At this time last year, Torrid and Mistress Midnight were releasing their Spring Flowers set of dresses that included a purse, sandals, and a bracelet. For some reason, it wasn't very well received. If I had to speculate, it would be the puffiness of the skirt. I'm not a fan of the poofy look of skirts myself, but I know that it can be changed with the slider.

Imagine my surprise when Tete a Pied decided to give the Spring look a try with their fourth monthly entry, avril, which is French for April. With a new month comes a new skin and outfit, which I greedily got my hands on as soon as it arrived. The dress itself comes with a flower-patterned poofy skirt and top, plus a shrug. Two colors, peony and hyacinth, are available for this month's offering.

The skin is the real treat here, though. Shown to the right in the Bronzage Medium tone, it features light pink lips with just a hint of shimmer and delicately lined eyes with smoldering purple shadow. According to Roslin Petion, they did something different with the lips, which really shows. I've been getting loads of compliments!

The dresses (mod/copy) sell for 200L each and the skin sells for 1000L. You can get both dresses and the skin for 1200L, though. They are available on the Nouveau sim.

Drum roll, please: the date and time of the registration of the millionth user was October 18th, 2006, at 08:05:45 AM, SL Time. The one millionth resident's name is Farley Atlantis, and I'll be contacting him/her soon for an interview (if he/she will have me!), but I know that you're all waiting for the name of the winning resident.

Interestingly enough, only 3 people guessed the date correctly. With a prediction of 8:30 AM, the winner is ...

*bated breath*

Mystra Hyde!

Mystra, congratulations! I'll be contacting you soon with your winnings, and an offer to have an interview up on the site, which you may of course decline. If any of you know Mystra, let him/her know he/she's won!

I'd like to thank Torley, Robin, and Jim Linden for providing the precise date and time, and all of our wonderful prize suppliers: Coal Nelson, Six Kennedy, Jakkal Dingo, Trinity Serpentine, Mistress Midnight, and Ordinal Malaprop! Please patronize these artists; they make wonderful things! Thank you all for your entries, you made this contest fun! *tail madly wagging*

Okay, I know everyone's excited to know who's donating prizes, and what they are. As it stands, here is the list:

• Coal Nelson donates a 'Personal Comet' head orbiter (if you haven't seen one of these, they're really cute! Come find me in-world for a look)
• Mistress Midnight donates something from her personal line of clothing (details to be determined by Mistress)
  
• Six Kennedy donates a 400L gift certificate to Gurl6 (her fashion and hairstyle store)
• Our own Aimee donates both a 1000L credit voucher to Preen and a few unreleased Preen items (to be determined by Aimee)
  
• Jakkal Dingo donates 2 800L gift certificates to The Werehouse (Like my werewolf av? I got it from Jakkal!)
  
• Tippy Fizz donates a portrait session in her photography studio (She does fine work, no lie)
  
• Trinity Serpentine donates a 2 hour set from the Radio Radio DJ of the winner's choice (though the DJ requested must either be off-schedule or this can take place during their scheduled set)
• Ordinal Malaprop donates a new object of her design (she's keeping it a secret!)

And, again, I'll offer to interview the winner if they're interested. So there you have it, a drool-worthy list of prizes if ever I've seen one. And I've never seen one, so I'm proud to be the first! Thank you to everyone who's graciously donated these prizes and for being so generous with their time! If you would like to donate a prize to this contest, you may either IM me in-world, or send me mail at akelatal@gmail.com. Good luck to the winner!

Our sister/umbrella site Joystiq (much love, y'all) has posted a story referencing a recent Economist article. It summarizes something Philip has said about RL commerce coming into SL: "Another economic difference, says Mr Rosedale, is the lack of economies of scale in Second Life. In real life, a shoemaker, say, can reduce the average cost of making a pair by producing huge amounts, and the average cost of marketing by buying advertising in bulk. In Second Life, however, scale means nothing. There is no manufacturing cost to minimise. Gimmicks, such as giving away free shoes, are useless because nobody actually needs shoes at all."

Joystiq, however, argues differently: "Second Life's denizens are concerned that the entrance of big business into the world will drive them out. They're right to be concerned. Their businesses are as at risk as the local bookseller's business before Barnes & Noble comes to town."

I'd like to point out something that neither source has. In Philip's case, giving away free shoes does work if you give them to a newbie, who 1) May be unable to afford the cost of even cheap shoes, and who then 2) Proudly displays them to all her newbie friends, who now clamor for them, and possibly even save up for them, or find ways to make money to buy them. People may not need shoes in SL, but they want them.

In Joystiq's case, there are a number of reasons for residents not to fear Big Business. First, many residents, particularly Immersionists, don't want their carefully crafted spaces to be tainted by commercialism from RL. Second, because of instantaneous travel between sims, it's as easy to get to, say, Preen, as it is to go to American Apparel. Third, all creators go through the same process to create their wares, whether it's done by a team or by a single user. It's entirely possible that a preexisting SL store could create or emulate a style of clothing designed by a RL store. Therefore there is no material difference between a white t-shirt made by The Gap and one made by Mistress Midnight. What matters then is which one costs less; that is the one the average user will buy.

SL is just different, and RL businesses hoping to make a profit from its residents need to take the time to consider how it's different, and how to turn that to their advantage. The old ways will fall by the wayside. Simply building a store and hoping your brand will bring everyone running just won't work anymore.