Sunday, 20 December 2009

There's no such thing as a free lunch in SL

XStreet SL is the bastard interbred child of SLExchange, OnRez and Linden Lab. I used to be a big fan of the original SL Exchange and OnRez, but the post merger and LL takeover has had some pretty horrible affects, which has led to hundreds of sellers leaving.

I use Xstreet a bit for purchasing. It's an easier way to buy and I don't have to suffer death by lag. I also sell the odd item (I mean odd too). I'd not recommend you take a look at my items (well maybe once).

Here's my rant. I have some freebies on there because the items aren't really worth that much. The geniuses at LL must feel that ALL freebies are used to market other things and therefore should be charged. They have half a point, there's no doubt some freebies on there are bad versions of paid products, which you're encouraged to purchase (not talking about demos here). But there's lots of wonderful people - like myself ;) - who offer freebies because they want to donate to the community. I have some Wrestling Ropes that turn phantom when you click them on them. I built them for myself because they'd be useful! I decided to share them because they're useful to others. All they are is 4 prims with a click script that turns them all phantom for 6 seconds. It's hardly Windoze 7.

I might protest against this freebies crap by putting my best selling item for free. Currently Xstreet takes about 14L$ for each I sell. If I turn it free they'll get just the free listing cost.



Thursday, 23 July 2009

Why I hate Romantic Beaches

It's been a while...

My real life Dentist usually says that to me when I turn up for my bi-annual checkup. He expects me to pay him £40 every 6 months. Yeah right! I'll come to visit you when I have tooth ache or when you threaten to kick me off your books.

Sooooooo. Like a 17 year old chav's clap... I'm back! The cream got rid of me for a few months but here I am again, back in the act and discharging like crazy. I may be annoying, I may be embarrassing, but if you keep me a secret you'll still have fun. In all honestly I think i'd rather be Chlamydia than Gonorrhea.

That's the regular STI joke out of the way. Onto the proper stuff. Why I hate Romantic Beaches in SL - or in RL too.

My nearest beach will either be Southport of dreaded Blackpool. I go to neither because a) Southport is full of scousers. b) Blackpool is just shit. So if I decided to go to a beach i'd probably just find a sandy spot by the side of the Manchester Ship Canal. Hardly romantic I think you'll agree.

I've heard the stories of faraway beaches where people get married/have casual sex. Those stories are supposed to sound romantic but to me they sound like hell.

I do like beaches, just not for 'romance'. There is nothing romantic about the smell of fish. A beach is for laying on, getting sand everywhere possible - and a few places you thought impossible. It's about getting knocked over by waves. Having your valuables stolen as you swim in something that smells like sewage.

In SL you have none of these. You just have a pretty looking beach with romantic sun beds and some trees, behind which dirty people wander around naked and have sex. Where is the romance in that? "Oh hang on, I can see someone's penis attachment I just need to change my view" or "oh no, our mutual fondling animation is out of sync, it looks like i'm groping your right ear and kissing your left eye". Utter rubbish.

That's it for another 7 months. Bye x

Sunday, 8 February 2009

SLCW is 1 year old

It is, it really is! SLCW is celebrating its first birthday!!! Like most things celebrating it's first birthday, it looks nothing like it did when it first popped out of Second Life's Lag-a-verse.

That baby Wrestling Promotion, which performed shows in a small arena next to a museum, is now a rather larger Wrestling Promotion that does its shows in a complex bigger than my ego. The days of shows being cursed by matches between myself and Moppy, and Sidney in general are long gone. Nowadays you can see matches that look like matches should look. It is really rather impressive.

How do I fit in with the modern SLCW? Well, how about a history update (Breaking kayfabe here and a few spoilers). As an earlier post covers, I won the SLCW Women's Championship. The first ever women champion in SLCW. A few weeks later, I was stripped of the title and suspended for 3 months by then SLCW Head Boy, Ivan Halfpint, after no-showing for a Warzone show. In reality I no-showed due to being stranded 60 miles from my house, it was beyond my control. I had a large email argument with Ivan and quit. The 3 month suspension was a storyline put in place to cover me quitting and the title being vacated.

Within 2 weeks i'd made up with Ivan - he's one of the nicest guys in SL - but remained out of SLCW. 6 or so weeks later I asked to return, it was agreed but we played out the 3 month storyline. I made a couple of valet and interference appearances before the suspension was up. Finally, with the 3 months up, I made an in-ring comeback. Working a handful of matches.

My SLCW history has been rather fragmented (understatement of the year). Saturdays were often difficult days for me, but when Warzone moved to Sundays things got better. A small feud with Paula Wilcox boiled for a couple of months. She injured me by delivering 2 horrible pile drivers (I spent about 7 weeks walking around with a neck brace 24/7) we only ever wrestled 1 vs 1 once. The plan was to run with it more but RL issues sidelined me.

Paula would have been my first proper SLCW angle. We'd put quite a bit of thought into it and i'd gone as far as creating a fictional Haircare brand that I had a multi-million linden dollar deal to promote. Why? Well, we were planning a hair vs hair match, and Slampoo (the haircare product) made my hair rather valuable to me! No hair, no millions! It was fun and there was even a store at SLCW arena where you could buy (it was free) Slampoo bottles and t-shirts (IM if you want one). It may have been Wrestlecrap, but it was still an attempt at building a character.

That is where my SLCW career currently lies. 3 months, a break up, redundancy and suicide attempt later I am slowly returning to SL trying to break back into SLCW. Vince Easterwood is one of the finest people you could ever wish to meet in SL. He's helping me remove the ring rust, and in all truth, try and become a decent wrestler as I was never particularly spectacular.

Enough of me. Today is SLCWs day. It's been an amazing year. The creative genius that is Alpin Criss deserves some form of award for what he has built. Eric Stewart - a chap i've not always got on with but always respected - gave SLCW a huge kick up the arse in the design and production stakes.

Misaki Yumako and Katheryn Blackadder are mostly responsible for the amazing Womens division that SLCW current has. Kat won the womens title today at the first anniversary show, which is perfect and I am so happy for her and everything she has done for SLCW - she is so much more than a wrestler. Celtdan has to be the most entertaining wrestler SLCW has. Waroop is at the centre of nearly everything great about SLCW, Ivan Halfpint helped build the rock solid foundations which SLCW sits on today... I could go on and on, so i'll cut it short now, but every wrestler who's ever participated in SLCW are deeply beautiful and should be proud of what the promotion has achieved. No matter if their contribution was deemed positive or negative, they still form part of its History, a history which must surely still be in its infancy.