Alphaville Herald

Op/Ed: But What About The Children?

by Jessica Holyoke

In the U.S., the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals denied the re-hearing of a man who was convicted for e-mailing child sexual fantasies that he had.  Dwight Whorely is currently serving 20 years in prison for 74 counts of child pornography and obscenity, including 20 counts of obscenity involving writing about his fantasies with no pictures. 

When discussing the issue about sexualized underaged ageplay content, usually the U.S. is held up as the beacon of tolerance.  However, Dwight Whorely's case demonstrates how the Lab was right to ban sexualized underaged ageplay content.  But the reason why it is relevent now to our community is what is happening to SL child avatar resident, Marianne McCann.

The Lab invited residents to preview the upcoming Adult Continent, Zindra.  As one of many residents to attend the opening, was Marianne McCann.  Also present at the time she was was a number of Lindens and a resident who donned a giant prim penis avatar.   And all the parties involved started dancing and photographs were taken. 

Op/Ed: Prokofy the Communist?

 Diversionary tactics nurture collectivism

by Matt Cvetic

Recently introduced to the celebrity Prokofy Neva's blog, a great curiosity arose in me. For the uninitiated, Prokofy is a prolific and controversial Second Life blogger. Her contribution to the public discourse is to claim anyone and everyone who captures her notice is a communist, a collectivist, a left-bent hippie, or any of a thousand entries from her well-worn Red Thesaurus.

Prokofy bears no burden of proof. Instead, it's up to the accused to prove otherwise. Anyone who attempts self-defense or disagrees is a crypto-communist or a hypocritical communist. Evidence contradicting Prokofy's assertions doesn't weaken the assertion. Instead, it impunes the character of the accused.

Prokofy delivers it all in a loquacious stream of consciousness. Judging by the caustic nastiness that comes with it, this stream wends its way through sewage and brine. For one example of many, visit her blog and read her mockery of the physical appearance of a popular SL fashionista blogger. In Prokofy's mind, once her argument has lost all merit, personal insult remains on the table.

The question that tickled the back of my mind was: why? What would drive Prokofy to raise such a stink? Why is she constantly on the attack? Could she really see such a thick march of furred hats and pointed beards? Was Second Life already lost to the reds? Had a New Kremlin somehow escaped all others' notice? It's silly on the face of it, and yet she continues to obsess. Maybe this was a diversionary tactic. Was there something we weren't meant to see?

Op/Ed: The Dangers Of Dealing With Private Estate Landowners

by Johanna Renfold

Residents need to be aware of the dangers of dealing with private estate owners in Second Life and the fact that there is no in-world recourse for fraud, theft, etc. - yet too many residents are unaware of the inherent risks. While most estate owners are honest, some resort to questionable practices like non-transferable tier if you sell your land to a third party. Some, like Belle Terre Estates, maximize this confiscation of funds by requiring monthly, instead of weekly tier payments. They receive a nice cash bonus with land turnover, and can ban you and take your land for any reason at all. Belle Terre Estates does not inform you of their tier policy before you purchase land - this is only mentioned when you try to sell your land based on my recent experience.

On or about 14th March 2009, my partner (Heather Frimon) and I bought an island parcel at Sottomarina, part of the Belle Terre Estate.  Immediately after the purchase, the parcel was deeded to the group Girls Tropical Paradise, of which Heather and I are the sole and joint owners.  Approximately six weeks later, around end of April, we placed the parcel up for sale to anyone and with the tier paid up until 14th May, at the rate of L$17,000 per month, and advertised it as such.

I was visiting our island at Sottomarina and noticed some people on an adjacent island that was also for sale.  I approached them and asked if they were looking to purchase an island.  The subsequent converstation is shown below as "Stormi Capalini #1".

After being ejected, without just cause or warning, I returned to my own parcel nearby.  After about one minute, also without just cause or warning, I was banned from the whole estate.  I then sent a message, shown below as "Stormi Capalini #2".

Op/Ed: Looking in the Mirror

by Jessica Holyoke

I had a break up last week with someone on SL and I found myself with a great deal of time on my hands.  Until I find my next new thing, possibly having Jimbo's love child, I decided to make use of my gym tax and go take yoga.

I used to go to yoga regularly, but had gotten out of the habit.  And let me tell you, going to a class for the first time in years reminded me of all sorts of forgotten muscles and everything I used to be able to do but couldn't anymore. 

Daily, I would look at my body on SL and see someone that has the look of a person that would go to yoga and work out regularly. 

Oddly enough, there are a number of animations stands that make it look like you are working out.   Its not like the Sims where you need to work out to keep your avatar in shape.  There are working out animations simply to make it look like your avatar is working out.   Even when I role played on Gor, I worked in exercising into my daily routine.   But exercise has nothing to do with how you look in SL, although it would be funny if it did.

Body image on SL has been discussed from how skinny female avatars that look like Barbie(r) might induce anorexia problems in women, to how women that are plus sized or not cover model ready are making a bold statement or griefing.  However, its almost a truism that no one is as skinny as their avatar.  And frequently, we as a community make fun of the fact that the 120 lb woman in SL is really twice that in RL. 

Op/Ed: Asking for it

by Jessica Holyoke

A friend of mine used to joke that you can't rape the willing.  It was a silly statement that is fundamentally true.  You can't rape the willing.  The act and crime involves a lack of consent for sex.  That consent can be either taken by force, induced chemically or statutorily unable to be given. So the words "consentual rape" is an oxymoron that confuses people. 

On Second Life, we have consentual rape and slavery, especially on Gor.   And people have asked me how I can take part in a role playing game that features both.  I have even read blog posts linking the ideas of Gorean slavery with real life slavery. 

Besides the many different issues involved between the two concepts, Gorean role play slavery is not an economically exploitive one for example, (and I have spoken out and tried to correct Gorean exploitive slavery before) the main difference between the two is consent.  Even real life Gorean relationships where the woman calls herself a slave at least starts with her consenting to enter the relationship and is absolutely not the same thing as someone enslaved anywhere else on our real world.

Opinion. Finally! PETA Joins PETSA Crusade Against Killing Virtual Animals

by Mrs. President Chomsky

Faithful readers of the Herald will recall the dark days of the pet culling operations in The Sims Online.  Those events led St. Frank of Alphaville and me to form PETSA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Simulated Animals).  While those pet culling operations and TSO have thankfully gone offline, a new menace has descended upon the metaverse -- the killing of baby seals inside of World of Warcraft.  But there is good news!  PETA has taken up our cause and will be staging a protest inside WOW against these sick killings next Saturday.  They have also released a video which aptly illustrates just how boorish these virtual animal killers are (not surprisingly, they have southern accents -- nothing says thugish neanderthal virtual pet killer like a southern accent!).

Op/Ed: Second Life Smut Must Be Purged!

End Linden orgies for a better, more decent world

by Miss Petunia Amaryllis Courtney Taliaferro, Second Life League of Decency

Linden Lab has decided to uproot the nefarious weeds sown by  Second Life’s salacious Sybarites. My sisters and brothers in the League of Decency will assist in the painful process of purging perversion from our presence.

Caveat Lector: Dear reader, if you don’t have reading skills to fathom my brilliance, you should either get yourself a copy of Webster’s New Collegiate or go play some children’s game with simpler words. 

Now on to my story.

I risked health and maidenly honour at an free-sex “club,” where I did some first-hand research. Even that notorious deviant Oscar Wilde would blanche at the offenses to good taste and decency that I saw on display. I have recovered enough from the vapors that nearly overcame me to call you to arms!

Here are the first targets for SLOD’s righteous rage:

Talking Nether Regions: Well, I never. Why on earth would you want THAT to talk? Surely this is a sign of moral, if not mental, weakness. I am shocked and appalled that anyone would want (to use a coarse term) his manly pointer to SAY things to a lady about the ever-changing state of his Xcitement. Worse still, why would anyone wish for a lady’s (oh, I must be bold) tunnel of love to answer?

Commie Award Winners: At0m0 Beerbaum and Orion

[A note from the Editrix:
At the Herald, the real story is often found in the comments - and we occasionally recognize outstanding contributions with the “commie” or comment-of-the-week award. Today, for the first time ever this award is presented to two commenters - Orion and At0m0 Beerbaum for their responses to “Op/Ed: Catering to Corporations, Running Over Residents?”. Their world-class comments are reproduced below]

Orion's comment:

Speaking of this immersive spaces crap, get a load of RRR's project list:

1 - A tabloid news company that publishes staged stories about pedophilia in Second Life
http://riversrunred.com/immersive-brandspaces/sky-news/
2 - Prim shoes that have been around since late 2006 (my first n00B pair btw)
http://riversrunred.com/immersive-brandspaces/adidas/
3 - The biggest noobie club festival since the creation of man erhm avatar kind
http://riversrunred.com/immersive-brandspaces/intel-guardian/
4 - A virtual cell phone that lets you text your friends from in-world while you're busy yiffing away in the sex sims
http://riversrunred.com/immersive-brandspaces/vodafone/
5 - Virtual models of office chairs where /your avatar/ can judge the comfort and functionality of each
http://riversrunred.com/immersive-brandspaces/herman-miller/

At0m0 Beerbaum's comment:

@ Orion
Finally a comment with some insight.

RRR has a lot of feel good "immersive" crap. But at the end of the day, much of it is useless.

I work for a growing company and their immersive business solution is a joke.

Have you seen what it takes to run SecondLife these days? The hardware requirements are going up every release, albeit unofficially, watch as each release makes your brand new top of the line video card seem out of date, with NO improvements to the graphics; which haven't changed other than windlight, which was botched in the end.

Linden Lab Discriminates against Snails

by Happy Trails, Snail Activist

Now I'm not one to complain, but this is about as much as I can stand. 

Linden Lab does not cater to snails; there are no snail sims, there are no snail clothing stores, very few snail skin makers, and no snail sex ball makers.  There is one lousy snail animation that came with my avi, and that's it!  How can I entwine in slime with my righteous babe-snail?

And when is the last time you saw a snail apartment building in SL?  Shouldn't snails have a right to affordable housing just like everyone else?

Ok, I don't mean to be tacky, but this whole virtual world thing is one sticky wicket.  I'm making a line in the sand and I dare anyone to step over it.  Give me liberty or give me salt!

Op/Ed: Catering to Corporations, Running Over Residents?

by Tenshi Vielle

It's not like the support quality of Second Life has gone down any further. It's stayed at rock bottom since last year's great insurgency of newbies thanks to Linden Lab's draw of corporations and those corporations' subsequent advertising measures. Some residents are fairly convinced that Linden Lab is losing its focus, and grabbing for money more than the grassroots participation of the residents.

Why, when big-name corporations are turning their attention away from the virtual world of Second Life (Electric Sheep Company's projects have majorly all pulled out, and other corporate projects have shut down their islands in recent months) is Linden Lab still focusing on the corporations instead of turning inward and paying the residents a bit more attention? Turning to the residents and thanking them for their years of dedication would be a bittersweet move.

Of course, the Linden method of kissing corporate ass is nothing new. On October 20, 2008, the Lindens announce they are partnering with Rivers Run Red, to (assuming) drive more corps to SL via the “Immersive Workspaces” project. On October 27th, the Lindens not-so-strangely announce that Open Sim prices will be driven up 200% - from $75/mo to $125/mo with no grandfathering for residents. This absolutely enraged the Open Sim owners, and caused quite the stir at many Second Life forums. One should note that it clearly says “residents” on the blog, in an exclusive sort of manner, and blames the Residents for this, saying the workload became too much for the servers and OpenSpaces were never meant to be used by the residents for actual, you know – digital residing. To quote Jack Linden:

Op/Ed: Linden Lab - Play Fair and Stop Spamming Us!

by Sitearm Madonna

The spam ads sent to the secondLife@email.secondlife.com Email List are an outrage.

Linden Lab just sold its avatar accounts confidential email list to a commercial retail sales organization without asking our permission or giving us an option to Opt Out. The fact that the commercial retail sales organization is NOW owned by Linden Lab makes no difference. Confidential email lists are just that, confidential.

By giving away confidential email lists, Linden Lab has given an explicit commercial advantage to retailers who belong to XStreet and pay Linden Lab a commission on each sale. Now, retailers who decline to use Linden Lab XStreet and pay Linden Lab a commission are at an unfair market disadvantage.

At the least, Linden Lab should re-level the playing field by either putting ALL SL Retailers on XStreet automatically and immediately, or some other step to restore fairness such as ONLY sending emails to avatar accounts which already registered on XStreet.

Op/Ed: You Can't Fix Stupid

Why are so many SL men total idiots?

by Steve01 Denimore

The comedian, Ron White, once said: "You can't fix stupid." He is right. Stupid is what many males in SL are. I know this because I have many female friends who tell me about the idiot behavior they encounter from SL males.

I have also seen some of this behavior first hand. For example, I was at the Bimbo Ranch recently chatting with Cheergirl Allen when this male avatar walks up and say's to her: "Cheer girl u want me to hump u." She ignored him and his disgusting comments. But she should not have had to endure such abuse.

I took a date the other day to the Vegas sim. We were outside the Bimbo Ranch. This male avatar walked right up to her and started to check her out (the day previous she had been verbally abused by 2 males she thought were her friends). I told the guy to back off. An ugly scene ensued. People should not have to suffer abuse just because so many SL males carry their pea sized brains below the waist. What we need in SL is a police force to deal with the problem of male verbal abuse. A police force that would have the power of scripts to eject people who insist on practicing their stupidity on others.

Op/Ed: Get A Life! Any Ideas Which One?

by Sigmund Leominster

It’s incredibly easy to trawl through the Internet to find stories about virtual worlds and the Second Life experience. And the stories are typically centered on a pretty well focused set of topics: sex; sex with children; infidelity (sex with someone else’s partner); bestiality (sex with someone else’s pet); and general corruption aligned with moral turpitude. For every column inch regarding a charity event in Second Life that raises money for autism, there are ninety-nine others about perverts yiffing themselves to hell and practicing unspeakable acts of depravity beyond the imagination of the Marquis de Sade – or at least members of the Moral Majority.

So when something happens in the virtual world, the commonest response is for people to “Get a Life!” A quick Google search for the words “Get a Life” paired with “Second Life” pulls up 41,400 instances – which is presumably now 41,401 since you are reading this as a published article. You’ll also find members of the “Get A Life” brigade posting responses and comments to articles and blogs, offering their sage advice to go and “do something real” while simultaneously mocking and berating anyone who sets an avatarian foot into a virtual world.  

Whether it’s Second Life, Entropia, Kaneva, World of Warcraft, on any flavor of virtual life, the typical resident is clearly a loser, has no friends, can’t get a partner, and has no social skills whatsoever. The answer is obvious – uninstall the software and “Get a Life!”

Op/Ed: US$2,356,250 Reasons For LL's OpenSpace Policy

Open Space sims and how Linden Lab got it right - for themselves

by Maximilian Proto, Department of Random Guy Posting

After Linden Lab introduced a new pricing policy for its highly popular Open Space (OS) sim product, residents joined to celebrate the cherished tradition of feverishly complaining about price increases ("they're making it too expensive"), price decreases ("they're devaluating my investments"), new product introductions ("they're hurting mainland owners with those islands"), product changes ("they're are hurting island owners with those OS sims") or even when Linden Lab doesn't do anything at all ("they're not doing anything at all").

But why did Linden Lab decide to respond with such a steep price increase for a highly successful product risking alienating their customer base (further)? In particular when the RL economy is on the brink of a recession? And wouldn't Linden Lab suffer considerable losses if estate owners would really abandon their OS sims as a reaction?

Unfortunately, the idea that JIRA issues or threats of abandoning sims will change Linden Lab's pricing plans is futile. In fact, Linden Lab's move makes a lot of economic sense for the company, and even large scale abandoning of OS sims will likely have little to no impact on Linden Lab's financial performance.

And this is why:

Op/Ed: Island Owners to LL: New Continent and Tier Payments Are Killing Us!!!

An open letter to Linden Lab

by PonygirlSarah Clapper, Island Owners Association

M Linden,

Congratulations on becoming the CEO of Linden Labs. Unfortunately, those of us who have invested heavily into SL have seen our investments fall into worthlessness thanks to decisions made by someone in the company. Let me explain, if I may. First off, there is the costs associated with Island ownerships and tier fees. I have done a notecard, to explain the basic logic all of the island owners have to use, to try to justify their pricing to potential new renters.

As pointed out in the notecard, there is a fundamental pricing difference all the island owners have to pay, just to maintain a presence on the grid. In my own example, the bill I am paying breaks down like this:

Full sim island 1: $1250 setup, $195 tier
Full Sim Island 2: $1675 setup, $295 tier
Open space islands: 6 x $250, 6 x $75 tier = $1500 setup, $450 tier
Paid by other Open space islands: 2 x $250, 2 x $75 = $500 setup, $150 tier
Total bill each month: $1090 tier each month.

The setup fees for all but 2 open space properties total $4425, of which i've made back $0. The monthly Tier fee collections are 99.95% funded thru rental properties and subdivided zones on these sims.

With the release of more of the Mainland Continents, the overall value of land has dropped to a level where the comparable price of ML vs Island properties is so out of reach that most new members to the SL grid won't be able to afford the cost of ownership of any Island properties. And with the real world economy falling rapidly, brought on by a similar situation in which there is too much supply, and too little demand, the actions of LL of opening a new continent of ML properties seem to me and other Island owners to be marking a point in which LL seems to be trying to kill off private island ownerships, and the talented builds many of them have created. I have spoken to over 1000 different island owners, in similar situations, and overwhelmingly, they have threatened to pull out of SL all together, despite their investments in what they thought would be a good company.

Op/Ed: Sarah Palin: The View From Gor

Gorean slave masters expected to vote for Palin

by Jessica Holyoke

Now that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is running for Vice President on the Republican ticket, many groups are asking what will this mean for them: the liberals, the feminists, the inside the beltway crowd, and the business as usual oil fat cat crowd.  But a key demographic has not yet made up it's mind - and the Gorean vote may be crucial in this election.  So allow me to break down the positions for our Gorean friends and neighbors.

Foreign Policy:  As the Priest Kings have decreed, the sea west of the Thassa is unknown and uncharted territory, much like the other side of the Bering Straight. We all agree that any Goreans who have been near the sea are certainly foreign policy experts, like Sarah, so there is a natural sympathy that should help Ms. Palin in her quest for the Gorean vote. 

While Gorean slavers might like to obtain Earth women as their slaves, many of them don't like going to Earth and only recently obtained passports - if they leave their home world at all - another parallel.  Will the barbarians of Washington be too much for the Proud Alaskan?  What about the foreign world that is Canada? Again, Gorean foreign policy and experience is similar to Sarah Palin's impressive qualifications in this area.  Russia is a next door neighbor to Palin's Alaska, but no one NO ONE mentions Canada as another bordering country, with two distinct foreign languages. Doesn't that make Palin a double expert? What's that aboot, eh?

Op/Ed: Repression, Tyranny and Corruption = Economic Stagnation

by IntLibber Brautigan

KREMER, SL - The recent LL blog announcement by Jack Linden that LL is holding off any new mainland land sales indefinitely, due to flat land prices, indicates that there is little new interest in land buying by the general public. This means literally zero economic growth in SL for the past two months. The game gods have succeeded in killing an economy that previously had grown at rates of over 400% annually.

While many could explain it as a reflection of RL economic circumstances impacting individuals disposable income, there are other factors at work here. It is a proven fact that tyranny begets reduced economic activity. Former users of SL have either left SL, or reduced their usage to the status of free accounts with no land not just due to real life circumstances, as many are well paid professionals in RL who have plenty of disposable income. The reason they are ceasing contributing to the SL economy is they are sick and tired of the creeping fascism in SL.

Lets face it, the casinos, the ad farming, the banking, was all a sign of a healthy, growing, vibrant economy. People joined SL because they liked the idea of earning at least a part of their living in SL, and they were willing to invest their savings and free time here to make that possible. Linden Lab even promoted SL for this very purpose. Unfortunately, people from economically repressive states and countries also joined SL, brought their ranting demagogery with them, and have succeeded in destroying the economy and driving away capital, much as is the case in their real life nations.

In the real world, cultures that ban economic activity such as these wind up in the economic dustbin. The muslim world, many argue, is underdeveloped specifically because the islamic prohibitions on charging and paying interest on loans or deposits makes obtaining capital difficult, even in supposedly oil rich countries. If islam dropped the prohibition on interest, those nations would flower economically, their middle classes would grow with industry, and the supply of disenchanted underemployed individuals to islamist jihadist organizations would dry up because they would be too busy working.

Op/Ed: Tortured Thoughts

by Jessica Holyoke, Gorean kajira

Torture has been on my mind lately, not only due to my Gorean excursions, but also in real life as well.

Back in June, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was on the U.S. news magazine show "60 Minutes."  He was asked why is the U.S. government allowed to torture....I mean, use high end interrogation, in light of the Eighth Amendment prohibition of "cruel and unusual punishment." Justice Scalia's response was that torture was not punishment.  He did not go into it much more than that.

Justice Scalia's views usually match a line of thought that says the Executive, in our case the President, can do no illegal act.  But when you look at torture, it is an illegal act.  Not just due to international convention, but rather due to the fact that it has been determined over centuries that a person has a right to bodily integrity and there is a prohibition against battery.  So in looking at torture as a government policy, you also have to look at what gives the government the right to do so.

This of course leads back to the question of the Chinese dissident and the corporate position.  My position on that is the Chinese dissident is one question, one part of the problem.  A policy of torture, or a policy of suppression of speech of any form, is wrong. What a corporation does about it is another question, a different problem.  Did anyone notice that international journalists are not getting unfettered internet access in Beijing and the IOC knows about that?

Op/Ed: Google Whacks LL's Ad Options

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

unemployed bots forced to seek Lively jobs as chat session miners and ad customizers?

The Herald newsroom was quiet - staff writer Idoru Wellman had headed out muttering something about “Ginger & Jack, and four or five Feminax”. After the door closed, I stopped sorting through pictures of the W-Hat spiders at the Neva Naughty noobie orgy room and the unemployed bot flock who were heading over to Google’s Lively world, and considered rewriting the story that had gone *poof* when Second Life froze my MacBook Pro -again- but decided that story could wait.

Running SL while writing was a lame move - but I’ve been trying to stay positive and made a silly mistake. The first rule of SL journalism for Mac users is save early and often. For well over a year, I’ve known the odds of crashing rise quickly after 20 minutes in-world. These sorts of challenges may account for the less than stellar quality of metaverse journalism - along with excessive Linden Kool-Aid consumption on the part of certain members of the fourth estate.

Still, even generally reliable friends of the Lab seem to be dropping not-so veiled hints lately. Ex-Linden staffer Hamlet Au interrupts his latest ode to the transcendent wonders of virtuality in New World Notes to observe his pleasure was curtailed by a crash. Imagine that! Meanwhile, Tateru Nino at Massively connects the dots and notices how the Linden Lab PR machine flew into turbo-assisted overdrive in response to Google’s announcement of Lively - an avatar-based chat embedded in web pages.

What does it all mean? Nothing good for the Lab - that seems clear. Google’s desire to own all advertising revenue on the Internet is no secret, and this places them in conflict with Linden Lab in a struggle to define the next new media.

Op/Ed: The Great Watermelon Strikes Back

Banned for abuse of support staff by vandalizing Torely Linden's SL Wiki page?

by Jumpman Lane

No one labors under the impression that the kindly game gods of Linden Lab who traipse around the grid in (as) who-knows-wtf-that-avi-is-supposed-to-be avatars are anything but human on the meat side. However, some mistake the sudden appearance of a Linden-last-name tag as just that: a god descending from the heavens to bless us for a few moments with an aspect of the sublime, with the grace of the empyrean. Imagine my surprise upon discovering that Torley Linden has the soul of a watermelon colored turd.

I am not a saint. I swagger through the metaverse yapping with hotties, talking smack to tards, snapping snaps, and writing funny little things in forums, on blogs, and in my little porno rag...er mag: Slut Magazine. My few run-ins with Lindens have been limited to chummy convos at official lab office hours and a few electronic epistles decrying the fact that unfortunately once again, it has come to the game god’s attention that I have allegedly violated the community standards or terms of service.

Most metaverse residents have not had the benefit of such contact, so some long term residents ask, "Who are Lindens?". Hoping to improve Second Life, we decided to start a column in Slut Magazine called "Lindens! Who are these Wackjobs Anyways?" The first one was on then Linden Labs CEO Philip Linden entitled "Ol' Dirt Face Phil: Mustache like Mud." We ran it. Nothing happened. Emboldened, we decided to turn our attention to the most famous Linden of them all: Torley.

Op/Ed: Whose Product Is It?

by Jessica Holyoke

As reported in a few other metaverse news outlets, the fifth Second Life Birthday celebration has come under fire from residents based on certain policies.  In prior years, the SLB celebration has featured content that was labeled Mature.  This year, the celebration is being zoned PG and initially no builds that are related to BDSM, Gor or children were going to be allowed.  After some protest, children related builds and child avatars would be allowed to submit applications for builds to be exhibited at the celebration. 

In response, some editorialists are saying that this is a good thing.  First, because the Lindens are governing and chosing what to promote and what not to.  Second, because those who practice Gor and BDSM are extremists and while they are allowed to speak, they are not allowed to speak in public places. 

Other editorialists are suggesting that because of the increased attention paid to virtual worlds, and their potential for perpetrating crimes against real children, if the Lindens did not have these policies in place, Second Life might be shut down due to laws that might require more stringent identity requirements.

Looking beyond how many residents and internet companies would fight such a law the second it came out of committee in the US, and going beyond the concept of saying you have the freedom to speak so long as no one can hear it, the question in my mind is whose product is this again?

Metaverse SHOCKER!!! -- Free SL Accounts Locked Out?

Why are free accounts sometimes disabled to make room for paying customers?

by Avil Creeggan

---

Dear Linden Lab,

I am a free account. I have been a free account for the past two years. During that time, I've dealt with a lot of stuff that, frankly, shouldn't be happening; flagrant asset loss and dehabilitation, incompetent customer service representatives, seemingly-random suspensions and bans for which there is no notification, having to provide my identification on multiple occasions... But it's been pretty much okay.

You see this dialog box?

This changes everything. You know why?

Forget the fact that you didn't tell me this was coming, at all. Forget the fact that, not only can I not login, neither can my friends. Realize that you consider me to "just" be a free account, now, and nothing else. You are completely wrong.

Op/Ed: New 'Corporate SL' - Ominous Sign of Things to Come?

Losing faith in Second Life

by d3adlyc0d3c, ex-griefer

I was recently banned from Second Life (again) where I had an account as Adromor Wierwight for a period of 3 months. During this time I established a company called 'Pomilio Enterprises' where I saw some success as an SL business person raking in over 34k Lindens in the first month of operation without paying a single dime out of pocket. When I was banned I had four stores across the grid and had all of my products listed on OnRez and Apez.

I made some friends of former enemies, established valuable business contacts, befriended employees of Linden Lab and of course made a few new enemies. A few weeks ago that ended when Harry Linden was assigned the task of processing a frivolous AR that had been filed on me. When he discovered my identity (presumably from chat logs on the server) I was immediately perma-banned.

I had correspondence with some LL executives and I promised that as much as I hated this I would keep secret some of the controversial things that happened during my short time as 'CEO' of 'Pomilio Enterprises' and that I wouldn't be bothering to return to SL after having spent so much time developing my inventory just to be banned as soon as business began picking up. I promised them this and I pleaded for them to listen to reason to prevent the stagnation of this platform.

I still feel a bit nostalgic when I read the Herald or think about SL. I like Second Life a lot but I hate what is happening here. I have heard the cries of the 'end is near' for a good while now and never paid them much attention. I had always thought that it was coming from people who just didn't understand how complex a platform like Second Life would be to perfect.

Op/Ed: The Point of View Inside SLLU

by Plot Tracer

What sort of world would we live in if place names were trademarked? What sort of world would we live in where we could be banned for saying the wrong thing - for speaking against the government, or be banned for whatever takes the whim of those who wield power? The world George Orwell predicted in 1984 where even the language of oppression has been changed to the language of freedom. Freedom is Slavery. Your world, your imagination – when it isn't – really.

A world were what we do is for the self aggrandizement of those who sit on committees and reap all the benefits of those who are artistic/productive/trusting. Apartheid South Africa? Nope. The US? Hopefully not. Think of a world were we readily give our personal details and preferences and sexual mores to those in authority without question. Think of a world with an unelected clique controlling it. Think of a world in which the "owners" are always right and can terminate the existence of people identified as unpersons.

What sort of world has principles claiming it is "based on a belief that innovative success stems from self-directed creation, collaboration, and openness. Like the Second Life world, Linden Lab is built on a non-hierarchical system which fosters and rewards creativity, individual initiative, and interactive participation." and "Never act to advance your own interests or someone else's interests at the expense of the interests of the company. This is the one principle, outside of violations of law, for which violation will likely result in immediate termination."

Op/Ed: d3adlyc0d3c for CEO of Linden Labs

A perma-banned griefer's perspective on Labs leadership changes

by d3adlyc0d3c, ex-griefer

As many of you are aware CEO Philip Rosedale has just announced his intention to step down as CEO of Linden Lab. This is big news for all of us. Admittedly, upon hearing the news I expected to see widespread panic and predictions of economic collapse. Though it may still be too early to tell, I am pleasantly surprised that instead of the usual chicken little cries that 'the sky is falling' I am actually seeing a lot of optimism.

Personally, I am in agreement with most of these reports. Mr. Rosedale's stepping down does indeed seem to open many doors for the company and the platform it has created. Mr. Rosedale is a visionary to be sure and a very talented engineer.

Despite what critics may say he has succeeded where many individuals have failed. Sure there are problems, this happens, and in a world as expansive as Second Life its insane to think it would be any other way. I'm positive that at some point LL can and will improve stability. I know it has likely been very difficult for Mr Rosedale, a man seeing that his creation, his vision, his dream that is so very important to him needs the management of someone else in order to continue to survive.

How many here would trust their dreams and their life's work to another? Are we really justified in stamping our feet so impatiently thinking that this should have been done so long ago? Is this a reasonable expectation?

Op/Ed: Linden Empire in Jeopardy???

by Barbie Starr, SL and RL Dominatrix

Build an empire. They will follow. Lead the lost souls to the light. A Master's dream to have his harem at his feet doing his bidding.The goals, the dreams, the future. Then - LIGHTS OUT - The Master is gone!

Philip Linden, the King of Linden Lab, a God in the eyes of many in our small, yet very large, metaverse, is now coming down to earth and taking a seat next to everyone else. No one can replace anyone in this world. Not in any walk of life. We are all individuals. The Founder of Second Life will always be the founder, and in many hearts and minds he cannot be replaced by another. Let's talk seriously about this.

Take a look at anyone who is in a leadership position. God/Goddess, Kings/Queens, Master/Mistress, Boss, Religions Leaders… they all have followers. What happens when one of these people die? Everyone MOURNS. What happens when a King goes to battle with his Gladiator slaves? The King is protected, sure, but what if they fail to protect him? He dies! Do these people feel grief? Yes. So much that it could kill any faith or hope inside them to continue with anything that that King may have wanted to pursue.

Will Philip give up his bear to a new Governor? Or will he stay Governor Linden?

Op/Ed: A Year In the PN Without Breaking the ToS

Griefers are better than cybersex addicts

by Alyx Stoklitsky, ex-PN member

TL;DR version: Yes, that's right – I was a member of the Patriotic Nigras for over a year. Sure, I was only along for the ride – little more than a spectator and cheerleader for them - never an active nigra as I never did any griefing that broke ToS (hence my 2+ year old account), but I was there.

If you're surprised by any of this, you shouldn't be: I've been “hiding in plain sight”: I have never actually denied my PN membership, and indeed, have openly admitted it to various Lindens - who told me that being a member of the Patriotic Nigras was fine so long as I didn't break ToS.

I had to give a hearty guffaw at that one, indeed.

Even though the PN seem to think I'd honestly betray them and turn furfag after all this time (lol, the usual witch hunt), I view them in a favourable light: they are as much a part of the internet and SL as anyone else.

Op/Ed: The Problem with China

by Jessica Holyoke

I was reading on the BLT, the Blog of the Legal Times, about a mainland Chinese human rights lawyer who was beaten by police due to his advocacy for residents campaigning against a high tech railroad that would cut through middle class areas. In reading about Zheng Enchong, I was reminded about the ongoing struggles around me regarding what to do to help Chinese dissidents.

Back in August, Prokofy Neva reported in these pages that he attempted to persuade Phillip Rosedale to never turn over dissident information. Rosedale waffled on that point and did not make a commitment. There was an ensuing forum war mostly between myself and Prokofy regarding what should a corporation do in case of being requested to turn over dissident information.

The most public example of an internet company turning over dissident information is Yahoo in the case of Xiaoning et al v. Yahoo! Inc. et al. . Filed in Federal court in the Northern District of California, Wang Xiaoning, his wife and another journalist sued Yahoo because the Yahoo subsidiary based in Hong Kong turned over that information. After court documents were filed and Congressional hearings were held in Washington, D.C., where Yahoo's President and General Counsel were made to apologize to the Plaintiffs, Yahoo settled the case. But after all that happened, only 20% of Yahoo's shareholders voted to change Yahoo's policy so that this never happens again.

Op/Ed: Why Releasing Server Code is A Terrible Idea

by d3adlyc0d3c, ex-griefer

For awhile now rumors have been circulating that Linden Labs has been considering open sourcing their server/grid code, a welcome idea for many. While some residents see this as an opportunity for freedom, to break away from the 'establishment', I see this very differently.

Releasing the server code will result in a final blow to the in-world economy. This act will lead to certain individuals finding even more ways to circumvent digital rights management and permissions system including stealing scripts - something residents have not had to worry about for the most part.

Individuals could log conversations of enemies that are connected to their server and use this information against them. This is a grave threat to privacy and security across the metaverse.

Had it not been for the fact that the client code was released I would never have found the security holes that I found shortly after leaving the PN. I fear that many people will find similar holes, some of even greater magnitude, if the server code is made public.

Op/Ed: I Hate It Here - Get Off My e-Lawn!

by Splatter Gomorrah, reasonable resident

Today I went for a little walk on the mainland. I stumbled on large herds of new users fresh from their education, newbie skin shining in the sunlight which glinted off their system hair as they tried to walk. Clean and fresh-faced, they were; just like the Mormons who try to sell me Watchtowers on a weekly basis.

The new generation, I thought, I must reach out and impart my great knowledge about this new world.

“Hello, new users! I have been here for many years and can teach you all about the amazing things you can do with Second Life. I will answer all of your questions and help you begin creative and fulfilling Second Lives!” I then began locating helpful notecards in my inventory.

My generous offer was greeted with five requests for sex, seven requests for money and three requests for information on where to get free money. One of them simply drooled on my shoe.

Is this the future of Second Life? THIS? People who care only about quick cash and cyber-rutting? Have we suddenly become a culture of lazy, drunken frat boys with one hand on our dicks and the other held out for Daddy’s money?

Op/Ed: SL- What Went Wrong & How Do We Fix It?

2007 was a difficult year for Second Life. 2008’s not looking much better.

by Deltango Vale

The establishment of anonymous accounts in June 2006 opened the doors to underage players. This resulted in international legal scrutiny, increased exposure to legal liability and damaging media coverage. Linden Lab responded by intruding into residents’ sexual relationships and expelling two consenting adults for underage roleplay - even though no underage players were involved. Refusal to close the anonymous accounts and dogged insistence on an ineffective and unsound ID-based age verification system cost Linden Lab considerable political capital with no benefit. ID-based age verification is no better at screening underage players than credit-card verification, nor is it more ‘fair’. It rarely works for residents outside their home jurisdictions and, in many countries, it may not even be legal.

While anonymous accounts may have launched Second Life’s dramatic growth phase (October 2006 to June 2007), failure to formulate a land management strategy resulted in a speculative bubble as Linden Lab first starved and then flooded the mainland market. Islands ceased to be an attractive alternative when LL raised tier charges from $195 to $295 early in the cycle. Worst affected were the very residents who comprised the growth phase. The unexpected policy reversal on gambling in July further undermined Linden Lab’s credibility. Growth stopped. Premium accounts and total hours remained flat throughout the second half of 2007.

The overnight imposition of VAT (15-25% sales tax) on European residents (40% of SL’s population) in September not only trashed European landowners, but it caused considerable friction between European and North American residents as Linden Lab, a supposedly global company, began charging based on regional factor prices. It also led to the crazy situation whereby European landowners (some owning dozens of islands) who shifted their tier to North American business partners lost access to Live Chat support.

Op/Ed: Standing United in the Virtual War On Griefer Terrorism!

Residents way of life, under attack by virtual terrorist acts

by Maximilian Proto, concerned resident

Good evening.

Our fellow residents, our way of life, our very freedom are under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts. The victims are in clubs, or in their houses; dancers, content creators, businessmen and women; family, friends and neighbors. Thousands of second lives are thrown in peril by evil, despicable acts of terror.

The pictures of Super Mario particles flying all over sims, lolcubes bouncing, avatars orbiting, huge megaprims blocking our land, are filling us with disbelief, terrible sadness, and a quiet, unyielding anger. These acts of mass griefing are intended to frighten our virtual world into chaos and retreat. But they have failed; our world is strong.

Great residents are moving to defend our great world. Griefing attacks can shake the foundations of our most popular regions, but they cannot touch the foundation of Second Life. These acts shattered prims, but they cannot dent the grid of residents’ resolve.

Second Life is targeted for attack because we're the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity for all virtual worlds. And no one will keep that light from shining.

Op/Ed: Exposed & Shamed, SL Banking Silently Slinks Away

by Victoria Wheeler

invest make believe money in make believe hot companies?

Without much fanfare, Linden Labs announced on January 8, 2008 that any Second Life banking and investment business which might, "offer interest or any direct return on an investment" in ANY currency, would be prohibited from doing so as of January 22, unless these activities were performed by an organization with, "proof of an applicable government registration statement or financial institution charter". This policy decision followed the past few years maelstrom of SL bank closings about which most of us have heard, and through which many SL residents have suffered.

The sad fact is virtually all such SL financial 'institutions' were ineptly run at best, Ponzi schemes at worst, and largely the worst case. Although some SL banks being run by financiers with real world creds, and tossing out enough jargon to impress a B-school grad, the bottom line is - Second Life financial trading and banking in particular, has been a bad investment.

One wonders what was behind some of the banks that went under, and I'd like to offer some small insight from personal experience.

Last year this time, I was hired as a freelance writer by a person who owned a reasonably successful SL bank, as they began to launch SL real estate ventures, primarily 'planned residential communities'. They intended to 'go public', which means to offer shares in their firm for investment by any interested parties. This is done through one of the SL stock exchanges. A company publishes it's business plan (called a prospectus), offers a number of shares for sale, then sits back while the shares are purchased by investors, or not.

Op/Ed: Privacy Please

by Jessica Holyoke

When talking about avatar or human rights, one right that is often ignored is the right to privacy. While this right led to reproductive rights in the US, its erosion in the virtual world needs to be halted.

Privacy policies usually revolve around the use and sale of personal information. And Linden Lab has such a policy where they will not sell your personal information unless they go bankrupt. Then your information is an asset to be sold. http://secondlife.com/corporate/privacy.php

But this is not the main assault on privacy. The privacy of our electronic communications is not protected. In the US, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and the Stored Communications Act both protect privacy, but that protection can be waived.  Second Life, There, World of Warcraft and certain aspects of Yahoo all ask that this protection is waived.  The businesses mentioned retain the right to monitor and record communications for law enforcement requests, business reasons, fraud prevention, abuse report follow-up and other reasons.  Red Light Center goes one better and says that no communication is private, but that they will not go through what is recorded without good reason. 

Op/Ed: Pumping Up Supply Linden

GOM Part II

by Jessica Holyoke

Substantial Risks to the SL Economy.  That's the reason Ken D Linden gave when he wrote the blog post banning interest and rate of return investing in SL. But banks and stock exchanges pump money through an economy.  By allowing people to invest in these two services, the economy grows, either through new businesses started or land being purchased.  Perhaps the SL Economy is not what we think it is, but what Linden Lab needs it to be.

A few weeks back, I wrote an article about microeconomics in MMO's.  Most of the responses showed interest in SL on a macroeconomic scale.   Some commenter's also pointed out that in the real world, printing up currency is an inflationary move.  More dollars or deutsch marks in circulation means that they are worth less than before.   Supply Linden does not work the same way.  He does not print up Lindens out of whole cloth, he sells them.   By doing so, Supply Linden creates a deflationary pressure on the economy.  By keeping the market flooded with Lindens, the value of the Linden dollar does not rise over a certain point when there are more buyers of Lindens then there are sellers.  If the exchange rate is 269L per dollar, then a scarcity of Lindens could mean an exchange rate of 250L per dollar.  This effectively raises prices for US residents and lowers in-world wages for everyone.  Additionally, Supply Linden generates revenue.  Each purchase of Linden dollars is straight revenue. Higher prices may discourage purchasing on the Grid and users purchasing Lindens.

Op/Ed: Financial Myth Busting Edition

by Jessica Holyoke

In my time at the Herald, I've seen bank failures, aborted mergers, strange actions by the stock exchanges and company failures.   I've also experienced first-hand what happens when residents believe that we're in a "virtual economy" or "fictional economy."  Residents subscribe to a number of myths that affect how they view everything around them.

It's a Virtual Economy

Many residents view the in-world economy as a virtual one.  A fictional economy is what the WSE describes what we are doing, most likely for legal reasons in Australia.  Just calling our economy fictional or virtual does not make it so.  We, as residents, buy and sell real things.  It is just that these real things are represented more by electrons then atoms.  These items we buy and sell are as real as software, pictures, stock options or futures.  I really own a SexGen bed.  I really own various dance programs.  I really paid someone to have a logo made in SL.  I don't fictionally own objects and items.

When Ted Castronova wanted to study a virtual economy, he decided against using Second Life.  A number of people thought that was foolish because SL already has an economy.  But SL is not like other MMO economies for two reasons; the LindeX makes asset prediction impossible and residents do not make predictable economic choices. 

Op/Ed: Why I'm not looking forward to OpenSim

by Jessica Holyoke

I was sitting in Robin's office hours and looking around. I came to the realization that I am not looking forward to OpenSim. 

OpenSim is the eventual program where the Grid All Hail the Mighty Grid exists as a centralized land.  Instead of everyone coming into Linden Lab's jurisdiction, residents can host their own servers/land that are branches off of the Grid.  Supporters of the idea argue that if a resident does not like Linden Lab policy, wait to host your own land and you can do what you want.  So if you like gambling, build a server that's not hosted in the United States. (Even though that does not take care of the payment issues that was part of the reasoning behind the gambling ban.  The Credit Card companies had as much an impact on the Lab banning gambling as US law.) 

But instead of opening up our shared internet experience, OpenSim promises to sequester us more.  The Goreans will be on their own servers.  The Furries will have their own lands, which may be separate from the Babyfurs.  The business people, the fashionistas, the licentious, the educators can all be sectored off in their own areas.

In many ways, SL is already sequestered, even if you don't fall into one of the sub-cultures mentioned above.  If you don't make the effort, you can see the same people day in and day out.  You don't know about the Turk that's studying astronomy in Greece.  You don't discover the Spaniard that's lost his way in a house store.  You don't find out about the people who decided to create a motorcycle gang in a land where you don't need motorcycles.  The people that go to technical office hours, hang out at Bondage Playground or want to recreate a caliphate are hidden if you stay on your own little plot of land, which can be good or bad depending on your point of view. 

Open Letter To SL from Morden Winkler

To: Second Life
From: An Angry Canadian SL user
Re: Age Verification

For ALL Canadians, the proposed new age-verification system for Second Life is a complete failure and possibly ILLEGAL under Canadian law. Here's why:

Integrity CANNOT VERIFY YOUR AGE using your Social Insurance Number (SIN) or your passport number, and in fact, it is probably illegal for them to do so under Canada's privacy act. Canadians can actually make a formal complaint to the federal government about companies asking for these numbers, and I'm sure you'll be getting a few of those.

Check for yourself if you don't believe me:

SIN: 1-800-206-7218 (Option 3 for SIN)
Passport Canada: 1-800-567-6868

Op/Ed: Babyfurs - Gross Anarchy With Diapers

by Righteous Yaffle, disgusted resident and reformed griefer

You can do pretty much anything you want in Second Life - the only limit is your imagination, but it is time someone spoke out about an issue that affects all of us - ageplay - and something far worse: babyfurs.

In case you're new to the internet, you might not know what a babyfur is. These are not just furries, which are bad enough, but they also role play underage fur sex. What kind of sick person wants to be a babyfur?

For some reason, babyfurs seem exempt to the ageplay rules of Second Life. Why is that though? Does it have to do with the fact that those who come to Second Life to live out their wildest fantasies and spend upwards of thousands of dollars (seriously) receive immunity from the Lindens? It looks to me like large landowners are paying the Lab off by way of their land purchases.

Op/Ed: Feted, Fussing, and Fuming

LL shows how not to run a press conference - and co-opt a noisy critic

by Jessica Holyoke, post-Prokofy FIC watch bureau

On Monday, the Lindens held their first in-world press conference and the Herald, being at the forefront of Metaverse media coverage was there to cover it all.   Except we weren't.

The Saga for me started at the Robin Linden Office hours of November 20th.  Its been some time since I had a chance to go to one of these meetings.  I sat down and Robin asked if anyone was from the Press.  I took it as nothing significant because Robin once told Eric Reuters from Reuters at an office hour that these events were *not* a press conference and the hard hitting questions would not be answered.  But the office hour is when Robin revealed that there would be in-world press conferences with the SL media invited.  I asked if Prokofy was invited and was told yes.  I asked if the Herald was invited and was told yes, they were.  Too bad the Herald editors - Urizenus Sklar, Walker Spaight, and Pixeleen Mistral - couldn't find any invitations 

The Lindens have decided to restrict in-world press access to either Lewis PR or these upcoming press conferences.  I found this out by reading Prokofy Neva's personal e-mail - posted on his newspaper, the Second Life Record.  The post in question is called "Lindens are Circling the Wagons."  (Protip: if Prokofy talks to you in any way or form, or if you e-mail him, he'll keep an SL Record of it, so that he can quote you out of context at a later date.)

Op/Ed: Someone's Killing Mum in SL

by Katrina Eales

IF Second Life was the real world my lifeless body would now be in the possession of the coroner.

On October 28, for the first time, I saw the dark and sinister side of Second Life in a very personal way. I was attacked by a man who wanted to wield power over me and dominate me - to take me and use me for his own perverted ends. I escaped for a time. But later I looked into his avatar's evil eyes as he pointed his virtual gun at me and squeezed the trigger time and time again.

I heard the gun before I saw him standing in my own lounge room in Stormhold, Caledon. Boom, boom, boom - it was loud. So loud in fact that it brought my three children aged 10, eight, and six running across our real world lounge room to see what was happening on the computer screen.

Just as they arrived I turned and saw my attacker and so did the kids. My first instinct was to protect them so in RL I hugged them close while in SL I stared at him as he shot me again and again. My six year old daughter screamed out "someone's killing Mum" but my sons said nothing and stood watching with the impotence of young male anger, fists clenched.

Op/Ed: The 10 Worst SL Train Wrecks - So Far

by Casey Jones, railroad expert

10. Any announcement by Robin Linden on a Friday
Announce the bad news then head for the hills - the classic Linden strategy. Robin depends on the idea that any resistance is futile since most residents don't have a week to fight against Lunatic Lab’s latest moves, and at least half the residents are probably ill-informed, so the other half can spend their time arguing with them. While the SL residents spend most of their time backbiting, Robin has proved herself to be a master at putting the worst possible spin on whatever bad news the Lab has cooked up. This makes us wonder - is Robin Linden really a griefer at heart?

9. SL Next Top Model
This competition has been a long standing joke in the Second Life fashion world. Several months ago we watched the stolen idea war between Jada Hoyer and BooBooKitty Haight, Then there is a minor issue - Miss Hoyer never received written permission from Bankable Productions to reproduce the contest in Second Life - but with the amount of press Jada insists on receiving in-world, she might soon find a big, fat, life-sized lawsuit on her hands. But look on the bright side: if you suck up to Jada right you might win the competition! Next Top Model, please!

8. The Rag SL
A small unknown blog popped up a few months ago and seems to have a penchant for calling out people for their indiscretions - and doing that with a bite of humour. Only problem is they seem bent on publishing full chat logs - could this be their undoing? Oh wait - we do that here at the Herald too. Oops! Recent Rag SL complaints include the Face of Style contest and the Minnu Skins vs. Suite 17 debacle.

7. Woodbury University Closing
Good job there Lindens! While Provokey Evah “hits back hard” when asking the Linden game gods to keep their fingers off the scales of justice, that hobgoblin of small minds - consistency - is not a problem when P. Evah’s has unilaterally convicted virtual miscreants. Whenever the ever omniscient one has determined guilt - it is time to ban the whole lot of ‘em - and take their land too. But what on earth was the Lab thinking? With all the pushing they do to get educational backing, they choose to shut down an edu-Sim? Sad, really.

Op/Ed: The Free Fandom Project

Mighty morphin without space bucks

by Nikola Shirakawa

Popular books and films naturally create fanboys and fangirls, and these subcultures have taken to heart the Second Life mantra - your world, your imagination. How can we improve Second Life for these players? We need to nurture true fandom.

The fanboy title is all-encompassing, whether it is the gadget producing Stargate fans, the role-playing Starfleet Command, to the anti-griefing Justice League Unlimited and their rivals, the anime-loving Patriotic Nigras. Open up your friends list. I'd be willing to bet dollars to doughnuts that, providing you've been on for more than a week, at least fifty-percent who could be considered a major fan of a work of art in some way.

Some on Second Life even go so far as to build entire sims around their fandom. Look at the well-built Gotham City or Wizard's Alley. Why have those places have spread like wildfire? They are free and open to everyone. It doesn't matter whether you have voice or not, whether you derive your income from stipends or camping, everyone gets a chance to indulge in their fandom, without being drained financially to do it.

Very few of us started out with pocketfuls of L$ space bucks The first two weeks of a good many avatar's second lives are spent on camping chairs just to buy basic clothes for their fandom. Sadly, a good number of people obviously get bored of this, and quit long before they get a chance to get into it.

The Free Fandom Project was established with this problem in mind. Our goal is simple. We want to provide everything you need to indulge in your fandom, whether it is props, avatars, or what, not to make a few L$s, but for the love of the media - and the role play. Our goal is to provide as full an assortment of fan-based products as possible, help others in creating their own, and honing our own crafts in the process.

Op/Ed: Moving Beyond Shouting Matches

by Jessica Holyoke

Prior to malpractice insurance being required for physicians, some doctors would protect themselves by having all of their assets in their spouse’s name. If a patient ever sued the doctor for malpractice, the patient could win, but there would be no money to compensate the patient. In this way, the physician was said to be judgment proof. Preventing defendants from seizing your assets was an important way for people to protect themselves from lawsuits. Judgment proof can be expanded to cover the many ways that prevent a real life suit from being pursued against a Second Life resident.

The main way metaverse residents are judgment proof is the value placed on non-disclosure of personal information.

From the Linden’s point of view, disclosure of identifying information is a personal decision, whether from the Community Standards or the “voluntary” identification system, our personal privacy is an important part of a one’s Second Life. Oftentimes though, the Lindens point to a resident’s local court systems as a means of settling any dispute between residents. So if two designers are fighting over a copyright of a design, the Lindens will direct them to a real life court. But one of the first things a resident would need to do in filing a real world court case is reveal personal identifying information. Therefore, if your pseudonymity was important to you, that would be gone if you decide to sue someone over a dispute in Second Life.

Op/Ed: The VAT Tax Man Cometh

by Inigo Chamerberlin

Yet another missive from those lovely folks at Linden Lab. On a Friday, as usual. I’m coming to actively dislike Friday eMails from Linden Lab.

What now? Well, all us lucky EU residents are now going to be charged VAT (Value Added Tax to the rest of you) on ‘all payments to Linden Lab such as land sales, monthly maintenance fees and Premium subscription fees’. Quite where that leaves Lindex purchases isn’t made clear – but whatever is by Linden Lab. You can be pretty sure those transactions will be included though.

The only way to ‘avoid’ this is to have your in-world business registered for VAT, with all the lovely complex paperwork that entails. It would almost be worth it to be able to demand correctly formatted VAT invoices from Linden Lab – except they have come up with a wheeze to get around that – or so they seem to think.

You see, IF you are registered for VAT you are issued a ‘VAT number’ by your local government tax authorities (its ONLY use is to identify you as being entitled to charge VAT by being printed on your receipts and invoices, and to assist filing and tracking. I wonder what Linden Lab’s VAT registration number is?)

Linden Lab is neatly sidestepping the EU legal requirement to provide VAT registered companies with VAT compliant invoicing and receipts by telling you that IF you provide them with your VAT number they won’t bother charging you VAT.

Sound good to you? Well it appears to be unlawful.

It’s NOT how EU VAT works. VAT is collected from the non-VAT registered at the point of sale. It’s also collected from the registered, those with a VAT number, in the same way. Then, every three months they get to wade through the paperwork, claim back the VAT paid for deductible purchases, and pay the balance to the VAT tax collection agency.

Op/Ed: PN Leader N3X15 Is the Worst Sort of Furry

[G-Boy Anonymous tells the story of how he outgrew griefing - then learned the current leader of the PN has shocking furry sympathies. When I questioned GBoy's motivations for coming forward, he told me while he dislikes furries, he despises hypocrites. After trying to go straight, GBoy finds living a peaceful life is difficult, because “a majority of the sims I've been in have been griefed”. GBoy claims that the problem is “nexis and PN are filled with fucking idiots and 14 year old kids who got banned from gaiaonline.com and just now found out about 4chan”. And so, one avatars struggles to move on to a new life. This is his story - in his own words. -- the Editrix]

by G-Boy Anonymous

There comes a time in a greifers life when greifing is no longer the norm and no longer fun, there’s only so much lulz to be had when greifing furnation or baku or whatever - you know?

Almost a year ago I started playing second life. I was a /b/tard, scum of the internet - amirite? I played for about a week, I hung out in baku since that was the very first place I visited.

Being a /b/tard on the internet means you have ties to the internets strongest internet hate machine, you have access to scripts, programs and so called "rape machines" that would make most hackers and trolls scratch their heads or suck your dick - and this is about the time I became part of the PN, “patriotic nigras”, or what was known as second life’s internet jihad, the biggest and baddest.

Or you know, until now, when this story gets published.

Op/Ed: What to do about Griefers?

Hit them where it hurts - right in the computer

by Danielle Anders, frustrated resident

Everywhere I turn lately, griefing is on the rise. This could be solely a reporting bias - more people means more griefing targets and more griefing reports. But let’s take a look at the problem a little more realistically.

The first strategy suggested against griefers is always tools. The grey-goo fence is often mentioned as a potential defense as well as a faster auto return, no-build becoming the default or more thorough banning. However, with any tool based dispute, the conflict becomes an arms race. It becomes a challenge to circumvent the tool, whatever it is, and the griefer’s delight is heightened by being successful in spite of defenses.

A second approach suggests using social methods - and there are two fronts to this. The first is the engagement crowd. Those seeking to find out why griefers grief and what to do about it. Enlisting them in talks, turning them around to a socially beneficial way of interacting. This is counter to what we know about griefers. The griefer’s stated motive is that SL is taken too seriously so their attacks are all for the lulz, defined as defeating those who take SL too seriously with the furries generally hardest hit. It is unlikely to be be easy to reform a griefer who is hooked on furry lulz.

Another social strategy is banning of groups - or guilt by association. For some reason, this is seen as striking a blow to the griefers. The only way it would work as intended is if all groups are closely monitored to see who is joining them as day old alts and attacking the grid. You might be able to shut down the Prok Fan club, but then you would see the Prokofy Free Love Club or another group spring up in its place. Attacking their tribalism will not work.

Op/Ed: LL Selling Residents’ Souls To Data Miners?

ANYTHING goes in Linden Lab’s headlong drive to get the corporates on board

by Inigo Chamerberlin

Linden Lab may have found a way of dangling a tasty carrot in front of the corporates – a way of connecting a Second Life resident identity with a RL identity - and this may explain the Linden's fascination with pursuing an identity verification relationship with Integrity-Aristotle to build resident “trust” relationships - which residents deeply dis-trust. The hook-up with Integrity-Aristotle, which I really couldn’t see the sense in, given their established track record of online age verification failure and selling identity data to absolutely anyone (see this May 2007 article for details), now makes a lot more sense.

I came to this conclusion after the recent article concerning the latest on the Age Verification system caused some very interesting comments, several raising issues which I hadn’t even considered. Subsequent in-world conversations with various residents also brought to light some interesting thoughts. For instance, Victorria Paine makes a very interesting point regarding Age Verification as it applies to the continuing Linden Lab obsession with corporatising Second Life. This raises a possibility I missed completely in an earlier article in which I attempted to examine the future of ‘Corporate Second Life’.

Linden Lab may well NOT keep your personal data – if you can trust them – but Integrity-Aristotle have made it quite clear that they WILL. Now it really shouldn’t be necessary to draw a diagram showing how that works, should it?

Linden Lab can take refuge in their usual ‘implausible deniability™’, while gaining the advantage of being able to point their precious corporate customers in the direction of Integrity-Aristotle, or Aristotle Inc, the data trading part of the Aristotle group, or maybe some less obviously titled subsidiary - and then the corporates can tie a Second Life avatar's interest in their offerings to a RL identity. For example:

Op/Ed: Romance me, damn it!

By Linda Loveless

I'll come right out and say it; I'm tired of men always gaming for my crotch! I used to give them the benefit of the doubt -- giving them first, second, and third chances to show they were after something more. I *still* give them too many chances... my real life boyfriend fails to deliver romance every day, and I still haven't dumped his sorry ass.

After my RLBF failed me the 50th time, I decided to check out the SL dating scene, and two months into the experience I have to say I'm extremely disappointed. Maybe I'm a magnet for assholes, I don't know, but the guys I run into all claim they're Teh Romeo I've been pining for and... well, they're not. Not by a long shot. They suck.

Op/Ed: Linden Lab's Weasel Worded Quasi-Assurances

Concierge customers: boycott Linden Lab's ‘test’ of the Age Verification system

by Inigo Chamerberlin

Linden Lab and Aristotle's Integrity - trustworthy

Earlier today I received an eMail from Linden Lab – the text is reproduced below the fold. After reading the eMail all I could say was - excuse me? Am I missing something here? It seems to me that remaining anonymous is a much better method of ‘building trust-based relationships’ – as in ‘No, you can’t have my RL details, you’ll just have to trust me’.

‘Trust’ actually flies out the window when your RL details are revealed.

‘Trust’ is something that depends on not knowing for sure, and trusting the individual concerned regardless.

I have no idea what idiot wrote this eMail, but I can say with some confidence that logical argument is definitely not their forte. As for ‘We see this tool as critical to supporting Residents in shedding anonymity’! Oh yes! I’m sure we have all noted the relentless clamour of residents DEMANDING the ability to ‘shed anonymity’? Just begging for Linden support?

Like the residents are too dumb to figure out that they are perfectly at liberty to place any and all RL details about themselves in their profiles?

I note the eMail is also well larded with weasel worded quasi-assurances as to the (cough) ‘integrity’ of Integrity Aristotle – a company with a fine track record of disclosing information to anyone with the money, or political influence, to make it worth their while. And a company who’s sole previous attempt at providing effective age verification failed miserably…