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.

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”

Metaverse Security Seminar

Last Saturday I attended a Metaverse Security Seminar that was held by the Justice League in Second Life. I was alerted of this event by an email from a fan of The Podmafia Podcast (and the email specifically asked me not to grief the event lol). The first 40 minutes was spent on introducing themselves and it then seperated in to three parts. A newbie course, A estate management security course and something else (remind me to blog after the events…not days).

I think this is the newbie course…

With all these superhero’s hanging around, it makes you wonder if SuperWarf will come on in flying to save the day! (SuperWarf has not been since the Edlantis incident)

The Introduction

I think we’ll be speaking more in depth about this event when we record the next episode of The Podmafia Podcast on Sunday.

Snowhereville

Well while I slept comfortably last night it looks like hell Nowhereville froze over

Looks like theres some holes in the ice YAY ICE FISHING

It’s funny that I am now reflecting on this moment last year. Last year I was finally renting a home in the form of “Island Paradise” where I had a horrible landlady who kept on walking by every five minutes spying on what I was doing while confined to a crappy prefab. Now I am not limited and can do what I wanted to do a long time ago. But only have just started now. I’m just settling down having a home now in Second Life and using other locations to hijack use for events.

Woodstock Day #1 - That S’Life coverage

The SLCN (Second Life Cable Network) show That S’Life hosted by Starr Sonic covered the Woodstock event live before the event started. So here is the link to the show (if you look carefully for a guy in a purple shirt in the back, that is myself </ego>

This is the link to the show covering SL Woodstock and other events in Second Life!

Woodstock Day #1 - Aftermath

So the first day of Second Life Woodstock has come and gone. From what I could tell looking at the map we had about 100 avatars at one time all together on the three sims, Edloe also had 50 avatars on the sim. So personally i think that it was successful, there was seemingly no griefer incidents, the Sims stayed alive and everyone did their best to prevent anything going wrong.

But, personally I was shattered after all the music was finished with. I went to sleep at 6 am, and only got out of bed at about 3 PM. But still I am willing to do this again tonight because in my humble opinion, This is one of the greatest events I have been to yet in my Second Life which i have been experiencing since May 2006. So it is saying alot for the event, also I have only really missed about 30 days of Second Life. There are 2 days of Woodstock left…It has only just begun, This is going to be great

Pitt Island’s Woodstock

Last but not least is the Pitt Island Woodstock stage in the series of SL Woodstock events. This ends the circle of screenshots for the stages of Woodstock. Pitt was the last to be put up and so here is the stage in its glory. Again adapted from the other stages and fits in very nicely with the surroundings.

Saturday Night Fever

I didn’t stay too long at this event on Saturday but i still caught some photos of the event. I only left because i was getting so tired, what with alot of the events in Second Life being at 2am in the morning, you sort of lose track of time and start feeling tired.

It was held in the skybox skating rink known as Club 301…because it is at 301 meters and was built by Razzap Snookums.

Jack Pitt’s was doing the DJing at the event, you can find his blog over at http://itsmysecondlife.com/ . I will have to put that into the Blogroll. He is also the owner of the sim called Pitt Island.