Socially|Mundane

The thread on the Second Life "Land" blog is growing daily. There's enough there to print-up a novel and it make an interesting read as long as you have an entire day to kill.

However, if you have subscribed to the topic and received the digests in email, it's relatively easy to keep-up with the discussion as it moves along (not so sure I want to say "moves foreword.)

The big debate started out with the issue of bot accounts: remote-controlled, inert avatars that serve no purpose otther than to boost traffic for the parcel they are "camping" on. Seriously, no other use, save "modeling" and "group control".

As for group control, only a single bot is needed unless you need to auto-manage more than 25 groups as each can manage that many. The premise is simple: using a bot, which is really just an alternate avatar account, some scripted objects and the like, the bot can manage groups.

Tateru Nino wrote a fascinating article about the 'true' assets of Linden Lab. I often am just this side of stunned at the fascinating subjects she chooses to cover and the agility and depth, yet pithy way she does so.

It's the kind of easy, interesting read on a subject...or rather an angle on a subject you simply haven't really considered. 'Tis why among all the blogs and news sources, even from Linden Lab themselves, Tateru is my favorite SLebrity reporter. Yes, Tateru. yes, you are.

I follow "industry" news in all the genres I am involved with in first life, which includes professional media; audio, photography, videography and cinematography as well as graphic design and publishing in print and digital forms.

So I was impressed with news that came out of the Google I/O conference this week - kind of a developers version of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) for lack of a better description.

The other shoe on Openspace sims, now known as "Homestead" sims is about to fall in July. When the initial tier increase kicked-in on the originally priced at $75 per month "Openspace" sims, where tier was bumped up to $95 a month, there was a massive sell-off.

Sims were either sold, abandoned, or in the case of quads, consolidated into a single full-powered sim.I have no doubt myself that the massive virtual "land dump" was disconcerting to Linden Lab and a Costco case of Pepto was making the rounds for a month or two.

However, in an effort to prevent the same, or in a genuine olive branch of good-will, Linden Lab is allowing those at the $95 tier level to remain grandfathered in at that rate.

By announcing it now, it is certainly hoped a new land rush will occur as people move to purchase new Homestead sims ahead of the tier increase date as all sims at that rate will remain at the rate when the new tier goes into effect.

Update to July 1st Homestead Pricing Plan

So, given that things seem to have stabilized in the Second Life economy and that Linden Lab's business remains strong and our revenues are healthy, we are able to forego the planned Homestead price increase in July for one year, but only for Homesteads purchased (or reactivated, see below) before July 1, 2009. In other words, any Homesteads purchased before July 1, 2009 will have their monthly fees Grandfathered at USD$95 per month until July 1, 2010. This includes any Homesteads that you currently own at the time of this post.

[From Good News: Homestead Pricing to be Grandfathered if purchased before July 1st, 2009 - Land and Sea - Second Life Blogs]

The one part of this wonderful announcement that seems missing is: do remember that even though your tier will remain steady, your allowed and available prim agent (avatar) count and script-running abilities will be going down.

Update: It is my misremembering the specifics on what "goes down" in terms of homesteads. Prim count will remain the same. However, the number of scripts allowed to run (script ability) and the maximum number of agents (avatars) that will be allowed on Homestead will be lowered as per this statement from Jack Linden on January 4, 2009 under the area called "What to expect":

"All of the other Openspace regions will become Homesteads after the restart. There will be no change to the prim limit for Homesteads, but there is an agent cap of 20. Classifieds and events will work as usual. The billing for Homesteads will move to USD$95 per month, starting on the next bill date that falls on or after the 5th January. If you normally bill on the 25th, then your January 25th charge will be USD$95."

Original post by Jack Linden is here.

If a picture is worth 1000 words, does it take 1000 words to draw an accurate picture?

Perhaps these days: yes.

Of course this is an exaggeration. But the point being that our verbal communication is really in the dump these days. We simply do not have command of our own languages any more. Our minds have become lazy, or face a dearth of knowledge due to the simple education most of us have received where over the years schooling has slipped from hardcore education into liberal agendas and the like. We are brainwashed into gullible sheep, often taking what is hearsay as fact and easily believing almost anything presented to us.

The second life blog is a clear example of misunderstandings on a regular and consistent basis. So much so that the same people are ping-ponging their comments often in answer to a previous comment. This is actually good thing, but unnecessary had our verbal communication skills really be up to snuff.

Our verbal skills have slipped considerably and I'll be the first to admit it for myself and it's not just the simplified education we receive either. I would venture to suspect ever since the photograph and now motion-pictures have helped our language to whither.

Jack Linden followed-up on a previous post about "traffic" bot and bots in general, including landbots, camping bots (and camping chairs in general) and so on.

Among jack's comments was:

"Are there other uses for so called Camping Chairs other than for Traffic?"

I actually concur with this statement.

Of course this also brings-up the subject of "lucky chairs" where a prize or Linden Dollars is given to the 'lucky' individual whose name begins with the random letter that appears. I believe the original idea was to both help create traffic while promoting one's wares by gifting items.

The 'traffic' angle comes from the small horde that will stand around the chair waiting (and hoping) their letter will come up next. However, as prolific as this was back in 2006 and 2007, it has faded greatly over the last couple years due, in part to the massive influx of evil freebies across the grid and also because now there are huds that allow users to literally teleport all over the grid, landing directly at lucky chairs that already have their name letters up.

So Jack updates us on the Lab's newfound, sense-making policy regarding BOTs across the grid, and throws-in some tidbits regarding camping chairs, too.

In one reply is a comment about [paraphrased] "how will new users makes any money if camping chairs are banished?"

My own reply was "it is sad that money tree have all but disappeared." And also in my reply I mentioned that they can also do what practically all of us (except the freebie-entitlement crowd) have done at least once: buy Linden Dollars through the Lindex.

I also mentioned that the day camping chairs become outlawed, I'll put up a money tree immediately that gives generously! In fact, I might not even wait. I think I'll go shopping for a good money tree tonight (can't even remember what happened to my old one and my money pyramid already is in use elsewhere.)

I see Hamlet (Linden) Au often posts blurbs about how popular Twitter and Plurk are among Second Life enthusiasts [Thanks Mitch!] and how those services (especially plurk apparently) have become extensions of one's 'second life'.

I've tried Twitter. Sorry, I'm totally and completely unimpressed. I haven't even bothered to look twice at Plurk. Though I suspect Hamlet is sold on these social services a lot more than he lets-on as he seems to write about Twitter and Plurk incredibly often.

I know a few people in SL who use Plurk a lot and I read other blogs where their authors reference Plurk often. I always hear or read stories about how Plurk really can be an extension to SL in the way it seems to often generate heart-wrenching, anger-inducing drama.

We have heard often about how people can become addicted to the Internet and Second Life specifically. So is using Plurk and Twitter as extensions of Second Life a clear indication of a 'deep addiction' to SL and the internet as a whole?

Cruising the web and looking at what news and blog posts are floating around out in the vast 'interwebs' about Second Life and Linden Lab, more or less because I'm bored out of my head today. And seeing as I hadn't plopped anything up here yesterday, I figured I'd scrape around to see if anything of interest jumps out at me.

There were the typical reports one always seems to find all over the place, nothing really spectacular or interesting until I ran across the first-hand experience description of someone jumping into Second Life for the first time.

I remember my first hour. I was fascinated and it wasn't very hard for me to decide quickly to stick around and explore all I could. So in reading this column, I found quickly it's the usual, negatively biased account of the virtual world and, of course, dissing anyone and everyone who actually enjoys time in-world on the grid.

John Henry Holliday is my hero.

I am an information junkie and I feed off history. All kinds of history. My favorite historical period is the United Sates, circa 1880's. It's the time of the silver-mining town of Tombstone and the infamous "shoot-out" at the O.K. Corral. Well, in reality it happened in an empty lot behind the O.K. Corral, but you get the idea.

Wyatt and brothers Earp always were fascinating to me, but not as much so as Doctor of Dental Surgery John Henry "Doc" Holliday. I have studied him wherever I could, read his biography and all that stuff.

The man was cordial and overflowing in charismatic karma, but he also didn't take any shit from anyone. He was a southern man who went west into the dry air to help alleviate tuberculosis symptoms and because of this infliction, he may have had a death-wish. Because of of this, people were scared of him. Yet, his compelling charm caused everyone who's ever met him to report liking the man enormously.

I said all that to say all this, and there is no segue:

/me wonders just how common in the good ol' virtual world of Second Life this is...

I created a Second Life account online. After being in it three months, I met a male avatar (who knows what is on the other end?) and I have started a very kinky sex relationship with this person.

My husband found out I have an account. He doesn't know what I do, but he's not happy! I know this sounds stupid, but I enjoy what is being done to my avatar. I find that if I pleasure myself at the same time my avatar is having kinky sex, I get very satisfied.

[From Miss Lonelyhearts: Miss Lonelyhearts | Winnipeg Sun]

Unfortunately, whether it happens to be sensationalist or deeply-spun alarmist 'news' stories or even simple letters-to-the-editor or, in this case, letters to Dear (insert name here); Second Life always will get a sad-rap.

Yes, there is a lot of good news coming out of Second Life, too. Especially in the areas of education, science, healthcare and so on. Second Life is a stunning platform for art, including many striking, interactive art such as Immersiva, even the United States Military .

Unfortunately, people always are looking for, or pay closer attention to the loudest sensationalism because it's 'more interesting.' Especially if it's controversial. I suppose this is how our opinions on ethics and morality form.

/me stands with stoic expression.

Ask any man how hard it is to find a good barber. And once that barber is found, he will go that barber until death do they part. No, really. It's hard to find that good barber where you end-up on a first name basis and all you need do is sit in the chair and don't have to answer the obvious question that never needs be asked by them: "how do you want it?" I've been going to my same barber girl since 1992.

I find the same is true with 'news' media.

So much news is presented by junk 'journalism' that it's flat-out laughable, misleading, spun a certain way, completely unreliable and sometimes flat-out lies. News these days is completely unreliable.

It's easy enough to prove.

Then there are those few names you run across, read often and decide for yourself 'hey, this guy or gal is on the ball. Doesn't bullshit around, is a good writer and tells it like it is.

For me, Mitch Wagner has been that guy for as long as I can remember. It's just a bonus that he, like I am, is a Second Life enthusiast. Now, isn't that the right way to describe us all?

"Enthusiast".

Not "losers" or "bums" or "weirdoes" or any of the other condescending descriptions so many detractors of Second Life tend to lump us all into, especially a lot of the radical media and shamefully, the so-called 'mainstream' media as well.

Hey, Mitch, dammit...you don't write enough. I always look forward to your stuff, especially when you set people straight about SL. Oh, and by the way - get a new head-shot. This new one looks goofy. -winks at you-

As a journalist and Second Life enthusiast, I'm annoyed by irresponsible articles that take it for granted that the virtual world is dying, or already dead, or a failure. In fact, Second Life is healthy and growing -- I say this based on personal experience, and statements made by officials of Linden Lab, the company that created, develops and operates Second Life.

[From Rumors Of Second Life's Failure Are Just Lousy Journalism - Digital Life Blog - InformationWeek]

On second thought, that mug-shot is actually goofy in a "cool" way. I vote you keep it.

For the rest of you, if you haven't read Mitch's stuff on SL - try it.

You'll like it.

I am a highly opinionated person.

So are many people. Opinions are based on what we know, no matter how little or wrong it is. I treat everything as hearsay unless and until I see, hear or otherwise experience it myself, on my own. I like to get all sides to any stories before I start throwing accusations around. So, my opinions are firm, but based on thoughtful consideration.

There are two basic processes of thought which helps us to develop our opinions and they are, simply speaking via emotion or logic. The two rarely ever mesh, unless the emotion comes after the logic. Unfortunately, it is far too often the reverse is true and it wreaks havoc.

Take for example the (unnecessarily) 'big news' of the first life death of Rheta Shan. Personally: I don't care. I don't know this person. I've heard of this person, but I don't know her. Thus, there is no emotion for me with regard to the 'loss'.

Does this make me a cruel, mean, unethical person? Because I say "I don't care"? Your first impression will likely be a resounding "yes!" However, please consider reading the above paragraph again.

The whole triumvirate of segregation is no secret among you who follow Second Life news outside of Second Life. Yes, we are very familiar with the new 'rating', a third 'tier' - or is it 'depth' (of depravity)?

PG, Mature and Adult. There are a lot of shouting about how all this is going to work-out and a lot of nervous people chewing their nails off. The main logistic is pretty straight-forward and simple. Separate the naughty from the angelic. If you have anything in your shop, store, club, dungeon, playroom, whatever that allows, depicts or allows to be depicted any kind of visual inappropriate for 9-year-olds, then it is, for all intents and purposes "adult content".

If not then it's rated a traditional "Disney" G, and you are good to go. You win a cookie. No, wait! That could be taken the wrong way as it can be considered slang for camel toe... no, wait... you know, a juicy peac.. well, er... fruit's out, desert animals are out... bakery goods are out...

It's that day. The anniversary.

Warning: long post.

I'll call it "5/11" - the date that will live in infamy. For me, at least as it is the day I published my "Hornet's Nest" story. May 11th, 2008. It's the day ending an adventure of mine that exposed me to the vitriolic, slanderous, vicious, lie-infested, better-than-thau "fashion industry".

And I'm speaking about the Second Life fashion industry.

In truth I'm speaking about some of the most vicious people I've ever met my entire life. In my opinion: real low-lifers. I am talking about people who will spread rumor, falsehoods, innuendo and spin it all to appear like 'shocking news'. And it's all lies, half-truths or extremely limited information all to make you form the opinion they want you to form - and usually about specific people. People against which there is some negative agenda. And also to elevate one's self to popularity (amongst gullible sheep and lemmings) and make money by creating "hits" on their blog so the advertising revenue comes pouring in while building an army to bring numbers to their evil ideas of crushing another person - wrongly.

So, I had been thinking for the last month to "republish" this exposé in order that those of you who've seen it before never forget what some people are really like and those of you whom haven't seen it, do.

Some people are simply evil.

In my mind, Tenshi Vielle and her lackeys are some of those people.

It's ironic that  I have come across a post by another blogger, about a similar scenario - similar in the alleged slander and libel anyway. EnCore Mayne wrote in her blog, entitled Mayne Line Exposé (and how ironic is that?)]:

...of course, as always, the little coward pulled her post within hours of making her defamatory statements. (does anyone else think her "best" investigative journalism work looks suspiciously like an unnamed Alphaville scribe?) all that remains on misanthrope Vielle's site (and feeds), since her "Update" totally erased every libelous statement was what i could find from technorati. anyone having the entire cache of the original post please hold on to that copy. jail time doesn't seem all that far fetched (again).

[From Mayne Line Exposé: Fool Me Once]

I have decided to link to her article, because it simply reenforces and validates what I have written a year ago. And I have decided to go ahead with this republish.

Because I want no detail left out, I am copying the complete text of "Part 3" here - with {insert-edits} only where some clarification might be needed, so the comments section will be refreshed with new perspectives - if that's even possible.

The email a few minutes ago:

Important Information About Your Xstreet SL Account

Dear Ari Blackthorne,

As of May 11th, 2009, in order to log in to your Xstreet SL account you must use your Second Life username and password. This means that you only have to remember one set of login credentials from this point forward. For more information, read the Xstreet SL Login Change FAQs.

Starting Monday, May 11th, please follow these simple steps and your purchases will automatically appear in your Second Life inventory:

1. Log in to your Xstreet SL account with your Second Life username and password.
Forgot your Second Life password?
2. Your purchase on Xstreet SL will be delivered the next time you log in to Second Life.

Log in to Xstreet SL


Sincerely,

The Linden Lab Ecommerce Team

And the prediction:
http://commonsensible.net/2009/01/26/sl-exchange-linden-lab-savior/

I like mainland.

I don't know why, so don't ask. I don't have an answer. I suppose there's something 'nostalgic' for me. I remember buying my first 512 square meter parcel from the Linden "First Land" list, where Linden Lab sold "First Land" to anyone on what is now called a 'Premium Account' for L$1 per square meter. The only requisite was that you have never owned any land previously. And since all premium accounts get 512 M2 (Linden Lab's designation for square meters) tier-free, you never had to pay any tier on that. L$512 for your own place in the virtual world.

So I have been 'window' shopping mainland parcels more in curiosity than anything else and to keep things consistent, I have been sticking to 8192 M2 parcels. I remember, back in 2006 the average price for PG land was about L$5 per M2 and perhaps L$7 for mature. Of course these rates fluctuate frequently, but those numbers stick in my head for some reason.

Then along came the virtual "Land Barons" with their bots, flipping entire mainland sims and striking up a firestorm of problems and controversy, especially when someone was giving land to another person (selling the entire parcel for L$1) and not specifying a specific name to sell to, which essentially reserves that land for that person. A "land bot" would swoop-in and snatch the place. Practically all these land barons were unscrupulous enough to not correct the seller's mistake.

It is almost a year since the "Fashionista Hornet's Nest" fiasco which I already have scheduled to re-publish on the morning of the 11th (with a little additional insight and clarification in areas.)

If you don't know about the vicious agenda of some people to absolutely crush and attempt at ruining other people in SL for seriously questionable reasons, then you really need to read (or reread) that article. I'm not linking to it here because it will reappear on Monday, the anniversary of it's original publish as I have already said.

The article might also give good pause to consider what others say to you about third parties. Always remember that you are hearing only one-side of such a story and it's not the entire story, as important mind-changing facts are likely left out. Anyone can take any information and spin it to get you to believe and form the opinion they want you to form all to advance their own agenda.

However, when a group is led by one cold-blooded, barbarous individual on a (proven) witch-hunt to defame a particular other individual for no reason other than they don't like them, and then intentionally and deliberately inflames others (who are ridiculously gullible) into attacking that other person or developing the wrong belief about them strictly on hearsay and false "evidence" fabricated by that original individual, borders on some real legal issues. And the throngs that turn vicious and angry at the other individual are only stupid, weak, easily influenced, lazy-minded lemmings (no offensive to real lemmings is intended). And they are allowed to vote in real life!

If you go through the history of Common Sensible, you'll see I was rather vicious toward the 'idiots' and whiners and detractors of practically all things "Linden" (and likewise toward Linden regarding the alphabet letters "S" and "L" and 'copyright'.) What fond memories of how ridiculous those idiots really did sound as I went backward a year, digging into the old Second Life blog to find the original announcement for the "Showcase" search function, posted by Jeska Linden (for the purpose of linking to it from here.)

A quick scan through the talk-backs made me laugh as hard now as I did back then. Well, I've 'chilled' a bit since then. However, there still are a lot of people that let nonsense or paranoid "it might happen" scenarios get the better of them. They become spastic and shrill over nothing. The Ursula continent and "Adult Rating" thing comes to mind.

As for all you detractors of the idea of a "Showcase" replacing the "Popular Places" in SL search: have you tried it, yet? I know, I know, it's about all those other wonderful destinations that won't make the Showcase. But in truth, must I have to sift through mountains of free sex playgrounds and horrible slow-rez builds to have to find one awesome place? That was the case in the "popular places" listing.

Thank goodness for Luc Aubret's new Te.leport.me HUD! That thing is a Godsend - if it's used by the wearers appropriately and when it gains good population, it also can act as a good way to find the best of Second life.

Thunda Masala writes for his blog, which he calls "Twisted Second Life". An article he's written harps on the whole 'phenomenon' of hiding group listings from public view.

Group-watching is a favorite past-time for everyone in SL. When we encounter an interesting avatar, usually the first response is to look into the profile to find out about the person. Surprisingly, a large number of people do not write anything about themselves. They fear that there is not much interesting about them to write. This is simply not true. Someone once said that everyone’s story in his or her lifetime is always interesting to others.

[From My Groups Are NOT Hidden! « Twisted Second Life ]

Huh.

Well I can think of a few reasons why I want my groups hidden. Of course, there are some that are expressly made to be publicly viewable. But the main message I get from Thunda is that he is a "profile surfer".

Okay - there is nothing wrong with profile-surfing. But I suspect you're actually wasting a lot of time in profile surfing rather than just starting with a "Hello, how are you?".

I've done that. Back in my first few months of SL in 2006. I'd pop-up that profile of anyone and everyone I saw and for the same reasons: to "people-watch". Looking at peoples profiles in Second Life is the virtual equivalent of people-watching. Like sitting at the local mall in first life and just watching people go by. And don't you tend to judge them based on what you see?

I like Ciaran Laval's writing a lot. However, sometimes I just shake my head and chuckle. Ciaran's recent post at Your 2nd Place:

The adult content policy threat was this evening raised to level 5 after a rather large dragon revealed that Jack Linden measures reaction to policy by the number of im's he gets.

[snipped a bunch of diatribe]

Level 5

Human-to-human communication in at least two large estates, probably includes mainland, people start to frown and the first uttering of "Class Action lawsuit" is made. A couple of groups are formed but fall out due to not liking the name the other group is using. Someone creates a Jira post, Jira politics aren't far behind and the proposal goes through the "This doesn't belong here", "Oh yes it does" dance. Strong signal pandemic imminent.

[From Linden Lab adult content policy threat raised to level 5 | Your2ndPlace]

Okay. Fair enough.

So I replied there and I post my reply here, but with a little more editing and vetting to clarify what I was trying to say over there:

**********