Deltango Vale

I always tip the host / dancers / DJ directly.

There are two types of Lindens: those who live in an ivory tower and generally make people's lives miserable (the Board of Directors and senior management) and those on the ground who provide excellent customer service (a special thanks to Guy and Dee for many years of quality customer care). I've never been refused a restart of a mainland sim via Live Chat. Billing issues were sorted out quickly.

I have three alts, all female. I created the first in order to create a land group; the second two to protect my names after LL buggered up the naming system. I tried to make them different from my main avi, but over time they converged and now all use the same shape. Only the hair and clothes are different. I rarely use the alts because they have no real history in SL. As for a male alt, gods, too much work and too alien. I don't think I've ever met a woman who can imitate a male convincingly. The same is true in reverse. I once helped a guy create a female alt (it was fun to watch him struggle), but he could never make her truly feminine.

I like prims because I can actually build stuff. I don't have to enroll in Stanford for a PhD in Advanced Graphic Design and spend 20,000 hours learning how to make a cube in Blender.

Buying a house based on photos in SL Marketplace is like buying a car based on an ad in the newspaper. As for having to message a creator to get a demo, this is like having to make an appointment to buy a lipstick. I and perhaps 90% of customers will simply walk away. Worse, it shows a lack of professionalism on the part of the creator, which can easily be misinterpreted as a scam.

Maddy and Ceka, The article reminded me not only of the empowerment that SL affords so many people who might otherwise be constrained by RL, but also that I have a home, community and extended family in SL. I confess it's nice to be remembered after a lengthy absence from the forum I was never much of a tech person, seeing rather the social value of SL. I have certainly changed over the past ten years as a result of my involvement. Gone is the first flush of sensual exuberance (I cringe at my original outfits), replaced over time by the sobriety that comes from running a small business (land rentals) and the need to relate to people without any of the advantages I might have in RL. SL does that to us: it strips us bare of all RL attributes, good or bad, and forces us to reinvent ourselves in a rich social milieu. I don't think the techies ever understood this or the social benefits (human and social capital) that come from being a long-term resident. For example, I now use Facebook solely as a news feed. Sure, it's useful for staying in touch with immediate family, but every FB community I have joined I subsequently left due to noise and strife. Only in SL do I feel part of something real and wholesome. FB grabs the mind for ten seconds; SL holds the heart for ten years. Hoping to spend more time in the forum. Love to all.

Well, hasn't this forum got fancy while I was away. Not so sure about these new, round icons, especially since people invested so much creativity in the old ones. In any event, I thought I'd share an article about Second Life I stumbled across on Backchannel.

  Historic mainland for rent in the heart of Second Life: - San Francisco Sims 2002 - Color Sims 2003 Protected waterfront, full 40/40 terraform. An exclusive address for discerning residents.

Thanks Prok for the heads up. I must confess, I didn't see this coming. I figured LL would eventually be forced to reduce prices, which is years overdue, but I never imagined they'd boost prim count as an alternative. While I am grateful for any crumbs LL is willing to spill on the floor, I remain baffled by their stubborn refusal to price SL for 2016 instead of 2006. I guess they need the short-term revenue for Sansar (yawn), so tossing us some prims is welcome.

So I realized I need some new pajamas. Off to Marketplace I go. Apparel -> Women's->Women's Intimates->Lounge and Sleepwear. Yikes, 415 pages of results! Okay, let me get rid of the mesh results (I hate mesh). What? no tick-boxes for mesh / non-mesh? Damn. Then I try the search box at the top. I type "pajamas" and go to the drop-down list, expecting to see a menu structure that will lead to Lounge and Sleepwear, but all I get is Apparel. Holy crap, 1218 pages! My shopping trip comes to a screeching halt. The system is so crude as to be non-functional. A deeper category structure would be helpful, but I'm not sure merchants could use it properly. The number of merchants who don't know the difference between sale and rental of land, for example, is astonishing. Asking them to put their products into an even more sophisticated category structure is probably too demanding. A better approach might be tick-boxes in conjunction with a word search. I'd type 'pajamas' into search then filter the results by various criteria tick-boxes (mod, trans, copy, mesh, layer, prim, flexi, etc.)

Does SL have a steep learning curve? Yes. It's not as steep as the infamous EVE Online, which has a vertical wall of pain, but quite steep nonetheless. Of course, new users can be divided into engineers (those with technical savvy and previous experience of MMRPGs) and regular folk like me. I did manage to figure out the basics, but without inworld friends to teach me, I'd have never fully understood the power and grandeur of SL.

On 11 October 2006, I read an article in The Economist about Second Life, which intrigued me, so I signed up for a premium membership, downloaded the viewer and logged in - to Ahern. I was both fascinated and horrified. What a zoo! So I started flying north and kept going until I came to Magenta, where I met a bunch of Japanese-American furries who took pity on me and let me stay in their house. Now, that may sound like a strange thing to say, but you see, I thought our avatars stayed inworld when we logged out, so I needed a place to stay where my avi wouldn't be molested while I was away. I honestly believed that, like Sleeping Beauty, I'd remain in a comfy bed during the day then log in and wake up. Well, one day I logged into the middle of a furry orgy, which was somewhat embarrassing, so I moved to a deep well in Maroon - at least to log out. I'd scamper around the grid then head home to the well to log out. I did this for months before someone explained - laughing his head off - how things worked. You are no doubt wondering how anyone could be so stupid, but I had little experience with MMRPGs. I'd earlier tried Project Entropia, but couldn't figure out how to leave the landing pad. I was fortunate, therefore, to run into a couple guys who taught me the technical stuff and a couple girls who taught me how to manage animations. Then I went shopping bigtime. I was completely besotted with Second Life. It was magic. The freedom and creativity was amazing. Finally, a place for grown-ups to let their hair down - where oddballs like me were not only accepted, but considered normal. It was a world free from politics and religion - as a matter of design and policy - free from taxes and bureaucracy and regulations and Puritans seeking to impose their moral visions on others. It was one of the most liberating and empowering experiences of my life. I have vivid memories of those early days. I became an avid clubber, often spending 8-10 hours on the dance floor, selecting from a list of 30+ animations which best fit the track being played by the DJs. Gods, it was fun. The people I met were vibrant and alive. Moreover, SL was flooded with enthusiasm - people were pouring in from around the world. Sure, some had serious mental problems, but most were thrilled with the social and commercial opportunities made available by SL. I know personally of at least two RL marriages that resulted from SL. Of course, it didn't last and I guess I was naive to think it would. First came the bureaucrats, sexually aroused by a new world to control and regulate. Then the taxman, greedy for his loot. Then came the Puritans and the politicians, seeking to convert SL into a utopia as envisioned in their narrow worldviews. It took time, of course, but slowly SL drained of life, leaving behind pockets of history, some few of which remain. For ten years, I have been online almost daily. I have my small niche and I'm happy here in spite of all the problems that were needlessly created by Linden Lab (who never really understood SL). I have my pre-mesh outfits that fit perfectly on my pre-mesh avatar. I have my original flex hair and my original Zhao II hud with many original animations. I even have one of my original friends who returned to SL after a 4-year absence. And, of course, I have my original memories, which live inside me as if they were yesterday.

Rather than ending up in one of those mile-long posts with a rats nest of quotes and counter-quotes, I'd like to follow up on your concluding sentence: "Because they still don't understand what it is their userbase is looking for, or how to listen to those users." This I agree with wholeheartedly. I am not an engineer. I'm an economic historian with a strong interest in human social systems. I therefore see Second Life very differently from most people. Second Life was built by engineers for engineers. Philip Rosedale admits as much. He also admits that the social success of SL took him by surprise. All of a sudden, a marvel of engineering prowess became attractive to people who wanted to build stuff and go dancing - and hopefully take someone home after leaving the club The engineers scratched their heads and wondered what the hell was going on with their beautiful machine. I remember reading that when the first, crude text transmission system was initiated between universities, the engineers were startled to discover that people were using it for personal communications, what later became known as email. Humans use technology to do human things. Humans are messy creatures that like to share 200 photos of their cat without caring one bit how many engineers spent how many hours designing the system that enabled those photos to be shared. There is a strong argument that the internet may have been designed by engineers for military purposes, but its exponential growth was driven by porn. Humans, it seems, like sex. From inception, Linden Lab has been baffled by humans. No matter how hard the company tried to stuff those humans into spreadsheets, the humans would jump out and paint pictures of horses with lime Jell-O or strip naked on a dancefloor and sing along with the music. It didn't help, of course, that senior management had almost no knowledge of real-world political-economic systems, no understanding of human social systems and a very poor grasp of organizational management. It's no wonder that the company lurched from pillar to post like a drunken executive on a Friday night. What is unforgivable is that the company made no effort to understand the world they had created. The business model for Sansara shows that they still don't understand. As for listening to their customers, Linden Lab turned a deaf ear, nailing shut the doors to their ivory tower in which the engineers tried to satisfy the marketing guys who wanted to convert SL into a game or a virtual Disneyland or 3D Facebook or now, with Sansara, 3D YouTube. To invert an old expression, LL has for a decade been trying to make a sow's ear out of a silk purse!

It's true I'm a bit behind on the technology. It's true I'm not as socially active as I once was. I do, though, log in daily and continue to improve my home. I do search through Marketplace for new designs and products. I do talk with my tenants to learn about their relationship with SL. I have looked at mesh clothes, but I found them inferior to prim and layer clothes. Mesh shoes seemed silly (especially having to amputate my feet to wear them) and so I stuck with my nice collection from Shiny Things, which never let me down (until I noticed the invisiprim problem, which I fixed with an alpha layer). Am I a bit slow on the fashion scene? Yes, but then, because of the shift to mesh (and the difficulty of finding clothes with trans perms), I didn't have much of an incentive to shop. I have looked at the new mesh avatars and found them awkward and unappealing. Sure, my wrists and ankles are not as graceful as I would like, but my traditional avi and wardrobe do 99% of what I want them to do without having to chop myself up into little pieces. Attaching a mesh head with a glue-on face then smoothing out my neck so that it blends with my body is like something out of Sleepy Hollow. All that hassle for a 1% improvement in appearance? Could I make more of an effort to explore new sims? Yes, but the old sims that have vanished were not obscure islands that took my fancy. They were places like AM Radio sim, the Lost Gardens of Apollo and Sanctuary Rock - hugely popular for many years. Nor am I alone in my opinion. Few people I meet inworld who knew SL from the early days are happy with SL today. Why aren't there more people of my generation inworld or here in the forum? Because they are gone, long gone. I'm the weird one for sticking around.

So many amazing sims now gone. All my favorite nightclubs gone. Most of my favorite stores gone. All my creative, entrepreneurial friends gone. The introduction of an 'Adult' rating 'sanitized' the mainland, reducing its diversity and vitality while at the same time creating a highly-concentrated porn slum in Zindra. Mono-field names (Sus123anxxx36 Resident) reduced the human-psychological aspect of belonging to a society. Potential residents were offered Second Class status in Second Life, which was a disincentive to join and made it more difficult for those who did join to integrate into the existing society. Then, of course, there was the slow and steady rise in the cost of tier (relative to a basket of alternative infotainment goods and services) which has steadily reduced the number of estate sims because there are far more choices now in 2016 about how one wants to spend US$300 a month than there were back in 2006. The iPhone didn't exist back then, nor Kindle, nor Instagram, nor Snapchat, nor streaming Netflix. There were no apps because there were no smartphones. Facebook and Twitter had only just opened to the public. Computers and hosting services were far more expensive with considerably less speed and functionality. That is the world in which Linden Lab set its prices - and it hasn't changed them since (except for some tinkering at the margins and then only reluctantly and then only very recently). By my estimation, comparing the cost of an alternative basket of infotainment goods and service from 2006 to the cost a basket of infotainment goods and services in 2016, the relative price of tier has at least tripled. More and more people are preferring to spend their money outside SL than in it. Can you blame them? All of this has dampened enthusiasm and creativity across Second Life. At the meta level, the smart money (who might have made big investments inworld) see Linden Lab as Yahoo - a company that had it all and blew it through lack of vision, strategy, leadership and effective management. As for Sansara, remember Blue Mars?

What has changed in 10 years? Technically, the grid is much improved. Creatively, the world is a pale shadow of its former self. Economically, it's stagnant. Socially, it's empty. Politically, it's a cross between Disneyland and Brazil. Financially, it's expensive and increasingly restrictive. That about sums it up. I would gladly trade away all the technological improvements to return SL to what it was in 2006.

Upon reflection and having read the posts (thank you all), I am inclined toward the theory of devaluation. Long gone are the days when LL published economic data and consulted the residents on matters of strategy and policy. The comparison with 2006-2007, when LL posted almost daily, is stark. The company is now tighter than a rat's a**, announcing a vapid update maybe once every six months. I can't think of any other company that is so walled off from its customers. As is well know, my opinion of the Board of Directors and senior management is low. I watch in amazement (horror) as the company lurches from banality to idiocy as if it were a film by Lars von Trier filmed at a secret location in Zimbabwe. Needless to say, a once brilliant project (Second Life) has over the past 10 years become a quagmire of mistakes built on errors wrapped in confusion. It's no surprise it failed to achieve its original potential. Thus, like Venezuela, Argentina and Brazil, the chickens of poor leadership and bad policy have come home to roost. Unless there is a military coup at Linden Lab, the current leadership has no choice but to devalue its currency. Will the IMF and World Bank eventually step in to save LL? Funny thought. More likely, as with Yahoo, it will be sold. While there has no doubt been capital flight, it has taken the form of chronic bleeding rather than hypovolemic shock. Drip, drip, drip, estate sims have vanished from the grid. Many residents have moved to the mainland where land prices are lower. Even so, finding anyone with a last name is a rare event worth of an introductory IM. Meanwhile, LL remains oblivious to the situation, choosing to build a new world based on a rather flimsy business model. I must conclude, therefore, that Linden Lab is probably devaluing the currency - and will continue to do so - to promote inward investment in a stagnant economy.

And the general consensus is?

For several months now, I've seen the L$ falling against the US$ after many years of stability (250). For the first time ever, a sell order that I placed at the top of the asking price (258) failed to clear, putting me in an awkward position on tier payment day. While probably unrelated, this followed upon a bizarre billing mistake on SL Marketplace, which took LL a week to correct. Strange days. As I understand it, the relative price of the L$ is dependent upon two factors: the money supply (LL-managed sources and sinks)market-driven supply and demandSo, is LL deliberately devaluing the currency by increasing the money supply or are we seeing capital flight from SL? I am of two minds. On the one hand, the relative price of tier (relative to a basket of infotainment goods and services) has at least tripled over the past ten years, resulting in a steady decline of estate sims and an increase in abandoned mainland, but it doesn't explain the recent drop unless it was triggered by news of Sansara. On the other, I can easily see LL seeking to draw investment into SL (= direct foreign investment in RL) by devaluing the currency (what Greece desperately needs, but can't do because of the euro). Anybody out there know what going on?

Flirt back, of course. Guys tend to be more of a pain.

Thanks all. Problem solved. Much appreciated.

@ Theresa and Alwin Many thanks for the information. Any idea why invisiprims are no longer supported? I found an alpha layer among my shoe collection that seems to work for all heels.

First, I don't use mesh. Has something changed in SL regarding foot shapes and/or shoe bases? I have worn prim shoes for many years without a problem. Now, for some reason, wearing a shoe base, the heels of my feet no longer fit within the heels of my shoes. The heels of my feet stick out, like a wedge, as if my shoes were way too small. I have not changed the size of my feet in 10 years. All my shoes with heels, from all merchants, have this problem. I have cleared cache and rebaked my character (female test). I am not accidentally wearing anything else on my feet, just the base and one shoe on each foot. Any ideas? ETA: heels, not heals. Note to self: get more sleep..

Haha. Well said, Maddy. And a nice glass of red wine goes well with it too.

I cringe at the thought of creators like yourself grinding your fingers in the Blender. The sad part is that I'd be far more interested in buying from the 90% you've discontinued than the mesh stuff you've slaved so hard to produce. ETA: I've actually stopped buying clothes because of mesh. I have my wardrobe from before and I'm happy with it.