Spare Changeling

Fun with Visitors

2011-01-06T07:43:00.000-08:00

OK, so here's an entertaining event that happened to me this week. For those of you who know me and bother to check out my inane and infrequent ramblings, I live in a skyhouse way above Club Amor. We do like to keep the grounds of Amor nice and naturally landscaped for public enjoyment. This contrasts w/ my house, which is my private space and is a little more unnatural (beautiful fantasy design by Isoblan Neva. Love her stuff, have for years). It floats around 1000m above ground level mostly for privacy. Well, and the floating confection just doesn't fit w/ the overall sim design anyway. So anyway, it's way up there out of sight.

I happen to be off work this particular day (burned a PTO day to take care of general non-work stuff), the Monday after New Year's Eve. My last event was a gig at a fantasy RP event, and I'm all elf-ed out, but don't particularly feel the Legolas in me today. As I am wont to do, I strip down out of my current outfit completely while sifting through my inventory to figure out what I'm gonna wear today and toss on my naked Passes For Human avvie setup. I"m standing there bare-butt nekkid in all my ken-doll glory debating outfits, and I go ahead and slide my camera around to front view so I'll be able to check the look of whatever I cobble together.

Lo and behold, behind me I see some strange woman w/ a screen name implying that she's an underage girl looking for a good time and a tag advertising her escort services. I, in shock, ask her, "Umm, who are you and why are you in my house?" No response. As I"m scrambling for coverage with sudden urgency, she poofs.

About 10 minutes later, I get this IM from her telling me that the location of my house was an escort club she used to work. I responded (politely) that I was one of the original renters when that sim was first created, I"m the co-owner of the club below, and we do not and never have been an escort club (we're a sort of casual ballroom w/ a 'please keep your bits covered' policy) and for that matter, the kinda public club & park are all down below. She, on the other hand, had been in my private residence where I change clothes, prepare for gigs, or just get some alone-time to decompress from being in the public most of the time. I thanked her cheerfully for having popped back out and also for respecting my privacy in that little sanctum space of mine now and in the future, but noted the grounds below do remain open to the public as a sort of park area. As far as I was concerned, it was amicably resolved. A little embarrassing to be walked in on like that, but really, no harm done.

15 minutes later, I get another IM, this one telling me off for being rude, although she cannot specify anything rude I've said. She eventually huffs that I made her feel unwelcome in my private sanctum and goes into great hysterics about how unwanted and unloved she feels and how her feelings are all my fault, etc, etc, etc. and what a terrible, horrible ogre I am for not welcoming her w/ open arms. She spends about 30 more minutes (I kid you not) trying to convince me that I'm supposed to feel bad for her feeling unwelcome in my one little private spot in SL (bear in mind, this is someone I've NEVER met before and who popped into my secluded little sanctum uninvited, apparently after flying around snooping for it).

I can understand curiousity and idle snooping around, but frankly, I'm kind of baffled at the federal case this 'lady' is makin' of it all, especially when in my book, any reasonable person would have been done w/ "OMG, I'm so sorry, didn't mean to intrude, was just checking out the build." Nay, verily, apparently my failure to welcome her onboard uninvited is the height of offensive behavior and she feels compelled to educate me on what a big meanie I am. Even though she admits I didn't eject or ban her (she left on her own before I had to get to that point, admittedly), I didn't call her any kind of name or say anything unflattering about her, and my request that she respect my space was rendered politely. She tries to blame the ongoing IM storm on me, but again, I note she IMmed me, we settled it peacefully, then she IMmed me back, and she's been the only one slinging around the accusations and personal attacks.

I really probably should have just muted and banned her, but I do try to be a gentleman. I don't buy her story that she used an old landmark, but whatever. I let her vent, but I remain politely firm that a) her feelings are her problem, and b) regardless of her feelings, my private space is still my private space and I DO intend to keep it private up there as that's my little getaway spot.

Eventually, she figures out that I'm not gonna buy her guilt trip, nor am I gonna invite her back up there. I challenged her to find the attack in our IM transcript, and after a brief silence, she finally (!) considers the vague possibility that she might have maybe been possibly out of line at some point. Maybe. I just let it go at that, b/c frankly, I wasn't really interested in continuing the conversation as far as it already had gone, much less to pursue it any further.

I DID check out her profile during her freakout, and it's loaded exclusively w/ ads for her escort services; all her picks market the places she's available as an adult-verified sex professional. Now, we at Amor don't go for escorts. We don't have them, nor do we permit escorting on the premises. It's zoned Mature, mostly to allow us to relax and not have to watch everyone's language like a hawk or dump out of, say, "Bilingual" if it happens to come on the land radio at some point, but it's NOT a sexually oriented kinda club.

Doesn't mean I have a problem with that activity per se. I'm a DJ. I've worked some pretty wild clubs, many of whom had escorts on staff. I don't use escorts myself, nor have I ever provided that service, but I"m a pretty laid-back "to each his/her/its own" kinda guy. Some of the nicest ladies (and guys) I know have escorted, and I say if you have the avvie design skills and the writing chops to make a go of it, more power to ya.

But not at my house.

I have a feeling she was scoping out places to take her clients, especially those who can't access Adult-rated sims. We DO allow scripts and rezzing of objects (w/ auto-return), which means those temp-on-rez sex huds would theoretically work there. And I was partnered once in the past; I've done some erotic rp and still have the furniture although it's really mostly just decor for the past few years. I guess I could take it all up to make the place less tempting, but I selected stuff based on the fact that it's well made and looks good in the room, and even if I've more or less outgrown the need for cyber-nookie RP, I really LIKE the bedroom setup as is. Besides, dammit, it's MY private stuff in my private space that I pay for myself; I shouldn't have to purge it. For some strange reason, I still really kind of enjoy kicking back in a steaming bathtub to let my avvie soak while unwinding. It may be a weird little affectation, but it's my weird little affectation and I like it.

My concern is that now the teen grid is open, and SL is crawling w/ underage kiddies able to put on an adult appearance and make their own porn. I could really see Our Lady of Negotiable Virtue here picking up some john, popping back to my place to romp around in my house (eww, must make note to have home fumigated and disinfected), then john's mom walking in, catching him in mid-cyberporn act and coming unglued. Escort Girl can pull a fast TP, but my unsuspecting house and our non-sexual club are kinda stuck where they are. Which would leave them as the most convenient target for her to blame for the corruption of her angelic little escort-seeker's morals. The fact that I wasn't a knowing or willing party to their little party MIGHT clear me, but I'd rather avoid the headache.

So, for the first time after 4 yrs in SL, I now own a home security orb. I hate that I've had to do that, but my faith in human nature has its limits (mostly b/c of my knowledge of human nature). I really don't see another way to protect myself and still be able to enjoy my property. It's been up for a week now, and the log hasn't shown any intruders (granted, after I told my sister and club co-owner, she rolled her eyes and insisted that my unwanted visitor be on the ban list purely b/c of the spectacular nerve and chutzpah, so she couldn't get back on-parcel anyway).

Fortunately, I can still set up a friends list on the orb, so I can still grant admission to the few friends who I do welcome to drop in and hang out in my little aerie. If you get booted by the orb and you're a buddy of mine, send me an IM reminding me to add you back to the authorized list.

Autumn reflections

2010-11-04T15:39:00.000-07:00

It's quite ironic that in my last blog, I was celebrating the return of Nocturne, whereas here I'll be observing its closure on 11/11/10. Its owner, the ever-talented Nedria, is pulling back from SL significantly as she migrates toward InWorldz. She will likely recreate Nocturne there, as IW is now growing w/ SL ex-pats. I will probably not be joining the staff there, however.

There are many who love IW and are proclaiming it to be the successor state of SL as the pundits proclaim the approaching demise of Linden Labs's experimental little world we have here. I will admit I do have an IW account, and have had one for a while, and I will agree it's essentially SL 4 years ago. Kind of. It's actually less stable than I remember the old grid being, but it DOES feature the crappy graphics and crude blocky builds from back before I got a decent computer able to keep up w/ the demands of WindLight.

I have invested far too much in SL, not just in terms of inventory, but in the purchase of actual hardware to finally get to see the SL everyone else was raving about and taking those great pictures of. Besides, I flat don't get the appeal of going back to inferior performance. In my visits to IW, I did not recapture that sense of wonder that SL had back in the early days. All I found was frustration and annoyance.

Similarly, I have an account in Blue Mars, and for all the (empty) hype about how squee-tastically fabulous it was, frankly, I thought it sucked. I checked in on it a few wks ago. It still sucks. The only change is my utter loss of respect for the squee-ing bloggers who were raving about it (Iris, Hamlet, really? I thought you guys had taste). SL was my first experience w/ virtual reality worlds and was sort of my gateway drug to MMORPG's, but when, IF, Second Life does expire, well, I'll probably get busy reclaiming my First Life. I will still be active with Guild Wars, and the upcoming Guild Wars 2, but neither IW nor Blue Mars are interesting to me. There is, however, a great world just beyond the window to my study that probably deserves more of my time.

Fall is falling!

2010-10-02T18:37:00.000-07:00

And so I suddenly find myself with a bit of free time (shockingly) to actually do a blog entry! I"m astonished. Lots of new clubs added to the mix, and I've been sold at auction for Bid4aCure to help fund new research into eliminating diabetes.

I'm looking at adding a calendar to the site so I can refer folks here to check my schedule. I've set up a Google calendar and hopefully by the time you've read this, I'll have figured out how to add it to the blog. I've been more active in world lately, but I've been horribly remiss in posting my misadventures there.

Lemme see...Nocturne's back up and running, so I"m DJ'ing there in my old slot 6-8 PM. It's hard building up the crowds at that time (It's a little early for most), but much later causes me trouble in RL the next morning, since that's 8-10 PM in my time zone and Friday involves a 100 mile commute each way as I hit my most distant locale. I've also assumed the Twisted Tuesdays show at IGBC, desperately trying to fill Cooper's shoes as she takes over Wicked Wednesdays. And of course, I'm still kicking around in Eternity, at least as a minstrel if not much in the RP anymore.

Eternity's moving to a RP hud that I personally don't care for, but to each his/her/its own. It has sort of left me on the sidelines of most of the RP, but if the greater good benefits from SpellFire, then so be it. And so I sink back into the role of Enigmatic Figure Who Moves Mysteriously About On the Fringes.

That's preferable to me over the constant eating that I find problematic in SpellFire. You have a constantly degrading nourishment score for eating and drinking, kind of like a fuel tank. In my case, I find that my first-level character's fuel tank is so tiny I can't do much more than cruise around the proverbial parking lot of the gas station while waiting to level up enough that I can actually go somewhere and do something. That's frustrating to me. I'd rather not mess with it, even if that means I'm disqualified from most of the RP. I tried it several times and gave up in disgust when I couldn't walk from my house to the nearest tavern to at least get some conversation in while I sat and ate. And I drowned at every sim crossing b/c I ended up stuck under the water. That didn't help either. I have 4 sims to cross to get to the tavern. Not gonna happen.

So anyway, that's the news from Arc-Land. Now, to see if I can attach that calendar...

June rolls on

2010-06-16T16:29:00.000-07:00

I kinda have a tendency to be a workaholic. The beautiful irony is that my player started SL due to the fact that his RL job had pretty much eaten his soul. So, at the direction of others already in SL, he jumped in there to try to find the missing bits, which created me. Who has become a workaholic DJ who pretty much only logs in to perform gigs. Ya can't outrun yourself, I guess; no matter where you run to, there you are right in the middle of your hideout.

This has been a running battle for me from the beginning. I've been addressing this by tryin' to pull back a little on the 'jobs' in SL and leave myself more time to play, in both SL and RL. So, for those of you wondering where the heck I've been and why so few DJ group notices, well, I've been taking a break. I"m about ready to put the headphones back on now (there's only so much rest I can tolerate), so rest assured I'll be cluttering up your inbox again really soon, but for this second, I'm luxuriating in actually NOT being tied to the virtual DJ booth so much. Although if I stay Primal like this here, I might have some trouble fitting the headphones around the antlers.

Fun with arrows...

2010-02-11T12:21:00.000-08:00

OK, yeah, my last post was really pretty bummed out. I still agree w/ it; banking on making it rich in SL is up there w/ telling your high school guidance counselor that your career goal is to win the lottery. However, that bugs me less today.

In the interim, I've increased my presence in Eternity, an 18-sim fantasy kingdom w/ some of my favorite people in SL occupying it. I've been a part of the kingdom for years, but always as simply a semi-ooc service provider as the regular DJ for recurrent events there, but I just never had much time to get more involved than that. Well, until recently. It started innocently enough; I was killing time after a gig and got invited to check out the archery pit.

Quick aside: I'm running nowadays on a much, much spiffier gamer system than I had for the first few years I was in SL. And in that span, I played in Toxian (which is a favorite hangout of the Lag Monster). I'm used to fighting through crushing lag (2 fps was normal, less than 1 was not uncommon. 10 was downright luxurious). And since getting the new system, oddly, I've NOT done any combat in SL.

Combat on a system that gets 30+ fps in High Graphics Mode is a LOT different from what I'm used to. I kicked the archery gallery's butt :D.

So, I introduce you now to the latest Elven Archer of the Rangers of Eternity. Not sure I'll have free time to RP there in every storyline that comes up, but then again, I've always been happiest w/ Arc as Entertaining Supporting Cast Member rather than Leading Man, so it all works for me. I haven't been in-world at all this week; lately I've been hitting the grid one day out of 5 due to an active RL, but if they can handle my absences, I'm thrilled to be a more regular recurrent character in the ongoing sagas of Eternity.

Happy December and Merry Chrismakwanzakah!

2009-11-30T21:48:00.000-08:00

Gonna go ahead and do my shoutout now, b/c let's face it, I rarely put much here these days. Fact of the matter is, I'm really not much in-world at all anymore, and that saddens me a bit. A few days ago, I hit my 3rd rezzday, and I was thinking of how much has changed. More to the point, I was thinking of how ironic it all feels, that with all the new cool stuff, like Havok4, Windlight, Sculpties, etc, I oddly find that I'm less amazed than ever by the place, *sigh*

Here's the thing. Three years ago, I stumbled into SL, or rather, into a community of fun-loving experimentalists in a madcap freewheeling world that Hamlet Au has so astutely described as "Bebop Reality." It was a weird, wild, wonderful community. It was not unlike the exhuberance that comes from the early college years, and I cherished the rare chance to relive that.

And then, over the past year, SL has grown up, graduated, and traded in the Ramones t-shirt for button-down oxfords.

I really, really, really hate the new feel of the place, and all the jazzy lag-inducing special effects don't cover up the problem at all, even a little bit. Used to be, it was a surprise and delight to catch a Linden just hanging out, and they were goofballs. THese days, think IRS agents. They have about as much sense of fashion and humor. There's more territory and more residents than ever, yet oddly, there's less to do. At least, less silliness, less goofiness, and less lighthearted fun. The place has been flooded w/ folks determined to make a buck here, and moreso, are actively disparaging everyone else who isn't here to do so, and they whine at full volume if they can't make their RL rent from their SL biz (and remember the exchange rate; you're really setting yourself up if you think that at around 250L per USD you're gonna rake in the big bucks off that 500L clothing set you're hawking).

Dunno. Maybe I'm just gloomy b/c I'm down with a sinus infection, and I've spent too much time reading the forum blogs tonight for lack of anything else to do. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

August posting

2009-08-09T13:36:00.001-07:00

Yeah, my plans for daily or even weekly blogging have pretty much fallen by the wayside. However, I'm hoping I can run at least a monthly commentary. Thing is, I've got so much goin' on in RL that it doesn't leave me much time for SL, and SL for me these days is almost entirely spent DJ'ing various clubs and special events.

A nice exception to this is my perennial fun in Eternity, and a new experience running in CoLA that's kinda got me intrigued. CoLA, more properly known as City of Lost Angels, is a post-apocalyptic urban horror RP sim that gets it right in so many ways. And makes some predictable mistakes.

The game meter is the CCS, which is a great system, albeit less versatile for multiple RP experiences than its distant relative DCS system. I think that was one of the points where Dimentox and Suzanne split; he was one of the original developers of CoLA before he went off to do Toxian City on his own. If you set yourself up as a vampire in CCS, a vampire you shall be everywhere you roam. DCS is sim-dependent, so you can play a vampire in one sim, a human in another RP sim, etc. However, the CCS character skills & attributes are a lot more developed than in DCS, so I'm really enjoying that part of it.

The setting is a subcontinent of related sims, each very well designed. Unlike many RP sims that have a separate mall area, the shopping areas here are integrated right into the structure of the play area, which helps support its urban feel; the shops aren't just setpieces. Like all RP sims, lag is an issue, but I've been shocked at how, well, moderate, the lag is. It's there, but it's not nearly as crushing as it is in some SL RP worlds I've bopped around in. No idea how they manage to limit it, as they don't seem to be using the same tricks I've seen other sims use (limited texture palettes, etc). However they do it, for a sim loaded w/ highly scripted meters and weapons blazing, it's actually a place you can move around in and enjoy your experience w/o scrimping on the look and feel of the world.

The primary mistake the place makes is the same one so many RP places make, and it's not in any way the fault of the designer. It's RP snobbery on the part of other players. CoLA is really, really hard to start playing in unless you know someone. I'd tried twice before to play there, but nobody was willing to give the new guy the time of day, much less a few pointers on how to set up the rather complex character meter and get into the storylines. This time was different b/c I was cajoled into playing by old friends of mine from Nocturne who were also established CoLA players. They hooked me into other players, and it's kinda gone from there. CoLA's definitely worth the effort even if it IS kinda hard to get established. If you're considering starting in CoLA, gimme a shout and I'll help hook you in as much as I can.

In Memoriam of Great Clubs, and a musing on club. vision (which is not the same as beer goggles)

2009-07-06T17:21:00.000-07:00

Not much to tell of late. After nearly 2 yrs in SL, Nocturne has closed, as its owner wisely opted to focus on her studies when her college curriculum started suffering b/c of her work keeping Nocturne open. Also, Club Amor is on extended hiatus due to my SL sis Olivia's RL medical setbacks which have limited her ability to do the work necessary to keep it running.

SL *is* fun & games, but a lotta work goes into pulling that level of fun off. Clubs and the entertainment industry in SL, as in RL, require massive investments of both time and cash, and not a lot of clubs ever recoup enough to break even. Which, as I've noted before, is so rare that it's best not even made a goal. If you have the time and means to sustain it, excellent! However, it's also a good idea to know what your stop-loss point is. With both Olivia and Nedria, they were managing the financial struggle OK, but there's also the time commitment involved in planning multiple events weekly, if not nightly, staff management issues, land management stuff, all sorts of interesting things that require your time and attention.

Neds and Livvie are the 2 best club owners I've ever known, and I've known some great ones. Part of that for them means not delegating it all away and just blindly signing the checks. They created my 2 favorite clubs ever, and they did so by carefully crafting the style and identity of the places, and that requires a LOT of attention to detail and active involvement. It's easy for a club w/o a single clear vision to drift, and even easier if it gets relegated and delegated down the list. Consider another well-done club--Phat Cat's Jazzy Blue Lounge. New folks bought out the owners, and the place just nosedived after that. Used to be a regular hangout of mine, but when the place lost the original owners (whose name I don't recall), the whole vibe changed dramatically (which I DO vividly recall--I hung in there for a little bit, but it was just not the same somehow). So, as Neds said, she'd rather have Nocturne be Nocturne and go out in a blaze of glory still riding high than die a slow death as it inexorably lost the magic that made the place so special.

I fully expect both will return to the business some day. They're just too damn good to stay out of it for long. But in this instance, between Livvie's health and Neds's school, I'd say they have their priorities just about right. Still, I will be looking forward to both of 'em getting tired of retirement, hehe.

DJ 101

2009-04-24T16:48:00.000-07:00

OK, so here's my LONG overdue post on DJ'ing essentials. I continue to get this question regularly, so I figure it's still topical. Sorry about the long hiatus, but RL's been nuts, and in SL, I've been up to my eyeballs in gigs. Which isn't a bad thing, as I really love what I do, but it doesn't leave me much time to do other stuff, like write semi-coherent essays :D

Let's start w/ the basic necessities for today's particular lesson. We'll get into the finer points of music selection, technique, even setting up of your software later. For now, we're gonna just look at what you have to have to do it. DJ'ing in SL requires 4 things. You need a music library, obviously, stream software to play it, stream service for your listeners to hear it, and a venue in SL for folks to catch your show. Let's take those one at a time.

On the music library, MP3 files are the way to go, although I've used WMA formats also w/ success. I prefer MP3 Pro formatting myself, so I rip my CD's to that format. It preserves the best sound quality, but still makes the data sufficiently compressed that bandwidth doesn't become an issue. I'm assuming if you're in SL, you're already using at least DSL; dialup just doesn't cut it for SL, and it sure won't handle streaming and being in world at the same time. Streaming is kinda brutal on bandwidth and computer resources in general. Get used to lag on an all-new level of pain, LOL.

I prefer to use my own resources for music. Granted, I'm an admitted music freak w/ a ridiculously sized CD collection spanning just about every musical genre out there. It's also helpful to find a way to get new stuff "on the fly" as it were, in case you get a request for some obscure song you don't have. Good sources to obtain music on demand are a good thing. I have a subscription to Napster that I rely on heavily, although I've also used walmart.com and amazon.com for music, too.

WARNING: I know a lot of DJ's that use sites like BitTorrent, LimeWire, etc. to good effect as well, but I don't recommend it myself. Even though they claim to be bug-free, I know a lot of DJ's who've picked up a virus from 'em that's gutted their system, so be careful if you do it that way. Plus, this may or may not be illegal; the fur is still flying on that point last I checked, as it is w/ who's gonna get nailed if the big music companies ever go after those services. I prefer to pay for my music myself; my streaming is thus covered under Fair Use rather than being susceptible to claims of piracy.

I like to check out Billboard.com to stay on top of music trends, and Napster itself has a great entertainment news section. There are a host of resources out there for news on the music industry, on what's hot & what's not. Radio is also your friend; pay attention to what they're playing that you feel would be a good addition to your playlists. Plus, your audience itself will keep you updated via requests. You'll figure out what they like based on that, and their responses to what you play. It's generally easier if you specialize in a genre of music that you really like anyway, b/c you'll naturally stay abreast of music developments there. I'm an oddity in that I don't specialize, just b/c my tastes are so broad. I custom-tailor my sets based on the venue I"m playing.

Next up, stream software. If you're just starting out, I highly recommend WinAmp, but spend the $15 US for the pro version. It'll be faster and smoother, which will translate to a better experience for your audience, which makes you look good.

WARNING: Winamp doesn't like systems whose sound cards are half-duplex (which, logically, should be monoplex, but no one calls it that). WinAmp is very reliant on the sound card to process the music, and you really need the duplex so it can juggle input from the song that's playing and the next in the queue to do crossfading. Also, you have to have that if you want that smooth DJ style where you talk over the intro. It doesn't work well on half-duplex cards if you're tryin' to talk on the mic over the intro to the song (intro being that part that plays before the vocals start--NEVER stomp the vocals. Sounds unprofessional, and it screws w/ your listeners who're all fired up to sing along w/ their favorite band).

I personally use and absolutely LOVE emphatically SAM4 BC. I was a RL DJ for several years for a commercial radio station, and it's got all the features I like to control my show and keep it all running smoothly. It ain't cheap, though. If I remember right, it was $250 to $300 US. Worth every penny, though, if you're serious about really wanting to do this and do it right. SAM4 BC was designed, in fact, to run a full-time professional internet radio station. Even in automated mode, it'll make ya sound good. It's a LOT easier to set up, too, as it auto-selects the encoding format for your stream. Only thing it can't handle well is copy-protected stuff. Heck, it even figures traffic for commercials and can customize song rotations to keep from overplaying a hit until everyone gets sick of it, and it can take requests, all in automated mode if you're doing a full-time web-based radio station as opposed to just an occasional DJ gig.

Which brings me to stream. When you're DJ'ing in SL, you're sending data from your system to a bunch of other folks' systems simultaneously (not counting the sweating your system does just to maintain your presence in SL itself--toldja this was gonna be a tax on your system's resources & bandwidth). If you're playing a gig in a club w/ say, 15 folks in it, there's absolutely no way a garden-variety computer, or even a gaming monster, could do that and still function. Hence, stream.

When we say stream, we're referring to use (usually rented) of space on a server somewhere out there that does streaming media services. It takes your one signal and replicates it to send it out to several other recipients simultaneously. Thus, your system is only carrying the strain of sending one signal, communicating to one server. That server you're sending to is specially configured to support streaming out to your 15 (or 30, or whatever) eager audience members via a stream URL.

Someone's paying rent on that stream service. Most DJ's I know have their own stream, but it's not always necessary, as some clubs rent their own stream account that they prefer DJ's log into themselves. Only one person can be logged into one particular stream account at a time, so be sure to log off of stream after you finish your set, or an administrator will have to come in to kick you out of that account the next time someone else needs to use it for that club.

Finally, the venue. The way SL is set up, media is configured per parcel. Even if you have stream, it's gotta be entered into that parcel's Streaming Media URL section by someone w/ permission. This can be made easier by having a "radio" object in SL that's scripted to switch through a set of preprogrammed URL's that DJ's or hosts have permissions to access; this method doesn't require that all DJ's or hosts, or whatever, have land rights on the parcel.

The last one seems like a no-brainer, but at least once every couple of weeks, I have someone come up to me in-world and ask if I like the song they're playing on Windows Media. If you don't have it streaming out, no one can hear it in-world, and even if you do have stream, if that URL isn't set up in the parcel's media URL, again, no one's gonna hear it. Folks CAN listen to your stream remotely via a music player on their PC if you give 'em your URL, but it's not gonna be coming over SL's media features, so you'd have to pass that URL to every person there and each one of 'em would have to fire up their music players and enter that URL into it to catch it as an internet radio show. Otherwise, someone w/ rights on the parcel's gonna have to plug that URL into that particular parcel's land settings to hear it (my stream IS a preset on the radios of several friends of mine at their sandboxes so they can tune into my club gigs while they're building elsewhere).

So, there you have the basics of what you'll need to obtain in order to jump into this venture. DJ'ing is very high on my list of favorite SL activities, so I find it highly rewarding. Not necessarily always lucrative in terms of generating L$; I'm not in SL for the money anyway, so I've never really tracked that aspect. To date, I've never cashed out any L$ into real US $'s. I kinda doubt it nets any huge profits by the time you figure stream rental and the cost of buying new music, not to mention SAM. But if fun's what you're looking for, well, it sure works for me :D.

Pending article--Introductory DJ'ing, or "Play That Funky Music, Elf-Boy"

2008-11-18T21:18:00.001-08:00

As noted before, I'm both an SL Mentor and a SL DJ. One of the more common questions I get are requests from folks who've decided they really want to learn how to do that. So, fair warning, I'm gonna offer in this blog some general guidelines for how I got started, what equipment I use, and pointers for working the crowd and the mic. There are probably as many styles as there are DJ's, so feel free to adapt as you need to.

I learned my lesson from the last posting I did, which got completed several weeks after I started it due to a RL interruption, so I'm gonna split this into pieces small enough to be written in one setting. The last post also kinda turned into less a post than a freakin' essay, so hopefully, the short & sweet daily bits may actually also help keep me from lecturing too much or drafting a dissertation. Not gonna try to start it tonight, as it's waaay too late at night for me to launch into that now. But, keep your eyes peeled for upcoming posts.

On the rise and fall of clubs...

2008-10-27T16:30:00.001-07:00

Yup, the trees are turning, and I FINALLY have some RL time to blog again! Lessee, what all have I been up to...? DJ'ing my hiney off, that's what. I'm now at GlamShack rockin' the sim between the live music Open Mic Night at the GOAT (Glamshack Outdoor Arts Theatre) and Jocelyn Sands's show, Club Amor, and now multiple gigs at Nocturne, plus I"m doing LOTS more private prn gigs. In fact, this week I'm honored to be doing a 4 hr in-character gig Wednesday night 10/29/08 for the wedding and coronation of Nax Sautereau, King of one of the biggest and most prosperous elven/fantasy multi-sim RP environments.

I've had some long-time favorites die out, though as the overall attendance of clubs in SL has declined somewhat, and the economy has lead to folks having to pull out of the club business. At long last, REDS is no longer with us. Wayne ran a GREAT club, but he just couldn't pull off the expenses of the club & land, even with the mall. Also, Blue Noise went on extended hiatus after Rhiannon had RL stuff blow up that pulled her out of world.

I've seen piles of new residents come in intent to become the next club empresario. I figured I should post a bit about clubs as a lucrative business in SL. In short, they ain't. NEVER go into opening a club thinking you're gonna make a pile off of it. Few, if any, do. In fact, few even break even.

Think about it. In RL, clubs make their money off of drink sales and cover charges. Employee Neither of these apply in the SL environment. I know of no club in SL that does cover charges. If there is such a beast, good luck competing w/ all the free ones. Further, you have to actually PAY to keep tier up on the place, plus any fees you gotta pay staff. So, in this equation, if it's only a club, you WILL have expenses coming out, but no money required to come in. Most clubs take donations, but those are voluntary.

I maintain that looking at the club business in RL as the business model to use in SL is a disastrous proposition for those reasons. A far better model to use is FM radio. You don't pay a fee to turn on your radio, or dial into a particular station. You, the listener, is NOT where the radio makes the money it has to have to pay its building lease, or the multiple millions of dollars worth of sensitive equipment even a small station has to have, or the fees to subscribe to the music services that provide them with a music library, or the staff to run the thing.

Regular commercial radio stations make their money from one source: advertisements. The music is there to draw listeners, and those annoying damn commercials that play a few times per hour are what fund it. Local merchants (and nationals as well) buy time, usually in 30 second increments, for the opportunity to announce their goods & services at points during the different dayparts. Generally, the most lucrative are, in order of price, morning drive time (usually 6-10 AM) and afternoon drive time (2-6 PM) b/c that's when you have the most listeners--getting ready for & driving to work, and getting out of work & driving home. That means, the most ears getting to hear how wonderful the sponsor's stuff is. Radio stations don't compete for listeners b/c it means more instant dollars from folks tuning in; they compete for listeners b/c it makes them more desirable as advertising venues, which is ultimately what keeps the station afloat.

SL clubs are like radio stations. Lots of overhead to entertain folks, but those being entertained don't themselves pay any fee for that entertainment. Some clubs figure this out. They have a mall attached, so as folks enter the club, they pass through a vendor area which might generate a sale right there. At the very least, it will probably get more eyeballs seeing their wares so at some point in the future, if you're looking for a new outfit, you'll remember that cool new suit that RFyre had in the mall as you were boppin' into Nocturne for the Vampire Formal, or whatever. Plus, the club MIGHT get some additional traffic from folks actually coming JUST to shop. But that's a bonus.

Downside--malls = lag, which can actually work against the club. If it's too much, folks might decide against going there. I know of several lagtastic clubs I avoid like the plague for that very reason. Embarrassingly, many don't have a mall. Rather, they have a misguided owner who doesn't get that a zillion particle poofers and special effects generate more of the lagfest effect than they do any kind of wow factor. You have to balance looking cool and having income against folks actually being able to move, let alone have fun there. It IS possible to get it right. The clubs I work all do it well; if they didn't, I wouldn't be working there.

So, why on earth would anyone want to do this thing? One simple reason: love of having fun and hanging out w/ folks. If it's worth it to you to do that, that's reason enough. That's the rationale we take on Club Amor. We take donations, but that's about it. No mall, no ad space, no nada. Fortunately, our patrons love us and what we do there enough to keep the donations streaming in enough to almost meet expenses. We don't do it at Amor for the money. Neither does Nocturne or the GlamShack. They do it purely for the full-tilt fun of having a place for folks to get together regularly and have a great time. Livvie, Lan and I make up the difference via buying L$ or earning it through our other enterprises, like my DJ work, or Livvie's building skills.

Hell, even then, I don't really do the DJ'ing for the money, nor does Livvie build (or, increasingly, DJ--she's become pretty darn good, I admit) for the money, really. We do what we do, DJ'ing AND running a club, simply for the fun of it. We do it because we really, genuinely love what we do, and we love the folks who come out and join in the fun. And that, ultimately, is the best reason I can think of for doing ANYTHING in SL.

Checkin' in

2008-07-07T08:16:00.000-07:00

Wow, where has the time gone to? Seems like June just rocketed past. Was an extremely busy month, though. I'm proud to announce several milestones rolled past in that month. My long-time girlfriend (of about a year, which is forever in SL) and I formalized our relationship by partnering up officially in a glorious ceremony hosted by old friends at Emerald Island. Also, Bid4aCure wrapped up its campaign with a bang in a pair of auctions at The Escape Club on Journey Island. Kudos to Jocelyn for pulling off another brilliant campaign! We blasted past last year's amount raised, hit this year's goal and kept running significantly past that! Thanks again, everyone who contributed in any way! 100% of the income generated is donated to the American Diabetes Association/Diabetes UK to fund further research in eliminating this growing scourge.
While I SHOULD have exact final tallies, umm, I kinda don't have it at this writing (blushes at his lack of preparation for writing his blog). However, I'll have it shortly, and I'll update this posting accordingly.

The bad blogger updates again!

2008-05-16T16:52:00.001-07:00

So, what's new w/ me in the past few wks? Well, the plans for Bid4aCure keep rolling right along. We're still signing up designers who are donating goods for the auction--big YAY for the legendary SL spirit of pitching in for a good cause! I'll know a bit more about progress after we all get together tomorrow for our next planning meeting tomorrow.

In other news, Club Amor has been landscaped and beta tested and is READY TO ROLLLLLLL! I still gotta say, even though she's my sis, she's designed the prettiest club I've ever seen. Fantastic build.

And that's pretty much the extent of my SL involvements of late, LOL. Between helping get the club rolling and getting folks involved w/ Bid4aCure, that's been the lion's share of my SL involvements. No cool site touring, no sparring (although I DID build a pretty damn decent battleground so Entropy has a better space to stomp me in). However, I'm extremely proud of my activities w/ both of these events. If anyone out there wants to get involved in this stuff, please please please IM me in-world, or reply to me here. There's never too many folks in worthy projects like these.

Club Amor

2008-05-06T15:20:00.000-07:00

OK, so I've been a bad blogger. RL's been screwing w/ me significantly. However, I DO have big news to report! My sis, who is one of the best club host/managers I've ever know (and in my line of work, I know a LOT) has decided to take the plunge and go forth into club ownership! We're all waaaaay excited by this, as she's a lady of warmth, style and class who really knows how to make everyone feel at home and yet have a complete BLAST (she's also a major goofball, so that kinda helps :-) ). The land's been bought, the club's been built (again, by her, cuz she's just that damn good); it's just down to the finishing touches on Club Amor and planning the opening.

Note that the goal of Club Amor has never been, nor will ever be, to be the hottest, biggest lagfest in SL. Really, we just got started talking about the times we missed when we were all at another long lost & lamented club. We missed having a place that was kinda like home; a place dedicated to the sheer joy of just hanging out w/ beloved friends who've become really more like family. And that, my friends, is the best part of SL anyway. Soooo, if you ever get the urge to check out a great place blending elegance w/o pretentiousness, where you can just come in, relax and hang out, check out Club Amor! http://slurl.com/secondlife/Ocean%20Estate%203/235/241/23

Bid4aCure

2008-04-15T20:09:00.000-07:00

Big news!!! The always amazing DJ Jocelyn Sands is again spearheading the annual Bid 4 a Cure event! Further, she's honored yours truly to become a part of this worthy endeavor to bring relief and raise money for research to tackle and hopefully some day eliminate diabetes.

Diabetes, especially Type II, is experiencing a massive upsurge globally. I can remember as a kid, it was "oh, that thing that Mary Tyler Moore has, along w/ that girl in my school who had to take shots after lunch." These days, few of us are untouched by it, either by having it directly, or by having someone--or more commonly, several someones--close to us who have been stricken by it out of the blue.

InType II, the body still produces insulin (unlike Type I), but for some reason, the insulin the body makes has become ineffective, with net results nigh-identical to Type I. Thing is, most folks who develop Type II usually don't know they have it until they've already risked or even done major damage to their bodies. While the primary effects of the illness themselves can lead to shutdowns of the body (coma and eventually death), there are other more pernicious effects as the sugar-saturated blood clogs the fine blood vessels of the body to cause organ failures, major system disruptions, and all manner of serious complications.

I (Arc's player) am in the healthcare profession, and we're suddenly seeing PILES of newly diagnosed diabetics who've suddenly had to relearn how to live their lives. Diet becomes no longer a question of vanity or self-improvement; it can quite literally be daily life-or-death decisions. Further, it triggers an onslaught of overall massive metabolic changes that impact cardiovascular, renal, endocrine, and even neurological and cognitive functioning. It is, quite simply, life-altering.

There is hope, however. Ongoing research is making great strides in offering new treatments to both monitor and control blood sugar effectively to close the life expectancy gap between diabetics and the unafflicted population. Thing is, research takes money, and every drop in the bucket adds up.

To that end, Jocelyn is hosting a massive series of charity auctions of fine virtual goods and services from some of the best designers in the Second Life virtual world. The auctions are set up for the 15th and the 29th of June; additionally, there will be "insulin syringe" donation kiosks set up all around the virtual world. All proceeds will be donated to ongoing research to limit the effects of this illness, with the long-range goal to eventually find a cure to make the dreaded daily insulin shots a thing of the past.

Let's all support Jocelyn in this noble endeavor!!! While I can't build much more than a plywood box, I (Arc) WILL be among the celebrities offered up in the "Win a date with..." auctions. Many of SL's top designers have also committed to donate dresses, houses, furniture, etc. to the cause.

There'll be 2 separate auctions, planned for 6/15 and 6/29. The venue has yet to be decided, although I'll have a SLURL for you as soon as that gets firmed up (based on prior turnouts, we're gonna need a pretty big space for the auction & associated parties, and there are a few sites in the running). Hope to see you there!

Licensing woes

2008-04-07T15:58:00.001-07:00

If you've somehow missed the high drama in the blogosphere related to the Second Life virtual world, well, there's been a LOT of drama stirred up by their recent odd about-face on licensing issues. Where they once freely allowed use of their logo and reference to them by name, things are now more...complicated.

Just to clarify, I DO NOT OWN OR OPERATE SL. My views are my own warped musings; Linden Lab deserves neither credit nor blame for them. There. I'm not sure that lets me off the legal hook, but this is a non-commercial blog anyway, so nyah. The infringement laws were designed with the intent of preventing Person A's creation from being co-opted for a profit by Persons B-Z. I'm not co-opting, and I'm darn sure not profiting or looking for profit.

Personally, the idea of using SL as a source of RL income in any way is kinda icky for me; it would cease to be my escape and rather would become just one more damn job, LOL. I go there to get AWAY from the pressures of a RL profession. It's my mini-Vegas. And remember the word "Amateur" means one who does it just for love of doing it. I think that concept doesn't get nearly enough respect...

Gotta dash for now, but I'll revisit this in a more detailed post when I have more time.

New Stuff Added

2008-03-24T20:35:00.000-07:00

Still tinkerin', still learning! Along the left you'll see my regular schedule, but watch this space for special events; I DO get contracted for special appearances fairly regularly besides my regularly scheduled shows. I'll eventually get SLURLS added to those (as soon as I get those addresses, hehehe) so you can teleport directly into world to check those awesome clubs (I'm kinda picky about where I play--these are all GREAT places to check out). Note: in the (admittedly, kinda unlikely) event a non-SL'er has stumbled across this blog, teleporting in requires an SL account, but it's easy to create and absolutely free. The SLurl will prompt you to do so if you don't have one and walk you through it.

Additionally, I've made a LINKS section w/ several sites of interest, including the main Second Life website where you can get more info on my favorite metaverse (also including generation of your very own account & persona).

Debated putting in a "Hot Rotations" section to feature tracks that I'm playing pretty heavily via requests and/or just cuz I like 'em and they go over well, but that changes pretty much daily and per the venue and/or event I'm playing at that moment. Besides, while I DO have favorites, I try (with varying degrees of success) to resist the temptation to overplay them.

Upcoming Schedule

2008-03-21T18:04:00.000-07:00

Hey, all! Been a rough week in RL, but fortunately, I have a GREAT virtual getaway. LJ and I've been terraforming our parcel into a nice slice of Jimmy Buffet-esque paradise this past week. If you're gonna get away from reality, ya might as well do it right!

Figured I'd set up a quick note on my current engagements as a professional DJ. Here's my upcoming DJ events for the weekend...

03/22/08 Saturday
12-2 PM SLT Feature DJ for Jocelyn's Hangout (DJ group's weekly showcase)
4-6 PM SLT GlamShack--Spinning classic & contemporary rock (requests always welcome)
6:30-8: 30 Blue Noise--Dance, techno, contemporary rock (plus wherever the requests go)

03/23/08 Sunday
1-3 PM SLT REDS--Classic thru contemporary rock, AC rock, alternative, etc. (requests, too)
6-8 PM SLT Nocturne--Hard rock, industrial, goth, darkwave w/ themed event & requests.

I"m gonna figure out how to link SLURLS into this blog in the near future. Shouldn't be all that hard; I just have to take the time to figure it out.

Inventory Management 1301

2008-03-21T12:43:00.000-07:00

OK, we've all got 'em. You know what I mean...the random clothing/gadget/hair/skin items sitting in your inventory rarely (if ever) used, but it sure seemed like a cool idea at the time of purchase...

I've probably got more of those than most folks. At last count, even after purges and storage prim packing, I'm still standing at around 10.5 k in my inventory, and I don't even have the "But it's mostly textures I need for building" excuse. Thing is, I'm a DJ who works several different clubs which each have different styles, and they mostly all do themed events. I like to support the themes when I'm working a club, but that means in any given week, I may be called to appear as an angel/devil, pirate, cyborg, neko, etc. I kinda have to be prepared for all sorts of stuff. At least, that's what I tell myself. :D

Inventory management becomes, therefore, a vital skill. Even if you're a new resident, you would be well-served by starting early, before you ever hit the 2k level. It may be easy to scan your inventory quickly for that Wet T-Shirt now, but wait till you get a few thousand items you gotta sift through... The search bar IS helpful for looking for something immediately (IF you remember the name), but it gets really slow as your inventory grows, and good luck accessing ANYTHING for a while via the search bar if you've had to clear cache. Fortunately, you have a few weapons at your disposal in your battles against the Asset Server Monster.

Subfolders are your friend! When you buy a new set of clothes (for example), you'll usually have a brand new folder dumped randomly into your inventory's "Clothing" section (for example). Make it easier on yourself, your PC, and the asset server to track stuff down. I've made a pile of folders for different types of clothes--Formalwear, Elvenwear, Goth/Victorian, Footwear, Jeans, etc. In some cases, I have folders just for a particular designer--DE, Bare Rose, etc, just b/c they have their own style that's hard to categorize neatly. Organize it by however you'll remember that item when you're looking for it. Doesn't matter. The only wrong way is not to do it at all.

NIFTY TRICK: Make a 2nd inventory window. The inventory seems to scroll unpredictably when trying to move folders around, so it's kinda like trying to run an obstacle course while riding a drunk elephant. Go to File/New Window on your Inventory menu to pop up a duplicate window of your inventory. Will make file transfers much easier, I promise. Also tends to make inventory juggling, cleanup, etc in general a LOT easier. You can make as many inventory windows as ya like. Two usually does it for me, although I HAVE had more when doing some serious inventory shuffling.

Now, in one, do Create/New Folder; you should see your spiffy new folder appear, waiting to be named. I name mine starting w/ a couple of slashes to keep them even easier to locate (b/c they stay at or near the top of that category folder--"//Jeans" will be right near the top of the "Clothing" folder instead of buried further down among miscellanea I've not categorized yet. Yeah, I know; if you subfile EVERYTHING immediately, those subfolders would be the only things immediately under "Clothing," but I'm not always that virtuous. Name it whatever you like. Name it Ethel if you want. Ya just don't see that name anymore...**Arc debates new blog topic--Does the world need more Ethels? Why? Why not? Discuss..."**

Now, go to your inventory window and search for the new folder. This will keep our inebriated pachyderm of an inventory system targeting that folder instead of scrolling gleefully away when you try to drop something into it. Hate that. Nail the sucker down, I say.

Find the new item you want to drop into its new home in your other inventory window (probably under the Recent Items tab if you're wise enough to file it immediately after obtaining it) and drag it over to your waiting subfolder in the other window. Ta-daaaaa!

If you do a few minutes of it every day (or at least, after every shopping trip), you'll avoid my fate--I've had to blow HOURS on cleaning up my inventory when I've neglected it for a while. You'd think I'd know better by now *shrugs*.

I also highly recommend storage prims for stuff you don't use much. Personally, I like the Bright Inventory Box organizers, but you can load stuff into any old prim you can make.

Anyway, hope this little discourse helps!

First post!

2008-03-18T16:16:00.000-07:00

OK, this is my first foray into that glorious exercise in self-importance--the blog. I'll tell ya right up front that I have no clue what I'm doing, but that's never stopped me before, so what the heck? I've seen some really great blogs w/ advice on building in SL. I've seen great blogs loaded w/ scripting tutorials. This will be none of those.

I can barely manage a plywood cube (and if you know SL, you know what I'm talkin' about). I run in terror at the first mention of scripting (even bought the book, and I came out of the scripting section with significant neurological trauma, I think). I AM, however, a veteran power-shopper. I find that knowing all the answers is optional as long as you know where to FIND them, and I take a similar attitude to SL; I resort to building only when I absolutely can't find anything that works for a particular use. Fortunately, I can find a LOTTA stuff :D

I'll probably hold forth on various other topics from time to time. Don't expect a massive amount of politics; I have a strong and equal distrust for ALL the political parties and I still think the best person for the job would probably be some schmuck somewhere with too much sense and integrity to get involved in American politics. My player DOES have an embarrassing stack of letters after his name and a big mouth, so he probably WILL get his 2 cents' worth in on some stuff like social phenomena, etc, but I'll try to keep him in check.

I also have the good fortune of knowing much cooler and more interesting folks than myself. I'm hoping my much more talented builder/scripter SL sis Olivia Cascabel, my much wittier buddy Entropy Pau, more fashion-conscious fae friend Bobo Rosselsprung, and my chief Idea Girl, the uber-sexy LauraJill Silverstar will guest column from time to time, just to keep the place from getting too incoherent.

So, strap yourself in and join us on our journey into the further misadventures of Arcadian Vanalten, goofball emertus! I may not agree with every opinion in here, but I agree wholeheartedly that folks should have and defend them, even if they disagree with me. I DO ask that we keep any debates civil, and I reserve the right to remove any posts that even my loose standards find offensive.