In the beginning…
Crystal Delights didn’t start as a maker of real glass butt plugs and dildos. The first Crystal Delights products were virtual dildos sold using virtual vending machines in the virtual world known as Second Life (SL).
SL is an online virtual world, developed and owned by the San Francisco-based firm Linden Lab and launched on June 23, 2003. By 2013, SL had approximately one million regular users; at the end of 2017 active user count totals “between 800,000 and 900,000”.
What’s a virtual dildo or butt plug? 10 years ago, a virtual sex toy in SL allowed avatars to privately and safely fulfill fantasies but using these toys to animate sexual play between one or more avatars. Back then Strokerz Toys was one of the leading innovators of animated sex toys in SL until their intellectual property was stolen by others in SL and their subsequent lawsuit challenge changed their business radically in SL. Currently Xcite! SL sex toys still maintain their large range of products for sale to avatars on their sim Eventide East.
Shellie and Andrew met in SL. Shellie was introduced to SL by a friend of her husband’s and was already working as the Customer Service agent for Sex Toy Dave, one of the early entrepreneurs on the internet selling sex toys online. Know today as a provocateur of Reality Shows & Adult Products. You can find The Entrepreneurial Adventure Of “Sex Toy Dave” online if you want to learn more.
Andrew was working in the IT training industry and heard a story on NPR about SL, the virtual world, driving home from work one day. As someone working in the technology field his curiosity and interest were peeked after hearing the story on the radio. He logged in and created an account and began to learn how to navigate the world of SL.
It was at a virtual night club that Andrew and Shellie first met, or should we say their avatars first met. Their shared love of music began a conversation and friendship. For those not familiar with the term avatar, it is a graphic or an animated visual persona or character one can create to represent themselves in a virtual world.
Avatars can do things like tele-transport to what SL calls SIMS, or destinations in the SL world. Avatars can also fly like superman, they can buy and or build homes to live in, drive cars, buy clothes and other products too. SL isn’t a game but rather a vast sandbox where avatars can build, explore and even run businesses. They can also chat with each other using a text interface or even speak live using audio features. It isn’t really a gaming environment, much more a place to explore and create your own adventures.
Shortly after Shellie and Andrew’s friendship was established, Shellie suffered the tragic, unexpected loss of her husband in a real-world motorcycle accident. Being a long-time motorcycle rider and enthusiast Andrew was among several of Shellie’s SL friends who reached out to her to support her.
Over the next year their friendship grew, and they started talking about taking the Crystal Delights virtual product to a new level in SL along with a crazy idea to create vending machines and an adult store in SL to sell both virtual and real adult toy products. From those ideas began a relationship, a partnership and a business adventure together. More to come…
(The story continues about the North Pole Sim, the Virtuallyabout SL Sex Toy Vending Machine, Club Cool, the Sex Toy Dave Party,…)
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