You Have Been Warmed! SL Sweaters at MMD Designs

When I came to Mariana (Marianagelina11 Oh) & Mino (Minotaurus Whitfield) Designs, I got a chilly reception. It was freezing!

Since I lost my suit to an SL glitch that turned it into some overalls, all I had on was my poker T-shirt and some jeans and shoes. Standing in the virtual snow, I found myself reaching for a shiver animation.... when a sweater beckoned from across the open-air cabin. MMD must sure save on heating!



MMD mostly features women's winter outfits, dresses, sweaters, scarves, handwarmers, hats and pullovers (I'm guessing they're called Pullis on the vendors) and the like, but they do have wares for men like Chapkas (thick winter hats), five sweaters, and a shirt/sweater combo. Prices I found ranged around L$120 to L$350, about average for Second Life clothing.



The driveable sled (L$500) was a nice touch, but I got a shocking surprise when my friend Blurred tried getting on it too. Suffice it to say that it was made with couples in mind.

I bought a sweater and chapka here. My avatar was short, so the included collar went up through his neck, but all I did was take it off and it was a good fit without it. The sweater texture looked good, with plenty of texture detail and color variation. There is enough variety in the outfits, especially for women. The thick chapka looked fine too, enough to ward off a blizzard.

The environment is a well-designed winter mall setting next to a ski lift. The store is welcoming, with a pot of coffee placed at a small table for visitors. Icicles suggest a lot of cold, and the snow makes you want to bundle up... and buy a sweater.

Mariana & Mino Designs can be found at http://slurl.com/secondlife/MeetingSupport/226/19/21 .

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First We Take Manhattan, Then We Take Berlin

Loyal readers know how seldom this reporter writes about actual malls. There are so many unusual shopping locations available in Second Life, and so many real life malls near me in Los Angeles, I normally can’t find the inspiration to even visit them, let alone write about them. KaDeWe has some things going for it though, so this is a tale of what they’re doing right and room for improvement.


KaDeWe is a mall that reflects a real life shopping mall in Berlin, Germany. You can find an excellent website advertising the mall at http://www.kadewe-berlin.de/index2_engl.php . The recent opening of the SL annex was reported extensively by German television and print media, and attended in world by hundreds of shoppers.

The Second Life mall is a nice experience. A hostess waited in the mezzanine, greeted me in her best German/English, and asked if she could help me find anything. While I recovered from my shock at this courtesy a well-dressed man wearing a ‘security’ tag came by and also asked if I needed any assistance. I virtually pinched my virtual arm to see if I were virtually dreaming.

This is an upscale mall, and you better be prepared to pay upscale prices. I did purchase a nice business outfit, which fit me to a “T,” and am considering the heels I lingered over for stop back purchase. I saw some lovely gowns as well, very unique formal affairs, and should a special date come up I will return for the red/black number I admired for ten minutes.

While exploring the mall I ran across a unique camping system, billed as the “advanced camping” group. This supposedly allows you to wander within a certain range from the camping box and still collect your Lindens, rather than having to sit in one spot. Brilliance! Now campers can spend while they earn at the very site they’re working.

I spoke to one camper, the first well-dressed and fitted out male camper I’ve ever met in Second Life. JohnG told me that he lives in the western portion of Germany, about 600 kilometers from the real KDW shop in Berlin, but that he’d visited there once. I asked him about the real life store. He responded that “…my first and only one visit in that store was such an impression... if I would live in Berlin - believe me - I would stay there very often…”

Even the campers are upscale at KDW

There is room for improvement at KaDeWe. The mall is huge and it spans several sims. Lag can be a bit of an issue while you cross boundaries. Like all shoppers I can become irritated at having to watch myself creep across the floor, glaring at a horde of campers who aren’t helping matters any.

Also I was a bit mystified at the third floor, which spanned the entire mall but had no actual retail, only mockup textures of shops. I suppose they’re leaving room for expansion, but why do that and make the lag worse? It would be better to scrap the floor until they actually need the space, in my humble opinion.

Still, a positive shopping experience for when you want to get dressed up and shop in style. KaDeWe can be found in the aptly named KaDeWe Sims, of which there are four at last count.

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Post Your Own Business Listing on SLMT's Google Group!

We now have our own Google group! Join to check out a whole lot of great businesses in SL and add your own:

http://groups.google.com/group/secondlifemerchanttimes

Not only will people link to your SL business from this blog, but the best entries will be featured here at SLMT!

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Shopping Amidst the Ruins

After a few weeks off I returned to one of my greatest SL passions, exploring and writing about the gems you can find If you’re patient and persistent. I found a lovely sim on a post apocalyptic theme called Saijo.

Saijo is actually a group of sims built as a storybook/RP site, some of which areas are damage enabled. If I have to tell you what that means you might want to think twice about going there before you’ve visited a good weapons/shield store. Enough said?


Even the light beams are beautiful

The attention to detail in this sim is awesome. And yes, tucked here and there are shops featuring cyberpunk and excellent vehicles. I’m not going to tell you exactly where they are. The magic of this sim is in the search, and there are a million places to look. A great time on a dark evening when the wind is blowing outside and you feel the need to be in the dark.


Spin receives a new shipment of bugs from Linden Labs

I’ve been blessed by serendipity throughout my life. Today was no exception. I ran across the sim owner Spin Martin, and he suffered my endless questions about his beautiful build very gracefully.


Spin makes me feel right at home...

Spin tells me that a cast of regulars shows up to role play here, not during the normal prime time SL hours, and he’s working on staffing the sim with non-players and robots. During my first visit a drone robot came up and scanned me. It was a familiar feeling for a girl who dances on the stage from time to time.


Now which mutant skin goes with this hairdo?

Next time you want to feel the ache of civilization lost, open your favorite drink and come to Saijo. Settle in, wear your best grunge or cyberpunk, strap on your black widows and have a fun quest. I highly recommend this sim for an interesting night of shopping.

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Something Fishy: Second Life's Best Aquatics!

SPECIAL NOTE: Something Fishy has been greatly rewarding just by being explored without any advance knowledge. If you're the sort of person who enjoys plunging smack-dab into the middle of a sim you've heard about, without needing to know any details about where you're going, take this landmark and come back to this article later:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Something%20Fishy/138/107/22

The moment I arrived at SF, I knew I was in for a great time. Something Fishy's design makes it a great virtual reality, and I didn't want my tour to end.

With 80s music blasting, sun, seagulls and an airy open setting that extinguished all my lag-filled nightmares, I landed by a bungalow in the center of the island, and immediately noticed the shape of the whole place: a giant fish with bubbles and "Something Fishy" written in huge lettering!

The authentic aquatic tunnel architecture -- never mind the creators just throwing all the fish against a wall and hoping they sold -- drew my eye next, and I wandered through under water, surrounded by exotic fish, jellyfish, treasure chests, starfish, mermaids, and anemones. With the music now off, I easily heard the calls of a few whales, coming from the NSBW (tm) Whale Call (L$190). This handy device has adjustable sound range, volume, and silence intervals to help set any atmosphere in your underwater environs. And for L$149-L$890, Something Fishy offers the Nature's Smart (tm) line of intelligent fish, jellyfish, and whales. The male and female Baby Whales being offered take up 7 meters, 15 prims, randomly surface, spray water, have their own sound effects, and even follow an adult whale (sold separately) around!

Nothing but nice open space in the sky and plenty of eye magnets on the ground.

Go underwater without getting even your avatar wet!

Something Fishy offers the Nature's Smart (tm) brand of realistic SL wildlife products, including this whale and whale call.

As I was walking around... Hey! It was the fish lady, Maggie Morgan! I struck up a conversation with her.

When I asked her the history of Something Fishy, she told me, "It used to be all squished on the mainland, but I was there three years (inspect the blue fish tanks, you'll see they're 3 years old), and it was really really really hard for me to give it up."

I asked her if she had to use a lot of prim plastic bags to carry over the fish. She laughed and said yes.

Maggie Morgan: My items have evolved a lot in the past three years. However, there is still a market for my original fish.

Lionel Oliva: I see... which are they?

Maggie Morgan: The big blue tanks. The fish and tanks are 3 years old. Never changed, tee hee. What else can I tell ya? We have gone from those stiff fish to flexi realistic-looking fish to sculptie dolphins, rays and sharks.

Lionel Oliva: What is your latest and greatest collection?

Maggie Morgan: Well, the latest and greatest are my hawkbill turtles and rays. The dolphins are over here.

Lionel Oliva: Impressive. So I see you can even buy a fish as it's swimming around!

Maggie Morgan: Yeah! The dolphins have sound, and papa, mama and baby are all different, one prim. The tails wiggle too. I made all that stuff down there in the water too.

Lionel Oliva: This is years ahead of the last dolphins I saw.

Maggie Morgan: Thank you, thank you.

Lionel Oliva: How long did it take you to make all this and set it in place?

Maggie Morgan: Oh, this area? I sat on the end of the pier one day and just said to myself... "What would people like to see?" Probably took about 5 hours total. When things actually calm down I might add more. The reef walk took days.

Lionel Oliva: I've always wondered what kick-starts these gigantic businesses.

Maggie Morgan: Well, I'm just a lil' girl in SL who sells the only thing she could learn to create. But I wonder too when I see other businesses. I hung out with this guy who was creating casino machines three years ago, and he said, "We gotta find something for you to do." We found fish. (points to more fish) Are they not cool? They're animated.

Lionel Oliva: Very lifelike. Do you have an art background?

Maggie Morgan: No, I am self-taught in graphics. I work for the government in IT. And actually, the sculpties were not created by me. I have an exclusive contract with an exceptional sculptie builder. (laughs.)

Lionel Oliva: My brother was the same. He started drawing fish when he was 5 or 6... the most amazing collections of color and form you'd ever see from a little kid.
What else do you hope to add here?

Maggie Morgan: I have momma and baby blue whales. Next I want orcas, and I have an idea for my lower-priced line of fish for those who watch their money. Want to see my reef walk?

Lionel Oliva: Sure....

Maggie Morgan: So yes, I think I'm going to make them flexi, but keep the aquarium-seized ones priced low. Nothing to set the world on fire but we have to think of newbies and such. This reef walk took days on end. Here are some really great jellyfish too. They change color at random and are free-swimming in an area selected by their owner.

Over at the old place, there was no room for anything more than vendors and sales stuff. Here i tried to create an enjoyable environment: swimming with the dolphins; this walk; a beach; you know, more than a store.

Lionel Oliva: Yeah... that's what my publication goes for. Hello JC!

Maggie Morgan: Hiya JC. Welcome to Something Fishy.

Lionel Oliva: This is my friend JC. I have the Times building on his land at JC's Cove.

JC Anvil: Hi you two. This place is cool!

Maggie Morgan: Ty, ty. I'll have to check the Cove out.

JC Anvil: Sweet! Still working on the beach actually. I love your waves here too.

Maggie Morgan: I have the wave guy's vendor here. That's another thing, Lionel. I have quite a few split-profit items. Working with other folks works out well. I've been contemplating buying the hippoVEND System and giving my stuff out for others to sell. Because my fish already swim, displaying them in a vendor took some creativity, which brought me to Jacks.

JC Anvil: My friend 10khz Tone has built a packaging system that will work with his vendor system. It's going to be pretty cool. Are those Aunti Flan's?

Maggie Morgan: Yes, Ante Flan's.

JC Anvil: Ante... lol... I guessed.

Maggie Morgan: I have three little stores here. They all belong to good friends, so they're gratis. My good friend Walter is one of the shop owners. Plus this lady I know has some plants for sale. Did you guys get your free mosaic?

Lionel Oliva: Not yet.

Maggie Morgan: Here. They size to anything and still look good. That mosaic's only free month for the month of September so if anyone wants one he or she should come by ;)

Lionel Oliva: Well, Maggie, that should just about wrap up our interview, but I wanted to thank you for your time and wish you continued success with Something Fishy.

Maggie Morgan: Anytime, Lionel! :-)

Do you think, eat, breathe and sleep fish? (Well, maybe not eat, after you visit :D) This bed can at least take care of the sleeping part. Fish swim around right in the headboard!

Over 100 fish to choose from and dozens on dozens of accessories to accompany your purchases!

The space in SF is luxuriantly designed, with open space, welcoming leisure areas and vendors alternating harmoniously.

A good business helps you forget you're visiting one.

Large and small round aquariums (L$300) stand on a wall in front of a lighthouse.

Wall-mounted aquariums, transparent aquariums, round aquariums... this one changes textures!

Mr. Jellyfish does the wave a few feet from shore as a seagull flies by.

Not exactly a fish person? Take your pick from ducks, jellyfish, dolphins, and several lifelike types of mermaid like the one shown.

Something Fishy can be found at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Something%20Fishy/138/107/22 .


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For A Taste Of The SL Orient And More: Builders' Eden

Best Aabye on her Best behavior.

Big Tigers, Little Prices. L$5 apiece.

Best Aabye is the first SL player from China I've met. She's been building up her land, first into the free-rent Agent Shop, and now, Builders' Eden.


Builders' Eden is a triple treat: a mall, a contest/events area, and my favorite, Agent Shop. The mall features Levnia.C, Where Worlds Collide, JcoCool Oh's Shop at http://www.exiang.net/, and plenty of available space at L$120/week for 30 prims.

The contest area is for the public and mall vendors alike. If you join the group Agent Shop, you'll find Best throwing design contests for cool product ideas! The first design contest is for a trophy (which ties in very conveniently with the award ceremony :D ). Prizes run around L$200. Agent Shop members are also encouraged to host their own events in the contest area!

Last of all, Agent Shop is a free-rent zone, commission-based melting pot/vending spot with a unique method of merchandising. Aspiring tenants are given Best's own Magic Boxes, which hold a product and product image, and pays Best 30% when an item sells. They are then set up on a grid system. You don't have to have a mad line of products, or sell only super-expensive items. Getting an item set up for sale usually takes 5-10 minutes. I have to admit I like not being stuck with a rent tab at the end of every week and getting booted out on a slow week. Plus the no-rent option frees up money for better advertising.

If you want some items with an exotic flair, come to Builders' Eden. No duty fees either!

Best and her assistant confer in the background as their Wonder Chairs churn out L$ and the Contest Board awaits new entrants.

Best's able assistant shows off a dress at her shop in the Builders' Eden mall.

Captivating items like this await you should you find yourself homesick.

A great balance between free available vendor space and imported products.

I have no idea what those things with the pointy ears are, but I want one. Maybe several.

Builder's Eden can be found at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Quiricosta/191/226/39.

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