Poll about the Second Life economy for 2012

I just put up a short, simple poll asking people what they think the state of the economy in Second Life will be like for 2012 vs 2011. Whether you're an SL merchant or simply a shopper, feel free to express your thoughts with the click of a mouse. You can also comment on this post if you want to give more details!

Happy New Year!!!

Yay! 2011 is coming to a close and given the state of the economy in real life and Second Life, it can't  come any too soon. Hope your 2012 is much, much better! Hugs to all!

BIG SALE: Nymph Couture closing shop

Nymph Couture, like many in-world stores, is closing its doors and moving exclusively to SL Marketplace. So, for a limited time, everything in the store has been reduced to $25L or less. First a warning. Lots of things look to me like re-colored template items and really only worth $25L at most in the first place. However, there are a few gems lurking around. One I particularly liked was Kountry Kutie -- a complete outfit with top, undies, ripped brown jeans, belt and hat on every layer imaginable. It's very well done with realistic textures, shadows and some nice sculpty work on the hat (even if you will have to heavily mod your hair to keep those strands from poking through).

If you're selective in your shopping, you'll have fun unearthing other great outfits and items like I did at Nymph Couture. There are some guys skins and items too although I didn't have a chance to really look at them.

SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Corrupted%20Innocence/198/96/26

New outfits from Inga Wind

It's been awhile since I've blogged about much of anything. What with holidays and all, I've been too busy for second life. Darn that real life! Anyway, Inga Wind sure hasn't been idle. Three new outfits in two weeks!
Two of them are nice re-colors of existing outfits and one is completely new. First the new one called Pavonine --  sort of a 20's flapper look mixed with Las Vegas or French showgirl. Although everyone know peacocks are male, this stunning outfit is perfect for channeling your inner Rockette! The colors are striking and the detail in the feathers is wonderful. Includes all shown including shoes. $800L ($450L for Wind group members)

Next up is a re-color of one of Inga's older outfits called Evelyn. I have modeled Evelyn in green and red and frankly, I think the new Silver version is the best of the series. Worn with black pearls or hematite, it's girly girl casual done right. Complete outfit as shown includes the cutest little bowling shoe style flats. This has become one of my favorite daily wearables.

$350L ($250L group price)

And last we have Millie in Pink-- another re-color. Also available in black (see left), Millie is a great example of how a recolor can often look totally different than the original! Millie in Pink including shoes and neclace is $400L ($200L group price).

SLURL TO INGA WIND: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Pitreavie/192/223/375

Thumbnail images for Second Life Viewers?

As I was scrolling through my collection of Second Life outfits, I realized I was hopelessly lost as to what was what. While I try to rename folders so they are more meaningful than "Charlotte in Blue", I still can't remember what the outfits actually look like. So I thought...what if you could have an arbitrary image assigned to a folder and the viewer or server or whatever would convert it into a thumbnail? The idea being you could visually see what the outfit looked like in its folder. It might even be helpful for builds or full avatar folders.

However, I'd only want to see this feature if it didn't appreciably affect viewer performance and if it could be turned off and on, or made into a different "view" on Inventory. Thinking further, if you could name an image (not always possible though) with a convention like thumb_myimage, the viewer would know to make it the thumbnail for the folder.

Anyway, I made a JIRA new feature request for it here (vote for it if you like the idea):
https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-27168

And here's a link to my topic in the Second Life forums if you'd like to discuss this there:

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Second-Life-Viewer/New-feature-Thumbnail-images-for-folders/td-p/1167227

Random gripes about Second Life Viewer 3

OK, I've spent about two weeks off & on with Viewer 3 and all I can say is, the next version of Firestorm can't come any too soon! Keep in mind my comments are coming from having stuck with old style viewers including Phoenix and Imprudence up until now.

I can't see how Viewer 3 could EVER be considered easier for a newbie to use let alone anyone who wants to make or build things in Second Life. The user interface is just awful. I'm especially frustrated trying to create a new item of clothing. With Phoenix and the old versions of the SL viewer, you can edit appearance, create the new item, upload a texture for it, drag the texture into the item, save and done. With Viewer 3, uploading throws the texture directly into inventory and naturally, trying to retrieve it throws you out of appearance edit mode. Who is the idiot who thought that would be helpful?

Plust there's the obscure little gear that actually triggers the Edit appearance or create new clothing item. Stoopid.

Your World, The Linden Lab Way
Viewer 3 Confusion

And communicating via IM/group/local chat has become a mysterious artform. No longer simple windows for each conversation or a nice single window with tabs. Instead I'm having to pick through bottom bar notices that open wildly different views to chat depending on who or what I'm doing. On top of that everything take up soooo much screen space it totally gets in the way of the SL experience. You know, your world, your way. I have a nice big widescreen monitor and SL now looks like a mass of info windows with your 3D experience relegated to an unviewable background half the time.

Oh and those slide out windows? Nice Linden Lab that half the information on them (like inventory) isn't visible unless you either undock them or scroll. That's easier for newbies how?

And setting up my microphone for voice? That was real easy to find -- not. I mean WTF?? Input/Output Devices? Huh? That sounds more like something to do with Xcite attachments than anything to do with my microphone or voice.

How about worn items not showing the folder they come from? Ugggh. My usual routine is to ADD items to my outfit then REMOVE the old outfit by clicking the top level folder. Well that can't be done because WORN items doesn't show what folder they come from. So now you have to REMOVE them one stupid article at a time.

I'm sorry Lab rats, this M-inspired monster hasn't improved one bit other than the back-end features like mesh and finally being able to build with megaprims. The interface just flat out sucks.

It's Oktoberfest in Second Life!

Don't I look cute? Spaten dunkels anyone?

OK, I'll admit it. I love Oktoberfest events in real life and I love trachten (Bavarian / Austrian peasant clothing) -- especially dirndls and those poofy half-blouses that are often worn as separates. Call me strange but on my last trip to Europe several years ago, I bought a totally cute pair of red edelweis-style walking shoes in Switzerland. My friends thought I was nuts!

So today, after seeing an ad for a local Oktoberfest event, I thought hmmmm -- what does Second Life have to offer? Using Linden Labs awful excuse for search plus terms like dirndl, oktoberfest and biergarten, a few promising spots turned up.

After visiting several, I didn't find much in the way of any genuine duplications of the big giant Munich Oktoberfest with its massive beer tents. However, a sort of mini-version is available at Munich City. There are some rides, an outdoor biergarten and a number of temporary tent vendors set up in the midst of a very cool German town build.

The best part was finding a FREEBIE vendor for something like 20 different dirndls!!! OMG! Dirndl heaven! Yay! I grabbed almost all of them. The one shown in the photo is called Dirndl Walli and you get the flexi skirt, blouse, glitch undies and underblouse. The details are excellent and similar outfits go elsewhere for upwards of $300L - $450L (although usually with more layering options). I added the socks (the gray around the toes is a lighting glitch), "Jane Fire" heels from Tesla and a freebie red wood ball necklace and earrings.

Here's the SLURL to Munich City. Look for the dirndls on a long wooden cart. They say $120L on the boxes but they are actually all set to $0L. Whee! There are also several merchants with low-priced trachten including lederhosen, men's alpine wear and more dirndls.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Munich%20City/12/222/41

So what Oktoberfest places, events or things can you recommend? I'd love to hear about them. PROST!