Linden Lab Launch New Second Life Affiliate Program

Linden Lab have launched, somewhat quietly, a new affiliate program for Second life in conjunction with Commission Junction. well quietly that is, unless you were emailed about it! Linden Lab may want to fix the hover  text on their website, which umm suggests you’re going to the old network.

Details of the program can be found on the Second Life affiliate program page: https://secondlife.com/corporate/affiliate/

The big question is, who can join the affiliate program … I have the answer!

Web sites that complete the Affiliate Network’s publisher registration and are not based in Arkansas, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, and North Carolina.”

I have no idea why those states are excluded, maybe some of my readers know.

The next question of course is, who on earth are Commission Junction?

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An Interview With Laura Demonista

I stumbled across Laura Demonista on Flickr. The stream is adult in the main and deals largely (but not exclusively) with erotic art, created initially in Second Life and then fine tuned outside. Unless you’re signed into Flickr you should not be able to see these images, that is as long as Laura has flagged them correctly, if she hasn’t she deserves a damn good spanking! Seriously folks, please flag your Flickr images correctly, it’s better for everyone if you do that.

Whilst interviewing Laura I feel like I’ve stepped into a Philip Marlowe story, or maybe a David Lynch one,  although I resist the temptation to don a trenchcoat and a trilby. Laura’s steam has a noirish feel to it in parts, as I settle down in a seat in Laura’s office, I notice that the blinds are closed, I can hardly make Laura out as she sits at the desk across from me, Laura manages to play the detective and the femme fatale perfectly, although she avoids smoking a cigar during the course of the interview and I’m sensible enough not to ask if she does smoke, I do note a revolver on the desk, which is enough to intimidate me into playing nicely, that’s for sure!

Pillar To Post Gallery

We settle down to the interview and Laura starts with a bombshell:

I am not an artist in any true sense of the word. I cannot paint, I cannot draw. I am always vastly impressed by the beauty, the imagination and the mastery of those who can. I have my particular favourite artists. Jack Vettriano is one example, Vargas is another. I love the power of images. I love the tales they tell, the beauty that can be created.

Am I being played here, I wonder, is this really Laura Demonista or have I been setup for a fall? Laura quickly removes my misgivings by explaining that although she is not a traditional artist, this has not deterred Laura from creating images using Second Life, so where did it all begin?

My very first image that I could reasonably call art was taken in March, 2011. Everything before that was a simple snapshot. I wouldn’t say it was GOOD art but I can call it art.

Where does Laura get her inspiration from to create the images she does, what actually inspires Laura:

The simple and rather trite answer is everything. I wish I could be more accurate but I can be inspired by anything at any time. I see a wine label that says “Room Temperature” and an image pops into my mind. Ideas come constantly and I stopped questioning it.

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Tyche Shepherd’s Private Estate Survey For July

Tyche Shepherd’s private estate survey for July brings home the decline in private regions due to two landmark figures being met. Private regions slipped below the 20,000 mark during July and estimated private region tier fell below the the USD$4,000,000 per month mark. Although it should be noted that Tyche’s estimates are +/- USD$50,000, so tier may be treading water above the USD$4,000,000 mark. However another point to note is that Tyche’s estimates do not include educational discounts, so it’s likely that tier has slipped below the USD$4,000,000 barrier.

Tyche estimates that tier from private regions now stands at USD$3,975,000 +/- USD$50,000, which is estimated to be down USD$53,000 on June. Again, please note the margins of error for these figures.

Having said that, this is still a healthy income stream, we’re far from having to man the lifeboats but as I have repeatedly said, Linden Lab need to get their thinking caps on, tier is still too much of a central plank of their income stream and the tier is too damn high.

The Top 10 Estates by number of regions held are:

  •  RGF Estates Inc 5.1%
  • Azure Islands 3.4%
  • Zoha Islands 3.2%
  • Dreamseeker Estates 2.9%
  • Victoria Chung 2.7%
  • Weezles Real Estate (WRE) 2.4%
  • Miriam Chung 2.3%
  • Jessica Chung 2.3%
  • Fruit Islands Estate 1.7%
  • Lala Rentals 1.7%

There were no significant changes in the way the land lies for the large estate owners this month, all variations were within the margin of error. The top nine estates occupy the same nine positions they did last month, Lala Rentals has swapped places with Bell Estates, which drops to eleventh place on the list, but at 1.7% and 1.6% respectively, they could easily flip flop again, they are running pretty much neck and neck. A list of the top 20 estates is available on Tyche’s SLU post.

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Dwarfins – New Avatars, Affiliates, Developer API and Auction Listings

Dwarfins Stalls

The Dwarfins team have been busy lately, six new avatars were released this week. The new avatars for your roleplaying fun are:

  • Butcher
  • Hunter
  • Barbarian
  • Jester
  • King and Queen
  • Royal Guards

This explains why when I was in the Dwarfins store a few days ago, Dante Spectre kept changing outfits before my eyes, I thought it was the ale! Do not try and outdrink Dante, I still have a sore head. I think he brews the ale himself, he sure puts them away!

Dante Spectre Jester

However other developments have happened. the first of which I’ll discuss is their Affiliate program. The program offers you 10% of sales and there are a variety of options for your vendor packages, if you are accepted. This is not a free affiliate program, there is a choice of five different vendors, each of which costs L$3,000 or you can get the whole kit and caboodle for L$13,500.

The vendors cover different aspects of all things Dwarfin, Fishing, Gardening, Roleplay (Mesh Avatars), interactives for your breedable Dwarfins and of course, the breedable Dwarfins themself. Then you will have to allow DwarfinsJudy to setup the displays. DwarfinsJudy is a very mysterious character, nobody knows the true identity, my money is on it being Thorrak Rockbeard, although the smart money is on it being Judy Chestnut …. hmmm, maybe I haven’t thought this through properly!

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Educational And Non-Profit Ventures See The Return Of The 50% Discount

SL 10 Anniversary Bear

Linden Lab have formally announced the return of a 50% discount for educational and Non Profit organisations. This is a welcome step and sees the return of something that should never have been taken away in the first place. The blog post informs us:

We’re pleased to announce an update to Second Life pricing for educational and nonprofit institutions. Effective immediately, any accredited educational institution or any organization with a 501(c)(3) charitable non-profit tax status (or equivalent) is eligible for a 50% discount on private region set-up costs and a 50% discount on private region maintenance costs.

The discounts are effective immediately to any organisations who meet the criteria Linden Lab have set, which can be found here. The discounts apply to setup fees and tier costs for private regions and homesteads.

On top of this there’s a special orders website mentioned in the blog, this is for invoicing of educational and non profit organisations as well as invoicing for those aged 16-18 as their parent of guardian needs to pay the bill, details of the can be found here.

There’s a criteria to this, those eligible have to pay at least six months in advance. Invoicing is for setup fees, maintenance (tier) fees and bulk purhcasing Linden Dollars. The website is out of date as it mentions there’s no longer a discount for education, however as that’s now back, the first line will soon be changed… I hope!

I’m not sure why Linden Lab can’t invoice businesses in this manner to be honest, I’m sure some business owners would prefer this method of billing.

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