Damn Funny Song about SL

I like SL (duh!)

I like music.

I love humor.

Put all three together and you get a parody song about SL… enjoy!

Catch ya on the flip side.

Tiny Empires Drama!

Tiny Empires… I’ve talked about the game before.  Now if you don’t want to go and read that post, just know that Tiny Empires is a little hud game that run in the background while you are doing your whatever it is you do in Second Life.  The gist of the game requires that you do have contact with other people – it’s a networking game… chat it up with other people, they join your ‘Tiny Little Empire.’

I would say, for the most part, I have thoroughly enjoyed my time playing Tiny Empires – “for the most part.”  Of late, I’ve been witness to some drama.  And I have to say I don’t understand it… honestly.  Tiny Empires is a game within a game.. I see no need for people to slag each other over a game.  I’m still shaking my head thinking of some of the stuff I have heard and witnessed lately.  If it were not for all the friends I have made through the game, I would probably detach the HUD and say “toodle-oo, enough for me!”

If you want the gossip of what’s been going on – you’re looking at the wrong person.  I won’t display it out here for the whole world to see.  Not my style…

I will say this though…

For Pete’s Sake people – it’s a game.  Lighten up!  Have fun with it.  If you wouldn’t say it to your mother, don’t say it to someone else.  If you wouldn’t want it said to you – don’t say it to someone else.  Be kind.  Be gentle.  It’s just a game!

Catch ya on the flip side.

Awww.. how sweet

Okay, so perhaps I’m not the most observant of people.  I mean… how could I miss it … but as I was checking my offline IM’s, and letting everything rezz and catch up with my viewer…. this came into sight….

How sweet is this, huh?  Pretty colors…. made my beach house look so much better.

Thanks Autumn, you’re the greatest. I was feeling so left out when you decorated Pickles house, now I feel just as special as her.  *hugs*

Catch ya on the flip side.

Who has the right?

I’m probably writing a blog entry that will have half the people who have kid avies in SL hating me. Oh well… such is life.

I’m not even sure where to begin, to be honest. Maybe it’s best to give a scenario:

The Scene: Any Sim
The Characters: A combination of kid avatars and adult avatars
The situation: People are cussing and swearing, talking about sex stuff.

The issue up for debate here is whether or not the person using the foul language or what could be seen as “inappropriate” talk has the right to be there or whether someone (the person playing the child avie) has the right to use devices to change/repeat their talk with the language altered or worse case scenario, use devices which are aggressive – orbiting, etc.

I suppose if a sim has rules set out already, regardless of whether they be PG or Mature rated, that ban this type of activity, then the people breaching these rules should stop. “Should” being the key word here as my experience has taught me that these individuals will generally carry on with the same behavior, regardless of any rules. In this instance, a person has a variety of tools open to them including reporting the incident to the owner/manager of the sim/region or if the activities are a general breach of Terms of Service (TOS) and/or the Community Standards, then one can Abuse report (AR) the people involved.

Now if this kind of behavior happens, offensive language (cussing, sexually suggestive… even explicit) … then I always will look at whether the sim is rated PG or Mature. There are some distinct differences between a PG and a Mature region … for example, “PG Areas are designated to be free from sexually explicit language or behavior, swearing and other forms of aggressive language, violent behavior and/or imagery, including horror.” So if I am in a PG region and people are conducting themselves in a way contrary to this description (directly quoted from the linked support article,) I might report them. First though, I would probably ask them to alter the behavior. . . perhaps they are not aware of the differences between PG and Mature… who knows. To me, an Abuse Report is the final extreme reaction to a situation.

Now if I am in a mature sim, with a child avie, this is a completely different situation. So, barring any explicitly stated rules set out by the sim owner/parcel owner, I do not feel I have the right to dictate my morality and my ideas about what is acceptable behavior. This has already been set out by Linden Labs describing what the difference is between a mature and PG sim. So barring the people running around naked… what am I to do? Well, believe it or not, I can put up and shut up. If I find it really offensive, I can also use my “mute” button… (click the >> button in your main chat window, the list of nearby avatars shows up, and you can highlight the individual(s) you don’t wanna hear and then tick the “mute text” box.) If I really really really don’t like it… I can teleport home or to a location that I know people are not talking that way. Worse case scenario… there’s that little “x” button at the upper right of your Second Life window that takes you back to the Real World.

So maybe people will say I’m a wimp and I don’t stand up for child avatars, and child avie rights, but in all honesty, I just see these options as the right ones – at least the right ones for me. The options I listed that I will use in a mature sim, are actually the very same ones, I will generally use even in a PG sim. When I think about using some type of weapon on a person to give them a message about my displeasure with their actions, I feel I really am not much better than they. In fact, by using this type of weapon not only am I not respecting them as an individual, I am in breach of the Community standards (sections 2,3 & 6.) If I choose to change their text so that anybody within reading/hearing distance can see it, I am most likely in breach of Community Standard number 6. Don’t quote me on this.. I am not an expert on those standards, but I do know that my actions actually contribute more to making a situation worse. I always think of the adage “Two wrongs don’t make a right.”

Bottom line: Live and let live. Consider your actions. Is what you are expecting based on TOS or Community Standards? Or is it because this is what “you think.” And what are you going to do to respond to it? Make it worse? Harass someone? Walk away from it? Abuse report them?

I’m not trying to impose my ideals on this to others . . . people will continue to think what they want to think, believe what they want to believe. Hopefully it will just give people a chance to pause and think about their own views . . .

And for gosh’s sake.. if you have a different opinion, feel free to share them. I love a good debate.

Catch ya on the flip side.