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Sublime Geek: "The Geek shall inherit the Earth"
January 23, 2010
Category: Business Reviews
Around the parts where I, Vazul Neximus hail from, there is an old joke, between two guys, and it goes like this:
- Can you swim? – asks one of them.
- No, I can’t – the other one replies.
- And if I pay you...?
There are interesting sociological and psychological questions behind this simple joke in real life, however, these are not the concern of this article. In the world of Second Life, it still can happen that you encounter a situation somewhat similar to the one depicted above. Let's say you are a skilled artist, and it is no problem for you to design your own creatures; for example, a duck. The duck looks very nice, but as the perfectionist yourself, you also want it to swim;but no matter how hard you try, you can’t make that happen.Then you wonder what can you do? Well, in this case you should pay, not the duck; however, but a skilled scripter or geek to do the scripting of the animation, and make the end result as lively as you have dreamed yourself.
On the other hand, you might be one of such scripters yourself, who was wondering how to set up a successful scripting business in-world. Jon Desmoulins is an owner of such a venture in SL, called Sublime Geek, and has agreed to reveal some details of his trade.
Sublime Geek
They own a shop in-world, and they also operate their business through their website. The shop can be found at http://slurl.com/secondlife/On%20Line%20Metaverse/214/187/23 , while their website is at http://sublimegeek.com/ .
As for the exact nature of their trade, I learned that Sublime Geek specializes in taking legacy SecondLife concepts and re-engineering them into Web 2.0 applications. Most gadgets and gizmos from SecondLife all have operated without a web backend, and the limits of Second Life restrict them from scaling with the needs of the user. Sublime Geek aims to bring SL 1.0 classics into the Web 2.0 standards.
The shop, designed by Laylah Mistral, appears to be your typical mom & pop coffee shop with free wifi and an interesting and creative menu of selectable goodies. Jon explained that they are also an affiliate to AubreTec, as well as having a HippoGroup terminal available for people who wish to join and keep up-to-date on new products and services. Besides this, anyone is free to follow them on Twitter and Facebook.
“Ok, so how do you came up with this idea?” is what I asked him after taking a look around. Jon told me that one of the first things that someone finds out in SL is about Lindens and how they are spent, bought, or earned. He has bought Lindens, as many have, but spending real-life money was a motivator for him to have SL churn up some ROI. He actually has ran several businesses in the past, such as an internet radio station known as, SL Public Radio, and a marketing company called SL Marketing. He chose to start up Sublime Geek purely from his passion of scripting and his interest in web development, while also watching old SL concepts he “grew up with” turn into something more.
Products and Services
Straining my eyes, I took a closer look at the stuff on the walls. To avoid paying a duck by chance or something similar, I asked Jon to describe them in detail.
They have things like MetaVotr, which is a free and paid take on the classic voting boxes of SecondLife. Users vote here and rate your businesses while those votes show up on http://popular.sublimegeek.com. GridSplode (Currently Disabled), is a GridWide sploder which allows people to pay into it and win one of 3 prizes. MetaTip (Closed Beta), is SL's only web-based tip jar system which provides to-the-L$ details on the financial aspects of your club or venue on a web administration panel with charts, graphs, and complete control over every aspect of the system. MetaStreamr (In Development), is a web-based parcel media controller that can modify the settings of your land from anywhere in and outside of SL.
LiveMark (In Development), will change the way that landmarks work in SL. No longer will you have to hand out landmarks, due to a move, or worry your users will try an old landmark.
The MetaVotr Premium edition costs L$500 and can be purchased from their store and at Xstreet SL.
They have done, and still do, custom scripting and assistance in those areas. As far as the business goes, beta and demo products are a must, Jon explained. Not only do they serve to get the word out there, but they also provide outstanding feedback on your products. As far as discounts go, they are always trying to find a way to give people incentives. For example, they give a commission of sales to all of their affiliates, and they offer in all of their packages a catalog, that not only can be used to browse their active products, but can be also a referral tool and gives those who own one 20% commission.
Jon also told me he provides full support for all of his users through both http://sublimegeek.com/support and also for feedback and community support at the http://getsatisfaction.com/sublime_geek webpage. All products get free updates for life!
Business Aspects and Tips
“How does all this pay off? Are you making a profit?” I then switched the topic to our own trade. I learned that Sublime Geek is currently breaking even, as their business income covers the land they are on and the infrastructure to keep them running.
“Was it always the same? Were there obstacles at the start?” as I inquired further. Jon told me that they have had a few obstacles that any software businesses face; such as bugs and web connection issues, (from their former hosting provider). In his opinion, everyone starts out of pocket at first; unless you have some generous friends. There are many options available out there, so you can do things efficiently without spending unnecessary money and the keyword is "open source". If you can do the same thing as others, for little to no cost, that's the best way of doing it these days. Breaking even doesn't happen overnight; unfortunately, “Going through a lot of hard work and innovation will get you to a point where all the seeds you've planted and tended to, grow into a fruitful garden,” he advised.
As for the technical details, I learned that most of their operations is through 3rd-party vendors such as Xstreet & HippoTech. Their shop is currently setup as a coffee shop/internet cafe that definitely deserves at least a pass-by; even more, they also neighbor a cute cake shop.
In the next six months, Jon hopes to drive traffic both to his SL shop and his website. While the startup has been slow, he has been gearing up Sublime Geek for future expansions, such as moving all of their web infrastructure to the Cloud. He plans on furthering development in his line of products and expanding his business, as much as possible; but at the same time, never grow large enough to lose that connection with people using his products.
His final tips for newcomers were to start small, start slow, and don't do it for the money. The last one is the most important in his mind, because so many get corrupted by chasing that dollar that it distracts them from making a good product. Have fun doing what you want to do and really get to know people along the way. Don't ignore feedback, as it can be your greatest asset. Also, most importantly, no matter whatever the case is, don't give up!
“Imagination leads to innovation, motivation leads to creation, and creation leads to whatever you can think up,” as he summed it all up.
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