Angela Loves Politics

So, I really like Barack Obama. I and was thinking about how his mom is from Kansas and his dad is African. And I thought...I could do that! Presenting the Barack Obama inspired Angela. Just like Obama, she's half black and was sent from heaven to help us.

Penelope: For the Blondes!

Finally, I have some love for the blondes! The elegant penelope skin is now available with blonde eyebrows. I wish I could have made this skin with matching blonde eyelashes, but it was not in the cards. The lovely red dress is called Vanity and it was created by the equally lovely Arikinui Adria from the Nuclear Boutique.

On Piracy

As a fellow skin designer, I feel that I need to give my opinions on the blantant copies of Emilia Redgrave's new skin line. While my opinions on the issue are controversial, it's a voice that is not usually heard among content creators in SL. Here it goes:

In the long run, there is absolutely nothing that Linden Lab can do to stop piracy in Second Life. The Second Life permission system is merely a form of DRM. Much to the chagrin of the record industry and the movie industry, copy-protection does not stop people from copying your products.

If there was a way to stop people from copying files, the RIAA would have invented it by now. While Linden Lab probably has smarter programmers than the RIAA, it's not a efficient use of Linden Lab's time. Any time and money spent on the effort would ultimately be fruitless. No matter how complicated, all copy protection will be broken. In addition, it will become easier to do so. We have seen it happen in the record industry and the movie industry. Widespread piracy will come to second life. It will be so widespread that enforcement will be impossible.

This leaves the matter in the hands of content creators. Here's what you can personally do to fight piracy.

• Blog! - If someone is stealing your products, get the word out! The SL community is very tight-knit and most creators love to help fellow content creators in a time of need.

• New Products - While some jerk may copy my skins, my store will always be the place to find the latest RealSKIN designs. If you want the latest skins, customers have no choice but to shop at a reputable store.

• Customer Service - The pirate that steals your skins won't have the resources to provide customer service.

• Marketing - The Pirate doesn't want to draw attention to their products so they can't effectively market them.

• CUSTOM WORK - This is the big one. This is the one thing that the pirates absolutely cannot do. In fact, as piracy becomes more widespread, custom work becomes even more valuable. Check out this quote from Kevin Kelly:

When copies are super abundant, they become worthless.

When copies are super abundant, stuff which can't be copied becomes scarce and valuable.

While it may seem that taking these steps won't have much an effect, keep in mind that making money from Piracy is hard work. Often, it's not worth the effort. If you can make it harder for your pirate to make money, then you can discourage piracy.

Lovely Laura (I'm back!)

I'm sorry I've been gone for so long. I haven't really been able to work on anything lately because I've been having troubles with my computer; The screen would periodically become scrambled while I was working. When I purchased my computer, I luckily opted for the extended warranty (which ends this month!) While Apple was unable to repair my PowerBook G4, they instead replaced it with a MACBOOK PRO!

WOOT! APPLE SUPPORT RULES!

While the MacBook Pro does have a few outstanding issues with second life, it runs great under Windows using Boot Camp.

To celebrate my good fortune, I've released Laura. This skin has red eyebrows and it has a few features that some of you have been requesting: improved toes and fingers! I hope you like it.

Also, I shot the ad for this skin using WindLight. Does it look any better?