01 December, 2010

I guess he's an Xbox, and I'm more an Atari, but the way you play your game ain't fair

So, I had several ideas for the next few posts, and all of them are pushed to the back of the queue, because something bigger has just surfaced.

This is the notecard I just sent a friend:

Dyce,

This just hit the net:


I'd also read through this one:


Short version of what this means: on December 3, the Lindens will start mass-returning games that are not in compliance. If non-compliant games are set out again, the penalties range from warning the game owners to outright banning the account from EVER accessing SL again (and that includes all alternate accounts tied in with that main account or IP address).

This is sudden scary stuph and not a lot of folks seem to know about it. In short:

Any Zyngo, King Bing or other 'chance' game must have as much possibility of 'chance' removed. In other words, anything that "automates" (like Auto-Play features) must be coded out. As well, anything that offers random benefits or penalties (the angel/devils of Zyngo, the Witch/whatever else for King Bing) must be coded out.

Contact your games' manufacturers, see what they're doing to comply, and if they don't know, TELL THEM--this should have hit HUGE and be EVERYWHERE with the possibility of having all property seized and the account permanently banned, and instead, it's a footnote!

Be careful. Love from all of us,

Em

There's really not a lot on this topic anywhere--I know, I've been looking for it. Even on Twitter, there's only a couple of mentions, and that is really terrifying. Anything that has "We will BAN YOU" attached as a possible penalty should be in forty-eight foot high letters of strobing fire, as far as I'm concerned.

What to do from here: DON'T GET BANNED. That's the short form. But specifically, how to avoid that? Here's a list.
  • IF YOU OWN GAMES like Zyngo, King Bing, Jewels, or other variants: CHECK THEM. Do they have an auto-play button? Take it back. Do they have random Angels, Devils, Witches, or Fairies (or local graphic on different games) that pop up? Take them back. DO NOT put them back out; contact the makers of your games instead, and if they don't know what you're talking about, for the love of all gods TELL THEM.
Same goes for players:
  • IF YOU PLAY GAMES like Zyngo, King Bing, Jewels, or other variants: CHECK THEM. Do they have an auto-play button? DO NOT PLAY THEM. Because this one hits both player AND owner of the games; if you are seen playing a non-compliant game after December 3rd, your account--and all alternate accounts tied to your IP address--risk being banned PERMANENTLY from Second Life as well. DO NOT go back to those places to play those games; instead, search for places with COMPLIANT games, or, contact the venue owners and, if they don't know what you're talking about, for the love of all gods TELL THEM.
The last line of my notecard applies to everyone reading this. Be careful out there. It's getting shaky on the grid again.

(Also, anyone reading this who teaches or wanders through Caledon Oxbridge, and other teaching centers--TELL YOUR PEOPLE. New friends on the grid FREQUENTLY get pulled in to Zyngo palaces for that chance to strike it rich; TELL THEM they're also risking being banned if they play non-compliant games. I hate the take-no-prisoners tone of that letter, and for people like Tateru Nino, if you find out this is all a hoax, TELL ME--but right now? I'd better be safe than sorry.

Don't get banned for something you can avoid doing. It's not worth it.

2 comments:

Sphynx Soleil said...

If this is true, it ought to be on the LL blog-flog-thing too. I'm not seeing a public announcement there. :/

That mootown has it mentioned on their site gives it credence (since they use them) but still...would be nice to find official traces of it SOMEwhere...

Emilly Orr said...

I didn't either, which is worrisome. Because as Tateru Nino has noted more than once, even getting something purportedly from a Linden--and in this case, Jack Linden--isn't a guarantor of action.

But with this, better safe than sorry, because he mentioned perma-banning, and that's just a psychotic penalty just because someone didn't get the damned memo.

hide away, they say, 'cos we don't want your broken parts

Yeah, so...remember that thing I was recovering from? You know, last year ? Yeah. I did it again. So this is Em Faw Down Go Boom part ...