PES Has Moved

PES Outdoor Party Pavilion

It has been about a month since my last entry and that's because we have been busy moving.  And moving is not easy in a virtual world. But we had to move. I was able to check online at http://gridsurvey.com/ and find that the sim we were living, working and playing on was sharing a single server with 31 other sims. The lag was often times unbearable. So I used that same web site and some "for sale" listings and found a sim that was sharing the same server with only 14 other sims. A quick word about sims.

Entry To Pavilion

Sim, or simulator, is a virtual chunk of land that measures 256 x 256 meters square. There are different types of sims but the type I'm referring to is capable of processing 15,000 primatives or "prims". Each of these sims exists on a server and processes not only the objects there, but also the avatars. The server processes the avatar's movements and looks and broadcasts it to the other avatars so that we can all interact. Each server is capable of multiple sims. In the beginning of SL, only one sim could exist on a server. Each server could only process 15,000 prims. But with advances in hardware and software, it is now possible to allow multiple sims to exist on one server. But how many? Well, the Cabria we were on was up to 31 other sims sharing the same server. We found out the hard way that it's too much. So we moved. So be wary when you purchase land. It might be too far stretched. Be sure to use that link I provide for you before you lay your money down.

Facing The Manor From The Pavilion

The Cabria sim was unfortunately experiencing lag. Lag is where your virtual world experience is greatly slowed down. You can try to move about only to find that your avatar is stuck in position. Or you do manage to start walking but your avatar will not stop. You can type a message in your chat window and it is greatly delayed ( sometimes a full minute ) or it never shows up in local chat at all. Many undesirable and unexpected events occur. And while lag is a common thing in SL, there is usually a temporary cause behind it. Too many scripts running. Avatars with too many scripted items running. An excess of avatars on one sim (30+) could be the problem. But in our case, it was the land owner company. They became greedy and tried to run too many sims on one server. The results were annoying and we, as a group of investors, had had enough. So we moved.

PES Manor and Sex/Orgy/Dungeon House

We are now at Maverick d'Alliez and quite content. I checked and there are only half the number of sims on this one server. There literally is almost no lag here. So when you get a chance, be sure to come on down and visit. The place is open to the public and you will be given an automatic group invite. If you do join, you will be informed of upcoming events and such, without being spammed.

Nude Beach

We have dragons, and at this time some Halloween decorations, a sex/orgy/dungeon house for playing in, a dance pavilion where we hold our musical and trivia events, a manor which Sir Wade, who had to leave us, owns. But he has generously left the manor in place for our use. And a nude beach. Yes, it doesn't matter what time of year it is in 1st life, Power Exchange Society will always have a nude beach. After all, if it's winter time here in the US, it's summer in Australia, right?

Group Discussion Hall

Group Discussions Are Now In Text Chat And Voice Chat

Power Exchange Society has been holding group discussions headed by Sir Wade for a few weeks now. These informative meetings are designed to not only entertain, but to educate as well. And a really nice feature is the fact that anyone can join in and add to the discussion.

Many other BDSM discussion groups provide pretty much the same events, but PES is setting out into some uncharted territory. While text chat transcripts of these group discussions are made available by other groups, ours will also include the option of requesting the sound file transcript of the discussion. In this way, a group member who misses a meeting and wants to share in the knowledge gained, can request the sound file and read along as they listen.

Due to the sound file size restrictions in SL, the sound file will need to be sent via email. If you would like the latest copy of our Sunday night discussions in either notecard form, sound chat or both, join our group by visiting Power Exchange Society on Cabria. You will be given a group invitation. Every week we will be offering our chats in text and voice and simple instructions on how to get them.

...With A Little Help From My Friends

Yes, just like the song by The Beatles, "With A Little Help From My Friends", I get by with some help too. And I have some great and talented friends indeed. There is angie, who is a wonderful manager of our Power Exchange Society. Talented in creating announcements of events and spontaneous gatherings. Then there's Wade, who has such a great deal of experience with the BDSM and D/s lifestyle in his first life that he's easily able to apply it to our second life and provide some highly enjoyable experiences from that first life which applies to the goals we try to attain in SL. Then there's peyton who debuted as a hostess last night and an entertaining, sensuous dancer as well. She did a wonderful job and we are fortunate to have her. And then there is cat. My mine. She has produced a setting unlike anywhere else in SL, making for a comfortable, warm and inviting gathering place to meet and discuss topics of interest or express our views with others. She also ensures that everyone has a pose-able place to park so that everyone feels welcome.

With my 1st life work schedule, there is no way I could keep up with the nightly events needed to make the Society a success. But we sure could use a DJ or two. DJs are great for holding events. They provide entertainment and interaction on a meaningful level. I had DJ Alex for a while and she did a beautiful job! But she was hired out from under me at another place. Then angie found another DJ but he was not comfortable with our open setting, so he resigned before he was even put into the schedule. So at this point, it's just me and it's taking any of my free evenings to put on these events. But that's not to mention that our own Sir Wade is lacking in the group discussion department. He's providing excellent Sunday night events. And there are game nights and impromptu get-togethers too. It's all working out great and by the time all of us as a group have more time to spend online, we should have quite a following of members of PES.

DJ Alex. No longer with us.

But that's not to say none of us find time for other activities. We most certainly do! I have been working on a space station build which has been not only challenging but fun to do. It has airlocks (thanks to Aangell) and an elevator system. It will feature animated controls and work stations. Science lab, engineering section, crew quarters, etc. I have also been working on producing a fun place for our more open-minded visitors to enjoy such as an orgy room, private suite and a world class dungeon.

But PES is not the only thing to keep us occupied in SL. There is also shopping, exploring (and there's lots and lots to explore in SL), learning and creating. With the advent of mesh creations in SL, objects look more realistic and require much less computer processing time (less prims). So it has been very interesting. And one thing I should mention here that warrants close notice. The prices of just about everything have gone down. Way down. Sure, there are some old-timers that believe their denim jacket, shirt and pants are worth L$450. But there are many more that are selling their higher-quality outfits for hundreds less. I have found impressive vehicles such as aircraft, cars, spacecraft, for under L$100. Now it would seem that SL is getting much more affordable. But is Linden Labs coming down on their land prices? Nope, not a bit. Hopefully they will figure that out soon and drop the cost of "living" there proportionate  with the cost of everything else. Then you will see the user base explode in SL.

All in all, SL has been going along pretty enjoyably well, despite 1st life's efforts to impede our progress. Be sure and stop by the sim (Cabria) sometime and check us out. Join the group for scheduled event announcements and those often times unplanned for spontaneous games.

Sixth Time Is A Charm

Since I first logged on to Second Life, I have been fascinated by the "clubs" there. I can go there and dance (jump on an animation) and never get fatigued. I can tip a pole dancer/stripper there and get one of the most erotic thank-yous I can imagine.  I can join their group and receive messages and updates as to what is going on in their club and what I can expect, and when. But what fascinated me the most about them was that I didn't own one.... And why is that?

Between two alternate avatars, I have owned 6 "clubs". I have the "itch" and I just need to scratch it. But this time I wanted to make it special. This time I wanted to make is profitable. Don't scoff! Some clubs are profitable! Or at least break even. That's all I ask for. My smokin' hot submissive, wife, best friend cat wants the same thing. She wants a "hang out" and while there are oodles of those in SL, they also come with oodles of requirements. Our "hang out"? NO requirements. Just have a kind heart and open mind. Is that too much to expect? And oh my word! The things we have discovered and learned in our discussions!

Every Sunday night, co-owner Wade will hold a group discussion. Some of the topics have been "punishments", "nomenclature/titles", "remote domination" to name a few. Be sure to visit Power Exchange Society Hall and have some fun! That's what we are all about. The discussions are deep and often performed in voice chat. But you can also use text chat to get your point across or hear what is being discussed.

Many nights we simply plug into DJ alex and have a "barely there" party. It's rumored that she likes to watch bouncing mammalian protuberances. She is not alone. She has excellent taste in music and if yours truly were unable to DJ, I would choose her to take my place. She's that good.

But on nights where we are not a full-house, I go door to door to find places to place ads for the Society. I also look for new people who might be interested in what we have to offer. One night a woman showed up and was pleasantly surprised to find that we were having a discussion in voice and text chat. She was able to share her experiences pertaining to our topic at the time and immediately asked when the next discussion would be held. She will be returning every Sunday. We have group discussion regulars too who show up regularly to discuss our current topic or for that matter, anything on their minds. Comments, questions, everything is dealt with.

We are also starting a Game Night. Every Wednesday we will have a group game night. It could be anything from Greedy Greedy, Cards Against Humanity, Trivia or wagering games of skill. Those too are held in both voice chat and text chat. Not everyone can be talking on a mic when the rest of the household is sleeping so we respect that.

1st life work keeps me busy every other weekend but those weekends I do have off are filled with events. Dances, contests, trivia, etc. It's also handy to know that we maintain girls (and soon men) as "group sluts". They are at the Society Hall and dungeon to serve group members. Even if they are away shopping for clothespins or butt plugs, they can be paged by clicking on their Group Slut message board. They are here to serve you!. So why wait? If you have not ever tried out Second Life, now is the time. And if you are familiar with it, and think you have experienced everything there is to experience, give Power Exchange Society a try first and let me know what you think. See you there!

Power Exchange Society = Fun, Friendly, Informative Hangout

All I can say is "amazing". Our Power Exchange Society group has taken right off and is growing exponentially partly due to the fact that the lovely rachael is managing the place and inviting people to visit, and the adboards, classified ads, community calendar postings and word-of-mouth. Our SmartBot and group inviter are indeed a huge factor as well. We went from 18 group members to 59 group members in just under two weeks.

We have been having a bunch of fun there at the Society Hall. Dances, discussions, events, games and just plain socializing. Yesterday for example, a group of us like-minded dominant and submissive people formed a circle in the meet-and-greet area and just had a very good time. Conversations are intriguing all the time. But during those rare times there's a lull in the conversation, someone just clicks on the Truth Ball and we are off and running. The questions in that thing can be fun to answer. Embarrassing, yes. But a wonderful way to get to know someone.

Our Wonderful and Diverse Group Members

The reality of the place is not exactly as was envisioned when I began to create it. We were hoping to be able to have group owned submissives around to service the Dom/mes in the group. Unfortunately, we have yet to hire anyone for those positions, but we have had a great number of wonderful people become members, and that's what it's all about. The group of us, all from various time zones around the world, get together and chat, dance, play games or emote our actions and feelings about our new found friends and families. Not to mention, there is a world-class dungeon down the stairs, an orgy/sex place, a brand new private sex room to take someone you want to keep to yourself, and a gaming area. Just about anything anyone could want to do in SL, can be done there. There are also plans to incorporate a shopping center into our location. So you will be able to purchase "toys" and avatar accessories such as hair, eyes, skin, clothing, etc. It is our goal to provide the typical D/s lifestyle user with everything they could desire, whether it costs or not.

One night, we had a formal discussion on Terms pertaining to a D/s relationship, such as Sir or Master, submissive or slave, etc. The discussion was moving along pretty good when a griefer teleported in and began shooting everyone with projectiles. They of course killed everyone in attendance which sends us "home". Annoying to say the least. So I reported his name to Linden Labs, banned him from the sim and muted. him. But the end result was the small group of attendees did not return. So that discussion did not turn out so well. But the next one we held there was perfect. It was about Trust in a D/s relationship. Without trust, D/s does not work. Your submissive must trust you or the relationship will fall apart. That discussion was slated for 1 hour but it was full steam ahead and it went on for better than 90 minutes. Met some great people that night, for sure. Most of them joined the group and return on a regular basis.

We have had a couple of parties there too. Contests where I would DJ the music and take requests from the guests, plus they would wear an item and compete to see who has the best/worst/most noticeable one and vie for a cash prize. In this case, the event was "Demo Hair". Anyone who has shopped for avatar accessories in SL knows you cannot tell how hair is going to look on you. So creators/merchants create "Demo Hair". It's a free version of their creation which had a prim attached to the hair, usually hovering overhead, that has their shop logo on t. In this way, the shopper can try the hair on before buying it. So that was our contest, "Best Demo Hair". The signs hovering over everyone's head made the whole group look goofy and provided a great deal of laughs. L$1250 was given away in prize money that night so if you want to join the group and get notices for when these events occur, be sure to go to http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Cabria/192/157/1323

Unfortunately, my 1st life does not allow me to be able to hold a great deal of events. That's good for group members who do not wish to have to endure countless group messages, but bad for the rest of the group who desire activities most nights. So I am hiring. If you would like to provide entertainment to our members, either as a DJ, host/hostess or group slut, please contact me, Otto Turbo or Rachael for an interview. Notecards work best as IMs become capped quickly.

Our silly demo hair

One quick note before I sign off; adboards. Adboards can be found all over the SL grid. For what is usually a modest fee, you can place and ad, just like a billboard on someone else's sim and if people are interested, they can click on it to receive your landmark, notecard and information. Some adboards charge a very high rent due to the amount of traffic they acquire. But I have discovered that that is not always a good investment. For example, I took out an ad at a place with 12,000 traffic. That's fairly respectable. I got 7 clicks on it in one week. That's one click per day. In contrast, I rented an adboard at a very prominent high-traffic place for lots of Linden$ and only received 2 clicks. Not worth it. Needless to say, I did not renew that adboard. Adboards, when done wisely, can bring in a huge number of new people to your place and hopefully they will join your group. The more people in your group, the more people who read your announcements and the more friends you will make.

Forced To Watch. The Enticing Side of D/s

Help Wanted

The new Power Exchange Society venture is coming right along. We have already had a couple of discussions pertaining to D/s lifestyle and a DJing event. While the number of attendees has not been as many as one would like, it's to be expected. We need more traffic and to build traffic, we need more people in the group so that when I send out announcements about events and discussions, more people receive them meaning more people will attend.

Right now, I have an automatic group-joiner installed at the Society Hall. Once someone teleports in, it will invite them to join the group. In order to get people to teleport in, I have to let them know the place even exists. What I'm doing now is renting out adboards at various popular locations throughout the Second Life grid. If people click on the adboard, it gives them items such as notecards and landmarks which lead them to the place. But that's not all. I'm also posting the events in the online Community Calendar. Often times when people are looking for things to do in SL, they check out the calendar online. They can click on my link there if it interests them and if SL is not already running, it will start up their viewer and teleport them in to the hall.

My friend Javier said it best though when he told me we need an attraction or two to get people in and get them coming back for more. So he suggested women (but guys will work for this purpose too) that are there for excitement and pleasure. In other words, we need sluts.

Imagine being able to logon to SL, finding that hardly any of your friends are online and the ones that are there are preoccupied. So you teleport over to your favorite hang-out and find women there that are adventurous enough to offer up themselves for your pleasure, and at no charge. That's Javier's vision and it sounds like a good idea to me too. Yes, I have tried maintaining this sort of thing in the past, but that was with paid escorts. These girls (and boys) would be doing this for the adventure and excitement. There are many people out there who log into SL just for the naughty side of it. They go to these free sex places and hang out, waiting for someone to hook up with. If girls were there to service the group members, Power Exchange Society would get very popular, very quickly. Not only would there be more group members to attend our events, there would be fun things to do during those times when there are no discussions going on.

So yes, PES needs sluts! Please contact me, Otto Turbo or cat Genesis or AngieBaby (tbyrd Bert) for an interview if you are interested. You will need to be adult verified and your avatar should be at least 30 days old. Exceptions will be made if your avatar is an alt. The compensations? You will be a member of a wonderful family and always have interesting things to do. So if you can afford to spend one hour at a time for three times per week at the Society Hall and dungeon, or if you know of someone, then this place is for you. http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Cabria/204/151/1322

Power Exchange Society

Power Exchange Society discussion area

We finally have a new direction and it is a group titled Power Exchange Society. No, it's not a club really. While there are similarities such as dancing and Truth or Dare games and Trivia, there are also Dominant/submissive (D/s) lifestyle discussions. It is basically a meeting place for people with like minds who love to discuss their kinks, and to meet others like themselves. It is a bit over 20 meters above where we have our dungeon/play area. The 20 meter mark is the distance that local chat stops travelling. Otherwise, the meeting/greeting place would be interrupted by the chats down there and vise-versa.

In the past, there was the Cherry Street mall/club group. We had events and parties and danced and joked. It was also a great place to shop for clothing and such. We had an underwater ballroom, cuddle forest, castle and dungeon along with a nude beach. Well, our latest home, Cabria, doesn't allow for that much area, so we have basically just rezzed out a couple of houses for us to live in and terraformed some beach-front and lagoon. It's been a wonderful place to live, but it's time to start making the place attractive to hang out at. We have always been going to other places for socializing but now, we will be able to entertain guests right here at our home parcel.

While this will look much like a typical "club", and it will most certainly be used in such a manner, we will be gearing it more toward a discussion location. Text chat, voice chat, BDSM games and such will be allowed. Discussions of all aspects of the D/s lifestyle. Many people crave to learn more about this manner of relationship and even people with years of experience can gain something from these types of discussions. I see it all the time. And while there are dozens of groups out there, available to all, doing the same thing, I feel we have as much, if not more, to add to the society. So I suppose I will need to get one of those group chat moderator HUD type thingies. It allows you to see who has a question or comment in a large group of chatters. If one types in a special character such as "@" it can indicated they want to talk and the moderator can discern who's turn it actually is based on the ordered list on the HUD itself.

But there will be more than just learning at Power Exchange Society. We will have parties and maybe even some contests. I have also toyed with the idea of adding a gaming area up above the meeting place. We currently have a gaming place on the parcel, but it's not fixed up nor decorated. It's simply a platform. If I were to use that without putting at least rails or walls on it, the drunken visitors might fall off. And it's a long way down!

Nine Lives

It was birthday time for my birthday girl cat. My cat of 9 lives. I got her a gift. It is a sensuous pole dance for her to strut her stuff on. It has teases for me and even contains sex of all kinds! Animations such as straight sex, bondage sex, even gang bangs! Yeah, she's insatiable... But what else does one get the girl who has everything? A very naughty dance pole, that's what.

So I got her the pole but before letting her use it, I had to spank her. One spank for every year of her age. She is 4 SL years old now so I had to make them brief but memorable spanks. I made her strip bare naked for me. After all, it's her birthday. She should be wearing her birthday suit. Then I waited and waited and waited patiently until she finally figured out she had to ask permission to bend over my knee, which she finally did. Then it was time to administer her much needed spankings. Yes, she yelped and squirmed and put up a fuss, but I enjoy that! Don't know why. Don't get me wrong, I'm not cruel, but her yelping and screaming really were a turn-on. But alas, only four spanks. I made sure they were good ones, but I sure was wishing for more.

Then I finally showed her the pole. Then I even showed her the dance pole I got her! She was happy despite her sore bottom. Oh sure, there was a card and even some flowers I think? But the pole was the most impressive and yes, it was more for me than her. She needs to come to terms with the fact that I often view her as a sex object. Oh well, arrest me....

People Watching

Voice Chat Discussion Group of D/s People

There must not be anything which can compare to watching people interact in a virtual world in which you can control everything. Remember, Second Life is more than just a game. The universe within is created by the users and the users are real people. Sure, some of them are unicorns or dragons. Some are "furries" or demons. There are robots, faeries (did I use enough vowels?), Homer Simpsons (doh!), dogs, minotaurs, petites, owls, all manner of mythical and reality based creatures. In the end, they are all human. Real people. Full of surprises. Even the noobs are full of surprises. You would be amazed at what you might find wandering around the metaverse. Let's see what sort of diversity SL has to offer in that area.

Sure, I stayed mostly within the human end of the spectrum, but human avatars have lots of surprises to offer. I took one evening and struck out on a quest for a hangout place for me and my submissive. I had hours to spend and I strove to remain in the background for the most part, not barging in to any conversations nor joining in with RP (Role Play). After all, I was observing and striving to get to know these locations and the people in them.

When you enter a new location (and there are thousands of them called sims), you are often automatically presented with a notecard containing the group/sim rules, along with a landmark. The notecard with the rules will give you a basic rundown on the group which occupies that particular sim. Most of what I was looking for was a "hangout" place that catered to the D/s (Dominant/submissive) lifestyle. If you are curious about that lifestyle, please see most of my earlier posts. So I used the built-in search function of SL and the search terms "D/s lifestyle". After all, this is what I and my sub enjoy doing; hanging out at these sorts of places. What I found was diverse and intriguing. I found places where dozens of people just stood around and were seemingly silent. I would have my voice chat feature activated, yet nobody was saying anything. There was not so much as a peep in the local chat either. I'd have to assume that people were either mass asleep at their keyboards or chatting in private IMs (Instant Message). Not exactly what we are looking for.

At one time, we had a sim where we had a hangout spot and it included a spot where people would rez in when they came to visit. The Cherry Street shopping mall and nightclub had a greeting area. People would find us in search of either Places or Classified ads, click the search results link and poof, they were rezzed in right to that hangout spot. The place was so active that me and cat would just sit there and wait for them to pop on in and greet them. Often times we would have friends visiting with us and with the addition of random people teleporting in, it was an active and friendly D/s place to be. Unfortunately, first life financial burdens forced us to let it go (see any past posts about the region called Styll). So ever since then we have been seeking out an equally inviting, D/s friendly place, without much luck. But I will keep looking when I have time. And on this night, I had the time.

These sims or regions were all rated for Adult content meaning that unless little Johnny stole his dad's credit card and ID, the avatar was over the age of 18 and able to view any sort of content these places would care to display. So you had to be ready for just about anything. Fortunately in the D/s community, extreme sights and concepts are considered undesirable such as death, dolcette, dismemberment, etc. So I never knew what I was going to find once I clicked on a teleport link. And that's what makes this type of exploring so entertaining. You never know what might pop up.

Come Visit and Use This Girl

This evening I discovered places with lots of people jabbering away about sex and desires. Avatar accessories, places to shop, permission requests to dress, permission requests to speak, jokes, inside jokes, etc. It was wonderful. One place I ran into had games I like to play such as Greedy Greedy, and the place was a RP place where you didn't have to wear a special group tag stating you were in character. In character was the only way you could exist in that location. I like that. Your character is you; who your avatar is. Simple. Some places have where you need to wear an Observer tag and if you are in the group, are you a predator or are you hunted? Complicated. My solution is, "stick around and find out". But I do not make the rules at places like these.

Other places had submissive women that were there for the dominant's use. They would be stripped bare and ready for sexual usage. Some were sex slaves that where bound to a device and naked for your inspection, ready for auctioning off. There are dozens of slave auction places in SL. These are not to be confused with RL slavery. These SL people have the option to live out their fantasy as a sex slave for a limited period of time. It's a strangely fulfilling fantasy, but fantasy nonetheless.

Temple of the Open Collar

There was another place I visited where lots of people would hang out. It is the place where the Open Collar was given out. Open Collar is a free (open source) coded collar that most dominants use to give to their submissives. It allows for quite a bit of control of the submissives viewer, which is the portal to the virtual world. In other words, my submissive has given to me total control of her online experience. I utilize the software built into these collars, worn by the avatar, to control her. I know, this doesn't sound at all romantic but trust me, it's a very powerful tool and takes a heightened amount of trust to hand over that sort of control to your dominant. The Open Collar place had a lot of people in it but the conversations were either mostly silent and some of the public chats were quite juvenile.

Not so with Domination Palace. If you get a chance, go there. Lots of D/s couples and singles mingle there and they all appear to be mature about it. Refreshing. Me and cat have been there a few times and she hangs out there a lot. It's very close to the ideal D/s hangout we are looking for only it's a bit too sexually oriented for my tastes. Still, it's not necessary to participate all the time. Lots of good "scenes" going on though at any given time. Give the place a try. It's at http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Oud%20Holland/204/64/1802

My Kryptonite

Finally, there's no place like home. We SL users are all in control of our environments (so long as we pay for it) and I have the most wonderful family and partner/submissive/SL wife. She keeps me coming back for more. Per my SL daughter's suggestions, we have formed a group, The Turbo Family, and we are going to organize and take a massive portrait of everyone. Hopefully by next week, I'll be able to post that picture to this blog. It can be tricky getting everyone together all at once, and there are plenty of little Turbos running around, but we are going for it. Check here for updates.

Enjoying Time in SL

The adventures in Second Life lately have been good. One would think that after almost six years as an avatar in SL that I would become bored with it. Quite the opposite is true though. People are always being more and more creative there and making wonderful worlds to visit, objects/gadgets to use or play with and, as I have recently found out, groups to join with lessons to master. All of this is made possible due to all my online free time and that is a direct result of being freed from DJing. While that all sounds like a better online experience, I can't help missing my DJing events. I am already entertaining the idea of returning to that with possibly less scheduled events, freeing up more time for exploring and such.

Shopping for a new collar

Much of my free time enjoyment is made possible by cat. Much of the stuff we do cannot be accomplished without the other. We play in BDSM dungeons and go shopping and sometimes just play a game or two with starie. It's all wonderful fun. But as I mentioned above, there are groups which require commitment. Any time I have joined a demanding group in the past, I have had to pay money to belong. That's about as demanding as it got. Well, in the case of the group cat wants to join, they don't want your money, they want your time and efforts. And while I can certainly understand why she may want to be a member of this group, I also understand that it's not the sort of thing I am interested in. It's a group that has specific roles for women as opposed to the specific roles for men. Not my "cup of tea" as it were. So when she joins this group, I will most certainly miss her and that makes me sad. But it's not until next winter that she will have enough online time to devote to that group so there's no sense in me worrying about it now. I am going to enjoy her company to the fullest until then and I'll deal with her absence next year.

Speaking of cat, it is coming up on three years since I have collared her. Starie was showing me some collars made by a designer with very good tastes, so I showed them to cat and she loved a couple of them so I got her a new one. That is the first time she has taken off her old collar since I locked it on her nearly three years ago. It's a testament to her devotion to me.

cat's new collar

 So I'm looking for something to keep me occupied in SL that is removed from what I do now, which is exploring, taking cat out, playing games and building stuff. While all of these are fun to do, as I stated, I am missing DJing. So I might do that plus something else. I never considered joining a group that demands a time commitment but that might be an option. After all, my SL daughter Neva belongs to a role playing group and she really enjoys it. Cat will be in a group like that next winter too. I will begin hunting for a group like that tonight.

Post DJ Times

Due to on again and off again issues with my internet "service", I am unable to run my music streaming software and Second Life viewer at the same time without anticipating a locked up computer at least a few times in two hours. Not worth the headache. So I have been spending all of my time in SL either socializing or creating things. And wow, I sure have missed that! I had no idea. I'm back to having fun again. Don't get me wrong, I love to DJ, but it was becoming too much like work and consumed most of my online time. So for this posting at least, I will not be talking about DJing at this place or that, I'll be talking about fun times in SL.

Me in a new chair cat got for us. Yes, that is a black doily I
am wearing for a necktie. All the white ones were stained.

My friend Oluthus and cat and starie and a friend of his all got together to sit on the top of a pyramid at the Champions of Death sim. Like I used to be, he was a DJ there but has since backed off from DJing and SL altogether. He's rarely online anymore but when he is, he's not obligated to be in any one place for a certain amount of time. It's quite liberating. Believe me Olu, I know the feeling. So we were sitting on the top of this pyramid and me and cat kept sliding down the edge. I finally figured out that I had to "sit" on the edge of it. It somehow keeps you from sliding down a steep slope. It's obviously an SL thing. Unfortunately, before we figure that out, cat had to go afk and ended up sliding down nearly the entire height of the pyramid. But she was able to get situated once she returned. We talked about all sorts of things, including our RL vehicles and where we lived geographically. Come to find out, 3 of the 5 of us were pretty close to each other. It was good to visit with Olu without having to worry about DJing.

One day while cat was hanging out at House of V, she was passed a landmark by some guy that lead her to a sim called Austin Island. It's an entire sim dedicated to the lifestyle of the novel, Story of O. The dominant males there are considered "enlightened" and the women, "educated". It's a really nice place with lots to see and do so we have been hanging out there as much as is feasible lately. I have not been online much really but cat has and has met some great people there. We were both invited to their cafe group while the main group of the sim involves hours and days and weeks of dedication and "scenes" before being accepted. Unfortunately for cat and myself, that kind of time is unattainable. We have busy 1st lives too. So we are not allowed access to a chateau they have there but that's okay, the rest of the sim has plenty to do. They also hold group discussions there. It's a good place and if you ever get a chance, visit there.

Me and cat and starie at Austin Island

Me and PattiQ at Ohana with Nanners as the hostess

I made my way back to Ohana rock club the other night (late) and saw Nanners there. I brought PattiQ with me and we hung out and danced for a while. This was the place I spent much of my time DJing. At least 4 hours per every Thursday evening. When I was finished, I didn't feel much like doing anything else. Four hours is a very long time to be sitting behind a computer keyboard. Actually, it was more like 5 hours because they wanted you there early and to stay late too. But it sure is a fun place to hang out at! They play classic rock for the most part with lots of newer stuff sprinkled in for good measure.

Exploration has allowed me time to check out some wonderful space station builds. I have been inspired by a few so I couldn't help myself. I had to start building another. It's coming along quite well and so far, is less than 10 prims.

SL has become fun again. As much as I enjoy DJing, I doubt I'll be doing it again unless it's for my own club, which might be opening up this summer. You never know.

The Old Days and SL Economics

Correct me if I'm wrong but most people do not work for free. Most people study, become able and go out and work for compensation. That's the way of the world. Oh sure, there are charities that perform services for people for free, but the people that work for them are compensated for their time and expertise. The charities themselves are supported by donations from people who are compensated for their work. It's the way of the world. People earn and make money and often times invest and consume and purchase things and services. That's the way life is. This sort of earning and spending is called an "economy". Economies have to be balanced or bad things happen. Rich get richer and poor get poorer. The so called middle class fades away and you get a lot of angry underpaid citizens. And that may last for a while but it eventually evens out. It has to or governments and economies topple.

Money is based on something of value. In the case of the U.S., money is backed up by gold. Next to gold, only land is worthy of high value. Land prices affect any economy more than just about anything I could name. So land prices have to be worth what you pay for it or at least, very close to it. You could say merchandise and services are based on land prices. If the economy is strong, land prices can be healthy and the cost of goods and services will be right up there too. After all, in order for a merchant to sell their products or services, they have to have a shop. They have to pay for land to fill this shop with what you want to buy. But if the profit from the merchandise does not cover the cost of owning land, then you have an imbalance in the economy. Second Life has such an imbalance now, and it's been going on for a very long time now.

Back when I discovered the wonderful world of SL, I purchased everything I wanted. Clothing, land, house, vehicles, hair, eyes, skin, and everything else. It was expensive! But I had to have things like Animation Overrides (AOs), radar HUDs and HUDs that allowed you to fly faster and higher. These items made the SL experience much more realistic and wonderful (oh I know, you can't fly in real life but so what? I'm sure you would if you could!). I had a plot of land, a house, a bed that allowed myself and my friends to do unspeakable fun things in it and even sofas to sit on and visit. I had a motorcycle and car and helicopter. I had clothes! So many clothes I could eventually not keep track of them all. And everything was expensive. The land cost, for a very modest 1024 x 1024 plot was L$800 per week. That was about 5 years or so ago. Guess how much that same parcel costs today? That's right! L$800 per week. But the cost of everything else has dropped considerably. Why? Because the Real Life economy is in rough shape and has been for several years.

Ohana Rock Club Christmas Decorations

The cost of a complete men's outfit used to be around L$400 to L$600. Now it's usually under L$100. I purchased a complete space shuttle fashioned after Star Trek's Deep Space 9 Runabout for L$89. It has sounds, tons of animations and sits and even a hover-cycle in it. It comes in two versions: One you can rezz on your land and fly or one you can wear for sims that don't allow you to rezz. All that and much more for L$89. I had to find a quick outfit for a New Year's Eve party. I found a sculpted top hat with mesh lettering and a particle effect for L$5. I would place the cost of that shuttle back in 2008 at around L$2000 and the hat at L$100. And these are just a couple of examples. There are countless more. So if the price on products has come down so much, why haven't land prices? I can only chalk it up to greed.

Merchants and creators are dropping their prices so much because they want to sell their items. People are not willing to spend much money anymore on clothes and vehicles and "toys". In order for merchants to move these items, they have to lower their prices. They realize the economy is slow and they are compensating for it. Yet the land prices stay the same. The creators/merchants have the same cost for their shop tier, but they are making much less profit. But Linden Labs is still making the same amount on land as they always have. That's not right and something's got to give.

Back in 2009, I was discussing with my then fiance' Dylan, the number of people online at any given time. It was typical at that time to see around 75,000 people online. She predicted that there would be 80,000 online on Valentine's Day that year and as it turned out she was quite wrong. Not everyone uses SL as a dating service. But that's beside the point. Today, it's rare to see as many as 55,000 people online. It's usually quite a few less. That's what's going to give. That's what is giving way now. The number of users has dropped dramatically.

SL has lots of new features compared to 2008. They have mesh now that can be designed offline and uploaded into the virtual world. They have mono scripts which runs with much less resources than the old scripts ran with. They have Server Side Includes. Well, that's supposed to be better but I personally have only seen things get worse due to that "feature" but that might be my video card too. Who knows... But my point is, while things are supposed to be getting better, the experience is a lot worse than it used to be.

Right now, I have the fastest computer I have ever had or imagined. Yet when I think back to my old IBM 386, it was running SL with ease and often times with two viewers at the same time. That's right, I could have two avatars logged on at the same time and it only slightly affected performance. Today, even with my lightning fast system, I avoid running two viewers at all costs. Nothing rezzes properly, frame rates are low, too many avatars are partial or fully invisible, crashing is almost a daily occurrence, lag is horrible and land costs way too much. If it were not for the majority of merchants lowering their costs, it would be very difficult to be an SL user. And that statement reflects in the loss of at least 20,000 daily users.

None of this would be that bad if Linden Labs would recognize what is going on here and adjust their tier prices accordingly. Oh, and stop trying to improve something that's working pretty good just the way it is. At this point, they are losing too many users due to lack of an enjoyable experience and  yes, it has affected me too. I have friends who are helping me with the high land costs and I have not been purchasing any goods to speak of and my time in SL has been cut drastically mostly because I'm tired of crashing. Instead of wandering around, exploring and shopping and partying, I log into my home and Instant Message with friends. That's pretty much it anymore. No wonder SL's population is waning. They need to make the experience more enjoyable. I see too many new users logon and complain after a few weeks then show up less and less often until they are gone for good. Make SL affordable again and make it run smoother. That would make a huge difference for everyone.