tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44111584230848184222024-02-08T06:26:14.504-08:00Desperation Isle EstatesRules and event listings for Wildefire Walcott's Desperation Isle Estates in the virtual world of Second Life. This is a safe-for-work blog, although it may occasionally link to not-safe-for-work articles elsewhere.Wildefire Walcotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12227668370418481313noreply@blogger.comBlogger42125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411158423084818422.post-17727221710341426232015-02-07T11:37:00.001-08:002015-02-07T11:37:39.242-08:00Please Be Wary of ScammersThis week I have heard reports of another Second Life avatar pretending to represent my rental business. The player stole my profile picture and also used the text from my in-world profile and has been setting rent boxes on vacant sims around the grid, pretending to represent my business, Desperation Isle Estates.<br />
<br />
Let me just make it clear that there are only two avatars authorized to accept payment on behalf of Desperation Isle Estates: Wildefire Walcott and Illana Ireton (my alt). If anyone else attempts to collect rent from you and claims to work for me, they are lying, and you should file an Abuse Report against them immediately. (And also report the user to me, as well as the sim they tried to rent to you, so I can report them as well.)<br />
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With that out of the way, if you're looking for a homestead or full-prim sim from someone who WON'T scam you, just search in-world for this phrase: for rent desperation<br />
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You can tell a sim is ours by checking the Covenant tab of About Land. My name, Wildefire Walcott, will be listed as owner, and there's even a note in the covenant listing me and my business alt as the only authorized players to collect rent.<br />
<br />
Thanks!<br />
<div>
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Wildefire Walcotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12227668370418481313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411158423084818422.post-63600090273254676402012-11-14T10:37:00.002-08:002012-11-14T10:37:21.137-08:00How to Report an Offline RegionIf a sim crashes, or if Linden Lab performs a "rolling reboot" of the
grid, it usually only takes 5-10 minutes for the sim to come back
online. If you discover that your sim has been offline for more than a
few minutes, Linden Lab may need to be notified of the problem. They
have a special support queue just for offline region notifications, and
they usually handle them within an hour.<br />
<br />
If you are an
estate manager on one of our sims, you have the ability to file these
support requests on your own, which should be helpful if I or one of my
estate managers is offline.<br />
<br />
How to file a support request:<br />
<ol>
<li>Go to the <a href="http://secondlife.com/" target="_blank">Second Life web site</a> and click <b>Login</b>.</li>
<li>Enter your username and password, and then click <b>Login</b>.</li>
<li>Once you're on the Dashboard page, click <b>Help </b>> <b>Support</b>.</li>
<li>On the right side of the screen, click <b>Submit a Support Case</b>.<br /><br /><b>Note</b><br />If you don't see the "Submit a Support Case" link, you should see a "<b>Contact Support</b>" link instead. Click <b>Contact Support</b>, and then on the next page, click <b>Submit a Support Case</b>. You can also <a href="https://support.secondlife.com/create-case/" target="_blank">try this link right here</a>.</li>
<li>On the Submit a Case screen, select <b>Land & Region</b> under "What type of problem are you having?"</li>
<li>Under "Land & Region," select <b>Report an offline Region</b>.</li>
<li>Under "Please provide the region name," enter the complete, correct name of the sim.</li>
<li>The "If there is any additional information" box is required, for some reason. Just type anything there, so long as it's polite!</li>
<li>Scroll down and click <b>Submit</b>.</li>
<li>You will get an email immediately, indicating they have received
your support request. You will also get an email once they have resolved
the problem.</li>
</ol>
If you are unable to contact Support, please let me know! Wildefire Walcotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12227668370418481313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411158423084818422.post-69802586591285140442010-12-29T12:01:00.001-08:002012-03-27T07:47:37.520-07:00Desperation Isle Estates Homestead and Full-prim Sims<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://wildefirewalcott.5u.com/desperationblogpics/Desperation%20Isle%20Estates%20Homestead%20Postcard%20Web.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://wildefirewalcott.5u.com/desperationblogpics/Desperation%20Isle%20Estates%20Homestead%20Postcard%20Web.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Desperation Isle Estates offers full-prim and homestead regions for commercial or residential rental in the virtual world of Second Life. With full building and terraforming rights to your own sim, there's really no limit to what you can do with it.<br /><blockquote><a style="font-family: georgia; font-weight: bold;" href="http://search.secondlife.com/?query_term=for+rent+desperation&collection_chosen=places&sort=&isLeftColOpen=true">Click here</a><span style="font-family:georgia;"> to see what we have available for rent right now.</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: georgia; font-weight: bold;" href="http://desperationisle.blogspot.com/2010/12/homestead-and-full-prim-sim-faq.html">Click here</a><span style="font-family:georgia;"> to learn more about our rental sims.</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: georgia; font-weight: bold;" href="http://slurl.com/secondlife/Blarn%20Isle/212/142/308/">Click here</a><span style="font-family:georgia;"> to visit our rental office in-world.</span><br /></blockquote>If you are an existing tenant, have a look at the links to the right for some helpful tips about how to manage your land.Wildefire Walcotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12227668370418481313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411158423084818422.post-61467829155657154482010-12-18T11:10:00.000-08:002012-04-07T11:49:45.902-07:00Homestead and Full-prim Sim FAQ[Updated 2012.04.07]<br />DESPERATION ISLE ESTATES HOMESTEAD AND FULL-PRIM ISLAND RULES AND INFO<br />This covenant is the copyrighted, original work of Wildefire Walcott, for use on the Desperation and Annamaria islands only.<br /><br /><b>* IMPORTANT NOTE *</b><br /><br />Desperation Isle Estates offers only true 3,750-prim Homestead sims and regular 15,000-prim sims for rental. As of 2009, the term "Openspace" refers to regions that support only 750 prims and 10 avatars. We do NOT have any 750-prim Openspace sims. Homestead regions are limited to a maximum of 20 avatars on the island at the same time.<br /><br /><br /><b>* PRICE AND PRIMS *</b><br /><br />Desperation Isle Estates offers homestead and full-prim sim rentals with no "purchase price" other than the first week's rent. Our prices are listed clearly in our search listings and in the Description field of evey parcel when you go to World > About Land.<br /><br />WE WILL NEVER RAISE YOUR RENT UNLESS LINDEN LAB RAISES OUR COSTS.<br /><br />The kinds of sims we offer are:<br />- HOMESTEAD: Full 65536m homestead sim, open ocean on all sides, 3750 prims.<br />- FULL-PRIM SIM: Full 65536m full-prim sim, open ocean on all sides, 15000 prims.<br /><br />To see what else we have available, open up Second Life search, select Places, make sure you have at least G maturity checked, and then search for this phrase: <br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> for rent desperation</span><br /><br />If nothing comes up in the search, contact Wildefire Walcott directly.<br /><br /><br /><b>* GENERAL INFORMATION *</b><br /><br />All of our Homestead islands are newer, "Class 5" or higher sims. Linden Lab has designed Homestead regions for "light use," meaning they're perfect for most residential purposes, but might not deliver the best performance if you're running hundreds of resource-intensive scripts (for example, many clubs have tons of rotating lights and other heavily-scripted items that might not perform very well on a Homestead sim). Renting a homestead island or full-prim sim with us will grant you the following abilities:<br /><br /> * Estate Manager abilities, giving you access to most functions of the Region tools in the World menu.<br /> * Full control over who can access your island and individual parcels.<br /> * Full creative and artistic control- build whatever you want, wherever you want it.<br /> * Complete terraforming ability (+-100m) and the power to change your terrain textures.<br /> * Transfer rights enabled, so you can deed the land to your own group. (NOTE: This ability does not entitle you to sell our islands to anyone else. Please see the 'Rules' section below.)<br /> * To claim an island listed for rent, just go to World > About Land...<br /><br />All of our homestead and full-prim islands stand alone; you have a full, unobstructed ocean view in every direction, yielding the best possible price and performance.We do not place restrictions on how you use your island, so long as you don't break the law and you follow our few simple rules:<br /><br /><br /><b>* RULES *</b><br /><br /> * Rent is due weekly (at a minimum), payable in L$ if you use a rent box or USD if you choose to use a PayPal subscription. Wildefire will set up a rent box for you and let you know where it is. You can pay in weekly increments, up to 8 weeks at a time.<br /> * If you are 3 days late on rent and do not respond to IMs, Wildefire will re-claim your island and return your belongings.<br /> * If you ever decide or need to move out, PLEASE INFORM WILDEFIRE WALCOTT. Second Life does not notify an island owner when a tenant chooses not to live there anymore, and if you don't notify me that you've moved out, I might not notice until 3 or more days after your rent is due, leaving me out a week's worth of rent when I could have found another tenant in that time. I will not pressure you to stay; I just don't like having empty land laying around because no one told me they didn't need it anymore.<br /><br /><br /><b>* RENAMING REGIONS *</b><br /> <br />While you will always have the ability to change parcel names in World > About Land, in some cases you might wish to change the name of the island you're renting as well. Linden Lab charges a significant fee for us to do that, but it is an option if you're willing to cover the costs.<br /> <br />To rename one of our sims, you must do the following:<br /> 1. Pay Wildefire Walcott a NON-REFUNDABLE fee of L$25000, above your normal rent cost, and IM her when you've paid her profile.<br /> 2. Provide Wildefire the name you would like to use. Note that Linden Lab has final say on which name you choose, and they may ask that we submit an alternative name if the first one you desired isn't approved. (NOTE: If Linden Lab simply won't accept any names you provide, Wildefire will refund your name change fee.)<br /> 3. Wildefire will submit a support ticket to have the region name changed. This can take anywhere from one hour to several days for Linden Lab to do.<br /> <br /><br /><b>* MOVING REGIONS *</b><br /><br />Occasionally we get requests to move a sim adjacent to another one of our sims, or next to a sim owned by someone else. Linden Lab charges a large fee for this, and we can only provide this service if you cover the cost of both the initial move, and the move we will have to perform in the event that you move out.<br /><br />To move one of our sims, you must do this:<br /> 1. Pay Wildefire Walcott a NON-REFUNDABLE fee of L$75000, above your normal rent cost, and IM her when you've paid her profile.<br /> 2. Provide Wildefire the exact grid coordinates where you'd like the sim moved, or at least the relative position to the other sim you'd like to be near. (NOTE: Linden Lab has final say on region moves. If Linden Lab denies the move, Wildefire will refund your name change fee.)<br /> 3. If the sim you wish to be next to is owned by another player or estate, that player must provide permission to Linden Lab via the support ticket process.<br /> 4. Wildefire will submit a support ticket to have the region name changed. This can take anywhere from one hour to several days for Linden Lab to do.<br /> <br /><br /><b>* HINTS AND TIPS *</b><br /><br /> * Please see the Desperation Isle Estates blog for rental information and tutorials on land and object management: http://desperationisle.blogspot.com/<br /> * Only the island owner (Wildefire Walcott) is able to upload RAW terrain files (a technical limitation of Second Life). If you have a RAW file you would like to use, email it to me at wildefire.walcott@gmail.com and I will upload it to your island.<br /> * You should be able to deed parcels on your island to your own groups without my help. If you have problems, I might have forgotten to enable transfer rights. Just IM me and I'll fix it.<br /> * Estate Managers should have the ability to change the ground textures. You do this by going to Tools > Region/Estate and dragging textures onto the boxes in the Ground Textures tab. The textures you use should be 512x512 in size. You can find many sand, grass, and rock textures in the Library folder of your inventory. Just search for "grass," for example, and you will find plenty of usable samples.<br /><br />For more information, contact Wildefire Walcott or Judah Thunders.<br />Wildefire Walcotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12227668370418481313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411158423084818422.post-70716892002149307342010-12-14T13:40:00.000-08:002010-12-14T16:30:21.155-08:00Remaining Sims Have Found a New Home<span style="font-weight: bold;">UPDATE</span>: Please see a list of affected sims at the bottom of this post.<br /><br />Dear recent tenants of Desperation Isle Estates,<br /><br />Before making the decision to close our multi-tenant regions, I spent a full week contacting other estates and publishing in estate land transfer groups looking for someone to take over our residential sims and New Desperation Isle- but not one of the dozens of landlords I talked to was in a position to take on the whole group.<br /><br />To my surprise, Thex Lecker, the owner of Rockhopper Estates, saw a thread I had started at the SLUniverse forum about our decision to close the sims and contacted me. He expressed an interest in taking over the remaining six sims- including New Desperation Isle- and preserving the homes of anyone still remaining on the estate. After checking out his estate and agreeing on several conditions of sale, I approved his proposal. The remaining sims will be changing hands, unchanged, except for the sim names and their location on the grid.<br /><br />If you have not yet relocated, Thex is offering to give you a few days free rent and to take you on at the same rates you were paying me before. If you have already moved on, I apologize for both the hassle and the interruption. If you haven’t yet picked up your things, I apologize for the drama. It was always my wish to preserve peoples’ homes, and this deal allows me to do that for anyone who wishes to remain on these islands.<br /><br />PLEASE NOTE: We do not know who has left already and who has not yet moved. You might get one more communication from Thex Lecker, as an offer to anyone who is still on the islands. Please forgive any intrusion. That should be the last you hear about the matter if you have already found a home.<br /><br />Thanks for your time.<br />Wildefire Walcott<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Affected sims</span></span><br />The following sims will NOT be shutting down. They will just be renamed and moved to a new portion of the grid sometime after December 14. If you have land on these sims and wish to stay, you don't have to do anything:<br /><ul><li>New Desperation Isle</li><li>Desperation North</li><li>Desperation South</li><li>Desperation West</li><li>Desperation Kelly</li><li>Desperation Juno<br /></li></ul>Wildefire Walcotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12227668370418481313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411158423084818422.post-25930647920313651102010-12-12T09:37:00.000-08:002010-12-14T13:42:37.645-08:00Multi-tenant Sims Going Offline<span style="font-weight: bold;">UPDATE (12/14/2010)</span>: <a href="http://desperationisle.blogspot.com/2010/12/remaining-sims-have-found-new-home.html">We have found the remaining sims a home!</a><br /><br />When we opened our first residential sim nearly four years ago, I envisioned an adult community where tolerance and mutual respect for privacy were prized more than anything else. Over time we built a small but cohesive adult village around New Desperation Isle, and eventually expanded beyond the shores of New Desperation Isle to support residents with a wide variety of interests and needs.<br /><br />The estate grew and met with great success until late 2008, when Linden Lab made the first in a very long list of policy and technical changes that would threaten the stability and profitability of hundreds- perhaps thousands- of in-world businesses. We stopped growing then, but we managed to remain afloat thanks to a loyal customer base and healthy profits from our skybox business. But that all changed in 2010. New Search, Viewer 2.0, New Marketplace, fluctuating L$ value, Linden Homes, and unbeatable tier discounts granted to only a handful of the very biggest residential estates chipped into our business steadily throughout this past year to the point where we’re no longer able to compete in the current market without investing a lot more time and money than we can afford. A chapter in the story of Desperation Isle Estates is coming to a close.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">WHAT IS HAPPENING</span></span><br /><br />Over the next few weeks we will be shutting down our remaining multi-tenant residential sims. New Desperation Isle will also be going offline. If you are a current tenant of ours, by the time you read this we will have already refunded your rent.<br /><br />We have arranged a deal for some free time and some reduced rates with another, larger estate- for those of you who wish to pursue it. They are not buying our islands; they are offering a special bonus to residents of Desperation Isle Estates. Please read on for complete details.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">AFFECTED SIMS</span></span><br /><br />All of the following sims will be going offline within the next few weeks:<br />- Desperation Juno<br />- Desperation Kelly<br />- Desperation North<br />- Desperation South<br />- Desperation West<br />- New Desperation Isle<br /><br />Desperation Vivienne and Desperation East are no longer part of the estate.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">WHEN IT IS HAPPENING</span></span><br /><br />I am paying to keep the residential sims open to existing residents until Sunday, December 26th. The public island, New Desperation Isle, will be closing on or before Saturday, December 18. It will no longer be viewable from the other islands after that time.<br /><br />On December 26th, I will reclaim all residential parcels and return any items left on the islands.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">WHY THIS IS HAPPENING</span></span><br /><br />Thanks to many decisions Linden Lab has made over the past couple of years, the work and financing required to sustain a competitive residential business in Second Life is just too much for us to bear. We tried to locate buyers for the estate, but were only able to sell two individual sims (with tenants). Most estates these days either aren’t expanding at all, or are simply not in a position to take on the monthly tier burden of eight whole sims, regardless of whether there were existing tenants. Many estates shut down completely this year, and even some of the largest estates have actually shed sims recently, due to decreased demand.<br /><br />We did consider consolidation (only dropping a couple sims and moving residents to existing vacant space on the remaining islands), but that wouldn’t change the fact that we’ve been losing more tenants than we’ve gained since July.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">WHERE WILL EXISTING TENANTS GO?</span></span><br /><br />This is completely your decision, of course, but <a href="http://www.solacebeach.com/" target="_blank">Solace Beach Estates</a> is offering some special deals to our current tenants. Solace Beach’s owner, Ayesha Lytton, is a forum regular possibly familiar to those of you who frequent SLUniverse, and I trust her to take good care of you. Full details are in the enclosed notecard.<br /><br />[notecard goes here]<br /><br />Most of their sims are standalone, meaning they are not connected to and can’t “see” other islands like the sims around New Desperation Isle- but this results in slightly improved performance. Also, most Solace Beach Estates regions are Moderate/Mature. If you are looking for residential living space, please note that you can have adult items (sexbeds, etc.) on Moderate/Mature land so long as you don’t advertise that you’ve got adult content in the Search > Places listings. So, if you currently live on one of our Adult residential sims and you are not running an adult business or public play area, you should be just fine on a Moderate/Mature sim. We only made Desperation North/South/East/West Adult because they were physically adjacent to a public/commercial sim with Adult content. Most of the content residents have placed on our Adult sims would be just fine in most non-PG regions.<br /><br />If you do have a business or public meeting place that requires the ability to advertise with the Adult classification, Solace Beach does have some Adult commercial sims which should meet your needs. Speak with their representative (mentioned in their notecard) for details.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">AREN’T THERE ANY PURELY ADULT ESTATES?</span></span><br /><br />A few adult-targeted residential estates did pop up after we first went into business, but every one that I ever knew about has shut down within the past couple of years (we have housed many of their former tenants). If there are any communities similar to what we formed around New Desperation Isle, I’ve never heard of them. We were unique in that regard, but luckily most content and activities kept behind closed doors (or up in skyboxes) is acceptable on Mature/Moderate sims, so I don’t expect most of you will have trouble finding a place to live.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">IS THIS THE END OF DESPERATION ISLE ESTATES?</span></span><br /><br />We are no longer going to be operating multi-tenant sims, and we will no longer host any public meeting places or commercial areas. We will continue to offer standalone homestead and full-prim sims to individual tenants until Linden Lab makes it so that’s no longer possible. Also, my business partner, Vivienne Schell, will continue to operate our skybox business, Desperation Isle Productions, for the known future.<br /><br />Second Life has been a part of my real life for over five years now, and I will remain here for as long as the grid will have me. I’m very sorry to have to end the multi-tenant sim business and shut down my labor of love, New Desperation Isle- but the financial realities of Second Life in 2010 have made it impossible for us to sustain.<br /><br />Thank you so very much for your business. I consider many of you friends, and I do wish you the best in your Second Lives.<br /><br />Sincerely and sadly,<br />Wildefire Walcott, Desperation Isle EstatesWildefire Walcotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12227668370418481313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411158423084818422.post-86640086503160032842009-11-02T16:43:00.000-08:002009-11-02T21:38:25.815-08:00The Return of Voice at New Desperation Isle<span style="font-style: italic;">[NOTE: If you are viewing this post from within Second Life, click the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Open in My Web Browser</span> button to properly view the page.]</span><br /><br />A few weeks ago I disabled Voice Chat on New Desperation Isle because I was getting frequent reports of people using Voice to harass other visitors. I have since gotten some requests from regular visitors to bring Voice back, and I am doing that, but I want to equip our guests to deal with voice griefers if we have problems with them in the future.<br /><br />First off, if you simply wish to disable Voice (so you can neither speak in-world or hear others speaking), you can easily do that by going to <span style="font-weight: bold;">Edit </span>> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Preferences</span>, then picking the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Voice Chat</span> tab, and deselecting <span style="font-weight: bold;">Enable voice chat</span>. When you click <span style="font-weight: bold;">OK</span>, you will no longer hear other people using Voice.<br /><br />If you simply want to block a specific individual's voice, there are detailed instructions on how to do that at the <a href="http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Voice_FAQ#How_do_I_mute_someone_I_don.27t_want_to_hear.3F" target="_blank">Voice FAQ of the official Second Life Wiki</a>.<br /><br />In addition to muting individual players, I ask that you report people who are <a href="http://secondlife.com/corporate/tos.php" target="_blank">obviously griefing</a> other players. You can do this by both filing an Abuse Report against them (<span style="font-weight: bold;">Help </span>> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Report Abuse</span>), and also by reporting the avatar to me or one of my deputies:<br /><ul><li>Wildefire Walcott (island owner)<br /></li><li>kelly Walcott (estate manager)</li><li>Vivienne Schell (deputy)</li><li>Lunashee Dagger (deputy)</li><li>Lancelot Auer (deputy)</li><li><span class="il">Zaldon</span> Barbosa (deputy)<br /></li></ul>It really helps if you can provide snapshots and/or chat transcripts of griefing incidents. Unfortunately, it's not possible to get transcripts of voice griefing, but all the info you can provide helps.<br /><br />Here's a video produced by a Linden that may provide some additional helpful info on Voice Chat in SL.<br /><div align="center"><object height="300" width="400"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=4243075&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=ff0080&fullscreen=1"><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=4243075&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=ff0080&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" height="300" width="400"></embed></object><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/4243075">VOICE CHAT: Improving your hearing</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/torley">Torley</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.</p></div>Wildefire Walcotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12227668370418481313noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411158423084818422.post-16927155073117915312009-09-01T21:06:00.000-07:002009-09-02T00:32:29.325-07:00FAQ: Adult Maturity Ratings at Desperation Isle Estates<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Important</span><span style="font-style: italic;">: There are many ways for Linden Lab to consider you age-verified now! </span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">You don't have to go through their official age-verification process if that doesn't work for you!</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> Please read on for complete info!</span><br /><br />There has been a fair amount of recent confusion among residents all across Second Life because Linden Lab sent out a bunch of emails warning people to flag their land as Adult, but then said that many of the emails were sent out in error. Unfortunately, if you are a resident of Desperation Isle Estates (or any other private estate, for that matter) and you received the email, it was NOT a mistake.<br /><br />Here's the list of questions we answer below:<br /><ul><li><a href="#goingon">What's going on?</a></li><li><a href="#simisflagged">What happens when a sim is flagged as Adult?</a></li><li><a href="#adultandmature">What's the difference between an Adult sim and a Mature sim now?</a></li><li><a href="#ageverified">How does a resident become age-verified?</a></li><li><a href="#enableadultcontent">How do I enable Adult content in my Second Life client?</a></li><li><a href="#phase1">What does this mean for the Phase 1 islands?</a></li><li><a href="#phase1move">What if I am a Phase 1 resident who doesn't want to be in an Adult sim?</a></li><li><a href="#phase2">What happens if I'm a Phase 2 resident?</a></li><li><a href="#fullsims">What if I am renting an entire Homestead or Regular sim?</a></li><li><a href="#changerating">How can I change the maturity rating of a sim I am renting?</a></li><li><a href="#when">When will these changes be taking effect?</a></li><li><a href="#moreinfo">What if I have more questions?</a></li></ul><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><a name="goingon">What's going on?</a></span><br /><br />Beginning this month, Linden Lab is going to be hiding Places listings for land with 'adult' keywords in in the Name or Description fields if the parcel is not on a so-called "Adult" sim. You will still be charged for the listings, but no one will be able to see them. Additionally, if you continue to use those adult keywords in your listings while you are on a non-adult sim, you run the risk of getting banned or suspended from Second Life.<br /><br />We have held out for as long as we could, but unfortunately the time has come: <span style="font-weight: bold;">We must convert some of our islands to the Adult maturity rating</span>. Please see <a href="https://support.secondlife.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=4417&task=knowledge&questionID=6010" target="_blank">this knowledge base article</a> to learn Linden Lab's new definitions for PG, Mature, and Adult sims.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><a name="simisflagged">What happens when a sim is flagged as Adult?</a></span><br /><br />Once a region is set to the Adult maturity rating, the following things happen:<br /><ul><li>Places listings with adult keywords will show up in searches that age-verified residents perform, assuming they have enabled adult content in their Second Life clients.</li><li>Only residents who are age-verified will be able to access the sim.<br /></li></ul><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:180%;"><a name="adultandmature">What's the difference between an Adult sim and a Mature sim now?</a></span><br /><br />It's kind of hard to tell, yeah? Basically, Mature sims are now very similar to PG sims, only you can have sex toys in your <span style="font-style: italic;">private</span> skybox </span> or a store that sells skins with naked bits on a Mature sim without getting in trouble.<br /><br />If you sell naughty toys that can only properly be advertised with Adult search terms, or if you have a public sex play place, that has to be on an Adult sim. (Strip clubs count as Adult locations too, but I don't allow those on our regular sims anyway.)<br /><br />Clear as mud, I know, I know. Please check out this <a href="http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Adult_Content_FAQ">Adult Content FAQ</a> with the most comprehensive description of what "Adult" means in Second Life now.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><a name="ageverified">How does a resident become age-verified?</a></span><br /><br />Achieving age-verified status is not as difficult as you might think. You can do it in one of several ways:<br /><ul><li>Have a "payment info used" or "payment info on file" status with Linden Lab. This happens once you use some method of payment for purchasing Lindens or paying Second Life premium fees.</li><li>Add US$ to your XStreetSL account via PayPal.</li><li>Go through Linden Lab's official Age Verification process.</li></ul>Most people who regularly use Second Life are basically already verified. They just need to enable Adult content in their clients. Go to <a href="https://support.secondlife.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=4417&task=knowledge&questionID=6362">this knowledge base article</a> for detailed information.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><a name="enableadultcontent">How do I enable Adult content in my Second Life client?</a></span><br /><br />You need to be using the latest version of Second Life in order to have access to all the proper content options, or use a third-party viewer that is based upon the latest official code. You can always get the latest official viewer <a href="http://get.secondlife.com/">here</a>.<br /><br />Next, you have to enable adult content in your Second Life preferences and Search settings. Go to <a href="https://support.secondlife.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=4417&task=knowledge&questionID=6362">this knowledge base article</a> and scroll down to the <span style="font-weight: bold;">How to opt in to view Adult content</span> section for step-by-step instructions and a video that walks you through the process.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><a name="phase1">What does this mean for the Phase 1 islands?</a></span><br /><br />Phase 1 of the estate consists of Desperation North, South, East, and West, as well as New Desperation Isle, which holds them all together. Because New Desperation Isle is an explicitly sexual location (as are several private and public builds on those islands) we must convert those sims to the Adult maturity rating in order to avoid being blacklisted from search, and to avoid having our Second Life accounts suspended.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><a name="phase1move">What if I am a Phase 1 resident who doesn't want to be in an Adult sim?</a></span><br /><br />In anticipation of this possibility, we have just added a brand new class 5 full-prim region to the estate: <a href="http://slurl.com/secondlife/Desperation%20Juno////?title=Desperation%20Juno&msg=Opens%20Thursday%2C%20September%201%2C%202009.">Desperation Juno</a>. (NOTE: It should be ready for new tenants by Thursday, it may not be visible until then.) This is a Phase 2 (Mature) sim, just like Desperation Vivienne and Desperation Kelly. It is a standalone island (open ocean on all sides) and has a normal day/night cycle like the rest of our full-prim sims.<br /><br />If you currently live on one of the Phase 1 islands and you decide that you wish to be on one of our Mature sims instead, <span style="font-weight: bold;">we will offer you a free week of rent</span> once you move over to the new sim.<br /><br />If you decide that you no longer wish to rent with us at all, <span style="font-weight: bold;">please let me know</span>. If you tell me when you've cleared off your parcel I will refund what remains of your rent. Do note, however, that ALL private estates are facing this same change. (It's not just us!) Any sim that allows places with explicit adult content on their land or in their search terms must convert to Adult status or the land owners will face disciplinary measures.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><a name="phase2">What happens if I'm a Phase 2 resident?</a></span><br /><br />If you are on one of our Phase 2 islands (Desperation Vivienne, Kelly, or Juno), and you do not have any explicit content on your parcel or in your search terms, nothing will change. If you DO have or advertise adult content, however, you will have to either remove those items/terms or move to an Adult-rated sim. I offer the same deal to my current Phase 1 residents who may wish to move to a mature sim- if you decide to move to one of our existing Phase 1 Adult sims, I will give you a free week of rent on the new island, and roll over any existing rent you have on your current place.<br /><br />You may be interested to know that we're making a number of improvements to the Phase 1 regions, to make them more attractive. Please check out <a href="http://desperationisle.blogspot.com/2009/08/phase-1-island-changes-on-way.html">this blog post</a> for more information.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">What about the special islands (Desperation Andromeda, Desperation Lancelot)?</span><br /><br />These islands are not really Phase 1 or 2, and they don't really qualify as full-sim rentals either. Depending on the content on those sims, and the Search > Places listings, we will likely have to set those sims to Adult very soon. This is to protect not only the estate, but the tenants currently occupying those sims.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><a name="fullsims">What if I am renting an entire Homestead or Regular sim?</a></span><br /><br />I will not enforce maturity ratings on my Homestead or Regular full-sim tenants, but please understand that it is your responsibility to make sure your sim is flagged appropriately, or Linden Lab might give you problems. See below to learn how to change the sim rating.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><a name="changerating">How can I change the maturity rating of a sim I am renting?</a></span><br /><br />This only applies to complete homestead or regular sim rentals. In order to change the sim's maturity rating you must be on that island's list of Estate Managers, and you must be using <a href="http://secondlife.com/support/downloads.php">a recent version</a> of the Second Life viewer.<br /><ol><li>While standing on the sim, go to <span style="font-weight: bold;">World </span>> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Region/Estate</span>.</li><li>On the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Region </span>tab, select the desired maturity rating next to <span style="font-weight: bold;">Rating</span>.</li><li>Click <span style="font-weight: bold;">Apply</span>. (Note: You MUST click Apply for this setting to stick.)<br /></li></ol>By default, all Desperation Isle Estate full-sim rental islands are set to Mature, but you may choose whichever rating you like.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><a name="when">When will these changes be taking effect?</a></span><br /><br />As of September 1, Linden Lab is supposedly policing search listings and processing ARs filed against offenders. We are planning to hold off on changing the Phase 1 islands to Adult until next Monday, September 7 to give existing tenants time to decide what they wish to do. If we need to change earlier than that (i.e. if Linden Lab threatens to ban me), I will let you all know.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><a name="moreinfo">What if I have more questions?</a></span><br /><br />Please IM me, Wildefire Walcott, directly. Even if I am offline, I am usually able to respond directly to IMs via email. Also, keep an eye on this post. If any new information or clarifications are necessary, I will add them here.Wildefire Walcotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12227668370418481313noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411158423084818422.post-2647237226247219322009-08-31T23:11:00.000-07:002009-09-02T15:47:51.948-07:00Phase 1 Island Changes On The WayLast week I conducted a survey of residents on our Phase 1 islands (Desperation North, South, East, and West). I very much appreciate the input I got from respondents and wanted to share with you both the results of the survey and the changes we will be making as a result. (You can <a href="http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dDl0Rmt0MVlNQW94MWRVaGt5dGo0UUE6MA..">view the published survey here</a>, although responses are no longer being tallied.) This is a long article. If you wish you can hop straight to <a href="http://desperationisle.blogspot.com/2009/08/phase-1-island-changes-on-way.html#summary">the summary</a>.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">Should we have a day/night cycle?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >Survey results:</span><ul><li>Yes - 40%</li><li>Don't care at all - 24%</li><li>Prefer dark, but don't really care - 32%</li><li>Would move away if sunlight were enabled - 1%</li></ul><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >My response:</span><br /><br />While I had always intended New Desperation Isle and the surrounding areas to be an adult playground bathed in moonlight, it is an unfortunate fact that with Windlight and the limitations of some users' monitors and computers, night time in Second Life is often just too dark for many users to see anything. I don't know how many screenshots I've seen that people have taken on New Desperation Isle where they have obviously forced their local sunlight on in order to take pictures. There is also the economic fact that I have lost many potential customers who did not want to live on an island that never had sun. <span style="font-weight: bold;">I have chosen to enable "global time" on the Phase 1 sims, including New Desperation Isle, which will add a regular day/night cycle to those islands.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">Should we continue to allow security devices at ground level?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >Survey results:</span><br /><ul><li>No (keep them in the sky only) - 32%</li><li>Don't care - 40%</li><li>Yes - 28%</li></ul><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >My response:</span><br /><br />First off, I apologize for the awkward wording around that question (I mixed up the "yes" and "no" but, luckily, clarified what each survey answer meant). Anyway, it is clear that there are at least a few people who really rely on their security devices at ground level, so <span style="font-weight: bold;">I am going to allow their continued use on the ground (on Phase 1 sims only), but due to some additional feedback, I am going to require that the warning time be set to a minimum of 30 seconds</span>. In other words, trespassers should have 30 seconds to exit the premises. This will keep strangers off your sex beds but will give someone who accidentally wanders onto your parcel due to grid lag ample time to escape without being ejected from the sim.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">How much should we change New Desperation Isle?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >Survey results:</span><br /><ul><li>Make it an adult commercial sim where other content creators can sell their wares - 40%</li><li>Rebuild some areas to attract new visitors - 28%</li><li>Leave it as-is - 12%</li><li>Make it a residential island - 12%</li><li>Don't care - 2%<br /></li><li>Just get rid of it - 0%</li></ul><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >My response:</span><br /><br />Well it is clear that people in Phase 1 like New Desperation Isle and don't wish it to just go away. <span style="font-weight: bold;">I am now left between updating the island to draw in new visitors and making more space for adult retailers.</span> It will be one of these two options though.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">Should we update the ground textures on the Phase 1 islands?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >Survey results:</span><br /><ul><li>Yes - 64%</li><li>Don't care - 28%</li><li>No - 8%</li></ul><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >My response:</span><br /><br />When I first started out I just went with the generic default ground textures for my first few islands, and they remain today on Desperation West, North, and South. This wasn't so much of a concern since at night time you barely notice the textures anyway, but once we enable daylight, <span style="font-weight: bold;">I want those islands to look both unique and attractive, so I will be updating the ground textures.</span> They will still be a regular grass/sand/rock progression- just new textures.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">Another cosmetic change</span><br /><br />One person mentioned that our Vacant signs, while easily visible to people looking for land, can detract from the surroundings of existing tenants. I agree, and I am going to design a new kind of sign which does not impact the view so much.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">One last thing (and it's a biggie)</span><br /><br />Sometime soon <span style="font-weight: bold;">I will be forced to flag New Desperation Isle and the rest of the Phase 1 islands as Adult sims</span>. I and several of your fellow tenants have received warnings from Linden Lab that if I do not mark the sims as adult, that anyone who currently has Search > Places listings with adult keywords will be removed from search, and that Linden Lab may start suspending the accounts of residents who fail to comply. I cannot risk having my account locked, and no one running an adult business or meeting place wants that either. I am about to write another post specifically about this issue, so please keep an eye on this blog.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">When's all this going to happen?</span><br /><br />I plan to make all of these changes by next Monday, September 7. It will probably happen in phases, but I will try not make the switch to Adult until the 7th. If I am forced to switch over earlier, I will notify all tenants.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><a name="summary">Summary:</a></span><br /><ul><li>Phase 1 is going to be getting sunlight.</li><li>Security devices on Phase 1 islands may remain at ground level, but the warning time before ejecting trespassers must be increased to 30 seconds.</li><li>New Desperation Isle will stay right where it is, but will likely see some changes to bring in more traffic.</li><li>We will be updating the ground textures on the Phase 1 sims.</li><li>We will soon be using Vacant signs which are smaller and less noticeable to existing tenants.<br /></li><li><a href="http://desperationisle.blogspot.com/2009/09/faq-adult-maturity-ratings-at.html">All Phase 1 sims will be flagged as Adult</a>. (We are going to add at least one new sim for anyone who wishes to live on a Mature sim instead of an Adult one. Again, keep watching this blog.)</li><li>All of these changes (except New Desperation Isle remodeling) are slated for completion by Monday, September 7.<br /></li></ul>Thanks for your feedback, thanks for your support, and thanks for your business. I believe that these changes will help improve the quality of living for most residents of the Phase 1 islands and keep us all on Linden Lab's good side.Wildefire Walcotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12227668370418481313noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411158423084818422.post-27015780244657114642009-07-08T22:52:00.000-07:002013-02-21T11:27:00.846-08:00PayPal Subscription Sign-upThis post contains the sign-up buttons that you can use to begin paying your rent to Desperation Isle Estates via PayPal, instead of with Lindens purchased in-world. Please see <a href="http://desperationisle.blogspot.com/2009/07/now-accepting-paypal.html">our PayPal announcement</a> to learn how to subscribe, and why you might want to do it.<br />
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<em><span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Important</strong>: Please do not subscribe here until speaking with Wildefire first! (We need to make sure we've got an island available for you before you can start paying.)</span></em><br />
If you have already requested a PayPal subscription, please click the button that matches your current rent agreement with us. If you don't find a match, please contact me (Wildefire Walcott), and I will fix it right away!<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-style: italic;">Click the Subscribe button below the parcel size/rental period of your choice.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Full Homestead, 3750 prims, $28 USD Weekly</span></span><br />
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<input name="cmd" type="hidden" value="_s-xclick" /><input name="hosted_button_id" type="hidden" value="GQH9BH8VBNSJY" /><input alt="PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!" border="0" name="submit" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_subscribeCC_LG.gif" type="image" /><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" /></form>
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<span style="font-size: 180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Full Homestead, 3750 prims, $112 USD Monthly</span></span><br />
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<input name="cmd" type="hidden" value="_s-xclick" /><input name="hosted_button_id" type="hidden" value="Q6D8U5N6M9YNW" /><input alt="PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!" border="0" name="submit" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_subscribeCC_LG.gif" type="image" /><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" /></form>
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Wildefire Walcotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12227668370418481313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411158423084818422.post-46869878914307800972009-07-08T22:41:00.000-07:002013-02-21T11:32:35.169-08:00Now Accepting PayPal!We now offer our customers the ability to pay rent via PayPal! You can choose to pay weekly or monthly (and if you do the math, you'll find that paying monthly is a savings, since most months are longer than 4 weeks).<br />
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You will be billed automatically until you choose to end your rental. Please note that we cannot offer refunds to PayPal subscribers.<br />
To begin a PayPal subscription with us, you must already have claimed or reserved one of our regions from Desperation Isle Estates, and inform me (Wildefire Walcott) that you wish to pay via PayPal. I will make sure that <a href="http://desperationisle.blogspot.com/2009/07/paypal-subscription-sign-up.html">our subscription page</a> has the correct information for your land and then give you instructions on how to subscribe.<br />
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Please don't attempt to set up a subscription online before contacting me first. Thanks!Wildefire Walcotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12227668370418481313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411158423084818422.post-61067156858910682522008-07-12T22:55:00.000-07:002010-12-18T11:31:34.713-08:00Homestead Rental FAQ<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">UPDATE (2010.12.18)</span><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">: The information here is largely out of date. Please see our new </span><a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://desperationisle.blogspot.com/2010/12/homestead-and-full-prim-sim-faq.html">Homestead and Full Sim Rental FAQ</a><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">.</span><br /><br />Here are answers to questions I frequently get from current and prospective homestead tenants. Some of my answers apply to any homestead sim rental anywhere in Second Life, while others apply only to those in Desperation Isle Estates.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">How much does it cost to rent a homestead sim?</span><br />If you rent from Desperation Isle Estates, the cost is L$7750($30 USD) a week, or L$31000 ($118 USD) a month. This gets you a complete 65,536 square-meter homestead island with 3,750 available prims and protected open ocean views on all sides. We do not charge any "purchase price" other than the first week's rent. If you want us to order a new island for you, we typically ask for two weeks' worth of rent up-front, but nothing more unless you have naming requirements.<br /><br />We also offer discounts to residents with two or more islands:<br /><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Two islands</span>: Each island L$7500 ($29 USD), 4 weeks L$30000 ($115 USD).</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Three or more islands</span>: Each island L$7250 ($28 USD), 4 weeks L$29000 ($111 USD).</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Are these the same as "openspace" sims?</span><br />No, Desperation Isle Estates offers only true 3,750-prim Homestead sims and regular 15,000-prim sims for rental. As of 2009, the term "Openspace" refers to regions that support only 750 prims and 10 avatars. We do NOT have any 750-prim Openspace sims. Homestead regions are limited to a maximum of 20 avatars on the island at the same time.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">How are homestead sims different from regular sims?</span><br />Homestead regions support only 1/4 the number of prims as full sims, and can support a maximum of 20 avatars simultaneously on the island, whereas full regions can have up to 100. A hidden difference is that homestead regions share their physical servers with more sims than regular sims do. There are only 4 regular sims on a given physical server, whereas there may be up to 16 homesteads on the same server.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Can I get more prims?</span><br />A homestead region has a hard limit of 3,750 prims, just as a full-sized sim has a hard limit of 15,000. While you can have additional islands, prims do not combine between islands. If you had two homestead sims, each one would have a max 3,750 prims. This is a technical limitation of Second Life.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Can I choose the name of my island?</span><br />I like to have uniform names so that people can easily identify my properties, but if you would like to select a unique name for an island we can do that for a fee. If we're talking about a brand new island, it's a non-refundable L$13,750 fee, and I will order the island with the name you requested. If it is an existing island that you are already renting, the fee is L$27,500. The reason for the fee is it costs $50 USD to change the name of an island, and I will need to rename the island in the future if you ever move out. The fee for existing islands is double because I'll have to pay $50 to give the island your name, and then $50 later on to return to the old name. I do not make any profit at all from these fees.<br /><br />The name you use must follow Linden Lab's guidelines for private region naming:<br /><span class="contentBody"><blockquote style="font-style: italic;"><span class="contentBody">Private Region or Estate names:</span><ul id="p9n6"><li id="x9j4">Must be more than 3, but less than 25 characters (spaces count)</li><li id="x9j4">Must contain three words or less</li><li id="x9j4">Must use only alphanumeric characters (no punctuation)</li><li id="x9j4">Must not be the name of a real life city (however, "New York Island" or "Los Angeles City" are fine)</li><li id="ecx8">Cannot include SL, Linden, Linden Lab, Second Life etc in the name</li><li id="p:3e">Must be PG<br />Offensiveness guidelines: You may not select as your Private Region name or Estate name: <ul id="rgs3"><li id="padp">The name of another person to the extent that could cause deception or confusion</li><li id="hasy">A name which violates any trademark right, copyright, or other proprietary right</li><li id="st1m">A name which may mislead other users to believe you to be an employee of Linden Lab</li><li id="l-1n">A name which Linden Lab deems in its discretion to be vulgar or otherwise offensive (obscenities in any language or any form of spelling, racist, sexist or otherwise derogatory in nature)</li></ul></li></ul>Must not already be in use <p id="ii9v">Linden Lab reserves the right to change any Private Region or Estate name for any reason or no reason.</p></blockquote></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Can I get a different default shape for my island?</span><br />While you will have full terraforming abilities on your homestead island, I can upload a different default terrain for you at your request, for no extra cost. Please see the Available Island Designs section of <a href="http://desperationisle.blogspot.com/2008/03/phase-3-full-island-rental-at-14-price.html">this announcement</a> for our current selection. Also, if you create or buy your own RAW file, you can email it to me, and I will upload it for you.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">I thought that the terraforming limits were +/-100 meters, but I can't sink the ground more than 20 meters below sea level.</span><br />The +/- limitation really means that you can terraform up to 100 meters above or below the contours of the default terrain, with the limitation that you can never go below an elevation of zero. If you want to make a really deep hole, you should terraform your land very high and then use the region tools to set a higher sea level, giving you more underwater area to work with. The default sea level for any new sim is 20m.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Can I get another island connected to my existing one?</span><br />Yes, we can order additional islands for you and connect them to your existing island. So long as the new island is directly north, south, east, or west of your current island, you will be able to both see and cross the border into the other island. Keep in mind that you will not be able to combine prim allotments, and that each island will have its own estate settings. There is no extra fee for having an additional island, other than the rent. Each island costs L$7,200/week to rent.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Can I "back up" my existing terrain in case I make changes I'm not happy with?</span><br />Yes, if you've done a lot of work on your island design, I can "bake" the terrain so that if you make future modifications you can use the "revert" tool to go back to the version I stored for you. Just IM me and/or send me a notecard. If you want a copy of your backed-up terrain, I will need to have your email address so I can send it to you. (It's a file format that Second Life does not support.)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Is it possible to add more people as Estate Managers on my island?</span><br />Yes, I always grant the primary renter Estate Manager privileges, but I can add anyone else to the managers list for your island.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Is there anything that an estate manager can't do that an island owner can?</span><br />Yes, there are a few things that only the person who actually pays the monthly island use fee to Linden Lab can do. Only the island owner (the person listed as owner on the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Covenant </span>tab of <span style="font-weight: bold;">World </span>> <span style="font-weight: bold;">About Land</span>) can do the following:<br /><ul><li>Set up and manage a telehub.</li><li>Download RAW terrain files.</li><li>Upload RAW terrain files.</li><li>Bake the terrain. (This sets the baseline for the Revert feature of the terraforming tools.)</li><li>Add/Remove other estate managers.</li><li>Deed parcels to a group even when "Allow Land Resell" is disabled on an island. (Note: Estate managers <span style="font-style: italic;">can </span>toggle the Allow Land Resell flag on an island to temporarily enable the ability for parcel deeding.)<br /></li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">I noticed a name I don't recognize on my estate's "Banned Residents" list. Why is that?</span><br />If a resident griefs any of my private or public sims, I ban that individual from all of my islands in one single action. If this individual is a friend of yours, you have the ability to remove them from the ban list on your island. But if they're not, you probably don't want them on your island anyway.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">I noticed a name I don't recognize on my Estate Managers list. Who is that?</span><br />It might be my business alt or one of my partners. Illana Ireton is my business alt. Vivienne Schell is my business partner, and Kelly Walcott is my SL partner, who also helps out on the estate. If you see any other names you don't recognize, please alert me.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">If I get more than one homestead sim from you, will they run on the same server?</span><br />There is no way to predict what physical server your homestead sim will run on. The way Linden Lab has it set up is this: Sims run on physical servers that each have 4 processors. Four full sims run on a single server, one processor per sim. With homesteads, 16 homesteads run on one server, one processor per four sims. (This is why homesteads are considered "light use.") Every time a sim restarts, it has a chance of coming back up on a totally different physical server. This architecture allows Linden Lab to have a more dynamic infrastructure that makes efficient use of their available hardware. It also has the added benefit of helping a sim owner fix some lag issues, because if your sim is sharing a server with some very laggy other sims, you can restart your sim and have a good chance of landing on another server with better neighbors. Another thing to consider is that Linden Lab runs several different "colocation facilities." Not all sims are located in the same geographic region. Some are in California, some are in Texas, etc. Most new homestead sims are at the same colocation facility, which is good, because being in the same facility makes border crossings smoother.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">How do homestead sims perform, compared to full sims?</span><br />New homestead sims generally perform rather well for typical residential use. The one area where you tend to notice a difference between a homestead and a full sim is script performance. If there are a bunch of scripted objects running in the sim, you will start to notice delays- for example, if you have a piece of furniture that displays a menu when you touch it, you might have to wait a few seconds for the menu to appear on a homestead sim with too many scripts running on it. I have tenants running clubs on their homesteads and have not gotten any performance-related complaints, so long as people were careful about what scripted items they placed on their sims. Also remember that many avatars wear huds and other attachments that run TONS of scripts, and all of these can affect your sim. Also, every once in a while you might end up sharing a server with some laggy "server neighbors." If you encounter lag on your homestead that doesn't seem related to anything you're doing on the island, sometimes a restart will help, because your sim will start up on another server, with different "neighbors."<br /><br />Note that Linden Lab has discussed the possibility of imposing script limitations on homestead regions, but as of January 2009, no limitations had been implemented, and no other specifics were available.Wildefire Walcotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12227668370418481313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411158423084818422.post-26768857325808087342008-03-19T11:00:00.000-07:002008-03-19T11:17:09.609-07:00Putting Your Modeling Studio To SleepThe N30 Deluxe Modeling Studio is a very popular and useful tool for taking snapshots in Second Life. Unfortunately, it is a very script-heavy device that almost always ends up in a sim's list of "Top Scripts." Heavily-scripted objects contribute to lag, which affects everyone on the island. Luckily, the N30 Deluxe Modeling Studio has an auto-off feature that shuts the studio down while you're not using it. Please follow these steps to ensure your studio isn't wasting valuable resources while you're away. The process is a little weird, but follow these steps to do it right (steps after the picture):<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/6057/n30deluxemodelingstudiocj0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/6057/n30deluxemodelingstudiocj0.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><ol><li>Touch (left-click) the studio's control panel to bring up the menu.</li><li>Click <span style="font-weight: bold;">Settings</span>.</li><li>Click <span style="font-weight: bold;">Auto-off</span>.</li><li>Click <span style="font-weight: bold;">Shutdown</span>.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">IMPORTANT</span>: You're not done yet! You need to follow the next steps too!<br /></li><li>Touch the control panel again.</li><li>Click <span style="font-weight: bold;">Settings</span>.</li><li>Click <span style="font-weight: bold;">Auto-off</span>.</li><li>Click <span style="font-weight: bold;">Auto-off</span> again. You should now see a message in chat that "Autoshutdown has been activated."</li></ol>With this option enabled, the modeling table will disable any lighting and special effects, and temporarily turn off the modeling table if no one is in the vicinity for 5 minutes.Wildefire Walcotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12227668370418481313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411158423084818422.post-10875360168028645822008-03-12T12:05:00.001-07:002008-03-12T13:04:04.670-07:00Moving Large Unlinked BuildsEvery once in a while you have a need to move a number of unlinked objects together, so that they all maintain their same relative positions, but just move elsewhere on your land. The example I'm going to demonstrate involves the Montana Log Cabin, designed by Cory Edo. The cabin is too large to be packaged as a single linked structure, so you need to know how to select and move all of the cabin's linked components together if you want to reposition the house.<br /><br />This tutorial assumes that you already know how to use the Second Life camera controls, and you know how to edit and move individual objects.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://wildefirewalcott.5u.com/blogpics/cabinmove/cabin%2001%20starting%20out.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://wildefirewalcott.5u.com/blogpics/cabinmove/cabin%2001%20starting%20out.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Increase your draw distance</span></span><br />The bigger your build is, the further away you'll need to zoom out your camera. Your maximum zoom distance is limited by your current draw distance, however. Increase your draw distance so that you can zoom out far enough to see your build and the destination location on-screen at the same time.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://wildefirewalcott.5u.com/blogpics/cabinmove/cabin%2002%20draw%20distance.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://wildefirewalcott.5u.com/blogpics/cabinmove/cabin%2002%20draw%20distance.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Disable camera constraints</span></span><br />By default the Second Life viewer puts limits on how far you can zoom in and out on things. You need to turn these limits off in order to move a large build. If you do not see the Client and Server menus in your menu bar, press CTRL+ALT+D to display them. Make sure that <span style="font-weight: bold;">Disable Camera Constraints</span> is <span style="font-style: italic;">checked</span>, while <span style="font-weight: bold;">Limit Select Distance</span> is <span style="font-style: italic;">unchecked</span>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://wildefirewalcott.5u.com/blogpics/cabinmove/cabin%2003%20disable%20constraints.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://wildefirewalcott.5u.com/blogpics/cabinmove/cabin%2003%20disable%20constraints.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Only select your objects</span></span><br />If you accidentally select any items owned by anyone other than yourself, you will not be able to move ANY of the objects that you have selected. In order to prevent this from happening, make sure the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Select Only My Objects</span> option on the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Tools </span>menu is checked.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://wildefirewalcott.5u.com/blogpics/cabinmove/cabin%2004%20select%20only%20my%20objects.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://wildefirewalcott.5u.com/blogpics/cabinmove/cabin%2004%20select%20only%20my%20objects.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Get a bird's-eye view and clean up your viewing area</span></span><br />Use the camera controls to pan overhead and zoom out far enough that you can see the whole build. Once you start selecting items, the camera becomes more difficult to control, so it's best to start from a good angle before you do anything else.<br /><br />My screenshots are small so you can view them easily, but ideally you're zoomed out far enough that you will be able to select all the parts of your build without having any windows or other things obstructing your view or your selection area (for example, I have the edit window covering part of my house on my screen in some of these pictures, and that would cause me a problem when selecting in the next steps). I strongly recommend you detach all of your HUDs because they can block your selecting. (Notice that I'm not wearing any HUDs in any of these screenshots.)<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Enter edit mode</span></span><br />In order to begin selecting your build, you need to select one object in Edit mode. Do this by right-clicking an object (it doesn't matter which one) and picking Edit on the pie menu.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://wildefirewalcott.5u.com/blogpics/cabinmove/cabin%2005%20birds%20eye%20view.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://wildefirewalcott.5u.com/blogpics/cabinmove/cabin%2005%20birds%20eye%20view.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Select the rest of the build</span></span><br />Once you have at least one item selected in Edit mode you can click and drag on the ground to select the rest of the items. This is where it's very important that you don't have any HUDs or windows blocking your view.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://wildefirewalcott.5u.com/blogpics/cabinmove/cabin%2006%20select%20rest.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://wildefirewalcott.5u.com/blogpics/cabinmove/cabin%2006%20select%20rest.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Move the build</span></span><br />Once all your items are selected and your camera is positioned properly, you can move things by dragging the red, green, and blue arrow handles. You can also rotate the build by holding down CTRL or by switching into Rotate mode in the Edit window.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://wildefirewalcott.5u.com/blogpics/cabinmove/cabin%2007%20begin%20move.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://wildefirewalcott.5u.com/blogpics/cabinmove/cabin%2007%20begin%20move.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Finalize the move</span></span><br />Once you have everything positioned just where you like it, simply close the Edit window.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://wildefirewalcott.5u.com/blogpics/cabinmove/cabin%2008%20complete.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://wildefirewalcott.5u.com/blogpics/cabinmove/cabin%2008%20complete.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Wildefire Walcotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12227668370418481313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411158423084818422.post-88377163068345021442008-03-09T16:59:00.000-07:002008-03-09T18:46:38.471-07:00Phase 3: Full Island Rental at 1/4 the Price!I am excited to announce Phase 3 of Desperation Isle Estates: Full island rentals at the price we normally charge to rent 1/4 of a sim. These are special "Openspace" islands that only support 3,750 prims instead of the normal 15,000. Note that Phase 2 (multi-tenant, full-prim day/night islands) is still going strong, and will continue to grow over time.<br /><br />Some people call Openspace sims "low prim sim," "sim-lite," or (incorrectly) "void sims." There used to be severe restrictions on Openspace sims: Formerly they were limited to only 1875 prims, you could only order them in bunches of 4 at a time, and they had to be anchored to another island, which meant that you couldn't just put them anywhere on the map. <a href="http://blog.secondlife.com/2008/03/07/announcing-changes-to-the-openspace-product/">All of those restrictions have been lifted</a>, however, allowing us to provide completely autonomous full low-prim sims to our tenants!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Advantages</span><br />There are many benefits to having your own Phase 3 island:<br /><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Choose your own default island design</span>. We have a selection of various full-island templates available that we can install when you first move into your sim.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Choose your own island textures</span>. We will texture your island to your specifications- you can make it a lush tropical getaway or a foreboding alien landscape.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Access to Estate Manager tools</span>. We will grand the primary tenant access to the Region Tools for the given island. Tenants can use the region tools to diagnose physics and scripting issues, restart the island, send messages to visitors, and more.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Total creative freedom</span>. Since you have no neighbors to worry about, none of the 'building guidelines' from our covenant apply. Make your island as beautiful (or ugly) as you wish. Specifically, sections 6.2, 6.3, 6.5, and 6.6 of the covenant mostly do not apply to Phase 3 islands.<br /></li></ul><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Limitations</span></span><br />Keep in mind that Openspace islands are not exactly the same as regular private islands. You must be aware of the following technical restrictions:<br /><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Total prim limit is 3,750</span>. Once you hit your prim limit on an OpenSpace sim, there is no way to rent "extra prims" from us.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Limited performance</span>. Openspace sims share a processor core with up to three other Openspace sims; they are designed to handle 1/4 the load. This makes them great for residential areas, low-script-load stores, and casual gathering places, but they are not ideal for places with very heavy script load or an unusually large number of textures.<br /></li></ul><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Pricing and Acquisition</span></span><br />The pricing for a Phase 3 island is the same as for renting 1/4 of one of the other islands:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">65536m: 3750 prims, weekly L$7200 ($26.97 USD), monthly L$28800 ($107.87 USD)</span><br /><br />We will order Phase 3 islands on an as-needed, first-come-first-served basis. It costs us $415 out-of-pocket for every new Openspace sim we bring online, so quantities will be limited. Here's how it will work:<br /><ol><li>If you would like to rent an Openspace sim, contact Wildefire Walcott directly. If she is not yet prepared to order a new island, she'll add you to her first-come-first-served Phase 3 wait list. </li><li>If a new island needs to be ordered and Wildefire is prepared to purchase a new one, you will be required to make a non-refundable cash payment of L$14400 ($54.14 USD) to Wildefire Walcott. <span style="font-weight: bold;">This money counts toward your rent</span>, and any back-rent you already have on your existing rental box will also carry over once you move out of your old lot.<br /></li><li>Wildefire will put in the order for the new sim, and then alert you when it is ready. The choice of island name will be hers, but she may give you some options to choose from. (You will be able to name any parcel(s) you create on the island.)</li><li>Delivery time may take 1-2 weeks, depending on how busy Linden Lab's Concierge team is. Once the island is delivered, you will be able to choose what island design to use, and select island textures. The island design options available to you are listed later. You will have to provide your own full-perm terrain textures to Wildefire if you are not satisfied with the ones in the Linden Library.<br /></li><li>Wildefire will add the primary tenant to the Estate Manager list for that island.</li><li>If you are an existing tenant of Desperation Isle Estates, you will continue to pay your old rent box at the adjusted fee (Phase 3 islands have no rent boxes on them.) Otherwise, Wildefire will set a new box up for you at one of the other islands in the estate. Please vacate your old land as soon as possible (and notify Wildefire once you're moved out), so she can quickly re-adjust your rent box and re-list your land in.<br /></li></ol><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Available Island Designs</span><br />We have the following default island designs available for Phase 3 islands. Four of them are the original island designs that Linden Lab uses when creating new private islands, while the others were custom designed for Desperation Isle Estates.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://wildefirewalcott.5u.com/islandtypes/Islandtype1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://wildefirewalcott.5u.com/islandtypes/Islandtype1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://wildefirewalcott.5u.com/islandtypes/Islandtype2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://wildefirewalcott.5u.com/islandtypes/Islandtype2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://wildefirewalcott.5u.com/islandtypes/Islandtype3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://wildefirewalcott.5u.com/islandtypes/Islandtype3.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://wildefirewalcott.5u.com/islandtypes/Islandtype4.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://wildefirewalcott.5u.com/islandtypes/Islandtype4.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://wildefirewalcott.5u.com/islandtypes/Desperation-East-Terrain-De.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://wildefirewalcott.5u.com/islandtypes/Desperation-East-Terrain-De.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://wildefirewalcott.5u.com/islandtypes/Desperation-Kelly-Terrain-D.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://wildefirewalcott.5u.com/islandtypes/Desperation-Kelly-Terrain-D.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://wildefirewalcott.5u.com/islandtypes/desperation-vivienne-terrai.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://wildefirewalcott.5u.com/islandtypes/desperation-vivienne-terrai.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://wildefirewalcott.5u.com/islandtypes/flatgreen.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://wildefirewalcott.5u.com/islandtypes/flatgreen.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Wildefire Walcotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12227668370418481313noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411158423084818422.post-49059994251383390772008-02-17T11:21:00.000-08:002008-02-17T13:30:54.066-08:00Desperation Isle Estates: Phase TwoIn the past couple of weeks we launched our first couple of islands in Phase Two of Desperation Isle Estates. The Phase 2 islands are not connected to the original islands that surround New Desperation Isle (so there's open ocean in every direction), and they are on a normal day/night cycle. The first island, <a href="http://slurl.com/secondlife/Desperation%20Kelly/110/144/23/?title=Desperation%20Kelly">Desperation Kelly</a>, is already full, but <a href="http://slurl.com/secondlife/Desperation%20Vivienne/145/145/23/?title=Desperation%20Vivienne">Desperation Vivienne</a> still has some vacancies. Please see <a href="http://desperationisle.blogspot.com/2007/08/covenant-update-for-desperation-isle.html">our covenant</a> for a list of prices.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://wildefirewalcott.5u.com/blogpics/desperation-phase-two-sign.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://wildefirewalcott.5u.com/blogpics/desperation-phase-two-sign.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />To find spots on our estates available for rent using Second Life's new search box (the one that's in the upper-right corner of the screen), just search for: <span style="font-weight: bold;">for rent desperation</span>. In Places Search (<span style="font-weight: bold;">Edit</span> > <span style="font-weight: bold;">Search </span>> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Places</span>), just look for: <span style="font-weight: bold;">desperation</span>. Our available parcels will all begin "For Rent:" and you can teleport directly to the parcels from the ads. Also, you can always click the <a href="http://secondlife.com/app/search/search?q=for+rent+desperation">Parcels for Rent</a> link on the right-hand side of this blog.Wildefire Walcotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12227668370418481313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411158423084818422.post-19580245861362012672007-12-25T11:25:00.000-08:002007-12-25T11:47:12.296-08:00Using the Sim-wide TeleportersAll major locations at New Desperation Isle are accessible via our teleporter system. (In fact, some locations are <span style="font-style: italic;">only </span>accessible by teleporter.) New visitors are sometimes confused by the teleporters, so here are some quick usage tips:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >1. Touch the teleporter base.</span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Just touch (left-click) a teleporter base to bring up a menu.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.google.com/wildefire.walcott/R3FZIq05dkI/AAAAAAAAAos/_1Uh-4mTj1s/teleporter1.jpg?imgmax=512"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://lh5.google.com/wildefire.walcott/R3FZIq05dkI/AAAAAAAAAos/_1Uh-4mTj1s/teleporter1.jpg?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >2. Select your destination.</span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">The menu displays a numbered list of all possible destinations. You might have to scroll down in the menu to see all of the destinations. Click the number associated to your desired destination to rez a teleport beam.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.google.com/wildefire.walcott/R3FZI605dlI/AAAAAAAAAo0/oyee8nPGaEI/teleporter2.jpg?imgmax=320"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 353px;" src="http://lh6.google.com/wildefire.walcott/R3FZI605dlI/AAAAAAAAAo0/oyee8nPGaEI/teleporter2.jpg?imgmax=320" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >3. Touch or sit on the teleport beam.</span><br />We have modified our teleporters so that you can just touch (left-click) the blue beam to travel to your destination. Alternatively, you can right-click the beam and pick Transport on the pie menu to do the same thing.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.google.com/wildefire.walcott/R3FZI605dmI/AAAAAAAAAo8/lfqnUhOvBkk/teleporter3.jpg?imgmax=512"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://lh6.google.com/wildefire.walcott/R3FZI605dmI/AAAAAAAAAo8/lfqnUhOvBkk/teleporter3.jpg?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Other teleporters</span><br />Some places, such as the Mall and the Castle, have their own simplified teleporter systems. Just touch the labeled buttons to move to your chosen location. The Treehouse and the Goliath Tree have simple systems where you right-click the teleporter, and then pick a teleport option from the pie menu.Wildefire Walcotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12227668370418481313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411158423084818422.post-41392086919847231962007-12-16T23:32:00.000-08:002007-12-17T00:16:11.719-08:00Update on the New Desperation Isle MallThanks to those of you who toured and voted on the mall prototype designs this weekend. Voting for the survey is now closed, and here are the results:<br /><ul><li style="font-weight: bold;">Model 1: The Square 47.4% (9 votes)</li><li>Model 2: The Big Circle 31.6% (6 votes)</li><li>Model 3: The Little Circle 21.1% (4 votes)</li></ul>The Square is the second-most compact prototype mall I built in the past couple of weeks, and I believe it is small enough to actually fit on the island where the current mall resides. This slightly changes my plans a bit.<br /><ol><li>Beginning on Monday, the 17th, I will be return vendor items from the current mall so I can tear down the mall and replace it with the new one. You are free to pick up your things before-hand if you like. (It ill make my life easier if you do.)<br /></li><li>I will decorate the mall a bit, and place any teleporters or signs so that you know where things are going to be and aren't surprised by new additions upon later trips to the mall. I'm also decorating a sort of welcome area in the castle. This is where many of the signs currently at my welcome area will go, so they're not blocking the view of stalls in the mall.<br /></li><li>Once the mall is in place I will personally invite my long-time tenants to take their pick of spots</li><li>Next I will send out a group notice to the rest of my vendors.</li><li>If there are any spots left, I will contact vendors currently on my waiting list.</li><li>After you claim your stall I will apply any rent that you had remaining on your old rent box to your new box, and give you a free week of rent on top of that. (I have not been charging any rent the past 2 weeks and I know exactly how much rent every tenant had remaining on their boxes.)</li><li>Once the mall's sufficiently populated, I will send out an announcement to the New Desperation Isle updates group (separate from the renters group) and do some advertising in several places to get the word out about the new mall.<br /></li></ol>Here's picture of the winning model people voted on, for those who missed the open house. The others were round, resembling arenas. Folks felt the big one was too big and the little one didn't offer enough visibility.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.google.com/wildefire.walcott/R2Qmx605dgI/AAAAAAAAAnI/T0Z-s0owByU/mallmodel1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 171px;" src="http://lh5.google.com/wildefire.walcott/R2Qmx605dgI/AAAAAAAAAnI/T0Z-s0owByU/mallmodel1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />We should be back in business by this weekend. Thank you.Wildefire Walcotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12227668370418481313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411158423084818422.post-76282538366137612562007-12-03T19:42:00.000-08:002007-12-04T00:24:23.146-08:00Changes at the New Desperation Isle MallAbout 1/2 of my current mall tenants responded to the survey, and the results are clear: I messed up the New Desperation Isle mall. More than half of my tenants who used to be at the original mall on old Desperation Isle said their sales were better there- in fact some folks mentioned that the old mall used to be one of their most profitable locations, while the current mall barely justifies rent. Commonly cited issues were the alpha textures (which contribute to slow rezzing), the "sign spam" at the teleport point, the ease with which visitors are able to escape the mall before it even rezzes, and the fact that some of the changes made after the mall opened blocked visibility to some vendors. So let me just get this out of the way: I'm sorry. Seriously. You deserve better.<br /><br />The general feeling among people who responded is that a new, better-planned mall will improve sales. I really hate to rebuild, because I know what a hassle it is for my tenants to have to set up their stalls again- but the current mall just isn't serving my tenants or my guests. We need a new one.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">Questions and Answers</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">What will be different about the new mall?</span><br />The new structure is much larger and has a completely open, arena-style layout. Every vendor in the entire mall will be visible and easily accessible from the landing point. There are walkways that lead from the landing point to four balconies that line the building where customers will find island teleporters (basically, visitors will have to walk past your products to get to the island). Each balcony will have a teleporter that takes guests to anywhere on the island. There will also be quick-access teleporters to allow visitors to jump between the main floor and the upper level. To reduce lag and to preserve the skyline of the isle, the mall will be moved up to 300m. All building textures are also opaque, and view of the outside is limited to the starry sky and what you can see off the balconies. Some of the signs that currently greet visitors at the existing mall will be spread around the teleport point, but out of the way and at a lower elevation so they do not block the visitor's view of any of our vendors.<br /><br />Another difference worth noting is that I'd like for this mall to be sorted into sections. For example, one area for latex and fetishwear, one for casual clothes and footwear, one for BDSM furniture, etc. I am aware that several of you have product lines that span multiple categories. You may choose where you fit among the others, in that case. I will have signs up pointing out the desired areas. If people dislike this idea I'll give it up- but I'd like to at least give it a shot.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Is there a policy on renting several stalls?</span><br />Glad you asked! ;) While we first set up I would ask that folks not reserve more than two stalls at a time. If, after everyone's been notified, there are still spaces left, you may rent more.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Will the size or shape of the stalls be any different?</span><br />There are going to be a few differences. For one thing there will no longer be any crappy "corner stalls." All stalls have open, visible wall space now, and all are a full 10 meters wide. I am installing scripted dividers that vendors can show or hide at their discretion. If you don't see a divider, just go into 'show invisible' mode and click it. It will ask whether you want to show or hide the divider. Only members of the renter group can toggle divider visibility. I believe that dividers make things look cramped, but they're there if you need the extra wall space. Also, if you want to show or hide a divider that separates you from a neighbor, please ask your neighbor first.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Will there be downtime during the transition?</span><br />Not really. The existing mall will remain operational until the new one is in place, although I won't be charging you during the transition. I will be picking up existing rent boxes shortly and recording how many days each tenant had on their rent. You will still be able to make sales the whole time. (Note: Due to prim limitations, please pick up your items from the old mall before setting up at the new one.)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">When will we be able to move in?</span><br />Within a day or two I will be personally contacting long-time renters (people who rented with me back on the old island) to let them claim their spots. Once the old timers have had at least 24 hours to move in I will send out a notice to the group, and individually contact current renters who are no longer in the group.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Will we be compensated for this hassle?</span><br />Yes. If you responded to my survey you already got a free week of rent added to your box. If you stay with us and move to the new mall I will give you an additional free week when I apply the built-up rent from your old box to your new one. You do have to pay for at least one week's rent, just because that's how the boxes work.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">What do I need to do?</span><br />First, wait for me to notify you, whether by group notice or individual contact. Once I say that the mall is ready, you can go to the new mall and pay a rent box to claim your spot. Please pick up your things from the old mall before setting up the new one.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">I'm no longer in your rent group. What do I do?</span><br />To get added to the rent group you can IM Wildefire Walcott, Clara Hirvi, or Vivienne Schell and request access to Mistress Wildefire's Sub-space so you can place things at the mall. We're an international team, so at least one of us is almost always on.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">Survey Results</span><br />Here are the results of the survey I sent out, based on responses from 27 people.<br /><br /><ol><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Are you satisfied with your current sales at the New Desperation Isle mall?</span><br />Yes 29.6% 8<br />No 70.4% 19</li><br /><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">If you used to have a stall at the old mall on the original Desperation Isle, how do your sales at the new mall compare?</span><br />My sales at the new mall are better than at the old one. 3.7% 1<br />My sales at the new mall are about the same. 14.8% 4<br />My sales at the new mall are worse than at the old one. 51.9% 14<br />I don't remember. 7.4% 2<br />I am new and did not have a stall at the old mall. 22.2% 6</li><br /><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">How do your sales at the current mall compare with your sales at other malls with similar traffic and price?</span> (Our current traffic is between 14,000-19,000, and we charge around L$10 per prim.)<br />I generally get better sales at this mall compared to my other comparable locations. 7.4% 2<br />My sales are around the same. 14.8% 4<br />My sales at New Desperation Isle are worse than at my other similar locations. 63.0% 17<br />I don't know. 14.8% 4<br />New Desperation Isle is my only location. 0.0% 0</li><br /><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">How do you feel about the layout of the current mall?</span><br />The current mall design is fine, I wouldn't change a thing. 14.8% 4<br />The current design is okay, but could be better. 37.0% 10<br />I don't like the current layout. 40.7% 11<br />I don't know how I feel about it. 7.4% 2</li><br /><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Do you think a mall redesign would improve your sales at New Desperation Isle?</span><br />Yes 81.5% 22<br />No 18.5% 5</li><br /><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">If we decided to rebuild the mall from the ground up in order to improve the layout and overall visibility, would you come back to us to try it out?</span><br />Yes 96.3% 26<br />No 3.7% 1</li><br /><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">If we rebuild the mall and are ready for vendors to set up again, should we give first pick to the people who already have good locations?</span><br />Yes, the people who already have good locations deserve to have the same chance at the newly-built mall. 40.7% 11<br />No, everyone should have the same chance at getting a good spot. 48.1% 13<br />I don't have an opinion. 11.1% 3</li></ol><br />Thanks for your business and your patience. I'm going to get it right this time.Wildefire Walcotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12227668370418481313noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411158423084818422.post-84928906392826440492007-11-10T23:51:00.000-08:002007-11-11T00:00:48.881-08:00New Desperation Isle Video TourI produced the following video with some help from my friends and pets. It serves as a brief tour of the isle, showcasing some of the many roleplaying possibilities there. The music is "Midnight in a Perfect World," by DJ Shadow.<br /><br /><center><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/PREC4NzWxzI&rel=1"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/PREC4NzWxzI&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object></center><br />My thanks to Redfire, Whinter, Bethany, Vivienne, Ramonna, and Clara for their participation in the filming. You can learn more about New Desperation Isle at the <a href="http://desperationisle.blogspot.com/2007/10/new-desperation-isle-is-open-to-public.html">official opening announcement</a>.Wildefire Walcotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12227668370418481313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411158423084818422.post-67165856093578259212007-10-18T13:52:00.000-07:002007-10-18T15:27:29.572-07:00Dealing with Chat Spam GriefersOver the past few days I've received reports from tenants and visitors that an object has been spamming them with the following annoying text:<br /><blockquote>[11:44] III||IIl|||||||||||||: HELLO MY NAME IS BLACKPAT HALLARD AND I'M 16 YEARS OLD, NICE TO MEET YOU HELLO MY NAME IS BLACKPAT HALLARD AND I'M 16 YEARS OLD, NICE TO MEET YOU HELLO MY NAME IS BLACKPAT HALLARD AND I'M 16 YEARS OLD, NICE TO MEET YOU HELLO MY NAME IS BLACKPAT HALLARD AND I'M 16 YEARS OLD, NICE TO MEET<br /></blockquote>Normally you can just mute and report objects that spam you, but this one has been specially designed to make finding and reporting it very difficult. In order for Linden Lab to track down the offender and stop the spam, I need your help in reporting the problem when it happens.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">What to do if you get spammed</span><br />Please contact me (Wildefire Walcott) or one of my estate managers (Vivienne Schell or Clara Hirvi) as soon as you're spammed. Tell us exactly where you were when you got the spam, and copy/paste the message (including the object name) into the IM you send. We will try to contact Linden Lab support to track down the spammer.Wildefire Walcotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12227668370418481313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411158423084818422.post-9679028780466289082007-10-08T00:11:00.000-07:002007-11-05T15:52:55.817-08:00New Desperation Isle is open to the public!<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">New Desperation Isle is an adults-only kink and fetish playground in the virtual world of Second Life. If you have Second Life installed, you can <a href="http://slurl.com/secondlife/New%20Desperation%20Isle/76/194/79/?title=New%20Desperation%20Isle&msg=Kink%2C%20roleplay%2C%20and%20shopping%20evolved.">teleport there now</a>. If you're new to Second Life, visit <a href="http://secondlife.com/whatis/">What is Second Life?</a> to learn about it and sign up for a free account.<br /></div><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/739/newdesperationislesearcyl2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/739/newdesperationislesearcyl2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />This post covers the following topics:<br /><ul><li><a href="http://desperationisle.blogspot.com/2007/10/new-desperation-isle-is-open-to-public.html#history">Recent history</a></li><li><a href="http://desperationisle.blogspot.com/2007/10/new-desperation-isle-is-open-to-public.html#gettingto">Getting to the island</a></li><li><a href="http://desperationisle.blogspot.com/2007/10/new-desperation-isle-is-open-to-public.html#experience">Improving your experience</a></li><li><a href="http://desperationisle.blogspot.com/2007/10/new-desperation-isle-is-open-to-public.html#performance">Improving your performance</a></li><li><a href="http://desperationisle.blogspot.com/2007/10/new-desperation-isle-is-open-to-public.html#exploring">Exploring the island</a></li></ul><a name="history"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Recent history</span><br />The adult playground and kink mall New Desperation Isle is officially open. Old Desperation Isle was shut down on October 18, but most of the attractions there have made their way to the new island in one form or another. My slaves and I built the new island with our guests in mind, and with a goal of delivering a more focused and immersive experience for you to enjoy. Note that the old island has been renamed to Desperation East, and become one of the rental islands in the Desperation Isle Estates. To see if any land is available for rent, go to <span style="font-weight: bold;">Search </span>> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Places </span>and look for "desperation." All our rental properties are listed there.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></a><a style="font-weight: bold;" name="gettingto">Getting to the island</a><br />If you have Second Life open now, you can teleport directly there by <a href="http://slurl.com/secondlife/New%20Desperation%20Isle/76/194/79/?title=New%20Desperation%20Isle&msg=Kink%2C%20roleplay%2C%20and%20shopping%20evolved.">clicking this link</a>. You can also find us by going to <span style="font-weight: bold;">Edit </span>> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Search </span>and looking for <span style="font-weight: bold;">New Desperation Isle</span> on the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Places </span>tab. I also have a link to the island in the Picks tab of my in-world profile. While you can get there by simply flying West from the old Desperation Isle, I strongly recommend you update your landmarks and profile picks because the old island will be going away soon.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a name="experience">Improving your experience</a></span><br />(Note: If you've got an older, slower, computer, skip this section and move on to the next section about improving performance.) New Desperation Isle is a lot more scenic and visually dynamic than the old island, and if you've got a fast, recent computer and a good broadband connection, here are some suggestions for getting the best total experience during your visit.<br /><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Edit > Preferences > Graphics > Draw Distance</span>. I recommend between <span style="font-weight: bold;">192 </span>and <span style="font-weight: bold;">256 </span>meters. Any higher doesn't add too much, but affects performance.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Edit > Preferences > Graphics Detail > Lighting Detail</span>. Set to <span style="font-weight: bold;">Nearby local lights</span> for the best effect.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Edit > Preferences > Graphics Detail > Terrain Detail</span>. Set to <span style="font-weight: bold;">High</span>.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Edit > Preferences > Adv. Graphics > Nighttime Brightness</span>. If things seem too dark, increase this value until they look better. I strongly recommend doing this instead of using <span style="font-weight: bold;">World > Force Sun</span>, because the island was designed for a nighttime experience.<br /></li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a name="performance">Improving your performance</a></span><br />The sim performance at New Desperation Isle is near-perfect. In other words, the island is not bogged down on the server side and all scripts and download services are running at full capacity. However, if your computer is old or you don't have a very good broadband connection or graphics card, you might have to make some compromises in order do get around easily on the new island. If updating your computer, graphics card, or RAM are not options for you, here are my recommendations:<br /><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Play in full-screen mode</span>. Generally you can get more frames per second (FPS) by running Second Life in full-screen mode, instead of "windowed mode." You can switch between full-screen and windowed modes at any time by pressing ALT+ENTER. To see what your current FPS is, enable <span style="font-weight: bold;">View > Statistics Bar</span>. Your client-side FPS is the number at the top of the statistics bar. This is different from Sim FPS, which is a measure of how fast the server is operating. If you find that your FPS actually drops when you enter full-screen mode, it might be because your computer's screen resolution is very high. If you set your computer to a normal resolution like 1024x768, full-screen mode will likely be faster for you than Windowed mode.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Edit > Preferences > Network > Maximum Bandwidth</span>. Set this slider to match your broadband connection's speed. The default is 500 kpbs but most cable modem connections are much faster than that. This slider has a maximum of 1500 kbps. It probably will not help you to increase the slider to a speed greater than your broadband connection.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Edit > Preferences > Network > Disk Cache Size (MB)</span>. If you have the hard disk space, increase this slider to expand your cache, which will cut down on the time you have to spend re-downloading assets at places you frequently visit. The maximum value is 1000 MB, which is around 1 GB.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Edit > Preferences > Graphics > Draw Distance</span>. Lowering this value will increase FPS by limiting how many distant objects your computer has to display. 96 meters is an acceptable distance, in my opinion, and I wouldn't recommend any less than 64 meters.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Edit > Preferences > Graphics Detail > Lighting Detail</span>. You can get a minor boost by switching this to Sun and Moon only. If you select this, I recommend that you drastically increase your nighttime brightness or force daylight so you're able to see where you're going, as New Desperation Isle makes heavy use of local lighting for visibility and atmosphere.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Edit > Preferences > Graphics > Terrain Detail</span>. Setting this <span style="font-weight: bold;">to Low </span>will give you a 1-2 FPS boost. The ground won't look as nice.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Edit > Preferences > Adv. Graphics > Filtering</span>. Uncheck <span style="font-weight: bold;">Anisotropic Filtering</span> if it's checked. You probably won't miss it.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Edit > Preferences > Adv. Graphics > Graphics Card Memory</span>. Select the highest number that isn't grayed out. If your graphics card has less than 128MB of memory, you're not going to have the best experience.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Edit > Preferences > Adv. Graphics > Max. Particle Count</span>. New Desperation Isle uses many particle effects to enhance the atmosphere in several parts of the island. Lowering this number to something like 1024 or even less will improve performance in these areas.</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a name="exploring">Exploring the island</a></span><br />There are many places to discover on the isle. Here's a short guide to the major locations:<br /><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Mall</span>. When you first teleport into New Desperation Isle, you land on the top level of our kink and fetish mall. Please support our vendors- they pay our bills!</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Castle</span>. Seven rooms for seven sins, each area in this castle is outfitted to cater to different kinks and fantasies. See if you can find the hidden dungeon! There have been rumors of dark rites being performed in the ancient ruins behind the castle... are they just stories?<br /></li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Treehouse</span>. This scenic location features a bar and slave parking downstairs, as well as a forniphilia lounge and a comfy private area on the second level. Use the teleporter inside the big tree to get upstairs.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Medical Center</span>. Our experienced medical technicians specialize in gender reassignment (or enhancement) and a variety of brainwashing and fertility services.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Goliath Tree</span>. Just West of the Medical Center looms the immense Goliath tree. Ride the teleporters to the top level for a 360-degree view of the entire Desperation Isle Estates.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Atrium</span>. This is Wildefire Walcott's personal gathering place and office, surrounded by trees. Visitors are welcome; it's perhaps the only "safe" place on the isle.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Barn</span>. At great expense, the Walcott Family contracted to have the most popular building from old Desperation Isle moved to its new, more private location, enshrouded in a ring of trees. Everything you remember is still there, although some stables have been added for keeping your pets where they belong. (The pony wash is now located on the South side of the barn.) Visitors will also find an inviting bonfire outside the barn.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Love Nest</span>. One of the Walcott slaves contstructed this heart-shaped building as an expression of her devotion to her Mistresses. Find a comfy hammock, warm (scripted) bearskin rug, and a roomy jacuzzi on the top level. This structure has the best view of the giant waterfall and the tragic shipwreck of the Blessed Hellride.<br /></li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Pirate Ship</span>. (Coming soon.) This giant unmanned vessel floated into harbor one gloomy Fall morning; no trace of its owners was ever found. It seems too beautiful to dismantle, so we're looking for a use for it.</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Cave</span>. Like old Desperation Isle, the island sits upon a vast network of caves. Explore our 9,600-square meter cave and unlock its mysteries. Note: There is a secret entrance to the cave tucked away somewhere aboveground, but it can also be accessed from the island teleporters.<br /></li></ul>Wildefire Walcotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12227668370418481313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411158423084818422.post-36197208262299515922007-10-02T13:12:00.000-07:002007-10-02T13:14:48.835-07:00New Desperation Isle Mall Rules and InfoThank you for expressing an interest in setting up shop at the New Desperation Isle Mall. The isle is a dark BDSM roleplaying area whose guests are mostly D/s practitioners and fetishists from Germany, France, Scandinavia, and the USA. New Desperation Isle is a mature, privately-owned sim. As of this writing we get between 12-16K of real traffic at our current home (no campers, no bots)- depending on the day of the week.<br /><br />*** MALL RENTAL RATES ***<br />There are different rates depending on the number of prims you wish to use in your stall. Rent is due weekly and should be paid to the rental box in your stall. The rental box will remind you when pay is due (or late). (Note, the default rate is for 20 prims, if you wish to use more or less, please contact me and I will make adjustments/refunds as needed.) Please see the New Desperation Isle FAQ at the blog for other options: http://desperationisle.blogspot.com/<br /> * 1 to 10 prims: L$100/week<br /> * 11 to 15 prims: L$150/week<br /> * 16 to 20 prims: L$200/week<br /> * 21 to 25 prims: L$250/week<br /> * 26 to 30 prims: L$285/week (5% discount)<br /> * 31 to 35 prims: L$333/week (5% discount)<br /> * 36 to 40 prims: L$360/week (10% discount)<br /> * 41 to 45 prims: L$405/week (10% discount)<br /> * 46 to 50 prims: L$425/week (15% discount)<br /> * Over 50 prims: Let's talk. =)<br /> <br />*** REFERRAL BONUS ***<br />If a new Second Life merchant sets up at the Mall under your recommendation, I will reimburse you for a week's worth of rent! Just have your friends tell me you referred them. (This is important!)<br /><br />*** HOW TO SET UP SHOP ***<br />1. Pay the rental box in the stall you would like to rent to claim your spot.<br />2. Contact Wildefire Walcott via IM and ask to be added to her group for the mall. (I am online every day between 10pm-12:30am PST, but can respond to offline IMs during most days.) I will invite you to the group, "Mistress Wildefire's Sub-space" as an "Associate."<br />3. Once you're in the group, remember to always activate the group tag before placing your items. If you don't do this your items will be auto-returned within 10 minutes.<br /><br />*** NOTES ***<br />- The land is set to 10-minute autoreturn. Be sure to wear the group tag when putting things out for sale.<br />- Stalls are available on a first-come-first-served basis. Follow the steps listed earlier to claim your spot.<br />- If you have a business partner who needs group access as well, just tell me.<br />- Please check the Desperation Isle Estates blog for up-to-date information (check the Mall Renter Resources links on the right side of the page): http://desperationisle.blogspot.com/<br /><br />*** DETAILS AND RULES ***<br />- What you sell on New Desperation Isle is up to you. So long as what you're selling doesn't violate the Second Life terms of service and you're not reselling freebies, you should be okay. Items that sell very well at the isle: All types of womens' clothes, latex and fetish wear, scripted BDSM furniture and collars/cuffs/binders, add-ons for popular collars and cuffs.<br />- Please avoid hovertext when possible, as it can creep between walls and mess up neighboring displays. If you MUST use it, please place the items with hovertext so that they don't cause problems in neighboring stalls.<br />- Please keep your items inside the stall, specifically I don't want anything obstructing the island view or blocking the aisles.<br />- You MAY add a sign to the top of your stall if you like.<br />- You MAY add 'wallpaper' to your stall to give your area a customized look. Note that doing so will count against your prim allotment.<br />- Please pay the rental box in the stall; do not pay me directly.<br />- No 'holo' or 'temp-on-rez' vendors are allowed.<br />- You may not place networked SERVERS on the isle, however networked VENDORS are certainly allowed.<br />- Please do not use textures greater than 512x512.<br />- No rotating, shouting, flashing, or blinking objects.<br />- No casino items, including hippie pay or any other item where you pay money and do not receive an object.<br />- I repeat: No reselling freebies!<br /><br />Please contact me with any questions, concerns, bribes, etc.<br />-Wildefire WalcottWildefire Walcotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12227668370418481313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411158423084818422.post-38061455207535255072007-09-20T15:03:00.000-07:002007-09-20T16:19:19.094-07:00Knowing When to Deed Your LandA land group is a Second Life mechanism that gives landowners the ability to grant certain abilities to guests who visit their land, and to prevent unwanted visitors from accessing or disturbing the property. Using a combination of settings in <span style="font-weight: bold;">World </span>> <span style="font-weight: bold;">About Land</span> and the Roles tab of the Group Info dialog, a land owner can grant a wide number of abilities to group members while restricting the general public from doing the same things. There is one somewhat confusing detail about land groups that not very many people understand: It is possible to "set your land to a group," but simply doing this does not necessarily grant group members all of the abilities that you might intend for them to have. In order to give your group members access to the full range of abilities listed in their respective group roles, you need to deed the land to your group.<br /><br />Normally, only the person who actually owns the land (i.e. pays the monthly tier to Linden Lab) can deed one's land to a group. There are some private islands that grant tenants the ability to transfer ownership (and thus deed), but that is not possible on the Desperation Isle estates; only I, Wildefire Walcott, or one of my estate managers can do that for you. Simply contact me if, after reading this article, you have decided you want to deed your land. You will have to invite me to your land group as an Officer. I'll deed the land when I'm able, and then quit the group.<br /><br />I have covered how to create a land group and invite members <a href="http://desperationisle.blogspot.com/2007/07/protect-your-land-from-grief-attacks.html">in another article</a>. This article focuses solely on the difference between setting your land to a group and actually deeding the land.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Setting your land to a group</span><br /><br />To set your land to a group, just stand on the land, go to <span style="font-weight: bold;">World </span>> <span style="font-weight: bold;">About Land</span>, and then click the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Set </span>button. Pick your group from the group list and then click <span style="font-weight: bold;">Select</span>. Doing this alone only serves some basic purposes. It allows group members to create objects on the land (if group-only building is enabled), and prevents objects with the group tag set from being sent back to inventory if autoreturn is enabled. It's also necessary if you want to limit land access only to members of your group, but please remember that Access lists are not allowed on Desperation Isle (refer to section 6.4 of <a href="http://desperationisle.blogspot.com/2007/08/covenant-update-for-desperation-isle.html">the covenant</a>).<br /><br />Unless you actually deed your land to the group, only the following group abilities will be available to group members, regardless of what your group roles say:<br /><ul><li><b>Parcel Powers</b> > <b>Always allow 'Create Objects'</b><br /></li><li><b>Parcel Content</b> > <b>Return objects owned by group</b> (includes object's shared with group by using the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Share with group</span> checkbox in the object properties).<br /></li><li><b>Object management</b> > <b>Deed objects to group</b><br /></li><li><b>Object management</b> > <b>Set group-owned objects for sale</b><br /></li><li><b>Object management</b> > <b>Manipulate (move, copy, modify) group-owned objects </b>(Moving is always allowed when this is enabled, copying and editing sometimes isn't- even with objects on deeded land.)<br /></li></ul><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Deeding your land to a group</span></span><br /><br />Everything possible on land that's set to a group is possible on deeded land, but deeded land enables many more role-specific group abilities to take effect as well. The following abilities are only available to group members on <span style="font-style: italic;">deeded </span>land:<br /><ul><li><b>Parcel Identity</b> > <b>Toggle 'Show in Find Places' and set category</b><br /></li><li><b>Parcel Identity</b> > <b>Change parcel name, description, and 'Publish on the Web' settings</b><br /></li><li><b>Parcel Identity</b> > <b>Set landing point and set teleport routing</b><br /></li><li><b>Parcel Settings</b> > <b>Change music & media settings</b><br /></li><li><b>Parcel Settings</b> > <b>Toggle 'Edit Terrain'</b><br /></li><li><b>Parcel Settings</b> > <b>Toggle various About Land > Options settings</b><br /></li><li><b>Parcel Powers</b> > <b>Always allow 'Edit Terrain'</b><br /></li><li><b>Parcel Powers</b> > <b>Always allow 'Fly'</b><br /></li><li><b>Parcel Powers</b> > <b>Always allow 'Create Landmark'</b><br /></li><li><b>Parcel Powers</b> > <b>Allow 'Set Home to Here' on group land</b><br /></li><li><b>Parcel Access</b> > <b>Manage parcel Access lists</b><br /></li><li><b>Parcel Access</b> > <b>Manage parcel Ban lists</b><br /></li><li><b>Parcel Access</b> > <b>Change parcel 'Sell passes…' settings</b><br /></li><li><b>Parcel Access</b> > <b>Eject and freeze Residents on parcels</b><br /></li><li><b>Parcel Content</b> > <b>Return non-group objects</b><br /></li><li><b>Parcel Content</b> > <b>Landscaping using Linden plants</b><br /></li><li><b>Parcel Content</b> > <b>Return objects set to group</b><br /></li></ul><b><span style="font-size:130%;">Should you deed your land?<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /></span></b><span style="font-size:100%;">If you simply want to let group members build on your land while preventing the general public from doing that then setting your land to the group and adjusting your About Land options is all you need to do. If you want group members to have more freedom, such as the ability to set your land as their Second Life "Home" location, then deeding is the way to go. If you're one of my tenants and you wish your land to be deeded, just invite me to your group (as an Officer) and contact me.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">A warning to mainland residents</span></span><br /><br />Most of the above information applies to mainland holdings as well as rented land on private estates, but you should know that the stakes are a fair amount higher when you deed mainland properties to a group. Anyone in the group with the proper abilities (like in the Officer's role) can sell group-owned land to another player, or even to themselves. This is not much of a risk on a private island because many islands prevent the sale of their land, and estate managers can easily fix the problem on islands that do allow it- but if you lose a piece of mainland property you lose it forever. Make sure that you only grant those kinds of powers to people you trust VERY much. It's also worth noting that proceeds for any group-owned land you sell are divided between all group members who have the 'credits and liabilities' ability enabled, and those profits are disbursed all at once at a specific time of every day (usually very early in the morning).<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Final words</span></span><br /><br />Proper management of your rented or owned land requires your understanding of the About Land options and the abilities of various group roles. You can learn more about the abilities by taking a look at the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Abilities </span>subtab of the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Members & Roles</span> tab of your group's information dialog.<br /></span>Wildefire Walcotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12227668370418481313noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4411158423084818422.post-40792497998267082672007-09-17T12:28:00.000-07:002007-10-02T11:53:18.682-07:00Big Changes at Desperation Isle<span style="font-weight: bold;">[Updated October 2, 2007]</span><br />If you've been to the Desperation Isle Estates recently you may have noticed that the scenery has changed. The central land mass, Desperation Isle, has actually moved one map slot to the East and a brand new island has moved into its old location. Work has begun on the new island, cunningly dubbed <span style="font-style: italic;">New Desperation Isle</span>, and we are on track to open by Monday, October 8. We are going to great lengths (and expense) to ensure that the transition goes smoothly for visitors, residents, and mall renters. Please read on to learn what to expect in the coming weeks.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">General questions</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Is Desperation Isle going away?</span><br />The island you currently know as Desperation Isle will indeed be shutting down, but this is not going to happen until New Desperation Isle is completely up and running. Eventually "Desperation Isle" will become a yet-unannounced special island that I'm sure regular visitors will be quite pleased with.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">How long until New Desperation Isle is ready?</span><br />We are tentatively planning to open New Desperation Isle on Monday, October 8.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Will we be able to visit New Desperation Isle while it's under construction?</span><br />The island will be restricted to members of the group <span style="font-weight: bold;">Mistress Wildefire's Sub-space</span> (which includes mall renters and tenants of Desperation Isle Estates). The general public will not have access until we're about ready for the grand opening.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">What's going to be different about the new island?</span><br />While we're keeping some of our plans secret, you can expect more dynamic terrain and plenty of hidden gems to uncover. We know our audience, and I promise you that all of the popular items and areas on the old Desperation Isle will be represented on the new island in one way or another.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Why build a whole new island?<br /></span><span>I had already been planning to add a new island to Desperation Isle Estates, and decided to take the opportunity to completely rethink Desperation Isle and produce something that more closely met my vision for a dark and intimate adult gathering place. Rather than simply shut down the old island and rebuild, I decided to take my time building New Desperation Isle from scratch while leaving the old island open for my visitors and mall renters. The way I've chosen to do things is actually costing me a fair amount of extra money, but I wanted the transition to proceed as painlessly as possible for everyone involved.</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />Is the new island going to lag like Desperation Isle has for the past couple of months?</span><br />Probably not. While we're ultimately at the mercy of Linden Lab, we are making certain design decisions specifically with lag reduction in mind. We hope to deliver a bigger, better Desperation Isle for you with performance that rivals or exceeds how the island used to perform before the mysterious lag issues that popped up in June. (By the way, performance on the old Desperation Isle has improved recently due to some changes that both I and Linden Lab have made.)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">How do I find the new island?</span><br />At the time of this writing, the world map still hasn't updated so you can't get there by mapping it. You have a few other options, though:<br /><ul><li>In <span style="font-weight: bold;">Search </span>> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Places</span>, look for: <span style="font-weight: bold;">New Desperation Isle</span> and click the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Teleport </span>button.</li><li>Open my profile and look at my Picks. I have a Pick for New Desperation Isle with a working teleport link.</li><li>Just go to the old Desperation Isle and fly West. The mall is at the highest point in the New Desperation Isle sim, in the NW corner. The teleport location is on the second floor between the two signboards.<br /></li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">I'm not able to get onto the island!</span><br />You must belong to the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Mistress Wildefire's Sub-space</span> group. This is the same group that vendors use on the old Desperation Isle. The group is invite-only. Just contact me and I'll add you as soon as I can.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Mall-specific questions</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">How will this affect mall renters?</span><br />The old Desperation Isle still exists, and is still listed in Classifieds and Places Search, so you will continue to get business there until (and probably a few days after) the transition. During the transition to the new mall, you will NOT be expected to pay double-rent. Beginning on Tuesday, October 2, existing vendors are now invited to set up shop at New Desperation Isle. Claim a spot by paying your new rent box only. Any time left on your old rent box on Desperation Isle will be refunded to you (and I will take your old rent box offline so you no longer get notifications from it), and you may keep selling your items on the old island until it shuts down.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Will mall rent remain the same on the new island?</span><br />We will have a new rent pricing structure, and the result will actually mean a reduction in rent for many vendors. Our base rent price is dropping from L$200/week to L$100/week, for a reduced number of prims. The rent boxes all default to L$200/week. I will make adjustments and refunds based on your prim usage once you're set up. Here's the pricing breakdown:<br /><ul><li>1 to 10 prims: L$100/week</li><li>11 to 15 prims: L$150/week</li><li>16 to 20 prims: L$200/week</li><li>21 to 25 prims: L$250/week</li><li>26 to 30 prims: L$285/week (5% discount)</li><li>31 to 35 prims: L$333/week (5% discount)</li><li>36 to 40 prims: L$360/week (10% discount)</li><li>41 to 45 prims: L$405/week (10% discount)</li><li>46 to 50 prims: L$425/week (15% discount)</li><li>Over 50 prims: Let's talk. =)</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Will you consider profit sharing instead of a flat rent?<br /></span><span>While I prefer a flat rental rate, if you'd like to set up a profit sharing system to cover your rental, this is a possibility. There are several requirements:<br /></span><ul><li>You must use a vendor that supports profit sharing.</li><li>If your sales don't generate an amount of profit equivalent to my flat rates for rent, I may ask you to adjust my cut of the profits or move out if I get queries from vendors willing to pay the flat rate.<br /></li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">I have more stuff than I can fit in one stall. What can Ido?<br /></span>You can rent out more than one stall. If you rent out adjacent stalls, I can even remove dividing walls at your request. The price you'll pay for the additional stall will either be L$150/week or higher, if your overall prim usage exceeds what L$150 would cover. For example, if you rented out two stalls and used only 21 prims, you'd pay L$200 for the first stall (up to 20 prims) and L$150 of the second, even though you're only using 1 prim in that stall's allotment, for a total of L$350/week. If you had two stalls and used your full 40 prims, though, you'd pay L$400/week to cover your prims. This actually works out cheaper than the old mall for vendors with large items or boxes who simply need more room, and is the same price for vendors who just have a lot of prims.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">All the rent boxes at the new mall are set to L$200/week but I'm going to use more (or fewer) prims than 20 prims. What do I do?</span><br />If you know you're going to use a different number of prims than the L$200/week will cover, pay the box at least L$200 to claim your spot and I will make adjustments later, based on the number of prims you're actually using. The rent box only accepts multiples of weekly amounts (for example, L$200, 300, etc.) until I adjust it. If you overpay to cover your first week's rent, I will refund the additional amount when I update your box.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">I set up my stall on the new island, but I still have some rent left at the old mall. Can I apply that rent to the new mall?</span><br />Since the rent box can only be updated in multiples of weeks, I will simply refund you any remaining rent you have on your box at the old mall once you set up at the new one. I'll also remove your old rent box so it doesn't keep bugging you for payments.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">How will the new mall be different from the old one?</span><br />I have redesigned the new mall to give merchants bigger stalls (both taller and deeper), provide a less cramped environment, with bigger walkways, and still provide high visibility to a number of vendor stalls when people visit the island. The teleport location is on the east side of the second floor of the mall (between the signboards), and the ground-level entrance is directly below, on the first floor. The new structure is similar in architecture to the existing mall, however it covers a larger area, and has much better-placed staircases that should drive more traffic between levels. It will also be equipped with simple teleporters for moving between the two levels.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Will I need to join a new vendor group?</span><br />If you are already in the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Mistress Wildefire's Sub-space</span> group you will not have to join any groups to be able to set up shop on the new island.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Can we see a preview of the new mall?</span><br />The mall is essentially complete, and is ready for vendors. You can find it in the Northwest corner of the island.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Will the rules for vendors at the new mall be any different?</span><br />I will be updating the guidelines for accuracy and readability, but I don't expect there to be any major changes to the rules. I will update the Desperation Isle Estates blog with the new rules when they're ready.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">I currently have a free space at the old Desperation Isle mall. Will I still be able to set up shop for free at the new place?</span><br />I do not have plans to provide free mall space to anyone but members of my slave family at the new mall. While this was a tough decision, the increased price of the new island necessitated the change. Hopefully the new rental pricing structure will allow you to continue doing business with us. If you're a current vendor at Desperation Isle and you do not think you'll be able to afford staying with us if forced to pay our published rates, please discuss the matter with me.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Resident questions</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">I'm a resident of Desperation Isle Estates. How will this change affect me?</span><br />You'll now see a very different (and more scenic) island at the center of Desperation Isle Estates. This land mass connects all of the four rental islands, allowing visibility of the entire region from all sides. All residents who are members of the Mistress Wildefire's Sub-space group will be able to explore the new island while it's under construction. It is understandable that you may have some concerns about your view. Be assured that we're working hard to make New Desperation Isle both an attractive and fitting centerpiece to our growing estates.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Will the change affect performance on the existing residential islands?</span><br />We do not expect performance of the existing residential islands to be affected by this change, however residents of Desperation North and Desperation West should see an <span style="font-style: italic;">improvement </span>in the speed and seamlessness of border crossings when moving between your home island and New Desperation Isle.Wildefire Walcotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12227668370418481313noreply@blogger.com0