and you'll fight it, you'll go out fighting all of them

Dragon Age Origins: Meet Oghren! (If you don't get why that's funny, then keep in mind--the voice actor who did Oghren? Also did Cowboy Bebop.)

A few, so very few, updates on the merchant thing.

I'm currently bashing my forehead against the warded spiked padlocked acid-dripping gate that is MVX. I take everything back I've said against Slapt.me, bring it on--anything to get me out of trying to list on MVX.

I hate MVX with every further step I take to list on this thrice-damned quasi-merchanting service.

Check this out:

* It was difficult to make an account;
* It was difficult to track down the server box;
* Once the server box was tracked down, rezzing it out meant actually rezzing out the server, not a box that unpacked the server with instructions;
* I had to click Edit on the server box to find the instructions;
* After dragging in what I thought they wanted, I found out they didn't want what I thought they wanted (and I had to export out all of my box art to my hard drive later when listing items);
* and all of that was before I started the insanity of listing items.

On top of all that the page looks like it's shiny vintage 1996 for webcoding, and that is...just...insanely scary. It's the 21st century, people. You can do better than that.

But the Bloody Carni dress, the Bloodscratch EGL dress and the Rapture's End gown are all up.

So...now I have five items in the skybox just dedicated to vending: Apez (which is starting to look like the least terrible of many terrible options), Slapt.me, MVX (which, unless they DRASTICALLY IMPROVE are only EVER seeing three items listed from me), meta-LIFE (which may well be the second runner-up), and the hippo-Vend server box, which I need to revamp, restock, and get up and running again.

And if Cariama is serious about telling me when they launch, I'll have a sixth scripted prim from them. You have to be kidding!

What was the point of this? Oh, right, because Linden Labs got stupid and greedy. Gosh, I nearly forgot. Turns out we know now where the mutant glowing bunny comes from--Pink left eBay for the Labs. Oh, GOODY.

Second Life Update briefly analyzes the problem; which I don't entirely get on reviewing it, because who ever searched for free items on XStreet and not using "free" or "freebie" as search terms?

In the meantime, entries keep popping up on forums and blogs:

I’m saddened to have to add my name to the list of merchants leaving XStreet SL, but I have no choice.

and

Smaller merchants are now leaving XStreetSL, as well as any merchants who cannot afford the listing fees for their products. I myself would be paying well over L$1000 for it, which just isn't viable for me.

and

SLUniverse takes on the price hikes.

and

This is going to kill a huge part of Second Life's economy. Only those who are earning thousands from their sale will be able to pay these fees, and even they won't be happy about this.

and...and...AND...It's getting insane. I think this is starting to rival the negative feedback generated on the OpenSpace debacle.

And are they listening? Oh hell no. The Labs don't care.