it's time to start the countdown, I'm gonna burn it down

The Lindens are at it again. This time, they sound a bit more rational...at least until we break down what they're actually saying from the broad, and very vague, lack of specifications they're choosing to employ this month.

Cyn Linden said, when opening the thread for comments on the forums:

We have four key guiding principles to work from, and we’d like you to consider them and share your thoughts:

1) We will create clear and consistent definitions of what constitutes adult content, in line with our Community Standards,

2) We will enable easy, reliable, and consistent ways to be able to access content by type - the goal being to ensure that Residents can choose what they want to see, purchase and experience.

3) We will implement effective Resident services and dialog to ensure that those who provide Adult goods or services can continue their activities without long-term disruption or loss of business.

4) We will implement account verification systems that provide an additional level of assurance for providers of Adult content that only adults are able to access their content. Such a system might be tied, for instance, to a verified payment method like a credit card, a validation by our age verification provider, or another credible method of validation.

So of course there was hue and outcry. Some of the highlights:

Suggestions for clarification:

1. Are Avatars (Residents) counted as Adult Content? Most of the people I know, including myself, are wonderful people who have from time to time presented themselves in ways that would fall into the Adult category. Are you going to attempt to control the movements of Avatars?

2. Will credit cards with an age listed be acceptable as verification? We all know the other attempted system was not only a flop but a serious invasion of privacy.

3. Are you seriously considering uprooting half the content in current Mature sims? And if so, are you going to compensate us financially for the forced relocation to Adult Reservations? Many people have sunk considerable investments of real money into their current locations.

(As an aside on that, despite your "uncertainty" I'm guessing this is a preparatory step for an All-Ages integrated grid. And frankly you'd save us all huge amounts of heartburn and butthurt if you created an All-Ages Continent instead of an Adult Reservation.)

4. Enforcement is not mentioned. What are the potential consequences for mis-flagging content or having an avatar that random person identifies as "Adult"? Again you are treading on territory where lots of money is at stake. (Ananda Sandgrain)

Ananda's got some definite points. Okay, sure, someone like dear Miss Sunshine is likely going to freak people out anywhere, but what about the average person on the street? Silks, for example: to some, they're everyday wear, but to others they are scandalously revealing. Or collars: on some people, they're a fashion statement (newbie goths come to mind), on others, signs of submission; which is going to cause more dissent?

And that's just surface; what about latex dolls? They are highly fetishized representations of female sexuality, some would consider absurdly so: but they are covered. In certain cases, they are encased to the point where not even eyes and mouth are left open.

Or let's take something nearer to home: people kneeling. I own more than two pieces of furniture that have sit poses on the floor. In fact, I own several floor cushions (and hells, all things considered, I tend to hang out on cuddle rugs most of my time spent idle in SL, but that's neither here nor there). To me, someone kneeling--just that, just sitting on their knees--is no big deal. Even people going into acknowledged Gorean poses to please their owner doesn't faze me. But what if it fazes someone else? What if it disturbs and angers them to the point of gnashing froth? Me, I'd say hello if I'm inclined, or walk past. That mythical frothing person? Might well AR everyone in the room.

What's normal to some, isn't normal to others. Who decides which standards of normalcy we hold? And even when we get into what's weird territory for me--and trust me, friends and neighbors, you do not want to know what I consider weird and freaky--I still say, if they just have to go shopping for that prom dress in their freaky attire, hey, I can leave the store, I can go home, I can log off--why can't everyone else?

WHY WHY WHY? Why is it the job of Linden Lab to try to sort out content? Why is it not the job of the parents to prevent their kids from logging into SL? Why do adults that do not want to see adult content continue to teleport to OTHER PEOPLE's LAND?!

The offended should be the ones that need to move... they have the ability to set up their own vision of their non-adult world. they can grab their land and do their thing. (Doubledown Tandino)

See? Above conversation relates perfectly to Doubledown's comment. Why can't the offended just walk away? Unless it's someone involved in machine sex with a anaesthetized gerbil in your living room, why can't you just not interact?

Please define as clearly as possible what "Adult Content" is. Obviously sex beds and certain attachable body parts... but what else? Will anyone who sells a skin be relegated to be down the street from "Bob's Discount Genital Store" and "The Sexatorium?"

Likewise, is this to say that someone who has their own land in the main grid, who wants to occasionally slip up to their bedroom for a little sexual activity, will now be forced to sell their land and move next door to the nearest house of ill repute? That seems quite ridiculous.

Mari
(for whom the irony of me, of all people, posting about "slipping up to the bedroom for a little sexual activity" is not lost on) (Marianne McCann, noted SL child community advocate)

The irony isn't lost on me, either. Nor should it be for any of us. When a token child--herself an embattled minority, in her SLife--weighs in with what she thinks of as reasonable concerns regarding adult activity, we really should sit up and listen.

Think this through: if I own, in my own house, items for adult entertainment, that is my responsibility. I have no friends with SL children (that I know of); I have no SL children myself; and I never, in the fullest and deepest sense of that word, intend to even flirt with a child avatar, let alone have adult fun. I do not believe I do anything in my SLife at present that necessitates the need for me to move far away on an adult-sanctioned grid.

Far simpler to make a continent that is PG-content only. Family-friendly? Family-safe? Why not? If you are rated adult, you will be blocked. If you are rated teen or mature, you will not be blocked. Or go simpler: payment info on file, full access. Payment info not on file or alternate means of identification achieved, blocked.

Why is this hard?

I still say the card idea works, and no one seems to be listening. The Lindens design some snappy image to put on a buyable card for some token amount--five dollars, two dollars, whatever. When this card is purchased, the clerk for the transaction asks for ID. ID is provided, and, if eighteen or over, the clerk validates the card. The next time I log in, I'm asked for that identification number, and I put that in. Simple. Easy. Relatively painless--the Lindens get to mark me age-verified, and no one has my ID number, with my home address, my picture, and access to my DMV record, on file.

But, you say, the Lindens already have your address, don't they? And--because I have nearly always had credit card information on file with my account, yes, yes they do. Why do I still prefer the card method outlined above?

1) Simplicity. It's a simple select-card/buy-card/validate/log-in transaction. It requires a slight alteration to the client, which honestly can be achieved using the same pop-up survey form they use now. It's easy. The Lindens could even make them in various values, and have anything over say, $2.50 US convert to Lindens, so you could validate accounts at the basic level, or go all the way up to $50.00, $100.00, $150.00 in Lindens.

2) Collectability. For those who collect things, like the Linden bears in world, this would be a second chance to edge into that market, and this would be for real money that would go directly to the Labs. They could release year cards, season cards, cards commemorating SL birthday events, the sky's the limit. They could offer personalized avatar options, and, if it got big enough, they could likely strike a deal with any of a number of credit card companies to put Linden-controlled content on actual credit cards, to use in non-grid-based stores, as well as for Lindens in-world.

3) Safety. This way, the Lindens don't have another database of personal info that can be hacked (as has happened twice since I joined, and I've only been in the game since mid-2006) at will by whomever's clever enough to get by the firewalls. This would ensure that only one person sees the identifying info, and that person changes, depending on city, state, country, town, store, even time of day. For me, putting my personal information in the hands of someone with no reason to retain it, to be "lost" later, is far safer than putting it in the hands of a company who tends to lose personal information, as well as make staggeringly bad choices as to which external companies are best trusted with my personal data.

"We will create clear and consistent definitions of what constitutes adult content, in line with our Community Standards."

Defining this one element alone will be slipperier than a bed of eels in a bucket of Jiffy Lube. After thousands of years of civilization the human race has not yet managed to work this one out so I'll be fascinated to see how it pans out in the virtual world.

The cultural and religious mores of the international community who inhabit Second Life are significantly different and "adult content" for one group may be more rigidly interpreted than another. For example, would topless bathing on a sim be "adult?" Not from a European perspective. And what about profanities? Will there be an installing of filters? And if so, which words are "adult" and which are not? And who would determine this? (Sigmund Leominster)

Yet again, Sigmund raises pointed questions that deserve honest answers. What is allowable in America is not in Saudi Arabia. What is commonplace in France may raise eyebrows in England. We have already seen the breakdown when the Lindens flag certain search words as taboo; do we really want to tangle with doing that to an entire land mass in world?

Instead of requiring a flag for "adult" vs. "mature" content...

Why not go ahead, do the TeenGrid merger - and then have a flag people can set in their profile to mark themselves as "family-friendly only". At that point, then they can only teleport to PG rated areas, which would include the merged TeenGrid areas. (TaraLi Jie)

And again, this is a rational, elegant, and surprisingly effective way to solve the issue. So why are the Lindens choosing the most destabilizing, cumbersome, ponderous way around the problem, if problem it is at all?

Someone very wise once said that the Lindens only drop these weighty issues into our laps to wrangle and fret over, when they're doing something they want us completely distracted from behind the scenes. I'm beginning to believe this is not hyperbole, but factual, hard-minted truth. So what are they hiding this time, that they want us not to see? What's big enough, fracturing enough, that dredging age verification, hints of gridmerge, and the establishment of Pervistan (all thanks to Des for the name), the as-yet-unnamed 'adult continent' to be, from the sodden depths of controversy--as a mere diversion--would be worth it?

Moving every strip-club and weapon store and personally-owned sex bed and art gallery displaying nudes off of the mainland into an "adult" ghetto seems like a highly undesirable alternative. Can you give us any insight into why that was the one that's been chosen? (Dale Innis)

I haven't heard any good answers yet, Dale, maybe you have.

"Any publicly accessible Region" that "references... Representations of intense violence depicting death". I'm not exactly sure what it means to reference a representation, but this would seem, again, to hit an art gallery displaying something like Picasso's "Guernica", or a weapon store with pictures of exploding landmines. (Isn't it true of any weapon store that "the main theme or advertising point is" violent? So aren't those all Adult even in Blondin's wording?)

Saying "oh, yeah, but we actually won't enforce that in those cases" isn't really much comfort; I hate the idea of having a bad law and just counting on the powers that be not to enforce it. If the rule is really going to be more or less rational, as Blondin suggests, then can the official rule be worded to actually *say* that, rather than saying something much much broader that we are then unofficially assured that it doesn't really mean? (Dale Innis)

And I have to admit, Dale again raises a great point here, and a truly great question. I have yet to see if Blondin--or Cyn, or any other Linden involved in this--actually responded.

Beryllium Vella's comment was worth quoting in full:

The concept is too broad in my opinion. Yes, it's a nice idea that you can provide blinders in RL to keep people from seeing things they don't want to see. It doesn't happen in RL, you can drive down certain streets and see things you really don't want to see. You control that in RL by not driving down those streets.

In SL, what you see is location, advertising, avatars, and profiles.

There can be a mature content location, and if you don't want to see it, you don't go there.

There is mature advertising, and if you don't want to see that, you don't click give me the mature content also.

Avatars and Profiles are a much more difficult situation.

An avatar can go anywhere, and look like anything. Naked Avatars in inappropriate areas are AR'd - they should have some clothes in when in PG areas. But elsewhere, a naked avatar might be just fine. Then there's the case when SL might slide you into some other location because the location you wanted isn't available. Suddenly you're somewhere you don't want to be, dressed or undressed as you don't want to be, and it may be difficult due to some local/temporary bug to change that. Accidents happen.

The profile of an avatar is accessible by anyone anywhere. We're used to looking at someone's profile to make sure that we address them properly, to learn what they are interested in, to find out a little about them before telling them about ourselves. But in those profiles there can be subjects, pictures, data that is mature in [context], and there's no way to predict what you will see.

I cannot see how you can protect people from what's around them. I feel that it comes down to them choosing what they will see, where they will go, what they will do. Just as in RL, you make your own choices of what you will see and do, and you back out quickly from places and things that you don't want to deal with.

We laugh at the old joke (which is true by the way) of a little old lady calling into the cable company complaining of a channel mixup error that had occurred one day. "That was the worst filth on TV that I've ever watched for two hours" The immediate questions: 1) why did she keep watching; 2) why not call earlier to the cable company.

What keeps occurring to me, in this latest venture into absurdity, Linden-style, is how needlessly they complicate their own lives and the operation of their business. If it's all a cover-up for something else, then trust me, it's not worth this level of froth. And if it's honestly not, there are endless other ways--many detailed in this post--to get the job done and move on with our second lives.

A few questions I'd leave viewers of this post with:

1) Whatever happened to parental responsibility? Why is it suddenly my responsibility, Linden Labs' responsibility, to ensure the safety of your children? You don't want them in sexual areas in SL, don't let them join. Curtail their computer use, demand password access, discuss with them what's of value and what's not at their stage of development. (Oh, but wait, that would mean parents would actually be interacting with their children, not leaving them to the internet and television to answer all questions while they go off and play City of Heroes for hours on end.)

2) Why is it necessary to create an entirely new land mass just for strip clubs, escorts and sex shops? Don't we already have private islands expressly for that? Hells, don't we already have Amsterdam for that? Why an entirely new continent to "take care of the problem"--which few, among those I've interacted with on SL, even saw as a problem? (In other words, what is really behind this move? Nautilus not living up to expectations?)

3) Is this all just the first step towards merging the teen and the adult grids, which is the spectre raised over and again in scuttlebutt and rumor? If so, why are few Lindens denying it, while saying there aren't any direct plans "short term" for such a move? (And how short is short? Three weeks? Three years? Longer, shorter? Do we ever get to know?)

I'll get back to the music thing, I promise. But this is likely the start of several posts on this topic until things die down again.

If they do.

the zealot never saves the sacrificial lamb

The world's most overgeared corkscrew verges on Rube Goldberg territory. But my, is it fun to watch.

And a notable new spiritualism site--notable in my opinion mainly for their collection of spirit photographs, many of which--like pictures taken of deceased family members before them--feature authentic Victorian and Edwardian attire, from all social strata.

Moving back into music, we're taking on Chris Vrenna next.

An interview with Vrenna on the Alice soundtrack music explains the search he had to find non-traditional and non-modern instruments to record the score for the groundbreaking EA game. Here's Taking Tea in Dreamland to give you a taste of what he means.



(Game walkthrough of the first section.)

The game, American McGee's Alice, was--and, to some sense, is--a darkly involved chase through a Wonderland changed by an Alice gone mad. It was inspired--and very steampunk, if the darker sort your mythic ancestors never spoke about. The can-do spirit behind most steampunk stories remained in the game, but it was turned more towards what can't be done and why--flesh-sculpting familiar characters, weaponizing toys, merging the animate and inanimate in vivid and disturbing ways.

Through it all runs the soundtrack of Chris Vrenna, with his grandiose assortment of musicians' toys: pennywhistles to zithers, harpsichords to unstrung organs, percussion and random metal sounds, recorded, distorted and played back against seemingly decorous chamber music.



(More of the music in the game intro.)

From the Wikipedia entry:

The game's setting presents a considerably more macabre rendition of Wonderland than that of Lewis Carroll's original portrayal. Wonderland, being a creation of Alice's mind, has been corrupted by her insanity.

The new Wonderland is composed of nine provinces. When Alice falls down the rabbit hole, she finds herself in the Village of the Doomed, the home of the Torch Gnomes. The Village of the Doomed is composed of a network of tunnels and caves, patrolled by the Queen of Hearts' card guards...

All of the music created for the fittingly twisted official American McGee's Alice soundtrack was written and performed by Chris Vrenna. Most of the sounds he used were created using toy instruments and percussion, music boxes (in a short documentary about the making of the game that appeared on TechTV, the music box used appears to be an antique Fisher-Price music box pocket radio), clocks, doors, and sampled female voices (including that of Scarling. vocalist Jessicka) were manipulated into nightmarish soundscapes, including instances of them laughing maniacly, screaming, crying, and singing in an eerie, child-like way.

The music creates an eerie and horrifying feel to the world Alice is in.

(Vrenna's Wonderland Woods, and another in-game cutscene, this one of Looking Glass Land. It's like walking around in Jabberwocky on the grid, isn't it?)

Vrenna may only be known for his connection to Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson, but he's acted as producer, sound engineer, studio artist, or remixer for more than thirty different singers and bands, in virtually every conceivable genre of music. He's incredibly prolific, experimental, and by report easygoing, somewhat of a rarity in the world of high-profile stardom (though to be fair, the singer in any band garners most of the attention; hardcore percussion and sound engineer stalkers are rare). He's also provided background music or full score work for easily a dozen videogames, everything from the bouncy Sonic the Hedgehog score to the moody and atmospheric Quake 4.



(Vrenna's Pandemonium.)

The Alice soundtrack is still available; fully eight years after its release it's still purchased. It is in turns gloomy, scattered, and beautiful, crystalline arpeggios of notes tumbling over each other and down to stark booming emptiness, only to be gathered up again and returned to lands of strings and piping. The off-kilter is never more audibly off than in Vrenna's interpretation of Alice's fractured Wonderland; but then, that's rather the point.



(Vrenna's I'm Not Edible.)

Not that I needed to say it at this point, but for this soundtrack, if for nothing else, Chris Vrenna has added to the steampunk music oeuvre.

how do we tell apart the time to leave from the time to wait?

So now we begin the breakdown, analysis, poring over details, clues and condecensions. Three entries, more than fifty bands, at least.

It's something to do.

Let's start first with The Fall. I'm going to take another stand here, and rule out electric guitars, for the most part. Not entirely--songs with electric fiddle and modified electric instruments may well sound steampunk enough to fit in. But songs where the guitar is obviously played, and obviously comes, from our modern world as it exists now--I have to say no.

The song Spoilt Victorian Child seems to fall easily and naturally into the latter category.

The Fall as they have been classified, is British post-punk to start with--that sort of 'we've seen the Sex Pistols but we like a bit of melody' group, which in their case formed in 1976. Their sound thrives on the nearly mumbled growl of vocalist Mark E Smith, the constant thudding beat that reminds one more of uniformed feet in sequence than drumwork, and an overdriven, scraped-across-the-raw-nerve guitar sound.

They were John Peel's favorite band, which I suppose says something, but they are in largest measure the full sound and fury of the post-punk movement--grating guitars, jackboot percussion, and a sum and feeling that seeps into our skins with how worthless, how temporary, how utterly dull and spiritless the life of the flesh is.

I have my own sources of ennui, thanks. I don't need anyone else's.

So what puts them on the list? Ultimately, I have to conclude, they are on the list because they're on the list. And if that isn't recursive enough, what got them on someone's list of steampunk songs is their song "Spoilt Victorian Child":

Sugar and cakes appear mean
Sitting at the table
Tigers pop-up from books

Spoilt Victorian Child

Let`s take it ten years on
You`re looking back from then
Under rough grey blankets
Thread loose stained grey blanket

Spoilt Victorian Child

....right.

This entire band merits inclusion on the basis of those three words? Hells, no. If we are worth anything in this examination and exhumation of steampunk style and meaning, then we have to be clear on what is, what isn't, and what might be influenced by--or sourced as influence of--steampunk music.

The Fall is out.

I need your love the most when I least deserve it

We start again by going line by line through the third set of mentions I found, this one from KDVS Freeform Radio.

The Dandelion Junk Queens say of themselves this: "Dandelion Junk Queens is not a Jug Band, nor are we Pirates, nor Gypsies/Roma. Dandelion Junk Queens is a Junk Band. Sometimes Dandelion Junk Queens are from Bellingham, WA, and sometimes the road is our home. Dandelion Junk Queens would probably like to play in your basement, and would even more likely like to drink and dance with you."

You can hear some of what they do here, or on the MySpace link mentioned above.

The Hail Seizures are also mentioned. Apparently the Taxplayers have played with them more than a little, and admire them deeply.

You can hear what they do here or here, or go hang out on their page.

Reverend Glasseye sounds like more of the American roots revival, and they get even more intriguing descriptions from official press sources.

You can hear them here or here or on their MySpace page.

The Dust Collectors might have been mentioned in part one or part two of this, I can't recall currently--but they're back due to the mention on KDVS. They also have a MySpace page.

Helena Espvall sounds very, very, very odd. Did I mention the very odd? It sounds to me like someone gave Diamanda Galas a cello, and told her to play what she felt. It's not pleasant.

She has a MySpace page, and she's apparently part of the "folk-psych" (folk-psych?? Bwuh??) band, the Espers (who have their own MySpace page) and can be heard playing Riding on Youtube.

Serendipity Musik has a MySpace page, and that is all I'm able to discover about them. Anyone else know more?

The Neotericz seem all about the arcade music, but what precisely makes them steampunk? To me they seem nearly defiantly plugged in. You can check out their micro site, if you want.

Random as a band name turns up nada, absolutely nothing of use. In fact, looking up by song titles does nothing either. There likely is some mention of them when accessing the later pages in the Google search, but I sheerly don't have the patience to pore through 45,200,000 entries.

Wingzar gets interesting, though--no YouTube or MySpace presence I can find, but no less a presence than Warren Ellis has a separate link (though on the same site) for them, and a mention of the sound of their music: "The strangeass Balearic Electroclash of Wingzar! was sent via its human representative Margaret Killjoy, who says: 'Wingzar, who sings with the help of voice-synthesis, is on a crusade to eradicate humanity for the sake of robots and nature. The attached song is titled Robot Army and is the lead track of its CC-licensed EP What We Lack In Subtlety We Compensate For In Number Crunching."

Venom8888's only mention is right there; let alone Jokr8888's only mention being as a nested side note. Who are these people? What do they sound like? Why does KDVS consider them steampunk? Got me.

Matt Bleak is a noisecore artist from Australia, apparently. I abhor noisecore, I will admit, I've never found a single likable thing about it--and I think it has less than no connection to steampunk. Still, it was on the list. And according to whomever set the archive.org page up, Matt Bleak is "Something different from the usual speed/noise core". We'll see.

And an initial search for Little Mack produced another page on archive.org, and little else.

In Scary Stereo has a discography; and that seems to be it.

Nearly the same thing with Click Click Boom--the first cursory search lists the Saliva song, and nothing else. Same for the Colonists.

Naked on the Vague is in a slightly better position to be heard. In fact, Dualplover.com has this to say on the band:

Naked On The Vague, fell into existence with a found organ, broken bass guitar, borrowed drum and some old doom poetry. Lucy Cliché executes distorted keyboard melodies, while Matthew P Hopkins plays psyched out bass guitar. Diving deep into a world of apocalyptic pop and psychedelic weirdness... their disparate vocals grip onto stabbing keys and menacing hook-laden basslines, pushed on by an unrelentling drum machine far past the end of its warranty period.

You can find them on MySpace and Last.fm.

The Ministry & Co-Conspirators mention seems to refer to their cover album, Cover Up; the song in question is their cover with Megaforce of Bang a Gong.

Sulaco, from the initial mention on Braingell.com I found, is another heavy noise band; Modern Creatures from the YouTube link I found, is yet more noisecore; the Blank Its seem a tad more melodic, but also overdriven on guitars; and Nice Smile becomes the most approachable of the lot only by virtue of being punk.

All right, let me go out on my own little limb here and state something, after this bit of research. Ready? Vintage is not steampunk. If that didn't get through, let me make it plainer: electronics aren't steampunk. Overamped guitar, banging on the Casio, using stripped-down synth to create sound--none of this is steampunk.

I agree with the accessibility concept, and I'm not saying automatically, no electronic music need apply. But it needs to meet that criteria; it can't sound like arcade sounds, like existing punk or grunge or ska, like acid house or dance techno. It can't just be noise; most importantly, it can't be noise that makes us remember Space Invaders and PacMan.

We still may be no closer to defining what steampunk music is, but I'm damned sure a varied collection of punk and noisecore bands is not it.

catering to your disasters' every need

Woke up today, and after far too many hours spent dithering on other things, got around to scanning the entry from yesterday. It's now corrected and re-released into the wild; so from yesterday's mass music linkage party, I now continue.

Algernon Misanthrope comes next, with his comment on specific songs:

My humble suggestions to throw into the mix, if you will, are:

Tonight Tonight, -Smashing Pumpkins,
We Only Come Out at Night, -Smashing Pumpkins,
Red Right Hand, -Nick Cave,
Happy Workers, -Tori Amos,
The Tale of Two Doves, -Whisper in the Noise,
The Heart's Filthy Lesson, -David Bowie.

And quick mentions of Johann Johannsson and Godspeed You Black Emperor tied up that thread.

The other thread mentioned started off with _brentbrent_ mentioning Emilie Autumn, Louis XIV and Levi Weaver (that leads to a short film, mostly Weaver talking; for more of the music try this). It led from there.

Tom Waits again (What's He Building In There?), the Dresden Dolls, the Unextraordinary Gentlemen, bands I've mentioned before (notably: Abney Park)...it's becoming just as much a diverse grouping.

Metalsporks didn't have anything for the list, but made an intriguing comment:

I prefer industrial edged stuff. Such as Rammstein, Drum 'n' Bass, Death Metal, etc. But to really pull the full steampunk out in me it has to be that sort of sound with a serenading edge. But that could be because I view steampunk as a sort of romanticized view of the industrial revolution. [A look] at the machines as awe inspiring instead of the way that the machines are [screwed] nowadays as being monstrous and death inducing.

Again they go back to the German sounds of industry, this time dragging in Neubaten again, as well as Laibach, Test Dept., Blixa Bargeld and SPK. Then back to the Americas with Priestbird, then--confusingly for me--over to the British Isles with mentions of Steeleye Span, the Clumsy Lovers and the Chieftains.

Jill Tracy rates a mention, as does Humanwine, and then the thread neatly ties up. Yay? Or not, because I still have to research everyone who was mentioned...

And a MySpace group called Sepiachord is apparently doing the same thing, over there.

So, enough of that, for now, back to Edward. He reopened his Babbage store! Apparently there was some problematic bombing or something. At any rate, we threw a grand opening party. (I can say we, I hosted!)

Before it all started, though, we repaired to a nearby roof whilst Edward restarted the sim--in this case, 'we' being me (in small Iron Tiny form), Lady Christine in blue, and Edward--and, once it had fallen into wat'ry ether and returned, all set off flying for the destination.

Save for me. I got stuck, as I am wont to do, inside someone else's locked warehouse.

While I was searching for a way out, how'ver, I did find time to appreciate her sense of humor:



(Click for the larger image to see more of why.)

Then we were off and dancing to the inspired and occasionally mad spinnings of Edward's trove of music. Mostly I just chattered away, greeting and bidding farewell, but a few things caught my eye.

The first walked in attached to Mr. Nix Sands:



These copper-piped lovely things were instantly coveted by half the party guests, I think, and I know he was asked if he'd be selling them. I don't know what they do, precisely, beyond look terribly cool, but they do do that, and quite well, I might add.



Next--though I doubt he was aware of it--I managed to catch the perfect combination of Victorian style: Edward's marvelous new store build silhouetting Dr. Rafael Fabre. Kudos to both, a moment before or later I wouldn't have been able to capture it.



Lastly, Dr. Obolensky has taken it upon himself to eradicate all sources of what he deems "magic" from Babbage soil. This one (apparently undeployed, though what I know of these things could be painlessly carved on my thumbnail) was lying, pulsing with a fevered red glow, down the alley from Edward's shop door.

And while such enterprises in an industrial realm seem all well and good, several folks came to the grand opening, grew queasy, and repaired home to rest. I, in fact, would have had I not been so far from my fae heritage, being clad in simpler human (well, demi-human) skin.

More than that, though, I have to wonder, because the thought does cross the mind: is there more behind this than simple nonhuman prejudice? For the Clockwinder himself bears fae blood, and fell ill; so could it be, in fact, this is less about magic's eradication, and more about seizing empire? Is this less a purge, more political in nature?

Either way, the 'good' Doctor bears watching...

And finally, the sims of S.I.C. are having another hunt for some indefinable bit of technology that kills things. Just go to the SLUrl, click the poster (when it rezzes in) and then find your way around the sim!

...oh, you want more than that? Okay. There are clues.


#1: No rentals here, you'll have to ask the clerk.


#2: This hospital has more wires and spare parts than organs.


#3: Always time to sit and contemplate the bridge. Behind the barricades.


#4: You'll have a lot of fans here.


#5: In industry is found release.


#6: There is value in Soylent Green.


#7: The carnival's in view, but it's what's found underneath that's of more use.


#8: Amidst industrial rubble what you seek is found. (Just don't fall in the water; we don't know where it's been.)


#9: Don't pay the piper, just find the right pipe.


#10: Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

will I be crucified for wanting to believe?

Music comes to me, and I fit pieces into me, bits of song and story, pieces of my soul I didn't know were wandering.

Even knowing that, this was something of an inundation. It started with Edward.

Edward played something at his store opening the night previous (far too few pictures upcoming) that was beyond wonderful, I thought. But I couldn't track it down. Turns out it was from a mention on the Steampunk Workshop site, and can be downloaded--it's called "Attack of the Steampunks".

While I was reading that, I was exploring a link I'd found the night before and never had time to read--a group of other folks over in the Steampunk Magazine forums discussing this whole ongoing thing. From what is steampunk music to individual songs to whole bands, they talked about it all.

carpejugulum of the Exoskeleton Cabaret said this:

Here's a setlist for a TeaParty I DJed--wide variety of tracks and genres there:

Chris Vrenna - Flying on the Wings of Steam (Remix)
The Fall - Spoilt Victorian Child
Alan Moore and Tim Perkins - Opium Nights (Sell Me More, Sell Me More) [I could find nothing even remotely referring to lyrics for this song, let alone the song itself]
Evestus - Jetflight Part 2 - Bad Trip [Couldn't find this song either, but I found Evestus' YouTube channel]
Blackbird RAUM - Honey in the Hair [Again, couldn't find that song on YouTube, but I did find their section of Last.fm and a page with music samples.]
Johnny Hollow - Stolen
Rasputina - Antique High Heel Red Doll Shoes
A Midnight Choir - The Drunken Elephant March [Couldn't find it, more's the pity because it sounded fun--but how about Amsterdam Stranded instead?]
Maduro - Nachtmahr [Couldn't find this song but found a lot of Nachtmahr--the thing is, though, if Mein Name is any indication, they aren't steampunk in the least. I also found a mention of Madura, in specific, Madura Jilla which seems a slightly electrocharged Bollywood number...and finally, after two days of searching, Maduro's webpage, which--even though I can't find even a single short clip, does sound like more of what we're after.]
This Morn' Omina - Epoch
Hybrid - Finished Symphony (Hybrid's Echoplex Mix Radio
Edit)
Assemblage 23 - Decades (V2) [Couldn't find version two, but found this version]
Aphex Twin - Nannou
Michael Moorcock's Deep Fix - Time Centre [Couldn't find it, but I found a song called Octopus, and Veteran of the Psychic Wars by Blue Oyster Cult.]
Magpie - Oil and Hell in the Sky (vocal) [I could find nothing for this either, but a net search for lyrics turned up a whole separate list.]

From "saellys" in a later comment comes this:

Bands and Artists

Midlake - A decidedly anachronistic band. Their latest album, The Trials of Van Occupanther, has several tracks that could be considered steampunk: "Roscoe" is a delicious bit of vintage-sounding rock and "Young Bride" could suit a more mellow affair. Their debut Bamnan and Slivercork is a lot more eccentric and as a whole I think it better fits the steampunk aesthetic.

Jonny Greenwood - Radiohead's lead guitarist is also the BBC's composer-in-residence and has written the scores for Bodysong and There Will Be Blood. His all-instrumental work is tremendous; if "Clockwork Tin Soldiers" on Bodysong doesn't convince you, track down one of his compositions for theremin.

Murder By Death - When I think of steampunk, I think of Victorian London, as I'm sure many others do. Strangely, even though I consider Murder By Death a very American-sounding band (I can't quantify that assertion at all; my mind just draws these connections for no reason), I can not listen to In Bocca Al Lupo without associating it automatically with steampunk. Their sound is modern, and at times surprisingly heavy, but their lyrics are brothels and coal mines and pirate ships and stuff.

Songs

"When Under Ether," PJ Harvey - When I was writing a novel called Aether, this was one of the tracks on my writing mix. Hah, get it? Er, anyway, it's a great song--very stark, with just piano and some keening, wavery vocals. Not at all what I'd come to expect from Ms. Harvey.

"Many Funerals," Eisley - The quintessential street urchin song.

"The Shape of Things to Come," Bear McCreary - This is actually from the Battlestar Galactica season one soundtrack, but it's way too grandiose to be confined to conventional science fiction. This is zeppelin music.

Other bands that were mentioned: The Curse is Cast, the Dead Man Street Orchestra, the Dust Collectors, Tom Waits (specifically Going Out West, Chocolate Jesus, plus I'd also toss in Innocent When You Dream. Rain Dogs, Tom Traubert's Blues and Cold Cold Ground. Guess I must be a fan, too), 16 Horsepower (specifically their songs Pour Mouth, Cinder Alley, Haw, and I'd also throw in Sinnerman), Hillstomp (specifics: John Henry and Black Mattie), Morphine (listed as "not steampunk" but relevant for songs like Buena and Cure for Pain), Joy Electric (mainly due to their song on Nikola Tesla), Dr. Steel, Camper van Beethoven, Freur (notably for "Steam Machine", a song I couldn't find, but I did find "Doot Doot" and "Riders in the Night" from them, and "Steam Machine" from Daft Punk, amusingly enough), Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (notably for Navigation, though it's also fun to toss in lliberator's Bride of Frankenstein megamix), In the Nursery, the Screaming Trees, Queen Adreena, Zoe Keating and Julia Kent, Imogen Heap, Momus, The Band of Holy Joy, The Scarring Party, The Sisters of Mercy (strangely, for Lucretia, My Reflection), Munly & the Lee Lewis Harlots, Nine Black Alps, The Jesus & Mary Chain, Bjork (I would have linked one more 'steampunk', per se, like this one, but..."All is Full of Love" is just so stunning), Oingo Boingo, Brian Eno & John Cale, Massive Attack, The Cure, The Weather Inside, VAST, Thomas Dolby, Hooverphonic, Sarah Brightman, Suzanne Vega, Human Drama, Audra, Wolfsheim, Mark Nicholas, Soul Whirling Somewhere, the Two Man Gentlemen Band, Vagabond Opera, Curtis Eller, Ben Houge, Beat Circus, Asylum Street Spanker, That One Guy, the Tiger Lillies, Einstürzende Neubauten, Bardoseneticcube, Hermetique (though I'm not sure if that's a film, a soundtrack, or a recording company), Phantom Buffalo, They Might Be Giants...and I'm not even through the first thread yet.

And that is when I realized that I am going to have to come back to many, many, many of these, and decide for myself for and against, because some of these groups hit me as very nearly anti-steampunk in all ways. So...that is that, and I stop here.

Besides, this has taken me nearly two days to get this far!

and I need your love the most when I least deserve it

So many in my life promise impossibility. They know it, I know it, but I accept it every time. And it slices deeper every time it happens--"I hope I never let you down" from one; "I will always love you" from another; "I will never leave you" from a third. On and on it goes, ringing through changes and variations, where the core of the offering is always We cannot be parted.

And it's not just rejection and revolution, anger and deceit, regrets and lost causes; sometimes, the shock is in the severance. One day there, in my heart or in my arms; the next day gone by flood or lost to ammunition, keen and cutting, or overwhelmed by their own personal losses as they watch their life spiral crimson over bone.

And I admit, I have been waiting, breath perhaps only in secret held, for the words to be said: "You are my only love" or "I will always be there" or any similar variation.

Tonight, the analyzing machine that comprises part of me turned in the initial report of many months of observation: that none of my current loves have ever said this. That most of them, when asked, admit the possibility of leavetaking. That there is acknowledgment that things happen, in a life, that circumstances change, that we could drift in differing directions...in short, that life may happen in our lives, and even parting must be provided for in its own time.

The closest any have ever come to ringing through those particular changes? "I don't intend ever to give you up, if I can help it." Which admits to strong intention, but also subtly acknowledges (at least, to my thinking) that intention may not match action.

There is a curious purity, a moment of crystalline comprehension, when the wall of the glass heart is tapped just enough to shimmer the air with that piercing, ringing tone of understanding. I can accept this, I think to myself, deep in the shrouded shadowed places where I think. I can believe this. This much is true.

There may well be partings to come, of one or two or all, but that will be dealt with in time. The small somber sliver of spirit, soberly standing guard (hah) can relax, at last, and accept this with such grace as we know how to express. This, also is new ground; new and uneasy territory for me, for I am profoundly unused to standing and unsuspecting in any way.

But I will learn. This, also, I will learn: how to simply love, and know that love returned, and not fear dissolution.

A toast, then, to personal growth. And perhaps, just perhaps, a wee dram of the good stuph kept reserved for growing up. It has taken me far beyond far too long for this.

doom drove them on, darkness took them

[20:55] Neome Graves: Also, Nomine just released "Skinless Skins"
[20:55] Emilly Orr: 0.0
[20:56] Emilly Orr: This I have to see.

So off I went to Nomine to look.



(Click for larger image, as usual; "edited" to preserve PhotoBucket's "propriety".)

She wasn't kidding. Miss Zaius has now released muscle-layer skins, in male and female (one skin tone, natch), for L$1000 each. They're disturbing and beautiful. But they remind me a bit too strongly of Hellraiser.



And she still doesn't have demos for her Drow skins. Honestly, I'm past asking or caring at this point. Once, she was the maker of the Drow skins I wanted; now, I can't be bothered. Anyone I have to write for more than a year in asking for demos (when she has them for everything else); well, I plainly give up.

It's not like I spend that often as Drow anyway; and as always, even my Drow is not true, just imitation.

In other news, a friend of mine (Serenity Semple) has finally finished the Twisted hunt. Her end total? Seventeen items kept out of one hundred and one.

"One hundred and one?" you ask. Yes. Because she couldn't find two of the hunt items. And what Serenity can't find doesn't exist, frankly.

Now I grant you, Serenity of the plushy white fur and lavender hair, addicted to cupcakes and angel wings, is not an arbiter of most of my stylistic choices. Even with that, though, that's telling.

Seventeen. Seventeen items she deemed well-made, and of worth, and additions to her life. Seventeen.

The "hunt for the rest of us"? Continues failing on all levels.

One last thing to consider: everyone (especially everyone in Mr. Frank's district) should consider emailing, calling or actually writing Barney Frank in support of his striking down the United States internet gambling ban. If he succeeds in striking it down, SL may actually show some life again. It's worth a shot, anyway.

sleep, sugar, let your dreams flood in

Hear your heartbeat
Beat a frantic pace
And it's not even seven AM

You're feeling the rush
of anguish settling
You cannot help showing them in

She walks again, moves through the world, the lady that was lost in kitten dreams. I see, I notice, I think it's a precursor of good things, but I admit I watch the world warily, these days, when I watch at all.



(December 2008, the signs to sell Rivula go up. Home and more than home, for my staggered starting footsteps on the grid. It was one of many signs of change to come.)

So hurry up then
Or you'll fall behind and
They will take control of you

And you need to heal
The hurt behind your eyes
Fickle words crowding your mind

I am back to feeling spiderlike, the dreamer in the web, tugging on strings tied to secrets. I never sell, I never barter, everyone's entitled to things they don't want the world to see. But all information is valid. And more information helps me fit the pieces together.



(Part of an initial photo session featuring an outfit I still haven't released yet, due to difficulties with the flexi skirt--but mostly I thought afterwards that 'sad mime' really wasn't the best way to present the combo...)

So
Sleep, sugar, let your dreams flood in,
Like waves of sweet fire
You're safe within
Sleep, sweetie, let your floods come rushing in,
And carry you over to a new morning

The puzzle of any community is in its people. Caledon no less than any other, real or imagined. The trick of Caledon is that it's so interwoven, such a complex weave--truly closer to a tartan than a web. Tug on one strand it might weave tighter, or it might slip free of the weave entirely, making the structure in that place more fragile than it was.

Best not to tug at all, but...knowing. Discovering. Sometimes, just a little pull, just a bit, thin thread of possibility between thumb and forefinger...Sometimes, it's difficult to know when to stop.



(Sometimes the poetry slams get out of hand. This one, held in the satellite consulate in Kittiwickshire, featured poems honoring Caledon and growth. When word went around that Miss Qlippothic Project's poem on Caledon had not been heard, I tracked down my copy and read it aloud. I was then covered head to toe in pies and Bibles. They liked it a great deal.)

Try as you might
You try to give it up
Seems to be holding on fast

Its hand in your hand
A shadow over you
A beggar for soul in your face

Every step is a new discovery, every pause is a moment to breathe, to walk away from nearly-forgotten wreckage. Old lovers who last year were bitter and acrimonious this year call me dear. New lovers...well, there's been a paucity of those, at late, because I rest content with what I have. Contentment is new for me, still inspiring some slight unease of mind--but slowly I begin to relax, readjust, reclaim those parts of me that never saw the dawn before now.



(Clockwerk contemplating height requirements for world takeover.)

Still it don't matter
If you won't listen
If you won't let it follow you

Sometimes I forget I'm not the only one healing. It's easy to be selfish and view my pain as the only pain; but others around me, near and far, grieve too. Every heart breaks at some point; not every heart heals correctly. So it has to be broken again; maybe the second time it will heal properly.

I watch the signs of heartbreak, feeling spider in the web, and sometimes I can help. Sometimes I can't. Not everything's about me.



(Fawkes Allen's dreaming sun, thirty-eight prims of he-was-bored-one-night. I get bored and I find new forms to change into. He gets bored and he creates universes.)

You just need to heal
Make good all your lies
Move on and don't look behind

We walk, and our steps drag. We walk, curled in on ourselves from old and new pain. We walk until we're used to hunching, afraid of the next blow to come.

It's harder still to stand up, clean-limbed and exposed, and not flinch from the next imagined blow. Reclaiming is also about strengthening, remembering who we were before the shatter, and reshaping who we are now. We don't have to live in pain, in fear, if we don't want to. We don't have to hold the hurts of all our bitter yesterdays closer than children.

Let them go. Let them all go. Walk away; we don't need them. We can't use them. We are walking forward, to new love and new pain, new understanding, and the end of the time of trial...or at least, this time of trial. There will always be others.



(Another image from the poetry slam, this one from Winterfell Absinthe and der Hut des Jaegers, the usual home of the Thursday event. The tangle of Bibles and woodgrain is an avatar entirely comprised of guns. Only man I'd ever met who could cover an entire crowd, no matter which way he was facing.)

So
Sleep, sugar, let your dreams flood in,
Like waves of sweet fire
You're safe within
Sleep, sweetie, let your floods come rushing in,
And carry you over to a new morning



(I don't even remember where this is now, but this was taken on one of the odd Yule hunts...the green poseball is a sit pose, in one of the loops, but inside was a cuddle bed.

(...At least, I hope it was a cuddle bed.)

Day after day
Fickle visions
Messing with your head
Fickle, vicious

Fretting over the past does one thing, very well: it traps us there, held more fast by the chains we create than any shackles ever made in the world. We are our pasts, just as we are our futures, that never changes; but we can choose which past we reflect to the world. And we must never forget, any of us, all of us--it's never too late to change our pasts. The mirror looks both ways.



(Part of the floor of Miss Allegory Malaprop's store, Schadenfreude, in Starlust--aka the veves marking of Erzulie, voudon goddess of love, pain, beauty and beauty's loss, and the battlefield of the heart.)

Sleeping in your bed
Messing with your head
Fickle visions
Fickle, vicious

And the one thing we cannot do, must not do, must never do--is stop listening to our own heart, wounded, battered, bleeding, hurting. Caution, it counsels us, caution, wariness, it teaches us to pull back from passion's burning: all this we must listen to, embrace, understand, before we can leave our pain behind. We understand, we listen, we begin to believe there are better ways of relating than hiding behind our wounded hearts--or even worse, hiding our hearts behind armor.

The fist shelters us from harm, we think at first. But the open hand held out is the greater risk, always.

Take the risk.



(Captured during the candy-cane hunt in Malkavyn Eldritch and Candy Cerveau's marvelous Magic of Oz sim--in the light side of Oz, even--these two idiots gesturespamming with large, oddly-colored, misshapen--well, you get the idea, from the "censored" bars.)

Sleep, sugar, let your dreams flood in,
Like waves of sweet fire
You're safe within
Sleep, sweetie, let your floods come rushing in,
And carry you over to a new morning...

Take the risk. Whether the world feeds us glass shards or gold dust, take the risk. If you hear nothing else, hear this: take the risk. Because the longer we hide, the deeper we go inside. When we can no longer see ourselves, just the shadow of all our armored protections, from shoulder crenellations to the barbs between our lips...we've lost more than the chance at future love.

We've lost ourselves.

Don't lose. Take the risk. Take the step. And walk. Friends, enemies, and everyone in between, walk.



(Found yet again during some winter hunt, this one between several Japanese sims: a moon, pure and perfect, hanging in midair; with a port post sticking out of it next to a tree and a flower. Very Little Prince. We took the port and found ourselves inexplicably in the moon, on a small platform with chrome rails. And with no other way out seen, we began to explore, where, at the very bottom, we found this lone visitor counter.

(Let's hope they've had more visitors since.)

Lastly, things I never wanted to know were on the grid, part 72: "Low-rise" jeans take on a new meaning:



Um. Just a thought, but really...once they're this low? They're really tall legwarmers. Or footless tights that have fallen down.

I mean, not to be crude, but if the model wasn't completely bare of all nether fur? This would really be eye-catching. And not in a good way.

Still, if you want a pair of your own, I feel obligated to tell you to repair off for Sassy Kitty Designs. They run currently between sixty and one hundred and twenty Lindens. By all means, have fun.

(Lyrics taken from Poets of the Fall, their song "Sleep".)

don't walk away, oh when the world is burning

Play dress-up. Steampunk style. (Tip o' the hat to Edward, thanks for finding that!) Though to be honest, it's less "steampunk" and more "geared Flapper"; even so, it's nicely done.

And this from Roleplay Secrets may be the heart and soul of my objection to kids on SL. I hate to admit it, but they're dead-on for this one. They're absolutely right. Typical children may mess up the letter order, or not get every single sound right--that happens. Children lisp, they wander in telling stories, they can get confused--but that whole demi-babytalk angle? I didn't speak like that when I was five, so it really gets under my skin when purported adults, playing children on SL, play them so badly.

I want to talk a little bit about steampunk culture, and evolving foundations. Part of our struggle to properly identify steampunk music is the same problem that goth music struggled with at first: as a culture predominantly based upon the look, and not an evolving musical tradition, it was tricky at first--hells, it's still difficult now, on occasion--to define exactly what goth music is.

Marilyn Manson, for example; he's gothic to some, metal to others, dark industrial to still more, and where does his music slot him? He goes back and forth on the issue, as does Trent Reznor, which is ironic as they've worked together, off and on, as the years go by. The touches of fascism in image and lyric Manson toys with, he does out of political motivation; but even that is seen by some as core to the goth oeuvre.

The lead singer of Sisters of Mercy, Andrew Eldritch, denies to this very day the Sisters are gothic; and Sisters, they're almost the band (Sisters, Siouxsie, and Bauhaus) people point to to answer the question: "Just what is goth music?"



So. Steampunk means many things to many different people. For most it's still a fashion thing, the new ideal; in world or out of world, toss gears on something for no reason, it becomes steampunk. While I disagree with this interpretation (I want even the broken machinery to have worked once), it has become largely the symbol: the gear, gleaming or rusted, shattered or whole.

Russia had the hammer. And some of the same spirit of industry moves through steampunk, in literature and in expression. But what does it mean, when the parties are over, when the airships are safely in their bays, when everyone goes home for the night to tea and conversation?

I think we can safely turn to the Russians to tell us how this alternate future may have evolved.

I would point to César Cui (music for the salons where inspirations are thrown like confetti into charged air), Modest Mussorgsky (for those stirring moments where we are convinced we can be more, reach higher, than we think we can), Sergei Taneyev (the music for every skulking evildoer, every mad scientist climbing to the clock tower cackling), Alexander Scriabin (the music for every airship disaster, every experiment gone awry, every shambling horror unleashed into the clockwork world because a scientist had tampered with Things Man was Not Meant to Know), Reinhold Glière (stirring background for all moments where nationalistic ferver matches rhetoric) and Sergei Prokofiev (railway music, sound of the engines working, propelling travel and national dreams) to start, though there are so many others, I can't even remember to name them all.

Keep in mind, that for our retro-futuristic sensibilities, none of these composers would be considered "classical" ones: these were the new kids. These were the shining, rising stars of music, the ones with fresh outlooks and ideas, the ones that the people always looking forward, experimenting, tinkering, would have found fresh, bright, and relevant.

This becomes our foundation, then. From my perspective, this is the music the steampunk population would have turned to, to power the dreams that fueled the engines. This would have been the songs that set the tone of national innovation. From here, then, I'll try to wander forward, and see where it goes.

Other brief news. Though I'd had minor hints before this point, this was the moment I knew the Twisted hunt had fallen far, far from its aspirations. We had such hopes going into it, that this grid-wide would be different, because of who chose to enter into it. But so far, it's been...just pathetic, and depressing. There are so many stops where we pause, and wonder: what does any of this have to do with the 'darker side' of the grid?

I have to finally shake my head and give in: this is not a "hunt for the rest of us", this is the same exact hunt we've been doing for the past six months.

I now declare--unless the prizes, or the stores participating, are amazing--NO MORE GRID-WIDE HUNTS. There is no joy in it, it's arduous, unfun, boring, tedious, and disappointing in the end. I have more than enough tedious things to do and quite enough disappointment. No. More.

down to the ground, down to the ground

Gah, I haven't exactly been consistent this week. Part of that, I admit, comes from discovery of Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst.

From everything Fawkes tells me, PSO was originally a multi-platform game pitting "Hunters" (a variety of characters, from the FOnewearl to the HUmarl, and beyond--different ways of labeling robots, mercenaries and Force-wielding elves, for the lack of better terminology) against the suddenly aggressive--and occasionally mutated--beasts on the planet below, all framed within a storyline that was simple and direct--just what did happen on Ragol?

One only finds out by being assigned "missions" that contain clues to the colony (Pioneer I, and the ship sent out to meet up with Pioneer I, appropriately named Pioneer II, contains the players and all the NPCs), then interacting with NPCs to discover more of the plot as it unfolds.



One always, in these games, starts off slow and works up to bigger, showier monsters, but even at the low levels, there's visual interest. This image, f'rinstance, contains a combatant called a "Rappy". They're essentially walking chirping Peeps, with antennae. One fires once--or twice, depending on armament type--and the Rappy "plays dead". Less observant folks will then wander off killing wolves in plate armor and wandering mutated "Boomas"; more observant ones will wait for the possum to stop playing--in other words, for the Rappy to "wake up" and take off running. (Because if one shoots a Rappy on the run, it surprises it into dropping special items, that can then be equipped to raise whatever that item will raise.)



It's your fairly standard MMO, innit? Space-based "dungeons" (in the form of sealed areas above the surface, and sealed cave systems beneath it) to wander through and slay monsters, people to interact with above who drop hints as to the nature of the next mission...well, no, not exactly. That's where PSO differs a great deal.

In PSO, when one arrives in one of many differently detailed and colored ship lobbies, one can interact--if one speaks the same language--with anyone there. But from there things can get odd. For instance, you can choose to run missions entirely solo. Or with a group. Or with two or three total strangers. It doesn't matter how one gets to the main colony floor, but once one does, it's just you. Or you and your friends. Everyone else is an NPC.

Imagine a world where you were the only 'real' person on a spaceship; everyone else was run by the central computer. It's both satisfying and deeply disturbing to know that you're the only one able to run around, shoot things, and make money; that everyone else is a figment, there only to give you someone to interact with.

Even coming in with a group of friends doesn't change that basic fact--you, and your friends, are the only living people on the ship, ever--and, just to make this point clear, always.

So the level of roleplay in PSO? Can be rich and varied, or completely nonexistant. You can log in, download the client, and just go down to the planet and lay waste--or you can come in, accept missions, and work with the NPCs to try to solve the puzzle of Ragol. Either way...it's entirely up to you.



Whether you're playing as a Force Loli, or not.

(Note: There are a couple of quirks with playing this game, being as it is an obsolete platform. First, for some virus scanners, the official client download for Windows registers--most notably with AVG--as a Trojan. It is not. But that does mean you'll have to go into your user interface, pull open Tools > Advanced Settings > Resident Shield > Exceptions, and add in the program line you use to track down PSO:BB. You'll need to do the same thing to the actual shortcut on the desktop, more or less. And don't forget to drop up to PUP Exceptions while you're in AVG, and put in the four .exe programs that make PSO run!

By the way, if all this sounds horrendously complex? Well, there's always WoW. Or downloading Runes of Magic, with its five-hour wait for the file. Or going back into Second Life...)