MARX DUDEK

Real Virtuality.

Me. (Basically.)

Today is my last day as a premium subscriber of Second Life.

Wait, that sounds terribly “final”. It’s not. Simply read it as a statement of fact.

I still own land. 65,536 square meters, to be precise. You see, it wasn’t until recently that I received clarification (from Crap Mariner) that having a premium membership was not required to own estate sims. This came as a surprise to me, but sure enough, there it was, in black and white.

Another primary reason that I kept a premium membership was to have easy access to customer support. Again, as an estate owner, I have a Concierge account and receive the highest form of customer support available to an ordinary Second Life customer. So, I don’t need premium for customer support.

Then there’s the stipend. I became premium in 2008, when the stipend was as it is now – L$300 per week. That comes to L$15600 per year, or a “refund” of US$62.90. As I paid annually (US$72), that meant my premium membership was effectively only US$9.10 per year. Fair enough, and if I didn’t own an estate sim – which has paid for itself since 2008 – it would be a reasonably good deal. But as I already have full customer service, I’m saving an additional US$9.10 per month by not renewing my premium.

Over the last two months, I’ve divested myself of all of my mainland. Some of it was easy to part with, some was incredibly difficult. Some of it returned a nice profit, while others I sold at far less than what I paid to people I know will put it to very good use.

As I write this, I feel no remorse.

This domain will likely be going away as well. It’s nice to have, but it comes at a cost – US$50 per year.

This doesn’t mean that I will quit blogging – I’ll just be moving.

Honestly, my grasp on Second Life has been tenuous for a while. There have been moments when I’ve felt as though I was holding on by a single finger or two. I’m hoping that shedding a few inworld responsibilities might free me up to rediscover the magic I’ve been sadly missing from our virtual world. My shop is closed for now, but I do plan to put some of my merchandise on the Marketplace. I do love owning a shop and having a showplace for the silly clothes and gadgets that my limited expertise has allowed me to create, but I’ve not really created anything new in quite some time. The things I have made and sold have meant I’ve not had to put a single RL dollar into Second Life for nearly three years.

I want to see what happens. My premium membersrhip was, in some respects, a “vote of confidence” in Linden Lab. I feel it also made me feel smugly superior – and I don’t want to feel that way. Premium or not, creator or not, landowner or not, we’re all in this together.

And so begins another chapter in the life of Marx Dudek, avatar.

Moving

My lives are in collision. I am in the process of moving in both worlds.

I wish we had inventories in our RL lives. Just go into each room, click, take, and make it go away until we need it. Conversely, imagine if moving in SL were as arduous as it is in RL, with each item persisting inworld with a corresponding weight, and the need for an appropriate sized storage container when not being used or displayed. As much as we shake our fist at Linden Lab for the things that hassle us in Second Life, be thankful they weren’t sadists when it came to storing objects … and say a little prayer that Oz isn’t reading this right now and making notes.

I’ve been priding myself on minimizing my personal ‘real world’ belongings, and I’ve managed to convince myself that I now own next to nothing at all. Now that I’m having to sort – yet again – through my ‘meager’ RL inventory, I’m realizing how far I still have to go to truly call myself a minimalist.

As for SL, the sim I’ve been living on with Ella is slated for deletion as the owner goes on indefinite hiatus from the grid. We’re presently living on the original 512sqm parcel that she’s owned since before we met, as we decide what we’re doing next.

I’ve been trying to decide what to say about Linden Lab’s announcement that SL9B won’t be taking place on dedicated sims this year. It seems that every year, LL detaches itself just a bit more from … well, us. It’s one more bit of cultural heritage being discarded, like the discontinuation of last names; an arbitrary judgment made with apparently no thought given to how it would affect the community.

Yes, I’m having a really difficult time with the word “resident” right now – in both worlds. Similarly, the owners of the complex where I’ve lived for the past five years seem to have given up on the concept of ‘resident community’. In the span of five years, I’ve gone from loving my life here, to staying for the sake of everything being within walking distance, to finally giving up entirely and leaving.

It takes a lot to get me to the point where leaving is less of an inconvenience than staying put – and I wonder just how many people in Second Life are at that crossroads? How many creators haven’t left, simply because at least some money is still coming in, enough to pay tier and have a little spending money left over? How many estate owners are maintaining their sims solely out of respect for the residents living there? How many people are running out of “just one more thing” to push them over the edge?

I’m not to that point in Second Life – not yet – but every decision like this just underscores for me how Linden Lab as a company provides nothing else, really, except a platform. Second Life continues to thrive (or limp along, depending on your perspective) in spite of LL, rather than because of it. Of course, without the platform, there’s nothing; but without the user-created content, there’s less than nothing.

This is not to imply that there aren’t LL staffers still excited about Second Life. I have to say, though, that actual Lindens are conspicuous by their absence inworld. It wasn’t uncommon a few years ago to regularly meet Lindens at everyday events, or at any of a number of regularly scheduled Office Hour meetings. Or just wandering around like the rest of us, seeing what the community was up to.

Prior to the death of the Teen Grid, TeenSL bloggers lamented on their blogs that they had been abandoned by the Lindens, left to fend for themselves among griefers and militias in a virtual “Lord of the Flies”. Now it seems that the one remaining major Linden-sponsored event has all but been abandoned by the Lab. I suppose it will still take place, if enough people with their own land can muster up the team spirit to organize events. It’s just not going to be the same, though, and I don’t suspect that we’ll see many – if any – Lindens at any of the satellite events that actually do coalesce.

Granted, there are other places one can go outside of Second Life. There are some small-but-thriving communities of dedicated individuals committed to keeping the virtual-world dream alive outside of SL, but it’s not like we can simply pack up our belongings and move them to another grid. It becomes a matter of starting over from nothing at all. Our inworld snapshots, our lovely wardrobes, our favorite dances, our art collections, our pets, our beautiful furnishings – and most of all, our friends.

While I’m certainly not to that point yet, I certainly no longer feel like a “resident”. Like the apartment complex that has been my RL home for as long as SL has been my virtual home, I feel like just another customer. Stay or go, either way, it doesn’t matter much at all to the management.

That said, I still love Second Life despite it all. I love it for my friends, first and foremost. I love it for friends who don’t know me at all in the physical world, and yet have done more, shared more, and sacrificed more for me than most of my friends in ‘real life’.

I stay for the real heart that beats inside each and every one of them.

That’s something that Linden Lab can’t take away.

The State (of Disarray) of the Nation

I do apologize for failing completely to sit down and finish the second half of the TPV ‘conference-call’. I want to recommend very emphatically that you listen to this week’s MetaReality Podcast titled “Unproductive Communication“, with Gianna Borgnine, Draxtor Despres and Qarl Fizz (and if you’re not subscribed to the podcast, to do so). I think that it’s possibly one of the best hashings-through of the new Linden Lab policy concerning third-party viewers. Having Qarl in on the discussion was very enlightening – say what you will about him, but very few of us can claim the inside view that he does into Linden Lab policies and politics. I will admit that some of the ideas shared during the podcast introduced some nuances that I hadn’t even considered.

If you follow me on Twitter, you know that I’ve been ranting and raging over my country’s latest distraction – the Republican Party challenging a woman’s right to make her own reproductive decisions if her employer objects on “moral and religious grounds”. (Cultural Note: In the United States, most working people obtain life and health insurance through their workplace. The current manufactured controversy surrounds an employer’s ability to deny paying for coverage of particular procedures for their employees on the basis of their objection to that procedure on religious or moral grounds. Think “contraceptives” for a Catholic employer, “blood transfusions” for a Jehovah’s Witness employer, “vaccinations” for certain evangelical employers, or “any medical treatment at all” for a Christian Scientist employer. Now think about those dogmatic restrictions being imposed upon you by your own boss.)

I will admit that not all of my words have been kind – particularly following the news that a particularly smarmy and deceptive blogger – and right-wing media darling – named Andrew Breitbart died this week. Normally, I will show respect to someone who has died, regardless of their worldview or whether we agreed on anything (or even nothing) at all. Breitbart is one of those few exceptions that prove the rule. Andrew Breitbart was a hero to the extreme-right-wing in America because he was willing to abandon any and all scruples in his quest to destroy anyone of consequence who opposed the Republican Party in general, and the Tea Party in particular. Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi summarized his life and his mission in his article, “Andrew Breitbart: Death of a Douche“, and the New Yorker’s Rebecca Mead fills in the blanks in her article “Rage Machine“. In my opinion, he was a reprehensible human being and representative of the ethical cesspool that the American right has become. I can’t see how there is any dignity in an intelligent person calling themselves a Republican any longer, and it’s a very sad thing to say of the party of Abraham Lincoln. I feel for Breitbart’s family, but I can’t help but think that it couldn’t have been a fun life living with someone like him.

To make matters even worse, his sycophants are already generating conspiracy theories that he was somehow murdered by Obama, despite the fact that he died of natural causes. Worse, they’re calling him a “martyr” – which evokes all kinds of parallels to the kind of extremist hatred that led to September 11th. I’ve said in the past, and I will continue to say, that the only difference between America’s right-wing and al-Qaida is one holy book.

I live in a nation where a college student can be called a “slut” and a “prostitute” by the country’s number-one right wing talk-show host, simply because she dared to stand up to a sham of a hearing – a hearing which consisted of only men – over religious rights vs. a woman’s right to her own body. (Despite losing advertisers over it, he has now defamed this woman three times on three consecutive days on his program – each time, more hateful.)

I live in a nation where a Federal judge (appointed by George W. Bush) had no problem sending a sick joke via his government email account to his friends describing the deceased mother of his boss, President Barack Obama, as an indiscriminate tramp who likely had sex with animals on the night he was conceived. (And let’s not miss the fact that the intent of the joke is also to equate interracial marriage with bestiality.) He claims he’s not a racist, he just hates Obama. And what’s worse? His judgeship is a lifetime appointment.

I live in a nation where a Republican-led state government actually attempted to force a non-medically-necessary procedure upon any woman seeking to have an abortion. What the State of Virginia proposed was that any woman, regardless of the circumstances surrounding the pregnancy, be forced – even if her doctor opposed it – to submit to a trans-vaginal ultrasound, and shoving a monitor in her face to “educate” her by making her see the “baby” she’s about to abort. Yes, the State of Virginia wanted to pass a bill mandating what accounted to a state-mandated rape that neither the woman nor her doctor could oppose. And to add insult to rape, she would have been required to pay for the procedure. And even after national public outcry caused the state to rescind the part that mandated state-ordered vaginal insertion, the law as modified still requires a woman to be subjected to an abdominal ultrasound – although, in their mercy, they’ve said that the woman is permitted to look away from the screen if she wishes. (Think Clockwork Orange, only without the eyelid stints – oh, and she still has to pay for it.) Other Republican-controlled states are considering similar legislation.

This is the face of the right-wing in my country today. In the 21st century. 12 years into the 21st century. Our vision for the future should not be Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale“.

I won’t stay quiet about such things – not in this world, and not in Second Life, either. I will stand up, I will speak up, and I will fight.

Changes to Third-Party Viewer Policy: Notes From the Meeting (Part 1)

(Here is my quick summary of the first 50 minutes of the meeting that took place on Friday between Oz Linden and the third-party viewer developers. The full meeting is 105 minutes, and I hope to have the second half posted by the end of this weekend. My apologies for parsing and grammar failures along the way, it’s still very early in the morning for me.)

Also: “LL Update Their TPV Policy” by Inara Pey.

Changes to the Third Party Viewer policy and related changes – changes that will effect all viewers connecting to SL, whether they’re on the ‘approved’ list or not:

llRequestAgentData – the LSL command that returns your online status – is being broken. The primary ‘abuse’ of this feature is displaying the online status of other residents (“Avatar Online” HUDs, for example). This will have the effect of breaking the “Show Online Status of Renter” on advertising and employee boards, and also will break inworld inventory delivery and update devices which check for online status before delivering an item to avoid capping. The revision of llRequestAgentData will only return a true online status if the script containing the command belongs to the owner or the creator of the script being run.

The work around for employee boards suggested is to give the employee the “show-online script”, have them cut and paste it into a new script, and then give that new script back to the employer. (My comment: Don’t give scripts with mod permissions to anyone you don’t trust explicitly – but that should be a given anyway.)

There is apparently no good way performance-wise for llRequestAgentData to look at the show-online permissions that people have set for themselves, so this is how they’re working around it.

Oz Linden admits that he’s not familiar with advertising panels that use llRequestAgentData, or what the boards do with that data. (My comment: Nearly every advertising board I’ve ever seen inworld in four years has had that feature – you either have to not spend much time out in the larger grid or be oblivious to your surroundings when you are to not be aware of this. Of course, the purpose for using llRequestAgentData in an advertising board is to notify viewers of the advertisement that the advertiser is online and can be contacted for questions about the product or service on the board.)

To retain the feature, new advertising boards would need to require the renter to create and insert a “show-me-online” script into the board along with the ad texture/notecard/landmark. Not unworkable, except perhaps for residents who are not beyond the learning curve.

Oz says that the need for delivery scripts to check the user’s online status before delivering inventory to avoid capping will be eliminated once the direct-inventory features are implemented. Oz indicates that he’s willing to assist in testing this with others on the beta grid, and that serious efforts are presently being made to fix the problems with inventory delivery.

There has been no date set yet on breaking the existing functionality of llRequestAgentData, but the estimate will be no more than two weeks. The change will not send an error to scripts which use the function, it will simply return a false response of “user not online”.

Client-side radars will not be affected.

TPV creators will not be permitted to work-around displaying profile data that users have requested to be hidden.

Online/Last Online status in group lists will not be affected.

Viewer tags on TPVs are going away. You will not be able to know which viewer another resident is using; Oz: “You can’t display viewer tags, period. End of story.” Existing TPV color tags will also be broken.

RLV will not be affected by this change.

Oz: “You can’t redefine how objects and the world behave. You can’t extend the world itself without doing it with us [Linden Lab]“. It is intended to provide a uniform way for everyone inworld sees things. The example given were the extra attach points which were implemented in Emerald – they looked fine for Emerald viewers, but not on other viewers. (For example, a tail on a secondary Emerald attach point might actually appear hovering over that avatar’s head on a non-Emerald viewer, rather than where it was actually attached.) Bugs are bugs, and can be fixed – this will not change. Parcel windlight, however, is a violation, as it alters the shared experience for all. Oz says that the reason that it’s a problem is because SL’s own parcel information field was “hijacked” in a way in which it was not intended in order to make this possible – but Oz indicates that TPV viewers have a “free pass” on this one until LL does parcel windlight properly. Oz admits that parcel windlight is a good feature, but one that should have been implemented together with LL. (Oz: “It should have been done, it should have been done a long time ago, and it wasn’t.”) When LL implementation of parcel windlight is implemented is uncertain.

The model is “If you want to do a shared-experience feature, that’s good, but you have to do it with us”. It needs to be in LL’s viewer, and then propagated outward.

Someone in the conference mentioned that if it weren’t for third-party viewers, multi-attachments, avatar physics, and parcel windlight would not exist because they were suggested to Linden Lab and rejected. Oz responded that these were all suggestions made before he was present and before the current management was present. An LL implementation of Qarl’s mesh deformer is in the works – but if LL chose not to implement the mesh deformer, then no TPV connecting to the Second Life grid would be able to implement it, either. (My comment: Does this mean, then, that the prim alignment feature, also created by Qarl, is a violation? My guess is that the answer would be no, since the prim alignment taking place would appear the same on all viewers.) The objection was raised that if TPV creators can innovate in a matter of weeks, but have to wait for LL to act on it in order to implement it, then what’s the point in continuing to innovate for Second Life rather than, say, a grid like Inworldz? Oz responds that LL is very serious about innovating within the limitations of staffing.

(My comment: I really do think that Oz makes a very good point here, and one that should not be overlooked – it’s not fair to accuse the present management of the actions (or inactions) of previous management. Sure, things won’t move as quickly as everyone would like them, but that all comes down to “how many people do we have to do how many things and what takes priority given these limitations”. It does seem, though, that some great tools – like Qarl’s prim alignment tool – are being rejected outright, and I hope that that’s not simply due to a clash of personalities, given the awkward ending to Qarl’s employment at the Lab.)

To be continued.

Prokofy Neva’s Retributionary Abuse Report

Well, Prokofy has ‘responded’ to my last post in stereotypical passive-aggressive bullying fashion.

I will spare you the trauma of visiting Prok’s site. Please see below:

“Wow Marx, what in the world were you thinking, attempting to sell a 96m2 parcel for $50,000? You terrible land extortionist!”

Something’s missing here. Something that Prokofy conveniently left out, because if she had included it, it would tell a much different story. So what did Prokofy choose to leave out of this picture?

The “About Land” description.

Permit me to correct this oversight by sharing it with you:

There is a memorial to Garth Fairchang (the stool and tree that you can see in the first screenshot), which sat back from the sidewalk, surrounded by private land, in between my plot and Prokofy’s plot to the left. I decided to contact Pituca Fairchang to see if she would like to trade her 32m2 parcel for one with an unobstructed view of the sidewalk. She agreed, and we made an even trade. It seemed a very nice thing to do.

At the time, I did not yet own a vendor stall in Brown, and I wanted one. I decided that I would cut the 96m “panhandle” that I had now, after the plot transfer, and offer it to someone in exchange for a vendor stall. I set the land at L$50,000 because I didn’t want to sell it outright – of course, L$50,000 is an outrageous sum and nobody would pay that. But it did put it up on the map as land for sale, with the hopes that someone might see it, read the parcel description and make an offer to trade.

I’ve since obtained a stall from Linden Lab that belonged to someone whose account was no longer active, and purchased a second. So why is it still set to L$50,000? Quite simple, actually. I forgot.

So Prokofy filed a childish, passive-aggressive, retributionary Abuse Report against me simply because I dared to speak out about her abusive behavior. It’s a predictable tactic that she employs to bully her critics into silence.

For the record, I did not file an abuse report for the behavior mentioned in the previous entry. I figured I’d have my say on the blog and be done with it.

Prokofy has persuaded me to change my mind.

PS: “Hippo Land Holdings” owns a 96m2 parcel in the Brown vendor market and has it for sale for L$999,999.

It just doesn’t happen to be land that Prokofy wants, apparently.

If You Can’t Say Something Nice … You’re Probably Prokofy Neva

I recently purchased land in the historic Brown sim – something that I know a lot of seasoned residents will not do, precisely for the reason that I am about to explain.

I logged in today to find one of my two rental stalls full of objects for sale by someone renting land from Ravenglass – Prokofy Neva’s rental group. As I know Prokofy has stalls on offer to her renters, I presumed that the person had not checked the land ownership before rezzing objects. Also, it was my fault for not setting the land permissions after taking possession of the stall from Linden Lab. I sent a polite IM to the person, explaining why the objects were returned and to contact Ravenglass to locate the stalls which are reserved for Prokofy’s tenants.

Additionally, there was a new Ravenglass tenant who had built what I can only describe as a great big stone box. Looking at the profile, I noticed the tenant was only a little over a month old. Not wanting to AR someone, but aware that this build was clearly twice the allowed height limit for Brown and also was not in keeping with the planned community guidelines, I decided to make Prokofy aware of it.

I wrote the following in a notecard, sending it no-copy as I do with all of my notecards to anyone, as I’m well aware of how a full-perm notecard can be abused – Gywneth Llewellyn had a particularly bad experience with this. I did not do this specifically because it was Prokofy, as anyone who has ever received a notecard from me can confirm. Of course, Prokofy does have a history of abusing full-perm items – but that wasn’t my intention.

Dear Prokofy,

I returned some objects that were set for sale in my stall in Brown that were placed there by one of your tenants. Apparently when Linden Lab set the parcel for sale to me, I neglected to check the parcel permissions. They are set now, so that this shouldn’t be a recurring issue. I sent a very polite and pleasant note to your tenant, explaining why the objects were returned and to contact you for information on using the stalls which are owned by Ravenglass.

Also, there is a parcel being built at Brown 106,236 which is far higher than the height limitations for Brown. It has no windows, no entry ways, and as you can see from the photo, dwarfs the neighbor (one of your renters) next door to it. It is approximately 30 meters high, twice as large as the limit set by Linden Lab for Brown. As you probably do not get over here often, I thought I would bring it to your attention so you could bring it to your renter’s attention. I see that he is a relatively new resident, and I wouldn’t ever want to discourage someone who is inclined toward building. However, the rules in Brown are much different than the rest of the mainland and it is in violation.

Thank you,
Marx

Despite any dislike for Prokofy as a person, I see no point in being disrespectful in professional matters. Especially when it involves a sim on which we share space.

Here was the response I received, again verbatim:

As per usual, you’re a perfect asshole. Who takes the trouble to put a *notecard* on non-transfer, among other features of your annoying message.

Um, without any need for you (I police my properties and my tenants also get in touch) The tenant with the non-regulation build — both for my rules and for Brown — has already been sent a notice. If they don’t conform within 24 hours (and that’s nearly elapsed) it will be removed. You don’t need to get involved.

I don’t know why any of my tenants would be setting anything for sale in Brown. I currently don’t have any tenant who is using those stalls. Since the group is open, anyone can join and they may abuse the privilege. So…return the prims? And don’t make a federal case of it.

Once again: you are an asshole. I’ve been in Brown for seven years.

Prokofy

A businessperson should be able to comport themselves civilly, even with someone they have a dislike for. This is precisely what I did. Apparently, Prokofy is unable to respond in kind – which is one of the reasons why I do not recommend Ravenglass as a rental agency.

Prokofy says, “I’ve been in Brown for seven years”. Certainly, but the sim is the property of Linden Lab, and seniority does not give Prokofy the freedom to disregard the stated building restrictions for the sim – restrictions which are provided in multiple, well-marked spaces throughout the Brown sim. As for “making a Federal case out of it” – if sending a respectful notecard indicates ‘flying off the handle’ in Prokofy’s world, then I feel really, really sorry for anyone who has had a legitimate tenant complaint with her.

As for “not getting involved” … well, if there’s an issue, I’m going to speak up – it doesn’t matter who the tenant is. Prokofy does not own Brown, no matter how much she feels her ‘seniority’ gives her the right to boss other residents around. I’ll (respectfully) point out violations where I see them.

If that makes me a “perfect asshole”, then I wear the title with pride.

Creative Writing: The New “Freebie Culture”?

As any writer knows, there is no substantial money to be made in works-for-hire in the “real world” anymore. You have web portals everywhere, paying starvation rates to writers who are desperate for work, to write articles on subjects for which they likely have no passion whatsoever and likely serve no other purpose than to drive traffic to advertising.

Linden Lab is a consistently profitable internet company, despite what every lazy journalist says to the contrary. Over the course of almost nine years, membership and tier rates have remained static despite steadily declining costs for hosting, racks, and bandwidth. And yet, the cost of maintaining an estate sim is still $3612 per year – $3540 in monthly sim fees, and $72 for the annual fee required to own an estate – and even more if you have to pay VAT. Multiply that by the number of estate sims, and it’s easy to see that, despite some attrition, Second Life remains a very profitable business.

Now, consider that Linden Lab is asking members of their own customer base to write what will essentially be “official” articles for their website – articles intended to promote and attract attention to their core product. Linden Lab knows that there is no advertising agency that can write about Second Life as effectively as their own passionate userbase. The purpose, clearly, is to draw in new residents and to engage fledgling newbies who are still getting their feet wet – promotional literature, with an eye toward upselling goods and services which will increase their profitability as a company.

So ponder for a moment that the invitation is for writers who use SL to write promotional articles about Second Life. Further, this will be content exclusively for the use of Linden Lab, and which Linden Lab reserves the sole right to edit as it sees fit prior to publication.

That’s perfectly okay, but expecting it for free seems … fine, if Linden Lab were a non-profit organization. Don’t get me wrong, if the Lab can find people willing to write for free, more power to everyone involved. I do believe, though, that you often get what exactly you pay for. It’s not unreasonable to ask Linden Lab, upon acceptance of an article, to pay the L$ equivalent of a dollar or two – that’s what inworld publications have done for years. To accuse a writer of being greedy because they want to be compensated for their work is ludicrous. You may as well heckle shopkeepers for charging money for the fruit of their labor, or DJs or singers or musicians for having tip jars. Second Life is a micro-economy. The money that most of us earn inworld goes right back into the SL economy – whether it’s clothes, or rentals, or land tier, or premium fees.

Let’s not forget that Linden Lab bought out Xstreet SL, then bought OnRez – Xstreet’s only true competitor – and shut it down, then set about to implement a plan to charge a L$99 per month fee per freebie item offered by content creators using Xstreet. For a particularly generous designer who made and offered, say, 100 items for free on Xstreet, had it been implemented it would cost that creator USD40 per month to give things away for free on Xstreet. Ultimately, Linden Lab didn’t follow through on that “Roadmap”, in large part due to shopkeeper backlash. However, it’s safe to say that Linden Lab can afford to pay for things when it wants to (anyone remember Avatars United?), and it will certainly collect money when it sees an opportunity to do so.

So it shouldn’t be surprising that when the company reaches out for exclusive, original content from residents, that the talented writers of Second Life would anticipate some sort of compensation for their work – especially if they lose final creative control of that work once it becomes the property of Linden Lab.

As with any decision that Linden Lab makes, of course there are going to be some who are against it, no matter what it is. But disagreement is not necessarily a bad thing. Neither is the occasional altruism. However, let’s not kid ourselves – there is plenty of altruism in Second Life. Love it or hate it, the “freebie culture” is quite often a shining example of altruism on the grid. It all comes down to who truly needs the generosity the most.

If you want to donate free articles to Linden Lab, then do. But don’t insult those who might feel their talents are worth a dollar or two each from a corporation that can not only afford it, but is able to pay them with virtual currency that they create out of thin air.

And for the love of God, don’t tell them to “leave if you don’t like it here”. If Second Life were nothing more than a cult of like-minded people who agreed about everything, it would be a hideously boring experience.

Thank goodness it’s not.

Guest Editorial: “Who is Broken?” by Mera Kranfel

(A little while ago, I invited Mera Kranfel of Eternal Sunshine of the Metaverse to write a guest editorial response to my blog post, “No, Second Life is Not Closing in 2012.” Mera has been very patient with me, and I appreciate that patience.)

I (Mera) got several interesting comments on my post last time that I feel I have to answer more thoroughly. Marx Dudek started this topic and its very interesting.

Again we are talking about “broken people” and the definition of that. Who is broken, and who decides that?

I like to build in 3-D and to create worlds and communities in VR (virtual reality). Does that make me broken? Or is it just a hobby? What’s the difference between building 3-D houses in cardboard, collecting stamps and whatever, compared to creating in a computer environment? The stamp collector is maybe broken, too, as he has a hobby that interests him a lot and he spends time with his stamps.

Most people have no hobby. They work, eat dinner and… WATCH TV ALL EVENING. Are they more sane than the poor stamp collector or “broken” Mera who is building her ridiculous stuff and chatting with friends in a VR?

My not-so-scientific analysis of this debate is that most people have troubles getting used to the computer environment. VR and its technique is not old enough to feel comfy as the television. Its not accepted enough in the broad populace. Therefore, its easy to feel like a freak when you use it.

Even if those who criticize or question our participation in VR have an avatar themselves, Im sure they feel alienated by the environment somehow. Maybe someone hurt them, or they have been so unfortunate to have the “wrong” kind of friends – ones who create drama.

A VR is what we make of it. You choose what to do and who will become your friend. It’s like in RL (real world).

Of course, some people abuse VR, misuse it and becomes addicted to it in a bad way. But you can actually be addicted to anything. Though if you get addicted, it’s in your genes – you have inherited it from your parents, probably.

Some people are born prone to be addicted to something. Not everyone becomes addicted to cigarettes, liquor, sugar or even VR. Only some people. And if they didnt have VR to get addicted to, they would probably get addicted to something else (maybe even worse).

And last, VR is not for everybody. You may need imagination above average for example to fully appreciate the environment. But in the (maybe near) future, I’m sure the common populace also will use VR without even thinking about it, for casual meetings and likewise. To have an avatar will become “normal” – I’m pretty sure of that.

(Thank you so much, Mera!)