From a Creator's PoV - Feb 18

I didn't have a topic last week, maybe because I was actually sick as a dog.  And had a lot I needed to do for some [wonderful] real world stuff.  But I have a topic for this week that covers how entitlement affects us creators.  I'm sure there are entitled creators too, but this week I'm going to concentrate on the other side, as it affects creators and creating.

But -I'm- special! or how to ruin the day of a creator over a couple of dollars.

This has never personally happened to me, but I can imagine how crushing it would be for me if it did, and also I do see what my fellow creatives say when it happens to them.  I touched on this a little on my last two blog posts for this series, in the whole Gacha culture, and in the weird disconnect there is with real world equivalencies to the linden$.  But it can get pretty harried for us when people get upset over being told 'no'.

Okay, let me step into the shoes of someone who really wants X.  Let's define X as a pair of totally cool boots.  I -really- want these boots, they have daggers on them, and people who know me know I adore sharp, pointy things [I have a lipstick dagger somewhere in a box].  I need these boots.

And hey, I have a blog, let's apply to be a blogger for the store, then I don't need to pay a couple bucks for the most awesome boots ever.  So, I send in a query for being an official blogger so I can get the boots, and get told no.  Maybe I was told no because they aren't looking for bloggers, or maybe its because I'm not really the best fashion blogger.  But I was told no.

Now, there are two ways to deal with being told no.  You can take it like an adult, or you can act like a petulant child and throw a tantrum.  Now, honestly, I don't think an SL tantrum is the same as one a 3 year old would throw, but they strike me as being just as immature.

So, let's say I decide to throw a tantrum.  First, I get all my friends to start pestering the creator of those boots, and trying to convince them that I'm special, that my blog is the most wonderful blog ever.  Or I get the boots anyway, from MP, and decide to leave a horrific review.  Real mature, right?

Let's go to something I -do- know, bad marketplace reviews.  I've gotten two of those, I know how bad they make you feel.  Some of them are just imformation, like 'I never got the item' and while the 1 star sucks, anyone reading that who knows about MP, knows that sometimes things don't get sent, you contact the merchant, they fix, no big deal.

But sometimes, the reviews are just hurtful; like when you used yourself as a model and people say it looks hideous.  And sometimes, the reviews don't even make sense, either the review itself is positive with a low rating, or a high rating with a negative review.  But the thing is, using reviews to basically throw a tantrum is just low.

So, back to those boots.  If I get told 'I'm sorry but your just not what we want in a blogger', or 'I'm sorry, but we're not taking any bloggers', then to get mad and petulant about it is just plain silly.  I'm sorry, but no isn't usually anything personal.

Or here's another one, and I guess that this one does cover creators with entitlement issues; I've applied to events, I think by now most creators with shops have.  Four different events have told me no.  In one case its because [I'm still working on this] I didn't have enough merchandise in my shop for one of the criteria [I thought I did, but I think skins with the same base count as recolours].  At least one time was because my main theme for the store didn't fit the event genre [I applied because I wanted to branch out a bit], and a third I think because I don't currently have stuff of the rating that the event covers [again, that is changing].  Not sure on the fourth, all I can figure is my application was over the limits for the event, so they had run out of room.

I -could- have gotten all petulant and pouty, but why?  Especially now I'm on the other side of the event thing.  You only have so much room, even if the event covers 12 sims or is a hunt.  You can't always say yes to everyone.  There are plenty of reasons not to accept every request.

Anyway, for those who get told no - think about why, take it in stride, and deal.  And for those who have to tell someone no?  Just remember the reason why you said no, and try not to let any tantrums ruin your day.

Lions and Tigers and.... plush Cthulus? oh my.

A picture post!  I know I promised a picture post, and since next week I'll be out of town and unable to take as nice of an image, it has to be this week.

A few weeks ago, our landlord for the club [Tempus Fugit] and the store [Atomic Faery] said he was moving to estate instead of mainland and asked us to come with.  Since he's an awesome landlord, we said yes! and for the last week or so, I've been in the process of a complete rebuild/redesign of the whole mess.

I'd asked for some constructive criticism from some of my friends, and I got it, and hopefully this is a more cohesive look.  Also, in the redesign, the club got pared down from two buildings and a stone circle to one building that's designed to be a cozy-ish hangout.  The standing stones will come back, and the garden, but that's something I can do as the mood strikes.






See, I've got other things to do as well, important things.  Somehow I found myself running an event with some other awesome folks.  I really want to talk about this, and encourage folks to apply.  It is a Lovecraft Event, and we do want themed items, however, I really am afraid most folks automatically think 'Cthulu' and don't go any further.  Although this little guy sitting on the dock of the bay [lake] looks positively cuddly, doesn't he?

See, HP was a writer, and while his stuff about scary things that lurk beyond the ken of mortal men is the best known, he did do other stuff.  My partner even found out he'd done a romantic comedy story yesterday, while doing more research.  And...  you can do stuff inspired by his life (August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937), too.

Anyway, this is my update, as it were.  You can find out more information about the event over at 
http://lovecraftswakesl.blogspot.com/ and we do still have spaces open.

And hopefully the club and store will be reopened soon.
  Until next time...


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Cthulu is the AB Cthulu - Curdled Steampunk

From a Creator's PoV - Feb 4

There will be a blog post with pictures this week, I promise!

Last week I mentioned that I'd had this awesome idea for a blog post that I wanted to share, but then I'd forgotten it; until near the end of the one I did do.  So, this week, the topic is just how much are you paying for items in Second Life, and is that really a fair price for the hard work of creators.

First off, yes, I know that things in Second Life are ephemeral, not as much as food maybe, but we also do not need to eat in SL, either.  And SL might be less durable than WoW, but I'm sure people who bought extra costume packs in City of can tell you that even that can be an illusion.  So, yes, its 'not' real, like a chair in Real Life, but its still something that exists, like an MP3, which is a virtual thing as well.

So, how much is a linden dollar actually worth?  It varies, based on market fluctuations, but one l$ is worth [are you ready for it?] .4 cents.  That's all.  So that roughly, 1000 linden dollars is $4 USD.  Or, to put it in terms of an outfit, you can get a decent wardrobe of stuff from top notch creators for about $10 USD or less.  And you can effectively get plastic surgery [mesh body parts] for less than $15 dollars.

So, why do so many people complain about how much they spend in SL, then start rattling off these high linden dollar amounts?  Is it because 20,000 lindens sounds like a huge sum?  Well, okay, it might start going into large sum numbers, since it would be roughly $80 USD, but let's look at the creator's side of the equation before we start griping, shall we?

What goes into an item for SL

Okay, time for a breakdown on how creative work works [well, really any work - minimum wage in the US is somewhere around 10 an hour, unless you wait tables [that's still 2 something an hour + tips, last I heard].  Okay, so, on to the discussion at hand.  Let's say I'm making some jewelry.  I've made a fair bit of jewelry, even if its not all made it in world, so it might take me an hour or so to come up with my design, then another few hours to model, UV unwrap, texture, and make some lower definition meshes to cut down on the LI costs in SL.  So, we're looking at about four or five hours of work so far.  At minimum wage this would come to about 60 dollars, or 15000 l$ worth of work.

Then, of course, you need to upload your piece into Second Life, along with the textures.  Let's say I'm going to offer four different metal textures and nine different gem textures.  Okay, if I combined the entire mesh onto one texture, I can get the four metals onto the same textures as the gems, so nine textures and the mesh.  This is roughly another 100 l$ in upload costs.  Another hour or so in assembling either a hud, or the individual pieces in all combinations.  Then packaging and taking images for the ads, which need to be uploaded as well, so if you -aren't- using a hud, that is another 360 l$ in upload fees for those, and another few hours in taking all those images.

We're up to nine or ten manhours of work for one necklace, and an additional potential of almost 500 l$ in additional costs.  This means that one necklace costs roughly 25,500 l$ or over $100 USD to make.  Some folks might work faster or slower, I figure I'm on the average side of work flow, especially on the assembling and image taking side of things.

Okay, I -know- that we can now sell as many copies of this necklace as people want to buy.  Surely we'll make up that cost quickly, right?  Well, in theory, yes.  But let's say you are in a niche market.  There are only so many goths, for example, or roleplayers, or faery types.  Let's say I opted to do everything as a hud - that probably cuts out a good two hours of work, since I already have the basic hud setup done, and I'll only need to take a few pictures of the product to make my ads.

But there is only so much I can charge for my piece before people won't buy it, and I'm really niche, so that already cuts into how many folks will buy my stuff.  So, I'm maybe charging 300 l$ for a piece that is effectively an uber fat pack.  To make back the money spent making the item, I need to make sixty-nine sales.  That's to break even.

That's break even assuming our time is worth the same as someone working at a fast food restaurant, though.  Really, artists are skilled labour, we ought to be making twice that an hour.  So, that means really we need to make one hundred and thirty seven sales to make what our time is conceivably worth.

I'm not putting this out there to discourage creators.  Second Life is, among other things, a wonderful sandbox environment.  It is a good place to learn how to model and work with others, and could lead to skills that are worth real money.  If you enjoy it, then keep with it!

But before you complain next time about how much something costs, or how much you spend, think of how much it actually was, how much the creator is probably actually making, and then if you still think its too much, then complain away.  But I somehow think most of you won't complain after all.

Because 5000 l$ really isn't much for cosmetic surgery after all.