Lip Service

Linden Lab's customer facing departments seem to prefer it; I don't.

For several years I've enjoyed helping others and building communities within Second Life and it's associated webspaces, and also tried to make that easier for other to do, sometimes succeeding, sometimes not. I'm not the only one by any means, and hold no illusions that my contributions make or break the effort. There are others who have contributed far more, and there are some that still do. SL has never lacked for clients willing to promote and improve it's platform.

Recently the weight of what I feel is poor decision making by LL in their forum webspace (arguably one of their first lines of customer contact and service), came to a head, with the outright abusive treatment of it's customer community. I became more and more aware of it, both through personal exposure, and word of mouth which was thoroughly checked. I stood up and said something about it, pointing to what was wrong, and focused on specifically why it was damaging, and what needed to be done to fix it. Unconnected to that I made a personal statement of intent, that if I couldn't see improvement or effort towards such, I would withdraw my efforts to improve the forums. I haven't seen it, so true to my word, I've packed up my bags and moved out of the forums. Thankfully, I feel that there is now quite a good pool of people in what's always been my personal home of the scripting forums.

The truth is, my exit was probably late in coming. Over the years I've watched as customers were treated as a convenient workforce, while multiple programs supposed to encourage and assist those who wanted to help died out to neglect and mistreatment. Each time alienating more clients, and leaving more by the wayside confused about where to find help. I'm now among the ranks of those alienated, and a little sad to know how many good people are in the same company. I think it's unfortunate that LL will eventually send more here if it doesn't wake up. As far as I can see, they are their own worst competitor in their effort to expand; If they can't catch and hold onto the spirit of devotion that drives their clients to help others find as much enjoyment in the platform as those clients do, they'll never manage to keep the clients they do have.

As for myself, I'm currently stepping back and reevaluating my other contributions within and outside of SL, so that I can refocus on what matters to me and others like me, even if it means stripping the tree bare rather than nourishing it's growth.

This is where I press post rather than edit my thoughts

Open letter to Rod Humble, RE: Second Life Forums

To Mr. Humble, CEO Linden Lab

  I'm writing you today, in the hopes of bringing your attention to what I feel is a detriment to the public image of SL and goodwill of it's residents. There is a trend of what appears to be worsening misapplication of guidelines in the official forums culminating with my own recent experience which I will detail shortly. I do wish to note first that I am not contesting the actions taken by LL staff, as I believe that they are only operating under the guidelines given to the best of their understanding and ability, and I hold no malice over it. My only issue is the clarity of the policies involved. Regardless of this, my understanding of the guidelines tells me that my discussion of the following details will very likely result in a ban from the forums. I am willing to accept this, because I believe the issues need to be openly addressed.

  Recently a poster upset by recent events posted a suggestion that others who felt similarly about those events, should join them in a sort of "blue flu" protest for a week, by refraining from answering questions. I don't know the details of those events beyond that a person (who is a known agitant) was banned. This is not my issue however. In reply to that I pointed out that historically (within SL) such protests had little effect, and that it would be more effective to direct those questioners to official support channels (original text below). The following day I logged in to find a private message from a moderator informing me that my post was removed for a violation of guidelines, specifically, "Flaming". I also found that the original thread to which I had replied was also removed, although I'm not aware of it's reasoning. Believing this to be a mistake or a simple misunderstanding of my intent, I requested a clarification, which was received the next day as "disruptive with the intent to abuse support" (text below), I can only assume that similar reasoning was applied to the original thread.

  I feel that this is both a gross misinterpretation of intent, and misapplication of guidelines that does a disservice to both the original poster, and myself, as well as the community at large. As examples of our depth of commitment and dedication to SL, the original poster is a long time and frequent assistant to those in need of help in SL, and my own efforts go back to 2005, with contributions across a wide array of fora and topics, the wiki, jira, and various inworld groups both official and resident run. These things are not a claim to some special privilege, we have neither expected nor asked for special consideration or recognition of our efforts, nor desire them.

  I believe that history speaks to intent though, which has ever been to help others where we can. I do realize my own statement could be misread, however I feel the suggestion to use (and education to find) the many scattered official sources can never be a bad thing... at the very worst it might slow response times, and at it's best it enables users to more easily help themselves. Similarly, residents are not paid workers, and the suggestion to temporarily halt their own voluntary efforts in a show of support is not deserving of punishment. It my firm belief that silencing these statements sends the message that LL considers resident helpers as an unpaid workforce, which are only tolerated so long as they fulfill the express purpose of easing LL's burden of providing support to residents. This is not a message I can support. I am not seeking an apology, or even a reason, but rather a change.

Sincerely,
- Void Singer (the only name anyone would recognize me by here anyway)

ref: Original Post as quoted in the warning letter

ref: Request for clarification

ref: Reply to clarification request

SIP: Teacup + RedTea

  So I've been playing around with MOAP and LSL's HTTP-in, which lets you not only display media inworld, but also serve it from there to the Outside world as well...

Help withTexture Mapping

the following images were designed by Chosen Few, and DanielFox Abernathy respectively. the first is an alignment texture in decimal (easier to use with the built in controls) for matching textures across prims. The second is a similar texture designed for sculpties, that also show LOD points for each vertex

UUID = "11e68b89-6693-e3bf-35c9-876ae2a2e78b"
UUID = "c595dad5-e439-fe75-1220-9dddf6cdf4b3"

the following formulas may also help with tiling
repeat = individual prim axis size / total axis size of surface to tile across
offset = prim distance from center of total surface axis size to tile across

non-rectangular prim faces should use planar mapping mode, and non-touching prims should use half the distance between it and the next prim to calculate it's sides for axis size.

hollow faces use a different formula:
horizontal repeats = (number of hole sides * desired repeats per side * 2 if the shape is prism) / hollow as a percentage
horizontal offset = -.5 - (horizontal repeats - horizontal repeats * hollow as a percentage) / 2)
vertical repeats and offsets are calculated normally.

the Forums Are Dead, Long Live the Forums

on February 9th (after one weeks notice) forums.secondlife.com went offline, and after a short while, were reborn in a drastically reduced form on blogs.secondlife.com/community/forums.... I'm not exactly happy with this fact, especially since vBulletin was replaced with (such an apt company name) Jive Software's "Clearspace".... meh... lots of missing and broken features, but at least they're still alive.

Now one weeks notice kinda hurt, and I spent most of that week ignoring phonecalls, archiving most of the scripting library, and starting a group to collect the people that frequented Scripting Tips, plus all the Content Creation stickies, and several posts and items of personal value. then it was off to Jira to file over two dozen bug reports and feature requests for the new forums, so that they could be as feature rich as the old ones... I was in the middle of doing that during the changeover.

The Old forums are set to be archived, and should be searchable sometime in mid March.

So what have I been doing the last few days since it died? Well I cleaned my house (since I hadn't touched it since this mess started) took a moment to congratulate myself for doing what I did, caught up with some friends, and did something that YOU dear reader, will appreciate... I wrote a Greasemonkey script for FireFox, that allows you to IGNORE those pesky people that just really seem to add nothing to your forum reading....

// ==UserScript== // @name SL Forum Ignore // @namespace Private // @description +Ignore Links on User Posts on SL Forum Discussions/Questions, +Make Linden Names RED, +OP Edit fix // @include https://blogs.secondlife.com/thread/* // @include https://blogs.secondlife.com/message/* // @match https://blogs.secondlife.com/thread/* // @match https://blogs.secondlife.com/message/* // @version 1.3 // @copyright Void Singer 2009 [ https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/User:Void_Singer ] & BlindWanderer [ http://userscripts.org/users/4223 ] // @license CC-BY [ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0 ] // @licesne.ext Free to copy, use, modify, distribute, or sell, with attribution. // ==/UserScript== /*//-- added match statements for compatibility with chromium 'content scripts' --//*/ /*//-- IE7pro unsupported: lacks CSS inheritance & getElementsByClassName --//*/ //-- compatibility replacements for Chrome4+, Opera10.5+, Safari4+, I hope if (typeof GM_addStyle == 'undefined'){ function GM_addStyle( vCss ){ var vStyle = document.createElement( 'style' ); vStyle.textContent = vCss; document.getElementsByTagName( 'head' )[0].appendChild( vStyle ); } } //-- "it's possible that *this* GM_ function is supported in chromium, but the others are not. can't find docs" //-- compatibility replacements for Chrome4+, Opera10.5+, Safari4+, I hope if (typeof GM_setValue == 'undefined'){ //-- native JSON and localStorage for GM_*Value replacement GM_getValue = function( vKey, vDefault ){ var vReturn = JSON.parse( window.localStorage.getItem( vKey ) ); return ((vReturn == null)? vDefault: vReturn); } GM_setValue = function( vKey, vValue ){ window.localStorage.setItem( vKey, JSON.stringify( vValue ) ); } GM_deleteValue = function( vKey ){ window.localStorage.removeItem( vKey ); } } //-- function contributed by BlindWanderer function uHide( vPostNode ){ vPostNode.className += ' ignored-user'; } //-- function contributed by BlindWanderer function uShow( vPostNode ){ vPostNode.className = vPostNode.className.split( ' ' ).filter( function( v ){ return v != 'ignored-user';} ).join( ' ' ); } //-- function contributed by BlindWanderer, modifed by Void Singer function uToggleIgnore(){ //-- no ancestor support outside of xpath? var vName = this.getAttribute( 'username' ); //-- ?is there really any savings to caching instead of a direct call to GM_getValue? var vAction = (vIgnoreCache[vName] = !vIgnoreCache[vName])? uHide : uShow; if (vIgnoreCache[vName]){ GM_setValue( vName, true ); } else{ GM_deleteValue( vName ); } var vSwaps = document.getElementsByClassName( vName ); var vCount = 0; for (vCount; vCount < vSwaps.length; ++vCount){ vAction.apply( vAction, [vSwaps.item( vCount )] ); } } //-- adds styles, ignore toggles, and marks post containers function uTweakPage(){ //-- use style to reduce load, contributed by BlindWanderer, modifed by Void Singer GM_addStyle( [ '.GM-Fix-Thread-Edit {', ' background: url( "../images/jive-icon-edit-16x16.gif" ) no-repeat scroll left center transparent;', ' font-weight: bold;', ' padding-left: 17px;', ' margin-right: 0.5em;', ' float: right;}', '', '.GM-ignore-link-wrapper { cursor:pointer; }', '', '.GM-ignore-link-wrapper .ignore { display:block;}', '.GM-ignore-link-wrapper .unignore { display:none;}', '.ignored-user .GM-ignore-link-wrapper .ignore {display:none;}', '.ignored-user .GM-ignore-link-wrapper .unignore {display:block;}', '', '.ignored-user .jive-author { padding-top:0; padding-bottom:0; }', '.ignored-user .jive-author-avatar-container { display:none!important; }', '.ignored-user .jive-author-avatar-container { background-image: none !important; }', '.ignored-user .jive-author > em { display:none; }', '', '.ignored-user .jive-thread-post-body-container { min-height:0; background-image: none !important; padding-bottom:8px; }', '.ignored-user .jive-thread-post-subject { float: left; width:auto; }', '.ignored-user .jive-thread-post-subject h2 { display:none; }', '.ignored-user .jive-thread-post-message { display:none; }', '.ignored-user .jive-thread-post-details { background-image: none !important; padding-top:0; margin-top:0; width:auto;}', '.ignored-user .jive-thread-post-subject-content { background-image: none !important; padding-bottom:0; margin-bottom:0; }', '.ignored-user .jive-thread-post-subject-content .jive-thread-post-reply { display:none; }', '', '.ignored-user .jive-thread-reply-body-container { min-height:0; padding-bottom:6px; }', '.ignored-user .jive-thread-reply-subject { float: left; width:auto; padding-bottom:0!important;}', '.ignored-user .jive-thread-reply-subject strong { display:none!important; }', '.ignored-user .jive-thread-reply-message { display:none; }', '.ignored-user .jive-content-controls { text-align:right; width:auto; padding-top:0; padding-bottom:0;}', '', 'div[class$=".Linden"] div.jive-author div.jive-username-link-wrapper > a { color:#BB0000; }', ].join( '\n' ) ); //-- clone edit thread link to OP var vGetOP = document.getElementsByClassName( 'jive-thread-post-details' ).item( 0 ); var vGetEdit = document.getElementsByClassName( 'jive-link-edit' ).item( 0 ); if ((null != vGetEdit) && (null != vGetOP)){ //-- need to text both for flat paged views (edit still shows on follow-up pages) var vCloneEdit = vGetEdit.cloneNode( true ); vGetOP.appendChild( vCloneEdit ); vCloneEdit.className = 'GM-Fix-Thread-Edit'; } //-- create generic toggle for ignore buttons, contributed by BlindWanderer var vToggleBox = document.createElement( 'div' ); vToggleBox.className = 'GM-ignore-link-wrapper'; { var span = document.createElement( 'span' ); span.appendChild( document.createTextNode( 'Ignore' ) ); span.className = 'ignore'; vToggleBox.appendChild(span); } { var span = document.createElement( 'span' ); span.appendChild( document.createTextNode( 'Unignore' ) ); span.className = 'unignore'; vToggleBox.appendChild(span); } function uInsertToggles( vPostNodes ){ //-- contributed by BlindWanderer, modifed by Void Singer var vCount = 0; //-- loop through posts for (vCount; vCount < vPostNodes.length; ++vCount){ //-- get user profile link for position, and grab their system name var vUserLink = vPostNodes.item( vCount ).getElementsByClassName( 'jive-username-link' ).item( 0 ); var vName = vUserLink.href.substring( vUserLink.href.lastIndexOf( '/' ) + 1 ); //-- tag post for ignore handling vPostNodes.item( vCount ).parentNode.className += ' ' + vName; //-- changed to class vs custom attribute if (vName.split( '.' ).slice( -1 )[0] != 'Linden'){ //-- check and ignore post if user already on ignore //-- ?is there really any savings to caching instead of a direct call to GM_getValue? var vIsIgnored = vIgnoreCache[vName] = GM_getValue( vName, false ); if (vIsIgnored){ uHide( vPostNodes.item( vCount ).parentNode ); } //-- clone ignore toggle into user info box, and tie it the switch function var vIgnoreToggle = vToggleBox.cloneNode( true ); //-- ?no ancestor support outside of xpath? vIgnoreToggle.setAttribute( 'username', vName ); vUserLink.parentNode.insertBefore( vIgnoreToggle, vUserLink.nextSibling ); //--contributed by Blind Wanderer vIgnoreToggle.addEventListener( 'click', uToggleIgnore, false ); } } } //-- insert Toggle in OP uInsertToggles( document.getElementsByClassName( 'jive-thread-post-body' ) ); //-- insert Toggle in replies uInsertToggles( document.getElementsByClassName( 'jive-thread-reply-body' ) ); //-- not happy with the separate inserts for OP and reply, but it wasn't worth a custom function to grab both } //-- ?is there really any savings to caching instead of a direct call to GM_getValue? var vIgnoreCache = {}; //-- contributed by BlindWanderer //-- jive version checking if (document.getElementsByClassName( 'jiveVersion' ).item( 0 ).textContent.indexOf( '80211' ) != -1){ uTweakPage(); }

Ah... ignorance IS bliss =)

Ahhh good times

Ok, so I'm back on the downgraded comp (about to call the comuter store with a WTF message), and I logged in last night, basically to hang out, since getting anything done, or doing any exploring on this comp is about like building an igloo in the sahara...

So to start off, the night wasn't great, I had a semi-break-up with a very dear girlfriend, basically because she needs more from me, and I can't provide it (and she deserves more than I can offer right now). That was hard, I cried, but it's the best chance for her to be happy, and that's what I want most. So She'll be looking elsewhere (single woman alert), though we'll still be quasi-together till she does

The evening did brighten up though, as I attended a little informal get-together of forum people, slightly themed as a heckling session. Ok technically it was more like a field trip of experienced forum regulars, to a class aimed at newbies, Hostessed by Lindal Kidd (who was a good sport about it all, above and beyond the call of duty)... Mostly it was just goofy fun, plenty of innuendo, and playful conversation. I have to say, I had a blast, and literally fell out of my chair laughing more than once. Met alot of people I didn't know, or only knew through a few forum posts, enjoyed myself immensely with new friends. I'll have to do this again soon... this is what I missed about SL the most during my hiatus... the people. now if only LL would realize that it's the peole the make the place, and treat them right, maybe we'd have less issues.

See it's a post that's actually about SL, aren't you so proud of me? =P

Return of the ...

Well I'm back from my rather long getaway.... and upgraded too....

That's right folks, my return brings with it a few changes, and one of them is the computer I'll be using for SL. It's Big, Shiny, Black, and Pretty... and it's all mine...

dual Gigagbit LAN nForce750i northbridge, 1333 FSB, 2x16 PCIe2.0
Intel q6600 (quad core) running @ 2.4Ghz (not overclocked...yet)
EVGA nVidia GTX 280 (was a 9800GX2, got a better deal)
3Gb DDR2 Ram, RAID 0+1, 660GB HD total after RAID
7.1 Surround Sound, DVD-RW-DL + lightscribe
WinXPPro ('cause I HATE Vista)
22in Flat panel.

Let the jealousy begin =)


yes I know I could've opted for more RAM, by tweaking the registry XP will support 4Gb... but I've heard of issues with this so I skipped it... for now. However when (not if) I bite the bullet and migrate to Vista I'll be adding more ram, in matched sets

the q6600 is a good overclocker, and should be able to do 3.2Ghz safely with few changes in cooling

I'd have stuck with the 9800GX2 but they're back ordered indefinitely, and I'm impatient. The GTX 260 (next line up) doesn't really perform as well IMHO based on what I've seen... however the GTX 280 is pretty much par, especially at higher resulotions, and won't require a higher priced Motherboard to run in SLI with a second card (nevermind that scuttlebutt is, nVidia is scaling down support for GX2)

RAID is a HUGE bonus for this system, seeing as I just lost ~150Gb to HD failure, most of it irreplaceable personal items, and programming work... and here I was worried about SL screwing up my inventory eh?


So, I'll bet you're wondering how well it runs, in terms that mean something to you as an SL user? Well after having to tweak my settings to a great degree on my old comp just to be able to move and see, it's so refreshing.... I've got every setting on the 1.2 viewer maxed... even draw distance, running windowed at 1600x900 ... and it slides though SL like silk... zero client related hiccups, very few server related ones (group messaging is still hit and miss) and rez time is... scary fast.

the odd thing is with all these new pretty features, I can now see some of the things that suck about my Av... and the world around me... you'd be amazed at what differce bump textures make, or shiny effects, or even local lighting... and also how wrong they can go when people that can't see them try to use them...

Well anyways, that's my brag-n-bitch seesion, I'd also welcome any suggestions on games to play with this fun new monster, preferably RPG styles, online or off, SP or MMORPG (although subscription fees irk me)

Brilliant But Flawed...

so I've been meaning to work on a particular problem for ages, and was recently spurred on to attempt it, by someone elses work in a similar vein. At the core of both ideas was adding dynamic memory to LSL scripting, the ability to add a script as needed to store information, without having to worry about the limitations of a single script. Sounds fabulous doesn't it? and I did it too, well almost.... You see, it's just not possible in LSL at this time...

Now I originally came to this problem as a problem of storing permissions, because each script can only hold permissions for one person. You may have noticed dance floors and personal dance orbs (chimeras) that can support X people. that's because each person needs to have given a script permission to animate them, and each script can only hold one set of permissions... if it changes permissions to someone else, it must ask for them again.... so these devices have one script for each person they can animate..... that's one running script for every person they COULD animate, even if they aren't animating anyone...

now wouldn't it be nice if instead of all those extra running scripts, you didn't have any more than you needed at the moment? wouldn't it be grande if there was no limit to how many you could animate, right up to the limit the sim could hold? that's what I was thinking, and so I came up with a way to do it, but I never got around to testing it, and now I wish I never had.

The plan was simple, give the object a new script every time it needed more storage space. each storage script would label itself internally as it started up, using it's own name as the label. if you've ever added the same thing to a prim more than once, you'll notice it gets a number after it's name for each new copy, so the storage scripts can number themselves easily this way, and in fact I've used this method before, and it works well.

ah but you can't just give a script to an object using llGiveInventory, because the given script won't automatically load, and in fact takes a few tricks to get it to load at all. but there's another function, llRemoteLoadScriptPin, which WILL allow you to give a script and have it run. Great, but it has 2 problems. the first problem that it has, is that it will replace any script of the same name, in it's target destination. that won't work for us, because we need it to make new copies, not overwrite old ones. the second problem is that it can only work by giving the script to ANOTHER prim, it can't give itself a copy.

so we need to give the new copy to another prim, and somehow rename it in the process. ok, back to llGive inventory, this WILL allow you to give to the prim you're in, great, even if it won't make active copies... as it turns out, Remote Load WILL activate copies created with Give Inventory, so there we go, we use give inventory to create our copies, which should renumber their selves, and then activate them by giving them to another prim... oops we forgot a detail... remote load has to have a script in the recieving prim, that sets up a pin number, to be used when loading an active script.... hmm ok

to takle this and avoid having to wait on a new storage script I decide to always have one more script than I need, ready to use. When the script gets used, it asks for a new copy to be made, and sets the access PIN which it sends in a message to the controller. the controller makes a copy, and uses the PIN to load a new active script, the new active script, clears the PIN when it starts, and boom, no security holes and we've just added new storage. and this is where it all falls apart....

Now you remember I mentioned before how dragging copies of the same object into a prims inventory added numbering labels for each new copy? that's such a great feature, really. unfortunately llGiveInventory doesn't do this.... in fact, if give inventory sees that there is already a copy of the object being given, it just doesn't bother.... that means no duplicates, no numbering, and no way for the name to be changed so that it doesn't just wipe out the previous storage script.

The whole brilliant project, sunk like a lead balloon filled with rocks and shot down by a cruise missle... all because there is absolutely no way to rename a script in an objects inventory, using lsl.... so just for fun, here's the permission controller code I came up with... it wasn't quite done, it'd only handle 100 people safely (if it'd worked) and would have blown up SPECTACULARLY if the scripts ever got reset (I'ts missing clean up code), but here it is....

list gLstKnown; key gKeyStored; integer gBooExpecting; default{ state_entry(){ llSetRemoteScriptAccessPin( 0 ); integer vIntPrim = llGetLinkNumber(); if (1 == vIntPrim){ state sControl; }else if (2 == vIntPrim){ state sEmpty; }else{ llRemoveInventory( llGetScriptName() ); } } } state sControl{ state_entry(){ gKeyStored = llGetLinkKey( 2 ); } link_message( integer vIntOrigin, integer vIntCode, string vStrAnimation, key vKeyAvatar ){ if (1 == vIntOrigin){ llMessageLinked( 2, llListFindList( gLstKnown, (list)vKeyAvatar ), vStrAnimation, vKeyAvatar ); }else if (2 == vIntOrigin && vIntCode){ gLstKnown += (list)vKeyAvatar; llRemoteLoadScriptPin( gKeyStored, llGetScriptName(), vIntCode, TRUE, 0 ); } } } state sEmpty{ link_message( integer vIntNull, integer vIntIndex, string vStrNull, key vKeyAvatar ){ if (!~vIntIndex){ llRequestPermissions( vKeyAvatar, PERMISSION_TRIGGER_ANIMATION ); llSetTimerEvent( 60.0 ); gBooExpecting = TRUE; } } run_time_permissions( integer vBitPermissions ){ if (gBooExpecting){ if (PERMISSION_TRIGGER_ANIMATION & vBitPermissions){ gKeyStored = llGetPermissionsKey(); llSetTimerEvent( 0.0 ); state sLoaded; } } } timer(){ llSetTimerEvent( 0.0 ); gBooExpecting = !gBooExpecting; llMessageLinked( LINK_ROOT, 0, "Denied", "" ); } } state sLoaded{ state_entry(){ integer vIntPIN = (integer)llFrand( 100000.0 ) + 100000; llSetRemoteScriptAccessPin( vIntPIN ); llMessageLinked( LINK_ROOT, vIntPIN, "Accepted", gKeyStored ); } link_message( integer vIntNull, integer vIntNull_1, string vStrAnimation, key vKeyAvatar ){ if (vKeyAvatar == gKeyStored){ if ("" == vStrAnimation){ llMessageLinked( LINK_ROOT, 0, "Accepted", gKeyStored ); }else{ llStartAnimation( vStrAnimation ); } } } }

Avast Ye Scurvy Dogs...

No, it's not talk like a pirate week, that is of course unless you logged on to PiratesOnline.com, Disney's entry into the world of MMORPG's. Now some of us have been waiting for something like this since Sid Meier did his Pirates game back in the day. Buried treasure, battles at sea, daring raids... ::sigh:: Trust Disney to take a fun concept, and grind it haltingly into the ground... HARD. Now you'd think they could have pulled it off, after all, they turned what was supposed to be a walkthrough attraction into a fun ride, that eventually spawned a movie (no one but depp could have made that movie) which had enough force to spawn 2 sequels...

But in typical Disney fashion, in the process of turning movies to games, they completely ruin them. It's not the abuse of the the storyline that killed it, it's not even the standard dumbing down that disney does to all it's games, or even the poor attempts at removing the 'violent aspects' of the game (although it was painful). Nope what's killing this game is the rush to market, it's just not ready. The content in the game is scarce, the bugs are something I'd never imagine in a game released to the public, the devs randomly take the game servers down with 5 min advance notice and no way to find out when it'll be back up, and the average lag... OMFG.

That said it does have a few redeeming qualities, it's a disney game in which you kill, destroy, sink, plunder, and pillage.... the irony alone is a reason to play. You can also gamble, but it get's better, because you can CHEAT at gambling. During the course of the game certain quests and enemies will give you playing cards which you can swap into your own hand while playing blackjack or 'Tortuga'(Texas) Hold 'em. Sadly the cards you swap out are lost. The best part of the game though is the sailing, defeating other ships, and getting paids for it. Sadly basic (free) access accounts won't ever get more than the lowest level ship, though with a little practice she's quite able, it's not something you want to stick with.

Unfortunately, for all that's good the bad sure is bad. Bugs that crash you on loading when you sail a certain ship, freezes at loading screens where the game continues but the screen doesn't, crashes on firing cannons at sea, entering certain areas, bugged quests (some of which have been completely disabled, frequently laggy servers, lack of content (try watching 15 ships swarm on the same NPC boat for a kill and see your frame rate start to be measured in minutes). Nevermind their obscene memory recommendations or the fact that you're stuck installing to your root drive (actually you can copy it to another drive manually). all this for 10$US a month? hmmm nah, I think I'll wait and see if they fix it and add more content.

But by all means check it out... it has so much potential, the problems won't seriously annoy you immediately, and really is a fun concept for a game http://piratesonline.com

Kids Play

So, early in December I made (well renovated ) a child Av, for my secondlife account...

Originally I was aiming for something akin to Wednesday Addams from the movies (much creepieer than the TV show), crossed with Minoru from Chobits (Manga/Anime character, child genius), and I think I accomplished that. I also had a goal of making her an idealized me, something more happy, fortunate, and well, you get the idea... Oddly what I ended up with is so close to me as a child it's scary. Oh she's cuter and looks much better than I did as a child, but she's taken on a life of her own, and the creepiest part isn't her appearance, it's how much she resembles me as a child in action and behavior. Now some would say that's my fault, bad roleplaying etc. But the reality is that she seems so much like me because of one major aspect... she's much more adult in attitude (the child genius aspect) than her apparent age (I've settled on 13).

I know some think it's odd to play a child, some would even say it's sick. To those people I can only say, I do it for fun, to remember some of the innocence lost, and forget some of the realities of my life as it's become and just have fun. That said I'm finding that while there are alot of people that play kids, there aren't many active spots to hang out. I'd say especially at night, but frankly I just can't seem to find other kids at all... it's really disheartening, because as a kid, being alone is crappy... I'm not quite up for the virtual adoption agencies that've sprung up in SL, since I tend to just like to hang out without any strings attached, plus it kinda smacks of a virtual dating service and I REALLY don't want that. So hey if you read this and want to share some known places kid av's hang out, or if you have a child av and just wanna chat, feel free to drop me a line. My name is above, and I'm pretty friendly =)

on another note, I saw in a friends blog a link to a "Blog Readability Test", and thought hey why not, let's see what my blog comes up as.... Quite shocking really, It graded this blog with a "Genius" level. I'm not sure if that means I'm writing at that level, or that it'd take one to understand what I write (which could be good or bad). Regardless, you, the reader, should pat yourself on the back if you understand what I write... because for better or worse in my writing, Critics Rant thinks you're a genius!

Age Verification or '2 cannibals are eating a clown...'

So, Age verification goes live in beta.... took 'em long enough.

Now if you bother with the secondlife forums you'll have already noticed that it has so many ridiculous problems it's like a bad joke. People unable to use current information or documents to make it work, documents that would work not being available, foriegn citizens unable to use their native documents, requests for documents that aren't normally allowed to be requested, comparative information being 2-4+ years out of date.... and for what?

LL states that it is to promote 'trust'. There are examples given of limiting legal exposure for inworld content providers, and covering LL's legal rear; There are examples of limiting possible engagement of underage users in the main grid. Yet all these things have been addressed by various online venues, with much less hassle and cost to end users, by requiring basic information, like name, age, address, and an aggreement that these facts are true. So why is LL sending it's users through thse silly hurdles requiring copies of documentation in the event that all the above fails? What's wrong with the tried, true, and tested methods?

I have a suspicion that the answer is 'nothing'. Which begs the question, how does LL profit from this excercise in futility?

My thought is that they are using this to upsell their image and their platform to potiential clients. In the process they can also profit directly (by their admitedly soon to be instituted fees) from a relationship with a 3rd party database provider, the database provider additionally profits by being able to update their own outdated records, bootstrapping them into a more competitive postion in their own market. everbody wins.... at least, everyone that matters to LL.

But what do the users get from this? An empty promise of 'trust'? surely if John or Jane Q. Undearge user can supply their parents credit card, they could as easily supply a commonly found ID number? It surely doesn't stop these same people from lying on a form (which is fraud) just as easily as before? Identity theives can just as easily do this now as before. The only difference now will be they get charged to spread the lie.

But it gets better, because on a whim I decided to test their system, by opening and verifying a Main Grid account.... using my 12yo son's (partial) SSN, and was verified in short order! That's right, this system, which we are supposed to place our 'trust' in, just passed a childs identity that should not even qualify for their wretched 'Teen Grid'.

LL and their partners are cooking up a scheme to take a bite out of peoples wallets, and playing us all for clowns in the process....

'does this taste funny to you?'

A Little About Me

Ok so to balance things out, a bit about RL me.

Hmm things you might care about.... I Drink (at clubs/parties to stay relaxed), smoke (occasionally, because it helps with ADD), do drugs (the ones prescribed to me anyways), swear enough to make a sailor blush (no really, military brat here), & wear clothes you'd find at Hot Topic (yes, at my age).

I Love music (especially offbeat stuff), logic puzzles (duh, I'm a programmer), learning new things (information junkie), & food (plus I can cook!). I read mostly SF/Fantasy (I like the escapism and reinterpretation of ideas), & watch much of the same (plus romantic comedies), with a healthy dose of pure science thrwon in (esp physics, chemistry, and a bit of psych). I'm a lesbian (how passe'), polyamorous (ooo how revolutionary), & I've experimented in RL Domme/sub relationships (and learned something). I have a weak spot for redheads and waifs.

I am literally crazy & have a sneaking suspicion that reality is just a trap to confuse me, and prevent me from doing something (yes, really & no, I'm not sure what). I suffer from depression (near constant since childhood), social phobia (can't stand crowds, or people I don't know), have ADD (ooo shiny... damnit), & a little bit of OCD (how else could I concentrate w/ ADD?). We won't even get into medical issues.

I am deeply religious (or vaguely depending on your perspective) and at one point was recognized (by the government) clergy. I am fiercely loyal to my friends, and can be gleefully vicious to my enemies (though I've mellowed.... some). I will go to extremes other people would not, if it gets me what I want, yet have a strong set of ethics.

I love to help people, and have been a counselor, a volunteer (in several areas), & donated both time & resources to various causes (and still do). I seem to have a knack for tutoring, especially translating concepts into other peoples frameworks, and relating to other's viewpoints and/or experiences.

I've worked in IT(network management), Programming(mostly debugging, some development), Social Work(counseling, case management), Retail(everything from sales to inventory, & more), Contruction(carpentry, electrical, & masonry. I'ts my mothers fault), service(various), automotive(driver, and specialty mechanic), & childcare (professional).

I've raised one son (my ex's), have 1 half brother, 1 step brother, 1 step sister, 1 adopted sister, and 1 sister (by way of adoption) I've never met. in addition to my birth parents, I have 1 step mother, 2 step fathers, and a set of adoptive parents to boot. I've never been married, but have been asked twice, and regret not saying yes to the second. I'd love to have a daughter, but fear I never will.

yeah I think that covers most of it.

Intro

Yup, ok, haven't decided where to go with this blog yet, so it'll be a rocky start. Definitely some Techie stuff, mostly LSL Scripting, probably some SL related life stuff, and maybe even a little bit about the girl behind the curtain...