That Elephant

There is an elephant hanging around outside my front door. It tries to get in and fill up the room. I push it back. It pushes forward.  Today I feel like I can't ignore it any longer.

Summers are traditionally slow in SL. With fewer people around, many designers go on vacation and let their shops sit idle.  This year though, it seems especially bad. I never see anyone any more. A few designers who I really don't know appear in bold black at the top of my friends lists; my real friends have been gray statistics for a long while. Today a couple of gals were actually in world and we got together for the first time in -- I have no idea really.

When I joined Phil's Place I had some RL friends to pal around with. Some are still citizens. They don't log in often, though; maybe once a month.

Creating. That's another problem for me of late and I can tell I'm not alone. Business is not stellar. Maybe a few folks are doing well, but the majority have much lower sales than a month or two ago. Mine have dribbled off from pretty good (little shop - not a major player by any means) to if-I-had-to-pay-tier-on-this-store-I'd-be-gone status. I have no reason to create something new and exciting as there is no one that seems interested. This isn't a complaint; just an observation.

When content creators get bored and lose their enthusiasm or simply try to pay the rent (virtual and/or real) by making inexpensive goods to "compete" with all the OTHER inexpensive goods -- we all lose. Dozens of special sales groups are not helping. New ideas work for a little while, then get adopted by others, overused and subsequently ignored by the audiences they were designed to reach.

Then I read about Rustica and the continuing unconcerned nature of  The Labs and I wonder why we even try to shape our world. I know part of the answer. We create because it is part of who we are. We paint or write or sculpt. We put together pixels and upload them or we manipulate inworld shapes to form something new -- and we feel a sense of accomplishment. But not many of us can afford tens or hundreds of real life dollars to feed our need of completion. Some are looking for other avenues; some have already moved on.

I miss my friends.

There are bright spots certainly and I have enjoyed showing you some new places and some fun designs, but still -- there is that elephant in the room.

PS. This isn't a goodbye note, just a record of how I am feeling today.

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