ from Nowhereville to Podcast Island and stuff. In the week I was asked by Radar if I wanted to be in a short interview and I accepted. I gave views on the SL podcasting scene but mostly the story of my Second Life.

Link to the Episode

The Black Tie Martini Club - A Cleveland Yankee in King Razzaps Court Over The Rainbow
In this episode of The Black Tie Martini Club Oddcast Caleb invited me to play a few roles. OK so i butchered it all up and could have done better but…I tried to make myself sound clear…and I think I was ill at the time…It was December after all…

Link to the Episode

Crap Mariner’s marathon of many many chats…
For some reason, Crap Mariner/Laurence Simon invited many people to chill and have a chat with him in the time limit of 15 minutes. I was first up in the episode and pretty much everyone was better than me but ah well. I advise you go listen to it if you want to have 5 hours of torture. It has an important message at the end i thought…

Link to the Episode

iPodjacker Episode Seven - Stuart Warf
Crap Mariner launched a new podcast called iPodjacker. It was launched when SL5B came around and he wanted a chance to talk to podcasters who have been involved with Second Life. I was glad to participate in this podcast. The series also features interviews with people like Wiz Nordberg, Rich Desoto and other great SL talents.

Link to the Episode

Last Night’s Tonight Live

Last night was the live taping of Tonight Live. Usually we have a few people heckling Yxes/Paisley however it was a little different. The main topic wasn’t about the guests and not about an audience member. But was about someone who wasn’t there.

Paisley kicked off the chat i think by saying that Crap was in the audience but was hiding in an alt….
People Were Accused
….Including Razzap

Anyway… It was an intresting show including a Police Force Guy Drakken Calhoun (last name reminds me of the Half Life 2 character Barney Calhoun)

Now…for some PHOTOS!
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Paisley Beebe at Edloe

Last night Paisley Beebe performed at Edloe in that cog filled hell. Sadly I couldn’t really enjoy this event because I could not connect to the stream. The only bit i got to hear was about a half second of sound and then it died again. It’s a shame because I was looking foward to this event and being unable to listen in kinda ruined the night, Thank god for Open Mic