Wednesday, October 31, 2012

The end of a miracle?

A little over three years ago, I found myself in a difficult situation.  My mother had fallen down a flight of stairs and shattered her arm, so we moved her to our town where we could look after her -- "we" being my disabled husband and I.  As a teacher, I had the summer off to move her and get her settled -- but as the new school year approached, I wondered how I could go off to school each day and leave only my husband to look after my mother. Sometimes he was up to it, but sometimes he was not.

So I took a big risk and resigned my position and began creating and running my store full time. And by full time, since I am a very slow creator, I mean 10-12 hours a day most days. A house can take me months.  But it worked out, and I was able to just about replace my teaching income with my store income. I am able to work from home and be on hand to help with caretaking tasks.

 Never a day goes by that I do not recognize what a miracle this is.

And now I discover that most of my store, including houses and furniture, has been copied and is being handed out free. 

And I wonder what I ever did to make someone want to destroy my livihood. But I know this kind of maliciousness is simply beyond my comprehension. I cannot imagine inflicting such an injury on another human being. I have some idea that they justify their attacks by asserting that 3D artists (or musicians) should not be able to make a living, but I am not clear why that is. It doesn't matter; everyone who does evil has some justification for it.

I don't know what the effect of this attack will be long term. But there is nothing for me to do except this: Be grateful to those who do think the work of 3D creators has value and that we do deserve some compensation for the goods and services we devote so much work to providing.

To all honest customers, let me just say "Thank you for making a miracle possible!"

It remains to be seen whether the attackers have put an end to it or not.  I know I cannot spend 60 hours a week working to provide free content for others to distribute. However much I enjoy creating, I have to make a living. 

Saturday, October 27, 2012

The NEW La Galleria Mesh Kitchen is here!







The mesh kitchens I have made over the last year were a big step up from the regular kitchens, which were already the best in Second Life -- but this newest one is another giant step forward.  So much so that I made a whole page describing how everything works, here -- it is actually the notecard that comes  with the kitchen, with pics.

It has a more flexible layout (though still fits all of my houses), a refrigerator with mesh food, a new larger island, cabinets, a fireplace,  a teacart that rezzes really cute things, and more things to rez from the bar. It also has new cutting edge scripting that allows owner and guests to attach utensils directly, without going into inventory. And lot more new things!

I will be updating the other mesh kitchens in the same way -- owners will get an automatic update.

Come by and try it out! It's right by the La Galleria central landing point.