Real Information about Pets Mode

Finally, some real information regarding this "Pets Mode" we were told was coming but received no information about.

Pets Mode can be found in version 419.16 which you can download here. I thought it might be nice to take pictures of the setup from my point of view to help users reading this, understand what to do [I see some people in the forums having a little trouble]. Please click the images to see them larger.

Step 1:
I opened IMVU and the first thing I see is the new Pets Mode button [it even has a big, read NEW tag on it]. Click this and it should open the new tab.




Step 2:
The Pets Mode tab opens and you should see a selection of 3 puppies [hey IMVU, where are the cats?]. Supposedly they will be adding more soon. I think they should have covered a decent base of animals to choose from before adding this feature. Anyways, you should see the pet selection and a little card explaining what Pets Mode is about.

Step 3:
Select a pet by clicking the circle ticker box below one of the pets. You can then choose a name and write a short bio about your pet. I chose to name mine Sparky! Click on the "Name my pet" button.



Step 4:
You are led to a new page within the tab that shows you your new pet. It gives you a mood meter of sorts and options to play with your puppy or give him treats. Clicking the "Play with me" button earns you a laughable whopping 15 credits. You can press this button every 2 hours.


Step 5:
On this same page, there is the option to give your pet a treat. This costs zero credits. We want our pet to be happy like the page says I guess, so let's give Sparky a treat! Click on the "Give me a treat button". Apparently, doing this makes your animal literally fly around in an obnoxious way for a long time. You can give your pet a treat again in 2 hours for free, or you can give your pet another treat for 30 credits.


And now, for my commentary. You knew it was coming, didn't you?

Frankly, I think Pets Mode is a waste of time. If I want to take care of an animal, I'll go take care of my own... or I'll go play NeoPets or something. I can see how this could potentially earn you a little money if you really, really stuck to it [and have no life]. Otherwise, it seems like a waste of time and maybe even a potential credit sink since it costs 30 credits to give the pet a treat if you don't wait the allotted time of 2 hours between giving them.

It's also full of nice bugs - namely the fact that this feature is also supposed to appear in our Widget Card as a special tab so people can see our pets. Actually, this kind of irritates me. We were told under no uncertain terms that IMVU didn't want to ad more Widget card room, beels and whistles because it would slow everyone down. *Sigh*

I'm sure someone will enjoy it. I hope whoever uses it, manages to make some decent money off of it.

Version 419.0 - 419.6

I got around to downloading version 419.6 today. I'd normally download the "big" release and test it first, but it's my understanding that 419.0 is rather buggy [as are 419.2 and 419.4 so don't even bother with them].

So what's new in 419.6? Nothing. Mostly some bug fixes. Here is a list of details as found on the download page.

• Introducing a palette for changing the room color in dress up mode!
• Show IMVU Promotions from the website in the Client's Home mode.
• Prevent square characters from showing up in the text entry portion of text chat when pressing ctrl+b, ctrl+d, etc.
• Have the IMVU Quality Agent detect corrupt installations.
• Fix a bug with the camera widget in shop & dress up modes where the camera wouldn't properly circle your avatar.
• Fix a bug in the search box in friends mode.
• Fix a crash that could occur in inbox mode because of bad network data.
• Fix a bug in friends mode that could prevent the location from displaying properly.
• Fix a bug in friends mode around friend invites.
• Fix a bug in movie mode pagination.
• Fix several crashes related to bad network data.
• Allow all URLs in Inbox mode to automatically log you in.

Are you as confused as I am? This is basically the same list of changes as I described in my post about version 418.20 and 418.22. The ability to change the room color in dress up mode isn't new nor is the ability to see the IMVU promotions [what we refer to as the "blue bar" website side] within the client Home mode.

So who really knows what's actually new with this version - if anything. Glad to see they are fixing bugs although many have reported to have invisible avatars with this update [which I also hear can be fixed by simply re-applying one's avatar build product or by trying on a saved outfit].

New Pets Mode

I have about as much information as you do. Thanks to Senior Community Manager Jamidiaz for her riveting and informative post. *rolls eyes*

Why even bother? As if we don't get enough half-assed responses and messages from staff without them posting locked and horribly vauge messages about Lord only knows what.

Some Digital Dish News

This is less IMVU news and more Digital Dish related news. I know I haven't updated in nearly a week so please hang in there with me.

It's been a super busy week for Digital Dish as the sale for advertisement comes to a close [tomorrow, the awesome sale ends so if you haven't taken advantage, do so very quickly]. I have spent most of the week quite literally either dealing with my own, personal life stuff or answering e-mails upon e-mails regarding ad space [and hey, that's a good thing because it keeps my hosting space paid for so Digital Dish can keep running].

In addition to questions regarding advertisement space, I have also been hit this week with questions regarding support of this website. In fact, an almost overwhelming amount! So for the sake of my poor eyes and fingers, hopefully this post will answer the questions I've been receiving and gain your favorite IMVU news site a little support! Here is a FAQ list made up of the questions I've received lately...

Can I write an article for Digital Dish?
Yes and No. I'd love for anyone who wishes to come forth and write something for the site. I like diverse content and it takes a load off of me. It's especially beneficial for those super busy weeks in my life when I don't have as much time as I'd like to seek out new stuff to talk about here. That said, articles have to be approved by me and that doesn't just include their content, but their subject matter as well. So if you have something you're looking to write about.. ask me first! I'd be more than happy to at least talk about it.

Where can I put the Digital Dish banner?
Anywhere really. The banner was made with the every day IMVU user in mind. The banner is appropriately sized for use in the forums as your signature [and it can be linked directly here as this is an IMVU related website], on your home page [it's 200 pixels in width so it even fits in your smaller side panels if you need it to] or even on your personal web site if you want. Link it anywhere you want to and as many places as possible. I have plenty of bandwidth to go around.

Can I get listed in the Twitter section even if I'm not a developer?
Of course! You just have to be a member of the community in order to get listed there. All I ask is that you e-mail me with your avatar name and Twitter URL and I will get you listed.

Can you send me the Twitter badge?
No. Not that I don't want to... it's just that the Twitter badge doesn't belong to me [I just happen to reap the benefit of being listed on it]. I've gotten asked for it a lot this week for some reason. I guess people just now really noticed it? Anyways, please have a chat with Shadokotsu if you want it. You absolutely MUST have a Twitter account in order to get this badge so please don't hound him for it if you don't have one.

How many months of ad space am I allowed to purchase?
You have to purchase at least one month of ad space. I do this for my sanity. Other than that, you can purchase as many months of ad space as you want. I've had some people purchase 6 months of advertisement. You can rest assured that Digital Dish isn't going anywhere nor is the ad sections located on my product pages and the Digital Dish home page.

Can I add you on IMVU?
Of course. You can add my personal account or DigitalDish. I'd be happy to have you as a friend!

That's the long and the short of it. I hope that answers some questions for y'all. Please remember that if you have a news tip or question, you can always e-mail me at IMVUDigitalDish@gmail.com and I will be glad to respond! My e-mail is always open.

Advertisement 50% Off - This Week ONLY!

This week ONLY!

I'm going crazy and offering you Digital Dish advertisement for 50% off! That's INSANE! For only 2,500 credits, you get an entire month's worth of fantastic advertisement!

This is a STEAL!

Hurry and reserve your place. Take advantage of this week-long offer [ending on August 29th] and purchase as much time as you want for 50% off of the regular price!
------------------------------------------------------------------------

What do you get for your 2,500 credits?

• One month of advertisement space.
• 180x180 space for your banner
  
• Banner appears at the following locations: Digital-Dish.com, Digital Dish IMVU home page, product pages Like This One.
• Banner cycles every 90 seconds or upon page refresh for ultimate exposure!
  

A reminder of what you need to do in order to take out ad space:

• Make a 180x180 image [must be GA compliant and suitable for those with photo sensitivity]
• E-mail your banner, avatar name and linked banner to IMVUDigitalDish@gmail.com to express interest
• Once your ad is confirmed, send 5,000 2,500 credits x However many months you'd like to run the ad to DigitalDish

Version 418.20 and 418.22

There is a new client version available with some features that I am happy about [sorta]. Version 418.20 offers one very distinct change worth mentioning - the introduction of the "blue bar" [which is actually gold now] to the 2.0 client. Now the ever-so-important information we get every day from the blue bars at the top of the IMVU website pages, can now be found in the 2.0 client featured on the home tab as seen in the picture on the left [click for larger image].

Other features and changes include the ability for IMVU to show information regarding short-term promotion links such as their 2-hour sales for their over priced credits and name change tokens. Also on the list is a bunch of client fixes and bug kills. I'll leave you to look over it in the client download section.

Version 418.22 is also available. Biggest change is the People Finder function which was apparently broken and is now fixed. Hooray.

The New Digital Dish

Digital Dish got a bit of a face life today. Readability is a major concern of mine and it was brought to my attention that a lot of users found it difficult to read the white text on the dark background [which is something I would have already known had I gone to college for web design I suppose].

The page is a little more plain and not as... flashy. But again, readability is my main concern at this time. I anticipate a change in the future that will offer readability as well as functionality. In the mean time, enjoy the new look! Expect new bells and whistles to come soon.

Big Willy's Sweet Factory

This isn't meant to be a self promotion [well, it kinda is, but it's more so we can all point and laugh at with me].

About a month ago, I received invitation to be apart of a promotion bundle. I was really excited because I've been asked to be in them before and things simply didn't pan out for one reason or another [usually because the group just wasn't organized or knowledgeable enough about promo bundles]. So when Groovyloopylou asked, I said "Yes! Absolutely."

I've made hints here and there to people that I was going to be in a promo bundle. I even mentioned that my Sweet Candy Girl Set had a lot to do with it. I made that set because I knew I was in a bundle that had something to do with a "Sweet Factory". I never actually saw the pieces anyone else made. Color schemes weren't really discussed with me. I was told "Make this chair look like a sweetie" and so I did. I'm quite proud of the chair actually as it's the first piece of furniture I've done since I was a noob. I was told the chair was perfect and that it looked good. I did everything I needed to do, turned it in and gave permission for its use in a bundle. And then I waited.

Today, Nola messages me and let's me know all about Big Willy's Sexy Sweet Factory and I groaned. "Oh no... is that my bundle?" I open the page with angst and I immediately laughed until I couldn't breathe. I didn't know it was an AP bundle and I didn't really know it was that kind of bundle. Nothing wrong with it. In fact, It's a fantastic bundle that I am proud to be apart of. It's a great team of nice people and I hope to work with them again in the future.

You don't really get a good look at my chair in the marketing [although someone was kind enough to snag my Sweet Resolution Skin from my catalog and my Pink iDolly Eyes from my other catalog for one of the avatars]. In fact, you only see this very tiny glimpse of my poor, lonely chair.

It's probably because my chair doesn't really match. It's probably because my poor chair sucks. haha Whatever the reason, I'm kind of glad it's so hidden. It's a little embarrassing. Still proud of it!

Surprisingly, the bundle is selling well [I think? I mean, how would I know?] despite my sad chair. You should really check it out [hopefully to buy it and not just because you want to point and laugh at my chair].

Special thanks to my fellow bundle creators: Chickieepooh2u, Darkideas, Sean, Kimi, Elysiane, SiNafay, MarkyDM, Spirit, Alliekitten, Tidy

Create Badges - 25% Off

Today until 11:59pm PST, you can create your very own widget badge for 25% off! That means for regular members, it only costs 75,000 credits and 67,500 credits if you have a VIP membership.

As taken from the Sales Page and then edited by me:

The price of badges is relatively high to help make badges special, collectible, and valuable. When you get a badge, you know it was created by someone who really loves IMVU, and who wanted you to have something special to show off in your profile [or because they caved into peer pressure and wanted a shiny like everyone else].

Here are the steps required to create your own custom badge.

1. Decide your badge size
2. Create your image (JPG, BMP, and PNG file formats are supported) [And here is where I interject and tell you to create the badge as a GIF and upload it as a GIF because that is the ONLY format it actually supports since the badges are converted to that format after upload. You'll get some pretty yucky graphics that way so just make it a GIF first!]
   
3. Import your image
4. Cry over the amount of money you just spent on a pixelated picture.
   

There are two three methods to give badges to your friends.

1. Manually give the badge to your friend
   a. Click on "Manage Badges" in your account settings page
   b. Click on "Grant/Revoke" Option
   c. Type in avatar name that you and hit the "Grant Button"
   
2. Automatically give badges to profile page visitors who requests them.
   a. Click on "Manage Badges" in your account accounts page
   b. Click on the "Edit Settings"
   c. Click on the "Badges Auto Grant" box
   d. If you want to restrict who can get your badges, use the Panel Visibility Settings
   on your account settings page to choose a sub-set of visitors, e.g. your buddy
3. Use an automatic badge script. Several people offer one. Just browse around the forums for it.
   

Happy Birthday IMVUStylez!

IMVUStylez.net is celebrating it's second birthday! For two years they have been offering you fantastic codes, tweaks and information regarding your IMVU Home page. IMVUStylez is home of the original and TOS friendly product page generator (now defunct thanks to IMVU), the operator of the well-known Bling Directory and the all too amazing Jspunkette.

Of course, there is nothing like a new look to celebrate another completed year of excellence. Yours truly got the chance to participate in the look and fabrication of the new and improved design - including being the artist behind the banner [sorry, had to brag a little there]. Of course one need thank the lovely Mercuria for her drawing of the new IMVUStylez mascot (hmm, who doesn't have a name!). Jspunkette is a true visionary and coding expert. The new site looks great and best of all - it still offers you all of those important odds & ends of coding that you need.

On a more personal note, I've had the honor and pleasure of chatting with Jspunkette a lot in the last few weeks. Not only is she the mastermind coder behind IMVUStylez, but she's the brains behind the operation of my homepage and new product pages [not to mention one of the people behind the script for Digital Dish advertising]. Jspunkette is a total sweetheart and a pleasure to work with.

Happy birthday IMVUStylez and congratulations Jspunkette! May you have more more birthdays to celebrate!

Version 418.6

I finally got around to downloading Version 418.6 today, which you can download here. It took longer to download than updates of past - or maybe my computer is just feeling feisty. I heard some things about it thanks to the Latest News & Release Forums so I was a bit hesitant to upgrade.

The only new thing that comes with this update are a bunch of new bugs and a pallet to use to change the background color of the dressing room (not to be confused with the Shopping Dressing Room). Well la-dee-da. Too bad IMVU has still ignored my pleadings and they have yet to remove that horrid shadowing from the dressing room. I will give them small props, however. It does look as if they toned it down slightly - or maybe my eyes are just getting old.

Unfortunately, the dressing room for your 2.0 shopping experience does not have the new color changer. Figures.

Picture time! Just a few of the colors. I don't think you all really care to see EVERY color. (Click image to see full size).

In case you're remotely interested in the outfit I'm wearing, I took a Save Outfit Picture and you can Check it out here.

Kimi's Birthday Texture Challenge!

Yours truly is having herself a birthday contest! I am notorious for having sucky birthdays. So this year, I thought I'd do something different and FUN! I've never held a contest like this before, so this is all very new to me. The object of this contest is to create a Birthday Inspired textured product using ONLY my derivable products.

For more information, rules and prizes, please Go Here

Kimi Is a Bitch!

Ah can you smell the immaturity in the air? It's almost not worth mentioning... but I will anyways [cut a lady some slack - I'm bored].

Looks like I have a new friend! Her [or potentially his?] name is Guest_KimiIsaBitch. I applaud you for stating the obvious and giving me entertainment.

Oh, and thanks for the messages on my home page. :)

An Almost "I'm Sorry"

Some comments in reference to my last post have gotten me thinking. Maybe people have missed the point about this blog. Maybe it's not what they thought it was. I can't imagine what people thought a blog called "Digital Dish IMVU News and Gossip" would be about if not the obvious [or what I thought was the obvious].

On several occasions since I started this blog on June 30th, I have made a lot of very personal references to several developers. I've talked about people like Thovarex, DarkAngel5, Hot4Krissy, Lollirot and some others - some of it good, some bad. I make a point of making sure that if I am going to say something negative, I'm fair about it. I state only the facts of what happened and I always post exact quotes. I made a promise to myself when I started this and I have kept to that promise. I also always make sure that if I am going to say something not especially kind, I'm sure to say something positive as well.

My last post is no exception. I had plenty of kind words to put in the post. But this is also a gossip column about things going on in our community. I was bound to post something that specifically happened to me at some point. It interests me that people were outraged that I'd post something personal to myself. But that's okay. I don't understand it, but I'll accept it.

To quote an Anonymous poster, "I think you should stop bashing people on here. Or people will mistake you for Perez Hilton."

Sorry. I hate to break it to you, but this blog was started with Perez Hilton very much in mind. I'm not gay. I don't have orange hair. I didn't get punched by Will I Am's body guards... but I am a very open minded [and open-mouthed] person. Do I plan to be as ruthless? Goodness no. I'd like to think I'm not that mean. Unlike Perez Hilton, I have a soul. Unlike him, I don't just make jabs at people and things because I can. I make exact references. I post the quoted words spewed forth by the community. I don't just throw stuff up here and call it journalism.

Since all of the negative comments were left anonymously, I have no idea who all is hurt by my last post. So, I can't speak with any of you about it or apologize on a more personal level. So this is all I can offer: I apologize to those of you who were either shocked, outraged, upset or anything else negative because of my last post. I thought I'd made it clear what this blog was about. If I didn't, then that's my own fault.

I'm not sorry for the post itself. I stated the facts. Did I let myself be a little biased? Well, yes. But I thought I'd made it clear that that's what this blog was about. Wait... I know I did. Check out the About section directly to your right and read it [or just read below].

Welcome to my IMVU News Blog. Get up to date and totally biased news on what's happening in our IMVU community from me! I dish it out - from the community wide changes to the small time drama.

One again, I apologize to those I hurt - including Terror. But I stand by my decision to make the post as well as my point of view.

Shout Out to Terror

See the Digital Dish Girl in this image? She was made by Terror. She's pretty nice and I'm happy with the piece. The cost was steep - 10,000 credits. But I'm a fairly generous developer and I didn't mind the cost because I wanted the piece done practically immediately. I was anxious and it was a pretty big piece.

The image is also used on the Digital Dish homepage - and again, Terror is credited for the artwork.

And this is the avatar picture I used for a whole month after I got married. The avatar image within the picture was also done by Terror. He did a good job on the enhancements. The hair was... different but hey, it's a heck of a lot better than I can do. Again, cost was steep - another 10,000 credits. But again, I'm generous and I was really excited about the piece.

The piece was used only as an avatar image [as shown] and as a temporary display filler for the icons I am selling. So Terror was never credited anywhere except for my file sale thread Virtual Virtuosities where Terror points out that the image I'm using was created by him.

And then I needed another piece of avatar art - this time to be used on my new product pages and home page. It was pretty important to me and I spent hours playing dress up and digging through my hundreds of poses to pick out just the right one. I made my decision and took the picture. But I needed an artist yet again.

Of course being that I like Terror's enhancements, he would have been the natural choice based on work alone. But his work ethic is pretty flaky. If you scroll down to the bottom of this website, you will see that Terror is clearly noted for his artwork on this website. And I also did a nice Blog Post for him in recognition of his work. This wasn't good enough for him. Okay, no problem! I offered him ad space for FREE and FOREVER and asked that he provide me with the banner needed and I would link it wherever he wanted. Didn't get the banner. But yet he went on to do the wedding artwork for me.

So a friend talked with me about the artwork I needed and I mentioned that I wouldn't pay 10,000 credits again. Let's face it - I really don't have a lot of money and I knew if I shopped around, I could have easily found someone to do it for less. But this friend gave me 5,000 credits so I would use Terror's services again. So I took the money and gave it to Terror in exchange for more artwork on July 31st.

I told him I needed the piece "in about a week" because I wasn't in a huge hurry. I was still working with the lovely Jspunkette on the coding so I didn't need the piece immediately. Being that he already did two pieces of work, I assumed he understood what we were doing, but I explained it anyways. But then the work in progress (WIP) I got from him had the arms completely removed [he told me he "didn't like the arms so he removed them"] and the hair drawn from the edge of the canvas - rather than pasting the image into a new, larger canvas where he's have plenty of room to draw it. I complained of course - it needed to be done correctly and I'd already paid.

On August 5th, he showed me the completed image. I agreed to it and asked it be sent. He offered to send both the PNG and the PSD file to me. On August 6th, I messaged him asking for the transparent image. I knew the piece was done, so I didn't feel bad about reminding him for it. But then days passed. On August 10th, I reminded him that I had paid him and needed to be sent the artwork. Again, I knew the piece was done, so I didn't understand why I was still waiting for it. No biggie - we all forget or have lives. He finally sent it to me.

Now, the agreement was that in exchange for the image, he would get 10,000 credits from me as well as recognition for doing the work on the pages the image appeared (as I specifically stated - my home page and product pages). I specifically wrote to him...

"There is going to be a sort of ad space for the digital-dish ads and I still need an image for you to put there. There will be another thank you section where you will be. Eh it's hard to explain. lol You'll see."

Well I haven't finished the thank you section yet. In fact, I was working on it before I got a nasty message from Terror, complaining yet again. And I already reminded him about the banner for the ad space [which he decided today he doesn't want because apparently he's too good for an ad reel where other people's banners will cycle through]. I promised him he'd get the shout out he deserves.

So here it is Terror. I have linked this blog to your name a total of eleven times in this post. It's seen daily by hundreds of people. Is this good enough for you? Don't worry - I'll make sure you get what I promised you. I don't go back on my word. I'm sorry if I didn't work fast enough for your liking but funny thing - it took many days for me to get my artwork from you and I didn't complain. I wasn't threatening to you nor rude.

Enjoy your moment in the spotlight. And for those who think this post is rude - well, I'm just telling it like it is. This blog is about IMVU news and gossip - and my point of view.