“Trust is the foundation of any community. And one cornerstone of trust is identity.” So sayeth Robin Linden. … continue reading this entry.
Just a quick update to the previous post. Just finished a promo for the “Revolutions” line of SL firearms. I’m not really sure how I feel about it, and will probably revise it a few more times before I’m really happy with it. Mostly, this is just to illustrate the different approaches I’m taking with the two lines of weapons. Again, even though this seems futile based on past experience, I’d really appreciate any feedback you might have. Like them? Don’t like them? Let me know if you get a chance 
-Naeko
(Scroll to bottom for pics)
Lao Shu Forge is dead!
Long live Lao Shu Heavy Industries!
by Naeko Michinaga | Lao Shu Blog Staff Writer | August 19, 2007
“SECOND LIFE, RandomParcel — After a bitter struggle, costly litigation, and at least a dozen or so hurt feelings, Lao Shu Forge (LSF) has been bought out by Lao Shu Heavy Industries (LHSI). President and CEO of LHSI, Naeko Michinaga, promptly liquidated all of LSF’s assests and fired all of it’s employees. A more hostile takeover can hardly be imagined, as Ms. Michinaga personally delivered an employment termination notice to former President of LSF, Naeko Michinaga. ‘This represents a great step forward for LSHI,’ Ms. Michinaga said in a press release following the takeover. ‘LSF has long been one of our cheif rivals, and with the aquisition, and subsequent liquidation, of their assests… the road is now clear for us – and by us I mean myself – to build a better tomorrow. You know, shining cities on hills and all that.’ It is unclear if Ms. Michinaga may have been intoxicated at the time, and inquiring minds are still wondering why an event that took place entirely in her head warranted a press release, much less related coverage.”
So, there you have it. I’ll be changing the name of my shops to “Lao Shu Heavy Industries” in the very near future. I’ve given this quite a bit of thought over the past week or so (at least ten or fifteen minutes, easy), and I really think it’s the right move. The previous name felt a little too limiting in the sorts of products that could be associated with it, and this will allow me to develop new product lines that, while they may be diverse, can all have some commonality.
The first new product line will be called “Traditions” and will encompass all new melee weapons produced in the future. Featured below is a new promo I whipped together that hopefully will convey how I’m approaching this project mentally. The second new product line will be called “Revolutions” and will be identified with all new ranged weapons/firearms produced. Check the “Comming Soon” entry below for an idea of what to expect there. The third new product line will be called… oh, wait… there is no third product line. Yet. And therein lies the beauty of my new marketing strategy (which is mostly in my head, and is probably of no real consequence in terms of SL), as it will allow me to develop new items without having to worry about fitting them into the brand hierarchy.
Oh… here’s that pic I mentioned (feedback would be greatly appreciated on this, as I’m trying something different – for me at least):
(edit – I included a re-sized version of the original screenshot for anyone interested in seeing it.)
That’s about it for the moment.
-Naeko
Real Life ™ has a nasty habit of jumping up to bite me on the bottom every now and then. The more projects I have on my plate, the larger these bites tend to be. Coincidence or conspiracy? I tend to lean towards the latter, but as I’ve said before, I’m hopelessly paranoid.
I said in my first post that I would make a concerted effort to maintain this blog. I fully intend to keep that promise, though, at times like these, updates may be somewhat sporadic. This will be little more than a quick note to let everyone (and by everyone, I mean the two people who actually read this) know what’s going on around here. I promise that more juicy screenshots and overly long ramblings are in the very near future, but for now I’ll simply resort to a list of things I’ve been working on in SL.
The List (not to be confused with a “to-do list” as I am vehemently opposed to such things):
So there you have it. That’s what has been taking up all my SL time, and why I’ve been such a hermit. Throw in the odd eight to twelve hour workday in RL and you’ve got a recipe for exhaustion.
Good time for a nap, eh?
-Naeko
So now I’m an arms dealer…
I will, in a future post, discuss my thoughts and ideas regarding firearms in SL and what exactly it is I plan on doing with them. This post is more of a teaser for all the primmy-goodness that is to come (hence the blurred out text in the advert).
BREAKING NEWS: VOICE IS LIVE IN SL! MUTE BUTTON VOTED MOST LIKELY TO BE NEXT BROKEN FEATURE.
Aside from the fact that voice communication has been added to the main viewer (as an optional update), the above is completely false. At least, as far as I know. Which is not far at all.
Thankfully, controls have been added to manage voice capability on a per-parcel/estate basis, thus allowing those areas where voice would be a hindrance to the SL experience to simply disable it. The sky, it would seem, is not actually falling despite what some would have us believe. Or at least, the sky is still somewhat half-heartedly propped up.
The arguments for and against voice communication in SL are far too numerous (and enumerated in many locations already) for me to detail them here. Suffice it to say, you will not be hearing my voice in SL any time soon. This is partly because I’m a hopeless misanthrope, but also because I value the anonymity provided by the interwebs. I am, or rather, prefer to be, just another face in the virtual crowd. I also value the written word as a form of communication, despite the fact that I do my best to offend the gods of literacy with every entry in this blog.
The internet and the virtual world have, in a sense, reduced our ability to communicate to the modern equivalent of guttural intonations commonly associated with less civilized proto-humans (with all apologies to Geico’s cavemen). This of course does not apply to all who communicate via electronic text transmissions, but it certainly is not helped by the proliferation and profusion of this communicative form. That it is so widely available and easily accessible necessarily means that even the least capable among us has the ability to transmit his or her thoughts to a vast audience. This usually comes across as: “u r teh seksy! u want 2 cyber?” In the context of this discussion, it is not so much the content of the message that I find offensive as it is the actual structure of the message itself.
Shorthand is certainly useful for transcribing events, discussions, meetings and so forth in such a manner that the person doing the transcribing can easily and accurately recall the substance and detail of the original event. As a means of communication, however, it falls very short indeed (pun intended). While I don’t believe that those who attempt to communicate via this virtual-world shorthand actually speak the same way, I am led to believe that there are very few of them who have anything worth hearing to say. Thus I take the absolutist approach of choosing to ignore all voice communications in SL based on the assumption that most voice communications will be callow at best. You are free to disagree with this approach, as some undoubtedly will.
The bottom line is simply this: If you want to chat with me, take the time to learn the QWERTY keyboard layout (exceptions made, of course, for non-english speaking residents) and expect a rather terse and dis-interested reply to any sentence containing the letter “u” in place of the only slightly longer “you.”
O RLY?!?
-Naeko
