You Get What You Pay For

Many residents just love the "free" ride, this means they hunt for free stuff and buy cheap items. I don't know if they are actually cheapskates or "tight-arses" (lmao about the term) in RL, perhaps many are, but some are also just getting freebies and cheap stuff only for their alts.

To be honest, if a guy I meet in RL turns out to be a cheapskate/scrooge/tight-arse, then that is a total turn-off to me (aside from lack of personal hygiene, bad taste and weird appearance). Now don't get me wrong - If someone is poor or doesn't earn much money, then it's understandable, if that person is always on a budget, but people who earn good money and just save it, but on the other side, always look for everything that is "free" no matter what it is, is a person who doesn't want to contribute to the economy -- thus a Scrooge.

For sure they MUST still buy daily necessities like food, toilette paper etc. but it's only because they have to. But I can bet my ass, that these people buy the cheapest ones they can get, so just they can save more money.

Anyways, back to SL. I thought of this new topic, to which I will always return to, every time I discover crap. So similar to WTF?!, this new topic is "You get what you pay for".

We all know about all sorts of resource kits being sold at XSL e.g. sculpted kits. Just like with every product, there are low and high quality ones and you can recognize them by the craftsmanship. The problem is, most resource kit users, just throw them out in the market and extremely devalue them, making them completely worthless. It's like throwing it out there for almost free, and on top of that, they also include their grandmother or insert any random valuable person or item here, as an extra.

I just wonder, why they buy resource kits that are so expensive and then just sell the item as it is, mostly the assembled sample from the creator, so they don't even make the effort of assembling it. Then they put it out there for almost free, destroying the value, thus shitting on other merchants, who might be using the same resource kit.

This is one reason why it takes too long for me to release anything, even if I partly use some of the resource kits, when it comes to anything including apparel, cuz I try to revise the items as much as possible. I know there will be people, perhaps blender users who would say: do it yourself! Learn how to sculpt! Yeah right.

Unlike many SL residents, I don't have the luxury of having too much time in my hands. I also have a RL that keeps me busy, so kits are very helpful. Imagine if everyone would do everything by themselves, then those resource kit sellers will be out of business. They sell tools for merchants to save time and focus on their creativity. So basically it's a service and you pay them for it.

Just like in RL, do you first prefer to go to school and finish a dressmaker, shoemaker, etc. course, then create your own clothes and shoes first. Or do you rather save time (well years for this matter) and go to the store and buy one instead? Or to be more blunt, would you rather take the effort of fucking yourself, if someone else can do that for you?

Of course "free" is great, but the truth is, nothing in life is for free. Period. You always pay a price in one way or another. Now if your time isn't worth anything to you, then do everything yourself.

Back to topic, I wonder what these product devaluers earn at the end, if they just throw them out in the market for little to almost no worth. I mean, do they even earn anything by using this method? There you can see, that they do not value hard work at all. Look at skins for example, they averagely cost 1000 L$. Why? Because they are so damn hard to create! It will also take you weeks, sometimes months to finish a decent looking skin. Now can you relate at all, if someone sells them for 299 L$ or even 99 L$? For a pack of 6 skins with different makeups, perhaps including the grandmother, first born baby etc.? Then either those are copybotted skins or ready made kits.

Ok enough of that, let me show you shots of two items I encountered. You might be familiar with this one, and when I saw the ads, I thought they were very well made. But then check out the shots, cuz they show the truth. Just so you know, my LOD factor is already at 5 and I got a decent graphic card. So it's not because of that. I also didn't edit the shots at all, cuz I'm too lazy right now.

These sandals come with a HUD, to tint your skin and change nail color. The skin tinter doesn't really work well, since the sculpted feet already has a baked tinted skin texture, which is difficult to match to your skin color. I'm not sure if there's a resizer, well maybe, but I didn't find it. They are also no mod, so you are basically fucked lol! BTW, I got these sandals for 10 L$ and it's not a promo or introductory price. (click on image to enlarge and see more details *shudder*)

Looks scary doesn't it? Like the skin of a dead corpse laying in the water for many hours. Shoes with sculpted feet are already creepy in their own way, cuz they remind me of amputated feet. But sloppy sculpt assembling like this example, makes it even more creepier.

Well you know what? You get what you pay for!

Now next example is not as bad as the first one. It's a fat pack with color change option, poses (freebie poses), annoying walk sound for 10 L$ (dunno if it's till on XSL). It's actually a very good sculpted work, but like usual, many just devalued them, by throwing them out as is, in the market for almost free.

Notice that the seller didn't even take the effort of choosing better attachment points for the parts, since it fucks up the boots, if you're using your AO as you can see in the shots. Luckily they're modifiable, so I adjusted them, to make them look better, but unfortunately they're still fucked up.

You get what you pay for!

The Dark Side

As you may have noticed, I never mention any of the skins I use. I only blog about the outfit and so on, cuz it's the only personal SL thing I wanted to keep for myself (also because they were all bought for personal use). But this particular Redgrave skin line inspired me to write this post.

This is actually the first Redgrave skin I ever bought, because I was never a Redgrave skin fan. One of the reasons why I wasn't feeling the Redgrave skins were, they tend to be more orange. Another reason is that every malformed bimbo with a passion for bling and Stiletto Moody shoes I encounter in world, mostly wear Redgrave. They mostly look the same too. Maybe they all live together in a bimbo camp or somethin' like that.

Anyway, I'm still not a fan of the "regular" Redgrave skins, but this one is different -- it's a Goth skin! It might be obvious already, that I have a weakness for Goths, Vampires, Demons and all those creepy stuff. That doesn't mean though, that I like all available Goth skins. For me to like a skin, these are what I look for:

- Excellent quality. Which means the shadings and make-up shouldn't be sloppy work e.g. nose and ass shading, shouldn't be too strong that it looks like it's dirty. Same goes with make-up. If it looks like someone punched your cheeks with blush that is even too dark for you, or eyeshadow like it was applied by someone who didn't have glasses on etc. And most important is -- no seams.

- Eyebrows. I'm very sensitive when it comes to eyebrows. I want them as realistic as possible and nicely shaped, but at the same time, not too thick. Please don't draw the eyebrows too close to each other. You wouldn't wanna do that in RL either or you'll look like you're angry all the time. Of course one can adjust the slider, to widen the upper nose bridge width, but not to the extreme, just to make it look right. Now if you do widen it extremely, do that with the eyes too, so you can achieve a fish-look-a-like face.

- Variety of skin colors, especially in the tan or sunkissed section

- Darker nipples. If your skin is brown or tan, light nipples just wouldn't look right.

- Hairbase. An outstandingly made one, which looks realistic is of course the non-plus ultra. The best ones in this field in my opinion are LAQ and Lelutka.

- Cleavage options. More varieties more plus points for you.

So if a skin meets most of the above requirements and the face doesn't look either like a 12 year old innocent kid, cutie pie boo boo boo sweety face or a thoroughly over-used slut, then I have to get it.

Now when it comes to Goth skins, breast cleavage and hairbase is of course an absolute plus, but the skin still needs to look gorgeous. Most Goth or Vampire skins are nothing but paper white crap, with various mascara tears running down the face crap etc. like it's everywhere you go (SL fashion is really getting more and more boring). Very little definition, cuz ok I understand it's more difficult to create more details on both very light and very dark skin.

Most also have faces like, ok they gotta be kinda scary, but you see the face and that's it. It's not tantalizing (what a vampire's aura is suppose to express) not attractive and just plain, how to say, well it's really best if they just bury themselves again and just stay there.

So it's actually very rare for me to go "wow!" when I see a really well made Gothic skin, and this time the praise goes to Redgrave. When I first saw this skin, I was blown away. Especially by the one without eyebrows and veins on the skin... it's such an amazing work! And the other one with the eyebrows, I just have to say, that they are perfect!

Here are some outfits I'm gonna show you, which compliments the Goth skin. I hope the shots I took can show the details I'm talking about. So here's for you to see. (Click on images to enlarge)

Just look how great this skin is. The detail is just amazing!

Skin: Redgrave - Trinity
Outfit: Barerose Tokyo
Eyelashes: Redgrave
Hair: Nikita Fride
Boots: Duck Nipple
Sword: Phantom Kaos - Daewalker
Eyes: Patmamu Sandalwood
Belt: Musashi
Tattoo: Strange Behavior






Outift: SLink
Hair: Exile and Nikita Fride
Necklace: Hevan Lament





Bodysuit: Graves
Cloak: Barerose
Hair: Tukinowaguma

A Second Life Alternative?

After it has been officially announced, that Linden Lab fired 30% of their employees, I, like many, started to look out for an alternative to Second Life, before the ship finally sinks. I already tried out Openlife 2 years ago, and it was mainly a pain in the ass, since nothing really worked over there. It still hasn't been successful until today, which confirms the poor performance. I even visited that grid again a few weeks ago, and it was empty. So it's actually not worth another visit.

Now I read some people talking about a new grid called "Inworldz" and they are quite enthusiastic, that it's gonna be the "next" Second Life. So I went there to check what the hype was all about. The registration was quite easy and quick, and it doesn't require your real name. There are no starter avatars available, so it's mainly back to the "ruth". So this is how I looked like, as soon as I rezzed there for the first time (click images to enlarge):

There are lots of bugs and glitches, and this one was quite creepy, cuz I had transparent holes on some parts of my body *shudder*. Some avatars were also affected by this bug.

One good thing about going to a new grid, is that "noobie" experience that you go through again. It was quite exciting to feel that way again, after 3 1/2 years in Second Life (Ahh the joys of a noobie!). My first task was, to wash off the "ruth", as soon as possible. So after I was greeted by the friendly residents, who were hanging out at the welcome spot, I immediately went to the freebie store, which was nearly located and easy to spot.

I got my first "friend" too, whom I met at the freebie shop, who also just rezzed like me. It was fun to pick up the freebies for a quick make-over, but then every newbie of course looked the same too, since there weren't many freebies available yet. So I thought, I'll just get a quick make-over, before I start uploading my own stuff later on.

But then I was crashing every 5 minutes and there are just too many bugs, which are very annoying, if you're trying to get things right. For example, if you edit a linked part that you are wearing, it will simply disappear. If you are lucky, it will appear again next time, but I unfortunately lost some stuff I was working on, caused by this bug.

There is of course a work around, which is, when the item has been rezzed, you have to unlink everything, before you start working on it. This means lots of fun if you are e.g. creating hair with more than 20 prims. Well you need to have lots of time and patience for that too.

You can basically use a viewer (e.g. Imprudence viewer) that can export stuff from Second Life and import it to Inworldz. But take note that according to the TOS, it is only possible to export stuff that you own and created. This means, if you mostly create and build stuff using an alt, you need to recreate all of these again, with your main, or the one you are using for Inworldz.

Another thing is, the other viewers I use for Inworldz, which are the Inworldz viewer, Imprudence and Hippo, the recommended ones according to the download site, are buggy and unstable. I've been crashing every 5 min. and most of the time, for no reason (silent crash). So if you are working on stuff, the more chances that you crash too. So I've been going there once in a while to proceed with some work, if I know I got some patience and time on that day, otherwise, it's a no go.

So this is how I looked like, after my first attempt of a real make-over:

I'm wearing one of the 3 female freebie hairs available from the freebie shop, since I found out, that nobody actually saw the hair I was wearing (my own creation), cuz I was the only one using the Emerald viewer, and I can see everything correctly. But others who were using the "standard" viewers, actually saw me, looking like a complete idiot. This was suppose to be my appearance, using the Emerald viewer:

But all they saw, was me wearing white colored balls attached on my head. One of the mentors at the welcome area, which is of course my "home", kept on telling me to adjust my hair. I thought, what the fuck she want? So I basically looked like a fucking imbecile, without me knowing it, since I was seeing myself correctly.

I had to figure out later on, that it's not enough to export a sculpted object from Second Life and import it to Inworldz. You also need to import all the sculpt maps, and redo the object once again.

But of course, people over there won't tell you that. Even if you keep asking what is wrong. One expects a so called "mentor" should at least have knowledge about those things. When I mentioned about the problems, that were occurring, regarding sculpties, all that mentor told me was, "Oh I love sculpties!" (insert Twilight Zone theme) jeez wtf?!

So this is an example of how they actually saw me, wearing my shoes ("hello stoopid noob!"):

After a couple of attempts and patience, this is how I finally look like:

Here's to summarize:

The Pros

• Friendly residents
• Cheaper Sims (65 US $ per month for Mainland which is only PG / 75 US$ per month for an Estate which is Mature)
• No set-up fee (yet) for a Sim purchase
• More prims available (35000 - 45000)
• Supports mega prims
• Free upload
• Working at a Sandbox is peaceful. No disturbances of griefers and such.
• Ability to transfer your lindens to your Inworldz account (if you use the same name) by paying one of the ATMs in Second Life, then withdrawing it from an ATM in Inworldz.

The Cons

• No real registered legit company for RL contact purposes
• No Physics
• Very buggy (constant crashes)
• Population is still sparse but growing rapidly (approximately 6000 total registers and 97 online during peak hours)
• Very laggy when a sim is crowded (I'd say 10 upwards).
• Items disappear when editing. I even experienced that some disappeared from my inventory
• Search is not available
• Map does not function correctly (you can't see the world map and green dots also don't appear even if marked)
• Scripts don't work correctly (e.g. the available free AO from the freebie store never works, thus no escape from the "duck" walk)
• Not possible to cash out yet (work around is to transfer the I'z to your SL account, through an ATM)
• Copybotters - which are still rare (I hope), but seeing someone who imported her complete Second Life avatar to Inworldz, and I'm certain, she didn't create everything, since the skin is a LAQ skin. I knew then, that many are using copybot viewers, to import loads of stuff to Inworldz.
• More bugs etc.

I first thought of opening up a small shop at Inworldz, by renting a small plot first, but then after experiencing all the constant crashes and bugs, I had second thoughts. I mean, who on earth would invest 75 US$ monthly, during those circumstances? I guess only people, who got enough cash to play with. Cuz it's not an investment at the moment, in my opinion. It's just a "playground" for experimenting, and you need to have lots of time in your hands (one has to be unemployed in real life, to have time for SL and other grids). I'd rather spend those 75 US$ monthly on the new iPhone.

Let me put it in this scenario, I import my stuff, recreate/modify them for Inworldz, rent a small plot, do the shots for the ads, build a shop, box up the items, put it up in the store for sale. But who the hell is gonna buy my products?

If:

• you crash when you teleport
• you can't be found using search, since it's not functioning
• just a few residents are there
• too buggy that I already got a horror scenario of customers, complaining about failed purchases
• one could finally purchase cool stuff to wear, but for what?

And so on and so forth. So since I only got very little time anyway, that I hardly log on to SL, well perhaps just twice a week, to get some work done, I came to the conclusion, that Inworldz is not the adequate alternative for Second Life yet. Well not for me. But still has potential to succeed, if the founders stay dedicated and passionate about their product.

My only concern is, since the Devs/Owners/Founders, which are only 3 people, are the ones who take care of every single thing, especially one of them, it will not be possible, to cater to all, especially, the rapid growing population. Imagine if the responsible gets sick or RL gets in the way (see Slapt.me for example), then that grid will be shut down just like that.

Of course they need to hire, professionals for certain positions, to accomodate the growing population, but believe me, once it goes up to the 10s and 20s of ks, it won't be that friendly anymore, since it will become a corporate and corporate is about business and most of all, profit. No personal greetings and catering to residents anymore. And then people will start whining, how bad everything is, and how wonderful it used to be, when there were only like 40 residents, just like what you read everyday in SL forums. Well wake up people, that's how it goes! It all belongs to progress!

All I know is, after experiencing all those discomfort, logging in to Second Life, to work on stuff for hours and hours without crashing, was all of a sudden, such a relief. And I learned more to treasure SL. Now that Philip Linden is back, I'm hoping for improvements and fixes. Also that the Lindex stabilizes again. I'ved been trying to cash out now for more than a month, and it still didn't went through, well hopefully soon.

I know Philip is not as innocent about the Linden Lab fuck-ups, as we all want to believe, but at least he knows what SL is about. And if Second Life goes down, sometime in the future, then it would be bye bye virtual worlds for me, cuz I will spend all my time then on my music, and many more other projects, when the time comes.

Anyway, I wish Inworldz much luck and success. I might give them a visit again in a year or so, if they still exist.