I was browsing the website for the upcoming SL Community Convention (SLCC) and noticed a sponsor I hadn’t heard of before: aliciastella.com. “Who’s that?” I wondered…
I entered http://aliciastella.com into my web browser (wondering why the SLCC website didn’t have it hyperlinked) and got taken to the home page of Alicia Stella Design Studios (ASD Studios). It has a white background with pink stars in the logo and a prominent picture of Alicia Stella wearing a cute pink skirt. She says, “Hiya! My name’s Alicia and I make cool stuff in Second Life…” I was thinking perhaps they sold wedding decorations, sparkly high heels, or girly teddy bears in various pastel colours. Boy was I wrong…
Gadgets?
Then I noticed the tagline on their logo: Scripted Gadgets in Second Life. This was obviously not your typical gadget shop!
The website links to Alicia Stella’s profile on SLProfiles.com. Apparently her RL name is Alicia Stella too — Wow, talk about lucky! She made films and websites before trying SL in July of 2006. (Her SL rezday was July 26.) It seems that Alicia jumped right into SL: the forums on her website says she joined them on October 3, 2006, which means she must have set up the aliciastella.com website before that.
So what does ASD Studios sell? Their products are listed on aliciastella.com, SL Exchange Marketplace (SLX), Shop OnRez, and SLShopper classifieds. There are 107 products listed on SLX, with the most common category being “General Event and Traffic Aids” (48 items). Products include:
- Tip jars which can split tips between the performer and the venue owner. One is a genie bottle that smokes when tipped. Another is a top hat with a bunny that pops out carrying a magic wand!
- Various dance pads
- A donation goal thermometer, which fills up as people donate to it — and you can have several thermometers in the sim synchronized so they all show the same total
- A “scrubbing bucket camper”: people can sit on a poseball and be animated to wash the floor with a scrub brush (and get paid)
- Window blinds that open and close using animated prims
- Various teleporters
- Various suggestion boxes
I didn’t buy or test anything from ASD Studios, so I can’t comment on that aspect. You can always check if there are reviews on SLX or Shop OnRez.
Inworld Store
ASD Studios also has an inworld store on the sim named ASD Studios, which has a Hollywood / Los Angeles theme. The SLURL is http://slurl.com/secondlife/ASD%20Studios/131/139/28
The store doesn’t fill the whole sim so they rent out space to other shopkeepers. It’s a fun sim to explore, with landmarks like the Pantages Theater and The Brown Derby (a restaurant shaped like a giant brown derby hat, visited by Hollywood celebrities of yore). There’s even a website associated with the sim at http://www.asdstudios.com
ASD Studios also has many free items. There’s a freebies corner in the northwest corner of the ASD Studios sim, the website has many free scripts, and many of their items listed on SLX are free (e.g. a world time clock that can show the time in up to four places at once).
I think it’s really cool that a gadget shop is a sponsor for the SLCC this year. It costs at least $750.00 USD to be a sponsor, which is nothing to sniff at. Bravo Alicia Stella!
Troy McConaghy 