37
COMMENTS
Absinthe’s Thoughts:
So far me and my business partner Vodka have explored a good amount of stores this past week. Clothing, accessories, pet stores, randomness stores, but we have yet to cross over into the Gorean market. "Gor" in Second Life is almost another market venue on its own. Creators make outfits specifically for role-play in the Gorean environment. There are over 200 plus Sims that participate in this type of role-play so you can see why this genre would be profitable.
This started mine and Vodka's quest to find some Gorean stores, which in turn didn't really turn out all that great. 80% of the Gorean creators that we have come across all seem to be similar to each other in their designs, their shading in the clothing, and even the prim work on the outfits. They all seemed like they got idea's from each other, but didn't really scream copiers to me...until we came across one store in-particular, Little Tasta, which is owned by Etana Vella.
I wouldn't really think to myself that this woman is copying people by her Gorean clothes, because I never really been involved in the Gor world (until searching a few places), but the thing that tells me she is copying people is the similar design from companies that are part of the Gor market and outside of the Gorean market in EVERYTHING including her actual store build.
When I first walked in her store I looked around and gasped because little red flags were going off in my head saying I've seen lots of this stuff before. The first thing I saw was the way she laid her freebie dress on the desk at the front.. it seemed very similar to what I had seen earlier that day, because in-fact it was exactly the same idea that Primitive Design had at the front of his store (see comparison below).
The next thing I noticed was the colors and framing around her store build, at this point I wasn't even looking at the creations she made, I was looking at her structure. As I walked to the back of the store I gasped yet again because it hit me in the face like a ton of bricks. Ms. Vella had stolen the design of her store from someone. The back wall was almost identical to the back wall at {Zaara}'s. Then everything else started to fall into place. Etana's frame work was similar, her colors and the bright walls, and the arches, even the text that is above the door frames was stolen from {Zaara} (see more comparison's below).
At this point I was pretty ticked off and decided to look at the content in the store and started taking snapshots of everything. I then took a trip to the Gor Hub, (which, apparently, is a place where many people gather to socialize and shop for Gorean apparel and how me and Voddy discovered the Gorean market), and started taking pictures of anything that I thought looked like Ms. Vella copied. Turns out everything in her store is almost an exact replica of outfits made by other Gorean creators (see even more comparisons below).
Ms.Vella should be ashamed of herself. Taking idea's from different parts of Second Life and combining them into one big mess does not make you creative, it makes you a thief. After reading her blog, one might even go as far as to say she's quite full of herself. she keeps saying "after tons of requests I've made....". Who the fuck is sending requests to her? Not anyone with half a brain that can see that she's a thief. She even has a youtube tribute to herself with her singing in the background with numerous pictures of herself from Second Life and then a picture of herself in real life at the end (link to video is below). Her voice sounds like she just drank to much and is trying to sound sexy. At least unplug your nose while your singing Etana, and leave poor Taylor Swift's song alone, what the hell did she do to you to make you trash her music like this. I feel sorry for her, because it looked as though she tried to use Photoshop on her real life photo and failed at the attempt to make herself look pretty, but because of her lack of skill in the program, it only made her look like a washed out alien with a false eye. Get a clue woman, and start doing something your good at... oh wait...maybe she's not good at anything other then stealing.
Overall this is definitely one persons store to avoid on the grid, and maybe even want to avoid Etana Vella all together because she might try to steal your personality. Etana if you ever read this I think your a stealing cunt! sorry everyone else for my language, but this bitch pissed me off!
Love
Absinthe
Holy hell Abs! Leave me some room will ya? Originally I didn't see the Little Tasta store until Abs had a heart attack at me. We love Zaara's store and for anyone to ATTEMPT to copy it, is insane. Zaara has authentic cultural clothes that are CLASSY, the store is classy to match, so as far as ripping off the store, it's a sad thing to see that you can't come up with your own twist on a design at least. Anyhow, my comment on the "So many people have requested..." is usually what lonely "designers" say when they don't get requests from anyone but maybe a friend. It's like playing the game telephone, only there's 2 people playing.
Example:
Person Whispering: Etana, I think you should make something like this....
Etana Shouts: I'VE GOTTEN THOUSANDS OF REQUESTS!!
Well missy, your store traffic shows that you're not that popular to get requests. We know good style, craftsmanship, and creativity, and you don't make the cut.
I'm appalled just by knowing Zaara's store was attempted to be ripped off. GET AN IMAGINATION!! I looked around several vendors and saw the same designs. Not sure if this is common in Gorean roleplay, but ripping off creations as well as stores, shows you something about the designer. NO CREATIVITY, NO ORIGINALITY, NO TALENT!
We research, that's part of our job - So when searching, I found 2 songs on YouTube by Etana (as Abs listed above) as well as a "Gorean Idol" post. I find this REALLY REALLY SAD! Say you're American, try American Idol, say you're from the UK, try Pop Idol or Britian's Got Talent. Until you can make it in that HUGE world...you know, the REAL one that you should be spending more time in than a virtual one, I don't want to hear that you're wonderful. ICK! This one is not only un-original, but all around full of herself and one of the "non-gems" we found in the dirt of Second Life.
Abs, this one is an empty bottle. I had to drink it all to get through this post and I'm still shuddering at the vanity and unoriginality.
Voddy
Come to find out, Ms. Vella spoke to Zaara ASKING where she got her items from. After being told her ITEMS WERE EXCLUSIVE TO ZAARA, Etana went ahead and made her store a copy anyhow. I'd red flag this creator!! WATCH YOUR CREATIONS EVERYONE!!
In addition:
[11:47] etana Vella: i just found it, and actually hon, I spoke to Zaara herself before that build was done, so thanks for that bullshit, especially after i've been such a good friend to you and ignored all the warnings about you
[11:47] Absinthe Blindside: to me?
[11:47] etana Vella: as for the clothing, I use templates, like over 99% of the designers in gor, you can find them all over xstreet
[11:47] Absinthe Blindside: I dont even know you
[11:47] etana Vella: ahhh wait.. i just noticed your last name
[11:47] etana Vella: i have another friend named absinthe .. so sorry about that
[11:48] etana Vella: But I spoke to Zaara herself personally in IM's. as for the textures on the wall, they were created by ME, i have the PSD files to prove that as well
[11:49] Absinthe Blindside: Zaara told me differently
[11:49] etana Vella: as for the freebie dress, that was created over a year ago, again using a template, so the other person you're speaking about, i've never even heard of let alone ever seen
[11:50] etana Vella: so sweetheart if you think you're doing me any harm, you're not, you're actually doing me a favor by giving me publicity. there are "top" creators in this game that use template like the ones I use by Unlikely Quintessa. Look at all of Luck Inc and a ton of other stores. they all use the same ones
[11:51] Absinthe Blindside: im not here to argue with you.. we'll see what the other creators say that I sent the post to that you copied
[11:51] etana Vella: and i take it you are probably leeta, and the other girl is ana right? i can just ask my linden friend who you are :) thanks and have a nice day waisting your entire life in here because you actually have no RL
[11:53] Absinthe Blindside: whos Leeta? Im thinking you drank to much today hun cause you keep thinking I am someone different.. my name is Absinthe Blindside.. not Leeta... learn how to read
[11:47] Absinthe Blindside: to me?
[11:47] etana Vella: as for the clothing, I use templates, like over 99% of the designers in gor, you can find them all over xstreet
[11:47] Absinthe Blindside: I dont even know you
[11:47] etana Vella: ahhh wait.. i just noticed your last name
[11:47] etana Vella: i have another friend named absinthe .. so sorry about that
[11:48] etana Vella: But I spoke to Zaara herself personally in IM's. as for the textures on the wall, they were created by ME, i have the PSD files to prove that as well
[11:49] Absinthe Blindside: Zaara told me differently
[11:49] etana Vella: as for the freebie dress, that was created over a year ago, again using a template, so the other person you're speaking about, i've never even heard of let alone ever seen
[11:50] etana Vella: so sweetheart if you think you're doing me any harm, you're not, you're actually doing me a favor by giving me publicity. there are "top" creators in this game that use template like the ones I use by Unlikely Quintessa. Look at all of Luck Inc and a ton of other stores. they all use the same ones
[11:51] Absinthe Blindside: im not here to argue with you.. we'll see what the other creators say that I sent the post to that you copied
[11:51] etana Vella: and i take it you are probably leeta, and the other girl is ana right? i can just ask my linden friend who you are :) thanks and have a nice day waisting your entire life in here because you actually have no RL
[11:53] Absinthe Blindside: whos Leeta? Im thinking you drank to much today hun cause you keep thinking I am someone different.. my name is Absinthe Blindside.. not Leeta... learn how to read
*** Apparently this one has a lot of enemies and is used to this. She listed 3 different people above that we might be....interesting...and wrong but maybe we should look into these people.
Etana Vella's Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5nAPmn130s
The clothing laid out on the desk at the front of primitive's store.
The copied idea from primitive designs.
Back wall of store at {Zaara}
Back wall at Little Tasta.
The Archway with the text at {Zaara}
The copied arch way with text at Little Tasta.
Design for a gorean slave outfit at Gutter Pup.
Copy of the outfit from Gutter Pup.
Another design from Gutter Pup.
Another copy from Gutter Pup.
Nubian Angel gorean outfit design.
Copy of Nubian Angel design.
Another Gutter Pup design.
Another copy of Gutter Pup's design.
Happy Tantrum gorean design.
Copied idea from Happy Tantrum.
