Second Life Herald

Music Not Politics - An All-Weekend Live Music Event

by Jessica Holyoke

Starting Friday night, Money Island and the neighboring Money Tree Island and Freebie Island are holding a 48 hour event celebrating live music.

Chelseamarie Noel

While listening to the silky smooth stylings of Chelseamarie Noel, I had a chat with Throughthesewalls Moody, a promoter/manager of live musical acts on Second Life. Throughthesewalls talked about the Music Not Politics Group.

"Music Not Politics is about bringing music and fans together. Live Music is spontaneous, unpredictable, fresh. It wraps its arms around the audience and embraces them as part of whole, giving everyone the experience of belonging, a sense of ownership of the day or night . It lives, it breaths. This is what you will find at every MUSIC NOT POLITICS promoted show."

Chelseamarie's set was followed by Shamrod Watanabe, and Throughthesewalls and I continued to talk about how the major labels are not doing enough to get these voices to their fans. But there is hope, as Throughthesewalls points out, "Through the internet, we have the ability to play to more people than any concert hall could ever hold." If you are a fan of pop, rap, jazz or even opera, check out the live music event this weekend on Money Island: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Money%20Island/234/18/22

Unstable Platform Rocks SL Markets?

Bank run on Ginko Financial, Dreamland fingers Linden Lab for unstable grid

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

Dollars spent in Second Life - as tracked by Reuters

Residents who play the fictional financial markets in Second Life were hard pressed to decide if the precipitous drop in in-world spending since Thursday is a rational reaction to Linden Lab’s shiny new world wide gambling ban - or a reminder that even virtual commerce requires some stability in the world. Reuters’ charts of in-world economic activity suggested a serious slowdown since Thursday - but was this triggered by a gambling ban, or a combination of factors?

Benjamin Duranske reported Friday at the Virtually Blind site that an in-world “bank” - Ginko Financial - had suspended withdrawals - then re-instated them with a cap on how much money could be withdrawn from the “bank” after 1% of the Ginko Financial’s claimed assets were withdrawn over the course of two hours. Nicholas Portocarrero - head honcho of Ginko Financial is reported to have said the SL gambling ban had “caused a panic”.

Combine jittery citizens, a lack of transparency about the state of Ginko’s investments, and on-going speculation about ponzi-schemes, and nearly any shock the the SL economy has the potential for destabilizing Ginko. Hopefully Mr. Portocarrero has found some high-yield camp chairs to help replenish Ginko’s reserves - but the Herald was unable to confirm this - Mr. Portocarrero is not returning our calls. This is a shame - we'd like to ask how he manages to earn a good return on his investments when few individuals in SL have profitable businesses - only a few hundred earned over $5000 USD last month - before tier payments to the Lab.

Bluebird of Unhappiness

Prokofy Neva, Walking 47 Miles of Barbed Wire/Got a Cobra Snake for a Neck-Tie/Got Me a Brand-New House by the Road-Side/Made Out of Rattle-Snake Hide

We need a music critic here at the Herald. Ever since Quentinesqe Paine, the college emo dude who used to get an expense account from the paper but never wrote anything and locked himself in his room and wrote death poetry all night on MySpace and then cut himself one too many times and went into rehab, we haven't had anybody. So seeing as how I am not ashamed to turn on the C&W streams on the radio driving out West or down South and don't find anything to be ashamed of in liking country, I thought I'd check out the SL Bluebird Cafe, adapted from the RL Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, TN.

When Boliver Oddfellow, CEO of IVM, Designer of the Dublin sim famous for its live-music shows, said on Twitter, "went to the bluebird cafe in SL 750L for a badly mic'd live feed. These folks have a lot to learn about SL," I figured he might have an agenda. $750 *did* seem a bit steep, but then a RL cover charge at my local Irish pub with live bands is $5.00, so $1000 or $1350 didn't seem like such a terrible price to pay for RL people doing the RL work of playing live, original music for our entertainment, even if we are in Second Life.

I'm surprised when I see the big spenders of Second Life giving live musicians only $100 at a show -- that's 27 US cents, and we all know they deserve more than that, because they're better than that. So much more the professional musicians of something like the Blue Bird in RL, no?

Perhaps in response to this sort of comment -- which has been common as I discovered talking to people around SL, some shows put on recently at the Bluebird have been free of charge. I dropped in on Sunday Writer's Night tonight on Nashville Music island and didn't have to pay anything. But I discovered Boliver may have a point.

Casino Allegedly Pays Jack Squat on $16000 US Jackpot

by Flimflam Edelman, Bureau of Casinos, Scams, and Dodgy Dealings

Second Life resident Rhonda Bosen is charging that a casino owned by Hunter Noland failed to pay out on her big win of over 400,000 Linden Dollars -- roughly $16,000 $1600 US Dollars. Ms. Bosen has produced chat logs and screen shots in support of her claim against Mr. Noland who is associated with SL corporation Sc Design, and claims to own the following casinos.

Sc Design City Mall & Poker & Casino
Sc Design Mall & Casino at Freihafen
The Caribbean Pearl Mall & Casino
Ocean Casino & Mall (we are informed that he is only manager of this one)

According to Ms. Bosen, Mr. Nolandhas not replied to her inquires nor to those of several witnesses to the win, and has even declined her notecard outlining the lack of payout.

Word of Mouth Marketing a Winning Strategy for Post Sixx Contest

by Muffin K. Smith, Herald grrrl about town.

Fox Cavern- Post Sixx grrls are learning that beauty is more than pixel deep, because last week's Post Sixx grrrl pageant seemed to come down to personality and brains as the beauties who took the stage were “really too close to call” according to pageant judge Marilyn Murphy. Now in its fourth week, the SL Herald's Post Sixx Pageant is becoming one of the most popular events in the Second Life Week. Between the beautiful swimsuit clad models and the witty banter of judges Murphy and Jaime Wheeler, the audience and the models come prepared to be both entertained and entertaining.

“The best part is that the growth of this contest has been all word of mouth,” said Wheeler. “We've done very little advertising and yet every week we have more and more people here. I have a lot of fun, and I think the contestants and the audience do too and it's that sense of fun that makes it popular. Heck, last week we even attracted a griefer, so I guess that's a sign we've hit the big time,” Wheeler added with a laugh.

Casino Owners Unimpressed With Linden Crackdown

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

While Azno Simons seems particularly eager to comply with the Linden lab staffers attempt to clean up at least the gambling aspect of Second Life - other metaverse casino owners have a different perspective. Mr. Simons may be a unique case, since he more interested in advertising his web-based gambling empire than running a serious in-world operation. I visited a few more conventional SL casinos to get reactions to the Linden’s casino ad-word ban.

the FBI cannot touch Anthonymark Alcott

Anthonymark Alcott owns the "Casino World" sim, and I caught up with him earlier today for comment on the Linden’s actions. Mr. Alcott said, “I am UK citizen so FBI can’t touch us”. This does raise the issue that non-US citizens are out of bounds for the FBI - although the Linden Lab servers are not.

Mr. Alcott told me that rather than advertising the casino, he will run ads for other parts of his club. When I pointed out that his sim has the word casino in the name, Mr. Alcott said, “they can’t change that. We could call it rape club. It doesn’t mean anyone is going to be raped here, it is just a name”. Fair enough - let’s hope Robin Linden agrees with that analysis.

Interview with PalmVegas Honcho Azno Simons

Sim owner uses off-limits casino to promote web gambling site -
lures noobies with innovative automated SL cybersex classroom

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

Azno Simons on duty keeping US Citizens out of the PalmVegas Casino

Hoping to explore the motivations for an SL casino owner who sent out high profile press releases to media outlets about banning US citizens from his casino, I spent a day tracking down Azno Simons. After sitting with his lifeless away-from-keyboard avatar thursday - apparently acting as doorman/security for his casino had worn him out - I finally managed to contact him live and in-world friday morning.

Mr. Simons’ PalmVegas Island sim seems to get very little gambling traffic - his casino plot had traffic of only 217 as of this writing. The main draw for the PalmVegas appears to be a noobie-oriented SexEd101 classroom with 20 times the casino's traffic, and an optional gym and nurse's office for those eager to experiment with their newfound cyber-sex skills - or just enjoy a metaversal hookup. Pathfinder Linden may want to share the news with the SL education community that the sex college included RL-style classroom desks to sit in - nothing says innovative education like a virtual high school desk.

In the interest of journalistic objectivity, I skipped the hands-on lab section of the course and sat in the classroom while IM'ing Mr. Simons. The juxtaposition of Mr. Simons’ IMs about the gambling business and the continuous automated classroom sex instruction narration created a slightly surreal scene. Perhaps this is what the new immersive new media is meant to be? The chat history and IMs are reproduced here so that readers can get a sense of multitasking immersive classroom learning and the gambling business - an important part of our brave new world.

Simulating A Gambling Crackdown

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

Thursday Robin Linden stimulated metaverse simulated casino owners to come up with an acceptable euphemism for simulated gambling today with the announcement that the Lab will no longer “accept any classified ads, place listings, or event listings that appear to relate to simulated casino activity”. A few Second Life casino owners noted that the world simulated gives them a great excuse to continue their ads - as long as the gambling in-world is real. With things of value being wagered, that argument may have some merit - but could raise other thorny issues.

Observers expect casino owners to take a page from the metaverse pedo-community - which simply changed their group names from “ageplay” to “roleplay” in response to a similar Linden crackdown - as reported earlier in the Herald.

It was probably pure coincidence that the Lindex L$ to hard currency exchange was seriously broken earlier Thursday - limiting options for those who feel that a simulated crackdown on metaverse casinos might affect the in-world economy. It seems hardly worth comment that the same company that lost a number of resident's billing information has promised to “implement features that will enable Residents to optionally confirm aspects of each other’s identity, including age and jurisdictions”.

With the Lab's nearly stellar record of security and reliability, most residents don’t expect any problems with the promised verification/categorization services - which would depend on the Linden Lab being able to retain records consistently. As Herald correspondent Inigo Chamberlin - a victim of the Lindens loss of his billing information this week - said, “my account was disabled, all payment info snuffed... And people told me having money in GINKO was risky? Bah - having money in SECOND LIFE is an unacceptable risk! They just broke the ONE THING that has to work”.

Dark Siders Rejoice: Beyond the Void Announces Tour of SL Goth Clubs

by Nolan Void, Dark Places Bureau

Beyond the Void Announces an in-world Concert Tour.

Enough with the sensitive new age guys stumming their little guitars and whining about a little lag. Away with posers like Ben Folds and phakers like Jay-Z. Screw the losers pining away for that glorified wet dream for accountants known as Duran Duran. We finally have a band with some edge to it in Second Life. German goth rockers Beyond the Void have announced a "tour" of six second life venues. I haven't been this happy since I learned about the dark poetry readings in SL.

Here are the tour dates. Press Release is below the fold. Some tunes are here. Hail Satan!

Mo. March 26th 2007 13:00, Tempt an Angel
Fr. March 30th 2007 14:30, Club Gothic
Sa. March 31st 2007 12:00, Deutscher Gothic Club
Tu. April 10th 2007 23:30, Hot Licks
Sa. April 14th 2007 23:30, Club Gothica
So. April 15th 2007 14:30, Castle Rock Times are Second Life Time = Pacific Standard Time = GMT -8

SHAME! Two Herald Reporters Jailed!

Disgraced Mistral and Breaker serve time in SLAB Prison

by Denise Levertov, New Media Observer

In a development sure to roil the metaverse journalistic scene, Herald Editrix Pixeleen Mistral and advice columnist Heartun Breaker were caught serving time in the SLAB Prison in Albata sim Thursday evening.

Both journalists we captured on prison surveillance video wearing the orange prison coveralls that SLAB inmates are required to wear to pay their debt to society - and earn small L$ camp chair payments. Ms. Mistral claimed she was serving time for “protecting her sources” and “contempt of court”. Ms. Breaker was said to be a virtual meth addict, and shrieked several times about rats in the cell while working on a love and sex advice column for the prison newspaper.

The SLAB prison complex is a part of Pompo Bombacci and Giada Visconti’s store and is used to rehabilitate avatars with L$ addictions, as well as those who have committed role play crimes in the metaverse.

SLAB warden Pompo Bombacci told the Herald, “All I can say is for developers/builders to get creative with camping chairs instead of slapping them in a secluded room”. Bombacci also pointed out that inmates get a free outfit - although Ms. Mistral did not feel the orange coveralls were very flattering for redheads and muttered something about liking green prisoner uniforms better as she shuffled off to change clothes after being released from prison.

After bribing one of the prison guards, the Herald obtained this exclusive chat transcript from inside the lockup.

Fear and Loathing in Second Life, Part 7: The Sordid History of the Big Brother Fiasco, Day 1

[Readers of the Herald will recall our earlier reports on the disaster that was Big Brother in Second Life. Perhaps you *didn't* know that our faithful correspondent, Gideon Television was there, as a contestant! Well it is so. Today Gideon begins retelling (in day-by-day "blow"-by-"blow" fashion) the whole sordid tale. Sorry we didn't publish this as it happened. --Ed.]

And so it begins. 15 avatars, one house, one month. And this is my confessional.

Not Quite On The Road: Motorcycling Undies of Doom

by Jimbo Quality

[Editor's Note: Below, Jimbo Quality continues his Traveling With the Idiot series, in which at the moment he is attempting to spend some time racing virtual motorcycles. Even if you don't enjoy the story, we hope you appreciate the fact that we're doing a community service by employing the mentally challenged.
--Walker Spaight]

As I left the offices of the Second Life Herald for my second attempt at journalism, I was bound and determined to find actual racing motorcycles. I mean, I'd taken the assignment to write about them, and damn it, I was going to find some. My journalistic reputation and integrity depended on it. Plus, I was hoping to meet hot chicks.

You see, dear reader, when the motorcycle story came to me I was thrilled, because the one person in SL I knew with a motorcycle is my delectable friend Jaime Wheeler, pictured above. You know the person who helps you get on your feet when you land here? The one that first tells you your shoes are up your ass and that your cool new Newbie Hair looks ridiculous? That was her for me. And did I mention she's attractive and rides a motorcycle? In my mind then, getting this story meant I would find the place where hundreds of helpful and beautiful biker babes cavort, frolic, and other things best left to the imagination.

Good Riddance: SL Says Goodbye to Dwelloper Awards

Uri and Prok do Some Last Minute Christmas Camping

by Dow Jonas

With the advent of camp chairs in the last month, Robin Linden’s announcement of the end of the Developer Incentive Awards (DIA), or the “Dwelloper Awards,” as they were dubbed, came as no surprise to most of the hundred-odd recipients of the cash prizes, who make up the two percent of landowners in Second Life with the most dwell, reflecting the numbers of people who came and remained on their properties for a minimum of five minutes.

The awards are to be ended in March 2006, and with this three-month lead time, camp chairs, money trees, money balls, and every other magnetizing object for sticky avatars have been deployed in an even greater frenzy to soak Linden Lab of its last “dwellopment” dollars.

Some forums debaters blamed the camp chairs, which pay out anywhere from $1-$50, depending on whether the sitter also plays (and often loses) various casino games during the session. Others said the elimination of the program, which last month cost LL some US $120,000 to pay SL dwellopers, was a belt-tightening measure.

A glance at the list of winners in recent months shows that many of SL’s top land barons, club owners, and casino hosts are on the list, along with a handful of special themed-sim project leaders.

In a year that has brought removal of events grants, ratings stipends, telehubs, and GOM, SL forums criticism about the latest stripping away of subsidies appeared muted. A number of major businesses appeared to greet the action as consistent with a “capitalist” model for the virtual world, and a rational move in view of widespread gaming of the system that drained dollars through the use of AFK-devices like camp chairs, rather than creation of compelling content. Said Cyberland CEO Shaun Altman, “Good riddance, developer incentive! Let's replace [this] with something that actually incentivizes developers, rather than those who bribe people for their dwell.”

Aimee Weber, a prominent SL clothing designer, told the Herald that she had never been on the Developers’ Award list because she did not own land (she said she had just purchased a new island named Midnight City for her stores). The presence in SL of various artists and designers with interesting builds and events seems evidence for some that the DIA was not achieving its purpose. Asked about any possible replacement for the DIA, Weber said, “I think an automated system will always be vulnerable to being gamed, and some kind of Linden-decided award program may be forever haunted by claims of favoritism. So I don't know that I can think of a good one off the top of my head.”

In the past, the Lindens have held a few contests, with one or few participants, for themed sims or games, and suffered criticism for appearing to show bias.

“The camping chairs exposed the weakness of the system enough where it was embarrassing,” said Weber. Asked if she thought the Lindens lost a lot of money paying out awards based merely on camping, she said, “If anything, they raised the priority of fixing the system.”

Some forums contributors suggested substituting the DIA system with a voting mechanism to collect votes for good lots; old hands at SL recall a time when such a system was used and then abandoned as it, too, was gamed by people setting up flash mobs of their friends.

Weber suggested that the SL world map could have a mode “where areas of high traffic were painted certain colors. Like some kind of thermal chart LOL. That would be pretty cool! You can see the ‘hot spots,’” she commented.

While such a system could arguably be networked and flash-mobbed as well, it would likely serve as a more accurate picture of avatar flows than dwell created by friends and alts logging in and staying AFK on land to drive up the traffic numbers.

At times, the Lindens have discussed forming some kind of Council of the Arts to administer a grants system through applications. “It will be painfully political, but if they could make it work, it would be a great idea,” said Weber. Of course, with so many people joining SL and having trouble gaining visibility for their work, scouting talent could be difficult for short-staffed and busy Lindens. “It means some people will be left out, and that means there will be accusations, conspiracy theories, etc,” said Weber. “It would get messy.”

Top SL club manager Jenna Fairplay, owner of the Edge, told the Herald about the end of DIA, “I prepared for this as I do with all SL changes good or bad. I know there are those who were greatly affected negatively from the change and do feel for them as well.” Fairplay has put her club in DaBoom up for sale for a requested $20,000 US – and confirmed that the offer for the 100-meter terraformable original sim would not include the building. (Coming Soon: an in-depth interview with Jenna on club management in SL.)

Others reeled from the first impact of the announcement. “It is possible that my club will go to the wall without the DIA, which paid for my tier & membership fees as well as part payment for my radio stream. The way I feel right now is 6 months work down the toilet because I can’t fund that from my monthly RL income,” said Stacey Sugar, owner of the Barbie Club in Refugio.

Rallying later, Sugar subsequently told the Herald, “I have called a meeting of all my friends who own some of the high dwell projects in SL…to discuss the scrapping of the DIA and what we can do to minimize the impact and maybe come up with some alternative suggestions we can suggest to LL.”

Travis Lambert, owner of the Shelter, a club for newbies, commented, “The larger enterprises that receive Developer Incentive will likely only be marginally affected by this change. This is because the DI only made up a small percentage of their monthly budget.

Winners of the awards ranged from Prokofy Neva, who said he began at about $35 US and worked his way up eventually to $125 in recent months, to land baroness Anshe Chung who has earned thousands of US dollars.

“For a long time, the program appeared to discriminate against those with group land because it rewards only those with the most tier on one account; if your tier is spread out in a group then you may not come up on the radar,” said Neva. The Lindens recently adjusted the formulas to better include group owners.

”It is the small-to-medium sized venues that will be hit hardest by this change - not those you see on the Popular Places list every day,” said Lambert. “The DI made up 90-100% of the budget of the smaller venues, and those are the ones we are in jeopardy of losing.”

One effort the Lindens have promoted as a substitution of the “Dwelloper Awards”is the Developers’ Directory, a project that has drawn mixed reviews as some residents have praised the Lindens for making more transparent the process of bidding and being awarded content contracts in SL, and others have complained that the list is incomplete.

The Lindens have asked residents with ideas for how to provide incentives for content to replace the DIA to write to proposal@lindenlab.com

Roleplay or Landgrab? As the Elf Council Debates, only the Orcs Know for Sure!!!

Are these guys fugly or what?

In the hall of mirrors that is Second Life, what does it mean when a band of plug ugly Orcs invite the peaceful elven folk to a game of combat roleplay? Is it all in fun, or does something more sinister lurk beneath the surface? Elven Queen Forcythia, seeing the good in all, says it is all in fun. But wise -- some would say jaded -- Elven King Wayfinder is not so sanguine, as documents exposing a deep rift in the Elven council were leaked to the Herald:

Role play? What role play? Don't buy that story. The Orcs are trying to take over Elven Lands, pure and simple. Forcythia is always ready to believe the best in everyone. Don't buy the Orc claim that this is role play. Elven are not so easily fooled. --Wayfinder

When the battle finally took place, of course the servers were overloaded, prims vanished, and the Elvenlands server had to be reset. Gosh, now there's a surprise.

This Orc pretends to be engaged in RPG. Would you trust him? Not me!

;-)

Party On! The SLH is Turning Two!

Help celebrate at the second birthday party of that most august newspaper of cyberspace, the Second Life Herald! (And Jeff Brown thought we wouldn't see our second month, tsk tsk.)

Hosted by the illustrious _blacklibrary, located in Second Life's Furness sim, the Herald birthday party will commence on Saturday, October 22, at noon game-time (that's 3pm Eastern), and will feature--well, we're not quite sure what it will feature exactly, except we're hoping it will include some choice reading material from over the last year, assembled in that inimitable always_black style (with our undying gratitude, it must be said). Meet Herald Editorial Director Walker Spaight (that's me), Herald Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Urizenus Sklar and the rest of the Herald staff (are there any left?), as well as many of the people we've featured in our pages over the years (hopefully). We'll remind you as the big day nears, but for now, save the date. And expect the sparks to fly.

(Yes, Cory, there will be goldfish!)

Getting Your Burn On

Walker confronts The Man

There's still one more weekend to go before the third annual Burning Life festival gets wiped from the face of Second Life. By now, of course, you've missed most of the virtual hallucinogens that were being handed out on the six Burning Life sims, as well as the wild cybering we hear was going on in skytents that hung far above the virtual desert. But the Herald looked in as the party got under way on Monday, and spoke with Vicero Lambert, builder and burner of the man himself, as he stood ready to light the fire under Second Life's you-know-what.

[UPDATE: Burning Life has been extended another week! Builds will be up until September 19, according to the SL forums.]

Vicero Lambert

Vicero, who in RL does Web developement in Washington State, spent three weeks putting the man together ahead of the event, basing his work on his real-life experience of the Burning Man festival held every year in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada. Built from "way too many" prims (about 200), the man began burning at 3pm on Monday, much to the delight of the assembed, who packed the sim to its limit of 40 and even managed to squeeze one or two extra avatars in.

Burn, baby, burn!

According to Vicero, the man will burn "till the sim is destroyed or my items are returned."

At Burning Man in Nevada, Vicero designs work for Camp Subline, a theme camp devoted to modern, structural works of art. In other words, "a camp with style," Vicero said.

The wonders of virtual worlds were not lost on this veteran of the event's real-life analogue. "Burning Man and Burning Life are in my opinion totally different," Vicero said. "Burning Life is a better way for people who can't afford Burning Man to be able to make art so that everyone may see it. And you can do anything at Burning Life. Burning Man is so restrictive." Really? "Well, they no longer allow motorized vehicles on the playa."

Vicero surveys his destruction

While the burning of the virtual man himself got off to a slow start, the particle effects and technoesque dance music soon had the crowd oohing, ahhing and shaking their virtual booties.

Burning Life's Dance Dance Revolution

Ashes to ashes, prims to prims

Though the man himself has been burned, there are still several dozen art projects spread over the six Burning Life sims to see.

Wandering Yaffle asks, "But is it art?"

Creations range from pirate ships to the hand of God, political statements, inside jokes, a really fun Bouncey Castle, abstract sculptures, a Hiroshima memorial and much much more, including a sculpture of Second Life's main man, Philip Linden.

Philip Linden at his Burning Life desk. The button reads, "Press to crash any random sim"

Gravity Space Station Returns

Gravity Space Station was one of the most popular clubs to ever grace the face of SecondLife when it first opened last November, and stayed open for approximately 9 weeks. Yesterday, it was re-opened in Nyna Slate's Dragon Moon sim for a 3 day birthday bash for the Bedazzle team. Many know Bedazzle as the group that first brought Sim Horror to a reality last Halloween, then Gravity Space Station, and most recently, the Unreal: SL/Chinatown project. They are also currently working on a full-length western machinema movie filmed wholly in SecondLife that's due out later this year entitled "Golden Bells and Silver Spurs," a trailer of which has been released, and looks promising. For a three day weekend, they (at least) slowed production for this special birthday extravaganza. I was excited to get to be at the re-opening last night, along with some awesome DJs and an amazing number of raffles!

The space station is perhaps one of SecondLife's most amazing builds ever, especially for a club. Hovering over 200 meters above the Dragon Moon telehub, it's quite small, but it's amazing how many people can dance comfortably in such a small area, even with the huge rotating light system! Local lighting even enhances the look of the club even further. Yes, it is quite laggy, but the look is amazing (all the pictures contained in this article use local lighting, just to give you an idea).

A view of part of the space station

The party opened up at 7 PM last night with Jason Spinnaker DJing, and kicked off with a "space trivia" contest, at which Govindira Galatea proved to be quite a driving force. The raffles were plentiful, and it was announced that over the three evenings of parties this weekend, over L$150,000 worth of prizes would be given away! Both Nyna Slate and Demian Caldera had simultaneous raffle balls going in order to distribute the prizes in such a short amount of time.

The entire reason that Gravity Space Station is back up in orbit - and our old buddy MAX

Later on in the evening at 9 PM, DNA Prototype took over the airwaves and held a "message t-shirt" contest. Unfortunately, because of the excessive lag, it was extremely hard to get any t-shirts to rez, let alone where they could be read! The party continued late into the night, with the large raffle prize being a lighting system by DNA worth L$8500, won by Maelstrom Baphomet!

Nyna Slate, the owner of Dragon Moon

At times, the party at the Gravity Space Station seemed like a bit of a meeting of the ever-notorious FIC, but it didn't last too long when it did. Cameo appearances were made during the evening by si Money, Mistress Midnight, Torrid Midnight, and even everyone's favorite winged Aimee Weber. Other appearances were made by the so-called "skin goddess" Govindira Galatea, and Foxy Xevious and Jimmy Thompson, the "brains behind Bedazzle."

Foxy Xevious and Jimmy Thompson, the brains behind Bedazzle

I didn't expect to keep a quote list of the night, but after seeing the following quote from si Money when he first landed, I couldn't resist. "I can just hear my gpu crying." Though the Gravity Space Station is a wonderful build, it is quite taxing on the computer. I was personally running between .7 and 1.7 frames per second the entire night with a maximum of 41 people in the sim. Even tonight with local lighting off, I've only run at 3.1 FPS with a maximum of 49 people in the sim. Yes, clubs in SecondLife are laggy as a whole, but this one takes it to the extreme. It's a gorgeous build, but for maximum enjoyment, should be seen with no one else in the sim at that point and with local lighting on.

The "skin goddess" Govindira Galatea in the foreground, and yours truly hard at work in the background

The Gravity Space Station is a club that will long remain in the hearts and minds of serious clubbers in SecondLife. I'd go so far as to call it the most memorable club that has ever been in SL, but not the most influential (either Phantasie Isle or Club Elite would take that honor). The ambiance of the lighting system and the environment, complete with the space view of the Earth and MAX the astronaut creates an awesome atmosphere that cannot be duplicated. It's a shame that this landmark will not persist, as well as there not being any plans at the current time to bring it back.

The Mystery of Chicago 1900

The Chicago machine: Martin Magpie and Claire Glitterbuck in their world within a world within a world

by Jill Mackenzie

Chicago 1900, the vast new project headed by Martin Magpie and located in the Faded Reality sim, opened Friday to rave reviews from residents delighted to be transported to another time and place within the already once-removed-from-reality world of Second Life.

From the moment you rez in the arrivals room of the Faded Reality sim, you enter another dimension, almost a world within a world within a world. Rather than arriving in a vast, open telehub mall, avs find themselves in a small room with a swinging lamp that dangles from the ceiling. In one corner is a simple bed that holds two round boxes. Closer inspection finds them filled with clothing fit for the turn-of-the-century Chicago theme.

The scene on arrival – no telehub mall here

As you step through the door you notice a desk and some posters on the wall. One is a Private Detective license and the other is a warning that states if you go further you will be in a different time.

As you walk down the cobbled street you will notice the tremendous attention that has been paid to every detail. An almost tangible mystery fills ever corner of this sim, from the trolley car that is driven by the ever-smiling Red Frodgers to the hush-lipped owner of the Cotton Club, Miss Claire Glitterbuck.

Miss Glitterbuck's Cotton Club

To unravel the real story, there are obvious clues available to read, and then there are the not-so-obvious ones that you have to look carefully for, or click on unmarked objects to find. In fact, the city is interactive and full of ever-changing events. As people begin to spend time there and interact with the actors, who knows what kind of mysteries will unfold!

A number of roles are filled by real live avatars in Chicago 1900, including the hat-check girl at the Cotton Club and a deep-pocketed mayor who likes to pretend he is blind and deaf. Martin Magpie noted that there are still openings for actors to keep the project going (IM Martin Magpie or Claire Glitterbuck for details).

Early visitors have reported seeing a rough-and-tumble group known as The Linden Gang causing havoc and likely bootlegging in the moonlit hours. One Phil Linden in particular is a wanted man in Chicago 1900, and rumors would suggest there are people laying in wait for his return. One source reported seeing a coffin with his name on it and cement shoes near by.

Other attractions of the project include a theatre that will show period films on Friday nights at 7pm game-time. The Cotton Club will host comedy nights on Saturdays.

Scenes of yesteryear

According to proprietor Martin Magpie, the project is strictly non-profit. In many ways it is reminiscent of previous themed builds in SL, like Old London or Neverland, which achieved similar levels of quality builds and thematic coherence. The expectations for the project are great, and Martin and his crew will be hard-pressed to live up to them. The theme will remain the same, according to Martin, but the mysteries found within the sim will be constantly changing, and it is not likely to be a place you would visit only once.

The W-Hat Birthday: Cake, Ice Cream and Murdered-Hooker Bloodbath (2/2)

By Neal Stewart

It's the quick and the dead in Second Life. The murdered hooker I found at Baku today is not the murdered hooker she was yesterday. Yesterday's corpse had character. A furry, she lay there with eyes closed and brows wrenched, as though her eternal sleep was wrought by nightmares. And who could blame her? But in today's new face there is nobody home. The eyes stare wide open with the good-natured 2-dimensional expression of a vacant, non-furry, latex sex-doll.

I guess that's celebrity make-overs for you.

In a crowded room, the situation was a bit different 48 hours ago...

Continued from Part 1.

*****

"Oh yeah, take it, take it hard" yells Loksr Mysterio, a W-Hat, pumping away at the bloody, avatar-less, furry hermaphrodite corpse. "Unf unf unf."

"The hand twitches!!!", one observer comments. Then, remembering it's a furry, "Paw?". "I KNEW I saw the foot move" says W-Hat Operating Thetan. Dave Eisenberg explains, "Yeah I made her twitch."

"THERE IT GOES AGAIN"

"I saw the eyes open and close once..." another W-Hat says, "Never saw it again."

"Wait, if her eyes are closed how can I stick my penis in them?" Operating asks.

"Stick it in da mouth," suggests Eisenberg.

Some of the other W-Hats have a go at the corpse. Several at once.

"They kinda look like a rowing team" one onlooker declares.

She's right. They do.

The Australian journalist Hugh Lunn says that one of the hallmarks of bad writers is that they start an article by just asking lots of questions in a row.

Because generally it ensures that they're not actually going to provide any answers.

So here goes:

- Should artists have the right to decide what context their work is used in, once it's been sold? In this case, does a builder have a leg to stand on if their avatar-creation is begenitalled, disembowled and covered in blood?

- To what extent can a group be blamed or held responsible for the conduct of it's members? And under what circumstances?

- Do these pants make me look fat?

- At what point does a private build become public? How many walls must surround it and how thick must they be? If it has windows, what is an appropriate gap to have between blinds?

- Is it valid to be offended by an artwork if the artist claims that it was not their intention? To what extent does an unidentifiable red liquid become real blood, red paint, or Hollywood blood, when the artist designates it as such?

One W-Hat criticized the blood splatter in Dave Eisenberg's murder-scene and characterized it as unrealistic-looking.

Another W-Hat asks, "How the hell is a dead furry transvestite hooker with two dicks unrealistic?"

This is the edited transcript. The unrealism has been preserved but some bits are removed for brev. There were also some parts where I explete and say out loud how much I like the build. These have been removed to make me look less like an embedded U.S. war-correspondent who garrottes one of Saddam's Republican Guards with his camera-strap and then storms the palace.

*****

Dave Eisenberg: Just to clear things up - It's not anti-furry [the murder-scene]. It's the only all-prim av [avatar] that I could find. The only all-prims avs are furries.
Neal Stewart: I've seen human ones before. Starax does some I think. And Stormy Roentgen.

Neal Stewart: How long did it take to make, Dave?
Dave Eisenberg: Couple of days.

Neal Stewart: Why did you make it?
Dave Eisenberg: It was a simple idea. We created an e-Detective agency next door and figured it would be funny to create a crime scene right next door and a dead hooker in bed is the classic crime scene and then we just kept on adding to it.
The whole point is to be morbid and ridiculous at the same time.

Neal Stewart: Who made the original furry?
Dave Eisenberg: She wasn't too happy about it. Lucah. That's why we're going to replace the hooker with someone else.

Neal Stewart: What are you going to replace it with?
Dave Eisenberg: Another hooker. Probably furry too. Someone else is actually going to make me one specifically for this scene.

Neal Stewart: How will it be different?
Dave Eisenberg: It'll have all the blood textures on it already. And it'll actually look like an over-exaggerated hooker with bright red lipstick and lots of make up.

Neal Stewart: Where'd you get the animations?
Dave Eisenberg: Made them myself.
There's also 2 jerk off balls. For more people.

Neal Stewart: Do you think Furrys will be annoyed or upset by this?
Dave Eisenberg: Some probably. But it's not anti-furry so they shouldn't be. A lot of people in W-Hat are furries and they like it.

Neal Stewart: Do you see how it can appear anti-furry?
Dave Eisenberg: The fact that I've used a furry av, yeah.

Neal Stewart: Why use a furry av and not a human one?
Dave Eisenberg: Because I can't find any all prim human avatars and I suck at making my own.

Neal Stewart: Would you use an all prim human avatar if you could find one?
Dave Eisenberg: Definitely, then people wouldn't mistake that it's a dead hooker.

Neal Stewart: Is this the avatar you always wear?
Dave Eisenberg: No, I just got it recently. I modified it, and like how it looks like.

Neal Stewart: What av did you have before?
Dave Eisenberg: Uh, lets see...
9 year old kid

Neal Stewart: :) Why 9?
Dave Eisenberg: Because it's funny.

Neal Stewart: Are you going to keep your new avatar from now on?
Dave Eisenberg: For now yeah. I like it. I change them when I get bored of them or find something new.

Neal Stewart: So you're basically a furry yourself at the moment? :)
Dave Eisenberg: I guess.

Neal Stewart: What do you think about Furries?
Dave Eisenberg: They're furries. I don't know am I supposed to think something about them?

Neal Stewart: Do you dislike them, like them, indifferent, what?
Dave Eisenberg: As indifferent as I would be to anyone else. It depends on the personality.

Neal Stewart: Who else helped you with this build?
Dave Eisenberg: A couple of people from W-Hat and another furry from the forest.

Neal Stewart: Are they a W-hat [the furry]?
Dave Eisenberg: Yeah.

Neal Stewart: Is all the red stuff paint?
Dave Eisenberg: I put the bucket of paint as an inside joke because Feem didn't like how unrealistic this scene looks with blood splatter and wouldn't shut up about it, so I just put a bucket of paint here and told him that it's all paint.

Neal Stewart: I see. So it is all meant to be blood on the walls etc?
Dave Eisenberg: Yeah.

Neal Stewart: There's some conflict between you and some of the other W-hats because of this is there?
Dave Eisenberg: Not really. They all like it.

Neal Stewart: All of them?
Dave Eisenberg: Some are indifferent. Some are worried that it'll get me in trouble with the TOS.
But considering how much stuff I see around SL...
The fact that it's in a mature sim and covered, I don't think there should be any problems. After all, it's just art.

Neal Stewart: What have you seen worse than this?
Dave Eisenberg: Disgusting porn. All of these depraved sexballs, this scene is an over-exaggerated parody of it all.

Neal Stewart: Do you think that porn is worse than gore?
Dave Eisenberg: Not really.
I'm pushing some buttons here.
However this is entirely fake

Neal Stewart: How do you mean it's fake?
Dave Eisenberg: Well like gore you see in movies. Gore in movies is more acceptable than porn.

Neal Stewart: So this blood on the walls is not real furry blood, it's fake - movie blood?
Dave Eisenberg: Well obviously.

Neal Stewart: So, what is the point of the build? To stir up some controversy?
Dave Eisenberg: It wasn't intended like that. And so far there isn't much havok going on. It started as a crime scene next door to an e-Detective agency, as a joke and ended up as this.

Neal Stewart: You mentioned before about 'pushing buttons'. Whose buttons is it intended to push?
Dave Eisenberg: This build is generally pushing the concept of what's allowed and isn't in this game.

Neal Stewart: I see, so it's a joke that evolved into a statement about art and censorship in SL?
Dave Eisenberg: No, it's still pretty much a joke. Some might take it offending, and that's fine but if it's covered, not many people will be seeking this stuff out.

Neal Stewart: Are you confident you won't be banned? Because of this build?
Dave Eisenberg: I probably will, but if Lindens give me a reason on how it breaks the TOS I'll tone it down, or take it off.

Neal Stewart: So how long has it been here for?
Dave Eisenberg: I think a week so far.

Neal Stewart: How is the detective agency going?
Dave Eisenberg: Well, we're still hard at work trying to figure out who did this!
Other than that the e-Detective agency is a joke just as well.

Neal Stewart: Heh heh. So, you don't have clients or anything?
Dave Eisenberg: Nope. It started when someone showed up claiming to be a Detective researching W-Hat. So we decided to make our own e-Detective agency.

*****

I stand there in the W-Hat Super Happy Fun Time Land and look towards the detective agency and crime-scene apartments. I try to see the blood through the blinds in the distance. Next to me, hovering in mid-air without reason or context is a photo of Al from Home Improvement. In a building nearby is a picture of Adebisi the rapist in Oz, the television show about a maximum security prison facility. There's a DragonballZ-style picture of Colonel Sanders and Ronald McDonald, who are about to do battle. There's a beautifully-drawn picture of a female Furry with huge breasts and a solemn expression, saluting with one hand and holding the American flag in the other. The cartoon is superimposed over a photo of the two-towers New York city skyline.

The audio-stream for the land is playing a song that talks about children watching inhumanity, bloodshed and violence on television.

"T.V. is not reality", the song says.

"Neal, for what it's worth," Feem Lomax told me at the party, "We spend an awful lot of time making fun of how people view us as terrorists/griefers".

He then paused to sing the chorus to the Facts of Life theme song. To win L$500.

You take the good, you take the bad,
you take them both and there you have
The Facts of Life, the Facts of Life.

"In Star Wars Galaxies, the Goon Squad used to run around making people sing the Charles in Charge theme when they wanted to join."

"Please step away from the vehicle" says the red and yellow W-Hat TERROR Truck parked near-by.

"Neal: We make fun of people who think we're griefers and terrorists. That's what all the 'cyber-terrorists' propaganda is about."

One W-Hat shouts over the din at the party, "Oh shit who is this 'Neal' fellow? I heard he likes boys confirm/deny?"

"In fact, we make fun of just about everyone," Feem continues.

"Do you make fun of W-Hat though?" I ask.

"Actually yeah, we do."

There's more W-Hat banter. One of them shouts, "FEEM LOVES BUTTSEX. HE TOLD ME TO KEEP IT A SECRET".

RIP Club Elite

Big John Jade hovers over the old Club Elite

As reported in the SL Forums, Club Elite finally bit the dust. People will talk about when it began its downhill plunge from the number one club on the grid, but there really is nothing to debate: they jumped the shark when Big John Jade blew a gasket right here in the Herald. The club declined, swtiched hands, declined some more, and now this. Still, this is our second nostalgia attack of the week. How can we forget the Herald Classics, which included reports on the Elite Escorts, the Elite Dancers, our interview with Escort Supervisor Daphne Molinari, their move to a private island, the grand opening party for their new island. *Sniff*... tissue please!

Advertisement: SLB Boxingmania 2!!!

SecondLIFE Boxing will be hosting one of their biggest events ever.. Boxingmania 2. Some of you might remember or have heard about the first Boxingmania, the match involving One Song vs. David Jacobs & Tank Levy... Well it is back and no one knows what is going to happen, with fights, drama and special appearances, You wouldn't want to miss it!

These are our current planned matches -
Carl Pierce vs. Green Jacques
Battle Royale (for the Xtreme Championship Belt) (Secret contestants)
Woman's Championship Match (Secret contestants)
Raji Zuma(champion) vs. Ted Eisenberg (for the SLB Championship Belt)
There will be more matches and appearances on the event!

We will see you there!

*** This is a paid advertisement. The Herald has no opinion on the product or service being advertised, and cannot vouch for the nature of its content. ***

Tringo Star

Congratulations to SL resident Kermitt Quirk, inventor of Tringo, the game that's swept Second Life over the last several months. After developing the game on his time off, Kermitt found Tringo becoming one of the grid's most popular pastimes. Now it's about to hit RL, as Kermitt has cut a licensing deal with SF's Donnerwood Media, which plans to develop the game for cell phones and the Web.

Clickable Culture blogs the story here, complete with a clickable link to the Wall Street Journal report, and Linden Lab provides more detail in the current edition of the SL newsletter.

Will this lead to a flood of in-world game development? There's already quite a bit of it, according to Pirate Cotton's Game SLave, a wiki listing all the in-world games SL has to offer. But none have proved as popular (or as annoying to the non-fan, judging from recent forum traffic) as Tringo, which is perhaps not surprising. By combining one of the most addictive computer games (Tetris) with one of the most addicitive of RL (Bingo), Kermitt has managed to create a seemingly perfect game for a virtual world that closely mimics our real one.

Which leads us to the only possible conclusion: Forty years from now, if LL is lucky, Second Life will be filled with blue-haired-old-lady avatars hunched over their Tringo cards muttering over how damn hard it is to fit that "S" shape into the grid and weren't things better back in the 1.5 days anyhow...

"It"s Not Illegal Yet!" -- Opening the Sports Book in SL

by Walker Spaight

As the rash of Tringo parlors makes clear, gambling is a not unpopular activity in Second Life. Now, just in time for March Madness, a full sports book is coming to SL that will allow residents to indulge their taste for wagering on RL sports like NCAA basketball, Major League Baseball, and whatever else happens to be in season.

The brainchild of TSO refugee Kingey Oz, The Grid Sportsbook will launch as soon as this weekend, offering the chance to bet on NBA and NCAA basketball at first, and expanding to other major sports as they come into season. The Herald spoke to Kingey outside the Second Life Network Building in Atlas as Kingey was considering final touches to put on The Grid Sportsbook vendors (pictured here without data).

The project, which is financed by backers who will remain nameless, will launch with a single vendor at James Miller's lotto terminal in Noyo, but should soon expand to locations all over the grid, according to Kingey.

The project is scripted by Marc Eisenberg, who has created a Web interface that will store games, spreads and results. Fearless Leader is responsible for the prim design of the vendor itself.

Kingey comes to SL's betting scene with similar experience from TSO, where he helped run the MotorCity Sports Book in 2003. "Casinos are big here, and it worked in TSO," Kingey said. "With enough persistence, I don't see why it shouldn't work here."

Previous grid experience with sports betting has not been a smashing success. Usher Caldera, who ran a scripted NFL book last season, told the Herald, "There are lots of gamblers in SL but very few sports fans." (Forum postings show that Satchmo Prototype also briefly ran an NFL book last year.)

Usher, who was kind enough to share his stats with the Herald, said he barely broke even on the venture, and "absolutely didn't make back my investment of time." Usher said his system took in about L$200,000 in wagers over the NFL season, 85 percent of which was paid out to winning bettors. Another 12 percent was paid out to "partners" who hosted his vendors on their land.

However, Usher was not discouraging when it came to future projects: "If it's promoted correctly, it could work, definitely," he said.

The Grid Sportsbook will operate through an XyText display that will allow bettors to scroll through available sports and games and place their bets. As a security measure, bettors receive a receipt which they will have to bring back to the vendor in order to collect their winning bets. Asked about the inventory-eating bugs that have cropped up lately in SL, Kingey said bettors would be free to IM him with any problems, as a full record of bets would also be stored by the vendor.

In the first implementation, bettors will be able to wager only on the point spread on games, but a future version should allow money line and over/under bets as well. Spreads and money lines will be determined from a composite of various Internet sources.

Payout on winning bets will be L$10 for each L$11 wagered. (I.e., total payout on a winning L$11 bet would be L$21.)

Asked about the legality of the operation, Kingey said he had informally polled a Linden about it, and gotten the following response: "It's not illegal yet!"

Bash and Crash on Unreal:SL's Opening Night

Bedazzle's much-anticipated Unreal:SL kicked off its weekend-long opening festivities last night with a crowded dance party that had everyone in attendance kicking up their heels -- so much so that the sim crashed before the party was much more than an hour old.

Despite the sentiments expressed above, the dancing re-booted itself soon enough, and there was no shortage of residents eager to bump elbows in the streets of Unreal level Chinatown, amid the sounds of rain, the crackle of neon and the clucking of chickens that had strayed into the sim's back alleys.

For more details on the opening festivities, click here. Or just tp over to the Chinatown sim. (Mature, to be sure.)

The wet streets of Chinatown

The view from Abraxas

In development since October 2004, Unreal is Second Life's first in-world first-person shooter. With the success of past Bedazzled projects like Sim Horror and the Gravity Space Station, the game is getting more attention than perhaps any project in the grid's recent memory.

Asked how the party was going from Bedazzled's point of view, chief developer Foxy Xevious responded enthusiastically: "It rocks! We are pleased with the results. One day is all we need to feel proud of what we've accomplished."

Jimmy Thomson, Unreal's chief developer, tuckered out after all his hard work

Your correspondent at work

The Mandarin of Watermelons

Cousin Vincenzo's Looking Glass War

In the hall of mirrors that is the SL mafia scene, alliegances come and go quickly and deception and betrayal are the order of the day. Vincenzo Gillespie worked for Vincent Stravinsky who in turn was in business with underworld power couple Gina Fatale and Marsellus Wallace. Vincenzo says he was hired to hit Cinda Valentino's casino, as well as a half dozen other clubs in SL. Stravinsky says no such hit was authorized and that Vincenzo is trying to cause trouble for the Stravinsky group because he was fired. All parties agree that Vincenzo was fired, but was it just a cover yer ass firing? In this four-way interview, I talk with Vincenzo, Vincent, and Cinda Valentino associate and Herald employee Mr. Fairplay. What really happened? You decide.

Vincenzo Gillespie: Make it quick I think I be suspended again roflmao
Urizenus Sklar: suspended? for what?
Vincenzo Gillespie: For shooting bombs during the attack
Vincenzo Gillespie: His neighbors he said are going to report me lol
Urizenus Sklar: Vincenzo, rumor has it that you've been chasing around to different club owners and gang leaders claiming that Gina Fatale ordered you to hit them. why?
Vincenzo Gillespie: You mean Cinda Valentino lol
Vincenzo Gillespie: I only hurt her, since Gina did ask for it to be done, she said it will help her club to get more visitors if the competition is dropped :-)
Vincenzo Gillespie: I only hit Cinda
Vincenzo Gillespie: She will deny it and most will believe her but hey, I do not give a rat's ass
Urizenus Sklar: What is the name of Cinda's club?
Vincenzo Gillespie: Some club Valentino club
Vincenzo Gillespie: Payment was well, thanks Gina
Mr Fairplay: So how could that possibly be helping Gina?
Vincenzo Gillespie: Some Valentino club, was a club or some shit I can not remember
Vincenzo Gillespie: All I remember is Gina asking for it to be done, so me being a polite man I was happy to oblige :-)
Vincenzo Gillespie: Was in some person picks, hell if I remember
Urizenus Sklar: Gina says you are angry because you were kicked out of Marsellus Wallace's group
Vincenzo Gillespie: lol
Urizenus Sklar: is that true?
Vincenzo Gillespie: I could care less about that, I got kicked cause I shot Vincent
Mr Fairplay: Valentino Nightclub Casino he is referring to Uri
Urizenus Sklar: Vincent Stravinsky?
Vincenzo Gillespie: Gina and Marsellus aka dick blower
Vincenzo Gillespie: Yes Vincent Stravinsky
Urizenus Sklar: so did you try to frame Gina because you were angry?
Vincenzo Gillespie: After I shot him, Marsellus and Gina got pissed, which I could care less, I also then shot Gina :-) that was when Marsellus kicked me he can blow my left nut
Vincenzo Gillespie: I was not trying to frame anyone, just trying to finish a hit :-)
Vincenzo Gillespie: Not angry hell I do not find anything in this game to get me angry just entertain me
Urizenus Sklar: I understand that you are plotting to fubar the opening of Stavinsky's club, is that true?
Vincenzo Gillespie: What do you think?
Urizenus Sklar: If I had the answer I wouldn't ask
Vincenzo Gillespie: got me on that one
Vincenzo Gillespie: I plead the 5th to that question :-)
Urizenus Sklar: So you are at war with Marsellus Wallace
Vincenzo Gillespie: lol I am one person what can I do.
Vincenzo Gillespie: But ya I will go to war with him lol one man army hahaha
Urizenus Sklar: you can try to frame them and to secure weapons for a global attack
Urizenus Sklar: I overheard you offering to buy a nuke from One Song
Vincenzo Gillespie: Ya I asked him infront of you
Urizenus Sklar: did you want to nuke Stavinsky club?
Vincenzo Gillespie: lol I would if I had a nuke ;-)
Vincenzo Gillespie: Would give you more to write about then eh?
Urizenus Sklar: well then is it fair to say that you are actively trying to find weapons to nuke Stavinsy's club?
Vincenzo Gillespie: Just do what I can to make sure I have entertainment for this game
Urizenus Sklar: Does that include attempting to frame former friends and employers?
Vincenzo Gillespie: I plead the 5th
Mr Fairplay: Ok so let me get this straight who exactly "payed" u to hit on Cinda's place?
Vincenzo Gillespie: Gina
Mr Fairplay: But you mentioned that you ended up shooting her also, now that doesn't make much sense does it?
Vincenzo Gillespie: Sure it does, put shit together my friend, I was working as a Hitman for vincent and Gina they asked me to complete certain jobs
Vincenzo Gillespie: Despite the fact I ended up turning my back on them, i wanted to make sure I completed the jobs they gave me so i could have more people attacking them as well :-)
Vincenzo Gillespie: Though they will deny it but hell why do I care anymore
Mr Fairplay: heya Vincent welcome to this interview
Vincent Stravinsky: Hey
Vincenzo Gillespie: Hello Vincent
Vincenzo Gillespie: So nice to join us :-)
Vincent Stravinsky: So is Vincenzo telling some more fictional tales?
Mr Fairplay: Sure sounds like it.
Vincenzo Gillespie: No fictional tales, just the truth
Vincent Stravinsky: Yeah ok.
Vincenzo Gillespie: If it was lies, why is Marsellus and other trying hard to take me out?
Urizenus Sklar: Vincenzo says he is seeking nukes to demo your club opening, do you have a comment on that vincent?
Vincent Stravinsky: Well... go ahead and do it.
Vincenzo Gillespie: Pass me a nuke? lol
Vincent Stravinsky: My club is in a public PG sim.
Urizenus Sklar: Mr., F, are those nukes still on the market?
Mr Fairplay: As it goes, they aren't I try to not disclose without my client's consent but a big time mafioso in SL has bought rights to it, for L$100K so that I don't resell
Mr Fairplay: so nope they aren't currently available for purchasing
Vincenzo Gillespie: lol
Urizenus Sklar: Vincenzo, why are yo uso angry with Mr. Wallace?
Vincenzo Gillespie: Just never cared for him honestly
Vincenzo Gillespie: He seems to be a load of shit
Urizenus Sklar: but you worked for him
Vincenzo Gillespie: Hell no
Vincent Stravinsky: Vincenzo claims to have gone "legit".
Urizenus Sklar: IC
Urizenus Sklar: So you don't like him, why is that a reason to frame him?
Vincenzo Gillespie: I did not frame anyone.
Urizenus Sklar: you claimed Gina offered you 2K to hit Cinda
Vincenzo Gillespie: I never said Gina offered any money
Mr Fairplay: eh?
Urizenus Sklar: well what did you say then?
Vincenzo Gillespie: In 2k range
Vincent Stravinsky: lol we all have the card
Vincenzo Gillespie: I said gina and Vincent paid me :-)
Vincenzo Gillespie: I did hits for Vincent and Gina
Mr Fairplay: Is that true Vincent?
Urizenus Sklar: 2K to hit Cinda?
Urizenus Sklar: and what does that mean? shoot her once?
Vincenzo Gillespie: never said 2k i just said I got a payment
Urizenus Sklar: well how much was the payment?
Vincenzo Gillespie: That is between me and Gina and Vince
Urizenus Sklar: well they say zero
Urizenus Sklar: what do you say?
Vincenzo Gillespie: Never ask a man how much he has in his wallet, and how much he gets for a job :-)
Mr Fairplay: Vince how much would it cost me to get u talking?
Urizenus Sklar: what I really want to understand is why you are so angry with vincent, Marsellus and Gina
Vincenzo Gillespie: Of course they will say zero...they want to make it look like I hit Cinda for my own reason
Vincenzo Gillespie: Not angry with them, was just Vince
Vincenzo Gillespie: You see Vince was paying me to do things, he later then ripped me off
Vincenzo Gillespie: I was not happy with that, so I shot vince
Vincenzo Gillespie: Then one thing lead to another.
Mr Fairplay: So why is Marsellus after you now?
Vincenzo Gillespie: Since Gina cried to him claiming I am framing her and Vince
Vincenzo Gillespie: Marsellus is there to try and clean things up, what did he do in TSO supposedly?
Vincent Stravinsky: And no it's not true. We didn't hire Vincenzo. He was fired from both Russian Mob and KingPin when he hit Cinda.
Vincenzo Gillespie: Yes to make it look like I did it on my own
Vincent Stravinsky: Vincenzo you're so bad at this.
Vincenzo Gillespie: You see how quick I get fired from kingPin and Mob after completing a job?
Mr Fairplay: Why was he fired Vincent?
Vincenzo Gillespie: So bad at what, the truth?
Vincenzo Gillespie: Look at how Marsellus was in