More winners!

Well, there weren't many responses to the YouTube and the blog contests. Apparently, people prefer to buy. ;)

Anyway, if you entered the YouTube contest or the blog contest, you win! There are six entries in the YouTube contest and three in the blog contest. So, still a multiple of three. :D

And the winners are:

YouTube contest:
* Merewyn Farshore
* Blue Alderbury
* Melvin Starbrook
* Duchess Steadham
* Mz Marville
* kyota Spitteler (Kyota, you already own everything in the store! I have no idea what your prize would be!)

Blog contest:
* Merewyn Farshore
* Blue Alderbury
* Melvin Starbrook (Melvin got the name wrong, but, what the heck.)

Congratulations, everyone! If your name is in both contests, you get to choose two add-on packs.

Please send me a notecard with the following information:

Your name:
Choose from:
___ Byzia Mutation Alpha
___ Byzia Crescent Intimates
___ Byzia Merkini+Bettakini
___ Halimede Mutation Alpha
___ Halimede Crescent Intimates
___ Halimede Merkini+Bettakini
___ Lilaea Mutation Alpha
___ Lilaea Crescent Intimates
___ Lilaea Merkini+Bettakini
___ Melite Mutation Alpha
___ Melite Crescent Intimates
___ Melite Merkini+Bettakini

You can view pictures here.

Week 3 of 3-week celebration

And the third winner in this 3-week celebration of Mer Betta's 3rd anniversary is Beaverhousin Yorkiv, who purchased Byzia on August 29. Congratulations, Beaverhousin!

The contests are still going on until tomorrow night (Tuesday). Three winners from YouTube and three winners from the Mer Betta blog will receive a Series 3 add-on pack of their choice (Intimates pack, Mutation Alpha pack, or Merkini+Bettakini pack).

Right now, there are three entrants in YouTube and one entrant in the Mer Betta blog. Unless there are more entrants, they are guaranteed winners.

So, if you want to give them a run for their money, here are the rules again:

For the YouTube contest:
1. View the machinima on YouTube.com.
2. Leave a comment there with the following information:
* the name of the tail that I'm wearing in that machinima
* your SL name

For the Mer Betta blog contest:
1. Look for the Mer Betta full-page ad in the latest Second Style Magazine issue #38.
2. Leave a comment in the original contest announcement with the following information:
* the name of the tail I was wearing in that ad
* the page number where you found it
* your SL name

All entries must be received by August 31 at 11:59pm.

Good luck!

Week 2 of 3-week celebration

And the second winner in this 3-week celebration of Mer Betta's 3rd anniversary is Clifton Monday, who purchased Halimede on August 22. Congratulations, Clifton!

The third winner will be selected on Aug 30.


And here's another contest:

Mer Betta has a full-page ad in the latest Second Style Magazine issue #38. Same contest rules as the machinima with a few differences: You must leave a comment in this blog entry with the following information before August 31 at 11:59pm:
* the name of the tail I was wearing in that ad
* the page number where you found it
* your SL name

The comments in the blog are moderated. So, to make it fair, I won't approve the comments for publication until Sept 1.

Again on September 1st, I will pick three names randomly and the winners will get their choice of any Series 3 add-on pack (Intimates pack, Mutation Alpha pack, or Merkini+Bettakini pack).

That's a total of six winners on that day, for a total of 9 winners in this three-week long celebration.

Good luck!

Week 1 of 3-week celebration

And the first winner of the 300L rebate is Laconia Vedrina who purchased the Mer Betta Halimede on August 8. Congratulations!

If you haven't gone to YouTube to watch the new machinima ad, please do. Don't forget to leave the name of the tail I'm wearing and your SL name to be entered in the contest. That contest ends on August 31.

Mmmmmmmmm... Mer Betta!

Mer Betta's very first machinima ad!



This has been in the works for a long time and I've set it aside many times in favor of other projects. But it's finally done and released! It's not as smooth as I hoped it would be, but I think it's a decent first-try effort.

I'm very very excited about this machinima. Not only because it's the first machinima I've ever made, but also because of its historical significance.

It's a collaboration with my dear and long-time musician friend, Capos Calderwood (Alex Whitmore irl). You can learn more about him at www.alexwhitmore.com. I've known Capos since January 2007 and have been going to most of his shows since.

This song, which we titled "Mermaid Fantasy," is a re-recording of his original song "Spanish Fantasy" with new lyrics, and Mer Betta has exclusive rights to this mermaid version. I have an agreement with Capos, so I'm setting up a vendor to sell the full-length version for personal non-public use, which is the same as the typical music rights.

The 30-second ad will be aired in future MODA Fashion Spotlight shows that are taped by Treet.tv, due to the generosity of Jujudoll Dancer, CEO of MODA.

I'll have to check my facts, but I'm almost sure we hit a lot of firsts with this project:
* The first theme song to be written and recorded exclusively for a commercial business inside Second Life.
* The first song targeted towards and about a specific roleplaying group/species in Second Life (or maybe even in any MMORPG).
* The first niche machinima ad to be aired on a mainstream television show.


And Mer Betta is three years old!

This month is Mer Betta's birthday, celebrating three years in Second Life. No new tails this month, unfortunately, because of other projects and commitments. But, yes, there is a sale!

And I'm making up the details as I write this. So, here it is:

* The sale will be for three weeks, starting today.
* During those three weeks, one of the Series 3 tails (base pack only) will be on sale for 333L (regular price is 650L). Every couple of days or so, I will change up which tail is on sale for that day. If I make a mistake, I might have two on sale on the same day. If I go crazy, I might have three, who knows. I will not announce which tail it is or when I change it. You'll just have to swing by and check.
* At the end of each week (Sunday midnight), I will look through the sales for that week and randomly pick a winner, who will get a rebate of 300L (effectively getting their new tail for just 33L). I will announce the winner each week through the group notices.
* The sale will only be at the main store.

And here's a contest: View the machinima on YouTube.com and leave a comment with the name of the tail that I'm wearing and your SL name before August 31 at 11:59pm. On September 1st, I will pick three names randomly and the winners will get their choice of any Series 3 add-on pack (Intimates pack, Mutation Alpha pack, or Merkini+Bettakini pack).

Mer Betta in Second Style Magazine again!

This is the third time Mer Betta has been featured in Second Style Magazine and I am really honored!

You'll find the article on Mer Betta on page 58 and 59 in Issue #37:

Last call for the RFL2010-Owain tail

This weekend is it... July 17-18, the final Relay for Life event. THE event. THE relay.

After this weekend, all RFL vendors will be taken down, and you will no longer get a chance to purchase the RFL-exclusive products, unless the merchants decide to set them up again next year.

I, for one, will not set up the RFL2010-Owain tail and add-ons up for sale again after the RFL is over this year, no matter how much you beg. So this is your last chance.

It's available at the Mer Betta main store and at the RFL relay track.

MutationAlpha for S3 and S4, and more news

There are four sections to this announcement:

1.
The Mer Betta MutationAlpha add-on packs for Series 3 and Series 4 are now available! I will send out a notecard individually to people who own one or more Series 3 or Series 4 tails, whether they are in the Mer Betta groups or not.

2.
There are extra gloves in the new MutationAlpha packs to help with lag. If you're using the barechested undershirt/shirt, then use the matching barechested gloves. If you're using the pasties undershirt/shirt, then use the matching pasties gloves. You won't see a difference visually, but you (and people around you) download one less texture. Just like the socks matching the underpants in the Crescent Intimates add-on packs.

If you purchased a MutationAlpha add-on pack prior to today (May 21), you will automatically receive a new pack with the extra gloves. Please be patient as I work on that distribution.

3.
Series 4 and Series 5 Merkini+Bettakini packs have reduced prices. I was looking at my price structure and realized that all other S4 and S5 packs were only 50L more than the corresponding Series 3 packs, except the Merkini+Bettakini packs. So just to make things consistent, I've decided to reduce the price on the S4 and S5 'kinis. With only a 50L price difference from S3, the S4 and S5 tails are really a much better value for the money.

4.
Mer Betta products will now be delivered in a new "box". In the past, Mer Betta vendors have delivered the products unpacked and ready to wear. The main reason being that some malls do not allow rezzing on the land to avoid griefing, so customers would have to rez the box somewhere else or in a small area. (Yes, I really *do* think through every small decision I make. :D ) Also, I personally like to see what I get before I buy, particularly the permissions. However, since the packs are getting bulkier and bulkier, it takes SL longer to open up the list of contents when you buy. And people are forgetting to make a copy of the product before making any changes to it.

This new packaging has several benefits:
a. Buying from a vendor with only one item is faster, especially in laggy sims.
b. It's wearable so you don't have to be on a parcel that allows rezzing on the land.
c. I publish the permissions on the vendor texture anyway, so you know what permissions you get. And, currently, all Mer Betta products are Mod/Copy, except for scripts which are Copy only.
d. You can easily get a factory-fresh copy of the items, if you messed up your copy beyond recognition. ;) The packaging itself is NoMod to preserve the integrity of the items.
e. Important links are right on the prims: the SL group joiner, the Mer Betta website, a map to the Mer Betta main store. If you rez the packaging, other people can click on those buttons, but not on the center panel, which gives away inventory only to the owner.
f. And, finally, there's the "cool factor". You get a nice static mermaid animation when you wear it or sit on it.

I'm still not entirely happy with the design of this packaging. And the SL camera is still messed up. I'm also waiting for some technical updates, like LSL scripts having access to the HippoGroups. So, there will be iterations of this packaging as I go along. I am also thinking of tweaking it for other uses, but that idea is still simmering in my head.

And the winners are...

Okay, here's how I came up with the winners....

1. I took the list of survey-takers and looked up their purchases both inworld and in XStreetSL, since Mer Betta's inception in 2007. I didn't find transactions for two of the survey-takers and they didn't respond to my IMs, so I had no choice but to cut them out to be fair to everyone else.

2. I filtered out the non-tail purchases, such as add-on packs and the SkimSurfaceSimple script. I ended up with 104 transactions sorted by customer name.

3. I created this randomizer script that would randomly choose three numbers between 1 and 104.

4. I had two (unrelated) people click the prim containing the script. The second drawing was in case there were dupes in the first one. The numbers that came up were 40, 43, 56, 70, 38, 42, in that order.

And the winners are:
#40 - Maia Beltran, for purchase of the Mer Betta Byzia Gold Delta v3c on 2010-04-06.
#43 - Melvin Starbrook, for purchase of Mer Betta Eione Midnight Version 2c in XStreetSL on 7/26/2009.
#56 - Peaches2U Camino, for purchase of Mer Betta Galene Orange v2c on 2009-09-14.

If you didn't win, keep reading below.

Instructions for winners
You can do one of two things:
a) You can go ahead and purchase the Series 5 tail you want at the Fantasy Faire and send me a notecard with the transaction record and I'll send you a 700L refund.
b) You can send me a notecard with the color/name of the Series 5 tail you want and I'll send you the base pack directly.

Instructions for non-winners
If you are a qualifying survey-taker (i.e.: you had at least one Mer Betta tail purchase prior to Apr 12 and you filled out this survey), you're eligible to receive a rebate on your first purchase of a Series 5 Mutation Alpha add-on pack. Send me a notecard with the transaction record and I'll send you a rebate of 200L.

Survey results
Most of you prefer the built-in editing tools and some had no preferences, so I'll leave the items modifiable with no resizing scripts. If I choose to include resizing scripts in the future, the items will still remain modifiable so you can remove the scripts, and the scripts themselves will offer an option to be deleted.

I've responded individually to most of the comments. Thank you so much for the great feedback.

And thank you for participating in this survey.

Fantasy Faire 2010 - All systems go!

All done!!! I've just finished setting up the Mer Betta booth at the Fantasy Faire. And, as promised, here's the SLURL.

There are two levels to the Mer Market sim this year, and the focus is in the abovewater area. Apparently, it was because the mer sim didn't get much attention last year. I guess people saw the water and thought there was nothing to see there. So this year, we're above water with underwater sections.

Here's how the Mer Betta booth is set up. The abovewater area is dedicated to the new Series 5 tails and is set up somewhat like a fairytale castle with a pond in the middle. You'll find the familiar mermaid sculptures, the pet seal, and the hungry pelican and his wife, all hanging out around the pond. The pond is actually the opening to the underwater area, which has the Series 3 and Series 4 tails and is set up like a cave.

All the underwater sections under each booth are interconnected so you can go as a mer and never get out of the water.

But if you want to just hang out and watch people go by, you can also flop your Mer Betta tail into the chandelier.

Mer Betta is mutating

The Series 5 tails are packed and ready to go, as well as the add-on packs. Here are the names of the new tails:

* Mer Betta Grenikos Green Patina Crowntail
* Mer Betta Istros Lemon Halfmoon
* Mer Betta Kaikos Aqua Orange Halfmoon
* Mer Betta Sangarios Red Black Rosetail
* Mer Betta RFL2010-Owain Purple Rosetail, which will be available only for the Relay For Life

And here's a teaser:


I know, I know, it doesn't show the whole tails, but it wouldn't be a "teaser" if it did, would it? ;) If you click the picture, it will take you to Flickr and you can view a larger version and squint your eyes and imagine the missing parts. ;)

But the pièce de résistance is the new Mutation Alpha™ add-on pack. It will be available for each Series 5 tail, as would the Crescent Intimates™ pack and the Merkini+Bettakini™ packs. Mutation Alpha add-on packs for Series 3 and Series 4 tails will be available in May/June.

All these new products will be available only at the Fantasy Faire while the faire is going on. I'll send the landmark to the Mer Betta group and the HippoGroup after I set up the booth. And the RFL tail will be available only while the RFL fundraising is going on.


NOTE: If you participated in the survey and you can't wait until after the Fantasy Faire to get your Series 5 tail, you can go ahead and purchase your favorite tail(s) and I can just refund you the purchase price if you're one of the winners. The raffle prize only includes the base pack, and the RFL2010-Owain tail is not included in the prize selection.

Enter a raffle to win a Mer Betta Series 5 tail

I'm working on Series 5 tails to be released to the public on April 19 at the Fantasy Faire.

You can win your choice of tail from Series 5 (you'll get the base pack, not the add-on packs), simply by filling out a survey before April 12. You must own a Mer Betta tail or purchase one before April 12.

You only have to fill out the survey once, but you'll get one raffle entry for every Mer Betta tail you purchased. If you purchased a tail for someone else, they can fill out the survey and put both your name and their name in the appropriate box at the bottom.

Important dates:
April 12 - Deadline to fill out the survey and purchase a Mer Betta tail if you don't already have one.
April 19 - Fantasy Faire opens. Series 5 will be introduced to the public.
April 25-30 - Three winners will be drawn and announced.

Mer Betta in La Performance's "Back to Black" show

La Performance (produced by Jie Loon) will premiere their new show "Back to Black" tomorrow March 28 at 2:30pm SLT at the Shakespeare sim.

One of the acts features the Mer Betta Pasithea and dance animations by Kamihitoe (Sala Snook).

If you miss it this week, they perform every Sunday at 2:30pm until May 9.

Come and see this show!

Mer Betta in the press!

Harper Beresford goes to the beach with the Mer Betta Halimede Merkini.

And Kyota Spitteler dances all over Jabara Land with the Bettakini.

I should put these on the Mer Betta website.

Two new words: Merkini and Bettakini

New release!

I just made up two new words: Merkini™ and Bettakini™.

The difference is subtle. A Merkini just has scales; a Bettakini has a bit of fin overlay for contrast. They both come in the same pack; one pack for each Mer Betta tail.



So, whether you grow legs by drinking a potion or wearing a red hat, you won't have to give up your scales too. :)


More hunts and events

Today is the last day for the Magic and Romance Hunt. I also just found that they had published my interview.

There's a new hunt coming up in April. I'll post more about it when it gets underway. I still have no idea what to make for it.

I received an invitation to this year's Fantasy Faire again. FF is part of Relay for Life. Last year's FF was when I released the Series 3 tails; I may release Series 5 for this year's FF too.

March will be very very busy.

On pricing

About a year or so ago, a loving husband purchased the Mer Betta Pasithea for his wife without checking whether it was transferable. So, the product went to his inventory. His wife contacted me and wanted me to send a copy to her for free, since her husband, being a big and burly guy, could not wear it.

I explained that, firstly, my store policy said that if it's copyable, it's non-refundable. Secondly, big and burly men *have* worn my tails, including the Pasithea. Instead, I offered to send her the Pasithea at a deeply discounted price. Even after what I thought was a very generous offer, she still complained that my tails are very expensive.

I was too tired to be witty at the time, but I wish I had told her that it was none of my business if a husband loved his wife so much that he would buy the most exquisite product available in the market for her, regardless of the price. He could have chosen to buy her a cheap tail elsewhere; it wasn't my fault that he chose to come to my store.

Pricing is very difficult. My marketing professor in business school even said so. Pricing is a compromise between merchant and customer. If the customer doesn't see value in what they paid money for, they will stop buying. If the merchant doesn't see a return on their time/money investment, they will stop selling. Mer Betta tails are priced in the same range as -- or even lower than -- ballgowns with similar quality of workmanship. And since Mer Betta tails are still selling well at the current price range, then I think it's safe for me to assume that people are getting their money's worth. Hopefully, more than their money's worth.

A few people who need a mermaid tail just for costume parties have complained about paying this price for something they would wear only once. But people who are mermaids most of the time don't complain about paying the same price for a ballgown they would wear only once for an OOC party. How often a user wears a product is not necessarily a factor in deciding the price of that product; just take a look at the price of wedding gowns both in real life and in Second Life.

I could make cheap tails with lower quality, but I refuse to do so for the same reason I refuse to do freebie tails: It dilutes the Mer Betta brand. Would you expect Porsche to create a cheap family sedan that competes with Kia or Honda? No, their brand is associated with luxury and high quality.

I want the Mer Betta brand to be the Porsche of mermaid tails. I want my customers to be *envied* when they wear their Mer Betta tails. Therefore, every tail I release under the Mer Betta brand will be the best I can make at my skill level at that point.

Mer Betta is not for everyone, just as Porsche is not for everyone. Mer Betta is for people with discerning taste and style and sophistication. Yes, it comes at a higher price. But you'd be willing to pay more for a Porsche, wouldn't you?

What I really said

(I apologize to customers who watch this blog and don't expect anything beyond product announcements here. However, I need a place to post this rebuttal as this issue affects my reputation and is related to Mer Betta.)

I had once attended a talk on IP protection, given by a lawyer from a top law firm in Seattle. He had talked about a case where an infringer imitated the composition and the "look" of a photograph belonging to his client. The people in it looked similar, they were dressed similarly, they were posed similarly, and the angle that the photo was taken was similar. The photos are not exactly the same, of course, but they had the same "feel". If I remember correctly, this lawyer and his client won that case.

Yesterday, a friend called my attention to a set of tails that another designer had just released. Someone else had previously notified me of this particular designer regarding another tail that looked too much like the Mer Betta Atargatis. After receiving that first report, I bought the offending tail and compared it with mine. It looked very similar on the photo, because she used the same fish photo as source, but I confirmed that she did not use my textures or a photo of my textures.

After yesterday's report, I sent an IM to this designer. I (gently, I thought) suggested that she find her own niche, instead of copying styles, because people are reporting her tails as infringing on mine. That would have been the end of it, except she went into the group chat of a popular mer group to complain that I accused her of stealing my textures, which I did not do.

Since that group chat conversation did not pop up for me (a copy of the chat log was only forwarded to me by someone who witnessed it), I did not have a chance to respond; therefore, this blog entry.

I think that the chat log of the original conversation would speak for itself. Even though posting the chat log in a website is "beyond the scope of the Second Life Terms of Service" according to the SL wiki, I will respect the TOS here and publish only my part of the conversation so that people can judge the situation for themselves. Since this designer claims I said something, then my part of the conversation should be sufficient to show that what she claims is not true.

Granted, she could say that the following are not what I said in our private conversation. But I have been in SL for a long time, and I can come up with a long list of respected members of the SL community who know me well and can vouch for my integrity.

The masked chatlog follows, with a couple of lines (within square brackets) to explain what I was responding to:

[2010/02/19 22:28] Opal Lei: Hello, <designer name>.
[2010/02/19 22:29] ...
[2010/02/19 22:29] Opal Lei: Would you have time to chat.
[2010/02/19 22:29] Opal Lei: ?
[2010/02/19 22:29] ...
[2010/02/19 22:29] Opal Lei: I've had at least two people now calling my attention to your tails because they look too much like my tails.
[2010/02/19 22:30] ...
[2010/02/19 22:30] Opal Lei: Mer Betta
[2010/02/19 22:30] ...
[2010/02/19 22:30] Opal Lei: Among other places.
[2010/02/19 22:31] ...
[2010/02/19 22:31] Opal Lei: My tails are very popular, so I'm sure you've seen them arond.
[2010/02/19 22:31] Opal Lei: around*
[2010/02/19 22:32] Opal Lei: Mer Betta has been in existence since August 2007.
[2010/02/19 22:32] Opal Lei: And I have been the first one to bring betta tails into SL.
[2010/02/19 22:32] ...
[2010/02/19 22:32] Opal Lei nods.
[2010/02/19 22:32] Opal Lei: You might want to find your own niche.
[2010/02/19 22:33] ...
[2010/02/19 22:35] Opal Lei: <another brand> also copied my style.
[2010/02/19 22:35] Opal Lei sighs.
[2010/02/19 22:35] ...
[2010/02/19 22:36] Opal Lei: I think you have seen it before.
[2010/02/19 22:36] ...
[2010/02/19 22:36] Opal Lei: Because different designers solve problems differently.
[2010/02/19 22:36] Opal Lei: For example, how we hide the feet.
[2010/02/19 22:37] ...
[2010/02/19 22:37] Opal Lei: And she got it from me.
[2010/02/19 22:37] Opal Lei: I started using those shaped sculpties in April 2008.
[2010/02/19 22:38] ...
[2010/02/19 22:38] Opal Lei: Then people will continue to think of you as a copycat.
[2010/02/19 22:38] ... [ She said that she didn't think her tails look like mine. ]
[2010/02/19 22:38] Opal Lei: And people will continue to report you to me as a potential copyright infringer.
[2010/02/19 22:38] Opal Lei: If they don't, why are people reporting you to me?
[2010/02/19 22:39] ...
[2010/02/19 22:39] Opal Lei: Think about it,<designer name>.
[2010/02/19 22:39] Opal Lei: I cannot tell you what you can do or not do.
[2010/02/19 22:39] ...
[2010/02/19 22:39] Opal Lei: I can only control what *I* do.
[2010/02/19 22:40] Opal Lei: I gave you my suggestion... that you should find your own niche.
[2010/02/19 22:40] Opal Lei: That is all I can say.
[2010/02/19 22:40] Opal Lei: What you do is up to you.
[2010/02/19 22:40] ... [ She said that she had tried everything in SL and this is what she's good at. ]
[2010/02/19 22:40] Opal Lei: I think you're not giving yourself enough credit.
[2010/02/19 22:41] Opal Lei: I can't believe that people have no imagination whatsoever to come up with something original.
[2010/02/19 22:41] ...
[2010/02/19 22:42] Opal Lei shrugs. Like I said, what you do is your decision.
[2010/02/19 22:42] Opal Lei: Thank you for taking the time to chat with me.

Friends are describing the group chat conversation as slanderous and suggested that I report it to LL. Granted, she may have misunderstood our conversation, in which case, I would accept a public apology for the slander. But if an apology is not forthcoming and she forces my hand further, then I will consider filing an abuse report and perhaps taking legal action.

Back to the story of the IP lawyer: If they could win a case based on the look and feel of a photograph, could the same be true for the look and feel of a virtual mermaid tail?

Magic and Romance Hunt - going on now

Mer Betta is part of the Magic and Romance Hunt that started today.

To join the hunt, go to the main Mer Betta store in Dunbeath and click the sign for the hunt to get the landmark for the first store. Or you can just start at Mer Betta, since you're already there, and work your way to the end then back to the start of the chain.

Here's the clue for Mer Betta:
The huntress holds the hunted in her hand.

In other news, Series 1 tails are already gone. Series 2 tails will be available for two more weeks.

Happy hunting!

Going, going, ...

Series 1 and Series 2 tails are currently on sale -- only at the Mer Betta main store. These are the tails that launched the Mer Betta brand in August 2007; they were upgraded to version 2 in April 2008.

Series 1 tails are marked down to 300L and will be available only until Jan 31:
Mer Betta Amphitrite Cream Green v2c
Mer Betta Atargatis Signature Blue v2c
Mer Betta Galene Orange v2c
Mer Betta Tethys Red Crown v2c

Series 2 tails are marked down to 400L and will be available only until Feb 15:
Mer Betta Eione Midnight v2c
Mer Betta Ianthe Green Crown v2c
Mer Betta Kalypso Gold v2c
Mer Betta Rhodea Dark Red v2c