Comments for WRITERS IN THE (virtual) SKY

Comment on The Start of a Central Information Source for Writers in Second Life by New: Central Calendar for Writer-related Events in SL « iheartsl.com Second Life’s largest community blog

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 16:32:59 +0000

[...] The one thing I haven’t yet discovered in Second Life (if you know about it, please tell me!!) is a central information source for writer-related events. So I’m starting one right now! I’ve collected all of the ongoing events I know about and put them on this Google calendar, which is freely available to the public: (see it here) [...]

Comment on The Start of a Central Information Source for Writers in Second Life by Joan Kremer

Joan Kremer — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 15:41:57 +0000

Hi Crap!

Great to hear that your 100 Word Stories are going inworld as well — I love what you’re doing with that. Let me know as soon as you do so I can add it to the calendar.

Joan/Alas

Comment on The Start of a Central Information Source for Writers in Second Life by Crap Mariner

Crap Mariner — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 14:11:06 +0000

I will eventually create an in-world resource for my writing podcast, 100 Word Stories. It has a weekly challenge where writers try to come up with a 100 word story based on a topic, then they record their efforts. Crap Mariners last blog post..Stuffed

Comment on Seven Lessons I Learned from Doing NaNoWriMo 2008 Virtually by Joan Kremer

Joan Kremer — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 02:10:13 +0000

@Mila: Thanks for the comment! I’ve heard several people say they prefer WriteMonkey. I only found out about it toward the end of November, but I like what I’ve seen so far.

@Iapetus999: Google Docs does sound like the perfect choice when you aren’t always at your own PC. I do think you should try the iPhone connection again — I’d love to know if it worked! Thanks for the comment.

Joan

Comment on Seven Lessons I Learned from Doing NaNoWriMo 2008 Virtually by Iapetus999

Iapetus999 — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 01:29:16 +0000

I wrote NaNo completely in Google Docs…there are absolutely no features so you can’t get distracted
The one nice feature is that I could work on NaNo from any internet-connected computer anywhere.
Although I did try once from my iPhone but Docs didn’t seem to want to authenticate for some reason…should try again.

Iapetus999s last blog post..30 Days: The Singularity Matrix

Comment on Seven Lessons I Learned from Doing NaNoWriMo 2008 Virtually by mila

mila — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 21:38:32 +0000

Thanks for Q10 & Writemonkey tips. Personaly I like Writemonkey better. Will probably change my writing …

Mila

Comment on How Much Can Virtual Worlds Be Blamed for Individual Choices? by Moggs Oceanlane

Moggs Oceanlane — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 08:40:04 +0000

Thanks Joan. I love the point you make about other things that have been blamed for the failings of individuals and society. Thank you so much for sharing. I have added a link to your blog in the commentes of my related post. Moggs Oceanlanes last blog post..In response to 'Don't be a virtual ass, rush out this second and get a life'

Comment on The Future of Business in Second Life (an SL Bloggers Mix ‘N Match guest post) by kanomi

kanomi — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:03:05 +0000

You have a good analysis of the current bloodletting out there, and you make an interesting case for what can happen.

But you underestimate the challenges in-world, for-profit creators are currently facing. These factors conspire against price stability and the ability of anyone to make a profit:

* Old items never depreciate or fall apart, unlike IRL, dragging down demand for replacements gradually over time
* An ever-increasing number of available items compared to actual paying users push down price too
* Freebies of ever-increasing quality offer permanent alternatives to purchases
* Freebie aggregators whether in-world or on web sites like slexchange (or whatever their new name is) also drag down prices
* Creators who create for fun and nominal fees, not for profit, aren’t going anywhere even though times get tough
* Recessionary pressures in the macro-econonmy reduce the ability of the general userbase to spend money on SL:
http://www.massively.com/2008/11/18/second-life-land-loss-escalates/

I think that reflects more than the inept decisions around those low-rent quarter sims. I’ve already seen a lot of for-profit clubs being knocked out, which has nothing to do with land price freefall. It will hit for-profit content creators soon it it hasn’t already.

Against all of these overwhelming deflationary pressures, how can “super-brands” or alliances of creators compete to prop up prices and profits?

Oscar has it right: the most successful creators will probably be those who are not interested in making money, but simply put out quality prices at a reasonable price as they have always done.

SL is not classical economics by any means, and anyway I always thought content creators who do it for love and craft do a better job and create better products than a “brand alliance” or (even worse) some nasty real-life sweatshop brand ever could.

kanomis last blog post..The League of Virtual Vixens

Comment on The Future of Business in Second Life (an SL Bloggers Mix ‘N Match guest post) by Jordyn Carnell

Jordyn Carnell — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 06:06:11 +0000

I think Gwyneth Llewelyn caught the essence of RL economics and their impact on SL realities perfectly. Though SL isn't impacted EXACTLY the same way RL is. (For example the major cost of production (time) is unaccounted for by many if not most of the businesses in SL. And changes in the Real Economy will definitely effect lots of people's time allocation.) Other than that the market shifts predicted, and the opportunities afforded "branding umbrellas" seem perfectly reasonable. Jordyn Carnells last blog post..Feelings.. Nothing more than feelings..

Comment on The Future of Business in Second Life (an SL Bloggers Mix ‘N Match guest post) by Oscar Page

Oscar Page — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 01:34:54 +0000

Honestly, I can see some leaving and “megabrands” taking over somewhat, but not entirely. Some people create just to create; where their motivation is not money. They simply like to create and the lindens are nice, but not necessary. Yes, their hobby of creating content for virtual worlds may come at a higher cost now with the tanking currencies and stock markets, but that’s not going to completely stop them or anybody else from creating. And you know that somebody’s going to look at the “megabrand” items and spark the beginning of almost every entrepreneur’s journey where they say to themselves, “You know I can do that better than they are.” Some of the boutique designers are just going to have to hop off of that “I need my own island sim for my brand” mentality that struck with a vengeance. Trust me, I remember when my buddy’s island for his trees and landscaping business was in the furthest northwest corner of the main map. Now it’s slightly northeast of center and those are not mainland continents growing to the west.

Also, hopefully this will infuse the fashion world with lower introductory prices because, to be honest, some of them have gotten to be completely ridiculous. I have the money to pay for them, but there’s a point where quality doesn’t meet price.