December Happenings 2011
Greetings all :)
I haven’t added a post here since April of this year and while some of you may be thinking that ‘that’s it, she’s outta SL for good’ , nothing could be further from the truth. I told all my readers that the Eyes of Laysan were watching –and they have been :)
So I see finally that Linden Labs has got their shit together as far as connecting up their billing and verification systems and they’ve added wonderful little controls for indicating whether or not the avatar you are using is a simulacrum powered by virtual intelligence or a real being. and I see that the viewer has gotten a few more features (though I can’t say the redesigns I’ve seen since April, knock my socks off) and then there’s the advent of Mesh onto the grid which I have very personal feelings about (can we say bad idea from a philosphic, lets keep the barriers to entry low for everyone, view?).
Moreover it seems like the public opinion on Superhero groups doing actual in-world policing has switched to the emphatically negative and that, ironically (considering that community was part friendship enhance, bread and butter as well as, in some cases, the bane of my virtual existence) my place was largely founded in that community, I have come to agree with that conclusion.
As a maker of items of superheroic pervue, it may, on the surface, seem anathema to have that view now, but superheroics in SL now, serve no purpose other than RPG fun and, it seems largely, to become the very thing you fought against.
As RPG devices and supplies, I’m happy with what I’ve made. From a superheroic standpoint of a woman with her finger on the Central Power Battery, security to assure that these devices aren’t misused has always been keen on my mind. And most clients know that, and I think that extra time and effort put in has resulted in the fact that I have only once, many years ago, been forced to instruct the CPB to depower someone permanently.
When I return to business in SL, this will not change.
Am I ready to come back to SL just yet?
The answer at the moment so far is no. While SL has made significant strides in mediating the downward spiral at the lab, I’m still wary of a few things. So I’ll be keeping an eye on them and if those are resolved (as were billing and verification issues I had with Linden Lab [see above]) then you’ll be the first to know. For now, I’ll be popping in, trying out various upgrades (like Raycasting), and gauging the world’s readiness. Me and the Magrathean’s are alike in that regard, for differing purpose.
Stroker Serpentine
One thing that I am concerned about, and have been since I found out, is in the news of Stroker Serpentine’s departure from SL and the circumstances surrounding it. Once at the top of the world, with significant profit as well, Stroker, to all reports is penniless and, if reports are to be believed, using drugs to get through his day.
Say what you want, and I only had great contacts with Stroker and more specifically his online family and staff, but I’m pretty sure that this is a story that should’ve ended in the Anshe Chung way, not been an example of how to lose everything and destroy a human being and his family. That’s the one thing I really can’t stomach within SL, the perceived two facedness in which some users act and the outright maliciousness of those who just can’t listen to their better natures and feel the need to go after someone to the point of this, alleged, result.
There need to be boundaries. A point past which you wouldn’t want someone to go and therefore shouldn’t go yourselves. That’s all I’m saying. And so to Stroker, I hope he has cleaned up or cleans up soon and gets back to rebuilding his life, learning from the mistakes he made without the jeers of others egging him to lower depths.
Finally
As I said before the Eyes of Laysan are watching…
..and the labs, they are a researching and experimenting :)
~Lourdes
