38 K

This term, when googled refers to money, a gun and K-Pop -Korean pop that is, which happens to have a larger following than most people think- but judging by the picture, you can pretty much guess what the title and the topic today revolves around.

Money in my opinion is a necessary evil, it's true that it won't bring you happiness, but try to live without it and see how happy you end up being; the issue begins when people start associating it with success or power, something that I've seen happen in SL a little too often lately.

There was a close friend I'll choose to leave anonymous, who confessed to me that he had been grieved by all sorts of drama during his first year in the platform, until he turned things around and became "Mr. Money Bags", basically going from party to party throwing money away, at that very moment and as soon as word got around, he stopped being grieved and was suddenly welcome and liked by everyone; is this happiness? is he really "loved" by everyone now? Does he really have any friends?, I'd dare say he doesn't, because I am willing to bet that as soon as he stops pissing money, things will go back to their starting point.

Then there are the Deejays in Second life, that after some smart networking, become somewhat popular by having built a following and decide to start making monetary demands -a certain amount per set on top of tips for example- which I have never, as a club owner have humored in the slightest, Deejaying for me in Second life is about sharing the music with others, I enjoy it and it makes me happy that people come to my sets and have a good time, if tipping happens then it's more than welcome, but it is surely not my driving force.

Why 38 K? -you may still be asking yourselves-, yesterday I was contacted by someone who, somewhere along the road of his Second Life, decided to become a Deejay; now the thing about DJs is that setting yourself up and finding somewhere to play is incredibly easy and accessible to pretty much anyone willing and able, being good at it, that's a whole different story.

He claimed that he could make 38 k Linden in 4 hours because he was just that awesome, I won't name names but Damien baby -ooops I guess I just did-, not even Madonna and her Virtual Tour can make nearly 40 K in 4 hours. Here's an advice to all aspiring DJs out there, having the tools doesn't make you a DJ; it's not about pulling a playlist together and hoping to make money out of it, it's all about entertainment, something that some, like my very misled DJ D can't seem to be able to do -and no, this isn't me being me, I have never been to his sets, this is mere hearsay-

If you are going to try a professional sector in Second life, make sure that you are doing it for the right reasons, i.e because you enjoy it and think that others will find enjoyment in what you are doing, because in SL, the minute you turn your hobby into a money making machine, that's when you lose that shine and glitter that brings crowds to what you are doing.

https://www.facebook.com/spikecls

The Return of the Asian Persuasion

Second life as a whole -as my brother recently pointed out- has the ability -unlike RL- to just put your life on hiatus when things in life get too complicated to spend any time on the platform; this was the case of my dear Friend and SL brother Yu Exonar.

In this long and winding road that Second Life has been for me, Yu has become many things -always at the right times-, my worst enemy, my closest friend, my refuge, my protector and my brother.

But one of the most relevant ones would be my DJ role model; he had been DJing in SL for a big long while when I arrived and I would always stand on his sets in wonder and anticipation to see what he would play next, always wondering if I would ever be able to do such a thing and work the crowds like he does.

So it's both my privilege and honor to announce that after a prolonged SL hiatus, DJ YU "The Asian Persuasion" is back. We will be having a big event this Thursday at 2pm SLT (PST) at Club Se>en, with 500 L$ up on the board for ABC (Anything But Clothes). So mark your calendars and prepare to party, because DJ Yu, the one and only, is back.

Welcome Back B

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Tipping: Not only for cows

When you work in the entertainment sector in second life, you do it mostly and mainly because you enjoy socializing and more specifically in the case of second life DJs, because you love sharing your unique view and taste of music with those who are willing to listen.

Tips of course are always expected and wanted, but are not the life force that moves a DJ to go the extra mile to please the crowds during a set -at least not in my particular case-, but there are kinds of people out there and they all have their own unique working ethics; some will ask for a salary on top of tips to DJ at your club.

Then there are moments in your professional life when you are asked to DJ private events -a rezz day party, a wedding, and so on-, this is always good because it means that you are doing a good job and word of mouth is working for your own benefit, and these events are most of the time, paid aside with the agreement on both parties to either let you accept tips or not.

A friend and also SL DJ was asked to do a private event last night, I won't go into further details because those are really irrelevant to the article, but what happened to him was in my opinion the worst tipping protocol a person can undergo during a party. There were around 30 people dancing and listening and during the two hours the event went on, not a single person tipped him; it would have been a total loss if it hadn't been for the lone fact that he had been paid to be there to begin with.

Let's go over the tipping protocol once more, you are NOT expected to tip, but they are ALWAYS appreciated; don't tip anything under 10 L$, if that's all you have keep it and come back when you have more to spare and focus on enjoying the music. If you make a request, always tip no matter the amount, it shows the DJ your appreciation for the work she or he has put in not only finding your song and playing it as soon as is humanly possible.

"it's not good to make people feel obligated to do that which isn't an obligation" Skylar Silent, but some loving to the hard working staff is always welcomed.

https://www.facebook.com/spikecls

Censor me, I don't know better

Censorship is by simple definition, the act of filtering information handed out to the public for a number of reasons, this being copyright infringement, adult content or simple protocol. Censorship is present everywhere and in every situation of our daily lives, we even censor ourselves and we call this being polite.

In second life you can be censored through various means, but it being a social platform built on text / voice communication, censoring someone can be complex. Most of the time it occurs in groups, which strive to keep SPAM notices to a minimum, or the public notices under a very specific topic; when you join a group -in theory- it comes with a very clear set of rules posted somewhere for everyone to read, or handed out on a note card, so in order for you to be a part of the long term community you have to adhere to this rules or be banned.

This is in theory how most groups work, unless the group owner wishes to bend the rules for his own convenience and play the diva role on everyone he has the misfortune of talking into joining the group -Make Him Over for example, but that's a subject for another article-, apparently once you hit the 800 members mark on your group and even people you don't know, know who you are, this entitles you to hold the absolute truth and never be wrong.

I was until very recently -i.e. last night- an active member of GayMeeting Point, a somewhat public group for club owners, hosts and the general public to join and announce various events happening in-world. I had since day one problems with the group owner: Joaopedro Oh, who was very nice when asking me and my business to join his group, but that's about the time it ended him being nice. I am the type of person that will DJ or work anywhere if I have fun and people want me there, but one of the first issues I encountered with this person was exactly him having an problem with me announcing a party at a straight / open to all club, to which he added "a party with a room full of sluts".

Then it continued on with group chat issues and so on, rules not openly stated anywhere but only mentioned when it was convenient for him or when something brushed him off the wrong way -which was me apparently-, then after seeing a few other non club venues being announced -shop freebies, art galleries and so on- I decided to send a notice about my family's shopping area, I mean they were announcing shop freebies -it being done by Joao himself-, so I figured people would like to be informed.

In a nutshell, I was threatened to be banned after him adding: "I am 5 years old in SL and you DJ for work, you should listen to people with more experience", pretty strong words for a person running a party group; so DJs and club owners don't know better than you. I don't go for how long you have been in second life, or what you do for a living while in-world, I rather pay attention to your talents, but hey that's just me.

I'll be partying on my own now, there are some things I rather do without and stroking someone's online ego is certainly one of those. I'm not being difficult or pretend that I hold the absolute truth, but double standards are always bad, no matter under what situation you use them.

https://www.facebook.com/spikecls

La censura es por simple definición, el acto de filtrar información que se ofrece al publico por un número de razones, ya sea violación del copyright, contenido adulto ó simple protocolo. La censura está presente en nuestro día a día, incluso nos auto censuramos y lo llamamos ser educados.


En el second life puedes ser censurado de varias formas, pero al ser esta una plataforma social basada en la comunicación de texto/voz, la censura puede ser compleja. La mayoría de las veces esta ocurre en grupos, los cuales se esfuerzan de mantener el exceso de notificaciones masivas al minimo, o por lo menos en el mismo tema del grupo; cuando te unes a un grupo -en teoría- este viene con un número de reglas bastante claras, en un sitio a la vista de todos o entregados a tí en una nota, para garantizar que tu permanencia en la comunidad a largo plazo, lo que requiere que te adhieras a las reglas ó que te echen.

Así es como funcionan en teoría la mayoría de los grupos, a menos que el dueño del mismo decida doblar las reglas para su propia conveniencia y haciendo el papel de diva, abuse de todos aquello que hayan tenido la desgracia de unirse -Make Him Over, para nombrar a uno pero eso es tema para otro articulo-, aparentemente una vez que tienes 800 miembros en tu grupo esto te da licencia a ser dueño de la verdad absoluta y nunca estar equivocado.

Formé parte, hasta recientemente -es decir anoche- un miembro activo de GayMeeting Point, un grupo más o menos público para dueños de clubes, anfitriones y personas en general para ser informados de los eventos que ocurren en la plataforma. Tuve desde el primer día problemas con el dueño del grupo: Joaopedro Oh, que fué muy amable al pedir que mi negocio se uniese al grupo, pero fué justo después de hacerlo cuando lo de ser bueno paró. Soy el tipo de persona que asistirá y hará de DJ en cualquier club o fiesta, pero uno de los primero problemas que encontré fué cuando al encontrarme en un club heterosexual y mandar una notificación de la fiesta, este se presentó teniendo problemas con el mismo y añadiendo que se trataba de "una fiesta llena de mujerzuelas".

Así que continué en mis andaduras y los problemas continuaron, chat grupal y así sucesivamente; al no haber reglas claras en ningún lado pero sólo siendo nombradas cuando algo le molestaba de manera personal -yo específicamente aparentemente- y al ver que varios negocios no centrados en las fiestas eran anunciados -regalos en tiendas, galerías de arte y así sucesivamente- decidí enviar una notificación sobre la zona de tiendas de mi familia, es decir ya que estaban anunciando regalos de una tienda específica -hecho esto por Joao en persona-, me imaginé que a la gente le gustaría ser informada sobre esto también.

Resumiendo, se me amenazó con ser expulsado del grupo después de añadir: "llevo 5 años en el second life y tú solo haces the DJ como profesión, deberías escuchar a alguien con experiencia", palabras con mucho peso para una persona que lleva un grupo de fiestas; parece que los DJs y dueños de clubes no sabes más que él. A mi me da igual cuanto tiempo llevas en el second life, ó a que te dedicas como profesión en la plataforma, prefiero poner atención a tus talentos.


Me voy a dedicar a mis fiestas de ahora en adelante, ya que hay cosas que no voy a hacer y una de ellas es la de acariciar el ego de nadie. No estoy siendo difícil, ni creo tener la verdad absoluta, pero la doble moral es mala, da igual en que situación se use.

https://www.facebook.com/spikecls