Lazy Days...

I've had a few lazy days lately.  Today was one of them.

Today, I took some pictures at a sim called Hazardous - it's one of my favorite places to go to take pictures, because I can get that sort of, post-apocalyptic look pretty easily there.  Anyway, here's the results.   I think the last one is my favorite.

Catching Up and Other Interesting Things

It occurred to me, today, that I have not posted anything to my blog in quite some time!  So, I am going to rectify that sad situation.

Needless to say, I've been pretty busy.  We have some new staff in at EXILE, which has helped tremendously! I had taken on an extra DJ shift on Mondays, but have happily passed that on to Ray - who I am excited to say, made #17 on the SHX TOP 40 on his first appearance at EXILE!  And, Jynxx is back!! Congrats and yay and stuff!!  There's also been RL stuff going on - switching bedrooms in the house (which was a trial, let me tell you), and general cleaning.  Got new blinds, hung those, thermal curtains, and then all of the nifty day-to-day stuff that goes on.

News on the mesh body front - #themeshproject has perhaps one of the BEST mesh body setups that I have seen to date.   Those of you who have read my previous blogs on mesh bodies know that I was pretty hooked on my WowMeh.  But, the Mesh Project ... wow.  Every detail is pretty amazing! I went all the way and got the "babydoll" head, and the deluxe body, which came with mesh hands and feet also.  Even when it was in beta, I didn't want to take it off.  (Beta had no alpha layers.)  I am REALLY looking forward to more clothing designers getting stuff out for #themeshproject!!  Oh, AND, my fave skin designer, Pink Fuel, is set to start doing skins for them as well!!  If anyone wants to get a free mesh body to try out, go into search on SL, and then under places, type in The Shops.   When you land, you need to accept the folder of HUDs that they give you, and wear the shopping HUD to get started.   Give it a try - you won't be sorry!  I will get some pictures of mine up as soon as I am able to do so.

Lots of curiosity abounded this week with some mysterious announcements in the Fallen group about a return of the club.  We're being told to "stay tuned" for more details, so I guess that is what we'll all have to do.   Should be interesting to see what happens.

I guess that's about it for me, for now.  Hopefully things slow down a bit so that I can actually get on here and update my blog more often!  Quiet time is good.  Yes.  It is.

Love N Peace,

~R

Up and Coming SL Changes

As many of you probably already know, Linden Lab has recently announced some in-the-works changes for Second Life that have the potential to be pretty game-changing.  I initially backed away from commenting on the announcement of some of those, because, lets be blunt here among friends - I've been in SL since 2007, and in that time, LL has announced changes and new policy, etc that has fallen by the wayside.  I remember when voice was first brought in - hell, I remember the introduction of flexi-hair!!  We've been through a lot together, SL and I.

First ... the announcement that there is, for lack of a better term, a "SL 2.0" in the works.  Supposedly it is to be geared more towards content creators, which I am sure that they will be jumping up and down about.  I, however, am not a true content creator.  I build a few things here and there, but I can't honestly give myself that title.  I'm on this ride to have some fun.  I'm not really sure what to make of this idea from LL, so on this topic, I have to just sit back and wait and watch to see how things go.  There seems to be a lot of "end of the world" talk going on - I don't think that is going to be the case.  Second Life is the cash cow for LL.  Why would you kill off your cash cow before the calf is even born?  Think about that for a moment, and settle down.  Please, for everyone.

Secondly, a new policy announcement from LL.  The introduction of "gaming sims".  Anyone running what LL defines as a "game of skill" (pay money in, get money out) has to do one of two things:  Either pick it up and not use it, or reclassify your sim as a gaming sim to keep it.  Sounds easy, right?  Wrong.  A gaming sim costs about $50.00 USD more a month in tier, number one.  Number two, you have to have an operator's licence.  More money.  You also have to pay (I think) quarterly to keep said licence going.  On TOP of that, anyone who doesn't have payment info on file is not going to be allowed to come to your new gaming sim. And, there will be some, who live in gambling restricted areas of the United States, who will not be allowed on your sim simply because gambling is not legal in their state, regardless of if they have payment info registered or not.  Oh, and did I mention that the creator of said games has to pay to register with Linden Lab to even sell their gaming items?

Read about it here.

There's been a lot of forum discussion about this.  People seem to be in a bit of a tizzy, and there isn't clear explanation from LL for some things.  Example - Greedy tables can be paid into and can pay out.  But, what if my Greedy table has that option turned off?  Can I still have it in my club?   Contest boards - what if people don't have to pay into them to join the contest?  Are they exempt from this ruling?  And, what about sploders?  LL seems a bit vague in answering those questions, so I am looking for a more definitive statement from them in the near future to clarify things on that front.

There is one light in this tunnel that I am pleased to see.  This will take care of places using things like Coin Search and Fish Hunt to game their traffic.  By LL (and the people who own those "Games" own definition), it is a game of skill in which people win Linden.  So, that would fall deeply into this ruling.  What I am hoping to see happen is that we will start to see an actual traffic score for places instead of inflated traffic because of things like Fish Hunt.  I've blogged about the traffic thing a few times now, please feel free to go back and have a read when you have a few minutes.

This is the part where I do some shameless finger-wagging and self-promotion by saying, EXILE will not be affected in terms of traffic because we never used Fish Hunt to pump up our daily traffic.  I guess honesty truly does pay off in the end.

Anyway, its going to be interesting to sit back and watch all of this taking effect on the grid, to watch the traffic scores going on a roller coaster ride, and to watch people scrambling to be in compliance with the new LL policy.

I guess that's about it for me, for tonight.  Its hot as hell here, and I am going to go and jump in a cool shower for a bit, then eat my dinner, and get ready for Sexy Saturday at EXILE.  Yay!!

Love and Peace,

~R

Mesh Everything, and Exile Happenings!

OMG MESH BODY?!

This was my face when I heard that SLINK had released a mesh body. Really!  I had one mesh body, and I really loved it.  It was from WOWMEH, but the creator got slapped with some bizarre DMCA violation, which makes me really sad. I was kind of worried about LL yanking it out of my inventory, so I decided to check out the one from SLINK, simply because I already have the mesh hands and feet from there.  

I was correct in that, it's much easier to match the hands and feet with the body.  I actually went and bought skin appliers.  It looks really good.

Then, of course, I decided that I wanted to try out the SLINK mesh head.  Its called "Visage", and they run about $L2200.  A bit pricey, true, but its SLINK, I thought.  So, I got myself all skin matched, which is great, because the heads that I had before didn't quite match up with my WOWMEH body, and that was really twitching my ocd.  

Sad Panda...

Back to the "Visage" head though.  I like that it all matches now, but I have to admit that I am a little disappointed that I can't adjust it more with the sliders, as I could my other two mesh heads.  I mean, it's

cute and all, but more customization ability would be great. I know it can be done, because I could do it with the other two heads.  It made me sad panda.   I mean, I am happy that I match utterly and completely now and all, but I guess I was just expecting a little bit more.  If I know SLINK though, there will be fixes and updates, and I will check them all out as they happen.  

That said, I am also really interested in seeing what happens with the WOWMEH thing ... I really loved the mesh body from them, and with all of the attention to details that went into it, I can only imagine what would happen if she were to release a head as well.  I have heard that she is working on a new mesh body, and I hope that's true!   There's already so many appliers on marketplace for wowmeh, and I was really digging them a lot.  It made things so much easier to change clothes!  Ha!  

On the topic of changing clothes ... it seems to me that a lot more thought went into the wowmeh alpha layer adjusting than the slink one.   With wowmeh, you can adjust front and back separately from eachother. Unless I am missing something, this doesn't seem to be possible with the slink one.  I really love wearing mesh clothing with my mesh body, too, and that extra little bit of customization really made them work better for me.

NEW TOPIC!! EXILE!! 

Holy cow, Saturday night was amazing!!  First off, we had a wedding.   Sir Shadow and Bailey tied the knot in the Exile Garden in front of many friends and family members.   It was absolutely beautiful, and I was so glad that Master and I were able to attend.  I love weddings, I really do, and they always make me sniffle just a little bit.  Afterwards, we all retired down to Exile for a "Phantom of the Opera" celebration party, formal of course.  Everyone looked amazing, and DJ Syn hit the SHX charts!!  Congrats, Syn!!

After that, we had the BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIG event of the night, Exile-wise.  Because, really, weddings are a pretty big deal!   DJ Satre took the stream at 8pm, and Jynxx and I were hosting.   Hybridz was the sponsor, latex, fetish wear, etc... and it was utterly amazing.  There were SO many people there, really, it took both Jynxx and I to get the hosting job done.  Traffic ended up breaking 12k, which was really great!  I think thats actually a new record for Exile traffic, but I would have to check with Master to make certain of that.  Satre also hit the SHX charts, at #4!! Congrats, Satre!! 

We had a staff meeting on Friday night, and although not all of the staff was able to attend, we did come away with some really great ideas and suggestions.  We are already at work implementing a few of those, even as I type!    I am taking over the Host Manager position while Florisa deals with some RL and SL things, and I am really looking forward to getting all of the hosts on the same page, so that we can make Exile even better.  Spydie is going to be giving me a hand with training, as well, which is great!  Jynxx is still handling the DJs and the Dancers - although there is some talk about a dance trainer to give a hand in that aspect.  We've bantered a few names back and forth, but I am not going to give out any names.

I'm going to end this post with a gorgeous picture of Bailey and Sir Shadow and their first kiss as husband and wife.  :)    Peace to all!! 

Sir Shadow and Bailey 6/28/2014

Boating and Building Fun

So, the other day, Master had gone to bed early, and I stayed online to work on a few ideas that I had for the Kinky Beach at Exile.  Master and I had been talking, because, frankly, we are on a quarter of a sim, and we had a lot of ground-level land with nothing but palm trees on it.  It looked kind of boring.  I had already replaced the dancefloor area with a snazzy new beach club build, and so I decided to get to work on the idea we had come up with.

First, I sunk all of the Exile land that wasn't in use.  Then, I raised a nifty island in the middle of all of that lovely water.  I put down a cute little sign for people to click, that rezzes rowboats for two, and we are in the process of getting some jet skis as well.  On the little island is a cuddle campfire, a lovers' dock, and a very cute beach house with BDSM furniture in it.  Jynxx and I call it "The Love Shack".  Heh.

The Exile Kinky Beach

Of course I managed to catch Jynxx on FaceBook as I was doing all of this, and she logged in to look, only halfway through her first cup of coffee.  She added to the loveliness by making a wonderful jumping dolphin! I had a dolphin, but it was old and drunk, and it just sort of feebly jumped out of the water, but going sideways.  Hers is loads better.  I also have a Victorian hot air balloon, but I am still debating on whether to put it out or not.  Its a lot of fun, seats up to 8, etc etc.

Hilarity ensued when we decided to try out the rowboats.  I was steering, and I admit, it took me a bit to get used to it.   She snapped some great pictures of the madness as it was going on.

I don't think this is how its supposed to go ...

Woman overboard!! 

"I'm on a boat!! I'm on a boat!!"

Love and Peace,

~R

Sometimes You Just Gotta...

Lately, its felt like a lot of things are really getting to me, and they shouldn't be.  So, I decided to take a day off in SL, and just wander the grid.  I found some really great places, and got some really great photo ops. Some of them, I can't show here, because of nudity and all that jazz - besides, those kinds of pictures are for my Master's eyes.  :)

Anyway, I wanted to share some of the pictures that I snapped from a sim called "It All Starts With A Smile".. To the owners of this sim - thank you, because you helped me find my smile again!!

I haven't really touched up these pictures.  Then again, how can you touch up happiness?

Stairs leading up into a quaint Italian-style village

A cute little house that I found

Picking some apples

Painting the landscape

Getting my hands dirty

Time to reflect.  Coffee and cookies helped!

NINJA ROLLS!

A good movie to end the night

To Cheat Or Not To Cheat

Recently, we have been paying a lot of attention to traffic in SL.  For those of you who are not SL players, traffic is defined by not only how many people visit your club, but how long they stay at your club.  As an example, one person who stays for several hours could be worth more traffic than three people who come in and stay only a few minutes, if that makes sense.

In paying attention to the traffic, we've been noticing that a lot of clubs are fudging their traffic - that is to say, setting out alts to sit all day/night, or using "traffic builders" -- things like sploders and fishing and coin hunting, where avs come in with the sole purpose of winning linden provided by the club owner.  Not only is it expensive, but in my honest opinion, its cheating.

Tell me what a traffic builder like "Fish Hunt" has to do with BDSM clubs or hangouts?  Do those people coming in want to participate in your BDSM club events?  No.  They are there for one thing and one thing only - to win lindens.  They could care two shits less about what you have going in your place.  Not to mention, SL ToS state that gaming traffic is illegal.  Below, find the link on marketplace for said "Fish Hunt".

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Fish-Hunt-Buoy-Increase-Land-Traffic-10-tax/3598775

The funny thing is ... whenever the owners of said places aren't online for several days, their traffic tends to mirror ours pretty closely.  We're not a huge club, certainly nothing to the scale that Fallen Angels BDSM Club used to be, but we do pride ourselves on having great staff, and fun events for everyone - BDSM and vanilla.  Our traffic can run anywhere from 4500 to 9000.  And the thing is, when the owner of the other place isn't online to pay the Fish Hunt thing for several days ... theirs is about the same.  Which is saying something, considering that they have far more events per day than we do, and tend to put cash and prizes on the board for almost every event (something I will also delve into).

While I understand that one has to have traffic to get traffic, wouldn't it be better to do it the right, fair, HONEST way, instead of cheating?  Wouldn't it be better to have people at your place who are truly interested in your place, and your staff, and not just winning linden?

Which leads me into my next topic ... Clubs that put cash and prizes on the board for every single event.  See above statement.  I have no problem with sponsoring or putting cash on the board for a special event.  Even a couple events per week is a good thing.  But every single event?  Watch your place the next time you run a contest.  Sure, you may have 40 people at your event.  How fast do they all fuck off after the event ends?   Within seconds.  I've seen it happen.   They don't hang around at all.   So, its flash traffic - people who are only coming because they want what goodies you have to throw on the board.   That isn't club loyalty.  Its not loyalty to your staff.

Here's my challenge.   Go a week and do things the HONEST way.   Lets see what happens then.