Introduction
In doing that it eventually happens that i come across annoyances or just plain weird things. This is the nature of an open world where everyone can be a creator. Games that have dedicated creators and developers have structure and ways how things are done. In Second Life.... Not so much. Everyone has their own way of doing things. And that should not be a bad thing in itself, as long as it is structured and makes sense... and easy to use! This isn't the case sometimes and that is the reason this blog now exists, to point out issues, or ways things could be done better. Please use the comment section to share your ideas on how you think a creator in Second Life could do something better!
I'd like to go over the things I came across buying and wandering around in Second Life.
I personally typically buy on the Second Life Marketplace and do that on a second monitor. I've gotten so used to having the Second Life viewer on my main monitor and the Marketplace on the left or right monitor buying demos and the full version of it if i absolutely adore what i'm seeing!
Demos
Let's first address demos. Since i'm a MP (Marketplace) buyer i will always get the demo of a piece of clothing first. This should be pretty obvious. When you go and buy clothing IRL you're also first going to try it to see how it fits you.
As a creator it is a good idea... No.. A MUST to have demos of what it is you're selling. Let's be perfectly honest and acknowledge the elephant in the room and see that people are stupid. I'm sorry if that offends you, go tell it to someone who cares... People will typically not read your product's description, or not fully. So if you wrote in there somewhere down the end or middle that it is only for one type of body, you will get complaints. So you absolutely need to provide demos and write in your product's description to first of all try a demo. This eliminates a good portion of bad reviews or people who just steer clear of your products without even telling you why they did not buy from you. If you want to have a successful store, you have to absolutely let people try your products first!
Do not ask me to go and find a demo of a product i'm currently viewing on MP, inworld. I know why you are doing it, and it has been irrelevant since 2008 to do so. You're probably trying to do that to make your ranking go up in the search results. This does not work anymore. On top of that you're annoying me into oblivion because i've never been to your store before so i don't know the layout of your store and where to find the product. I can do an area search in my viewer, but experience has shown me that not everyone names the vendors properly so even if i'm searching for the exact name listed on MP, i won't find it without actually looking for it.
I know you're also probably doing that so i would wander around in your store and make me look at other things so i would buy more from you. Some people might fall for that trap, but i personally hate it and it is a good way to make me steer clear of your store, i mean, i currently have your product open in my browser on MP. Allow me to click the "Get the demo version" button. If i like what i see, i will most likely buy it, or save it in my MP's favorites and buy it later, and i would also most likely be interested in your other products, so i can then click the "Visit The Store" button on MP and see what you have to offer. The best part, you didn't make me work for it...
When you make demos, make them in such a way that they are in fact fully functional demos so i can actually see what the product should look like in all the colors and patterns you offer. For the longest time many creators have used the very effective "Demo floater box" (as i like to call it) or a rigged demo logo or your store logo. Some creators edit the textures in such a way that it has a watermark (the word demo or their brand name all over the item). this method does not require the need of a demo floater box and allows to see the product without too much stuff hanging around you.
What you should absolutely not do is be lazy and use the latest trend called "timed demo scripts". You have no idea how i hate those things with such a fantastic passion! Granted, it allows you to see the product without any limitations, except for one...Time! I've seen it way to often that those timed demos only have 5 minutes and are on top of that no copy and even some you had to pay L$1for them. (more on that later.)
I am not going to hurry the heck up to see if the pants you created work with one of my shirts or pullovers. I'm going to be at my home parcel and take my sweet time to do so. So don't limit me on that. All time limit demos do is show you are lazy and can't be bothered to create a demo floater box or watermark your textures. This is an annoyance many people share with me. Just read some reviews. Big creators such as Blueberry, Addams, Just Because or Vanilla Bae would never put timed demos on MP. Take the hint...
Dollarbies (demos)
So you've placed demos on MP so people can see your product before buying, but you're charging L$1 for it. In today's USD currency that's like 0.003 cents. That's nothing, right? Sure, it's nothing but it does create a kind of bad image for yourself. After reading many reviews, a pattern emerges on dollarbie demos saying that you're into it for only the money. And if we're honest, it kind of is. You're charging for what is in essence a useless item. Have a read around on MP, search for the word demo and on the left hand side fill in at 'Price' L$1 to L$1 and read the reviews. Nobody likes being charged even 0.003 cents for something they know they can only use once. Stop trying to cash in on your demo's and put some more effort into your work, people will stumble over each other trying to get their hands on your creations. I've personally seen a creator here in Second Life grow to the absolute top and you know her; Blueberryxx. She ticks all the right boxes and look how big she is now. you go and try to get in her inworld store when she even dares to hint to a new product.
Scripts
I completely understand that not every clothing creator knows the Linden Scripting Language (LSL) and there are a wide range of script packages available on MP for you to use in your creations to allow clothing to change textures such as in fatpacks but when you do get those, make sure you understand the product you're buying and using in your own creations. I see if very often that scripts are wide open in some creations. Typically those are in beginner creators who use full perm clothing items that they then retextured. Some examples of recurring wide open scripts (full perm) are "[Mesh Workshop] Texture Controller v1.0", "RenderWorks Texture Change Reciever 1.0", "::jAS:: Texture Change HUD MF (object)" and "[E2] Texture It! - Item" to name a few.
When you leave your scripts (full perm) wide open, it is very easy for someone (me :p) to just have a peek in those scripts and see what channel they are listening to and what texture UUID's are being called. On top of that, if you provided a fully working demo that applies all textures, i can very easily just make an other hud, use the script of your demo hud, change the channel number to what your single colored full version is listening to and effectively have a fatpack while i only paid for a single color/fabric. Typically i message such creators of that fact so they can fix the issue, but there is no telling how many people actually did what i just described without telling the creator.
A side note to the creators of script bundles to retexture clothing in Second Life.
In the beginning years of Second Life it was a common thing to have a script post how much memory it had free in order to see how much further you could fill it with functions for it to execute. I also know that this is something still done to this day in such bundles for the user to see how heavy the script is getting. I however strongly urge you to make it a setting in the script or notecard that comes with it, to set it to End User or Designer. If it is set to End User, don't make it post how much memory it has left or let it spit out other useless drivel in local chat.
When shopping for such a script bundle make sure you get a good one, please don't get a cheap v1.0 one as mentioned above. They are mostly outdated and not very efficiently written. Of course i examined the ones i mentioned earlier and the cringe on some of them is very real. There are 2 things in LSL that are real lag causers; Timers and Listeners. The latter is needed in order for a hud to talk to a piece of clothing because it has to hear what the hud is saying. Many of those have constantly open listeners listening all the time for your hud to say something even when you're not wearing it and are just dancing in some club or doing the horizontal pixel boom boom somewhere, causing just a tad lag. If a lot of people are around you with such listeners, it will add up and it will drag the sim performance down noticeably. Everybody is constantly nagging about lag and this is one of the major factors of that lag. So you as a creator are kind of responsible to make sure your stuff isn't lagging too much.
Lately i've seen that creators allow for scripts to be deleted. I very much welcome this and i'm a strong supporter of that idea. It allows your end user to make changes to a piece of clothing and when they like how it is, they can copy it and hit the "delete scripts" button on the hud. I adore that and you as a creator should absolutely have this option in your clothing items.
I would also like to address single colored/fabrics clothing. I see way to many single color clothing with a script in it that was once part of the fatpack listening for a hud you don't even have. Don't put scripts in your single colored items except for mesh body alpha controllers if they are needed.
That's it!
That's it for now. I think i hit on all major points i really wanted to address. If you have something to add, please please please do add it in the comments below and share this with your friends and creators you know. The end goal of this is so that everyone can have a better Second Life experience!
Every little bit helps said the mosquito, and peed in the sea.
