The Game of feelings

It's been nearly two weeks since my last post, and I have been sitting on this article piece for that long, trying my best to word this topic as best as I can.

Second life is regarded by most people as a game, our precious virtual reality does provide leisure during our free time and on some cases, RL income -or an extra nudge for those not so lucky to be lindenaires-, but isn't it by simple concept a game?

Following this reasoning, those who invest their time in entertaining themselves, also do go through the trouble of disregarding other's people's feelings whilst at the platform; we've all heard the stories, lovers who alt, who fake being ill to manipulate other, or worst, date several people at the same time while taking the time to visit dungeons, on the excuse that "it isn't real anyway", but is it really all valid since there is no RL involved?

Sorry to burst your bubbles folks, but no matter how separate and anonymous you try to make both your lives, there is a part of your RL involved in SL, and that is the person controlling the avatar and who does indeed, has feelings. My father used to say that each day is like a blank page, full of possibilities where you can write a new chapter of your life and maybe, learn something while becoming a better person; this also applies to SL. We have a chance every time we log in to make a difference, to produce change, to become better people while inspiring others who may need our help, as little as this may be.

That is indeed a proper use of our free time and our virtual realities; I am not in any way trying to preach here or claim that I am perfect in what I do and don't do in both my lives, but my experiences whilst at the platform have taught me valuable lessons, shown me the best and worst about me and have induced change in those who I proudly call my family in SL.

At the end of the day, that is all I have to brag about and which compels me to log in and keep on trying; judge and you will not be judge my eldest Skylar always says, to that I must add, don't judge, but don't go engaging into business, relationships and so on, if for you all of this is just a game and have every intention to toy with others, because it may be "fun" for you, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it is for the rest around you.

https://www.facebook.com/spikecls
  

Perfection

Perfection, we all want it, we struggle with it every day and we sometimes fight and try and cope with the idea that in some areas, maybe and only maybe perfection will never be had, and then the average person discovers second life, a reality that in theory will accomplish just that, our envisioned perfect reality.

But as we evolve, grow and experience thing in second life, although success and happiness and all of those things we crave for our lives might be a lot easier to accomplish, the hard reality remains on the sole fact that perfection is also unattainable, a conflicting idea considering that this 3D world is user created and hence, easy to tweak and change to our whims.

Life is hard, is complex and harsh and by no means I am implying that you should give up on your pursuit of perfection and utter bliss, but don't be disappointed when it doesn't happen as soon as you expected it to.

Then there is the other extreme, users so wrapped up on their own perfection, that reality becomes only but a blurry picture; I had the misfortune of exchanging a few words with a FB / SL user just the other day on a comment -on a humorous tone I must add- about an outfit choice he decided to share, on which he took offense and carried on with this huge offensive diatribe, using big words to make his point.

I am sorry folks, but life is not perfect, people are not perfect and there, right there is where true perfection really lies, in our own flaws we try to cope and learn from.

 https://www.facebook.com/spikecls

Rape

I have been sitting on this article piece for a couple of days trying to get the right angle going and I have come to the healthy conclusion that the title, although offensive to some, is nothing short to fitting to what is going on inside (and outside with management of it) of our virtual platform.

Let's get started with Linden Labs and the recent and surprising removal of Oskar Linden, safe to say one of the most hard working and approachable patriarchs of the company, one who made his mission while in the labs and inside second life, to make it a safer, better place for us all.

The official statement would be that he got fired after dealing with a griefer that threatened to crash the region he was working on, while harassing other users present (sound familiar?) shortly afterwards he got the "skype call", which is now how the labs gives the axe to their employees. "To be quite honest this has all come as a surprise and a shock. I have known for a while that this would happen eventually though. All Lindens fear ‘the skype call’. The old Linden culture is long gone. Many Lindens are disappeared in that way when the Lab no longer has use for them. It has been difficult working through the changes at the Lab the past few years. I could have left, perhaps I should have left on my own. I would have been better off. I did not choose to do so because I was dedicated to the wonderful residents I have met during my 4 years working on SL. I was committed to all of you and committed to making Second Life and Linden Lab a better place. I felt I was fighting the good fight and didn’t want to just run away. I felt that I was making a difference. I hope that I did."

It is truly saddening and heartbreaking to see for yourself that, griefers, copy botters and other criminals get to violate TOS with the patronizing help of the labs themselves, who only apply these afore mentioned to those victim of abuse and attacks of all sorts.

Then there is another platform inside our virtual world that does seem to be trailing on the same path and that is one that is close to my personal interests and which affects me somewhat directly and that would be bloodlines. A good friend of mine and former bloodlines liaison Magdalena Fotherington, recently also got the axe, and yes you did indeed guessed it, by dealing with griefers and violators of BLs TOS who not only had been banned from BLs but had been removed as active liaisons.

When approaching the issue at hand which not only involved Merlin Swordthain and Magda's personal issues, but BLs issues past and present, Lyle himself decided to unban Merlin and eject Magda as he wished to not get involved. Now this procedure has me very confused, if you do not wish to get involved, the reasonable thing to do would be to remove and ban them both and let them sort it out outside "office hours"

Lyle Maeterlinck did inform Magda of her ejecting and termination, but after several offliners, no further statements have been made regarding this topic from anyone inside bloodlines.

Guess in the end is the good people, the users and the hard working SL citizens who get raped by those who are supposed to be working for us and not griefers and bullies.

The petition to stop griefers and protect users in SL is still available http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/linden-labs-punish-criminals-on-your-platform/ , if anyone reading this feels that they need to voice their concerns regarding how griefers and BLs TOS are being handled, do send a notecard to Lyle Maeterlinck in-world; how does this affect me? you'd ask, well it may not affect you now, but the next victim could be you and there is obviously no one out there to protect us, that is unless you are a griefer or a thief, in which case do carry on.

https://www.facebook.com/spikecls

Crazy

I have been trying my best, after this week's past events to bite my tongue on a few things and continue on with this blog and future posts on a lighter more positive note, but it seems to be an impossible task.

I have always said that one of the SL requirements to join should be a mental health check, instead of adult verification, but then again our idea of a perfect virtual would be very empty.

This does bring me back to that "Matrix" moment when agent Smith tells Neo that the first Matrix project was in fact "perfect" but it cost them many human units as people kept killing themselves, which pointed out the fact that humans on some level did enjoy suffering and overcoming obstacles.

May this same concept apply to our user created reality? do we in fact enjoy, seek and fuel drama? are we not happy without our daily dose of conflict? I don't know, these questions might as well stay forever unanswered, but as far as I'm concerned, I have made an early New Year's resolution when it comes to my SL interactions and that is some proactive use of the mute button.

We all have issues, we all have things to deal with in RL, our own personal and daily struggles and we come home, let go of all of that and log in to our idea of the life we want, with a number of tools to make that a reality, so then I still wonder, what's with the sudden surge of crazy lately in the platform? Spam chat, anger issues, people banned from clubs, death threats, it's all there.

Maybe and only maybe we should all make an effort and try and use SL to bring out the best in us and not the other way around.

https://www.facebook.com/spikecls