02 March, 2011

and all the juvi halls and the Ritalin rats

[04:30 PM] Moonflower Crystal: Can someone give me lampe's landmark? o3o My friend wants to go look at it....
[04:30 PM] Roxxy Winterwolf: pi
[04:30 PM] MisaoAki Olivier: :| why does your FRAND WANT TO
[04:31 PM] MisaoAki Olivier: poop here?
[04:31 PM] MisaoAki Olivier: sir and or madam..
[04:31 PM] Roxxy Winterwolf: ew o -o
[04:31 PM] MisaoAki Olivier: your frends poop smells..
[04:31 PM] Kichi Flux: lol
[04:31 PM] MisaoAki Olivier: why yoo do dis?
[04:32 PM] Hunter Abrams: But I poop from there
[04:32 PM] Roxxy Winterwolf: o- o
[04:32 PM] Roxxy Winterwolf: chuck norris can drown a fish
[04:32 PM] Roxxy Winterwolf: o - o
[04:32 PM] Moonflower Crystal: >.> She wants to buy one....and very mature of you.
[04:32 PM] Kuronoa Waffle: I know
[04:33 PM] alfonzo01 Vendetta: what is all this and i am 12
[04:33 PM] Moonflower Crystal: Yeah, she wants to buy a avi there x.x
[04:33 PM] Roxxy Winterwolf: o.e
[04:33 PM] Naem Blackcinder: fat chicks
[04:33 PM] Kuronoa Waffle: :D
[04:33 PM] MisaoAki Olivier: fine then
[04:33 PM] MisaoAki Olivier: let me find it


And that--plus everything that followed, which included more insults, homosexual slurs, and the behavior I've come to associate primarily with that particular breed of internet troll that lack any of the social graces whatsoever--is why I left the group.

Why am I mentioning this? Because currently, there are notecard givers in the group's sim and notecards in the group notices that say that Lamp's in trouble, that they need help getting renters, that they will pay people to show parcels.

Guys? THIS IS NOT THE WAY TO GET THAT HELP.

I'm still on board to get one of the ice cream bunnies, but I'm no longer interested in staying in the group to do so.

Speaking of people who just don't get the point, let's talk about the Lindens for a moment.

First up: the JIRA entry on web profiles. Now, I've been watching this issue for a while, and while it's likely plausible that the profile system needed an overhaul to bring it in line with viewer 2.x's code, this was not the best way to do it. Just a cursory read through the comments should tell anyone that.

But, more importantly, I wanted to draw attention to this comment from Casey Pelous:
Well, that "complete overhaul of the privacy settings that will allow users to have more control over their privacy" turned out to be, "We'll just turn the 1st life stuff back on without notice."

I really don't need anyone from your company to come out to my house and flip me off. I got the message, thanks.
And that's exactly what it feels like. Linden Labs launched something; people protested; a token Linden was assigned to watch the posting for three days but no one was assigned to fix the problem; the honeymoon of watching that JIRA faded, and everyone at the Labs went back to doing what they do best--screwing everything else up.

A slight digression: the ladies I love are, RL, addicts of the City of Heroes game. They got me a subscription for three months, finally, to get me to try the game, and I--never much into the whole 'flights and tights' category of gaming--am surprising myself with how much I'm enjoying the game.

But, because Champions Online also recently went free-to-play, I wanted to give that game an honest shot, and, while I'll cover this in a more in-depth entry later, the main thing that's striking me as a difference? Cryptic Studios, the folks behind Champions, actually manage, week after week, to make Linden Labs look good. That not only takes a lot of work, and, more importantly, a lot of work making their own product unwieldy and unpalatable, but also means they have a lousier business model than the Labs do.

Granted, there is a lot of shrill hysteria from the uninitiated in that JIRA entry. Threats of legal action, freaking out over the fact that web profiles are available at all (and hint to those types: profiles have ALWAYS been available for view on the Second Life website), the whole Show in Search/Can't Be Found in Search debacle...

...actually, that's a good point to bring up.

Those of us watching the entry were told all we had to do was remove ourselves from search, and presto, no complications. This is a death knell to anyone who wants to run a business on SL (if you run a business, you pretty much HAVE to stay visible to people), but does further foster that working theory I have that the Labs really don't want people making and selling things on the grid.

But more importantly, it doesn't work, as Casey pointed out. Uncheck the box that says "Show in Search", and your direct result: no one can find you on the grid, your profile is essentially blacked out. What this should mean on mysecondlife.com is that no one can find your profile there, either.

This is not the case. Uncheck "Show in Search" in world, and it changes nothing off the grid. How is that a solution to the problem?

Secondly, I wanted to talk about the catastrophe that occurred on the Marketplace on Thursday (which...by the time I got back to this...is now several months back. I originally started writing this one on January 31st...).

So let's update from here. That catastrophe mentioned? Was whomever's watching the SL Marketplace (and I would love to know who, so we can blame them directly) deciding to upgrade or downgrade entries from Adult status based solely on keywords.

Let me say that again, since it's vaguely important. On the Marketplace, now, any item one enters is tagged "Adult" or non-adult--or, to use their terminology, "Uncensored" or "Censored"--based solely on the words used in keyword finding, or the ad themselves.

Regardless of what's in the pictures with that ad.

Let's go back to the Goreans, because they're always fun to mention. Say you have a floor-sweeping animation kit. Comes with a wearable broom, and the animation makes you sweep the floor. (Naturally, it being a floor-sweeping animation.) The picture shows a modestly garbed merchant-class female, sweeping a packed earth floor. Maybe there's a plaster-and-beams hut behind her. Maybe she's sweeping over cobblestones indoors.

In the keywords, because the maker's selling primarily to the Gorean market, the maker will type in Gor and Gorean.

But, because of the crackhead view of "Adult" that the Labs have bought into, this entire listing is now listed as "Adult", because of those two words.

Let's take this from the other side. Let's say someone's made a perky little dress that comes with an underbust corset. The picture--because the maker wants to show off all the layers of the garment--shows breasts. Naked breasts. But there's nothing obviously in the keywords, otherwise, to indicate nudity. It's okay, because the maker has listed it as an Adult item, due entirely to the picture.

Along comes the idiot team behind the Marketplace, and voila, because there are no obviously Adult-themed words in the description or the keywords? That item was relisted as "Censored", or non-Adult.

Yes. You heard that right.

Tag that insanity along with the steadily growing pile of sheer nonsense words that are growing on the 'disallowed' list for the Marketplace, and I really, really have to wonder how much of Linden Labs needs to seek rehab, stat.

Think I'm kidding? Okay, fine. In what universe is "5" an "Adult" word? Go on, look it up. Find me one example. Just one. I don't need...oh, say, five...

Or how about "stretch"? And not even that, but the typo version of the word, namely "strech"? How, in any reality, are either of those words "Adult" terms?

I'm waiting, Lindens. You just tell me. How "5", "LBD", and "strech" constitute such dread "Adult" labeling that Marketplace listings containing these terms have to be relisted as "Adult". Make it make sense to me. Make it sound like you're not all HIIIIIGH on something potentially toxic.

Meanwhile, things like this are why I'm starting to adore City of Heroes. None of these are game-changing in any way; they're all just costume pieces and effects. But they're really cool costume pieces and effects, and--for those people who really get into the heroics or the villainy--they can really add to the gameplay.

The next two effect/costume packs, btw, are rumored to be a full exotic animals pack--which likely means cat heads and clawed feet, for starters--and a Steampunk pack, which would be ever so cool, because they only have one corset option. (I know! Come on, superheroes wear corsets ALL THE TIME!) (And, since writing this, yes--the next pack WAS an animal pack, and has a lot of really neat options for feral heads and beast-style runs.)

2 comments:

Serenity Semple said...

Wow it sucks to hear Lamp is in trouble, I think I might pick up one of their avs just to be safe in case they disappear. :x I've seen some AWESOME pokemon mods and Animal crossing mods done with those avs that are worth getting the basic av for.

Emilly Orr said...

Plus, just strictly from a design sense, their avs are beautiful.

But the people in their group? Asshats to the nth power.

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 ...