and I've tried and tried, but it's taking me so long

City of Heroes launched Issue 23 today, which is literally jam-packed with new content in all directions: new Incarnate trials, new VIP and Premium content, an entire new play zone, and a new Free player channel, which many of us--both free and paid players alike--have been begging for.

See, when free play was introduced in CoH, free players couldn't IM people, couldn't email people, couldn't join supergroups, and couldn't talk in any channel beyond Help. This, naturally, reduced the honest and sincere questions that Help channel gets from time to time to so much pink noise--most of it grating and unnecessary in Help.

Now, there's the new Looking for Group channel, which can be clicked on to open, or simply use "/lfg" to pop it up. While this will also result in a lot of unnecessary pink noise in LFG, it should lessen the yammering in Help. Which is all we really wanted.

Of more import, free players can now be invited to Supergroups! Originally, this ban--like the ban on IMs and emails--was to prevent gold spammers from further infesting the game. (As soon as the Free-to-Play option was announced, we, like all other big MMOs, got INUNDATED with gold spammers. Or, in the case of their version of coinage, influence and infamy spammers.) Since most spammers are not at ALL interested in advancing past level one, getting an invite by proving you're a human, not a leech should be ridiculously easy.

Australian game channel GINX has released their Final Fantasy Guide to Hair--which is funny, surreal, and occasionally baffling. If you ever played any iteration of Final Fantasy, take five minutes and watch it. It's well worth your time.

So, I'm now using Niran's Viewer, because I loathe it less than any other V3-structured viewer, and because I've been struggling for the past three days simply to connect with Cool-VL. (And, considering I'm not male, and Mr. Beauchamp ignores any bug report sent to him from the distaff gender, it's not worth my time to send in a bug report he won't pay attention to anyway. Better to simply abandon the viewer as a waste of time. Why yes, I am bitter about this, why do you ask?)

There are a lot of different settings on Niran's I don't understand yet, though I'm working through them. I've managed--with the help of a concerned friend (read, "concerned" as "why are you screaming at me?") to get things more or less in working condition for me. (And in this case, read "working" as "I've effectively rendered part of Niran's crippleware, because I hate V3 viewers that much".)

Thing is, I don't have another option. My system isn't advanced enough for Exodus (though said concerned friend is trying to convince me to give it a try again); I refuse to use Firestorm (that's not going to change, ever); and I'd rather spoon our my own eyes than use the official viewer. (Seriously, I'm not exaggerating when I say that. Lindens, if you're listening, yes, the hash you made of the SL official viewer is so loathesome to me, I'd rather blind myself and leave Second Life forever than continue to play. I'm not sugar-coating this at all--V3 is that bad.)

But--in said partially-argumentative conversation last night--I did discover part of why I hate V3 with such a fiery vengeance. (Well, beyond the layout, the reconfiguration points, the sidebar, the top bar, the way movement works, the way changing clothes works, the difficulty in USING THE DAMN VIEWER IN THE FIRST PLACE--)

*ahem*

What I discovered was that only two things really make it a pass-or-fail option for me: and half of that conclusion comes from toasts and chiclets.

Here's why: while this no doubt is different for users of Linux or Mac systems, in PC systems, the stop-all-programs/emergency/alert notifications come in on the lower right-hand corner. Which means I am instinctually trained to drop everything and put my attention to whatever's popping up, because it--on Windows--means there's something DIRE going on.

The decision by Studio 8020 to spend part of the seven figures Linden Lab paid them on pushing standard, everyday "you got a thing"/"you're talking to someone" notifications into the lower right-hand corner--that emergency/alert/attend to this NOW! corner--means that as soon as I log into ANY V3 viewer--including Niran's--I am immediately enraged. I'm not even kidding. It's not even zero to bitch, it's zero to STAB MOTHERFUCKERS NOW, and part of that is because things are flashing in the lower right-hand corner, and I can't get them to stop.
Because in my head, I know that things in the lower right-hand corner are not a system stop emergency, but I feel like I have to drop everything and attend to them anyway, and it absolutely infuriates me every time. This results in one of two things happening. Either:

• a), I do drop everything, then close each and every toast and chiclet I can close, thus missing out on all that information, or
• b) I don't drop everything, because I know it's not important, and then things sit there and build up and keep flashing until I storm away from Second Life in a huff.

Again, not kidding, not exaggerating. That's what happens. Every single damned time. And while there are other reasons I hate V2/V3 viewers (oh, so many other reasons), that's the main one. That is the single issue that, if fixed, would result in far less stress on me, on those around me (because anyone who IMs me during one of these anger management breaks either gets ignored or yelled at), and far more time spent in-world rather than doing anything other than Second Life.

The same friend (poor, long-suffering soul) told me that I could just ignore the toasts, because they'd go away after a while. I just counted, standing in my skybox, how long it takes those notifications to fade. Eight. Seconds. And after those eight seconds have passed, and the actual notifications leave? I STILL HAVE THE LITTLE ENVELOPE STARING AT ME. Which does not, I repeat, NOT go away. EVER.

Until I attend to it.

Which means that, less than thirty seconds in on Second Life, and already my hands are shaking, I want to throw things, and I'm pretty much done for the day. It's insane. How hard is it to NOT HAVE THAT GODDAMN SETTING?

And don't get me started on how difficult, cumbersome, over-complicated and insane it is to join groups! I just want to JOIN A GROUP! GIVE ME THE GODDAMN JOIN TEXT! DIIIIIE!

I'm...going to go lay down now, and maybe sew something to something else. I think you all get the point.

And I've now set myself up for months of this crap, because I can't use any other reasonable alternatives, and because Henri's a bigoted ASS. On occasion, I hate my life.

And this is not a "steampunk" outfit. What the hell is wrong with people??

life is good when you're full of blood

And now, pictures as promised.



(The Clockwinder went blond! His tag read, Obviously Not/Mossaveno Tenk, so maybe I'm wrong. He also seemed much...taller.)



(Malookus Kalnoky mostly stayed on the edges of the dance, and wore a tag that said LDS furry. That was unusual enough, but I think I was more confused by the yellow leather cuffs, collar and bondage belt he wore.)



(Miss Jaina Quartz showed up as a white tiger, in casual pinks and blacks. Pretty. Epsilon Mabellan is the pink-feathered fledgling behind her. They are...mother and...daughter? Son? I wasn't sure and didn't check, on gender of child.)



(Barbara Collazo showed up as the cutest little monkey avatar. The, err, non-poo-throwing kind.)




(Miss Kaylee Korbitza won the costume contest, in her patriotic striped gown--I think honestly the judge swung in her favor due to the flag headband.)



(Is it just me? I'm suddenly seeing Rick Springfield on the bridge of the Enterprise. But this is Jaffee Gaffer, smiling in the striped pants.)



(Lady and sim owner Valentine Janus, in a simple but lovely gold dress.)



(Little Miss Abigail Artful from the last entry, looking winsome in teal and white.)



(Dr. Mitsu Figaro on the left, myself in the center, and Miss CowtownMom Foxclaw dancing.)



(Mr. Mathoni Zuhrah and Miss Ingeborg Apfelbaum, in front, Lindyhopping in the lag, while Brad Moonwall waves a flag to the right.)



(Miss Amari Starship in black; she heard there was a costume contest, so she went home to throw 'a costume' on. I think the 'costume' she had in mind was Elvira, but she looked stunning in it.)



(Miss Lotty Landar and her spoon, and the flag wings.)



(LilPrincess Serenity, in her big blonde braided hair and firework-patterned sneaks.)



(Miss Pear Dumpling with very inventive sparklers. And very inventive name, to boot.)



(The party, a bit diminished after the departure of the Moronic Twins, but still going.)

All in all, I think the after-parade dance went quite well. The evening tied up with fireworks in the Park and magic carpet rides by the dock following. I can't help but think that's kind of cool, hometown and charming all in one.

and if you think that I'm different, just ever so slightly, then you're right

A few too few words on roleplay.

I spent some few hours in Kingdom Park in the City of Enoch. Lovely people there, every Tuesday there's an evening dance to whatever the DJ feels like playing (PG sim, so PG music as much as possible). We were celebrating Independence Day in America, Canada Day in Canada, and anything anyone wanted to throw in. Then little Abigail showed up:

[13:17] Abigail Artful: dis is a bwig pawty

I was suddenly clouted by revelation. I knew exactly the problem many adults have with adults roleplaying children on the grid. And it's not Prokovy Neva's assertion that "they're just creepy"; that's not it, actually.

It comes down to the roleplay.

Case in point, me. (Me, the person behind Em, the typist, the deva, the lady behind the screen, pick your term.) When I was a child, I lisped. (It's true. I had to have surgery to stop the lisping, and let me tell you, having the frenum snipped and the solution of mercury painted on? STUNG LIKE HELL.) But, after an in-office procedure, and a bit of speech therapy, I stopped lisping.

So, okay, what does that have to do with kids on the grid? It's simple: read that sentence aloud.

"Dis"--okay, fine. It's common to contract dipthongs, change their tones, especially with children: it happens.

"Pawty"--that's common, too. I've heard kids say "pawty", actually; I've also heard them say "poddy" or "potty" or "pahdy", depending on inflection. So that's okay, it happens. (Though I grant you, the kid that says "potty" in public is going to be led to one, in my experience.)

"Bwig"--and here's where people's brains melt down. No child replaces letters like that. NO child does. It's bad roleplay. It's the mark of someone who wants to be a kid, but hasn't studied kid behavior. It pulls listeners out of the roleplay.

That's not creepy, that's just bad acting. Granted, it's a little thing. But it's enough to jar the adult brain, who's looking at a child body, into that moment of dissonance between what is heard and what is seen--or, in the case of text 'speaking', what is read in chat and what is seen in SL at large.

That's still not creepy, per se. But it is enough to pull adults back from full interaction with perceived children in SL, because they just don't 'sound right'. And those adults are right--children like this, for all they look like children, will never sound right unless they think more on how little kids really speak.

Now, the second bit that happened:

[14:21] MystiTool HUD 1.3.1: Entering chat range: Nogad Ay (19m)
[14:21] MystiTool HUD 1.3.1: Entering chat range: Merc Ryba (19m)
[14:21] Nogad Ay: ok im looking for a star gate near here
[14:21] Emilly Orr: Hmm
[14:22] Barbara Collazo: Don't know of any.
[14:22] Emilly Orr: Don't honestly know if the City's equipped with a StarGate
[14:22] Valentine Janus: Not aware of one near here
[14:22] Barbara Collazo: Lots of terrestrial vehicles but no stargate.
[14:22] Valentine Janus: There used to be one about three sims over
[14:22] Emilly Orr: I know Fhtagn has one, I know Rivula used to have one
[14:22] Jaffee Gaffer: I have a star and a gate, but not a stargate....
[14:22] Nogad Ay: i got a apointment with a crazyed mastermind and i don't want to be late
[14:23] Mitsu Figaro: i haven't explored the 'gate system in some time.
[14:23] Emilly Orr: Then you just might have to port. :p

At this point, I think we all thought they were just asking for directions. Even with the "crazyed mastermind" thrown in (and really, who doesn't know a crazed mastermind in Caledon? It's like asking for the nearest mad scientist. People are likely to smile and respond "Yes, might I assist you?"). We really didn't think they were serious.

The pure fact is, the City of Enoch isn't a roleplay sim. They're just living there, they have places of worship, they build homes, they build parks, they hold councils, they discuss genealogy--pretty much what normal Latter-Day Saints do of a week, they do in the City. And, while many of the people outside of the AoA group of sims understand roleplay, as it happens around SL--many of us don't come from places where roleplay is enforced. Therefore, it is always our choice whether to 'play along' or to noncommittally 'step back'.

These two did not seem to grasp this oh-so-subtle difference.

Plus they couldn't spell.

[14:23] Nogad Ay: we atempted to requestion a vessle to no avail
[14:23] Emilly Orr: Ah.
[14:23] Emilly Orr: Hmm. Have you asked around for a ship's captain?
[14:23] Nogad Ay: tell me
[14:24] Nogad Ay: what do you know about the...neko's
[14:24] Emilly Orr: Pity the Clockwinder isn't still here, he has airships aplenty
[14:24] Malookus Kalnoky: 'Transport City' here had a 'time amchine' at the border I recall.
[14:24] Emilly Orr raises an eyebrow
[14:24] Emilly Orr: I take it you do not favor nekos?
[14:24] Valentine Janus: Fairly little, although my sister markets to them.
[14:24] Merc Ryba: All that i know is FILE NOT FOUND
[14:25] Jaffee Gaffer: lol
[14:25] Barbara Collazo: lol
[14:25] Emilly Orr: You should try to track down Temenos Island
[14:25] Nogad Ay: thanks

Some were taking this as joking. Many--as this was the first more-fur-than-human event I'd attended in Kingdom Park--were not, and in fact, had stopped responding. I'd have taken the hint and moseyed on to another sim, but...no. They seemed determined to press their point.

[14:25] Nogad Ay: btw
[14:25] Nogad Ay: this here is my merc his name...merc
[14:25] Emilly Orr: We gathered that earlier.
[14:25] Barbara Collazo: k
[14:25] Valentine Janus: Descriptive.
[14:25] Nogad Ay: hes trained to kill in 5 diffrent ways
[14:25] Merc Ryba: a pleasure to meet you my name is FILE NOT FOUND
[14:26] Nogad Ay: 4 of witch involve dismemberment
[14:26] Emilly Orr: I don't think killing will be required, this is a dance.
[14:26] Nogad Ay: other then killing he dosen't do much else..apart from being an awsom builder

First of all, you don't know me, you don't get to tell me he's an "awsome builder" and expect me to react in any positive fashion. I know some truly awesome builders, people who create things from their hands, minds and hearts that just stun me, looking at them; amazing, impossible structures that delight and enrapture.

Tall lanky guy in a Union soldier uniform who hadn't strung more than a few words together and had been identified as lethal first, builder second? There was a lot of respect to be gained here. One way would have been for both of them to shut the hell up. Another would have been to apologize for interrupting the dance, or maybe even dance along and engage in civil conversation.

Nothing in any of the ways possible to mend the growing breech led to continuing to intrude in unpleasant and irritating ways.

[14:26] Emilly Orr: Also, dismembering dancers is rather rude.
[14:26] Nogad Ay: not if they are deamed...sub human
[14:27] Emilly Orr stares at Nogad
[14:27] Merc Ryba: but bio prothetics are so much more flexable
[14:27] Nogad Ay: but none of you mean that quality
[14:27] Emilly Orr: Define...subhuman
[14:27] Emilly Orr: Because there are furs here.
[14:27] Nogad Ay: not quite furry and not quite human
[14:27] Barbara Collazo: I daresay we're all human under the skin.
[14:27] Nogad Ay: something...else
[14:27] Emilly Orr is soooo tempted to change into cat ears, but will refrain.
[14:28] Jaffee Gaffer: I have a poem called "Abort, Retry, Ignore" based upon Poe's The Raven

They seemed to sense that tolerance for their roleplay was at an end. Most of us had stopped talking entirely. Most of us were ignoring most of what they said at this point.

[14:28] Nogad Ay: well thank you for the infomation
[14:28] Nogad Ay: we best be off
[14:28] Merc Ryba: good bye
[14:28] Emilly Orr: Farewell!
[14:28] Nogad Ay: Good day

And they walked out of sight. I waited a heartbeat, watching my radar until I was sure they were out of range. Then I asked what I felt I had to ask:

[14:29] Emilly Orr: All right, was it just me, or were those two unbearably rude?
[14:29] Barbara Collazo: I certainly thought so.
[14:29] Mitsu Figaro: it wasn't you.
[14:29] Mitsu Figaro: i was going to point them to Vid's gate in Cymryu but decided not
[14:29] Emilly Orr: Well, then.
[14:29] Emilly Orr giggles
[14:29] Emilly Orr: Oh, you should have!

I can imagine it now: two incompetent, unintelligent roleplay-crippled men, out carousing for "subhumans" to kill, in the hands of Lord Cymru, Viderian Vollmar, the Black Unicorn himself. Oh, I would have sold tickets to that.

[14:29] Mitsu Figaro: true *grin* well if they come back, i'll lead them merrily into that trap
[14:30] Emilly Orr: "He's an anthropomorphic horse, will that bother you?"
[14:30] Mitsu Figaro giggles
[14:30] Emilly Orr: Or a unicorn. Depending on the day. :)

I have to wonder why they pressed the point; I guess, if you're committed to sounding like an idiot around strangers, you just have to keep going; but also, the type of roleplay bothered me. Maybe I just haven't hung out with that many roleplayers whose main form of play is to hate another type of roleplayer; I mean, rivalries rise and fall, but if I'm against, say, vampires (this has happened, I know, me against vampires, it seems baffling), if I'm not in that sim I'm not on the lookout. Even more, if I meet one of the roleplayers outside the sim, then I'm able to grasp they aren't that character outside the roleplay.

Is it just me?

Moreover, this isn't the first stirrings of anti-neko action of late; this was just the most obvious case of it. But I've been hearing mumbling around the grid, not one sim, not ten, and no specific "type" I can point to--just mutterings.

It's unnerving, just a bit, trying to figure out why.

On roleplay, though...I don't think it's ever rude not to play along, as long as it's done politely. I don't think it's rude to play along, as long as what you do isn't invasive. The minute it becomes invasive, or the minute more people are not wanting to play than want to...relocate. Remove the play. Start it up later, or just leave.

I'm not saying this happens a lot in Caledon; most of us are content to carry what we feel capable of carrying, and at the least, we enjoy playing along on the edges. But I'm talking about other places--especially places like the City of Enoch, which oddly, feels very much like they've tried to reproduce actual reality on the grid, not grid-influenced reality (and there is a difference). I'd even hazard good odds they would have banned flight, save I see the occasional person fly by (generally newcomers to the sim, though).

It was just a sharp, jarring note in an otherwise brisk march, and it's lingered, this jarring note. It has made me more curious about these two inept travelers, and what their intentions are towards..."subhumans".

I think I'm taking that a bit personally.