People tend to talk about Second Life as a game. I would argue that as an assessment, there are some fairly major flaws in Second Life's game-like qualities. When you look at games, and more specifically computer games, they all have several things in common, which SL tends to lack. There are rules (which even though the occasional law is made, there are not strictly in SL) and directions. There are challenges (whereas the big challenge in SL is not ripping your hair out when the lag takes home) and objectives, and if anyone inworld thinks there is an objective to the "game" they are likely to wildly differ (everything from being a celebrity, to making money, or just getting laid). There are tasks to undertake, and items to collect. However, I must stop on this point, as there are items that you can collect in SL. There are items that many residents thirst for, whether they be furry, gorean, businessman, escort, builder, performer or even just a casual wanderer. An item that you can only get by speaking to one of our Linden parliament, and asking them really nicely. The Linden Bear.



Recently I attended Djai Skellerup's superb 2 hour set at the SL5B sims, and whilst there, who should turn up but Kate and Tofu Linden. As everyone, Djai included, was getting excited about such celebrities in our midst, I thought it would be a good idea to shout out, "Everyone! Get bears!". Two minutes later, and without any further word from me, Kate Linden dropped a bear into my inventory. I was so chuffed that I kept going on about it until my significant other asked Tofu very politely for his, and kindly received it, I think partly to show that it's not that tough to get a Linden bear, and shut me up. However, it was only when we got these bears home and rezzed them, that I noticed something a little strange....

You see, the point of the Linden Bear is that it is a piece of individual expression, encapsulating the spirit of that particular Linden, in bear form. The thing that was weird about both of our bears, was that both of them had not been built by the Linden who gave them to us. Kate's hadn't even been built by a Linden at all! With this in mind, I decided to check out if this was a widespread phenomenon. So I headed over to the Linden Bear Museum

Upon arrival, I started to right hand click all the bears on display, and check who was listed as creator. I am sorry to report, that while Torley, Spike, Plexus, Niko, Cogsworth, Trinity, Ekim, Mia, Nicole, Catherine, Ethan, Michael, Teagan, Colton, Dee, Rowan, Garry, Alexa and Dusty Linden all made their own bears; Kate, Tofu, Twilight. Data, Everett, Robin, Lexie, Colton, Amber, Lawrence, Wilder, Kona, George, Sally, Sabin, Babbage, Cyan, Benjamin, Lotte, Izzy, Zee, Belinda, Zero, Bunny, Liana, BigPapi, Jeska, Echo, Jeremy, Jello, Jack, Prospero, Bub, Charlie, Governor, Philip, Pathfinder, Coco, Aric, Sidewinder, JP, Cupid, Kosmo, Liana and Glen are not listed as the creators of their own bears. This means that out of the bears checked, only 30% of them appear to be made by the Linden who's name they bear, and that number can go down a little more, since Teagan appears to have gotten someone else to make her new 2008 bear for her. I also hear on the grapevine that even the enigmatic M Linden is having someone else make his bear for him. It should also be noted that quite a few of the bears were created by either Nicolle or Mia Linden, which at first gave me the image of these two having "Linden Bear Maker" somewhere in their job description. It was then suggested to me by my lovely voice of reason that maybe Nicolle and Mia make a basic bear, and then give it to the other Lindens to customise, and maybe I am being a little unfair about how many of them might not put the effort in to make their own. Which is a fair point, except for one minor detail... WHY? What is so hard about making a bear from scratch???

I am not an expert builder. My personal constructions have perhaps most kindly been described as "Old School". And yet, even someone with my basic abilities can manage to make a bear, entirely from fresh prims, and a few choice textures found in my overfull inventory. Like so:

Notice if you will, that my little Voodoo Bear is similarly bespectacled with a pair of funky goggles, has a similarly omnipresent cigarette in it's mouth, and I even managed to make little recreations of the tentacles that I so often wear. To add a little bit more Voodoo to the Voodoo Bear, I even stuck some bloody pins into his tummy. So, there you go. One Voodoo Bear, made entirely by me, personalised, and all complete in under an hour. So, not that hard then.

Which brings me to my challenge, dear readers! Let's show them that making a unique, and interesting bear is achievable by anyone. When you have a spare few minutes, put together your very own bear, and send me, Voodoo Buwan, a copy inworld. In exchange, I will send you a Voodoo Bear of your very own, and if we get enough, we will showcase some of the best in this very magazine. Who knows, I may even bestow a prize for the best resident bear I receive. So come on, bring on the bears!

Voodoo Buwan: Very recently, there was an occurrence that sent shockwaves through the denizens of Secondlife. It created panic, outrage, complaints, and more. Group chats quickly filled up to discuss it, and the ramifications that it could have on the way you live your secondlife, and it’s impact on our community as a whole. There is barely an sl news website that has not devoted some column inches to it, and Trin and I finally decided it was time for us to chip in, and contribute some thoughts about it. All pretty impressive for a little login dialogue box:
This message, seen by many residents who are on non-premium accounts, popped up at times when the SL grid has been quite full, to tell them that since they are not contributing outside money to SL, they would not be able to log in. The impact of this has been immense, with accusations of "SL for the rich" flying around. So, we ask, "Is it right that non-paying sl residents are sometimes barred from logging in, to make room for those with premium accounts?"

Trinity Dechou: Well, of course I highly doubt anyone would be unaware of the furore that surrounded this action. However to be fair, and I like to be fair, Linden Lab did warn of this for quite a time. It's not a new decision they have taken.

Voodoo Buwan: Yeah, but to announce these changes, ignore the general feeling of disapproval from your customers, until everyone forgets about it, then launch it on everyone, saying "Well, told ya" isn't exactly the best way of doing things. And there is the argument of whether it's the right decision in the first place?

Trinity Dechou: Personally I actually agree with Linden Lab placing some restriction on it. However, whilst agreeing with it, I have also seen some very valid arguments against it. Most multiplayers out there offer a free 'trial'. A 30 day experience then you must pay to play. With these players, you achieve arguably better stability, however everyone playing it paying to do so. You could not hijack your neighbour’s Wireless adsl and then complain to their ISP for problems could you. If you pay for a service you are entitled to complain when you don't get it. If you don't pay....

Voodoo Buwan: Yeah, but at the same time, this is a definite message about who are the preferred members of our community. It prioritises those using SL as a business, or who come on to shop, and with Philip Linden going to US congress, and selling SL to them on it's educational qualities, this seems to go against that, saying you can come on, and learn about the human genome, or experience a virtual tsunami, unless someone wants to come on and buy a dress.

Trinity Dechou: I think the problem is LL get such a bashing from left right and centre it is VERY easy to get caught up in the masses who rush to Linden Village with placards and complain. Lets not blow this out of context, I agree with this decision from LL, however as I said above, I do see very valid arguments against it. This will ONLY happen when there are troubles on the grid; it's not going to happen everyday. They will implement this to reduce logged in residents and bring the equilibrium back. Plus also bear in mind this isn't just premium accounts, it's also accounts who buy linden through lindex as well...

Voodoo Buwan: What strikes me as a little strange, is that seeing that, as you said, LL had warned us this was on the cards a while ago, for 3 or 4 days before the warning started popping up, there was a very different tactic. At times when the grid became too full, logins became totally disabled, effectively capping SL until there was enough room to let others in. Kind of "one in, one out". Then this was obviously abandoned for the "Premium First" tactic...

Trinity Dechou: I might agree with the logic, but in practise LL are very good at missing the nail and hammering their thumb. However, how exactly do LL win? Premium and Lindex users have been complaining about this issue for as long as I have been playing (and paying) for Second Life

Voodoo Buwan: It takes us back to arguments about grid stability, and how, since it has now reached this crux point, this should become priority over bringing out shiny new tweaks and features, for at least the time being. But of course, that is a whole other argument. One thing that I considered is that actually, in all the arguments, the real perpetrators of the situation we are in are being ignored. In SL, there are many people using multiple logins at once, or utilising bot farms, to make their inworld location seem more popular than it really is, for example. Surely these people are the one's jamming up the system, forcing this decision to have to be made in the first place? I can't help but wonder if every resident was only utilising one login at any one time, so not using these bots, would there actually be room for us all to enjoy the sl experience, and at least give LL some more time, to try to give more space, for the populace to expand a bit more.

Trinity Dechou: With the new search these traffic bots are not needed as they once were. Of course many people run alt accounts, businesses use alt 'bank' accounts and such those are usually free. While, I am sure bots do place strain on the servers, so does a 50% growth in active residents within a year. In the past when the grid became unstable, Linden Lab took it offline, while I am sure this will still happen, instead of it being TOTALLY offline it will be restricted login. So surely 'free' accounts aren't actually loosing anything are they?

Voodoo Buwan: Good point, and while I'm not ignoring that the growth in active residents has been huge, the fact that these bot farms are not really needed, doesn't stop me finding them in place after place. I have no problem with alt accounts par se either, as to have an alt bank, that login doesn't necessarily need to be online at the same time as you, still meaning it's one login at one time for one person. I agree, that maybe it's better that some can get in, rather than we are all out, but the system used to be taken down, to apparently make the grid stable for us to ALL be able to come back on (or so we were told). And on my point about bot and simultaneous alts, I can't help feel that it's a little unfair that the non paying residents are being made to suffer for the actions of business accounts, since bot farms and as you said, alt banks, are tools for the business resident

Trinity Dechou: I accept, that many free accounts are the accounts of residents, residents who create and sell products. Those residents then spend their money in the Second Life economy and locking those accounts out, are unfair I agree. However I have yet to find a valid acceptable answer to the question of what LL SHOULD do.

Voodoo Buwan: Which of course, again, brings us to the argument that maybe, yes, they might need to be doing this, but stressing that it would be a short term thing, and then placing their focus squarely in grid stability, and making sl accessible for all, instead of trying to find new ways to make the control panel more sparkly.
Trinity Dechou: Well, as we said, developments are a WHOLE other argument, and another one we don't always agree on, so another day for that. Of course another major complaint is what benefits come from having a premium account? At the moment you get your stipend, and the ability to own land. Not a key attraction puller for many. Perhaps Second Life might change and move more in-line with other online multiplayers like WoW and only offer trials? Or perhaps they will continue to offer free accounts (which the others DO NOT) but at the expense of occasional grid time.

Voodoo Buwan: I think one final point that I would make, is that, at the very least, LL should have a serious look at the way they go about these communications, from a customer service perspective. The phrase "People with free accounts will not be able to access Second Life during this time, to make room for those who have paid for Second Life" might as well have the words "You parasitic scum" added to the end of it, for all the tact and respect it is giving to the residents it is disappointing. It does nothing to improve the image of LL as power mad overlords, who will do what they want, and not care about how it affects you, since they know that we are addicted to SL like the virtual crack it is.

Trinity Dechou: I think my final point would have to agree with Voodoo's PR comments, Linden Lab do need a lesson in correct etiquette. I also think that many people are confused about who this actually affects. Linden Lab would do themselves a HUGE favour if they 'defined' who they perceive their customers to be, i.e premium accounts, lindex customers, content creators etc. However I also have to be fair to the Linden Leaders here and say that free accounts are here in the first place, something which other online multiplayers don't have, so SL free accounts are already 'privileged'.

We have, as we always try to achieve, given arguments for and against this decision from above. Voodoo and I could discuss this all day, but now it's perhaps you would like to join in the discussion? If so, please feel free to leave a comment with any thoughts you have.

For any resident of Second Life, the official Second Life blog at http://www.secondlife.com/ is a must read site (almost as much as this one). It is there that you can find out the latest happenings at Linden Labs, the holders of our virtual destiny, the rulers of our metaverse, and sometimes, the cause of our annoyances (transactions unreliable two days in a row, at precisely the same time after a new simulator roll out, you say? Oh joy!). The big story this past two weeks was that Linden Labs, in a stance of defiance against a perceived threat to their corporate image, set out new rules about what you can and cannot do with the words "Second Life" "Linden" "SL" and "InSL".

The full rules can be found here and here, but generally boil down to stating that from now on, companies and websites, inworld or in rl, must not use Second Life or Linden as their company name or website address, as this could confuse people into thinking they are affiliated with LL. They are, however, allowed to use "SL" or "InSL", as LL have given "Special permission" for you to use these trademarks they own, AS LONG AS you "use "SL" or "inSL" (but not both) in combination with your own word mark... or in combination with a name that uses at least two generic nouns".

So, what's so bad about that, you may ask? Well, consider that some of the biggest and most celebrated websites supporting, enriching and adding to your SL experience have now technically found themselves operating in direct opposition to LL's wishes, despite having done nothing other than to work hard, and as far as they knew, with the blessing of LL. From the most popular SL shopping site, SLExchange, to the most popular social networking site, SLProfiles, to Second Life news sites such as SL-Newspaper or the Second Life Herald, many people are crying out, not knowing what they did wrong, and why the feeling from our inworld masters went from welcoming with open arms, to a decidedly cold shoulder, so quickly. To get a better perspective into exactly what the situation is for these companies, I popped some questions to JamesT Juno, CEO of http://www.sl-newspaper.com/ and Yo Brewster, the man behind http://www.slprofiles.com/: