first things first – it’s Queen Victoria’s birthday – a time to reflect over how much better off the world was when the sun never set on the British Empire. we’ve never forgotten that in Canada and love being in the Commonwealth. but . . . that’s easier for us to do because we don’t pay any taxes to the Crown and our independence did not involve any battles – Canadians are a very polite bunch! plus it’s darn cold in Canada (not like Bermuda) and we didn’t have awesome food (like India) so the Crown really didn’t care too much about us! =p
three cheers for Queen Victoria - hip hip (you say hooray)
alright, now that the perfunctory duty of a true loyal Canadian has been performed (but it’s out of fear that Queen Elizabeth does have the legal power to behead me – hey, i might be an avatar but i am fond of my head – and shush on your comment about liking my head DreamWalker!!!)
on to a real topic and what to talk about on the third year anniversary of my one year commitment to have a blog post up every day! wow, i know i can be OCD but really? three years? gee, i need help (send prozac, zoloft, or good old-fashioned valium!) =D
my little brain was going nuts thinking it needs to be some hard hitting post with some awesome tip that no one knows about but screw that! i like rambling on and on about my virtual world journey and through that, sometimes there’s some handy info or at least it inspires some to be more confident (if Ener can do it, then any idiot can!) =p
here’s my exciting topic (exciting to me!): Kitely! *record scratch – huh?*
Ilan at Kitely is a good friend of the blog (Oren chimes in a little, but maybe a tiny loud pink-haired girl scares him off?) and has been wanting me to try Kitely out but i did not have a need yet. the first stumbling block, with Kitely, for me was the facebook login dealio. i’ll always be Ener Hax (for the foreseeable future) so that locked me out, but last year that all changed and Kitely added twitter and their own named accounts. there was a huge value to only use social network logins because it eliminates the account management headache but Kitely implemented the most flexible solution possible (kudos for that very pro-customer move) =)
secondly, Kitely doesn’t yet support multi-region worlds which is what Enclave Harbour is. if they did, i’d be all over them! (run, Oren, run!) =D
so . . . while i love the Kitely model and sincerely believe they have a phenomenal product that is ideal for so many uses, my needs simply didn’t mesh with their service. i was a sad Ener =(
until today! the heck with Queen Victoria, it feels like my birthday!
when checking my email this morning, i had a note asking what i thought about Kitely for doing some eLearning video
last month i trashed subQuark’s hotel film set that he had been using for a work project (below). his project had been on indefinite hold and we needed the sim for a nuclear power plant (and the new crane that i <3) and also as a new home for the ab fab Haxor Lunar Lounge! (thongs available at our CafePress shop – w00t!) o_O
his project is starting back up and i’ll be using Kitely soon to help him out (i kept the OAR before going nuclear). this might be a great solution for him, and other corporate eLearning developers, and once it’s set up, a quick machinima test will let us know!
hide, Oren, hide! and Happy birthday Queen Victoria! =)
That’s great news Ener!
We’re so happy we’ll finally get to enjoy your company in Kitely :-)
BTW, we hold weekly Kitely Mentors Group meetings which you, and other people who join the group, are invited to attend. In those meetings our users get to share their priorities regarding which features we should work on first – and we do our best to take their wishes into consideration. For example, following our last meeting we decided to delay improving and rolling out megaregions in order to first make Kitely Credits into a convertible virtual currency. It may take us a while until our anti-fraud mechanisms are good enough to enable cashing out, but people should be able to start using KC for tipping/giving/buying within 1-2 weeks.
There are already thousands of dollars worth of KC sitting in people’s accounts. People active on Kitely either buy KC or are on premium plans that include a significant amount of KC each month. Because of how our system works the amount of KC in circulation has grown even before people can actually spend them on virtual goods. It will therefore be interesting to see how Kitely’s inworld economy will evolve once people can start spending those, and yet to be “minted”, KC on content that is created by people coming over from SL.
Opening a presence in Kitely is free and, if you earn enough KC to cover your own time inworld, you can have a business on an entire sim of your own without needing to spend a dime out-of-pocket.
Now, we only need to let more people who have a business in other grids hear about the opportunities that will be opening on Kitely soon…
Ilan Tochner
24 May 12 at 5:50 pm
“.. our independence did not involve any battles – Canadians are a very polite bunch! plus it’s darn cold in Canada (not like Bermuda) and we didn’t have awesome food (like India) so the Crown really didn’t care too much about us! =p … ”
We fooled them good! They forgot that we got the best beaver in the World!
Getting an inworld currency in Kitely is a huge step forward, easily on a par with megaregions. I look forward to opening an Excelsior Armaments shop as part of my own restructuring on Kitely. And will still work on a suitable continent for the future.
Sarge Misfit
24 May 12 at 8:07 pm
Hi Sarge,
That sound’s like a great plan, I look forward to seeing your armaments in action :-)
Ilan Tochner
24 May 12 at 8:15 pm
I’m looking forward to using Kitely more also. I’m a slow builder, so I’m doing all of my design work on my standalone. I’ll be importing everything soon-ish though. I hope.
p.s. LOL at Sarge’s beaver comment!
Eliza Wrigglesworth
25 May 12 at 7:48 am
i live it Eliza “i’m a slow builder”!!! i think i may have to challenge you on that one! looking at my flickr pics i see that some builds have been in the works for three years! =)
instead of slow, you and i are thoughtful and deliberate builders =)
well Ilan, i’m sure all will go well and when it does, subQuark will do a few blog posts – even though he hasn’t spoken at conferences for the last two years, he still is known in the eLearning circles
i think i can speak for subQ as well, neither one of us has an interest in making virtual money (i have been deeply there with my $3,000-5,000 USD a month days inSL) BUT subQuark’s angle on VWs might lead other corporate eLearning developers trying it out
his conference attendees always had a keen interest to try SL out but could not justify $1000 down and $295 a month just to try it out. later he steered them to sim-on-a-stick but Kitely would be easier for them to use
and spot on Sarge – all of Canada’s early history (especially Quebec) revolved around the outstanding Canadian Beaver. i’d argue the best beaver hunters in the world are Canadians. we so love them that the nickel has Her Majesty on one side and Her Royal Beaver on the other!
Ener Hax
25 May 12 at 7:59 am
Hi Ener,
I’m busy working at the salt mines, so Ilan has to do the talking for both of us. How’s he doing ;) But Ilan can’t do the READING for both of us, unfortunately (think of the possibilities!), so I lurk on your blog (and many others as well). I’m absolutely amazed that you managed to write a blog post every day for so long. My own blog is languishing from lack of attention.
Thanks for trying out Kitely! I’m reinforcing it now in preparation…
Oren Hurvitz
25 May 12 at 8:22 am
Thank you Ener (and subQuark), your help in educating people about Kitely is very much appreciated.
I hope we’ll be able to finish developing the convertible currency capabilities we have planned and start working on multi-region worlds soon. I can’t wait to be able to finally visit Enclave Harbour on Kitely :-)
Ilan Tochner
25 May 12 at 5:57 pm
Oren! thanks for dropping by and BIG THANKS (and squishy hugs) for all the work you contribute to OpenSim!
lol, i think subQuark gave up for the moment (he is not as stubborn as me) plus we have family visiting this week and he is a far more attentive host than i am) =)
i’ll get him setup and i don’t think he needs anything for a month or so
Ener Hax
28 May 12 at 8:43 pm