The Alphaville Herald

Interview with Phil Murdock of Empire Vendors

by Alphaville Herald on 24/11/04 at 6:02 pm

Snow and Phil

In this interview Miravoir Psaltry talks to Phil Murdock, who with Snow Hare heads up the Empire Vendors Group. They turned sex toys and sex animations into an empire! Their story follows.

MS: When I first happened on your store, it was just a small stall with your ball sets. Now you have a corporation (empire) and an entire shopping mall. Would you tell me a bit about the journey from so small a beginning?

PM: My wife Snow Hare and I while playing purchased some of the sex toys back in July and we just weren’t happy with them. I was very familiar with poser and had been using it for years. So I decided to give it a shot and try to make some. We made one or two animations and got a great reponse from people who tried them. Motivated by that I made more and more till we have what you see today. I usually try to add one or two a week. It has been a real team effort with my wife Snow Hare and I. She built several pieces of the sex furniture and inspired many of the animations we carry.

PM: The mall started out with just a few friends. 90% of the vendors in my mall have stalls for free. Just fun to have some variety.

MS: How many Members are in Empire Inc?

PM: Well Empire Vendors is our vendor group. It currently has 17 members.

MS: What sort of products do you carry?

PM: Sex toys, sex animations, and sex furniture. We also carry Snow Hare’s scripted High Heels, Santana’s skins, Mash’s funiture, Valladez and Annah’s goth and bondage funiture, Lil one’s plants, and much more lol.

MS: I noticed you have a lot of BDSM sort of toys, are those the most profitable for you? If not, which are?

PM: They do make money, but the standard sex balls are the bread and butter. They outsell everything else 10 to 1.

MS: What do you think makes a great sex toy?

PM: Intimacy. My best selling animations are the ones that are the closest together and has the most body contact.

MS: Why do you suppose your corporation is so popular?

PM: Variety, low price, and great customer service.

MS: Stroker Serpentine used to be the major ball animations designer. Do you feel you’ve surpassed his popularity? How would you compare yourself to him?

PM: When most of the major clubs came to me to replace their Stroker furniture with mine I was pretty sure I had passed him. When I first started making balls I had a handful and asked them if I could put a display at their store Eros. I was turned down. Earlier this week they asked me if they could setup at my store and I turned them down

MS: Why did you include shoes among your adult items? (I love your shoes by the way – bought tons of them)

PM: First off I had virtually nothing to do with the shoes. I did about 1% of the work on them. Snow Hare my wife designed and made every pair of those shoes. Everybody loves them and I am so proud of her. She got the idea one day I tossed together an animation for her and she has been making the best shoes in Second Life every since.

MS: What do you foresee in the future for Empire Inc?

PM: We are working on new items and new ways of making them work better. Second Life changes daily and we are trying to keep up. We have no grand plan just to have fun and make the best product we can.

MS: if a designer was interested in joining your group, what would be your qualifications in including them?

PM: All of the Sex animations and Furniture were made by Snow and I. Some of the work was inspired by a third party, but it was all done by us. Our vendors are friends or the pick of the litter from some of the best designers in SL. Its invite only.

MS: How do you pay your designers?

PM: I kiss Snow everyday. There is nobody else lol. We also have profit sharing on some of the items we both worked on.