Do you remember when…?

October 2005, my rez date

It was a time when you had two names, the last you chose from a list of given names. It was a time when Yadni’s Junkyard was THE place to go for some of the best freebie stuff.  Not an inventory to be found without at least one box from Spidey’s Freebies, usually many, many boxes.  It was a time before mesh, indeed, a time before sculpted prims. Even flex prims had yet to be discovered.  A time when a simple, small statue had a higher land impact than the average house today. A time when a great imagination and creativity was a must for any builder, since prim shapes were quite limited.  A time when the girls either adjusted their shape, or had a separate avatar shape just for wearing skirts, because the bootie had to be set at 0 to prevent the look of an extremely over-sized bustle.

Jesse Murdock’s club, Bad Girls was THE place to hang out.  The wait list for a store in the shopping area there was months long.  His animations were some of the most popular, and his couples dance balls are still seen here and there.  “Spank my ass if you want to dance” was one of the most common phrases heard in clubs, thanks to Owen Khan and his Chimera from Owenimations .  Most everyone wore Reverie and/or Torrid AOs.  Time spent at the sandbox almost always included at least one giant penis avatar pushing you around.  The list could go on and on.

I often think back to what SL was then, as I look around at what SL is today.  Many people have left, many people complain and threaten to leave (although they are still here), but I think, for the most part, people are happy with SL and what it has become.  Say what you will, but SL is still one of, if not the most popular virtual world environment, and certainly the most ‘modern’, and realistic-looking.  People, like myself, may leave for awhile, but most tend to return at some point.

As I sorted through my over-stocked, cluttered inventory, looking for something to wear on my trip to shop for yet more things to clutter my inventory, I ran across so many things that bring back all of these memories and more, and I am truly glad that I was able to be a part of ‘back then’, and that I’m a part of SL today.  I chuckled as I put on some of the avatars that I thought were so great then, tried on some of the hair that was popular, and even a couple of outfits that came from the higher-end stores of that time.  It sort of reminds me of watching old reruns of Star Trek episodes…how amazing it was back then, how primitive it seems now.  Although it is sometimes necessary to take a break for awhile, I don’t mind admitting that I loved SL then, and I love it now.

And now you can giggle with me….

To see more, visit my SL Memories album on Flickr

 

Presenting the Second Life Fashion & Shopping Events Spreadsheet!

It took me awhile to re-locate this post in my email, but I finally did and wanted to share it. I get SOOO many group/event notices in my email that often, I must admit, I will get click happy and many go unseen prior to finding their way into the trash folder. This is simple, but very useful…hope you find it as helpful as I do.

Happily, Ever Afterr in Second Life

Hi everyone! I was so amazed and delighted with the response to my recent post about my Second Life events spreadsheet that I researched my buns off and figured out not only how to share and embed this spreadsheet for others to enjoy, but also how to allow people to have their own personalized copy. So excited! Please click the link below to check it out:

Second Life Fashion & Shopping Events Schedule

There was a bit of discussion about additionally creating a calendar-based format in the comments of my post. Out of curiosity, I began setting one up to see how different it would function, and I personally find it to be more cumbersome and it requires more time to update and more clicks to get to to the relevant information. The main issue I was concerned with is that Google Calendars appear to truncate data if too many…

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The importance of customer service–to the potential customer

There is no argument that customer service is important.  If your customers are happy, they will usually return.  Often, they will recommend you to others, and word-of-mouth can be the greatest source of advertising, and definitely the least expensive.  I think this is especially true in virtual worlds.  Perhaps many do not consider it as such, but I believe perhaps the most important act of customer service is responding to the questions of those who have not yet made a purchase…the potential customer.  That potential customer could very well be your next ‘top’ customer.  Unfortunately, I believe there is a serious lack of attention to the importance of potential customers in virtual worlds, and this is the purpose of today’s rant.

I understand that communication in virtual worlds is subject to be lost due to many reasons, more than I can even list here.  As a resident of virtual worlds, I believe it is my responsibility to understand this, and as a mature adult, it is my responsibility to consider this before attacking someone for not responding.  Generally I will send both an IM, as well as a notecard, and if I’ve received no response after 7-10 days (depending upon the nature of my question), I will send both a second time.  If I still receive no response, and I am not able to easily find another means of contact, I give up…on both communicating with the merchant, as well as using their product.

As a potential customer, I often have questions regarding the product I’m interested in.  If it’s a full-perm creator, unless it’s clearly stated where I can find it easily, I will always ask if they offer a license that allows the use of their products in other grids, and if so, what are the terms/requirements.  It’s a fair question, not a tough one.  I am quite willing to pay extra to use a product in other grids (within reason, of course), and most of the creators who make products that I am interested in using will see repeated business from me, and often, I give referrals to others.  Most of the merchants like myself, with whom I am familiar feel the same as I and the ‘trickle effect’ can generate a lot of business for a creator.  After all, most of the time, that’s how -I- found the creator.  As a potential customer, the ‘potential’ is there for you to make a fair amount of money.  I understand that many do not wish to allow the export of their products, and I understand many of the reasons (that is a post for another day), however, the failure to respond at all gives the impression that you either don’t care, or don’t pay attention. Either way, that is definitely not what a customer wants or expects and it would be foolish for them to spend the money on something that could possibly be just a useless item taking up space in their inventory.  That is also one of the big reasons so many creators find their products being used elsewhere without permission (again, a post for another day lol).

Most times, it’s simply a creator whose skills I admire, and whose product I would love to have for my personal use, but there is something about it that I don’t understand, or something that I want to confirm before I spend my money on it.  Again, these questions are not tough ones, they don’t usually require a great deal of thought.  It is, after all, your product, so you should understand it, but on the off-chance that you don’t, you should be able to easily find the answer.  Regardless, as with the full-perm creator, the potential is there for you to make money.  However, I’m not going to purchase something that I don’t understand, with the hope that I will be able to figure it out on my own.  Let’s face it, there is a lot of competition in many virtual worlds, and most of the time, there is a product as good as, or better than your’s.  If you can’t be bothered to give me a reason to purchase your product to begin with, what guarantee do I have that you will be available to help me if I have a problem after the purchase.

Regardless of what you sell, I ask you to consider this:  If your business means so little that you are willing to throw away potential money in your pocket, why do you waste your time and money?  Why take the risk of having your name tarnished because you can’t–or won’t–offer complete customer service?  And if your business has become so successful that you no longer have time to attend to your customers and especially potential customers, perhaps you should consider having someone else to do that for you.  Word-of-mouth can break a business faster than you may realize.

 

Just a not-so-short rant

I’ve had troubling issues on my mind lately that are constantly poking at me, and won’t seem to go away.  It’s becoming evident that, until I open a vent, it’s not going anywhere.  I’ll pause here to offer a spoiler alert…these thoughts will quite possibly annoy, perhaps anger some people, but I will simply remind those that this is my blog, my outlet, my opinion.  My hope, however, is that perhaps these words will offer something to think about.

When I think of a journalist, I think of someone who is capable of sharing information with his or her audience in a mature, articulate, and intelligent manner.  I realize there are different types of journalists, but I believe that, regardless of his or her subject matter or medium, there are a few things, guidelines if you choose, that all journalists should follow.  There are three that have been on my mind lately.

First and foremost, do research so that you are able to present the facts, and are able to support them with documentation.  I see a lot of journalists today, even those in the ‘public’ eye, who fail to do this.  In my opinion, this can be, and often is damaging to the journalist’s reputation.  Falling in this category is also the journalist who picks and chooses which ‘parts’ of the truth to share, and does so in a manner which may present fact, but presents it completely out of context.  This is something we see daily from journalists in the political circles.  I believe this is just as bad, if not worse than presenting false facts.

I think a journalist has a responsibility to learn how to properly use the language in which he or she reports.  Words, after all, are what the business is about, whether spoken or written.  If you want to be taken seriously in any profession, it is imperative that you know how to use the tools necessary to get the job done.  Be able to present your report, thoughts, opinions, etc., in an intelligent manner.  While in this posting I am focusing on journalists, I truly think this applies to everyone.  If you are unable to express yourself without resorting to the use of foul and obscene language, then there is truly something lacking in your education, your intelligence, and/or your character.

The last thing I want to mention is the one that has troubled me the most lately.  I believe a journalist holds a certain responsibility to avoid using his or her position and power to intentionally bring harm to others.  I think -everyone- has that responsibility, but a journalist, by definition, is reaching out to an audience, and often that audience is quick to incite.  Far too often a person’s reputation is damaged, relationships threatened, and most dangerous of all, the emotional damage, which is often irreparable.  In my opinion, it is a blatant abuse of power, and is perhaps the greatest wrong a journalist can do.

While my thoughts were focused on journalists, most of these points could be, perhaps should be, practiced by each and every one of us every day.

 

It’s about time…

to start using this blog.  I remember when I first discovered WordPress.  It was really exciting to find so many different blogs, so many different thoughts, opinions, and sentiments.  I spent days just browsing through a variety of blogs, giggling at this, frowning at that, pausing to consider the logic of something I had just read.  I was having such a great time and I began to realize that I would enjoy doing this too.  Goodness knows I have plenty of opinions and viewpoints, theories that are just dying to find an outlet.  So I did it!  I registered and set up an account!  I was so excited, I just couldn’t wait to get started.

The following day, I sat down at my PC, wriggled my fingers and started to relax, anticipating the flow of creativity that I knew was going to begin just any moment.  Yes, that tingle that starts in the back of your mind, almost a tickle, that little something that tells you that you’re about to overflow with creative energy.  I looked at the monitor, at the white space just so eager to be filled with my personal artistic expression and….a spot.  Wait, what is that?  That almost looks like a nose print from a certain cat who knows better than to be on my desk.  There’s nothing up here for him to play with, why would he be roaming around… ok ok, focus.  Words, ideas, expressing myself, sharing my thoughts….hmm, is that a scratch there in the corner?  It is!  How did that get there?  I wonder if…ugh, ok, this isn’t working, I’ll come back later.

Fast forward several weeks…

I sit down at my desk and click the Wordpress link on my bookmarks bar and wait for this glorious blog page to load.  We have grown quite comfortable with one another, this page and I.  We’ve reached a certain level of acceptance and understanding.  I sigh softly as my eyes travel over the page, now as familiar to me as my own face…

“NOTHING FOUND

Ready to publish your first post? Get started here.

…and wonder if tomorrow will be the day.