I don’t post here. All posts for Sanu are currently integrated into my main site! I’ll be using this as a testing ground for some other stuffs though… so if you happen to want to see the weird and wonderful stuff I’ll be doing to redesign my site… stay here 
No-one could ever accuse me of being competitive, huh? Noooo… never. It just doesn’t work that way.
Well, ok, maybe they can. You see, I have a friend who has introduced me to a new internet addiction, as if I needed any more. The concept is as simple as one can get, really – you create a character, you fight other characters, with pretty much no actual skill required other than clicking on a name and saying ‘go, kill, kill my pretties!’
He introduced me to the game as his ‘pupil’, and I feel that I have to beat the master at his own game. So I’ve decided to do so in a nicely sneaky way – by bribing you all to come and be my pupils through offering you this classy little choker as a reward to do so! Info is in the group notice archives, but long story short you have to go here and create a character to fight me. Absolutely no personal information is required, not even an email address. Then create a notecard letting me know your SL and your brutes name, and I’ll send you the giftie! Phew!
As a super special added bonus, you can also teleport to the store and pick up a combat cuppy for a linden! Mmhmm, you heard it right, a cuppy cake where you can go into mouse-look and toss more cuppy-cakes at any unsuspecting victims going by. It’s even a chocolate cuppy cake, so if they happen to get frosting on their clothing in the process, there’s even more reason to ridicule them (because chocolate cuppy frosting might look oddly like something else, just perhaps). Until they pick up a combat cuppy too. And start belting you with it.
So, please enjoy these thingies! And, uhhh, I’m entirely not responsible for any further internet addiction rising from my referral to that site… just letting you know.
Urgh. You know, Second Life rocks, but there do come times where I’ve reached a sort of saturation point. It generally comes around the same time as real life kicking in good and hard, saying ‘look at me, I’m still here’.
Parties with friends, housewarmings, nights at the comedy club… even a sister with a birthday tomorrow, which I really must do something for – it’s all been adding up nicely to fill my social calender chock solid. I even went out to an exhibition opening the other night. How cool, huh?
Well anyhow… what I was saying (despite the wandering around it) is that I am fine, all is good, and I’m not deathly sick walled up in a hospital room pining for my internet connection. I’ve just needed a few days away to enjoy the world at large away from a computer screen. With that all laid out though, trust me, I’ll be back at the beginning of May – I have a quest I need to put out and I am thinking that I need some new real life clothes. Buy my stuff so that I can buy real life pretties? Pretty please? *grin*
That’s all for today, folks… thanks for tuning in!
That’s right! The front of Sanu is changing yet again as preparations are made to create another interactive story for my customers to enjoy.
I sometimes wonder why I do these, I must admit. After all, the amount of time, effort and lindens I sink into decorating is generally more than I’m actually going to make from people completing the quest. I think, when it comes down to it, it is because it is just another way that I get to share my creativity with people. Sure, the things generally used out front there are bought items, not made by me… I’m just rearranging someone else’s creations… but it’s still something different, ya know? Something to make Sanu stand out from all the rest. I’m hoping it does, anyway!
So there’s that, of course… and then there is the story. I enjoy writing, even when it is just something as silly and off-the-cuff as the ones for these events are. They don’t undergo rigorous editing – at most they get a read-through by someone else as they test out the course and ensure that I’m not being too cryptic in my clues. It’s a first pass, a rough-cut – they don’t really need to make a huge amount of sense, because they’re only going to be there for a little while anyway… and they’re not meant to be good enough to publish.
That said, I hope that you enjoy these interactive stories I provide. Set-up for this one may go for a few more days – I’m trying not to be on Second Life every waking second (thus why I haven’t released anything for a few days either). Keep an eye out for a notice in the Sanu group soon! Oh… and if you want to check out the place as it is so far… head on over to the store. It’s still getting built up, but I think you might like it!
Recently I picked up a number of textures from a texture store. They’re nice, but now I’m finding myself in the position of not being able to use them.
You see, I realized something. I may be naive, but I would like to think that a good amount of the textures out there that are the original creations of the person selling them -or- perhaps public domain work. Not something that someone has taken from a website and ported into Second Life, directly in violation of the commercial terms of use which state ‘you cannot resell or redistribute these thingies’ (I’m summarizing).
I’m an artist. I’m a content creator. I would hate to turn around and find out that essential components of my work in Second Life can be attributed to what boils down to be artwork taken without the permission of the original creator and sold to me for my use. Now perhaps I am being hasty – perhaps this person has sought specific permission to do what they have done… for all I know, they actually are the original creator of the work… but I’m assuming not.
Where is the line drawn? Is it ok, because the person who created them originally may never know that they’ve been used in this way? The likelihood is that they will probably never know that they have been used in this manner. There is a good chance that they will never see the goods I produce, nor deduce from it that the texture was bought from someone else (reading their commercial use policy, it would seem that I can probably use them in my own creation and sell it as a part of a whole, so long as I give credit where credit is due).
In the end, it comes down to my own judgement as to whether I can use these textures I have bought. I know, as a content creator and an artist, that I would not like to see my creations being taken and then resold on, without my say-so. I also know that I do not want to base any of my work on something that I now -know- has been created without permission from the original creator of these files. How would I feel if I’d made my way over to another grid and realized that all of my items had been ripped and transferred over, laid out as the foundation for someone else’s virtual livelihood? That they were profiting off of the things I had slaved so hard over, while putting in no effort themselves other than to press a few buttons to upload? I would not be happy… I’d be furious.
Therefore, despite the investment, I’m tossing those textures and will not be shopping there again (needless to say). I realize that it might be a little over-moralistic, a little over-cautious, but I just can’t apply one standard to the use of my own work then directly violate it when it comes to another’s – I’d be a hypocrite. I’m just glad that I’d not done anything with them yet.
That is all for today – sorry for the long post… I think it was just something that I had to write about. What about you? Where do you stand on the matter?
Sushi. It’s a food I utterly adore. Its no wonder then that I’ve made it in Second Life to fill the virtual food craving so many seem to have!
I’ve actually been sitting on some sushi (not literally) for quite a while. I still have yet to release the entire Sushi Love set, which is 21 pieces of utterly delicious sushi and sushi-based accessory goodness. I will get around to it soon, I promise! In the meantime however, let me show you the sushi-shooter.
The sushi-shooter set comes with six options in total. Each gun is the same, the contents it shoots varies. Each of the single options shoots (yeah, you guessed it) one piece of sushi or nigiri each, while the multi-shot send three flying at your unfortunate target. The sushi-bar sushi guns send 10 pieces of sushi and nigiri hurtling towards your hapless foe – you get a regular and a mega-size option with those ones!
It’s now available in store (thus why I’m doing a new release post, I suppose) for the lovely price of L$150 – no mod, copy, no trans. Nom nom nom!
If you get the sushi-shooter, make sure to take some pictures and fling them over to the Sanu in SL Flickr Group! There’s more than a few there already, from the impromtu sushi testing session we had the other night for you to see. ^_^
So… do you like sushi? Do you think you could stand being bombarded with it?
Hunts, in recent times, have been morphing. No more is a hunt a ‘once in a while’ thing, they are going on almost every day – not just store-wide, or even sim-wide hunts, but incredibly huge beasties that span literally hundreds upon hundreds of stores. I have a few interesting views on the matter of those, though considering the current heated opinions on the matter, I’m very hesitant to offer mine. There are too many tempers flaring from all directions when it comes to those. However, let me tell you why I’m no longer (in the percievable future, anyway) going to be referring to my store ‘hunts’ as hunts any more.
In everything I do at Sanu, I try to elevate the experience of my customers beyond a mere shopping trip. My group is not designed to be ‘just another store group’, its a great bunch of people who can toss me ideas, who can chat to me in a familiar manner, who I even call on to fill up Midnight Madness boards for outstanding textures when I need them. With my group, what I’ve always aimed to create is something outside of the norm, reaching above and beyond what other people offer – creating something of a community, not just… well… a subscribo. Maybe I have succeeded, maybe I have not. I certainly hope I have.
Similarly, the hunts I have created are not meant to be ‘just another store hunt’. They’re more than that. When I create a hunt, I entirely remodel the area surrounding my store to create an immersive environment, further accented by a story-line which directs people through the area. Yes, there are prizes along the way, but it isn’t really about that. It’s about the feeling of accomplishment when you draw the story to a close – when, although it is somewhat of an illusion, it is because of you that the story ended up as it did and everybody lived happily ever after.
In other words, what I’m ‘selling’ with these is not ’10 prizes, come get em’ – its a whole sense of involvement, a potential smile on your face, and just possibly a set of jewelry (or something similar) that you will want to wear afterward too. I don’t do it just for my own reasons as a business owner (driving traffic, getting people to wear my goods, showing them off to people, etc)… though that doesn’t hurt either. I do it because it’s more than just that. Its a way for me to create, and to share something I consider a little special with other people who may enjoy it too.
‘Hunts’ have become so common, that I don’t think it describes what I’m doing any more. It’s almost starting to gather a negative connotation in some circles, especially when in some cases, not all, but many, the emphasis has shifted so solidly towards quantity over quality. I’m stepping aside. What I do, it’s not normal, it’s not common, nor would I ever wish it to be. Would people still come if it were called a hunt? Definately. Would less come, if it were not referred to in terms more quickly and easily understood than what I may name it? Perhaps – it is entirely possible. What I am creating is online, immersive, interactive fiction, with a few prizes thrown in for good measure. I don’t want people coming for the prizes though – I want people coming for the fun of bringing the story to its end. That is who I do these for.
Just as a little extra note, I’ve just sent out a new gift in the group archives, in appreciation of the wonderful response I had today of people coming and helping me fill up the midnight mania board. When I say I have the best group in Second Life, I well and truly mean it.
I’d like to post a question here… I’ll be announcing the Sanu blog in just a minute to my group, and letting people know where to go. So! Ze question of the day issss… what do you want me to do here? What would you like to see? Post it in the comments for me, and I’ll see what I can do!
I want this site to be useful for you as a visitor too, not just a ‘site for advertising Sanu products’… not that that hurts either, but lets face it, its nice to get a little something more out of it, yes?
All blogs must be started with the words ‘hello world’. Thus it has always been, and thus it shall always be – so far as it comes to any blog I create, in any case.
After a good amount of serious thought, I’ve decided to pull the Sanu stuff from my main blog, and give it its own place to shine. I’ve come to this decision for a number of reasons, one of which being that I think I need a place where I can comment about Second Life things without, perhaps, boring the rest of the world.
I also think I need a place where I can give some more dedicated areas to Sanu things – such as… perhaps… tutorials. I’d like to put up the past stories that have been utilized in the Sanu store hunts – while they certainly don’t fully translate over into a straight format of reading (the hunting and the builds that go alongside them, after all, is half the fun), it is something that people have been requesting that I do. I am more than happy to do this.
It is not for a desire of the separation of my real-life and Second Life personas that I split the two aspects of my blog. I’m still keeping the recently united Sanu and Kat flickr accounts as is – I don’t wish to hide one side of me from the other, just separate things so that those who enter my regular blog don’t get turned off straight away by product photos and diatribe about the nature of hunt or other such things!
Doing things this way around also means that I can comment on and feature the work of others, link to other Second Life sites and in-world landmarks more freely, and keep things focused towards those who are interested in what I have to say about Second Life.
That’s all for now, folks. I’m sure you’ll be updated, as I add more to the site.