Sophia Barrett. If you know her you can't help but worship her for her awesomeness, niceness and kinkiness. I mean, it's impossible not to love her, she's such a sweetie. And a hell of a perfectionist, too. And she's into tight, inescapable, long-term bondage. And into latex, like me.
We have known each other for months and like I said in a previous post, she helped me a lot when I was still starting my business. What I started to do to her this weekend was part of my effort to tell her how grateful I am. Let me explain.
She's into latex, ok. Who isn't ? She's quite different from your average latex-whore though, it is more a religion to her. No wonder, she founded the Latex Dolls and Latexia in the first place. A religion, I'm telling you. And Saturday she shared it with me, she introduced me to one of her inspirations : Eudeamon. A novel about... it's difficult to explain. It's about unconditional love, of course, loneliness, rebirth... and a flavor of latex. It's not a fetish novel, and is certainly not meant to be erotic (there are like a handful of such paragraphs). The story is brilliant, the background, rock-solid. Available online for free, it's quite long (91 pages) but you'll read it in one day like I did. The author should really start to write books for a living if you ask me. Don't hesitate to congratulate her.
You can read it there : www.evil-dolly.com/Eudeamon.doc
Now why am I talking about this novel ? Well, because the book... shook me a little. In a positive way. It's definitely food for thoughts, the kind of book that makes you think about yourself, how you perceive others, what your kinks really mean... It gives you a glance about sub-space, about isolation, despair and how to transcend them, about the limits of human sanity. Like meditation. I feel better now that I've read this book although I cannot clearly point out why. But who cares. Read this book, and you'll know.
Back to Sophia. Sophia Barrett has chosen to become a Bane. She is now S-6734, sometimes called Sophia Bane by her monitoring agent -- me. She is isolated from the outside world by her Banesuit, trapped in her own personal walking prison, monitored by senseless people who are her only link to society. She is mute and deaf except to her monitor, mercilessly bound and yet, she is authorized to do whatever she wants and go wherever she wants.
She goes to public places like Bondage Ranch, slowly hobbling her way among the free, who come mildly amused at the sight of a latex-clad, hooded bound girl, apparently unaware of their comments. Sometimes one tries to communicate with her, but quickly gives up as she can not respond in any way but the most primitive ones. Frustration, arousal build up inside her... and nobody notices. Eventually people avoid her, then finally ignore her. She's alone in the crowd, invisible like a ghost, helpless like a child. A roaming prisoner.
She tried to communicate with her friends Tess and Pseudo but they also gave up after a while. It had pointed a malfunction in her isolation system by the way, and I had to fix it. I quickly summoned her to the nearest maintenance station and now she's properly isolated again. Her Banesuit informs me on her every movement and allows me to give some feedback and orders from the distance. I can also pleasure her when I feel like it (she's a good Bane, very obedient), but I refrain from doing it too often. Hehe.
She loves her new situation, and I enjoy monitoring her very much. She's like an experiment. But don't get me wrong, I perfectly know what I'm doing to her mind, and I do know it will be hard for her sometimes. I'm trying to make her experience as painless and rewarding as possible, it's part of the rehabilitation contract. But I will not yield unless she safewords. For now, she is mine, totally.
Maybe with time more Banes will roam SL. I would love to see that.
And also...
... I envy her.
Monday, November 26, 2007
RestrainedLife 1.03
Well I promised I wouldn't release a new version every three days... well it's too hard to keep. lol. After much discussion with Henri and some bug-hunting (especially one which was making the linux viewer crash and not the windows one), plus a new feature or two, I decided to release the 1.03 yesterday.
Huh ? Where is the 1.02 ?? Well Henri already released his 1.02 and includes the RestrainedLife features in his Cool Viewer so, in order to not confuse the users (and to avoid being bogged down by questions) we agreed it would be better to be a 1.03 finally.
New features :
* Some improvements (user-friendliness, security)
* Edit and Rez prevention on demand. When you're restrained, you're not supposed to be able to build, are you ? Well, you are by default but if your owner decides playtime is over... y'know :)
I'd like to talk a bit about these last features. Ollalla wanted me to ensure the cells in SLBI were secure. Totally secure. She jailed me with my cuffs and my beloved Fairlight boots locked (cuffs blocked, as always, I couldn't imagine otherwise). At first she didn't tell me why, just that it was... "a test". Of course I was feeling good and light-headed already but then she explained what she intended me to do. The rules were simple : I was expected to escape the cell. Using the custom viewer (I'm forbidden to use the regular one anyway). The locked boots prevented me from teleporting to another place or to even sit on a chair across a distance.
I'm no cheater so I didn't want at first but she convinced me easily. She told me that I was going to be punished very severely if I was still in the cell when she comes back and I better start trying right away. I was a bit puzzled at first because I designed the cells with security in mind so finding a way out was not an easy task. She told me she expected a list on her desk with all my attempts and their results.
So I did. I tried everything I could (even the most wicked ways) and eventually depleted my ideas. I wrote everything down and gave her the list (it was not on her desk mind you, for I was still in my cell the day after). Oh I could escape once but she was around and she put me back in, thanking me and telling me to try something else. She was quite impressed with the list.
I loved the frustration, the secureness of the cell, and was despaired for a while... you know that kind of mixed feelings... But on top of it, I loved Ollalla's brilliant idea. She wanted me to realize I still had to improve my stuff, and how. Being no techie, she couldn't point the problems out directly but she always finds a way :) What a blast ! I really felt trapped, like never before in SL.
So here it is, the 1.03 mostly comes from that frustration, that despair, and that mild deception when I could find a couple of ways to escape (which were hindered by my cuffs, I needed them off to test). 1.03 solves them all with the No-edit and No-rez restrictions now.
Thank you Sugar ^_^
Huh ? Where is the 1.02 ?? Well Henri already released his 1.02 and includes the RestrainedLife features in his Cool Viewer so, in order to not confuse the users (and to avoid being bogged down by questions) we agreed it would be better to be a 1.03 finally.
New features :
* Some improvements (user-friendliness, security)
* Edit and Rez prevention on demand. When you're restrained, you're not supposed to be able to build, are you ? Well, you are by default but if your owner decides playtime is over... y'know :)
I'd like to talk a bit about these last features. Ollalla wanted me to ensure the cells in SLBI were secure. Totally secure. She jailed me with my cuffs and my beloved Fairlight boots locked (cuffs blocked, as always, I couldn't imagine otherwise). At first she didn't tell me why, just that it was... "a test". Of course I was feeling good and light-headed already but then she explained what she intended me to do. The rules were simple : I was expected to escape the cell. Using the custom viewer (I'm forbidden to use the regular one anyway). The locked boots prevented me from teleporting to another place or to even sit on a chair across a distance.
I'm no cheater so I didn't want at first but she convinced me easily. She told me that I was going to be punished very severely if I was still in the cell when she comes back and I better start trying right away. I was a bit puzzled at first because I designed the cells with security in mind so finding a way out was not an easy task. She told me she expected a list on her desk with all my attempts and their results.
So I did. I tried everything I could (even the most wicked ways) and eventually depleted my ideas. I wrote everything down and gave her the list (it was not on her desk mind you, for I was still in my cell the day after). Oh I could escape once but she was around and she put me back in, thanking me and telling me to try something else. She was quite impressed with the list.
I loved the frustration, the secureness of the cell, and was despaired for a while... you know that kind of mixed feelings... But on top of it, I loved Ollalla's brilliant idea. She wanted me to realize I still had to improve my stuff, and how. Being no techie, she couldn't point the problems out directly but she always finds a way :) What a blast ! I really felt trapped, like never before in SL.
So here it is, the 1.03 mostly comes from that frustration, that despair, and that mild deception when I could find a couple of ways to escape (which were hindered by my cuffs, I needed them off to test). 1.03 solves them all with the No-edit and No-rez restrictions now.
Thank you Sugar ^_^
Thursday, November 22, 2007
RestrainedLife 1.01
Just a quick release with a couple of bugfixes : emotes are more tightly monitored (OOC goes through, special characters in [ ()"^_-=* ] are prohibited, otherwise the message is truncated), IMs going through when in Busy mode are now scrambled too, chat bubbles emotes have been butch... restricted.
It also includes a couple of changes and fixes from Henri Beauchamp's own patch (a derivative from my own), although we decided to fork our codes because he wishes to integrate the features in his own Cool Viewer, which is not only BDSM-related. Thank you Henri !
Therefore, Mo Noel will be compiling for Mac and Loom Kish for Linux, and I want to thank them both for taking care of that part of the job. Thanks :)
Promised I won't release a viewer every three days. As fixes are included the code will get more stable and eventually we'll only be keeping up to the official SL viewer progress.
It also includes a couple of changes and fixes from Henri Beauchamp's own patch (a derivative from my own), although we decided to fork our codes because he wishes to integrate the features in his own Cool Viewer, which is not only BDSM-related. Thank you Henri !
Therefore, Mo Noel will be compiling for Mac and Loom Kish for Linux, and I want to thank them both for taking care of that part of the job. Thanks :)
Promised I won't release a viewer every three days. As fixes are included the code will get more stable and eventually we'll only be keeping up to the official SL viewer progress.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
My plans for the near future
I keep receiving suggestions, which is nice, and asking what I'm gonna do next. Well here goes. At the time of this writing I have just released the 1.0 version of RestrainedLife, the SLBI has just open, everything works correctly, so I will take a rest. Perhaps log a bit less, but certainly spend more time having fun than working.
So, having fun first.
It's been a couple of months I have released my RR Shibari and I'm... "nudged" at releasing ropes for the legs as well. A lot. Well relax, the prototype is in my house, but far from being finished. I want nice animations and couldn't find the time to make them recently. Now that things are settling a little, I will finish the ropes.
So, RR Shibari Legs next.
I have yet to adapt my own stuff to my viewer. It would be silly that every content creator provides restraints compatible with RestrainedLife but me ! I'm sure it will happen unless I move my ass quickly. But I don't want to issue an update just to add these scripts, it would be better if it had some value-added. There are a couple of fixes I want to integrate anyway.
So, update my stuff next.
And I have almost finished a ring gag. Its garble script is still under testing but it will work pretty much like the RR ballgag.
So, release a ring gag next.
The rest... I have some things to do (not a lot remaining) but I don't have clear ideas yet.
So, having fun first.
It's been a couple of months I have released my RR Shibari and I'm... "nudged" at releasing ropes for the legs as well. A lot. Well relax, the prototype is in my house, but far from being finished. I want nice animations and couldn't find the time to make them recently. Now that things are settling a little, I will finish the ropes.
So, RR Shibari Legs next.
I have yet to adapt my own stuff to my viewer. It would be silly that every content creator provides restraints compatible with RestrainedLife but me ! I'm sure it will happen unless I move my ass quickly. But I don't want to issue an update just to add these scripts, it would be better if it had some value-added. There are a couple of fixes I want to integrate anyway.
So, update my stuff next.
And I have almost finished a ring gag. Its garble script is still under testing but it will work pretty much like the RR ballgag.
So, release a ring gag next.
The rest... I have some things to do (not a lot remaining) but I don't have clear ideas yet.
Why do I do all this ? Flashback... (cont'd)
I just can't stop talking... but hey I have not finished bashing you with my little story !
So they were a success and the more feedback I got the more work I was producing. Updates became necessary and overall went smoothly (I'd love to talk about the many little anecdotes I experienced such as the time I had to issue a script to my all my 100 customers after a week because I simply forgot to include the update part in the cuffs). My vendors were multiplying, Sophia Barrett the bubble girl even allowed me to squat her spot at Latexia (which she founded in the first place), and paid an ad for my cuffs for months (yes she's that nice !).
I quickly realized I had created a niche. Before I started, people liked SL restraints for the animations they triggered, and for their design. My stuff is different, not so good-looking but aimed at making the keyholder feel almighty and the sub... helpless. It is aimed at experiencing D/s more than playing it. Now don't get me wrong, everyone has their own kink, I'm not saying I have changed the BDSM landscape that much, and my goal was certainly not to compete against my friends Ame and Lulu. Some people love the design, some people love the scripts. I could have been much more aggressive on the market but... that's just not my style. And I still see SL and its scripting language as toys (although the relationships I have built there, while strictly online, are real).
No, my real goal, and you will laugh at this, was to raise the bar. That could be the real reason why I do all this : SL offered me a challenge, and I took it up. Oh I know what you're thinking : "That's a bright speech but money is spent, it's just commercial after all". No it isn't only commercial. If it were I would have bought sims, hired personnel to help me with the build, scripts and customer support, advertised to death, and undermined competition. I could have done all that. But I'm still the amateurish type, my shop is still ridiculously small and on a crappy mainland sim (yes, right where I lived before, I'm sentimental). If I wanted to make it a job I would have left my RL one, I can do that but I'm not crazy. I do that for the fun of it first.
Now, I know that most of my ideas have been copied and mimicked, I have been mad about it in the past but now I know better than to give a damn. Ideas cannot be patented, and other creators are imitated too. It would have been nice to have given me credit at least, as far as I know only Lulu did when she released her prisoner plugin, using my HUD cache concept. The others are just not grateful, or too proud to admit some of their ideas are not their owns.
So I think that answers the question "Why do I do all this ?". Because I must do something, because it's quite a challenge and because I love what I do. I know some people see me as some greedy monster... I won't bother trying to prove them wrong besides this blog entry.
And that was only about my business, I have not even talked about SLBI and Tesscatraz. I will later...
So they were a success and the more feedback I got the more work I was producing. Updates became necessary and overall went smoothly (I'd love to talk about the many little anecdotes I experienced such as the time I had to issue a script to my all my 100 customers after a week because I simply forgot to include the update part in the cuffs). My vendors were multiplying, Sophia Barrett the bubble girl even allowed me to squat her spot at Latexia (which she founded in the first place), and paid an ad for my cuffs for months (yes she's that nice !).
I quickly realized I had created a niche. Before I started, people liked SL restraints for the animations they triggered, and for their design. My stuff is different, not so good-looking but aimed at making the keyholder feel almighty and the sub... helpless. It is aimed at experiencing D/s more than playing it. Now don't get me wrong, everyone has their own kink, I'm not saying I have changed the BDSM landscape that much, and my goal was certainly not to compete against my friends Ame and Lulu. Some people love the design, some people love the scripts. I could have been much more aggressive on the market but... that's just not my style. And I still see SL and its scripting language as toys (although the relationships I have built there, while strictly online, are real).
No, my real goal, and you will laugh at this, was to raise the bar. That could be the real reason why I do all this : SL offered me a challenge, and I took it up. Oh I know what you're thinking : "That's a bright speech but money is spent, it's just commercial after all". No it isn't only commercial. If it were I would have bought sims, hired personnel to help me with the build, scripts and customer support, advertised to death, and undermined competition. I could have done all that. But I'm still the amateurish type, my shop is still ridiculously small and on a crappy mainland sim (yes, right where I lived before, I'm sentimental). If I wanted to make it a job I would have left my RL one, I can do that but I'm not crazy. I do that for the fun of it first.
Now, I know that most of my ideas have been copied and mimicked, I have been mad about it in the past but now I know better than to give a damn. Ideas cannot be patented, and other creators are imitated too. It would have been nice to have given me credit at least, as far as I know only Lulu did when she released her prisoner plugin, using my HUD cache concept. The others are just not grateful, or too proud to admit some of their ideas are not their owns.
So I think that answers the question "Why do I do all this ?". Because I must do something, because it's quite a challenge and because I love what I do. I know some people see me as some greedy monster... I won't bother trying to prove them wrong besides this blog entry.
And that was only about my business, I have not even talked about SLBI and Tesscatraz. I will later...
Why do I do all this ? Flashback...
I got asked this question quite a few times. Why did I spend so much time working, especially during the last few weeks on my stuff (including customer support), the viewer, the SLBI and Tesscatraz, not counting my many personal projects ?
Well not for the money obviously. I have a RL job and earn a comfortable income. And it's taking me quite some time and energy every day. Now with what I'm involved here I earn even more money but enjoy even less time to spend it. That's for the negative side.
I work because I can't do otherwise. I can't stand being passive, unproductive. Call me a perfect product of the modern world or a workaholic but it's the sad truth, I have to do something. But I love what I do. Let me give a bit of a background story and please don't think I'm selfish or megalomaniac, quite the contrary I'm quite modest usually. I will try to give my unbiased point of view upon things as they were by then.
When I signed up for a SL account a little more than one year ago, I had nothing to do and everything to explore. I quickly discovered BDSM there, and its community that I enjoyed right away. I mean, the very first day someone (Jerome Harford) chats with me and decides to offer me a set of Lulu's leather cuffs ! L$750 ! To a total and clueless stranger ! I worn them proudly for quite a while, and enjoyed them greatly. I decided to go along, exploring other restraints as well, because as a developer the wicked nature of their scripting hooked me right away.
And here is what I found : Lulu Ludovico's and Amethyst Rosencrans's cuffs were the most comprehensive of all the brands and... that was it. Their respective stuff were quite different and complementary but that could not be enough. Especially considering that the Kyrah Abattoir's KDC gear was stunningly looking but its scripting was not very elaborate. Now I'm talking about attachments, because good cages were very hard to find (I remember the HtF Designs ones which were very good).
I like things that lock, that I wear but are controlled by someone else (or at least not by me for a while). I like wicked behaviors and most of all, I like to innovate. At that time I was very enthusiastic because I'd just upgraded my account to Premium and had some money to spend and a First Land in Pak (one of the last of the First Land program, now the place where my little shop is located). First things first, I wanted all that KDC was offering. I mean, even now Kyrah's design is top-notch and it's the very must-have. I only had to script a little to replace her scripts with mine, and make them lockable the way I wanted. And I did. Oh, it's not hard to make an attachment to lock, all it takes is to make it complain by IM to someone when detached. With a couple of precautions it works like a charm.
One day I met Amethyst after losing my KDC armbinder her Allure sim (a very dear sim in which I was secretly working most of the time), and we immediately sympathized. She gave me a lot of advices, insights, opinions about what was going on... I think she gave me the kick start. By the way I remember her talking about Sociolotron, in which a restrained avatar stays restrained until released by the keyholder, no matter what she tries. Now the RestrainedLife viewer is kinda issued from that idea when I think about it...
One of my best friends by then was Alyssa Shenley, who was living with me in Pak. She gave me a lot of advices and feedback ("now why not put a menu on that lockable script of yours ?", "a transparent thing to block your clicks ? That's wicked !" and so on). I met Atmu Evans the sexy latex alien by then, with whom I was (and still am) very close and who was beginning to enjoy my scripts a lot, always wanting more, testing, testing, testing... I remember her first comment when she saw my scripts : "You're going to be a millionaire !", to which I answered my usual "naah". She was right, of course. RubberSlave Leroux was with me too since the beginning and tested the very first prototype of my scripts. And I met Coventina Dalgleish and her harem of adorable slavegirls, who supported me right from the start when I showed her my stuff. I also met Lillani Lowell (owner of Dictatorshop and designer of the Lockguard spec) to whom I demonstrated a version of my script, and who gave me advices too.
I was working with the bests.
And while I was testing my stuff outside with Atmu, I met Ollalla Sugarbeet while browsing in the Little Shop of Kink. She noticed the unlocked prototype of handcuffs I was wearing, which were very tiny, and showed a lot of enthusiasm about them. I gave her a pair. For a week she kept giving me feedback and suggestions, until one day I told her I wanted to sell them (that was after the 100th hint from my friends that I should sell them. lol). She gave me a lot of priceless advices regarding the costs, manuals, look'n'feel, versatility. I remember one day when she came to my skybox and I showed her the tiny key on the unlocked cuff : "omg they look like... exact !".
Let's be honest. I was not a great builder and the build of the cuffs had only one interest : realism and very tiny prims. They are a replica of the ones I own in RL and made them from the measurements I took, so they had to be sober and tiny. But otherwise they're very simple and some freebies are designed better. So I shot for realism rather than for gorgeous-looking surreal stuff. Realism means they got to do what you would expect them to do should you use them in RL. That line of conduct has been hard to keep up, especially since SL is not very realistic in itself, but I did my best. People continuously suggest and nag, and I constantly have to ponder their ideas against my own line.
At that time, Lillani was confined in a big glass cage for the Big Brother contest and I got to talk to show her the cuffs just before release (I had some problems with Lockguard). Oh by the way, she should have won the contest ;)
And I released the cuffs and an ugly-looking version of the straps (4 prims. Pah). Ollalla had demonstrated them for a full week at Bondage Ranch and people were very eager to try them, it was crazy. Now that's only one of the countless things she did to help me, and far from the greatest. It was an immediate success.
To be continued...
Well not for the money obviously. I have a RL job and earn a comfortable income. And it's taking me quite some time and energy every day. Now with what I'm involved here I earn even more money but enjoy even less time to spend it. That's for the negative side.
I work because I can't do otherwise. I can't stand being passive, unproductive. Call me a perfect product of the modern world or a workaholic but it's the sad truth, I have to do something. But I love what I do. Let me give a bit of a background story and please don't think I'm selfish or megalomaniac, quite the contrary I'm quite modest usually. I will try to give my unbiased point of view upon things as they were by then.
When I signed up for a SL account a little more than one year ago, I had nothing to do and everything to explore. I quickly discovered BDSM there, and its community that I enjoyed right away. I mean, the very first day someone (Jerome Harford) chats with me and decides to offer me a set of Lulu's leather cuffs ! L$750 ! To a total and clueless stranger ! I worn them proudly for quite a while, and enjoyed them greatly. I decided to go along, exploring other restraints as well, because as a developer the wicked nature of their scripting hooked me right away.
And here is what I found : Lulu Ludovico's and Amethyst Rosencrans's cuffs were the most comprehensive of all the brands and... that was it. Their respective stuff were quite different and complementary but that could not be enough. Especially considering that the Kyrah Abattoir's KDC gear was stunningly looking but its scripting was not very elaborate. Now I'm talking about attachments, because good cages were very hard to find (I remember the HtF Designs ones which were very good).
I like things that lock, that I wear but are controlled by someone else (or at least not by me for a while). I like wicked behaviors and most of all, I like to innovate. At that time I was very enthusiastic because I'd just upgraded my account to Premium and had some money to spend and a First Land in Pak (one of the last of the First Land program, now the place where my little shop is located). First things first, I wanted all that KDC was offering. I mean, even now Kyrah's design is top-notch and it's the very must-have. I only had to script a little to replace her scripts with mine, and make them lockable the way I wanted. And I did. Oh, it's not hard to make an attachment to lock, all it takes is to make it complain by IM to someone when detached. With a couple of precautions it works like a charm.
One day I met Amethyst after losing my KDC armbinder her Allure sim (a very dear sim in which I was secretly working most of the time), and we immediately sympathized. She gave me a lot of advices, insights, opinions about what was going on... I think she gave me the kick start. By the way I remember her talking about Sociolotron, in which a restrained avatar stays restrained until released by the keyholder, no matter what she tries. Now the RestrainedLife viewer is kinda issued from that idea when I think about it...
One of my best friends by then was Alyssa Shenley, who was living with me in Pak. She gave me a lot of advices and feedback ("now why not put a menu on that lockable script of yours ?", "a transparent thing to block your clicks ? That's wicked !" and so on). I met Atmu Evans the sexy latex alien by then, with whom I was (and still am) very close and who was beginning to enjoy my scripts a lot, always wanting more, testing, testing, testing... I remember her first comment when she saw my scripts : "You're going to be a millionaire !", to which I answered my usual "naah". She was right, of course. RubberSlave Leroux was with me too since the beginning and tested the very first prototype of my scripts. And I met Coventina Dalgleish and her harem of adorable slavegirls, who supported me right from the start when I showed her my stuff. I also met Lillani Lowell (owner of Dictatorshop and designer of the Lockguard spec) to whom I demonstrated a version of my script, and who gave me advices too.
I was working with the bests.
And while I was testing my stuff outside with Atmu, I met Ollalla Sugarbeet while browsing in the Little Shop of Kink. She noticed the unlocked prototype of handcuffs I was wearing, which were very tiny, and showed a lot of enthusiasm about them. I gave her a pair. For a week she kept giving me feedback and suggestions, until one day I told her I wanted to sell them (that was after the 100th hint from my friends that I should sell them. lol). She gave me a lot of priceless advices regarding the costs, manuals, look'n'feel, versatility. I remember one day when she came to my skybox and I showed her the tiny key on the unlocked cuff : "omg they look like... exact !".
Let's be honest. I was not a great builder and the build of the cuffs had only one interest : realism and very tiny prims. They are a replica of the ones I own in RL and made them from the measurements I took, so they had to be sober and tiny. But otherwise they're very simple and some freebies are designed better. So I shot for realism rather than for gorgeous-looking surreal stuff. Realism means they got to do what you would expect them to do should you use them in RL. That line of conduct has been hard to keep up, especially since SL is not very realistic in itself, but I did my best. People continuously suggest and nag, and I constantly have to ponder their ideas against my own line.
At that time, Lillani was confined in a big glass cage for the Big Brother contest and I got to talk to show her the cuffs just before release (I had some problems with Lockguard). Oh by the way, she should have won the contest ;)
And I released the cuffs and an ugly-looking version of the straps (4 prims. Pah). Ollalla had demonstrated them for a full week at Bondage Ranch and people were very eager to try them, it was crazy. Now that's only one of the countless things she did to help me, and far from the greatest. It was an immediate success.
To be continued...
SLBI is open ! Again !
So here it goes again. SLBI, for those who don't know, stands for the Second Life Bureau of Investigation, sort of a virtual version of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in RL. But this is not a police group, a griefers group, a militia, or anything nasty like that.
It is a roleplay group. More specifically a bondage roleplay group. Used by the finest roleplayers in SL, this group is about kidnapping and rescuing, a true gem in the overall crappy RP one can see around. Of course most players have female avatars but it is not gender-specific.
I can't talk about the SLBI without introducing its owner and creator : Ollalla Sugarbeet (on the 2nd picture). She's my best SL friend, and holds a good part of my own second life. I would not be where or what I am if I had not met her. I won't throw personal details at you, this blog is not really about me (granted, it is a bit), but let me say that she has put her guts into this project. As she does with every project. You'll see her name regularly here, as we're together a lot and work on the same things. A lot of the most wicked features in my stuff are her ideas in the first place. Self timers with keys available, double use of the RealKey, and others I don't have in mind now, have been her suggestions and are now a great success. But if you mention it to her she will simply smile and discard the compliment in her ever-elegant modest manners :)
But I digress. The SLBI is a roleplay group. It has always had a HQ, which was successively located near The Little Shop of Kink, Kaliwulf Kingdom and now in Zhora. Each move has given it a complete overhaul. The first one was built by Tess Whitcroft (owner of TessTech, builder of Tesscatraz), the second one was built by Sophia Barrett (founder of The Latex Dolls), the third one by me. And it's bigger each time ! Now it is located in Zhora, a sim owned by Chorazin Allen and Ally Boyle, who kindly let us squat there, trying to make it a fully RP sim. And I think we can make it !
The building itself is huge. Lobby, 3 floors plus roof with landing pad (and BBQ), a working elevator, 8 Agents offices, 6 Special Agents offices, Staff offices, Conference room, Operations Center, Interrogation rooms, Rest rooms, Firing range, Maintenance room and of course, 8 cells (the ones the inmates of Tesscatraz loved to hate). It took me 2 weeks to complete but I'm proud of it. Ollalla issued precise specifications, I only built according to them, like a contractor. She prefers the word "slave labor" and I must admit, this was it. I loved it all the way, of course :)
And it's not only about the build, everything is working there : computers linked to a single server, greylist about griefers and cheaters (also networked), cells, doors, chairs, firing range, everything does something. But that's only technical. The real heart of the SLBI is the people who are part of the group, playing and making the cases evolve... a lot of very interesting (and intricate) plots have been unfolded during the past lives of this group and now... it is up again after a few months of sleep.
Let's play.
It keeps evolving
It was funny yesterday. Amethyst Rosencrans (owner of the ever-famous Amethyst brand) and Mo Noel (owner of the MoDesign brand) were trying to compile the RestrainedLife viewer on their respective MacIntoshes, using the patch I've released along with my Windows version. Also Loom Kish told me she could compile on a Mac as well.
It was really looking like a close competition ! I was at work, trying to cheer both of them up while offline, giving advices, hearing about their frustration... and they were trying so hard ! The Mac version was eagerly awaited, I can tell from all the IMs I've received earlier. Of course only one version was sufficient but it really was not a competition, I can assure you. In the end Mo published her version on RapidShare, and at the time of this writing, I've received a message from Orchid (sort of) saying that it's now available on her site (where the windows version is, check the links section). Thank you both, ladies, and I think a good deal of people are also very grateful for your efforts :)
I would like to say something quick about the Mac thing by the way... I like MacOS X, I dislike Windows. I'm now playing SL on a Macbook Pro 2.4 GHz Dual Core SantaRosa (15''), and I love this machine for the user-friendliness and overall look'n' feel. This machine has been bought with some of the money I earn on SL, and I thank all my customers for having given me to do so. But I'm on Windows, using Bootcamp, because the Mac viewer is known to be very buggy. That's why I went through all the pain of compiling the source on this... "operating system". Took me much longer than it should have, considering that it's supposed to be my job. End of the rant.
And now Henri Beauchamp (owner of the Cool Products brand) is trying to get it to compile on Linux, to complete the trio. He will integrate Nicholaz "The Mad Patcher" Beresford's patches, mostly aimed at fixing bugs and crashes. Which makes me think... I've been told that Nicholaz viewer + Marine viewer = a BDSM fan's dream. Hehe. I'll see what I can do. Nicholaz is ok that I integrate his patches, so it's up to me now.
It's evolving, so far it's still under control. The worst thing that could happen is to have 50 versions of the same viewer, compiled and maintained by as many people (all with good intents). I want only 3 viewers : Windows, Mac, Linux, all accessible from the same page (the wiki is good), that will make things easier.
It was really looking like a close competition ! I was at work, trying to cheer both of them up while offline, giving advices, hearing about their frustration... and they were trying so hard ! The Mac version was eagerly awaited, I can tell from all the IMs I've received earlier. Of course only one version was sufficient but it really was not a competition, I can assure you. In the end Mo published her version on RapidShare, and at the time of this writing, I've received a message from Orchid (sort of) saying that it's now available on her site (where the windows version is, check the links section). Thank you both, ladies, and I think a good deal of people are also very grateful for your efforts :)
I would like to say something quick about the Mac thing by the way... I like MacOS X, I dislike Windows. I'm now playing SL on a Macbook Pro 2.4 GHz Dual Core SantaRosa (15''), and I love this machine for the user-friendliness and overall look'n' feel. This machine has been bought with some of the money I earn on SL, and I thank all my customers for having given me to do so. But I'm on Windows, using Bootcamp, because the Mac viewer is known to be very buggy. That's why I went through all the pain of compiling the source on this... "operating system". Took me much longer than it should have, considering that it's supposed to be my job. End of the rant.
And now Henri Beauchamp (owner of the Cool Products brand) is trying to get it to compile on Linux, to complete the trio. He will integrate Nicholaz "The Mad Patcher" Beresford's patches, mostly aimed at fixing bugs and crashes. Which makes me think... I've been told that Nicholaz viewer + Marine viewer = a BDSM fan's dream. Hehe. I'll see what I can do. Nicholaz is ok that I integrate his patches, so it's up to me now.
It's evolving, so far it's still under control. The worst thing that could happen is to have 50 versions of the same viewer, compiled and maintained by as many people (all with good intents). I want only 3 viewers : Windows, Mac, Linux, all accessible from the same page (the wiki is good), that will make things easier.
Monday, November 19, 2007
So what is that RestrainedLife thing anyway ?
Ok so this blog is also about technical info. Let's get dirty.
First of all, Residents of Second Life are expected to log in that virtual world thanks to a software they installed on their computer. This software is called a "viewer", sometimes "client" by computer scientists because it connects to remote "servers" and requests "services" such as the right to live a virtual life, no less. But let's call it "viewer" for now.
It just so happens that this viewer has been released as an open-source project in the beginning of the year 2007. This means that anybody can modify its code to add functionalities, fix bugs, and even submit patches to Linden Lab (developers of Second Life) so they integrate the bug fixes and new features into the next versions. Works well and the quality of the regular viewer has greatly increased lately thanks to the open-source community.
Now, my kink is not to add functionalities but... to remove them. To be more precise, to forbid the user from doing some things on request from worn in-world objects, such as detaching them, talking, teleporting... all that makes your you... you.
Wear cuffs, lock them and if you're using that viewer... they will stay on your avatar no matter what you do. And that enhances the experience of being restrained in that virtual world as usually, a locked item can only complain when it's detached without permission, when the user is logged on with the official viewer.
My thoughts about this are complicated, long story short I totally agree with Linden Lab's policy of not being able to force anybody to do anything. This is a land of rights, nobody can be truly enslaved. But the BDSM online world mostly revolves around Roleplay and the unspoken rules that it enforces. I'm not talking about people who mix RL and SL domination, that's another subject, but only about people who, like me, log in to live their kink.
Roleplay. Now what does that mean ? It means that if two people choose to establish an online D/s relationship, the top expects the bottom to obey, learn, respect, accept punishments, overall evolve, all within the rules and limitations of the platform used (here, SL). I love this relationship and it is based on mutual trust only. But this means that you can't really force your sub to do anything, just induce her to do so. No restraint will force her, the props are just props.
It is different if the sub uses the RestrainedLife viewer because it can :
- Render a locked item undetachable
- Prevent speech
- Prevent hearing (with exceptions if needed)
- Prevent sending Instant Messages (with exceptions if needed)
- Prevent receiving Instant Messages (with exceptions if needed)
- Prevent teleporting (with exceptions if needed)
- Prevent sit-tp beyond a short distance (useful for cages)
I will never stress this enough : it is not a mandatory thing when it comes to experiencing BDSM in SL, it just enhances the experience. If you've practiced BDSM in SL before, you'll see why it is a welcome addition.
That was for the introduction of that viewer, if you want to know more, or even give it a try, you may go to my shop in-world (look at the Picks section in my SL profile), and click on the rotating cube on the left.
It is open-source of course, so if you download the executable you'll also get the source code, so you can make sure there is no trick : it doesn't do more nor less than advertised.
When you click on that cube, you are given a folder containing some scripts and a Readme notecard that explains it all. Basically, the RealRestraint products are still sold without the scripts so you have to add them yourself, according to which script does what. For instance, add the NoSendChat to the RR gag.
Then you go to the URL written in the notecard (at the time of this writing it is available on www.erestraint.com/realrestraint, thank you Orchid !), to retrieve the zip file. Once downloaded, uncompress it in your Second Life installation folder, backing your old "SecondLife.exe" file up first because it will be overwritten. The sources are contained inside the "src" folder but most people are only here to play, not to code. Don't forget to run an anti-virus.
Run the new "SecondLife.exe" executable and you're in !
First of all, Residents of Second Life are expected to log in that virtual world thanks to a software they installed on their computer. This software is called a "viewer", sometimes "client" by computer scientists because it connects to remote "servers" and requests "services" such as the right to live a virtual life, no less. But let's call it "viewer" for now.
It just so happens that this viewer has been released as an open-source project in the beginning of the year 2007. This means that anybody can modify its code to add functionalities, fix bugs, and even submit patches to Linden Lab (developers of Second Life) so they integrate the bug fixes and new features into the next versions. Works well and the quality of the regular viewer has greatly increased lately thanks to the open-source community.
Now, my kink is not to add functionalities but... to remove them. To be more precise, to forbid the user from doing some things on request from worn in-world objects, such as detaching them, talking, teleporting... all that makes your you... you.
Wear cuffs, lock them and if you're using that viewer... they will stay on your avatar no matter what you do. And that enhances the experience of being restrained in that virtual world as usually, a locked item can only complain when it's detached without permission, when the user is logged on with the official viewer.
My thoughts about this are complicated, long story short I totally agree with Linden Lab's policy of not being able to force anybody to do anything. This is a land of rights, nobody can be truly enslaved. But the BDSM online world mostly revolves around Roleplay and the unspoken rules that it enforces. I'm not talking about people who mix RL and SL domination, that's another subject, but only about people who, like me, log in to live their kink.
Roleplay. Now what does that mean ? It means that if two people choose to establish an online D/s relationship, the top expects the bottom to obey, learn, respect, accept punishments, overall evolve, all within the rules and limitations of the platform used (here, SL). I love this relationship and it is based on mutual trust only. But this means that you can't really force your sub to do anything, just induce her to do so. No restraint will force her, the props are just props.
It is different if the sub uses the RestrainedLife viewer because it can :
- Render a locked item undetachable
- Prevent speech
- Prevent hearing (with exceptions if needed)
- Prevent sending Instant Messages (with exceptions if needed)
- Prevent receiving Instant Messages (with exceptions if needed)
- Prevent teleporting (with exceptions if needed)
- Prevent sit-tp beyond a short distance (useful for cages)
I will never stress this enough : it is not a mandatory thing when it comes to experiencing BDSM in SL, it just enhances the experience. If you've practiced BDSM in SL before, you'll see why it is a welcome addition.
That was for the introduction of that viewer, if you want to know more, or even give it a try, you may go to my shop in-world (look at the Picks section in my SL profile), and click on the rotating cube on the left.
It is open-source of course, so if you download the executable you'll also get the source code, so you can make sure there is no trick : it doesn't do more nor less than advertised.
When you click on that cube, you are given a folder containing some scripts and a Readme notecard that explains it all. Basically, the RealRestraint products are still sold without the scripts so you have to add them yourself, according to which script does what. For instance, add the NoSendChat to the RR gag.
Then you go to the URL written in the notecard (at the time of this writing it is available on www.erestraint.com/realrestraint, thank you Orchid !), to retrieve the zip file. Once downloaded, uncompress it in your Second Life installation folder, backing your old "SecondLife.exe" file up first because it will be overwritten. The sources are contained inside the "src" folder but most people are only here to play, not to code. Don't forget to run an anti-virus.
Run the new "SecondLife.exe" executable and you're in !
Welcome !
Hello dear Second Life Resident, you somehow managed to stumble upon my little corner of web, looking for... what were you looking for by the way ?
I bid you welcome, fellow-traveler. Before you go further, please allow me to introduce myself. My Second Life name is Marine Kelley, I am the creator and owner of the RealRestraint brand in Second Life, and also initiator of the growing RestrainedLife custom viewer that some people use for fun.
Now that's a lot of "Restraints" in one sentence... that's because I'm a BDSM addict. I could talk about it for years (and probably will), but for now just be warned, this blog will be kinky. lol.
It will be dedicated to give news and updates about my products, tips and tricks, how-to's,
rants, infos about the viewer, and of course links to related blogs. I won't update regularly but then, who does ?
Now that we know each other better, feel free to leave a comment, suggestion, useful info, or just say Hi !
Have fun !
Marine
I bid you welcome, fellow-traveler. Before you go further, please allow me to introduce myself. My Second Life name is Marine Kelley, I am the creator and owner of the RealRestraint brand in Second Life, and also initiator of the growing RestrainedLife custom viewer that some people use for fun.
Now that's a lot of "Restraints" in one sentence... that's because I'm a BDSM addict. I could talk about it for years (and probably will), but for now just be warned, this blog will be kinky. lol.
It will be dedicated to give news and updates about my products, tips and tricks, how-to's,
rants, infos about the viewer, and of course links to related blogs. I won't update regularly but then, who does ?
Now that we know each other better, feel free to leave a comment, suggestion, useful info, or just say Hi !
Have fun !
Marine
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
