I accomplished something today. Something that’s been vexing me for a couple of weeks now. The problem: getting two completely different systems, two “industry standards” that work completely backwards from one another, to work in harmony. At first, it seemed an unobtainable goal. Content creators in Second Life have always chosen one standard, or the other. The systems worked so differently.. how could it be done?

Well I managed it, and not without some effort. In fact, I started by rebuilding someone else’s “one-standard” implementation.. but that soon proved too complex. And as I went on, I realized that the way they had done things, was NOT the way I had to, or wanted to do those same things, because of factors in what I was doing that they didn’t have access to. So yesterday I started over from scratch, building the framework that could make both standards work together.

In the end, it’s done, and the older standard, is working so swiftly it actually outpaces the newer, allegedly “better” standard. Both standards are working beautifully however, and they’re ticking over as fast as their chat messages can be sent and received. My solution still has a few limitations, but all in all, it’s as good a solution as I’ve ever seen for this problem.. and supporting both standards means more people can enjoy my products with more of the toys they already have.

And it all happens inside one little script.

I’ve definitely earned my rest tonight. Tomorrow I finally get to return to moving forward with the project. Totally looking forward to that.

The precise nature of what I did, and why, and what this big project is that I’m working on, will have to wait for another day. Until the project is finished, I can’t say what it’s all about. Just suffice it to say that I overcame a major stumbling block within the last 2 days.. and it’s left me feeling very good about moving forward.

That’s been hard for me in the last few years. My natural fear of “outside” and “people”.. combined with a monetary incentive to sit in front of my computer.. well it’s resulted in the addition of more than a few pounds to my already ample frame. Mostly due to delicious pizza.

Anyways, in the last few years, I’ve moved around a lot, and my living situation has been “decidedly temporary”. I moved to Washington state, for example, with the understanding that it would be “just for a little while”. 2 years and some change later, I moved again, to the Portland Oregon area.. again a temporary move, so I thought at the time.

Well last summer, I moved again. This time to a decidedly less temporary home. But in all the temporary moves, I’d never gotten around to replacing my Washington Driver’s License with an Oregon one. Thanks to the various laws passed since September 11, 2001.. the requirements for “proving your identity” to the Department of Motor Vehicles have become somewhat stricter.. in particular the need to present a Birth Certificate. Unfortunately, this is something of a major issue when it comes to transgendered people, and having a birth certificate that doesn’t match your ID.. well.. in the New Police States of America, that’s simply not going to fly. So last summer, I finally filed all the forms and court orders and paid all the fines, to get my birth certificate “dealt with”. And around January or so, the certificate finally arrived. (yay!)

So today (yeah I know, 2 months later.. ) I decided to finally “get around to it” and visit the DMV. The place was shockingly empty.. which was nice. I filled out the forms, and took a number.. then I paid my fees and took the computerized test, read the eye chart, paid more fees, and had a very unflattering photo taken. $65 later, I left the DMV with my new temporary documentation in hand, and once again feeling like a legitimate member of society.

The DMV here is right next to a Goodwill thrift store. So, feeling good, and being “out in the world on my own” for once.. I decided to pop in.

I’m really glad I did.. because I found a working  Casio SA-35 keyboard and power supply for Five dollars! I’ve been looking for a cheap toy keyboard for months without success. Why is that cool? Because of the Gameboy. The “Pocket Game AO” that I sell in SL, the one that highly resembles a Nintendo Gameboy. Ever since Linden Lab’s takeover of XStreet, and their new rules regarding Intellectual Property (specifically not allowing “fan tributes”) I’ve been wanting to do some redesign work on the model, and to replace the existing game music with something where the provenance is more clear. I’m not without a basic musical skill, so I figured I would be best off if I made my own music. Sure, the end result will be “less gameboyish” but I still think it would be a product people would like, even with a less-gameboy-ish appearance.

Also while I was there.. I happened to glance into a video bin, and saw “Volume 7″ of the Gerry Anderson supermarionation series Thunderbirds on DVD. With a little poking around the bin, I was able to locate all 12 volumes. For $1.50 each. Total steal.

Then after that, I hopped on the bus, and made my way home. It was a lovely day out (still is). The sun is shining warm and bright, and yet the wind is blowing coolly. I had a great time out in the world, I got the important things I needed to do, done.. and I got some cool stuff too.

There’s a new look for Eclectic-randomness.com.. still not 100% sure it’s going to stick, there’s some minor issues that need fixing, but I like the look and feel, even if some of the functionality isn’t quite what I’m used to.

As ER enters it’s 4th year, I’ll be looking back at some of the projects I’ve done over the years, looking at ways to perhaps improve on old concepts, and building on new technologies, and new ideas to keep things fresh and vibrant. Don’t worry, the “Classic Eclectic Randomness” style won’t be going anywhere, but new advances in scripting and sculpting, and new standard building practices have opened new opportunities to improve on some of the older designs. But with those changes will also come new items, and new approaches to old problems, all with the style and durability you’ve come to expect from ER.

Sure, it sounds a bit corporate.. the truth is, I’ve seen ways of doing things, that make me realise I could stand to improve some of the older items.. and I have some plans already for new things to make. Some of those new things will be natural additions, some will be significant innovations.

I can’t tell you what’s coming.. god I really wish I could. I just hope that some of the crazy ideas in my head work, cause if they do, the results will be great stuff indeed. Regardless however.. there’s new stuff coming.. and if 2009 was any indication, 2010 is going to be great.

Stay Tuned!

1. Minimum Sales Commissions.
   Each time you sell an item on XStreetSL, you are assessed a sales commission fee. Generally speaking, this fee is 5% of the purchase price. Linden lab has added a “minimum amount” per transaction. So now it’s 5% or 3L$, whichever is greater.  This means that the “break even point” on that commission minimum is now 60L$. (5% of 60L$ = 3L$). This minimum fee per transaction INCLUDES items priced less than 3L. charge 3L, you make nothing. Charge 2L$, you actually OWE them money.. and charge 1L$ and you owe them 2 more. Commissions are not assessed on free items.
   .
2. Monthly Listing Fees. (NEW!)
   Previously, the only cost of listing and selling an item on XStreetSL was the crushing amounts of time it took to set up an attractive listing, and the sales commission. Now Linden Lab has added a recurring monthly fee, JUST to keep your item visible. 10L$ a month per item priced 1L$ or more. For a store like mine, with over 50 items, that quickly turns into 500L$ a month. While many people like to dismiss this as complaining about trivial amounts of money, that 500L$ translates to roughly $1.85 a month, or $22.20 a year, on top of the $72 annual membership fee, and $60 in annual land ownership fees that I already pay to the company.
   .
3. Monthly FREEBIE Listing Fees. (NEW!)
   Free items are apparrently the worst thing in the world.. if you listen to Linden Lab.. because LL has added a new monthly fee just to cover freebies listed on XStreetSL. In fact, it seems that just ONE freebie is as bad as 10 for-pay items.. because Linden Lab has decided to charge you 99L$ a month per freebie you list on XStreetSL. I have two freebies. A “demo” of a pair of boots I sell, so people can get a feel for the sizing before buying.. and a very popular box of “Megaprims” (a building aid… basically “free lumber to build houses with”).  Those two freebies would cost me an additional 198L$ a month.. that’s $0.73 a month, or another $8.76 to add to that pile of money I send to Linden Lab every year.

Well, this has met, of course, with some pretty emotional responses.. and I am not immune either. When I read about this new policy, I deactivated all my XStreet Listings, including those megaprims (which served 3 dozen people a day). I don’t do a lot of business through XStreetSL. Sure, I make money there, but it’s piddling small change compared to the real core of my sales that come through my inworld shops and affiliate network.

Do I make enough to “afford” these fees? Yes.. I do. I make more than enough that these fees really wouldn’t create a major issue, in terms of my bottom line. But I am not at all happy about these fees, this “double dipping” of charging us for listing, AND charging us again for a sale. I especially don’t like how it punishes people for giving back to the community, making freebies into some sort of advertising “swag”.. because now the only people who will pay to list freebies, will be the people who can “make” 99L a month from the chance to advertise their brand.

For now, my items are deactivated.. and I’m looking into alternative marketplaces. None will have the reach and presence that XStreetSL enjoys.. being owned by LL, they get advantages that other sites never will*. The ones I’m looking at are:

• slapt.me
• apez.biz
• metaLife

I’m sure there are others, but so far these are the only ones I have heard of. I will post here to my blog, my reviews of each site as I go along.

As some of you may know.. I had deeply embraced XStreet into my business. I had created “loadURL” buttons below the vendor of every single item in my shop, that when clicked inworld, would take you to the XStreetS listing of that item. This was my preferred method for solving my store’s “buy as gift” problem. In exchange, many ER customers became new XStreet users. Whatever service I end up liking most, will likely benefit in a similar fashion.But for the meantime, I have no “buy as gift” solution.

One last thing, before I close.

Will you ever re-activate your XStreetSL Listings?

That is a very complicated question. The answer is, “it is probably inevitable.” Eventually, due to market pressure, I will be forced to re-activate some of my listings on XStreetSL. But I will probably only re-activate the “big seller” items, resulting in (sadly) less selection for XStreet customers. I will probably also be forced to raise the price of the Megaprims from FREE to 3L$. THAT really hurts me greatly, because I beleive that they are a natural resource and should be available to all.. but I am not going to pay more than 10L a month to share them.

For now, my listings are offline. But eventually the reality will set in that I have bills to pay too. In the meantime, presenting ER products on other services and exploring other options seems to be the best use of my time.

* – important note. Linden Lab engages in what could be called anti-competitive practices. Any mentions of, or links to, resident-created alternative marketplaces are deleted from forum posts by an admin. Yes, they actually go in and edit other people’s posts JUST to remove any mention of sites like slapt.me, apez.biz, meta-life.net, etc… making it impossible for Second Life users to discuss the web-based marketplaces they prefer to use. These services aren’t outlawed, but for some reason, mentioning them is.

Making Clothes.

Making clothes in Second Life, is a thankless job. The market is saturated with lots of “simple garbage” and there are some very skilled creators who, because the market is saturated, can’t charge what their work is worth. In many cases, it’s a true labor of love, and people seem to create clothes in SL with little thought towards making a profit.

Today, I am a clothes maker, and I can tell you.. it is tedious and agravating. Aside from all the usual complaints, about how uneven the mesh is, how hard it is to even get seams to look “good enough”.. I have to tell you something I didn’t really expect.

Making the same outfit in 12 colours.. that’s not “just” 12 or 24 uploads.

I just finished uploading 201 files. that’s TWO HUNDRED AND ONE.

I started with the idea of making 12 simple catsuits. Black, Red, Blue, Pink, etc..  There are things, you just don’t know, going into clothing creation, like the fact that the pants and underpants layers don’t stop in the same places. Or the fact that the undershirt layer continues further down the arm than the shirt layer. That you can’t just use the same “torso” texture for shirt, undershirt, and gloves.. when I was done, like I said, I had 201 textures to upload.

Tomorrow begins the project of making a clothing item, and modding it 11 times, then making the next clothing item,lather, rinse, and repeat.. until the undershirts, pants, stockings, and gloves, and everything else has it’s proper textures, proper filenames, proper fit, and proper permissions…

I’ve already spent a week just finalizing the photoshop files, saving off the 201 tga files, testing them on the beta grid, finding my errors, re-doing them, etc etc.. Clothes makers in SL are under appreciated.. and very often, a good deal more work goes into something than may first be apparent. Tomorrow will be another tedious, repetitive day.. and then I can experience the joy of making 36 or so vendors.

As I approach the finishing line on this project, I look forward not so much to being done, as to no longer being working on it any more.