Bethany Heart ~ Sweetheart Builder With The Right Stuff

Bethany Heart ~ Sweetheart Builder With The Right Stuff ~

Sometimes the flow of a 'text' conversation is simply more effective a story teller than any writer could possibly convey. Recently, I called upon Bethany to chat about what she's accomplished in Second Life®. The conversation just flowed, as it often does meeting people this way. I decided that, other than simple edits for reading ease, I would post the conversation as it happened. Here it is:   

[8:23]  Bethany Heart: ツ
[8:23]  Bethany Heart: Hi Nasus

[8:23]  Nasus Dumart: Great place for an interview.
[8:23]  Nasus Dumart: :)

[8:23]  Bethany Heart: ty
[8:23]  Bethany Heart: This is the Forum Theater.

[8:24]  Nasus Dumart: what kind of events are here?

[8:24]  Bethany Heart: Well, The Newseum had me build this for them
[8:25]  Bethany Heart: And it opened at the same time as the RL Newseum opened.

[8:25]  Nasus Dumart: When was that?
[8:25]  Bethany Heart: Other than the grand opening, they have not used this much.
[8:25]  Bethany Heart: oh gosh
[8:25]  Bethany Heart: a while ago haha
[8:25]  Bethany Heart: a year ago

[8:25]  Nasus Dumart: :)
[8:25]  Bethany Heart: For the opening...
[8:25]  Nasus Dumart: right

[8:25]  Bethany Heart: I asked my musician friend to perform
[8:25]  Bethany Heart: Kurt Bestor
[8:25]  Bethany Heart: RL Emmy award winning musician

[8:25]  Nasus Dumart: wow!
[8:26]  Nasus Dumart: yay

[8:26]  Bethany Heart: composer
[8:26]  Nasus Dumart: did he?

[8:26]  Bethany Heart: yes
[8:26]  Bethany Heart: he's a great friend of mine
[8:26]  Bethany Heart: And he was excited about this opening for me hehe

[8:26]  Nasus Dumart: brb - phone
[8:26]  Bethany Heart: k
[8:29]  Nasus Dumart: back - srry
[8:30]  Nasus Dumart is camming around
[8:30]  Nasus Dumart: great place

[8:30]  Bethany Heart: 1 sec i'll brb
[8:30]  Bethany Heart: ツ
[8:30]  Nasus Dumart: ok
[8:32]  Bethany Heart: ok back
[8:32]  Nasus Dumart: wb
[8:32]  Bethany Heart: ty

[8:32]  Nasus Dumart: So, tell me about what you do in SL and how you came to do it.

[8:32]  Bethany Heart: Okay well
[8:33]  Bethany Heart: I'm a builder here in SL specializing in entire custom sims.
[8:33]  Bethany Heart: I started SL as a hobby - the creativity aspect is what really drew me in.
[8:34]  Bethany Heart: I had always tinkered with photoshop but also as a hobby and entirely self taught.
[8:34]  Bethany Heart: SL just helped me raise the bar with my own design skills.

[8:34]  Nasus Dumart: Wow - impressive. (selftaught ps)
[8:34]  Nasus Dumart nods

[8:34]  Bethany Heart: I'd say about 2-3 months into SL, I began building my first custom sim for my group sim Bali Hai. (which is no longer around sadly)
[8:35]  Bethany Heart: But even as a beginner my work stood out and I'd have people ask me to create things for them.

[8:35]  Nasus Dumart: oo - sounds like an interesting build
[8:35]  Bethany Heart: ツ
[8:35]  Bethany Heart: It was fun.
[8:35]  Bethany Heart: Through that sim, I was able to network and meet a lot of SL residents and developers.
[8:36]  Bethany Heart: I had no store.
[8:36]  Bethany Heart: People would just see my work at the sim and they'd ask me to work for them.
[8:36]  Bethany Heart: I was employed at a bank in RL for some years before SL became a full time plus job... and I eventually quit my RL job to keep up here.

[8:36]  Nasus Dumart: I know you are able to make a living in SL, but what did you do in RL prior ?
[8:36]  Bethany Heart: This job paid much better and it was more rewarding work.
[8:36]  Nasus Dumart: darn - you answered my question before I asked
[8:36]  Nasus Dumart: lol
[8:36]  Bethany Heart: ツ
[8:37]  Bethany Heart: I was in banking. I didn't hate my job but I didn't love it either hehe
[8:37]  Bethany Heart: I'm a creative type person

[8:37]  Nasus Dumart: So - no previous online skills?
[8:37]  Nasus Dumart: in 3D
[8:37]  Bethany Heart: None. Building in SL just came naturally.

[8:37]  Nasus Dumart: When did you start SL?
[8:37]  Nasus Dumart: then building, then making money for it?

[8:37]  Bethany Heart: January of 2006
[8:38]  Bethany Heart: actually, Bethany is my second avatar.

[8:38]  Nasus Dumart: oh - will you reveal your other avi?

[8:38]  Bethany Heart: oh I don't mind
[8:38]  Bethany Heart:  I began as Audrey Hemingway
[8:38]  Bethany Heart: she's a month or two older...
[8:38]  Nasus Dumart: ah. Great name :)

[8:38]  Bethany Heart: The thing is I ventured into SL alone
[8:38]  Bethany Heart: didn't know what I was doing
[8:38]  Bethany Heart: and all I could find was sex places
[8:38]  Bethany Heart: and I was pretty turned off by SL for that reason
[8:39]  Bethany Heart: But a little while later some friends told me about what SL was really like
[8:39]  Bethany Heart: so I tried again
[8:39]  Bethany Heart: with some help
[8:39]  Bethany Heart: and I met some great people

[8:39]  Nasus Dumart: :) The people make all the difference.

[8:39]  Bethany Heart: Ron Carlos gave me the keys to his sim basically.
[8:39]  Bethany Heart: I owe him so much.

[8:40]  Nasus Dumart: So, what did you build after Bali Hai?
[8:40]  Nasus Dumart: commissioned work?

[8:40]  Bethany Heart: Yeah, mostly stores for SL business owners.
[8:41]  Bethany Heart: Then, I created a sim called Pemberley.
[8:41]  Bethany Heart: which you probably saw a few pictures of on my flickr stream

[8:41]  Bethany Heart: It was a residential community.
[8:41]  Bethany Heart: Very loosely based on the writings of Jane Austen.

[8:41]  Nasus Dumart: Right.
[8:41]  Nasus Dumart: Amazing!
[8:41]  Nasus Dumart: :)

[8:41]  Bethany Heart: The client wanted a more modern feel.
[8:42]  Bethany Heart: It was a very well knit community
[8:42]  Bethany Heart: for a good amount of time.
[8:42]  Bethany Heart: They hosted regular live music events and art festivals.

[8:42]  Bethany Heart: And then of course, I did this build, The Newseum.
[8:42]  Bethany Heart: For the RL Newseum in Washington DC.
[8:42]  Bethany Heart: Which is what really brought my name into the light on here.

[8:43]  Bethany Heart: I also built for The University of Maryland
[8:44]  Bethany Heart: a RL campus building that I also used the RL blueprints for
[8:44]  Bethany Heart: The Knight Hall building

[8:44]  Nasus Dumart: So - you got to ride the wave of the SL Business boom - Are you seeing any signs of the RL economy in SL?
[8:44]  Bethany Heart: Absolutely.
[8:44]  Nasus Dumart: How so?
[8:44]  Bethany Heart: RL companies - which is how many of us made our RL income from these larger scale projects -
[8:45]  Bethany Heart: They are having to make cutbacks etc and aren't as able or willing to pour their money into something as experimental as SL.
[8:45]  Bethany Heart: When you pay a single designer - for example my rate is 50 usd per hour - It takes a good amount of hours to create an entire build.
[8:46]  Bethany Heart: And I'm just one person.
[8:46]  Nasus Dumart nods

[8:46]  Bethany Heart: Many companies come in and go to companies such as The Electric Sheep Company
[8:46]  Bethany Heart: or Millions of Us
[8:46]  Bethany Heart: And they pay a LOT of money to have them do work for them.
[8:46]  Nasus Dumart: yes - they do - or did
[8:46]  Bethany Heart: Did, yes.

[8:47]  Bethany Heart: The demand has slowed down
[8:47]  Bethany Heart: Even for regular stores in SL...
[8:47]  Bethany Heart: content creators here aren't selling as much as they were.
[8:47]  Bethany Heart: But it's still doing well.
[8:47]  Bethany Heart: I think we just had a huge influx of new residents
[8:47]  Bethany Heart: and companies coming in
[8:47]  Nasus Dumart: yep
[8:47]  Bethany Heart: It's just flattening out more.

[8:48]  Nasus Dumart:  Lots of Education initiatives now.
[8:48]  Bethany Heart: yes.

[8:48]  Bethany Heart: I was contacted by the United States Holocaust Museum in DC
[8:48]  Bethany Heart: They wanted me to do some an entire sim for them
[8:48]  Nasus Dumart: Oh? they want to build?
[8:48]  Nasus Dumart: how did they find you?
[8:49]  Bethany Heart: They have a sim, but I had to decline the project.
[8:49]  Bethany Heart: They knew of me through my work with the Newseum.
[8:49]  Nasus Dumart wonders how the Newsuem found you


[8:49]  Bethany Heart: I am horrible at selling myself - hehe
[8:49]  Bethany Heart: I just like to do the work and be creative.
[8:49]  Bethany Heart: So they come to me
[8:49]  Nasus Dumart: :)
[8:49]  Bethany Heart: and it works out.

[8:50]  Bethany Heart: A good friend of mine who was attending American University
[8:50]  Bethany Heart: went to the Newseum
[8:50]  Bethany Heart: and proposed a SL project
[8:50]  Bethany Heart: to help promote their RL opening
[8:50]  Bethany Heart: They loved the idea.
[8:51]  Bethany Heart: And asked me to build it based on my work they had seen.
[8:51]  Nasus Dumart: so great when everything falls into place - :)
[8:51]  Bethany Heart: ツ
[8:51]  Bethany Heart: yes
[8:51]  Bethany Heart: And it's all about networking.
[8:51]  Nasus Dumart: YES!!!
[8:51]  Nasus Dumart: exactly
[8:52]  Nasus Dumart: when you can network - esp in a 3D interactive real time environment - it is very powerful.

[8:52]  Bethany Heart: But my favorite projects are educational, interactive.
[8:52]  Bethany Heart: With this project specifically, you can spend hours exploring and learning.
[8:52]  Bethany Heart: we have some that are cutesy exhibits
[8:52]  Bethany Heart: and some very serious.. like the 911 front pages
[8:53]  Bethany Heart: or the journalists memorial
[8:53]  Nasus Dumart: right
[8:53]  Bethany Heart: exhibits you'd find at the RL museum
[8:53]  Nasus Dumart: excellent.
[8:53]  Bethany Heart: So really, it offers people a chance to experience something that
[8:53]  Bethany Heart: say they can't travel in RL bc of the economy
[8:53]  Nasus Dumart: right
[8:53]  Bethany Heart: they can still come from all over the world and see the same things
[8:53]  Bethany Heart: just in a 3d sense :D
[8:54]  Nasus Dumart: I see a huge trend of that happening
[8:54]  Bethany Heart: me too
[8:54]  Bethany Heart: it's more affordable to stay home these days
[8:54]  Bethany Heart: and really, so many people could take advantage of that
[8:54]  Bethany Heart: and create here
[8:54]  Bethany Heart: and make some RL income from it

[8:54]  Nasus Dumart: yes
[8:54]  Nasus Dumart: that is why I want to tell my readers about people like you
[8:54]  Bethany Heart: ツ
[8:55]  Nasus Dumart: 'Regular folks' doing something extraordinary.

[8:55]  Bethany Heart: I can't tell you how many times my RL friends have said they are jealous

[8:55]  Bethany Heart: that I can stay home
[8:55]  Bethany Heart: and make my own schedule
[8:55]  Bethany Heart: and do something that i find to be FUN
[8:55]  Bethany Heart: hehe
[8:55]  Bethany Heart: and then get lots of recognition for it.
[8:55]  Nasus Dumart: yes
[8:55]  Nasus Dumart: :)

[8:55]  Bethany Heart: Well this entire SL™ journey has been fun.
[8:55]  Bethany Heart: I've learned so much.
[8:55]  Nasus Dumart agrees
[8:56]  Bethany Heart: And it's encouraged me to better myself and go back to school.
[8:56]  Bethany Heart: I want to get a bachelors in graphic design.
[8:56]  Nasus Dumart: :) great!

[8:56]  Bethany Heart: Yeah.

[8:56]  Bethany Heart: Working here really has been so good for me.
[8:56]  Bethany Heart: I've met some amazing people!
[8:56]  Nasus Dumart: :)
[8:56]  Bethany Heart: And had opportunites I otherwise would not have had in RL.
[8:56]  Nasus Dumart: right.

Thank you Bethany Heart for a wonderful conversation.

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