Simple feature, but rather pleasant and a sheer delighter: Second Life webshop SL Exchange has, on their front page, 6 Featured Marketplace items which appear to be chosen at random, then auto-refresh every 30 seconds… or sooner if you press “Get More”! It soon becomes addicting, and is a nice way to get a taste of the rich diversity of what’s for sale in Second Life. Should you miss something, there’s a convenient back button.
You may even find some stuff you saw inworld but lost — a kewl avatar that TPed away, furniture at a lush place you forgot to landmark (but remember you can always check Chat History to see the last places you teleported from). For example, I wanted to tell my brother about anime-styled avatar, and it just came up on my other monitor as I was writing this!
SERENDIPITY MMMM.
One of my passions, personal + professional, is to understand by experience what’s out on the market and how it’s being used. I’ve made some brilliant and eccentric discoveries, and wonder why more online storefronts — including non-Second Life ones — don’t have something like this?
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Well, to randomly grab a handful of items out of a very large database requires significant db querying legwork. To do that every half-minute is a pretty hefty load if you multiply by the number of unique users that SLExchange gets, even if a cache is involved and everyone gets served the same random shovelful.
Ajax is cruise control for creeping bandwidth overuse.
It's not as random as it appears. People who want their items on that front page pay a premium for advertising. The front page listing costs about L$3000 per month to be included in the rotation.
But, I do agree that it's interesting to shop from there.
Thanks for clarifying that, thaumata.