It must be old age

I know, I completely forgot to post the Eve pics. I forgot to run them through the GIMP too, so they aren’t even ready to upload. Meh, I’ll try to remember later.

If you were waiting for them, I apologise.

Stuff and Birthdays

I’ve spent a fair bit of time in Second Life lately; far more than usual for me. Not really sure why, but maybe I’m just getting back into it more. It’s not like I’ve been more productive than usual… though no less either, I guess. I have also been in Eve a bit too, and made a couple of screenshots which I may append at the end of this entry if they look good enough. I haven’t checked yet.

So, what’s happening today, I hear you ask. Well, currently I’m sitting on Preak Isle using a pair of translators to speak to a French lady. Most confusing til you get the hang of it. Still, it’s a nice place to sit, and usually the music’s good too – except when Leck plays disco of course. Peaceful.

It also happens to be Damian Baphomet’s birthday. He’s just turned ancient. Yes, he’s officially an old fart now! Well, not really, just 28. Happy Birthday Damian.

I’ve been an emotional wreck this week. Partly worn down from trying to help others – some friends have been having issues, and well, I’m old enough now to know better than to get involved. Still, I think I did some good. It didn’t help then, when I saw Eloise’s blog on Monday. It’s crazy, we broke up months ago, though we’re still friends. Eloise has a new Mistress, which is a good thing, it’s never fun to be alone in the world. But when I read it… no, when I tried to read it… I broke down and cried myself to sleep. I’m so fucking fragile these days.

What else… oh yes… qDot got himself interviewed, as I posted in Second Citizen, by Violet Blue, about twitter and teledildonics.

I think I’ll leave the Eve stuff for another entry later today and post this now.

Technorati Tags: SecondLife

Official Linden Blog: Viewer Update Monday.

And so, the First-Look client goes live on Monday. What can I say other than that I’m shocked and disappointed. And by the comments on the official blog, I’m not alone. Constant crashes, freeze-ups, packet loss. This morning, on the latest version… after it crashed, it kept the music stream playing! And with no way to stop it until I logged back in.

I really hope it’s an optional update.  If not, it’s going to be very detrimental to at least my time in world!

Official Linden Blog » Blog Archive 1.14.0 Viewer Update Monday. Preview available for download. «

Another ONE bites the dust

Well, perhaps not literally, but if you haven’t ever heard of ONE, then you’ve not been in Second Life. Anyway, for reasons she’ll no doubt explain, Eloise Pasteur chose to close her mall, and indeed, last weekend, ONE closed its doors for the last time. Several stallholders, myself included, opted to move to her minimall in Dimidiata.

I’d like to wish Eloise the best of luck with the mall, and hope her traffic and custom (and mine too of course) increase.

Technorati Tags: SecondLife

For Sale

While I added the current range to SL Exchange today, I also put a lot of my older furniture for sale in-world too. These are a few tables, chairs and of course, Birdie.  You can find them at Eloise’s MiniMall and (for a few days at least) at Freya’s in Zazi, though they’ll be moved from there when we re-use the space (or put Stonehenge back).

I hope you like them. Some are really old, so some chairs won’t be scripted or anything… but I *think* they’re modifyable so putting sit-scripts or attaching poseballs shouldn’t be a problem… let me know if I’m wrong.

Market update

Well, it’s been a while since I left… More than 2 years, I think, but today I listed some items on SL Exchange again. Just the Precious Metals items for the moment, but more should be added soon as I get round to setting them up.

Technorati Tags: SecondLife, Precious Metals

A general update

Most of you probably won’t notice. But for those who are interested in the early years of this blog, I’ve exported my old Live Journal blog posts and imported them into here (with the exception of the one saying I was moving it to here, that is).

The Live Journal archive is still there, but now you don’t need to switch sites to read it.

NB: this blog is syndicated there too as sios_wp.

A long time ago…

in a metaverse far far away….

The new alliance of builders, scripters, texturers and clothiers have stollen the blueprints to Darth Philip’s new secret weapon….

OK, maybe that’s silly… but anyway, what did happen was that a group of various content creators got together

one afternoon to discuss the problems of freebie-reselling, texture-theft and related issues. They needed a name, and got one, and they called themselves R.A.T.E. in an act of rebellion against Rate-Whoring, another popular scam in SL at the time.

It was mildly successful at the time, and wasn’t even the only group. But dissent set in, and apathy… and eventually the group failed, collapsing under it’s own weight.

This, it’s charter:

————————————– RATE—————————————-

This merchant is a certified RATE (Retail Association of Trade and Enterprise)retailer and abides by the RATE charter:

1) This merchant will sell items only with the knowledge and consent of their original creators.

2) This merchant will not sell items that were intended by their creators to be free.

3) This merchant offers refunds and exchanges when requested (no-transfer items are at the merchant’s discretion).

By agreeing to the RATE charter, this merchant pledges to conduct business in a fair and ethical manner, and to provide timely customer service to its patrons.

————————————————————————————

If you believe that this merchant is in violation of the RATE charter, please contact the creator of the items in question, or notify a RATE officer (search for RATE with the find tool under groups).

————————————————————————————

Would you like to support this initiative and display the RATE seal in your business?

Contact a RATE officer to ask to have one placed. You do not need to join the RATE group in order to participate. You’ll need to have an area at your location that does not auto-return objects in order to display the RATE seal.

————————————————————————————-
————————————- ABOUT RATE————————————-

RATE is a voluntary initiative to help protect the rights of creators, consumers, and merchants through the practice and promotion of fair and ethical business practices. RATE meetings and events are open to everyone, and all merchants are invited to participate. If you have questions or comments feel free to contact a group officer or post in the RATE group forum at secondlife.com

It’s been tried since, and the latest is being discussed now in Second Citizen. I wish it more luck than we’ve had in the past, but somehow, I don’t see it happening.

Technorati Tags: SecondLife

Only one day on…

… and I’m sitting in Eve Online working on skills. So, what has changed? Well, I don’t really think anything has except… well, as I mentioned yesterday, I needed to log in to change skill training last night. Well, it turned out to be about 6am this morning in fact, so I left it and woke up early to do so.

Well, the skill training was complete, as expected. I checked my ratings, hopped into my nearest convenient ship and programmed the autopilot for a trip to Caille University in the Bourynes system. I launched, and was on my way… reading the Second Citizen forums to pass the journey time. And, to be honest, couldn’t raise much interest. I just didn’t feel like responding to anything, which is most unlike me. I didn’t feel like logging into Second Life either, so I stayed in Eve for now. Anyway, I arrived at Bourynes, warped to the University and docked. I picked up two new books, (Sentry Drone Operation and Repair Drone Operation) and set my autopilot to take me home. I went to make coffee.

So I got home, started the skill training and looked for something to do. Well, as it turns out, a known pirate gang had set up in a nearby system and were running an illegal prison facility there. I was asked to go check it out and if possible, put a stop to it. My agent offered me about 400,000 credits to do this. Pretty small money, but since I’ve not been around for a bit, that’s understandable. I fitted my ships defences and off I went. Not a lot of point in being stealthy here – a battlecruiser tends to be a bit obvious, a command cruiser, even more so – so I warped straight into the middle of them, picking out sentries as preferred targets. I knew their cruisers would take time to get into attack range, and my combat drones could hold off their frigates indefinately. It didn’t last long.

So now, I’m home and heading to my base to dock. We’ll see what comes next.

Anyways, I’ve been offered a mission called Massive Attack next. It’s a good one and the reward is well over a million. It takes a while though – the time bonus is set at 6 hours – so I’ll leave it til later, after the daily downtime.

Technorati Tags: Eve Online

So er…

Why does this not surprise me in the least?

Sio’s roundup

Everything that really matters…

It’s been a little while since I posted a roundup of what was going on in the Sioverse, so I thought to myself this morning, while chatting with the lovely (and delightfully mean) Peasan Kuu, that I should – if only to remind myself what I’ve been doing, and more to the point, what I have not been doing and should have been.

I’ve not played Eve Online a lot lately. It seems to come and go in cycles for me, especially now. Freya mentioned something a month or so back, which I didn’t really pick up on, but is true. We fly the biggest, most powerful ships available in Empire Space. Apart from adding even more weapons and add ons, there’s no way to progress without going into full time PvP, which I dislike intensely. So, I log in to train skills. I’m sure interest will return soon, and I’ll play more. It’s just … well, you know what I mean anyway. A game should be fun, not a chore, and flying in low-security space means watching over my shoulder every moment for people who think it’s fun to start a sneak attack on an unsuspecting ship… that’s not fun… that’s harassment, and I don’t need it. Still, I’ll need to log in tonight, as I have a skill training that’s near completion, so at least my drones will fly faster .

I don’t play Sociolotron either anymore, but I do still talk to people from there, especially Sha Parker and Tuesday Next. They, especially Sha, keep me informed somewhat of what goes on there from day to day. Maybe some time I’ll look back in again, but I don’t think it will be soon if I do. Much the same goes for World of Warcraft, Horizons or Lineage II and it’s clones. They’re nice enough games for the most part, but I don’t like the grind. Maybe I’m just lazy.

In Second Life, I’ve been somewhat more active. I’ve been nagging Freya for a while about bringing back Primtionary in Zazi. I’m not really sure how it differed from the other Primtionary games really, except perhaps in the people who came, and the general quirkiness. Whatever it was, it was popular, and often, we’ve been asked about it. Well, the truth is, it’s not easy to run all the time. You need a word-list that’s being constantly modified and added to. It needs to be run properly and can be stressful – ask any of the few remaining Primtionary hosts out there… it’s not a fully automatic thing like the *ingo games out there. It’s been tried. You can use a script to identify who guesses first, and while where there’s lag, it’s fairer (ok, someone lagged can be unlucky – but it’s the machine that picks, so there’s no accusation of favouritism), but it can’t account for typos.

In any case. While Freya’s not yet ready to go back to running the game, she’s offered me space to run it myself, and maybe she’ll co-host or guest host from time to time. I’ve built the stage, and more or less completed the scripting. All I need is a word-list, some sponsors (I need prize money), and an audience. I’m sure we’ll be available to start next week if not sooner. Maybe even on Sunday!

I took some building contracts recently, which while they haven’t made me rich in any sense of the word, at least mean I’m not scraping for cash every time I see a new pair of shoes. It’s renewed my interest in building things too, so hopefully, if it keeps up, I’ll spend more time doing it, get more contracts, and eventually buy some land again. Who knows, miracles could happen!

And finally RealLife™. I’m sorry I don’t have a URL, but it seems very obscure these days. Not many people play and the website seems to have reverted to some foreign porn site, to which I won’t link – at least, not today. So, I’m still out of work and looking, but it’s hard, it’s soul-crushing. For sure, I have a couple of issues that make it a little harder to find work than it might be otherwise, but sheesh. I don’t even get interviews these days. The only positive thing is that at least I own my home now, so at least the bank can’t foreclose and throw me out on the street.

I’ve been on my diet and off alcohol now for three and a half weeks. I’ve not weighed yet, but clothes are starting to feel a little looser on me. I take this as a good sign. Of course, with St Patrick’s day coming up on Saturday, I get the feeling that all my hard work will be undone. At least, I can tell myself, it’d be worse if I hadn’t dieted in advance! We’ll see.

That reminds me. It’s Mothers’ Day here in the UK on Sunday. I’ll have to do something about that. Second Life’s down for maintenance this afternoon and I’m off shopping, so I can deal with that, at least.

Well, that’s it for now. I have job applications to fill in – no doubt another waste of time but I have to try – and I should get ready to go out. It’s a nice day in the big blue room, and I don’t want to waste all of it.

Technorati Tags: SecondLife, Real Life, WoW, Lineage, Sociolotron, Eve Online

The stage is almost complete

If anyone is interested in sponsoring primtionary, we have two large displays for your advertisements. Please contact me to discuss details and/or rates, or even just to visit the site. Feedback is always appreciated.

Coming soon to a Second Life near you…

On a brand new stage in Zazi…

currently under construction…

Technorati Tags: SecondLife, Primtionary

Second Life Profiles – Meet Siobhan Taylor

So I finaly gave in and created a page on Second Life Profiles. It’s still kind of under construction as it were, but you’re free to look and comment. I’ll add more to it as I go…
Second Life Profiles – Meet Siobhan Taylor

Second Life – Evolution?

Like it or not, Second Life evolves. Linden Lab add features faster than they can think up ways to extract money from residents. And so it comes as no suprise to learn we’ll soon be getting voice chat. In fact, it’s already available on the test grid in case anyone’s missed it and wants to try. Personally, I’m going to leave it for now… call me old fashioned or a luddite, I don’t care, I’ve been called worse. In fact, if I don’t use voice when it comes to the main grid, at least to prove who I am, then I stand to be accused of all sorts of stuff… What a shame.

So, do we need it? Not just voice, but mirrored surfaces and some of the other new features? Sure, they could be cool. Sure they can be pretty and allow people to charge more for what they make. But really, for my money, they should be fixing what they have.

Why, oh why is it that every time I cross a sim boundary, I’m pulling attachments out of my butt? Shoes, jewelry, hair, prim-clothes… I’m sure I found a group of Linden Prim Miners in there earlier… Does my butt look like a freaking quarry? (Don’t answer that if you know what’s good for you.) I’m tired of unresolved bugs. I’m tired of lag. I’m tired of “Object not found in database”. I’m sick of “Missing Image”! These things were fixed once.

Maybe it’s true. Maybe it is more important to attract new customers than it is to provide basic service to their existing ones. The numbers speak for themselves. This is evolution in action. We made the world, now LL give it to the corporate sheep.