Second Life Herald

Rich Grainger - Coating the World in a Warm Blanket of Software

RGF Estates Corporation owns 450 sims - and growing

by Alessandra Narayan

In this interview, Rich Grainger, CEO of RGF Estates Corporation, says he runs a growing company in the virtual land business, and claims his company is growing at the rate of one new sim per day. An entrepreneur with hopes of becoming a mega-land baron, Mr. Grainger  is willing to reach the top and fight head to head with the big sharks in SL’s estates, but doesn’t plan on issuing an IPO because «RGF doesn’t need one».

Ultimately, Rich Grainger confesses his dream: «Coat the world in a warm blanket of software.» Also, RGF’s CEO explains how his differences with the RGF's prior CEO, Frank Essel, led to a change in command of the corporation.

Alessandra Narayan (AN) – Is it true you said “I’ll make money out of any soul I meet in SL”?
Rich Grainger (RG) - I said I’d sell the souls of all I’ve ever meet to make money, RL or SL.

AN – What's that suppose to mean? That no one can trust you?
RG – I have many who do, more than most. I believe 99% of people like me on my sims. Ask around…

AN – Still, shouldn't there be higher principles or goals rather than money?
RG – Yes, of course, my purpose in life is to coat the world in a warm blanket of software, improve communication, thus increase yield. Example: in Vietnam 1 acre produces 3 bushels of products and in Japan 21. Difference equal to info, crop reports, the more communication, the faster we feed the people, shoe the children.

How Varied In Traffic Is The Second Life Bot Experience?

SL Strip Bot is NOT about inflating traffic - Pop Bots have so many uses

by Omelette Meow, New World Notetaker

Most bots in SL exist simply to artificially inflate Traffic numbers and simulate Resident traffic activity. 

Other bots provide traffic, information, traffic, instruction, traffic, entertainment, traffic, or even act as showroom mannequins that increase the traffic on your land. This is all so confusing and perplexing - could bots have anything to do with why the average number of resident hours spent in-world goes up at the same time residents are leaving the world?

I just read about how e-business demands bots, but I knew that couldn't be right, so I dashed off this story to clarify matters - Both M Linden and Philip told me that the bots sometimes might have other uses, too. 

Take the On Line Technologies Rent a Bot - the sign says these bots give glamour to your site. I understand they have a stripper bot coming soon, too. That will certainly not be about traffic.

30 Post 6 Grrrls, Guys, Nekos and Furries of 2008

by Bunny Brickworks

When somebody asks you 'What is Second Life?' and you start searching for an answer and all that comes to your mind is the usual 'It is a virtual world, a social network, a game, a business opportunity.' just point at the picture and tell them that this is Second Life.

 

[click picture for full-size image]

Second Life is what people make of it and these people are the ones who actively contribute to making this world a better place, some for themselves, some for others.

And while I hear you trolls already shout 'Look at the bunch of losers, no-lifers!' I sit back and smile looking at 30 people I had the honor to feature last year. 30 people I spent time with and who for a few hours gave us an insight into what Second Life means for them.

Your world – your imagination. That's the sentence that welcomes you on SL's homepage. And these 30 people put this sentence into practice, every time they log on. I lost track of some of them as my SL is a little busy but a quick look into their profiles tells me they are alive and kicking.

Art Deco Utopian Gardens

by Prince Plutonian

"Art Deco Utopian Gardens embody what the word utopian stands for."

Those are the words Alexia Speizer uses to describe her own slice of the SL pie. Looking around, you can certainly see why she'd say that. Being in the Gardens, I instantly felt at ease, a little more relaxed. From the trees to the flowers, the waterfalls to the art sculptures (many provided by different artists). The entire place is geared towards couples with many events to come in the future. The inspiration for the Gardens stem from Alexia's belief in taoism, though the sim welcomes people of all and any belief.

The relationship between yin and yang is often described in terms of sunlight playing over a mountain and in the valley. Yin (literally the 'shady place' or 'north slope') is the dark area occluded by the mountain's bulk, while yang (literally the 'sunny place' or 'south slope') is the brightly lit portion. As the sun moves across the sky, yin and yang gradually trade places with each other, revealing what was obscured and obscuring what was revealed. Yin is usually characterized as slow, soft, insubstantial, diffuse, cold, wet, and tranquil. It is generally associated with the feminine, birth and generation, and with the night. Yang, by contrast, is characterized as hard, fast, solid, dry, focused, hot, and aggressive. It is associated with masculinity and daytime. Yin and yang are complementary opposites within a greater whole. Everything has both yin and yang aspects, which constantly interact, never existing in absolute stasis.

SHOCK!!! PN Attacked Role Play Sim!!!

Legion of Justice superheros to abandon base due to LL OpenSpace price hikes

Real JLU base still safe

by Xamol

Recently an article was written that claimed the Justice League Unlimited Base was attacked by two PN members on January 1st 2009. The article was based off photos given and a video posted on YouTube of the attack. The video on YouTube shows an obvious attack on what appears to be a Hall Of Justice, a building associated with the Justice League among other superhero teams from DC comics. With all of the information shown of the attack the natural conclusion would be that the PN clearly attacked the Justice Leagues Unlimited Base. But this was not the case.

The truth is the PN did attack a Hall Of Justice on this day but their attack was not a great victory as the PN claims. The area the PN attacked was nothing more than a RP sim. The sim - which is called Aftermath - is a RP sim for those who want to roleplay as Super Heroes in a friendly environment. Anyone visiting this sim can clearly see that this is no base of the JLU. The land group that manages the area is called the 'Legion of Justice'. This group was once free to join allowing anyone in the group to build in Aftermath.

Aftermath became a target of the PN a little over a month ago when it was a victim of a PN particle spam. On that day many PN alts joined the land group and would receive notices. A recent notice was that Aftermath was shutting down due to the changes regarding the Open Space sims. Most likely receiving this notice the PN arranged an attack on the sim. When the attack took place there we hardly any residents in the area.

SL In Deep Recession - Economic Indicators Implode!!!

Group creation and uploads drop 20% in December
LL panics, “temporarily” disables land statistics?

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

The Linden Lab spinmeisters webmasters have chosen to “temporarily disable” convenient display of Islands owned and added on the  Economic Statistics page - perhaps hoping to draw attention away from the virtual economy that is well into a deep recession?

Despite the “disabled” statistics, observers note that the grim numbers are available at the Economic Statistics (Raw Data Files) page could explain the Lab’s sudden reticence - an 8% drop in total islands in November was followed by a further 8% drop in December for a net loss of 3825 islands in 60 days, bringing the island region total as of December 31st to 22,714.

The drop in virtual island ownership is attributed to a 66% price increase Linden Lab slapped on the most popular of the islands - a move many observer’s believe will raise more net revenue for the Lab, despite the number of resident fleeing the price increase. However, resident alienation from the game world’s economy may threaten its viability and further depress demand for Linden Lab’s main product - virtual land.

Resident flight from SL could explain why a number of economic indicators including classified advertising, texture upload charges, and in-world group creation fees shrunk by up to 22% in December. This sort of powerdive in non-bot based activity strongly suggests self-reinforcing economic trends that could lead to the sort of deflationary spiral that threaten a number of real world economies in SL's major markets.

Op/Ed: Finding Real People in Second Life

by Jessica Holyoke

A complaint I have heard from the 'Get A Life' crowd is that the people you meet on Second Life aren't real.  Because you may never have seen a photo or know their name, they don't count.  I once mentioned  to a close friend of mine the snow storm another friend of mine suffered through which prevented her from logging on, and I was asked how we met.  When I said I know her from SL, I was told that my SL friend wasn't real.  

And there is a certain amount of 'puffing' with the people we meet in SL.  No woman is as skinny in Real Life as they are in Second Life.  A man might have 300 pounds/136 kg/15 stone on him, but its not going to be muscle.  Very few people have a human avatar that is less attractive physically than they are. *[see HAMAT rule note] 

Appearance alone does not tell the whole story.  One of the things SL is missing is ID. If you are in a virtual world where you can do anything you want, even those internal psychological controls are missing.  That's why we have so much sex and fetish on display.  That's why we have griefers and drama queens.  There is nothing holding us back. 

PN Occupies Justice League Unlimited Base

Justice Hall set afire, defaced -- 9 JLU superheros defeated by 3 PN griefers

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

In the wee hours of New Years Day 2009, the Justice League Unlimited’s base was overrun by 3 members of the PN griefers, who defeated 9 JLU members to take control of the Hall of Justice on Justice Island sim for several hours, setting fire to buildings and defacing the JLU’s stronghold.

The news of the shocking default for the JLU anti-griefer vigilante group on their home sim at the hands of the notorious PN came to the Herald by way of filmmaker TheGreatGigantor - a known sympathizer - who said “ 3 lone PN members stone walled the justice league sim for nearly 5 hours and fought off the justice league members for 3 hours with only happy cat machine guns - we beat them down like dogs”.

Despite the obvious bias in Mr. Gigantor’s account, it is clear based on the pictures provided that somehow JLU’s locked-down sim defenses were thwarted. The question is how. 

Wikipedia Helps You Create Your Own Bots -- For Free!

Wikipedia links to ready-to-use Copybot V4 download

by Kris Dibou, part-time bot

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CopyBot - external links section includes open source copybot

So you've visited some of the big stores in SL, and noticed the models who look exactly like avatars, but never say anything; in fact, they may even have a tag over their heads saying 'Bot'.  How do they do that?

I am no expert, but through my research I have found that bot programs and similar programs such as SecondInventory, seem to be based on the same program. 

What is a bot?

The first thing you need to realize is that a bot is just an avatar.  Usually it is an alt and 'bot' status is not necessarily permanent.  Hypothetically, you could log into SL on your regular account, turn off the inactivity switch and walk away.  Suddenly, you are a bot. 

Easiest Course of Action

Of course, you will want to have a bot while you are doing other things with your main character.  You can log two or more avs in on your computer if you have the power and memory to handle it all.  Simply go to your SL icon, right click and go to properties, and go into the target line.  At the end of the target line add a space, two dashes and the word multiple.  I will look like this- " --multiple".  Now you can open more than one instance of SL on your computer.  The downside is massive use of your resources.  This brings us to the bot programs.

Pop Bots of Second Life

e-Business demands bots!

by Idoru Wellman, e-business consultant

 

bots done right - a stylish addition to any business

A flair for witty and artistic placement of population boosting bots -- pop bots -- can enhance not only your in-world shop’s traffic, but is also crucial in projecting a professional image. The Herald visited several shops to illustrate pop bot does and dont's - a vital part of your e-business success formula.

Why Pop Bot?

The traffic enhancement game of Second Life has leveled up to dizzying heights over the last year, and with bots now making up about half the online players, can you really afford NOT to use bots? With search results ranked by traffic, and casual players attracted to hue piles of green dots on the map, this is a game you have to play as a serious e-business owner.

The economics are favorable, because bots are a one-time investment. The alternative - paying human-controlled avatars to camp in place - brings with it the headache of customer service for players that are just to cheap to actually go buy L$s with real money. Do you really want to argue with someone who was shorted L$10 (about $0.04 USD) because a sim crashed? I didn’t think so.

Sim Crash Featured In Torley Linden’s Holiday Film Special

PN Griefer attack's aftermath confuses Linden film maker

by Pixeleen Mistral, New Media/Film critic

---

“Technically its not off line - I’m right here... ohhh I don’t have a good feeling about this... hahahahaha ... oh... what are those particles?.... this is just so surreal...where is everyone?” - Torley Linden

---

The Holidays wouldn’t be complete without some snow-themed seasonal movie viewing, and a trio of films - two of them from the daring young director Torley Linden - left this viewer feeling that virtual snowball fights have now been covered from all possible angles, with varying degrees of artistic success.

Filmmaker TheGreatGigantor of the PN griefers documented a grifer attack and sim crash of the Linden Lab snowball fight event in Hatton sim with a rather grainy cinema verité offering that follows the well known PN plot line - cubes falling from the sky, resulting ultimately in a sim crash and involuntary logout. However, in a nod to the festive season, a blackface Santa Claus texture lightens the mood. Normally this sort of film would not be worth comment, but it explains a curious dream-like sequence in Torley Linden’s live film covering the various Linden snowball fight sims.

Auntie M Linden Looks Back Into the Future

by Auntie M Linden, noobie metaverse CEO

Greetings all!

Auntie M Linden here.  I’d like to wish you, your Gorean ‘families’, online mafia friends, alts, ex-partners, furries, and reformed griefers a happy and healthy New Year.

As we come to the end of the year, I thought I’d share some of the wonders of Second Life I’ve encountered over the past seven months while being M Linden's secret alt, and talk about what’s ahead in the dog years to come.

This has been an incredible period of discovery for me. I’ve discovered that Second Life residents are not crazy about 66% OpenSpace sim land price increases, for instance. Who would have thought that? Second Life is a wondrous place, filled with amazing avatars, beautiful places and unbelievable things - like creative uses for bots, business opportunities for landowners, recreation for military leaders, and even a special shopping mall.  W-HAT will they think of next?

I can’t do them all justice in a blog post, but I’d like to share some of the experiences and content that make Second Life unlike any other platform for drama, creativity in intellectual property theft, drama, bots, drama, camp chair discussions, drama, innovation in animated sex beds and commerce.  After the jump, I’ve listed some of the many things I’ve enjoyed, been inspired by and admired in and around Second Life since I joined Linden Lab in May.   I’d love for you to post your top picks in the comments for all to enjoy, too. Whoops! I almost forgot - we don’t want you to comment here, non-residents might get the wrong idea. BTW, I spoke with Philip, and yes Prokofy, you are still banned from the forums.

Post 6 Grrrl -- Dreams Lightcloud

[A while ago a friend of mine noted that my Post 6 people have generally longer been in world than those before and I had to admit that I choose 'older' avis on intention. Though I love the innocence of newbies stumbling around and marveling the beauty and sometimes weirdness of a new virtual world, it is those with a history in SL that I am really interested in. Those who have loved and lost, developed skills, networks and a clear idea of what direction their second life should take. And it quickly became clear that it was one of those who originally shaped this world that I want to feature as the last Post 6 for this year. Before I met Dreams Lightcloud I was excited what she might be like. Rezzed in 2004, she is one of those original content creators, one of those who actively participated in making SL what it is now. Would she be one of those snobbish older-than-the-prim-hills 'been there done that' residents? One of those who have lost their love for this world and just come back for their businesses? I was more than surprised when I met a woman who still walks around with big eyes, who – no matter how settled in her second life – hasn't lost the love for this platform, one who can still marvel the beauty of a well-crafted prim rose or an SL sunset. With the best wishes for a Happy New Year I proudly present Dreams Lightcloud. – Bunny Brickworks]

 

Who am I? I'm Dreams Lightcloud, nice to meet you! In SecondLife, you are likely to see my creative side. I enjoy DJing, writing, creating graphics and torturing prims in my SecondLife.

How did I get here?

I was invited to come to SL by several LL employees. The reason was that I was known as a popular clothing designer in another 3D virtual world. At that time, my computer could not run SL smoothly so I abandoned that account. In May 2004, I was asked to come to SL again. I came in one night for a *tour* and that time I fell in love.

Legend City Online Fashionista Drama-fest

Should non-payment of land tier result in removal of all creator's content? 

by Jessica Holyoke

Over on Metaversally Speaking, there is a post about a dispute on one of the new OpenSim-based virtual worlds, Legend City Online.   According to the account, Simone Stern volunteered content to Legend City, as well as her name and goodwill.  In return, she was comped the use of land.  Part of the dispute lies in how long she was to be comped for precisely, whether for one month or longer, and if the free sim use was part of a more elaborate deal.   Eventually, Simone was locked out of Legend City online for non-payment of tier.  But her store and content are still active.  A resident there can buy her products and still use them, with legend dollars going into Simone's now inactive account.

Now Metaversally Speaking is stating that Legend City Online stole her content, by retaining her uploads and her fashions and continuing to sell them.  This is despite this Legend City Online Terms of Service provision: 3. Your Retention of Intellectual Property . . . (b) You agree that any content downloaded into or created items in world give Legend City Online automatic rights to use, produce, and or distribute within our services and this content is royalty free, worldwide and carries no balance for fee. Furthermore, you agree that you have the right and are authorized to grant us such content under these conditions.  

The question is, if in a billing dispute, should the content that Simone uploaded to the server now be removed and how much of it should be removed?  For instance, some commentators are saying that if Simone can't log into Legend City Online, then none of her content should be present. [odd that these  commentators are not making similar demands of Linden Lab - another game company known for bans that orphan user-created content and revenues -- the Editrix].

Considering Other Grids -- The Baba Yamamoto Interview

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

To gain some insight into the growing number of competitors to metaverse service provider Linden Lab, I visited Baba Yamamoto Saturday afternoon. Mr. Yamamoto has been involved in open source reverse engineering of the Second Life protocols for some time, is one of the administrators of the libsecondlife library, and a staunch supporter of open source alternatives to Second Life.

 Pixeleen Mistral which of the Open Sim grids are going to take off, do you think?
 Baba Yamamoto hard to say
 Baba Yamamoto it depends on which one makes it easy to get started

 Pixeleen Mistral it just seems like one of them should get some significant growth in the next year
 Baba Yamamoto I really think it would be best if none of them win out and moving between grids was simple and normal

 Pixeleen Mistral I wish there was an easy way to move avatar shapes - that seems like the one thing that people would want
 Baba Yamamoto It could be done in a week or two but nobody wants to take the risk

 Pixeleen Mistral what is the risk? I mean, I made my own shape
 Baba Yamamoto well shapes are easy
 Baba Yamamoto they could be stored clientside simple
 Baba Yamamoto very simple
 Baba Yamamoto but an avatar is more than just a shape to most people
 Baba Yamamoto its prims and clothes
 Baba Yamamoto textures
 Baba Yamamoto which likely somebody else owns the rights to
 Baba Yamamoto I'm certainly not wearing anything I made except my avatar shape


Winter Magic by Black Swan

by Bunny Brickworks

It's the time of the year that you open your closet and wonder what to wear to get into the right mood for the holidays. Of course, it should be something sexy, glamorous and extraordinary. The only time of the year when even the grittiest Neko girls take off their tattoo layers and dive into the world of fluffy gowns and shiny accessories.

The Black Swan sim by Rezzable is grid-wide known for its excellent sculptures and has slowly gained a reputation as the perfect venue for fashion shows with a twist. It was only natural that Rezzable and Nocturne Modelling Agency would choose it as a location for the Winter Magic fashion show featuring some of SL's most creative and inspiring designers such as Paper Couture, Silent Sparrow, Casa Del Shai and DP Yum Yum.

Op/Ed: You Can't Fix Stupid

Why are so many SL men total idiots?

by Steve01 Denimore

The comedian, Ron White, once said: "You can't fix stupid." He is right. Stupid is what many males in SL are. I know this because I have many female friends who tell me about the idiot behavior they encounter from SL males.

I have also seen some of this behavior first hand. For example, I was at the Bimbo Ranch recently chatting with Cheergirl Allen when this male avatar walks up and say's to her: "Cheer girl u want me to hump u." She ignored him and his disgusting comments. But she should not have had to endure such abuse.

I took a date the other day to the Vegas sim. We were outside the Bimbo Ranch. This male avatar walked right up to her and started to check her out (the day previous she had been verbally abused by 2 males she thought were her friends). I told the guy to back off. An ugly scene ensued. People should not have to suffer abuse just because so many SL males carry their pea sized brains below the waist. What we need in SL is a police force to deal with the problem of male verbal abuse. A police force that would have the power of scripts to eject people who insist on practicing their stupidity on others.

Post 6 Grrrl -- Clover Vella

[When Clover rezzed in front of me in this winter wonderland she calls her home, I could not stop and stare and that incredibly beautiful face. She looked like Mrs. Claus in her green and red dress and it was crystal clear she would be my Christmas Post 6 Grrrl. And during our photo shoot I felt almost sorry when she dropped one piece of clothing after the other until she was finally bathing in this champagne glass in the snow. Silly, I know! She is as entertaining as she is pretty and I hope she's just the right girl to get you into the holiday mood. I want to wish our readers a very Merry Christmas and thank you for your loyalty – yes, even our little trolls. Happy holidays! – Bunny Brickworks]

I want to thank Bunny for the great photos and the chance to talk about my time here in SL. So where do I begin or end, almost two years in SL is like a lifetime and I am so not a writer so bear with me as I try to condense it a few paragraphs.

Nicholas Mafia Hit Job Video Shocker!

Avatar killing, mafia webcam face painting documented on YouTube

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

Christopher Cord's alt account puff Jigsaw a victim of gangland slaying?

Sunday, a wise guy from the Nicholas Mafia dropped by the Herald offices with a tip about a YouTube video account of a cold-blooded Second Life avatar account killing. The video appears to document a  mafia take over of Christopher Cord's e-mail account, and the involuntary cancellation of Mr. Cord's SL alt account -- the short-lived puff Jigsaw.

At 39 seconds into the video, a chilling view of puff Jigsaw's Second Life account summary screen appears, with the notation "cancellation pending". At this writing, Mr. Jigsaw is no longer listed on the in-world person search, and is presumed dead.

When asked what led to this cold blooded slaying, a spokesman for the Nicholas mafia said, "He was a part of West Ryda$ who we took over a long time ago, he instigated a lot of it back then, but after we killed his last 3 accounts, things were done with, then recently he started up again, got a bit of an attitude, so we had to stomp on that again... we thought he had already been educated, but it seems he had a slight case of selective memory, like most of our enemys. They seem to disappear for a month or so and forget it ever happened, then come back again. But we always remind them exactly what happened."

When I asked about the possibility that Linden Lab might crack down on the Nicholas Mafia, the spokesman told me, "There is no evidence. I mean sure they have a video, but what does that prove, its youtube, anyone could have made it". But avatar killings are not the only tactic the mafia is employing - webcam face painting is also now part of the metaverse gang wars.

Op/Ed: Get A Life! Any Ideas Which One?

by Sigmund Leominster

It’s incredibly easy to trawl through the Internet to find stories about virtual worlds and the Second Life experience. And the stories are typically centered on a pretty well focused set of topics: sex; sex with children; infidelity (sex with someone else’s partner); bestiality (sex with someone else’s pet); and general corruption aligned with moral turpitude. For every column inch regarding a charity event in Second Life that raises money for autism, there are ninety-nine others about perverts yiffing themselves to hell and practicing unspeakable acts of depravity beyond the imagination of the Marquis de Sade – or at least members of the Moral Majority.

So when something happens in the virtual world, the commonest response is for people to “Get a Life!” A quick Google search for the words “Get a Life” paired with “Second Life” pulls up 41,400 instances – which is presumably now 41,401 since you are reading this as a published article. You’ll also find members of the “Get A Life” brigade posting responses and comments to articles and blogs, offering their sage advice to go and “do something real” while simultaneously mocking and berating anyone who sets an avatarian foot into a virtual world.  

Whether it’s Second Life, Entropia, Kaneva, World of Warcraft, on any flavor of virtual life, the typical resident is clearly a loser, has no friends, can’t get a partner, and has no social skills whatsoever. The answer is obvious – uninstall the software and “Get a Life!”

Kendra Bancroft Moves on to 3rd Life

Maddie Blaustein, the operator of Kendra Bancroft, explores the next world

By Kris Dibou

Gregg Barrymore of the Antiquity sims announced the passing of his good friend Kendra Bancroft. 

Said Gregg, "Last night I learned of the passing on Dec 11 of a dear friend
Kendra Bancroft.  I hereby decree her rezday June 16 to be Kendra Bancroft Day throughout Antiquity. This day shall henceforth be a day of celebration of Kendra Bancroft's contributions to the SL community and closed with a Ball in her honor.
For those of you who didn't know her you can go here to learn of her:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maddie_Blaustein

http://www.massively.com/2008/12/17/kendra-bancroft-madeleine-blaustein-passes-away/ "

Maddie, Kendra's operator, was the voice for many anime and video game characters, and has written comic books for Milestone comics.

Post 6 Couple - Nimil Blackflag & Lucas Gerard

[If there is anything like a perfect SL couple then it is surely Nimil and Lucas, the creative masterminds behind LuNi Designs. They are wild and morbide, a little freaky and macabre but most of all they seem to be a wonderful team, both in their work and in their daily life. Though both of them are strong individuals, it is hard to imagine the one without the other. It was only natural to feature them as a couple and I want to thank them for the great photo shoot we had at Tainted Hearth, the sim that hosts their store and will soon be gone as it is OpenSpace. If you are looking for a dark photo setting, please tp there as long as you can, it is worth a visit. – Bunny Brickworks] 

First of all, we'd like to thank the Herald and Bunny for inviting us to appear in this edition. We are very honored to be the first couple she features for Post 6 and hope it begins a new tradition for her readers.  And now without any further fanfare, here we are in our own words.

Missing Mile to Rise from the Ashes of Virtue

by Lavinia Carver

Serious roleplayers may know of Virtue City, a roleplaying sim based on a futuristic world with body modifications which have caused the creation of villians and heroes. Alas, Virtue City is no more. That's right, the Virtue City storyline and sim have closed permanently.

In its place a new sim has been constructed, a dark rural roleplaying community with few restrictions and a storyline made up by the players and the players alone. I conducted an interview with sim owner Loch Newchurch on the destruction of Virtue City and the creation of Missing Mile.

Post 6 Griefer -- N3x15

Candid conversation and explicit photos of former PN griefer

[In what seems to be part of a public relations campaign by ex-griefer N3x15, Bunny Brickworks and I were recently able to conduct an in-world interview with the one-time PN leader, scripter, and troublemaker. As we marveled at the irony of interviewing a former PN leader in the Dominatech Restrained Life store, N3x15 explained why he left the PN, as well as his interest in OpenSim, how D3adlyc0dec lost his trust, and how seriously the FBI takes griefing. Bunny also managed to convince N3x15 to pose post-6 Grrrl style - with surprisingly explicit results. - Pixeleen]

Bunny Brickworks, N3x15, Pixeleen Mistral

Pixeleen Mistral: What prompted this apology letter and community service work?
HelloThar Erin: I left the PN ages ago due to the fact that continuing to be in the PN is obviously immature and would affect my ability to obtain a job.

Pixeleen Mistral: so what destroyed the PN?
HelloThar Erin: Laziness, distractions.
HelloThar Erin: PN isn't completely dead, it's still being lead by Frizzlefry. But I think its beating a dead horse.

Pixeleen Mistral: what are you planning next?
HelloThar Erin: Uh, I hope to build security systems for OpenSim, and maybe even SL itself.

N3x15 Ashamed of PN Griefer Thug Life

Notorious griefer issues public apology to SL residents and Linden Lab

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

Renouncing his griefer thug life with the notorious PN griefing gang, N3x15 has posted a public apology, in which he promises to make amends to Linden Lab and their customers who “have experienced a great volume (approximately 200+ accounts worth) of griefing, trolling, and real monetary loss”.

N3x15 explains his sins in detail, saying “I have done some disrespectful, stupid, disgusting, and sometimes even downright vile things during my tenure as the Patriotic Nigras griefing group’s webmaster, coder, and occasionally even temporary leader when times were rough.  I have promoted discrimination against social/racial groups, destroyed virtual land, seeded malicious products, crashed servers, spammed wikis, eliminated groups and individuals from the grid, initiated false-flag campaigns against groups, scouted for potential targets, conducted surveillance on targets, coded ban evasion clients, and numerous other offenses”

Bimbo Cheerleaders of Second Life

Parties, dancing, and "fun" activities at the Bimbo Ranch House - the story of the Bimbo Cheerleaders

by the Bimbo Cheerleaders

Las Vegas Nevada can be a pretty exciting place to visit but even it could be improved - if it followed the model of the Vegas Sim in Second Life and had a real Bimbo Cheerleaders Sorority House. Sim owner Stroker Serpentine has done the real Vegas one better by inviting the Bimbo Cheerleaders of Second Life to locate their main headquarters on his sim. With over 1000 active members now wearing the the Pink and White , The Bimbo Cheerleaders are by far the largest Cheer Squad in Second Life. Their ranks are filled with beautiful girls who love to have fun and participate in the many levels of activities the group has to offer. These range from social activities such as parties and dancing sponsored by the club, to other even more “fun” activities involving the use of the facilities their house has to offer.

With SexGen owner Stroker Serpentine as a sponsor you know The Bimbo Ranch House is well equipped with all the latest and greatest he has to offer. As you can probably guess also, the Bimbo Cheerleaders know how to make the most of it too.

Incidentally, the Ranch House is not a bordello and just like RL, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas! The Ranch house provides a place for the girls to relax after a hard day of cheerleading to open a sim, or maybe raise money for a worthy charity. The Squad always welcomes a chance to wind down with a little nude sunbathing at the pool, or dancing on a pole, or otherwise “relaxing” visitors in one of the many private rooms. Head cheerleader Cheergirl Allen has truly created Bimbo Cheerleader heaven in SL. She makes sure the girls always have something to do and the guests are always happy to visit. Starting from humble beginnings, The Bimbo cheerleaders are today one of the largest and most active groups in SL.

Sidewinder Linden Missing - Permanently?

Reliable sources say Havok 4 project leader has left Linden Lab

by Pixeleen Mistal, National Affairs desk

Sidewinder contemplates life after the Lab

After a year and a half at Linden Lab, Sidewinder Linden is missing from the in-world person search and presumed to be spending more time with his family while pursuing other interests. Unfortunately, after being feted for bringing a new, more stable physics engine to Second Life, Sidewinder's services are apparently no longer needed at the Lab, which suggests that M Linden and company have not run out of ways to lower resident morale.

During his time in the metaverse, Sidewinder gained a reputation as one of the rare Linden Lab game gods who generally improved the world. Sidewinder led the Havok 4 project to upgrade Second Life’s in-world physics. This project had the potential to destroy everything from boats to bullets, but in the end there was minimal impact on the residents’ creations. Although there were a few rough patches during testing, Sidewinder’s willingness to actively engage the players and do more than pay lip service to their concerns set a standard that has yet to be met by other Lab staff.

Newdoll Nikolaidis -- Post 6 Grrrl

[A photo shoot with Newdoll is like travelling through time and space – from pinup to cyberpunk, from Asia to India, her inventory seems to be a black hole. I wonder if it's big enough to make her log in under water so it loads at all but I forgot to ask. While quickly changing poses, skins and accessories, she talked about the things that make her SecondLife worth living – fun and friends, fashion and photography. Look her up on Flickr to get an insight into her wild virtual world and most of all, enjoy her Post 6 appearance – Bunny Brickworks]

Noodle to friends (just say Newdoll aloud, you'll get it).

I have a philosophy on Secondlife; if its not fun, then you're not doing it right. I really don't get why people love to have drama in their Secondlife. Honestly, our first lives are full of enough drama.

Secondlife is my time to unwind, hang out with friends, explore, go shopping, be stupid, take photos and be creative. Save the drama for yo' mama, Secondlife isn't the place to offload your issues onto other people - go find a shrink and pay them to sort your problems, 'coz we sure don't get anything out of it.

SL Military Crisis - Ascendant Iniative Splits

by Vegna Fouroux, Military Correspondent

The 2nd of December is the day that will be come to be known as the Day the longest and biggest Alliance in SL MIlitary History fell apart. I am, of course talking about the Ascendant Iniative. Now it seems that the Spartans, 39th M.H.T.F. Blackwatch, the Guerilla Rebels and other members of the A.I became aware of certain relations between the Alliance Navy and Vanguard Armed Foces (a group which has now died) and broke all ties with the A.N. A final goodbye was published in the group notices by Spartan King Bruno Ziskey he states "due to an unholy alliance between Jim Herbst and Christoph Naumova, AN is being funded by Christoph in exchange for VG being allowed to join the AN, even while their groups are hidden." And that while he does not wish to become hostile towards to group, he thinks Admiral Jim Herbst and Commander Luca Vasiloptia were responsible for the group's demise.

Admiral Herbst made a counter notice saying "There was no goodbye" and in fact:

"I want to set the record straight: we do not accept money from Christoph Naumova.
Don’t believe me? I’ll show you the financial records”.

With the history and reputation of the Ascendant Iniative in mind I first went to Spartan King Bruno Ziskey who at first appeared to be the instigator of this sudden break.

Vegna Fouroux: Okay so what has caused this sudden break with the Alliance Navy?
Bruno Ziskey: Did you receive a copy of the note I sent out?