Alphaville Herald

The Second Greatest Story Ever Told. Now in Paperback!

Dawning of the Age of Metaverse Enlightenment

by Dr. Ocularis, Herald Book Club

As we survey the broad sweep of the last two and a half millennia of Western culture, several efforts stand out as “Great Books” of this tradition -- The Bible, Plato’s Republic, and Aristotle’s Poetics, for example. Is it not time to add to this august list the story of Urizenus Sklar and the Second Life Herald? Well, you may not think so, but pointy headed intellectuals beg to differ! Let’s review the accolades received thus far by The Second Life Herald: the Virtual Tabloid that Witnessed the Dawn of the Metaverse:

• American Association of Publishers, Professional/Scholarly Publishing award for “Best Book in Media and Cultural Studies, 2007” .
• Choice “Outstanding Academic Title, 2008”
• Library Journal “Top Sci-Tech Book, 2007,” (Ranked one of top 39 science books of 2007 and top book in category of Computer Science).

And now, finally, the book appears in paperback so that the masses may partake in cranium expanding properties of this instant classic. Sleep tight tonight, grizzled Oxford Dons, Western Culture has never been in better shape.

TSO Failure Analysis (reprinted)

RIP TSO

Many of you have heard the sad but perhaps inevitable news that TSO will close its doors permanently on August 1. Many Second Lifers began their travels in the metaverse on TSO and this newspaper began there as well as The Alphaville Herald. From the very first weeks of our covering TSO we saw horrendous weaknesses in TSO, and we reported accordingly. However, for my money the best analysis of the failure of TSO was posted here in January of 2004 by a reporter named Kiss. I am reprinting it here with only minor edits. The comments under the original are well worth a read too. --Uri

TSO Failure Analysis

by Kiss

I'm a 44-year-old Manager for a company that develops simulations and software for the military and have been playing TSO since Beta (November '02). I have never been a member of any of the Mafias, never received or given an enemy link other than to play with my friends, and have pretty much played TSO the way Maxis envisioned it to be played. And yet, I am now going to be reducing my TSO playing time significantly and moving on to other MMOGs. Why am I doing this? Because I hate living in the wimpy environment that TSO has morphed into.

Fox Making Movie from EA's Sims Game

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

Peter Gilstrap reports in Variety that 20th Century Fox is planning to make a a live-action movie of The Sims, after purchasing the feature rights from Electronic Arts. The script is still being written, and the talent is presently unnamed, but there are some clues in a quote from Rod Humble, who is managing the creative property for Electronic Arts:

"'The SIMS has done an interactive version of an old story, which is what it's like to have infinite power and how do you deal with it. Given that that's an old story, you can imagine how easily that would translate to traditional story telling."

So is this the story of a game system admin handing out perma-ban to players on a whim? Or a player with an exploit that gives them game god powers? Those stories never have happy endings.

Skeptics will wonder if they really need to go to the theaters to see this sort of thing - isn’t that what we get everyday in SL already? On the other hand, at least movie theaters don’t crash all the time. The Herald is offering Prokofy Neva and Urizenus Sklar to consult on the project - they both have some experience with how EA deals with infinite power in its game.

Is Ginko's Alleged Ponzi Game About to Implode? Will Linden Lab be Held Liable?

The Journal of the Business Law Society at the University of Illinois College of Law is running a well documented article on Second Life's Ginko corporation, which claims to have the equivalent of $475,000 US invested in it but which some have called a ponzi scheme, Meanwhile, Philip Linden has comparedGinko to the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh. Finally, someone is calling out Philip on this outrageous attitude. From the JBLS:

More curious than people’s willingness to give their money to Ginko, is that Linden Lab does not seem to find anything worrisome about the venture. Linden Lab’s CEO and founder, Philip Rosedale, believes that banks can exist within the virtual world of Second Life without regulation. Rosedale likens banks like Ginko to Grameen Bank of Bangladesh which makes small unsecured loans to the very poor to help them start businesses and work their way out of poverty.

Meanwhile, a well placed and reliable Herald source tells us that Ginko is in fact a ponzi scheme. We are not in a position to pronounce on the matter, given the real life legal implications, however we think it is about time for Ginko to show some transparency. Where is the money!? Open the books, and show us where the money has been invested. Is it in other Second Life businesses, or in things like sweet new rides, as our source insists? More to the point, if it *is* a ponzi, will Linden Lab be liable? From the article.

Given Ginko’s complete lack of transparency, if it turned out to be a swindle, it would be very hard for depositors to track down the person or persons behind it. Even if they were found, there is no guarantee that depositors would be able to obtain redress. If this were to occur, it is likely that the depositors would sue Linden Lab for not protecting them from fraud. By not taking efforts to ensure that commercial activity in Second Life is conducted in a transparent manner, Linden Lab is in essence putting their stamp of approval on ventures like Ginko. Linden Lab of course absolves itself of any liability for the actions of Second Life users in its Terms of Service Agreement, but there is no guarantee that the Terms of Service Agreement will hold up in court. If a court determines that Linden Lab is liable for fraudulent activities that take place within Second Life, they may be overwhelmed with suits. To avoid liability, and governmental regulation of the commercial activities within Second Life, Linden Lab should develop rules and policies that ensure commercial transactions between users are transparent and legitimate.

See Virtually Blind for further discussion and an observation that, with yields down 60% in 16 months, it does not look good for Ginko investors.

Home for the Holidays

By Dyerbrook, Dept. of Family Holiday Fun

Yes, home is the place, where...when you have to go there, they have to take you in. Tired of lag, grey squares, missing textures, bots, bits, and bobs? There's always The Sims Online, home for many of us who write, read, and comment on the Herald.

TSO is where the Herald got its start as the "Alphaville Herald" in fact. It's a game many long left behind, but in fact, they occasionally sneak back just for the sure joy of having something reliably work, petting that rare dog in inventory that took months of culling to find, and checking the map. Your TSO account probably still works -- they keep them forever -- and it's a bargain because they never charge tier there.

SimArts is still on the map; also on the map are those roof artists of the type we find now in SL in places like Jinsil with their giant PLEASE FIX SL; on the TSO map we can now see a neighbourhood called: UPDATEthis GAMEnow! Seems to speak to a lack of erm...content.

Checked my inventory -- neither my 3rd OR 4th anniversary presents were there yet despite complaints. But there's snow on the ground, a fire crackling, the pooltable beckons invitingly with balls that don't go offworld, and jamming now garners a whopping $3000 simoleons at the best establishments!

LL’s Metaverse Swoons At 16,000 Logins

Residents enjoy saturated network, sim crashing, intermittent teleports

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk
Linden Lab today admitted to performance problems that might have rendered the grid nearly un-usable for at least a few users who wanted to do something other than sit in one place and share lagged-out IM and chat over the last several days. Reports earlier this weekend of repeated sim crashes and surprising lag were apparently acknowledged with a pair of in-world announcements - which were also posted to a no-comments thread on the official Linden blob blog. Evidently the Lab does not feel its interests are well served by accepting customer comments via the blog on the poor performance of the grid - perhaps under the theory that many of the complaints come from those using free accounts to partake of the metaverse’s delights.

The reaction from paying customers the Herald contacted was somewhere between angry and resigned with the consensus being that whenever the number of logged in users approaches 14,000 performance is abysmal. Today the Lab’s Second Life world - regarded by some as an ongoing multi-year beta-test - saw well over 16,000 concurrent logged-in users -- with predictable results. Residents who could not teleport to their desired locations amused themselves by collecting screen shots of rare and hard-to-find ‘cannot teleport’ messages - a number of these will be added to the Herald's special collection of unusual images.[see below the fold]

TSO Shocker - Urizenus Sklar Part of Sim Shadow Government

by Pixeleen Mistral, Internal Affairs Unit

Anya Ixchel's interview of Herald founder Urizenus Sklar in SLatenight ends with a shocking revelation - Uri confesses that while in The Sims Online he was a secret part of the Sims Shadow Government - a vigilante group that appointed itself to police the TSO world - and a frequent subject of Herald coverage.

Three Years of the Herald! Come Celebrate, October 26.

You love it, you hate it, you wrap your pixelated fish in it, but there's just no avoiding the Second Life Herald. Though things looked rocky a while back, the Herald has soldiered on, revivified by the bloodhound instincts of new Herald managing editor Pixeleen Mistral, and recently re-joined by Herald founder Urizenus Sklar. Now you too can rake a little muck, by joining us at the Herald's third birthday party, to be held next Thursday, October 26, at 2pm SL time, in the Hyperborea sim. Hyperborea, of course, is the new location of the august _blacklibrary, which hosted last year's event. As ever, we have no idea what's going to go on there, but Hyperborea has a nice big sandbox in the middle of the sim, so bring your party favors.

New Crimes, New Punishments

The New Scientist is running an article in its May 20th edition all about crime and punishment in the virtual world -- one of the Herald's favorite subjects. In fact, most of the piece could have been ripped from the Herald headlines -- and probably was. Of course, it features yet another interview with mafia don and media hound Marsellus Wallace, but don't let that stop you. Mars even outs his gf in this one!

Relevant portions excerpted below for your discussion:

Teh Clones Invade Friendster

Loyal readers of the Herald may recall several episodes of cloning that took place back when the Herald had its HQ in The Sims Online. Most notable was the episode involving a toon named Lead Architect, who was impersonated by a scammer named Lead Archeticht, who used the original's good name to abscond with unsuspecting toons' simoleans. Now comes a report of a cloning on social networking site Friendster, in which a man posed as a woman named Wendy, mostly, it seems, in order to garner a new set of friends. The Herald advises readers to be on the lookout for teh clones, as they have been known to strike anywhere. Always be sure the person you're chatting to is the person you think you're chatting to. This has been a public service announcement on behalf of avatars everywhere.

Mafia Boss Gains Control of SL Stratics

In an ongoing investigation into the news that a Second Life portal was coming to Stratics, the Herald has learned some alarming news: the avatar chosen to manage the soon-to-be-launched Stratics site covering all things Second Life appears to be none other than renowned mob boss (and occasional Herald contributor) Marsellus Wallace.

test post for Herald TV

This is a test post for what in the fullness of time will evolve into the Herald TV branch of the Herald media empire.  Posted here is actually a story from TechTV on the ESRB ratings of online games, featuring former Herald staffer Jessica and cranky professor L.

BUY BUY BUY!!! Uber-Authors' Doomsday Book Debuts on Amazon.com

Woot! If you didn't believe it before, now you can actually feast your eyes: The Doomsday book recently penned by uber-authors Peter Ludlow and Mark Wallace in a flurry of champagne, clattering typewriter keys and cigar smoke is now available for pre-order on Amazon.com.

For those who aren't already aware, the book recounts the adventures of virtual journalist Urizenus Sklar, who founded this very newspaper in The Sims Online only to be bounced out of the game once Electronic Arts got wind of the revealing stories the Herald was publishing. Bringing the reader all the way up through the Herald's recent history, Ludlow and Wallace take a revealing look at what really goes on in the virtual world of massively multiplayer online games and environments like Second Life, and even dare to peek forward into the future.

2005 Avatar of the Year: Prokofy Neva

Avatar of the Year Prokofy Neva (left) with Pathfinder Linden

In December 2004, the Herald reported a story that raised few eyebrows at the time, but which would eventually become the single most controversial issue in Second Life during 2005, and would speak to many questions about how governance in cyberspace might shake out. The December story covered the arrival of yet another immigrant from TSO, the infamous avatar Dyerbrook, whose zealous campaign to protest the hegemonic Sim Shadow Government and the favors they were allegedly shown by Electronic Arts employees had earned him wide disfavor. When the Herald heralded Dyerbrook's arrival in the form of avatar Prokofy Neva, few Second Life citizens took notice. Little did they know that the arrival of Prok on SL's shores would turn out to be an epochal moment in the history of the virtual world. And little did the Herald's editors suspect that one year later they would name him their 2005 Avatar of the Year.

As part of the Herald's 2005 Avatar of the Year special, we are pleased to present the following excerpt from Only A Game: Online Worlds and the Virtual Journalist Who Knew Too Much, by Peter Ludlow (aka Herald Publisher and Editor in Chief Urizenus Sklar) and Mark Wallace (aka Herald Editorial Director Walker Spaight), profiling the Herald's 2005 Avatar of the Year, Prokofy Neva:

Family Reunion?

Pat the Rat undercover in Chinatown

You didn't hear it from Pat the Rat, dear readers (well, actually, you did), but word on the streets of Second Life is that the original virtual mobsters are coming to town. Having left The Sims Online and gone to the mattresses some time ago (the virtual matresses, that is), we hear that a certain Sim Mafia family, ever a Herald staple, is now eyeballing the Grid as a terroritory ripe for their expanding operations.

As devoted Herald readers know, the family only dabbles in legitimate industries like property renovation, temporary financial aid for underprivileged avatars, and providing dime-a-dance girls for weekend sock hops. But still, some people manage to accuse them of getting up to all kinds of dirty deeds. Shame, shame! Pat the Rat says: Let s/he who is without sin cast the first stone (since Pat doesn't qualify on that score, hehe). Just to be on the safe side, though, the Sim Mafia has already enlisted the services of a certain blinged-out consiglieri to defend them against any trumped-up charges, Pat hears. Does he have the Metaverse Superior Court in his pocket already? Or is he just glad to see us?

Major Media Discovers Dirty Mods!

TSO modded with the Kingware Nude Skin Patch

Well gosh golly, it looks like the NY Times, the LA Times, and Hillary Clinton have finally caught up with Clickable Culture and have discovered dirty mods for Grand Theft Auto, San Andreas!

The GTA San Andreas Hot Coffee mod is a bit different than the usual fare, because it requires using a terms of service violating program to unlock a subprogram that is already in the software, but functionally (from the users perspective) there is exactly zero difference between that and a mod that does all the work, like the wildly popular Nude Skin Patch that is almost universally used on Teen rated (13+) The Sims Online.

No doubt EA is please with this turn of events because it has been getting reamed by Rockstar Games-- the makers of GTA, and their own video game (The Godfather) that is supposed to go head to head with GTA is so far a bust, but they ought not to get too giddy about this.

Earlier our contributor J, reported on what a joke the ESRB is, not that anyone except Tech TV paid attention, and the ESRB itself told J to get lost. But now J is in law shool at Pepperdine, and is all tight with the Dean of that school, who happens to be one Kenneth Starr, and one can only wonder when the other shoe tree will drop. Meanwhile we pine for the good old days when video games were restricted to good clean fun like stealing cars and shooting hookers.

End of an error era: JC Soprano avi for sale on eBay

I have to say that I personally had a nostalgia attack and shed a tear or two when I saw this: The JC Soprano avatar/founder account on TSO is up for sale on ebay. Yes, this is the very same JC who fought with the Sim Shadow Government (both in game and on CNN), who managed to get his mug all over the traditional press (e.g. The Boston Globe), and who inserted himself to the internationally reported Alphaville elections by corrupting poor Mr-President.

And now the avi is for sale. Is nothing in this world really sacred? There are two days left in the auction.

Giant Snail Races Leave Trails of Tears and Slime

by Alex Fitzsimmons

The competition in RacerX Gullwing's Giant Snail Races may not be the fastest in the world of Second Life, but it may well be the biggest and slimiest.

Giant racing snails at the gate.

Snorting and heaving against the gate, the snails can't wait to get going!

At about 35 meters from the ground to the tips of their antennae, the cartoonish giant snails easily dwarf ordinary avatars. Mr. Gullwing said he originally designed the snail for a giant avatar contest, then later adapted it for racing. "I was thinking about it for months," he said. "(Isle de) Montmartre needed traffic, so I started it there."

With a little help from his neighbor Catfart Grayson, who handles the artificial intelligence coding, and Mae Best, the owner of Montmartre, Mr. Gullwing started the first races in late November 2004. They weren't without their challenges.

"I had a lot of people show at the early races -- so many that the scoreboard couldn't handle it," he explained. "Eventually, I hit on the idea of checkpoints and limited races to four snails at a time."

At the turn, it's Thirty in the lead!

If more than four snails want to race at a given event, he added, they race in separate heats, with the first- and second-place finishers in each heat going on to compete against one another in one final race.

"But half of the time, one race is it," he said.

Thiry crosses the finish line first and macks for the review stand while fireworks go off.

Mr. Gullwing currently hosts races Tuesdays at 8 p.m. SL time at Hawthorne in Chase's Manhattan and Saturdays at 11 a.m. SL time at Montmartre.

Since he founded the event, Mr. Gullwing has made several other improvements, including scripting the snail avatars not to fly so that he doesn't have to get the land owners to turn off that ability for the races. Two weeks ago, he hosted the first Grand National Championship, wherein he invited previous winners to return and race for more than 10,000 Lindens in prize money.

Two of Mr. Gullwing's most recent improvements to the event include an automated announcer that broadcasts a racer's best laps for the day and moving bleachers that actually detach and float into the air to give audience members a bird's-eye view of the action.

"I think it'll keep getting better as we think of more ways to improve it," he said.

Proprietor RacerX in his bigg-ass avi, entertains the crowd post-race.

Sidebar

Thirty slides to victory in 2:24
by Alex Fitzsimmons

Leaving a shiny trail as he streaked across the finish line well ahead of the competition, Johntron Thirty won Tuesday's Giant Snail Race at Hawthorne in Chase's Manhattan with a total time of 2 minutes, 24 seconds and a best-lap time of 1 minute, 9 seconds.
Describing his technique after the race, Thirty said, "I just faced towards the checkpoints and slid as fast as I could, being sure to avoid any fellow racers."
Dodger Alexander took second place. Citing "shell problems," Wayfinder Wishbrin started late and came in third.
Finally, Ell Pollack slipped into the water and was forced to settle for a waterlogged dead last.
"I sympathized because the same thing happened to me twice in the previous race," Thirty admitted.

On Scamming Scammers

by The Phantom

Recently someone on TSO scammed a scammer and then gave the proceeds to the victims of the scammer. Three cheers for the virtual Robin Hood or bad idea? A discussion has opened on Stratics.

Avatar of the Year, 2nd Place: Sir/Father Callahan

This choice might surprise some, but not after you hear the facts. Over the past year, Sir/FatherC/Ian has been all over tso, and SL, and usually in the middle of some dramma or other. Beginning the year as a small time simolean dealer, he made a name (and drammatically changed gameplay) by acquiring zillions of trial accounts and selling them to mafia's etc. He used Nyk's mazebot, but drew the ire of the simolean dealers by reviewing the new version of the mazebot straight out of the chute. Not long after, he made a name for himself by using his trial accounts to acquire piles of rare cannons, flooding the market. But he really started making news when he joined Mr-President's administration as Press Secretary...

As Press Secretary for the Alphaville Government (AVG), Sir initially led the defense of Mr-President against charges of fixing the election and groping an innocent intern (and even organized a smear campaign against Ashley), but when Sir caught Mr-P in the White House, alone with Angelique Fontaine (Angelina Becquerel in SL), it was more than he could bear, and he resigned his position and turned on Mr-P. Later he formed the Simulated Soviet Union (SSU) with disgruntled members of the AVG, and led a griefing attack in which the AVG Capitol building was trashed. Fed up with the criticism he received for the SSU, he quit tso and moved to Second Life, and had a series of alts banned for griefing (including a bingo fire bombing episode) when he finally stabilized as Father Callahan and worked for the Herald as a reporter.

Father Callahan managed to be in the thick of the dramma surrounding the Second Jessie War, and it was his interview with Tank Levy that led to the big split between One Song and Tank and the end of their joint mega-mall project. Father Callahan was on the ground during the great Jessie Battle as well. His biggest scoop was perhaps the interview with Mimi Coral, after she was accused of being the terraforming terrorist and destroying 6 private sims.

Father Callahan was subsequently banned again from SL, and so returned to tso and set up shop in Dragon's Cove, but with this return the real story turned out to be his reporting and the abuses of power by Stratics moderators, reportage which, given the thin excuses provided, led to his being banned from Stratics for a while.

Through it all Sir has been operating the Alphaville Gazzette, which is the leading source of real news about tso since the Herald moved operations to SL, and it is clearly the second best newspaper in blogspace!

For all this, we consider Sir/Father Callahan to be a bigger newsmaker than Ashley and Mr-President. But not quite number one... stay tuned for that.

Avatars of the Year, 3rd Place: Ashley and Pez

Before the year closes out, the Herald is going to hand out its avatars of the year awards, beginning with third place. The award goes to the avatars+alts that changed virtual news the most (for better or worse) during the past year. This year, third place is a tie between Ashley Richardson and Mr-President, both formerly of Alphaville.

Mr-President, of course, deserves credit for creating the Alphaville Government and organizing the elections. Probably having Ashley as his challenger was key in helping the election to get international press, ranging from Wired News, to an NPR interview, to the New York Times. But on the dark side, Pez was caught up in election fixing charges, and of course his reputation was tarnished by his association with gang leader JC Soprano. Meanwhile, Ashley helped lead the charge for an investigation into election corruption, but then made news herself when the Miss Alphaville pagent that she organized was allegedly rigged, and shocked citisims by enlisting famous scammers as judges in the finals of her contest. Both were big big newsmakers, and added much to tso gameplay. Congrats!

JC Soprano has a Christmas Present for EA

In this interview infamous TSO mafia boss JC Soprano returns to TSO. Having been interviewed on CNN and covered in periodicals ranging from the Boston Globe to CNet, JC is the ghost of Christmas past AND Christmas future, back to haunt EA. In this interview he talks about the reason for his return, his smackdown on Reno Parks (aka Reno Blaze) for two-timing Gina Fatale, his corruption of the nationally reported (NY Times, NPR, etc) Alphaville Presidential Elections, and has some smacktalk for Baller, Tony Gambino, Jeff Brown, etc.

Urizenus: ok, JC, good to see you again, what's the 411?
JC Soprano: Well I have decided to come out of retirement and have been back in TSO Since December 17th. Assumed control of my old property, which luckily was left intact as I left it, and am in the process of reopening the casino. If all goes as planned should be back open by end of this weekend.
JC Soprano: Oh and our website is back online.. www.JC Soprano.com
Urizenus: What brought you back?
JC Soprano: Boredom? lol Actually I kinda missed playing it. Plus I hear they have made some changes that I felt needed to come. I know I said that EA would pull the plug on this after christmas sometime. I figure if I am right I might as well retire with the game and ride it out until the end. If I am wrong well then hopefully EA will be getting lots of new customers because of Christmas and TSO will be the game which it should have always been. A game with a good sized customer base. I just got done playing Star Wars Galaxies and their customer base is huge, but unfortunately if you thought EA Games customer service was bad you should check out Sony Online Entertainment's.
JC Soprano: It's more fun when more people are playing it. When I retired TSO was dying
Urizenus: Well why didn't you come to Second Life.
JC Soprano: I was there indirectly. I never signed up for personal reasons, but have been debating on signing up just to hang out with some old friends like Sonny Satriale and one of our newest Soprano members Gina Fatale. It's cheap enough to sign up so I figure why the hell not. I just am not going to let it consume more time that TSO. There are talks of a documentary being done on my group so my focus is on TSO at the moment. That's partly the other reason why I came out of retirement. Lot's of old members are coming on board too.
JC Soprano: I did manage to mess up Reno Blaze's world though in SL. Bad Boys I think they called themselves.. I didn't even play and I FUBAR'd him.
Urizenus: Do tell!
JC Soprano: He was Gina Fatale's man. Basically I got some intelligence that he was messin around on her in-game and as she is my friend I told her. She of course did not believe me at first and then I got a hold of some names and presented them top her which of course she still didn't believe me. Somehow though the truth came out and they ended up splitting up. So in essence, I broke them up. Then he decided he would be billy bad ass to me on Yahoo. Well punks jump up to get beat down.. So I talked to a few people that I knew played and managed to have his little island taken care of, which it was. From there he became a total dick, not that he wasn't before, but his friends and associates slowly backed away from him or he got paranoid and kicked them out. I had at least 1 person in his gr.
JC Soprano: group and that made him paranoid as hell.
Urizenus: I never did like that guy.
JC Soprano: No one did I don't think.
Urizenus: You think you can still get that kind of drama in TSO?
JC Soprano: hahaha I already have. There is this lil wanna be called Baller. Bought a spot on our island and in his bio it says he is the head of The Sim Mafia. I messaged him my first day in being all nice and he thought I was a friend fucking with him. Which I could understand since i had a 0 day Sim then. He hadn't noticed my founder icon though. I got my old account back, but EA had already deleted my character. He tried to tell me that he created that group and what not, tried to claim he had 15 members. I simply laughed and sent him a press article about me and what I do. He then didn't beleive I was who I said I was so I got control of my old island spot back which is The Sim Mafia lot. At this point I had some members start to gather intel on the guy and found out he has...
JC Soprano: hardly any members and most of them are him on multiple accounts. His lot Sim Mall has himself for all the roomies. Kind of a rip off lot if you ask me too. He sort of scams people out of their objects for hella cheap prices and then jacks up the price to resell. Anyway, I then contacted his supposed family in which they denied even knowing the guy. Needless to say at one point he came to us and asked to join. That was right when I had gotten the lot back from Chances. He also claimed he would leave the island, but that has yet to happen. I figured I would give the kid (assuming) a small repreive until after Christmas. He hasn't gotten into line by then, well.. You can guess..
Urizenus: What kind of business ventures do you have planned?
JC Soprano: Well the casino which has always been our bread and butter will be reopening. I got all the classic dice games. Things are changing within the group too to allow a more independent form of game play. In real life the mafia may work together in a crew but they all have independent things they do to make money. I do plan on getting back into the Simolean selling business and my e-bay strategy guide business.
Urizenus: Are you ready to come clean on your role in the Alphaville Prez elections now?
JC Soprano: hahaha Why you gonna bring up old sheeit? lol Where the hell is Mr. President anyways? I haven't talked or seen him in forever. My role in the Alphaville elections was simply planning. I presented the ideas and whether or not he ran with them I have no clue.
Urizenus: Well did you offer an election-fixing plan?
JC Soprano: Yes of course I did.. I just said that lol
Urizenus: Did he say he liked the plan or did he say it sucked?
JC Soprano: Nah he sounded like he was going to do it. Then that one story came out and he got spooked and was talking about not doing it, so I truly have no clue.
JC Soprano: But yes, I was the idea man on that
Urizenus: rotfl
Urizenus: Any hijinxs planned for EA?
JC Soprano: All I got to say is Merry Christmas EA Games. I missed you Tigger!! You know how I do it. I challenge everything. If EA don't like what I am doing this time around after all the free advertising I have given them and all the people I have resigning up to join, they can kiss my ass. That goes for you too Jeff Brown! It's about time you actually treated the players with a little bit of respect since they are paying the bills, not you.
Urizenus: Tigger quit man
JC Soprano: No shit? Damn... How's the new person? She up for the challenge?
JC Soprano: or He.
Urizenus: Tigger's been working for SoE, rotfl
JC Soprano: No wonder!!!!
Urizenus: fark man, u haven't been reading the Herald!
JC Soprano: Nope haha It was SL Herald
JC Soprano: hahaha Sorry man, I don't play SL so why read it? I do get sent some articles sometimes, but thats about it.
JC Soprano: Gina and a few others are real good about keeping me informed
JC Soprano: I haven't been playing, but I am still very much in the loop
Urizenus: Any messages for PM or Tony Gambino or the Triads?
JC Soprano: Tony Gambino? What a laugh, not worth the time or energy. PM? I haven't talked to him in forever. I hear he's doing well though. Hopefully eventually the past can be the past. The Triads? Don't start none, won't be none. I haven't fucking with them so why would they fuck with me? They could try, but they better pack a lunch. I tried to be diplomatic too much last time I played. This round I won't let things slide as easily. I have a lot of old members coming back. The co-founder of the family Big Italy is coming back as well as a few other old school members.
Urizenus: alright man, merry festivus
JC Soprano: Merry Christmas

Black Hand Mafia Opens Club in SL

by Gina Fatale

Former denizens of TSO remember the Black Hand Mafia. Sonny Satriale, as the Godfather of the BlackHand Mafia was known in TSO, has been spending his days in SecondLife under the name Santino Molinari. Santino has started a chapter of the BlackHand mafia in SL his first family operated business is the club which had its grand opening last night.

ClubBlackHand is owned and operated by the very sexy BlackHand Underboss, Blaydon Loveless. Mr. Loveless was kind enough to show me around the mobsters' joint before the grand opening party began.

Blaydon Loveless, Underboss, Club Owner,….mmmmmm

(here Blaydon takes me to the secret entrance to the “private area” as he called it, as you can see I was admiring his ass oops I mean the hand work on the wall….)

Passing thru the red hand brings us to a small corridor with 4 doors in each corner, so me being the inquisitive reporter I wanted to see what was behind one of these doors….

(all them balls on the bed was more than I could handle so I stayed back)

(I felt so dirty after viewing the sex rooms I decided to take a bath in the “romantic themed room”)

Drunk mobsters dancing

Picture says it all.

Thanks to Evangeline for the pointer.

Viva Toivonen attempts denial of service attack against Herald

Former Alphaville griefer Viva Toivonen (aka Viva T, Angelica, Isabella, Fruitcake Lady) has initiated a feeble denial of service attack against the Herald because the Herald refused to remove comments that Viva posted several months ago and then wished to retract. Apparently the offending comments are in these two threads:

http://www.alphavilleherald.com/archives/000206.html
http://www.alphavilleherald.com/archives/000203.html

Following is a complete history of the threatening letters from Viva. In completely unrelated news, Publisher Urizenus Sklar has announced that One Song will be the new Directory of Security and Retribution for the Herald. Have a nice day.

Bob Busch: Triads pwn Dragon's Cove

Since Liz Montana moved to SL, became Gina Fatale, and went to work for One Song, life has gotten better for the Triad Mafia. Not only do they claim to pwn Dragon's Cove on their web site, but Bob Busch has recently published a dissertation on the virtual Mafia life in Mick Lite's new forums. What is Gina doing? Well, tonight she's getting married. I think the guy sells insurance or alluminum siding or something. Has she gone soft from all the sim luv? I remember the days when she pwned Bobby.

October Census: Alphaville is officially dead

Following up on our February and May Census, here are the results for Alphaville in October (taken Oct. 10) and it isn't pretty. Following are the logged hours for the top 100 properties in every catgory rounded to the nearest hour.

Category

The TSO Task Squad: Stasi-styled group promises to rat out fellow players

In a disturbing and shocking development on TSO, several plays have formed a group "devoted to seeking out and reporting sims that violate the EA Terms of Service." Called the "TSO Task Squad" the stated motive of the group is to "help restore TSO to an enjoyable and challenging game for all". But let's be clear about what the new game really is. It is more aptly called "Stasi" after the East German secret police, and the game strategy is to report your fellow players to a 15 billion dollar corporation for infractions of a contract that the players probably never read. What makes it a meta-game is that it is a nice way to eliminate your competition. And then there is the joy that can only come from ratting out your friends to a corporate monolith. All I can say is that I sincerely hope this is a hoax. The press release of this troubling group follows.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact:
Mr. Adam Roberts
http://www.DragonsCove.00Game.com
Spartacus007@GMail.com

Sims Online Task Squad Forms

Alphaville, Sept. 5, 2004 -- In order to help restore The Sims Online to an enjoyable and challenging game for all, the Sims Online Task Squad was formed today. It is devoted to seeking out and reporting sims that violate the EA Terms of Service in ways that unfairly hurt the game play of the other players.

We are not affiliated with EA, and we make no claim to be an official organization. We are simply a loosely affiliated group of Sims that meet to discuss ways to achieve our common purpose- get rid of the money cheaters.

When The Sims Online first came out, it was fun. There was a struggle to earn money and buying an expensive object or expanding to a full-size lot on the beach was a reflection of achievement. Players opened up restaurants and game shows and casinos.

Now that has changed. Some players were able to develop third party tools that took advantages of the game, and made millions of Simoleans overnight. They sell them on eBay and other places. Before long, for just a few bucks a Sim could get a huge house with everything they wanted without lifting a finger.

Money and Skill houses became all-in-one centers, giving huge payouts to whoever would visit. Making money off charging for food is a distant memory. Pay doors and tip jars are ridiculous to think of. Casinos are required to operate at a loss, just to attract visitors.

When EA announced the opening of the new city Dragon's Cove, the decided to conduct periodic raids and investigations into players suspected of cheating. The idea is that this, along with various other tweaks in game play, would help to stop DC from turning into the boring, cheat-friendly city that is now Alphaville, Blazing Falls, Jolly Pines, and the rest of the Simland.

So why not do this ourselves? There is a handy button in your toolbar in the bottom left-hand corner marked '?' If you click on it you can quickly and easily report a Sim you have found cheating.

But its not enough to passively stumble across cheaters. We need to band together and aggressively seek out and destroy these villains who are ruining the game. For far far too long we have sat back and complained but done little to stem the flow of illegal money in our fair cities. Its time we take action!

When EA announced the opening of the new city Dragon's Cove, the decided to conduct periodic raids and investigations into players suspected of cheating. The idea is that this, along with various other tweaks in game play, would help to stop DC from turning into the boring, cheat-friendly city that is now Alphaville, Blazing Falls, Jolly Pines, and the rest of the Simland.

Anyone can help. You can visit lots and keep an eye on the Sims there. Do they go more than 15 minutes without moving or timing out? Do their movement patterns follow that of a Sim controlled by a bot program? Report them.

One of the best ways to help is to post your own ideas for catching scammers, and to spread the word to your fellow Sims about the Task Squad.

For information: http://dragonscove.00game.com or
Contact: spartacus007@gmail.com

###

Stuttgarter Zeitung examines Alphaville mafias

S? Iwersen, of the Stuttgarter Zeitung has just published part one of a two part article on Alphaville -- this part dedicated to the golden age of Alphaville when JC Soprano of the Sim Mafia squared off agains the SSG. Lots of discussion of Piers and Jen and JC. I only have the article in PDF format, but it's hereif you wanna look.

Chad Thomas found innocent.

A lot happened in the week I was offline, so again apologies for being slow to report all this. One of the bigger stories of the past week has to be the trial of Chad Thomas in the AVG election-fixing saga. Chad was found innocent, which is just as well IMHO -- he was just a fall guy for the real guilty part: Mr-President. IMHO.

Judge Carmella's summary of the trial follows. It's a very good read, so I strongly recommend everyone check it out.

City of Alphaville V Chad Thomas

Results of the trial [judge Carmella's report]

The trial began short 2 jurors but both attorneys agreed that this was an acceptable jury. Mr. Pierce started the proceedings with an opening statement. Elegantly spoken Mr Pierce outlined the charges against Chad Thomas. Robert the man stepped to the podium next to defend his client. While Robert the man's opening argument was short it was powerful, getting right to the point.
Mr. Pierce began presenting evidence, referencing to the transcripts that was posted to The Alphaville Herald and The Alphavlle Gazette. After 30 minutes of laying the groundwork for his case the defense attorney objected to the material. Robert the man stated that all the evidence was heresay. His claim was that since Jason Sim was unable to testify then most of this evidence could not be used. While I had to ruled in favor of the defense because Jason Sim was not present it was with great anquish. After a slight uprising from the jury panel we broke for a needed greening session.

The trial resumed with Mr. Pierce calling Chad Thomas to the stand. When questioned Mr Thomas admitted in a round about way that he did manipulate the voting through proxy. When asked what 'proxy' meant Mr. Thomas began a long drawn out process of explanation. The jury began to lose interest and get fidgety with each passing question that Mr. Pierce asked Mr. Thomas. The defendant's answers remained lenghty. The courtroom proceeding were halted and a time frame of 5 minutes were given to the Plaintiff's attorney, much to Mr. Pierce's unhappiness.

Robert the man began his cross-examination with Mr. Thomas after another brief recess. But the surprise came in the case when Robert the man call Mr. Pierce to the stand. Eyebrows were raised as David approached the witness stand. Robert began with brief quick questions, such as "Did the rules say that there could only be one vote?" forcing Mr Pierce to answer "No" in response. After several more questions concerning the illegality of multiple voting Robert dismissed his opponent and began his powerful closing argument to the jury.
Mr. Pierce began his closer in a more somber state and closed with this statement, "All I know is that I tried to make this game have morals and ethics. That is all I ever wanted. I guess that is too much to ask. Good night.
A sigh of relief came from the juror's box. The jury was informed there would not be a hung jury on this, a decision would be made tonight, and that majority would win. Only the 6 jurors that had arrived on time would be allowed to decide this case. Once sequestered the deliberations began. After five minutes it became clear how this jury would decide. They all but one that that since no rule was in existence at the time of the election he could not be found guilty of any illegal activity. The charges that Mr. Pierce and the City of Alphaville brought against Chad Thomas stated that he had illegally changed the outcome of the election and while he did change the outcome he did so legally. The lone juror finally conceded and one final vote was taken and recorded.
NOT GUILTY

As long as I was involved in this case I remained neutral. Potential jurors were selected at random with the final decision for each juror that was seated in the jury box made by both David Pierce and Robert the man. I was a little surprise by some of their selections but again, I remained neutral. I wanted the trial to be as unbiased as possible in order to put to rest the entire "Rigging / Extra Voting" saga. But one day after the decision was made and I see that this issue will never be laid to rest.

I also would like to clear the air concerning my involvement in AVG. I have never accepted any simoleans from any government or it's agencies. I am a founder as well as a beta tester and have earned my money the hard way, thru a lot of skilling and building gnomes. I do not necessarily care for all of the things that have been done in the name of AVG but I do think that it was started with good intentions. And there are plenty of sims that are still in AVG with good intentions. If this government is to prosper in the future there will need to be changes. And changes are not always a bad thing. It can bring new life to an old entity.

Tigger Leaving EA/Stratics

Sorry for the delay in reporting this, but both I and our main board ho, The Phantom, have been offline for a week. The news is that Tigger, basically the only EA rep that ever communicates with the 40,000 some odd TSO players is leaving EA on August 20. Among the questions this raises, of course, is whether this is more evidence that EA is pulling the plug on TSO (as it did with Motor City Online and Earth and Beyond). As one might expect, there is much discussion of this on Stratics.

Former AVP Veep Marcus Forlourne Speaks Out: Mr-President Should Resign!

In this interview, former AVG member and subsequent President of the Calvin?s Creek Government Seth Galloway, talks to Marcus Forlourne, formerly the Attorney General and then the Vice President of the Alphaville Government. Although very close to Mr-President, Mr. Forlourne is concerned that the election supervisor was ?coerced? into resigning, and Forlourne now believes that Mr-P was behind the election rigging and should either resign or face a recall election.

Marcus Forlourne: Hey, thanks for having me, Seth. :-)
Seth Galloway: Thank you for taking your time, Mr. Forlourne for this interview.
Marcus Forlourne: It is my pleasure.
Seth Galloway: Alright, Tell me a little about your sim life in AV.
Marcus Forlourne: Well, my sim life was very active. I was married, I had three wonderful children, and of course I had my job in the Alphaville Government.
Seth Galloway: Tell me about your Alphaville Government job.
Marcus Forlourne: Well, I had quite a few.
Marcus Forlourne: After spending a few days upon my arrival in Alphaville as an attorney at a court, I was given the job of Attorney General by Mr-Preisdent.
Seth Galloway: Ahhhmm.
Marcus Forlourne: I was later promoted to the Director of the Peace Program and the Ambassador of Peace and Goodwill.
Marcus Forlourne: Later, I was promoted to Vice President of the AVG.
Marcus Forlourne: I also served as Acting President many times while Mr-President was not on.
Seth Galloway: Ok..
Seth Galloway: So what happened during the time of your Vice Presidency.
Marcus Forlourne: Oh, many things.
Marcus Forlourne: I was in meetings with other government members, I met with people in SSG and other governments, I made a run for the presidency and later for the vice presidency in a second term, as you know.
Marcus Forlourne: It was a very good job and I enjoyed it very much.
Seth Galloway: How was Mr-President, Behind the scenes?
Marcus Forlourne: He was nice, yet very inactive. When he was on, which from what I saw was not too terribly often, he did not make decisions very often.
Marcus Forlourne: He was mainly an overseer.
Marcus Forlourne: While I did the work a president should do, and supervised everyone else?s work.
Seth Galloway: So you did most of the work?
Marcus Forlourne: I was president more than he was, as Acting President.
Marcus Forlourne: Well, most of the presidential business, I would say. I'll put it this way. . .
Marcus Forlourne: Mr-President, while very nice, was more of the image or face of the AVG, while the people who do the work are the people below him like me.
Seth Galloway: Ahh..
Seth Galloway: So to the Elections..
Seth Galloway: You ran with him as Vice President, Correct? For a short time anyway.
Marcus Forlourne: Yes. We made an agreement after I announced my candidacy that if I won, he would be my VP and vice versa. After a while, he chose Paul Tully to be his VP running mate, leaving me with no running mate. At the same time, I was struggling in the polls and my campaign was rather weak. So, I joined you, Seth. :-)
Seth Galloway: So Mr-President, Ditched you?
Seth Galloway: As a VP if he won.
Marcus Forlourne: That's a good way to put it, yes. LOL
Seth Galloway: If you won, Would you have made him VP, Even though he had Paul Tully?
Marcus Forlourne: No, because I like doing things to people if they would do the same to me. If I won, I would probably have made you VP, quite honestly.
Marcus Forlourne: If he didn't chose Paul Tully, I would have chosen him.
Seth Galloway: Thanks. :-)
Marcus Forlourne: But he broke the deal.
Marcus Forlourne: My honor :-)
Seth Galloway: So, Mr-President broke the deal.
Marcus Forlourne: Yes.
Seth Galloway: How much longer did you run as a single candidate?
Marcus Forlourne: Maybe a week, perhaps a little more or a little less.
Seth Galloway: Ok.. So then you joined, My (Seths) campaign.. Correct?
Marcus Forlourne: Yes, I did.
Seth Galloway: How did that work out?
Marcus Forlourne: It was going great, until the scandal.
Seth Galloway: Scandal? :-)
Marcus Forlourne: Well, I come to my new home to find it destroyed.
Marcus Forlourne: My son and wife's accounts have been hacked.
Marcus Forlourne: I thought my wife was gone forever.
Marcus Forlourne: I was in somewhat of shock.
Marcus Forlourne: And I went to my friend's house, her name is Caprica.
Marcus Forlourne: We ended up kissing and she claimed I seduced her.
Marcus Forlourne: I told my wife, thinking it would be the right thing to do.
Marcus Forlourne: She forgave me for being honest, but it was hard on my kids.
Marcus Forlourne: Caprica's claim of my seducing her led to the scandal breaking.
Marcus Forlourne: And it was too much pressure on the campaign, so you dropped me.
Seth Galloway: So you left the game?
Marcus Forlourne: After a few days.
Seth Galloway: Oh.. Alright.
Seth Galloway: Ok, To the Alphaville Election Scandal.
Seth Galloway: Did you ever know anything about this?
Marcus Forlourne: I did.
Marcus Forlourne: There was talk of it in some meetings.
Marcus Forlourne: I ran an investigation.
Marcus Forlourne: I spoke to the Attorney General, Solicitor General, and the Director of the FBI about this.
Marcus Forlourne: We [found no smoking gun].
Marcus Forlourne: Mr-Presidnet said he was "troubled" by it.
Marcus Forlourne: And the Elections Supervisor, who I hired to keep the election fair, quit saying that someone told him too.
Seth Galloway: So, In the meeting it was You, Mr-President, Who else?
Marcus Forlourne: It was me, Mr-P, Fans, and a few other government workers. . .I can't remember exactly who.
Seth Galloway: Oh..
Marcus Forlourne: Sean Kendricks appeared a few times.
Marcus Forlourne: Jason Sim.
Marcus Forlourne: A few others.
Seth Galloway: So, Who was the person you hired to be the Supervisor?
Marcus Forlourne: I think his name was Sean Quinn.
Seth Galloway: Alright, So someone told Sean he needed to quit?
Marcus Forlourne: Yes, they coerced him into it, I think.
Seth Galloway: So, Did he tell you that he had to quit?
Marcus Forlourne: Yes.
Seth Galloway: What was your reaction?
Marcus Forlourne: Well, he sent it in an e-mail to me so I never got the chance to respond. He thanked me for it. My reaction was one of shock.
Marcus Forlourne: I was so surprised that he was coerced into this.
Seth Galloway: Who dont know who did it, Correct?
Marcus Forlourne: Correct.
Seth Galloway: Did you ever think of getting someone else, To supervise?
Marcus Forlourne: I did, but Mr-P said he was running the elections.
Marcus Forlourne: I believe he was behind it.
Seth Galloway: Sounds like it..
Seth Galloway: So when the elections happened, and You came a hair away from winning the first one, Did you think of anything suspicious?
Marcus Forlourne: That is not correct.
Marcus Forlourne: I dropped out before the first primary.
Seth Galloway: I am talking about with you and Seth (Myself).
Seth Galloway: When you all came with in 3 of winning the first Primary.
Marcus Forlourne: I didn't think anything of it, for I was out of the game when the primary was done.
Seth Galloway: Ahh..
Seth Galloway: Alright, Did you keep up with the Final election, Via website or anything?
Marcus Forlourne: I checked in a couple times.
Marcus Forlourne: I voted.
Marcus Forlourne: I voted in the primaries and in the final election.
Seth Galloway: Did you support, Mr-President, Although he betrayed you?
Marcus Forlourne: That is not the only reason why I didn't support him. . . I believe he was behind the rigging and that he was not a good leader.
Seth Galloway: So, When Mr-President "Won" did you think of anything weird?
Marcus Forlourne: Yes.
Marcus Forlourne: Somehow I knew.
Marcus Forlourne: In the back of my head.
Marcus Forlourne: I believe that Ashley Richardson was the one who won.
Seth Galloway: When the election scandal finally came out, Where you surprised it did?
Marcus Forlourne: Not at all. ;-)
Seth Galloway: So in your heart, You believe Mr-President cheated to stay in office?
Marcus Forlourne: Yes, I do.
Seth Galloway: One last question.
Marcus Forlourne: Okay.
Seth Galloway: Do you think Mr-President should resign?
Seth Galloway: Your own opinion.
Marcus Forlourne: Yes, I do. Or there could be a recall election like the one conducted in California last year, New elections.
Marcus Forlourne: Let the people decide.
Marcus Forlourne: Thank you very much for having me :D
Marcus Forlourne: :-)
Seth Galloway: Alright, Thanks for talking.
Marcus Forlourne: My pleasure.
Seth Galloway: Have a good night. :-)
Marcus Forlourne: Good night. :-)

Rumors of our Death are Greatly Exaggerated. Interview with Acting SSG Overlord Greg-

When the history of Alphaville is written, the Simulated Shadow Government (SSG) will figure prominently. In recent months, most of the original officers of the SSG (Mia Wallace, Snow White, etc) have moved on to other MMORPGs (SWG, City of Heroes, etc.) and the SSG has become a kind of ?Uberguild? that operates across games and platforms. It is fair to say that the TSO diaspora has weakened the SSG significantly in Alphaville, but in this interview the current acting Overloard, Greg-, insists that they are still operational and quite healthy, thank you.

urizenus_sklar: OK soldier: name, rank, and serial number please.
Greg-: Greg-, Second in Command, and no serial number... yet
urizenus_sklar: And you are Second in Command of the SSG?
Greg-: Thats me, recently promoted
urizenus_sklar: Is Storme still Overlord?
Greg-: Well, that?s hard to say at the time being, she hasn?t been around alot and we are considering a replacement
urizenus_sklar: Are you a possible replacement?
Greg-: Its a possibility, while she is gone or until we get a new overlord, i'm the acting overlord
urizenus_sklar: What other jobs do you have in the SSG for alphaville
Greg-: My current jobs include: Master Cheif of Intelligence, Ambassador of Goodwill, Head Executive Advisor, and Four Star General
urizenus_sklar: That's a lot of portfolios to carry. Why so many?
Greg-: Two reasons, while storme was assigning duties when she first became overlord, she saw me as her most trusted... also we were in a crunch for executives at the time so we had to give multiple jobs to all the executives
urizenus_sklar: How many executives are active now?
Greg-: Currently we only have 4-5, focusing on getting a larger base of lower ranks
Greg-: From there we will see who is executive material
urizenus_sklar: ok, two questions: 1) how many members do you have (i.e. on your spam list) and (2) how many *active* members do you have (an hour a day online or more)
Greg-: Both those questions are hard for me, I just returned from vacation so my spam list isn't up to date, I would say 40-50 members, with a large majority of them active
urizenus_sklar: Do you still hold the shadowland neighborhood?
Greg-: Yes we do, We still have Shadow Land currently, but we no longer have Shadow Lake
urizenus_sklar: Well, a lot of people in the game thing that the SSG is now defunct in Alphaville (although very active in SWG). How do you respond to these people.
Greg-: I respond to them with our name oddly enough, Simulated Shadow Government, If we want to disappear and stay out of the public eye we can, unlike some of the other groups out there. We are here I assure you, just cant see us.
urizenus_sklar: Well, that has *always* been the name, but it used to be very visible, and is in fact currently very visible on SWG. Accordingly, some might say that the SSG has become a shadow of its former self.
Greg-: Yes, we were in the public eye, we often are. But no one can deny that we still are rebuilding SSG in TSO after some blows, and I think that the last thing we need is bringing attention to ourselves, so for now we will be sitting in the shadows rebuilding strength until i'm or until the new overlord is satisfied to get back out and start the good fight again.
urizenus_sklar: Well, given the elimination of tagging and the departure of mafias from Alphaville, one might ask whether the SSG still has a mission here? What is there to do now? What is the purpose now?
Greg-: Well there are still mafias in TSO, they aren?t of course as large as they were or as active, but we will be here to stop them from coming back, our mission is to try and keep alphaville a clean fun place to live, more importantly SSG is a group of friends, we are here to have fun, and try to make sure that everyone else is.
urizenus_sklar: Well, why can't we rely upon the Alphaville Government to stop the mafias and troublemakers?
Greg-: Because last I heard, the government wasn't doing to well - to say the least
urizenus_sklar: you mean because of their problems with the Simulated Soviet Union?
Greg-: Yes
urizenus_sklar: Well, what are *you* going to do about the SSU -- clearly they are the sort of organization that the SSG is supposed to fight
Greg-: For the time being i've declared a platform of non-involvment, the only other thing that I can say is: solutions to the SSU-AVG problem are being discussed.
urizenus_sklar: well, what are the options?
urizenus_sklar: would you consider an alliance with one of the parties?
Greg-: I'm not ready to give any information like that, we dont want the situation getting worse because of us
urizenus_sklar: What are some of the other organizations whose activities you currently monitor in alphaville
Greg-: SSU, and AVG of course, and there are a few smaller organizations not expected to grow into anything serious
urizenus_sklar: such as
Greg-: Well before I give names I would like to note that any names given are not under threat of attack nor are their spies in their organizations: After that we are watching Montanas, X-Mafia, and one or two others i'd rather not discuss
urizenus_sklar: Does X-mafia still have a presence here? in alphaville?
Greg-: They have a few members, just under observation for any threats to alphaville, like I said not worried about them alot
urizenus_sklar: what about scam houses? you watching those?
Greg-: We are doing our best to do everything we used to do as far as mafias, scammers, and other threats to alpha... But as I said we are still tight on members and that is our primary focus
urizenus_sklar: In its heyday, the SSG was criticized by many people for using methods that were unnecessarily brutal (house demos for example). Do you have any comment on those accusations?
Greg-: House demo was a tactic used under a particular overlord [no names mentioned] that is not exactly seen as one of our best, house demolition was not then nor is it now an encouraged tactic in SSG, I in no way promote it with our current SSG members
urizenus_sklar: So you are renouncing the tactics of previous SSG overlords?
Greg-: Some of them I do, yes.
urizenus_sklar: Well, do you wish to issue a formal apology to the people whose houses were demoed by the SSG in previous regimes?
Greg-: Well I do feel sorry for those that this happened to, I don?t approve, however these are my personal feelings and I don?t fell like anyone but the Overlord of SSG has the authority to do something like a formal apology, however I do extend my personal one.
urizenus_sklar: In the past the SSG had persons placed in all the top money and skill houses. Is that still the case?
Greg-: I'm not ready to tell you that either, sorry.
urizenus_sklar: Well, Snow White was happy to say it was the case last year, and the co-founder of SSG, Jen, says it is still the case.
urizenus_sklar: Still don't want to comment?
Greg-: Still no comment, sorry.
urizenus_sklar: Are you in regular contact with Jen and Piers these days?
Greg-: No i'm not
urizenus_sklar: Do they ever issue directives to the SSG in alphaville?
Greg-: If they ever do, i've never received them
Greg-: I can?t say for sure though, as i've been acting overlord for a short while
urizenus_sklar: You never received the directive to vote for Ashley during the Alphaville Elections?
Greg-: I was away most of the time during the Alphaville Elections, so I never received one, no.
urizenus_sklar: Let's talk about tso generally now. a lot of people think the game is dying. Is that your sense too?
Greg-: I wouldn?t go as far to say its dying, as one of my old friends said once: "Its not dying, just a little sick."
urizenus_sklar: But you've seen so many SSG members leave for SWG and other games... Doesn't that make you wonder if you shouldn't move on too?
Greg-: Well TSO was my first home, and it will have to take alot for me to move on to a different game.
urizenus_sklar: Do you think Maxis is doing a good job of running the game?
Greg-: Well I can?t say they are doing the best they could do, but its been proven over and over that bitching over it wont change their minds, so why bother. I've always loved the game after a patch from maxis, hopefully it will always be that way.
urizenus_sklar: IS the SSG accepting new members?
Greg-: Yes we are
urizenus_sklar: What are the requirements for joining these days?
Greg-: Not much, agreeing with our cause, and allowing us to subject you to as thorough of a background check as we can do
urizenus_sklar: And in one sentence, what is the mission or cause?
Greg-: To make sure everyone has fun, both SSG and Alpha.
urizenus_sklar: If they want to join, then who should they contact?
Greg-: New recruits should always contact myself, but they can get more information from one of our SSG Executives
urizenus_sklar: so they can IM you in alphaville?
Greg-: Anybody can talk to me anytime anywhere about anything. My name is Greg- In alphaville and Greg- in yahoo
urizenus_sklar: And is the SSG web site still active if they want more information?
Greg-: No the information on the website www.simshadow.com is dated, we are working on correcting it
Greg-: well the tso division of it is
urizenus_sklar: ok, good luck with that.
urizenus_sklar: Anything to add?
Greg-: Just that SSG is here, and expect us showing up at an alphaville near you!
urizenus_sklar: thanks Greg-!
Greg-: Your welcome!

Winners of Alphaville Awards Announced. Same Ol' Same Ol'?

Winners of the 9th annual (i.e. monthly) Alphaville Awards have been announced (see below for winners), but the event has been overshadowed by charges on the Stratics boards that the event has become an exercise in cronyism. Were the winners merely the same old FOOs? (Friends Of Organizers.) Coming in the wake of controversies over the Alphaville Government Elections and Ashley?s Miss Alphaville Contest, perhaps the contest should seek to be more inclusive and seek out fewer FOOs in the next batch of nominations.

The winners:

Best Lot
- The Weakest Link

Best Event
- "Waiting for Godot", Directed by David Pierce, Diamond Memorial Theatre

Best Male Lot Owner
- David Pierce, Diamond Memorial Theatre

Best Female Lot Owner
- Charlize Theron, Diamond Memorial Cinemas

Best Male Roommate
- Garyyy, Game Show Channel

Best Female Roommate
- Eliza Collins, Diamond Memorial Theatre

Best Entertainment Lot
- The Weakest Link

Best Skill Lot
- Sinful Body

Best Hotel/Restaurant
- Riley's Romantic Cafe

Best Store
- Sasy's Deals Inc.

Sims Choice Award
- Diamond Memorial Theatre (48%)

Mr-President misses state of union address. Is the end near?

In two important recent stories, the Alphaville Gazette reports that Mr-President missed his scheduled state of the union address. No explanation was given by his office. Meanwhile, in an interview with Marcus Forlourne, conducted by Ian, we learn that Mr-President was in fact present when discussion of the election rigging took place. Was he AFK? Did he read the chat log later? Is AFK the new "plausible deniability?" The question we have to ask is this: What did Mr-President know and when did he know it? Another derivative question is this: Will Mr-President resign and when will he do it?

Satan Returns to Alphaville

Kudos to the Alphaville Gazette for breaking this story. It seems that a new Satanic Church has opened in Alphaville, and this one seems a bit more serious than the Church of Mephistopheles, which we understand was run by some posers and not full-on Satanists. Hail Satan!

SSU Trashes AVG Capitol, AVG is crumbling

Photo courtesy of the Simulated Soviet Union

In a shocking development, the Capitol Building of the Alphaville Government (AVG) has been trashed by operatives of the Simulated Soviet Union (SSU). Meanwhile we have received unconfirmed reports of widespread defections from the AVG to the SSU. By some accounts the military branch of the AVG is now under the control of the SSU; in effect a military coup may have been engineered by this AVG splinter group. Calls by this paper and numerous sims for the resignation of Mr-President for endemic corruption may soon be rendered otiose as he is rapidly losing control of the situation and nearly as rapidly losing his grip on power. Is there anything left to the AVG besides a nice web site and future corruption trials?


Photo courtesy of the Simulated Soviet Union

Oprah Retires from TSO

In this surprising and sad development, Alphaville's Oprah Winfrey has announced that she has cancelled her farewell show, uninstalled TSO, and cancelled her subscription. She will be missed. Her retirement letter follows.

*~* A Final Farewell*~*

I quit the game today and canceled my farewell show that was scheduled to do Wednesday evening. I uninstalled the game and I am about to cancel my subscription. I realized that I have ALOT to do to get prepared for highschool and that a game is not worth jeopardizing my chances at high honors and eventually getting into a good college. Its a practice in self-discipline that hurts now but one that I will probably look back and say, ?Thank God? to in the future.

Ill miss Alphaville, my friends and everyone else. Ill never forget the first time my property was on the Top10 list, my first giveaway show, my quarrels with competing talkshows (that always fizzled out), or my recent party-&-drama-filled summer days. It is with a heavy heart that I part but, you know where to reach me if you want to talk. I love you all.

Sincerely,

- Ms Oprah Winfrey

Special: Granny Celestie meets Grimmy Moonflower

What sort of newspaper would yield its front page to two notorious griefers? Why the Second Life Herald of course! In this ill-advised article, notorious tso grieferGranny Celestie takes the reporter?s notebook and interviews notorious (and banned) Second Life grieferGrimmy Moonflower. The results are electric! Well, actually, they are what they are?

Celestie: Ms. Moonflower, you're possibly the most notorious griefer in the virtual world. You've become the image of all that is "evil" or "wrong" in virtual reality. Do you think it's a relief for people to match a face with all the griefing going on, in hopes that once you are eliminated the problems will stop?

Moonflower: It's interesting that you should mention the word "face," Jerry. As you may or may not be aware Moonflower's face was of the brown variety. It seems that's the face of evil in Second Life. The brown man.

Celestie: I've visited your site, and I was greeted by an image of what appeared to be a woman wearing a hat and she was entirely black with the exception of her white eyes. Does she serve as an idol too?

Moonflower: Oh. They seemed to strongly dislike my afro centric features whether in a male or female incarnation. Even when I politely hid them under the hood of a Klansman! Go figure. They're sensitive like that. ? An idol?

Celestie: So when you say "brown man" you meant African American?

Moonflower: Yeah. But I guess that expression applies more to the Mexican folk. I was considering becoming a Mexican in SL, but with the way I was judged for being an African I figured they'd accuse me of stealing every missing prim should I reappear as Hernandez Moonflower.

Celestie: Meaning they would assume it was you?

Moonflower: Right-o!

Celestie: Pardon me if I?m dwelling on this too much, but tell me more about this ghostly image that is entirely black?

Moonflower: Oh! That's the original Grimmy Moonflower! A salute to such satirical and yet provocative figures as Nigger Jim and J.J. from Good Times. These are strong black men that raised the ire of conservative white people while becoming folk-heroes to actual African-Americans. They dig out the racism in the white community like a common spade. A gardening tool, mind you.

Celestie: So the black symbolized the race of African Americans?

Moonflower: Yes! Absolutely. And not the charcoal-like evil of my ice cold heart.

Celestie: Are you sure?

Moonflower: After all the finger-pointing and demonizing ... sometimes I.. ... even wonder. You're going to have to pardon me, Oprah. I'm getting a little emotional.

Celestie: Oh it's ok, you cry all you want. Griefers have feelings too

Moonflower: WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HY!?! WHY DO THEY HATE ME ... !?!

Moonflower: Okay. I'm better now.

Celestie: :-)
Celestie: Do you like to play off of stereotypes?

Moonflower: Absolutely! Sadly stereotypes such as the buffoonish Sgt. Schultz from Hogan's Heroes and the metro sexual live-in guy accused of being gay (Jack Tripper of Three's Company) are all considered blatantly offensive in an over-sensitive on-line world. I should've gone with my gut feeling and joined the Bothan Spy Network on Star Wars Galaxies. I could've lived my days out as a Rodian bounty hunter. But someone would have accused me of having offensively crooked antennae.

Celestie: Do you think people secretly enjoy the fact that this mysterious griefer is challenging them to cope with their own prejudice and judgments? Sort of making them face their demons...

Moonflower: Definitely, Geraldo. People love a bad guy. Did you see the way the message boards lit up during those incidents? Each thread became a celebratory parade full of whimsical words and brightly colored expressions! Cinco de Mayo! The same thing happened when Something Awful's forum goons descended upon Pleasantville (Second Life.)

Moonflower: The best part was a series of burping and farting noise antics combined with a few lame attempts at sending a rocket up a Linden's tailpipe actually caused some pretentiously-prone poetic types to ask me if it all had a deep universal meaning!

Celestie: Sort of like 9/11 made us all think and evolve.

Moonflower: Right. Definitely like 9/11.

Moonflower: My farting noise-clicks were the screaming 757s of Muslim rage.

Celestie: Well, it's been a pleasure talking with you!

Moonflower: Same here. You have a very nice day!

Celestie: I can't wait for part two ;-)

Moonflower: I'll drink some coffee next time. I take it black. Like my soul.

Celestie: Don't we all

OK, The Simulated Soviet Union in Alphaville

For reasons that mystify even this veteran reporter, a group of disaffected alumni of the Alphaville Government have formed a new organization in Alphaville to challenge Mr-President, and have called themselves The Simulated Soviet Union (SSU). And wouldn?t you know it: the ?brains? behind this operation are none other than former AVG Press officer Ian, and former AVG CIA boss Fans. Thus far, as reported in the Alphaville Times, the activities of the group appear to have been harassing AVG employees and attempting to trash their homes. The group claims that they are not communist sympathizers, but merely angry with the corruption of the AVG, and they wish to emulate the swift discipline of the former Soviet Union. Translation: they don?t like the Soviet idea of equitable distribution of income, but really like the idea that Stalin killed 14-20 million innocent Soviet Citizens, and oh the cooking in those Gulags was to die for!

Editorial: It?s Time for Mr-President to Resign

With recent revelations that AVG officer Chad Thomas voted up to 200 times in the AVG Presidential elections, David Pierce has filed a class action lawsuit vs. Mr. Thomas. We believe that this is a classical case of an underling taking a hit for the party that is ultimately responsible. In part one of this two-part editorial we make the case that the locus of responsibility must lie with Mr-President himself, that he failed to nurture the proper democratic values within his administration, and hence that he must resign. In part two, we look at the meta-game and suggest that from this vantage point as well, it is high time for Mr-President to move on.

Part I. It is time for Mr-President to resign.

1) The Chad Thomas revelations and democratic values. The admissions of Chad Thomas that he used proxy servers to vote multiple times for Mr-President are troubling on a number of levels. In the first place, it raises the natural question as to whether Mr-President was the legitimate winner of the election. Beyond that, however, it raises serious questions about the values that were inculcated within the AVG. Why was it not made clear to the officers of the AVG that democratic values were more important than just hanging onto power? Mr. Thomas tells us that he was pressured to ?do something? to help Mr-President by Jason Sim of the AVG. This suggests that it was not Mr. Thomas acting alone but a pervasive attitude within Mr-President?s administration ? an attitude that it was more important to stay in power and retain the status quo than to protect democratic values.

2) The unanswered questions about the JC Soprano involvement in the election. The Chad Thomas incident does not resolve the question of the troubling chat logs involving Mr-President and Mafioso JC Soprano, but only makes them appear more suspicious. The defense of Mr-President and Mr. Soprano was that they were only engaged in a verbal pretense that they were engaged in an election rigging scheme ? in effect a pretense within the pretense of a role playing game. This is obviously an unstable position in the best of times, but what is particularly troubling is comments from Mr. Soprano to the effect of ?we didn?t have to do that? ? in effect, they did not have to interfere with the election process because Mr-President won. But this suggests a conspiracy to the effect that if Mr. Thomas had not voted multiple time other mechanisms would have kicked in to ensure that Mr-President won the election. Even if this was pretense all the way through, the conversations are damning. No real world politician could survive the revelation of a chat log like that, joke or no joke. One does not engage in chit chat with Mafiosi about fixing elections.

3) The CIA director Alex Sanchez. For months after the revelation in the Alphaville Herald that the AVG CIA director was in fact mafia Kingpin JC Soprano, Mr. Soprano and Mr-President denied this fact. It is now clear that Mr-President knew for several months that Mr. Sanchez ? his CIA directory ? was in fact a Mafioso, did not admit this fact (thus misleading the citisims) and did nothing to remove Mr. Sanchez from this sensitive position. This is inexcusable.

4) Even in recent days there has been a pattern of questionable judgement within the AVG. In his exit letter, noted scammer Mr. President Bradley has claimed that he gave some six million simoleans to Mr-President. Members of the AVG have said they would resign if this were true. Meanwhile, the silence from Mr-President has been deafening.

5) Ultimately the most serious problems with the AVG have not been the direct actions of Mr-President, but rather the actions and words of his underlings. In the aftermath of the AVG elections his minions undertook a smear campaign against Ashley Richardson that was sexist at best, and well beyond ugly on many occasions. At times these smears emanated from the official press office of the AVG. This again demonstrates the failure to inculcate the proper democratic values in his staff, and more, the failure in inculcate the values of respect for other citisims ? including the opposition.

For these and other reasons, The Herald believes it is time for Mr-President to step down.

Part II. Meta-commentary

On the meta-level of course this is a game, and it is a game of Mr-President?s invention, but we think that the rules of his game dictate that he resign. The AVG game included many of the trappings of political life, including campaigns, elections, press conferences, and rapid response teams to handle breaking scandals. The logic of this game suggests that when a virtual scandal becomes big enough it is time to step aside. Well, a series of virtual scandals has now achieved such a level of magnitude that the rules of Mr-President?s own game dictate that he step down. It?s his game, of course, and no one can make him do it, but if he is to be honest to the game, that is the move.

More importantly maybe, we think that Mr-President did a fantastic job in setting up the AVG and playing along, and we have enjoyed playing along with him, breaking stories that are sometimes serious and sometimes downright silly (remember scorned Relina?). All along the way, Mr-President played along with great panache and made the whole game lots of fun. But we now believe it is time for Mr-President to move the game elsewhere ? or start over in a new MMORPG. He has outgrown Alphaville and TSO, and the resources of TSO severely limit the kinds of things that Mr-President can accomplish. Put another way, we think he is far too creative to be stuck in TSO.

Accordingly, we are not just encouraging Mr-President to resign his post in the AVG in Alphaville, but we are encouraging him to set up shop elsewhere. In particular, we would *love* to see him set up a new Government in Second Life. OK Pez? Think about it. And may the new games begin!

David Pierce Files virtual Class Action Suit Against AVGs Chad Thomas

Several days ago in a post in the comments section of this blog, Chad Thomas of the Alphaville Government admitted to using proxy servers to vote over 200 times for Mr-President in the now infamous Alphaville Elections between Mr-President and Ashley Richardson. Now, David Pierce has filed what what may be the worlds first virtual class action law suit against Chad Thomas, seeking monetary compensation (in game currency) for all Alphaville residents that choose to join the lawsuit. The mediating body is to be the court of Judge Carmella in the Citicsms Court of the Aphaville Government's judiciary branch. Needless to say, this is a *very* interesting development. See the stratics thread here for more discussion and details.

I will say that Chad is looking a lot like a scapegoat in this affair, given that he reports that he was begged by his superior Jason Sim to "do something", and also given that Mr-President and JC Soprano had contingency plans which "they didn't have to use", had the election been in jeopardy (which it would have been without Chad's intervention). Is it time for Mr-President to resign?

Monday, July 26th 2004

Dear Citizens of Alphaville,

On Sunday, July 25th, in an interview delievered by the public news organization Alphaville Gazette, Mr. Chad Thomas admits to charges of fradulent practices during Alphaville Government elections. As such, I have taken council in this case on behalf of the People of Alphaville.

The following charges have been filed to Judge Carmella of the Citisims Court as of 8:44pm EST on July 26th, 2004:

1. Creation of technical devices with intent to alter election results.
1a. Proxy servers solicited for the purpose of altering results of an election.
2. Illicit use and manipulation of third party technical devices to alter election results.
2a. Multiple voting using a device other than Local Area Connection.
3. Altering fairness value of elections in favor of one party.
3a. Voting multiple times.

Council for the People has asked as one of five penalties financial compensation in the amount of $100,000 or 25% of Mr. Thomas' assets, whichever are greater. This money is to be distributed to all citizens who apply as claimants in this case.

Because this is a multiple party case, David Pierce will represent all individuals wishing to be included in this lawsuit. Any individuals who do not apply as applicants of this multiple party case MUST contact Judge Carmella before the first day this case appears in court in order to be considered as separate from the "People," thus enabling the individual to file a separate claim against Mr. Thomas. However, no gaurantee can be made that any individual will have a successful claim following a multiple party suit against him.

Thus, we encourage all citisims to take advantage of this multiple party suit by filing as a claimant in this case. By filing as a claimant, you will receive monetary compensation to be distributed by the following means:

Distribution of all monetary winnings in this court case, divided among all claimees.

Therefore, all monetary winnings will be distributed equally among those that file.

How do you file? Simply email your Council (davidpiercealpha@yahoo.com) with "Claimant" in the subject line. In the message body, please include your Sim name and real life email address so that we may contact you if necessary.

There is no gaurantee that you will receive any compensation from this case, in the event that the court rules in favor of Mr. Thomas, or if this particular penalty is adjusted or removed as a penalty for a guilty verdict from this case. However, you will not receive anything unless you file!

David Pierce will not be taking any lawyer fees for his work on this case, and will not file as a claimant in this case. All money received will go directly to claimants.

Join me in creating an Alphaville free of corruption and deceit.

Thank you,
David Pierce
Council for the People of Alphaville

Warning! First Sims Bank Scam returns to TSO

Thanks to Ian at the Alphaville Gazette for being right on top of this. The notorious scam operation, The First Sims Bank has returned to business on TSO. As reported earlier in The Herald, this is definitely an outfit to stay away from. Be sure to warn your friends about it.

Jason Sim on Oprah: AVG Elections were rigged!

In the latest round of charges and countercharges on the scandal that will not die but which manages to get murkier by the day, Jason Sim has taken his charges of election-rigging to the Oprah Show in Alphaville. Following is a transcript from the show, which we have received courtesy of Ian at the Alphaville Gazette.


Oprah: Hello all and welcome to The Oprah Show
I am your host: Ms Oprah Winfrey
Oprah: I?d like to thank you all for coming to another very special show this evening
Oprah: Tonight I am interviewing Jason Sim, a man who claims the 2004 Alphaville government Elections
were infact rigged.
Oprah: We?ll hear what he says about the controversial words that were posted very briefly on his profile
Oprah: we will also speak to a man who is very informed of this tpoic. Sir: The creator the alphaville
gazette
Well lets bring out the first guest: Jason, come on out!:)
Oprah: How yah been
Jason: Thank you for having me on the show oprah
Jason: I?m doing fine.
Jason: Except resigning fro mthe FBI director
Oprah: let?s get started
Oprah: okay, tell me about your sim life starting with you bring hired into the avg up to the elections
Jason: well first I started as cop
Jason: for AVP
Jason: under boscorelli
Jason: who back then was the chief of police
Jason: and i had a good relation ship with fans
Jason: until he was hacked
Jason: i first started the FBI when was at least 23 days old
Jason:sean and marcus fourlourne came up to me
Jason: at the AVG Police department
Jason: which was the place to be at the time
Jason: so they came up with the FBI
Jason: and they put me and dana scully incharge
Jason: and then that went good
Jason: it was first a skill house but then turned into a service.
Jason: then that day came
Jason: when the FBI HQ was trashed
Jason: everything deleted
Jason: the walls, everything
Jason: well it was a big thing back then
Jason: and one day this girl came to me and offered to help me rebuild
Jason: i accepted, and gave her build permits
Jason: and she ran off with them
Jason: later when i woke up
Jason: the FBI HQ had been trashed
Jason: well i fixied it and when on normally
Jason: now to the elections
Jason: here were the positions of the race
Jason: jinjo, seth galloway, ashley richardson, jason sim
Jason: jinjo was an underdog.
Jason: but he some way came into first place but towards the end, failed, and dropped to third.
Jason: so
Jason: the second primaries
Jason: i was away that week so i missed it.
Jason: so then Mr-President vs Ashley Richardson
Jason: it was a gloomy day
Jason: when i woke up and logged on to TSO.
Jason: i heard the news Mr-President was losing.
Jason: and i talked to one of my secret agentSir:
Jason: at that time chad thomas
Jason: Ok.
Jason: he didn?t want to see Mr-President lose to Ashley Richardson
Jason: So he came up with a Plan.
Jason: rigg the elections??
Oprah: And how did he go about doing that?
Jason: hold on.
Jason: later that day?..
Jason: he cme up with voting multiple times.
Jason: the outbreak of votes?..
Jason: Was because at that time Chad voted?..
Jason: 164 times.
Jason: but that wasn?t it.
Jason: at the end.
Jason: he voted another 120 times
Jason: AShley Richardson?s voters couldn?t vote because chad had jammed the system.
Jason: But the AOL people not be able to vote because the riggins fault
Jason: chad and I had sworn to keep this secret.
Jason: but today I break the secret
Jason: thank you
Jason: that is it.
Oprah: tkae your seat i have more questions
Oprah: about a week ago you apparently exposed on your sim?s bio all of this stuff. why did you decide to to do that just then
Jason: because
Jason: that was to test how AVG was going to react
Oprah: And then reacted by firing you, correct?
Jason: No.
Jason: they reacted by denying these accusations.
Oprah: what happened?
Oprah: oic
Jason: i was fired for misshandling a mafia attack.
Oprah: After a 1 minute break Sir will give his take on this and we will take questions fro mthe audience
Jason: thank you.
Jason: Break NewSir: Chad Thomas hacked Joey Rizutto

[short intermission]

Oprah: Welcome back to The Oprah Show, we?re going to resume this with Sir and Jason coming on stage
Oprah: But first?
Oprah: Please know that donations to the Angel Network are greatly appreciated
Oprah: You can donate to the foundation after the show
Oprah: Proceeds go to future shows, newbies, new businesses and the AVG.
Oprah: please come on the stage Jason and Sir
Oprah: come on out jason
Jason: sorry was dealing with chad thomas.
Oprah: Sir, what are the facts that you are aware of that happened during the election.
Sir: well i knew that somehow the election was most likely rigged, since mr-president got an outrageous number of votes?
Sir: also because ashley got outsiders from the game, and he still was winning/won
Jason: true
Sir: I did think Mr-President rigged out, but he really is a nice guy, and i kept thinking no HE didn?t do it
Sir: for a while though, noone said anything about the elections, even ASHLEY
Sir: until jason brought this up in his profile
Oprah: the timing is odd.
Jason: better late Than never,
Sir: if you want me to get into the whole ?jason and the rigging thing i can?
Oprah: please do sir
Sir: were going to hold the questions till the end
sir: as much as I know, or want to know, jasons story doesn?t supply any evidence, or lack there of
Sir: if you ever heard of the expression ?if it sounds too good to be true? ?in this case i think it is
Sir: there are many inconsistinces with jasons story
Sir: jason saySir: that chad blocked people on ashleys side to vote
Sir: it has been said, and it is true, that many of her friends use aol, and a lot of aol users have the same ?ip??
Sir: and this voting server that was used; only allowed one vote for ip; just ask cocoa, in the crowd, it is true
Sir: there is no way you can block voters, unless you hack; which he couldnt do to ?everyone?
Jason: he could have hacked the system
Jason: he is a hacker
Sir: jason, i am talkin about peoples pcs, and if he DID hacked their voting server, which is unlikely?
Sir: he couldn?t change the vote numbers lol? there are 1000?s of ?polls?
Jason: mmhmm
Sir: but let me get into this?no offense to this stuff coming up jason
Jason: maybe I had my facts wrong
Sir: my theory now is jason is just saying thsi because he knew he would be fired, and put together a half assed story
Sir: in otherwords, he is using chad, because he hated chad, he knew that chad would have his job
Oprah: Now we?re going to take questions from the audience.
Sir:Oprah I would just like to ad, that jason HAS NOT given us proof, and noone has backed up his story.
[questions]
cocoanut: Jason in the vote rigging you talked about, are you saying that Mr-President had knowledge
of it, or was involved in it in any way?
Jason: no
Sir: Cocoa; I do not think so, as I have heard he was not aware of it , or involved in any way
Sir: I want to know if Chad was paid off 120k/week to hush about this
Jason: No.
Jason: what chad about me was false
Sir: jason, what did chad say?
Jason: chad has no idea about this
Sir: wait what?
Sir: He has no idea about this?didn?t he do all of this shit lol
Jason: no, i mean, he has no idea we are talking about this
Mari Jane: Jason, why are you talking about all of this? why did you decide to come clean?
Jason: I came clean because I felt guilty when this went on and was tired of Ashley?s mouth saying it was
tigged, I had to shut her up.
Jason: i felt like the public should have known what really happened av election day 04
Oprah: Well this has been an ever so confusing debate, questions were answered, yet formed but we are still trying to figure out
Sir: Well Oprah, I think this whole thing is a publicity stunt, I just have to say, where is the proof
Sir: like i have said; i think the elections were rigged, but i need proof, other than jason, i am sure that chad would keep
Oprah: And this concludes tonights ?The Oprah Show?

Mr. President Bradley Officially Announces Departure from TSO

Noted scammer and foe of in-game governmental agencies, Mr. President Bradley, has issued a press release announcing his departure from TSO. In it, he admits (takes credit?) for hacking the accounts of Seth Galloway, Fans, Eve, and the Lead Architect clone "Lead Archetict" among others. He also claims that he has made a donation of 7 million simoleans to the AVG on his departure. Wishing to leave on good terms with everyone, he asks that we all "lighten up" and "walk foward into the light." Who knows if he is really gone for good? (In view of the sensitive nature of the admissions a disclaimer is in order: While this comes from Pres. Bradley's usual account, we are not in a position to verify that Bradley still controls that account. As he taught us, hacked accounts and subsequent disinformation are always a possibility.) Press release follows.

It is today, on July 23, 2004, that I say goodbye to the Sims Online community. On behalf of the Bradley family, I would like to say that it has been an enlightening two years. From the start, I have always viewed this as a game and nothing more. It has shown me how many people can take this so deep to heart. I encourage all of you that fall under this category to continue at what you love in life, whether it be a game or some other activity. Just remember to lighten up.

Regarding the hacking incidents, I do admit to having accessed the accounts and computers of Fans, Seth Galloway, Eve, Robert King, Lead Archetict, and more, but I do not brag. I want to apologize to all of you for any real life stresses or problems I may have caused through such activities. I did not commit them with ill intent for the people behind the characters. I hope you all can find it in yourselves to move on.

Though at one point I was the Sim Jerry-Springer (now retired), I will NOT be returning to the game under any other Sims or in any other cities. All other Bradleys are not me or my wife. I specifically direct this to the operations taking place now in East Jerome. I will say with honesty that the r/l players behind Mr President Bradley and Mrs President Bradley *were* in fact different persons, who have now both quit. We will not be moving to any other MMORPGs.

As for the AVG and Mr-President, Mrs Bradley and I DID donate over 7 million simoleans to their cause along with an Afghan hound. Though I didn?t support in game government agencies, I wish them the best of luck in the future.

To all that I knew in game I wish good luck in life, and thank you for making TSO what it was. I have no hard feelings against anyone, and hope no one has them back.

in the words of B. Kingslover "Slide the weight from your shoulders and walk forward into the light."

- Mr President Bradley

Editorial: Ashley?s Stroke of Genius

While there is much gnashing of teeth about this over on The Alphaville Gazette, the Second Life Herald can only but praise Ashley Richardson for enlisting Eve and Mr. President Bradley (along with anisette) as judges in the finals of her recent beauty contest. Although both Eve (formerly many of the Merrill sisters, Voleur, and Evangeline) and Mr. President Bradley have long records as scammers, the lesson of TSO is clearly that endless bannings, taggings, and verbal abuse are not effective weapons against scamming. Her critics claim that her enlistment of scammers in the contest is inconsistent with her election campaigning against scammers, but we note that she did not campaign against scammers, but rather against scamming. There is an important difference. Engaging sims on the margins in more mainstream events can only be good. Plus, we think that Eve is a particularly inspired choice as a judge in a beauty pageant. Plus, it was a beauty contest for sims! Get a grip, people.

Lead Architect begins liquidating holdings on TSO, plans operations in other MMORPGs

In this interview we talk to Lead Architect, a big player on TSO as seller of simoleans and rares, and (as his name suggests) home design. But the buzz on TSO is that he is liquidating his holdings of simoleans. What are Lead?s plans? It looks like he is going to stake out territory as a dealer in at least a dozen other MMORPGs. Read on for details.

urizenus_sklar: Lead, rumor has it that you are liquidating your supply of simoleans and are going to be branching out to currency sales in many other games (as your new site suggests: http://creditsfast.com/). Any truth to the rumor?
Lead Architect: yes
urizenus_sklar: lol, so what's the long term plan -- I mean besides becoming a Really Big Dog.
Lead Architect: i don?t have a long term plan i am just tired of seeing my sales falling from where they were a few months ago to what they are now i need to move more volume if i want to stay ahead rather than just sitting on my stock waiting for it to gain value
urizenus_sklar: Do you think the drop in sales reflects a drop in users on tso?
Lead Architect: no i think the drop in sales reflects the growing interest in the virtual vending business that has sprouted over the course of this summer, there are alot more sellers now than before and many more choices for consumers than previously, even tho supply is still just as hard or even harder to come by now days
urizenus_sklar: If there is so much competition, how come the prices are holding, if not going up?
Lead Architect: because simoleans are still incredibly slow to produce, i try to find people to buy from rather than wasting time producing them myself, it is just a fact that its faster to buy them than to make them
urizenus_sklar: Well, ok, but you have, by many accounts, accumulated a huge inventory of simoleans. Some say you may have up to a billion. Care to comment on the size of your tso inventory?
Lead Architect: no comment
urizenus_sklar: lol, but you are currently looking to sell off a large chunk of your inventory?
Lead Architect: yes
urizenus_sklar: Is the though that you will reinvest it in the other games listed on your site?
Lead Architect: yes i will invest in those games plus i will invest in even more throughout time, to this day i have always been a 1 person operation but i may consider following the lead of success that another big name company has set as precidence
urizenus_sklar: are you talking about IGE or Online Gamebucks?
Lead Architect: i am talking about IGE, onlinegamebucks sells for IGE, although that is a good way to start it doesnt validate your position.
urizenus_sklar: Well, I notice that for now, for most of the 12 games listed on your site you have click-throughs to IGE. I gather that in the fullness of time you would like to have your own operation in those games?
Lead Architect: i will indeed have my own operation in every one of those games and every server on each of those games
urizenus_sklar: :o
urizenus_sklar: every server in every game?
Lead Architect: well out of the games i have listed on my site, but i definitely plan to be in at least a few more games than just those
urizenus_sklar: Sounds like you will need some help, if for nothing else then for deliveries.
Lead Architect: i don?t plan to stay a 1 person operation for much longer
urizenus_sklar: How are you going to compete with IGE? Will you be less expensive?
Lead Architect: i wont have to compete with them really all i have to do is offer everything that they do at a very close price to them just because they are well known doesn?t mean i cannot become as well, look what i did in tso in only 7 months time from scratch
urizenus_sklar: true, so you think the market is big enough for several players then
Lead Architect: i believe it is for those who have the desire and drive yes but it takes dedication and it takes pre-thought out planning
urizenus_sklar: Since this is now the Second Life Herald, let me ask when you think you might be up and running in Second Life.
Lead Architect: I have no official date set yet as to when i will be vending my own currency in second life, however i plan to be in the game within a month
urizenus_sklar: Do you have an agent there, or will you set up your own account in the game.
Lead Architect: i will set up my own account in the game
urizenus_sklar: Are you going to continue offering other services like home design?
Lead Architect: probably not, because of the time constraints that just doing what i do now sets on me.
urizenus_sklar: What about rare objects. will you still be selling those in tso and other games?
Lead Architect: yes i will
urizenus_sklar: Is the cannon business still booming in tso?
Lead Architect: absolutely not, but i never thought it really would get that big considering the massive amounts of cannons introduced into tso by ian
urizenus_sklar: and he did all that with his temp accounts?
Lead Architect: i will not assume anything that i dont know for a fact so all i will say is i do not know how he did it or even why he did it on such a large scale as i believe if he had introduced maybe even just 5% of the amount he did he could have made a much more long term profit on them as well as other sellers
urizenus_sklar: well how on earth could he get those cannons without using his temp accounts?
Lead Architect: i personally got quite a few cannons into tso myself without the use of a single temp account, i actually purchased the full games from wholesalers and then gave them away for free to people who agreed to become a referral for me.
urizenus_sklar: Last question: have you been having any trouble with clones lately? or has that problem dissipated.
Lead Architect: i havent had many recent complaints or questions about clones so maybe he has decided to do something different, in any case most people are already educated about them thanks to your article
urizenus_sklar: OK Lead, keep us posted. Especially let us know when you are up and running in SL.

Jason Sim to appear on Oprah Tonight!

Oprah Winfrey of Alphaville has informed us that her guest tonight at 10 PM Eastern will be Jason Sim, who has recently reignited the controversy over the Alphaville Presidential Elections with his claims that he had first-hand knowledge of election-fixing practices that led to Mr. President?s defeat of Ashley Richardson. Given the incendiary nature of the charges, we can expect a full house at Oprah?s show. One hopes that bedlam will not ensue as it did when Celestie and Viva T appeared on the show. We will try to get a transcript and screenshots.

Bombshell! JC Soprano retires from TSO, but confesses ALL on the way out.

In a resignation letter released to the Second Life Herald, Mafia Boss JC Soprano has announced his resignation from TSO (speculating that EA will shut it down after racking up some Christmas sales) and has begun to form a guild in Star Wars Galaxies. Of particular interest will be the purported full confession which JC includes in the letter. Among other things, he finally comes clean about being Alex Sanchez , the Alphaville Government?s CIA director (we told you we told you...), and being Ben Carrington, the Treasurer of the Calvin?s Creek Government ? a position he used to siphon money from the CCG treasury. His other stealth accounts included Bill Gates, Donald Trump, members of the Sim Liberation Army, and at least one additional account that ran GIR. He denies, however, that the Alphaville Elections were fixed (he claims that was merely discussed).

Open Letter to the TSO Community from JC Soprano:

Everything that has a beginning has an end they say. Effective immediately The Sim Mafia is dismantled and no longer exists. I am also retiring from The Sims Online permanently and making my primary focus Star Wars Galaxies. I will however be taking precautions to make sure no one may try to assume the JC Soprano character name in Alphaville.

There are many reasons for this decision, the main one being I feel that The Sims Online's days are numbered. I personally believe that EA Games has plans in place, or is at least already discussing the possibility, to shut down Sims Online. Those that know me know I am a betting man. My money is on EA Games announcing the closure of TSO sometime shortly after the New Year, this way they can get the money of unsuspecting Christmas shoppers, just like they did with Earth & Beyond. With Sims 2 coming out later this year people's time and focus will turn from Sims Online as well. In all honesty I think the only reason why EA Games has not pulled the plug yet is due to the press individuals like myself, the SSG and the Alphaville Herald produce. Sometimes bad press is good press. In this case, it was free advertising for EA Games. Maxis Tigger told me once over the phone that EA Games does not promote this type of activity. She was right, they don't have to, and we do it for them... And for free.

I have been playing Star Wars Galaxies for a few months now on the Eclipse server and have a guild already established called The Mafia Underworld. We also have a small city currently called Underworld City. You may want to note as well that you will never see JC Soprano playing SWG. If you do see someone with that name, it is not me and you should report them to SOE as using a character name from another video game is a violation of SOE's terms of service. I have already had to enforce this once, quite successfully. While I do have one or two TSO players within my current guild, the stuff that happened in TSO stays in TSO. Hopefully, those who dislike me in Sims Online that play SWG can be mature enough to move past the silliness of Sims Online. Star Wars Galaxies is so much better on so many different levels, including respect for other players. Frankly, Sony Online Entertainment has the best customer service department I have seen for any MMORPG.

While I am retiring from TSO I am not retiring from the Spotlight. Currently, talks are in progress for a possible documentary being done on my new Star Wars guild, as well as, I will continue to do interviews in regards to The Sim Mafia and The Mafia Underworld and my roles within those groups. If you wish to follow my new guild you may do so at www.swgmafia.com. The site is still in progress, but will be completely done shortly.

Now that I am retired from "This thing of ours" it may be a good time to come clean on some things and bring some rumors to a close. There are some that will not like what I have to say. You either hate me or you love me... There is no middle ground I have found. I expect mixed reactions from everyone in regards to this. I am also sure the immature players will make comments to not only prove their immaturity, but to try to say I quit or am a liar or whatever. I am retiring on my own terms and I operated my guild, as I felt needed. It's as simple as that. I can retire happily now, feeling accomplished. I only wish that everyone could wish me a good luck and a job well done, rather than a good ridden and so long.

It was rumored that myself and Mr. President of the Alphaville Government rigged the elections. This is not the case. The elections were never rigged, although it was fully discussed. One thing that is true though, I was head of the CIA of the Alphaville Government. Detective Sanchez was me. Fans recruiting me as JC Soprano, but I turned the job down as JC. I recommended my good friend Alex Sanchez to Mr. President after me and Fans plotted to keep my true identity a secret. In the CIA I had control over military and intelligence areas of the Alphaville Government. If I did not like the actions of an enemy I simply fed the President false intelligence indicating an attack. Mr. President did not know that Sanchez was myself until about 1 month into my taking power in the CIA. After that he kept me on, as head of the CIA, but my identity remained a secret. When I tried to quit the CIA, Mr. President asked me not to as everyone was quitting the AVG at the time and he did not want to look the fool. Basically, the AVG was crumbling and has been ever sense.

My group?s dealings with the Alphaville Government go back far and are vast. We have been hired by the AVG to take out opponents, we were contacted about rigging the elections, hell we even paid for the Alphaville Jail in exchange for a get out of jail free card if you will. I was contacted about the CIA job as the AVG had been getting most of their intelligence from my group or me already. The AVG is corrupt; it's as simple as that. Mr. President may have been running the AVG, but my group and myself were the puppet masters of the AVG. Just like the real Mafia, once we get our foot in the door, you can't get it out.

I was also Treasurer of the Calvin's Creek Government. This was run by Seth Galloway who to this day still does not know Ben Carrington was me. I took the job to siphon funds from the group. Many of you probably ran into Ben Carrington in CC as he ran a top lot casino that netted millions a day when it was open. My group had a secret stranglehold on CC as well that we never advertised publicly. This was evident when the Corenza family lost 9 members including 2 bosses and surrendered within 3 days once we started our war against them.

Other characters that I played included Bill Gates who also ran a top lot Casino in Alphaville and Donald Trump who was a roommate in Bill's casino. Although I boasted I only had 1 account, I actually had 5. My other characters consisted of Sim Liberation Army members and bot accounts (I used GIR). The SLA was a group I had created to put blame on an in-game terrorist group for actions I did not want my family taking responsibility for, as well as, when I wanted to spark fear into other groups. I would message someone going I heard the SLA was going to strike and I was putting my family on tight security. Everyone that knows me knows I do not back down for anyone, so when I was backing down to this rumored group it caused the people I was messaging to panic and go on lock down. The power of propaganda and paranoia.

It was also rumored that my group only had like 5 members and that I was never on. You never saw me on because of all the accounts I had. I handled most of my business through my other accounts and yahoo. Bill Gates was my second most active character. Ben Carrington was a close third. As for the shortage of members, my philosophy is that you cannot fight what you cannot see. I simply made the website seem like it was outdated and we didn't have new members. When in fact we have and always have had lots of members. While we did not have hundreds (and anyone claiming to is a liar), we always had a high number of members. The only time that was not true was after the war with SSG. We had not hired for some time due to security risks. We quickly got our numbers back up though.

I have made many friends in the roughly 2 years that I have been playing. Unfortunately, I have made many enemies too. With great power comes great responsibility they say. Once the press got involved with my group and myself back in December of 2002 many people began to despise my group and me. Fame makes those without it bitter. The people that we went after 99% of the time respected us and what we were doing and said they had it coming. It was only those who could not achieve what we were achieving that had problems with us for the most part. That wasn't always the case, but usually was. To those individuals who to this day cannot get over the past and the fact that while you may have tried, you could not reach the height that my group reached, I will issue one last apology to you and ask that you move on.

Everyone that knows me knows I always try to handle things diplomatically before I do violently. If things came to a head between my group and another it is because of your stubbornness and unwilling to compromise. I call it the Tony Montana complex (from Scarface) since they are usually the people that think the world is theirs and get power hungry. I may have had an ego, but I was never power hungry. I never stepped on toes I didn't need to. I always said that while this was a business and certainly not Unicef, it was still a business. To this day my group has been the only profitable Mafia. Conflict interrupts business. Some will try to contest this, but it is true. My group was the only group to have a salary system in place for most positions. We made millions of dollars on a weekly if not daily basis and most families or members of other families came to my group and me for money. Most of the money we made was from legit work, but we always made money. Like the real Mafia, we are recession proof.

Anyway, thank you everyone for your support and hope you continue to support me in my new ventures. Special thanks go out to Big Italy (co-founder), Levin , Chrisy (My first In-game wife and consigliere of over a year), Chances, Johnny (Sup Marbles lol), The SSG (I gave you shit, but you took it well.. Time to move on.), Fueled Radio (Zildjian specifically), CNN, the Associated Press, the Alphaville Herald, Peter, Lashelle, Brooke and of course Maxis Tigger (NOT!). If I missed anyone I am sorry, I've met so many people in the game it's hard to remember everyone.

My final note as I watch the end of Goodfellas while writing this is that this is just a game. People take it far too seriously. If your getting mad over a video game you don't need to be playing it. If you are an adult and cannot act like an adult you do not need to be in a position of power either. The kids look up to the adults and leaders of the guilds. I hate to say it, but we are role models to a point. It's a game, nothing more though. It's time people started treating it like a game, rather than an extension of reality. People say that your character is separate from yourself. They are liars. It is impossible to keep all aspects of reality out of your character. When you talk about someone's character or hack someone's account or whatever, you are attacking the person behind the character as well. For the younger kids that play, what example is that showing them?

JC Soprano
Boss (Retired)
The Sim Mafia of Alphaville
www.thesimmafia.com

Boss
The Mafia Underworld
www.swgmafia.com

interview with david pierce

- by montserrat tovar llewlyn

david pierce, alphaville's answer to lord richard attenborough, took some time out of his hectic schedule to discuss recent changes to the diamond theatre. he also shared some of his ideas about the future of the arts in alphaville.

montserrat: i am here today with mr. david pierce of pierce entertainment. mr pierce's company recently performed "waiting for godot" in the diamond theatre to much acclaim. good afternoon, mr pierce.

davidpiercealpha: Good afternoon.

montserrat: i want to say how much i enjoyed the play. it was outstanding.

davidpiercealpha: Thank you, it took quite a lot of hard work.

montserrat: yes. it was so interesting the way you were able to make use of the limited behaviors available to sims in order to pull the play off.

davidpiercealpha: Yes, it does take a bit of creativity to overcome those limitations.

montserrat: yes. now i recently heard that you will be leaving pierce entertainment. can you tell us about that?

davidpiercealpha: Sure. Last Monday the company released a press release regarding my retirement from Pierce Entertainment, LTD.
The retirement went into effect last Wednesday, so Pierce Entertainment, LTD. is officially no longer in service.

montserrat: can you tell us why you decided to go into retirement?

davidpiercealpha: Well, I have personally overseen every Pierce Entertainment mainstage and workshop studio performance in production, direction, and casting. Since the company began last June, I have personally produced 2 mainstage shows, 2 galas, 1 workshop studio production and 1 special show, along with countless events.
After Godot, I decided that it was time to put my efforts and energies elsewhere to more effectively contribute to the artistic growth of Alphaville.

montserrat: can you describe the form that those efforts might take?

davidpiercealpha: Well, as mentioned in the Press Release, I will be taking over as Alphaville United Arts Council Chairperson, a non-profit organization designed to contribute to the growth of the Alphaville artistic community. In addition, the council will work in other cities to increase artistic growth TSO-wide. Also, I will be taking over the reigns of Pierce Architecture, formerly operated by Craig Pierce. Our first project will be announced shortly...But it will be a collaboration between Pierce Architecture and the Alphaville United Arts Council that should be very, very exciting.

montserrat: it does sound that way. can you tell us how financing is procured for the arts activities in alphaville. is a grants system in place?

davidpiercealpha: Well, Pierce Entertainment was a for profit company, so their financing came directly through ticket sales and sponsorship packages. Because the UAC operates as a non-profit company, UAC will receive money through grants, donations, fundraisers and programs designed to create income for the Council. The Council will then return this money to the community in the form of grants, sponsored properties, sponsored events, webpages, and other miscellaneous services to the city of Alphaville.

montserrat: your press release says that Eliza Collins will be taking over the memorial theatre. how is that working out?

davidpiercealpha: Yes, she is actually taking over the Diamond Memorial Company, which oversees operations at all Diamond Memorial properties, including Diamond Memorial Theatre, Diamond Memorial Cinemas and Diamond Memorial Weddings. Currently, I am remaining at DMT to complete a fourth redesign layout under Pierce Architecture. The project is set to be completed within the next week or so...Following this redesign, Eliza will officially take over Diamond Memorial Theatre.

montserrat: if you could say anything you wanted to the alphaville community about arts in alphaville, what would you say? where do you think that arts in alphaville will be in a year? And what do you think the arts community will look like then?

davidpiercealpha: Alphaville by far has one of the best artistic communities in multi-player gaming history. With the founding of the SimArts community in Eastern Alphaville, arts continue to thrive in the city and have become a mainstay of Alphaville culture. I would encourage all citisims to take advantage of the many artistic offerings available to them in game- they are plentiful. See a show, visit an art exhibit or museum, or join the conversation at a coffee house, a literary lounge, or even a catholic chapel. It depends on the direction that Sims take in the future. If 1) Citisims take advantage of the artistic offerings available to them, and 2) they work to effectively contribute to the artistic community, it will most definately flourish.

montserrat: what can citisims do NOW to help the arts in alphaville?

davidpiercealpha: Citisims need to take definitive action today to ensure the arts in their city remains a beacon in multiplayer gaming. Again, they need to support the artistic community in their city by visiting and appreciating the artistic offerings served to them by countless individuals around the world. Also, we will in the coming months have countless employment opportunities available at the Alphaville United Arts Council, and we encourage all interested Sims to volunteer their services to this new company.

montserrat: its good to know that there will be employment for sims other than waiting tables and the robot factories.

davidpiercealpha: Absolutely. Taking an active role in defining this new multiplayer space is a far cry from Maxis operated employment offering no return to the community.

montserrat: you're absolutely right. is there anything you'd like to say in closing?

davidpiercealpha: The city of Alphaville is heading into a phase of its culture that surpasses all other multiplayer games. I am delighted to be at the forefront of that development, and I urge all citisims of the city to assist in the development of our culture... again, as a beacon of artistic creativity in online gaming.

montserrat: thanks, David, for your insight. it's good to know that you are in alphaville.

davidpiercealpha: Alphaville will always be my first home. Thank you for your interview.

montserrat: thanks, David. see you soon.