tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26006498369655337252024-02-07T11:17:04.843-06:00Ele's Little WorldEleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13447701276538994998noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600649836965533725.post-75491496108140100722011-06-04T20:47:00.001-05:002011-06-04T22:34:11.084-05:00Musings Around the GridSometimes, I get these wild little urges to wander the grid and see what is going on with it. Mostly it gets inspired by something I read in the blogorum or something gets tweeted and I have to follow up on it. I'm easily intrigued by what our residents do, and so when I get a chance to visit someplace without having to fix it, I'm happy lady.<br />
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The other night I got a chance to check out <a href="http://places.inworldz.com/Isle%20of%20Alchemy/121/132/34">Isle of Alchemy</a>, and see Johnny's Fair and Maze, although I need to pop by again and see what more there is. What's really great about this sim is it's tied to Virtual Helping Hands and helping to donate to Japan. Here's a quick link you can check out: <a href="http://www.virtualhelpinghands.org/sh/">Virtual Helping Hands</a>, and yes, I can assure everyone it is on the up and up. So if you get a chance, please pop by, or donate, or schedule an event with them so they can help those families in need in Japan. Here's a couple of quick of pics of things I amused myself with (ps, the rides are rideable!):<br />
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</div>Then, I got <a href="http://zerotowonderland.wordpress.com/2011/06/04/this-is-why/">this</a> tweeted across today, and I rarely bring up other blogs or what not to avoid the "favoritism" stigma we hit, but I thought it was really very cool. And my favorite line (if I steal this Tormie, you won't mind will ya?): "The Prim gives every resident the potential of a god to shape his or her world." I think that sums up InWorldz in more ways than one!<br />
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Til we meet <a href="http://inworldz.com/">InWorldz</a>!<br />
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<i>Quick note: I had it listed as Virtual Ability but Cryptic was kind enough to correct me, thanks!</i>Eleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13447701276538994998noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600649836965533725.post-16245263543264180922011-05-24T20:56:00.000-05:002011-05-24T20:56:51.570-05:00Fun in Da Sun!The other night we had some fun on IDI, big party which Allan Jeffries had volunteered himself for. We referred to it as the "Pre-Rapture" party, but I have no idea what we'll call it in October when it's supposed to "really" happen. Maybe we'll call it the "Pre-Rapture Non Event"... hmm I may have to work on that title a bit *wink*.<br />
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So here's some pictures, we had 53 people online at one point... Tiggs thought it would be nice to climb into poor Allan's shirt, Victoria tried to get him on her couch... reasons for which I shall leave to your imaginations!<br />
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I hope everyone had a great time, thanks for coming out and what was the coolest was to see the new residents showing up and Jewel taking care of them and no one complained of ANY lag. Phlox Rox, but we knew this already ;)<br />
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On other news, as many of you know, I was out, as was Tranq from Sunday through this afternoon. We had the pleasure of heading down to Orlando, FL to meet up with <a href="http://reactiongrid.com/">ReactionGrid</a> Owners Robin and Kyle Gomboy. What absolutely fabulous people! We got to meet up with them at breakfast, then we headed over their place for dinner later on. <br />
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Besides being trained by their Sonic of how best to throw his ball for him, repeatedly (which made me homesick for my puppy), we had a great time chatting, talking and getting to know each others goals for the Metaverse. Their passion is no less than our own in what they love doing, and while they are redirecting some of their goals into Jibe, which is very cool what they've accomplished so far, they have the same reasons we do. Control of our own destiny is vastly important to both companies and reaching a hand out in this frontier, can be very important.<br />
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I will say I was very happy to be greeted again by my lovely 59 degree temps back here in Chicago, as I was positive I was going to melt from the heat there, but we had alot of fun. We got to wander down to Downtown Disney, and I lost some of my pics because we went over to Ghirardelli's for ice cream with Tranq's wife, and her cousin, and could NOT resist having the guy who delivered our order to take a pic. Tranq sent me them, but they are on the laptop, and tonight, I'm just too darned lazy to upload them :) <br />
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A huge thanks to MaiTai, Leggie (poor guy gets left out of all the fun trips...) and everyone else for holding down the fort, as we know some things went kaboom while we were gone. And our residents for being ever patient while we catch up support issues tomorrow. For now, we're all eager for the Phlox rollout that's coming tonight, and remember, some stuff is going to break, we'll be on hand over the next few days to work everyone through it all!Eleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13447701276538994998noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600649836965533725.post-12877441277860731082011-05-19T16:20:00.000-05:002011-05-19T16:20:51.260-05:00Nitnoying...Been a while since I blogged. Ok, so it's been 3 months since I blogged (I almost wrote blobbed there, really? My brain is in blob form, it's telling me something I bet!), and a lot has gone on since then. Done a ton of reading of blogs, forums, and various other fun or not so fun things out there. Good, bad, ugly, it's all something to take into consideration for us and we do so.<br />
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One thing that seems to be creeping into our world ever more so than before, and I'm not sure if it's because of Friday the 13th, the Full Moon, the biblical ending coming Saturday or all three being so close... drama. I have to wonder if humanity has lost it's ever loving mind. I wandered around PetCo today with my puppy to go buy him some toys while I was clearing my head from all the spinning of the last few weeks... and this guy was telling the cashiers we were going to have a Zombie Apocalypse. Seriously?! I sighed heavily and waited until he had left and the air had been cleared of any non obvious contagions.<br />
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I know, what does Zombie Apocalypse have to do with Drama right? It's a highlight of how things can get warped out of hand, whether intentionally inflamed to just misinformed. This seems to be happening quite a bit lately, partially on our end, but I won't go so far as to say totally our end. It seems sometimes people have this need, desire, burning urge to stir things without being fully informed and leaping to conclusions of conspiracies or favoritism suddenly being flagrant within the Founders.<br />
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What I don't get, is why things get blown out of proportion without trying to calmly, rationally ask why, when, where or how first. I get emotions, really I do, but is there anything that says someone can't ask something of any one of us Founders and not expect an answer? I am not going to shine a light on anyone or any particular thing in this, as that's not what this is really about. It is however, about how incredibly draining it is on the Founders as a whole. Let me explain more :)<br />
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I spend hours a day on IDI every day, it's the 4th thing I do in the morning when I'm up and hitting things. I'm typically there for hours, til 1am last night as a case in point. I may go for a couple hours here or there as I did today to rain toys on my dog. Typical day, non drama starts off with forum postings over coffee, runs to the support tickets, handling restarts, answering I'z problems, then transfers, moves, rename and such. Then I log into IDI. And that's where the day goes flying out of the window. IM's start, answering questions, having fun with the residents on IDI, mentors needing help, and things being told to us that we may or may not need to know. Issues being sorted and so on. All of this is more than enough all on it's own, but now toss in the idea that we get bombarded with emails, ideas being presented to us. Ideas that we ourselves, have no time to deal with or oversee. So things get presented to us, such as handling the wiki, and who can say NO to free labor? I mean really? But, the drainer, the big drainer is the drama. All drama is not created equally, and nor does it have the same effects.<br />
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Really great drama gets everyone riled up and I know I've done my fair share of that, usually without intention in regards to the grid. And typically the best drama is the unintentional. But the good part of that type of drama is it's usually educational as well, you learn something from it about dealing with things and how to do so. So there's a plus side to that. Especially when dealing with as many people as we do on a day to day basis.<br />
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The worst drama is the one that isn't supported by a wide majority, and has no purpose other than to stir the pot and usually has something in it with personal insults as gravy I suppose. This is not something I'm keen on personally as personal insults lead to one thing with most people, they don't want to know you, unless they themselves enjoy the same type of drama. This type of drama does one thing to us as Founders... drains our energy. We spend hours on this type of drama resolving it and / or correcting it. Why? Because we care. If we didn't care about our community, our residents, then we can't ask them to do the same.<br />
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We have never led by a "do as we say, not as we do" mentality, but by a "do as we do" mentality. We encourage discussion, debate, and criticism. These energize us, they do not drain us. Our mentors don't do anything different today than they did when I used to do the mentoring in practice. We do not flame or belittle anyone on our forums, and we don't expect anyone else to do that. You'd be surprised at our own debates within our chats when we don't always agree. They are civil and respectful of each others points and we will hash them all out until we reach a decision or a compromise, whichever works best from the discussion. Do they become heated? Sure, all three of us are passionate about what we do. But never do we lose that tone of respect for one another. Because each of us is integral to this team, and to making sure our world works. From the day to day administration, to the coding, to the venting sometimes needing to be done by our residents, to the answers being given for help and support, we all have our strengths and we all rely on them with each other. And because of that symbiosis between us as Founders, and our passion, we carry that to our residents, to our Mentors. It keeps it alive, and growing, and nurturing this grid that we've all worked so hard for. That's not just us as Founders. That's all of us, from Resident to Mentor to Sr. Mentor, to Founder. It's all symbiotic. If one portion quits caring, the rest will fall to the side as well. And this is the crux of drama.<br />
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It takes our focus away from our passion. It forces us to deal with the issue at hand, and deal with it we will. Not always to everyone's satisfaction, but we will deal with it. When the IM's start pouring in, and the messages start flying, what are we focusing on? Not what we need to be doing, that is for sure. Now, sometimes, it's needed because we need to clarify something. That isn't a drain. That's pure questioning whatever has happened, and that's good. It's usually a very simple matter, and doesn't explode into drama, nor drain us from what we need to be doing, because answering questions, hey that's what we do every day.<br />
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I think what I'm really trying to stress here, is we're all human, even us Founders. We're not perfect. But we're not in league to take over the world, start making the human populace wear pink thongs all over (sorry Shawn, had to), or become a corporate greed machine. Do we make mistakes? Yes. Do we recognize when brought to our attention that something may have been mistakenly handled? Sure do. And we'll be the first to say so. Because we expect that as well from our residents and our Mentors. If we expect it from you, you have a right to expect it from us. Do us a favor though, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater whenever something comes up you aren't happy with. Contact us, each of us as Founders has an open door policy. We also each have our own distinct way of how we deal with things. But we do not shut down our residents or their complaints, that's not in our nature. We are far more prone to say "hey could we have done this better?" than to say it's their fault they took it wrong.<br />
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When Tranq says the grid is his life, take him at his word for that. It's all of our lives. It consumes us, probably in a kind of unhealthy way, but so be it. We live, eat, drink, breathe, sleep and dream (sometimes not so pleasantly) of this world, our residents, their visions and dreams. We listen to your complaints, we discuss them, we make a decision. We listen to your ideas, we discuss them, we make a decision. We watch your banter and lively discussion on the forums, we see your civility when dealing with the not so pleasant aspects, and we go outside of our world to keep a pulse on our residents. If that's wrong on our part, to be in touch with you, let us know. If it's wrong of us to try and know that while we have rules in place on our forums, we will try to keep a monitor on what goes on outside so we can deal with things, then let us know. If you feel we've slighted you or your group, let us know. If you feel we're showing favoritism or anything that would not keep the playing field level, let us know. And remember, when you let us know, we're open to hearing it. We love all of our residents, because the grid is nothing without you. And that means that you do have a say with us, each and every single one of you. When you feel you need to say something or critique something, ask yourself, do I need to stir drama up over this or can I get a really simple answer by just asking one of the Founders directly?<br />
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Til we meet InWorldz :)Eleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13447701276538994998noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600649836965533725.post-1854606836006402612011-02-07T23:21:00.001-06:002011-02-07T23:35:23.749-06:00Phallic Roles?!?The last couple of weeks have been pretty drama filled, but informative I will admit. There have been some going ons for a while with particular people, and Tranq posted some of that information today on our forums. My goal is to simply shed a bit more light on what we know, and we'll let you draw your own conclusions. There will be various points where I will note as to what was done when.<br />
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If you haven't read the post by Tranq, you should: <a href="http://inworldz.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7178&sid=7bb8f59951773b3c8d35a2527ff4bcb3&start=10">Forum Post</a> <br />
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Now some background information.<br />
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Last summer, we had someone put themselves in the InWorldz Founders group, Tom Grimshaw, if you don't know that name you can look it up, but he's the technical admin for Meta7, still part of MMR, and helping Avination. His mentality was to create a role named "Penis" and put himself in it. Needless to say, Tranq fixed the exploit when pointed out by Ratchet Xevion and we banned Mister Grimshaw with an email. We've always worked pretty well with those who find exploits and want to work with us to eliminate them. Finding exploits, it happens in every code, and we're pretty serious about finding them and closing them.<br />
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Couple of weeks ago, we had an exploit reported us by Casper Warden, and I immediately cleaned it up. This is where things get interesting. The conversations I have, have been passed over to me and as such, I will not release their names. But you can come to your own conclusions:<br />
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<blockquote>[11:06:30 PM] ****: Do you feel that you're better then everyone or something?<br />
[11:07:03 PM] Tom: not at all<br />
[11:08:41 PM] ****: Its just seeming that way. You said Elenia is not very smart, that Avination is secure because it uses your code, and that you end up fixing Melaine's code most of the time. And I don't know much about OpenSim servers, so I can't really defend what you say to me when you tell me things like you know how to get into databases etc.. I'm just left to believe you.<br />
[1/26/2011 9:57:25 PM] ****: [11:10:53 PM] Tom: Look, OpenSim is basically in my blood, i've worked with it so extensively for so long I know it inside and out. I fix a lot of melanie's bugs, yes, she fixes a lot of mine<br />
[11:11:07 PM] Tom: that's what happens when you work together<br />
[11:12:01 PM] ****: Right, it just seems you have been taking a lot of credit, and making me look like an idiot in some ways.. I know you may not be meaning that though</blockquote><blockquote>[10:27:18 PM] ****: I'm not telling Elenia, but there has to be some reason why you care so much. No one tests for vurnabilitys on grids and keep access on their grids without caring..<br />
[10:28:25 PM] Tom: I have been asessing the possibility of porting my vendor system to inworldz, but i will not do it until it's secure<br />
[10:29:34 PM] ****: Thats the only reason? I mean, you got access to their staff groups and their backend. Think about it for a second, had she had such access in Meta7, do you think you'd be okay with that?<br />
[10:30:10 PM] ****: I understand what you're saying, but I think you're just going the wrong way about it. That too not even telling them, they wont be able to fix these holes..<br />
[10:30:20 PM] Tom: people have exploited meta7 before, I fixed it and thanked them<br />
[10:30:38 PM] Tom: the last time I reported an issue to elenia she bitched me out<br />
[10:30:59 PM] ****: Do it from a different account?<br />
[10:31:10 PM] Tom: no! I don't want to help someone with that kind of attitude<br />
[10:31:38 PM] ****: I really don't mean to be harsh at all, I'm on your side, understand that<br />
[10:31:41 PM] Tom: If there's anything that's going to affect the users themselves i would tell her<br />
[10:32:11 PM] ****: Well, I suppose she considers you as a threat, because she obviously cares why you care so much.<br />
[10:32:46 PM] ****: It can't just be because of your vendor system. You want to have access on that grid, and I am just trying to understand why.<br />
[10:33:08 PM] ****: You spent time creating scripts, to get the access you have now, as you stated.<br />
[10:33:36 PM] ****: So, you know, don't get me wrong, I trust you, and I hope you trust me<br />
[10:33:48 PM] Tom: It's really none of your business<br />
[10:34:57 PM] ****: No its not. But I'd like to help you, and I just want to be careful. If you get into a legal hassle with them, I don't want to be having something like that on my mind.<br />
[10:35:41 PM] Tom: i'm not going to be in any legal trouble.</blockquote><br />
Fortunately, our friend was able to point something out to Tom:<br />
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<blockquote>Support Response<br />
Elenia Llewellyn<br />
01/24/11 07:28AM<br />
Thanks Casper, was an oversight from our early days when the site was more rushed. We have since fixed it, and if you find other exploits, by all means let us know, and we'll plug those up.</blockquote><br />
<blockquote>[10:38:06 PM] ****: She didn't bitch out the last time you told her one of her holes<br />
[10:38:14 PM] ****: You copied and pasted the ticket to me<br />
[10:39:35 PM] Tom: that's apparently because she didn't know it was me </blockquote>True, I didn't know it was him, but nor did I ban him when I was told the following night. It wasn't until this conversation where I banned him, again with his alts. This is the only time he has ever reported an issue to us that we are aware of.<br />
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So, how do we tie these two together? With this:<br />
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<blockquote>[7:00:07 PM] Tom: I don't deny it at all, but I used THEIR viewer, and an option which is exposed to all users<br />
[7:00:12 PM] Tom: hardly a hack<br />
[7:00:18 PM] Tom: and i'm not banned at all<br />
[7:00:24 PM] ****: What other flaws do you know about their site?<br />
[7:00:32 PM] Tom: many<br />
[7:00:39 PM] Tom: but i'm going to keep some to myself<br />
[1/26/2011 8:39:29 PM] ****: [7:03:40 PM] Tom: i wish you hadn't told her i was casper<br />
[7:03:45 PM] Tom: now i have to make a new account<br />
[7:04:05 PM] ****: I wish you hadn't reported me.. Now I have to call LL lol<br />
[7:04:07 PM] Tom: oh, actually, never mind, i set myself to unbanned</blockquote><br />
Interesting side note here... the "i set myself to unbanned". We don't ban via the database. At least not with any flags to say the person is banned. His account, Tom Grimshaw, hasn't logged in since Aug. 13, 2010. His Casper Warden account was Jan. 26, which is the night we banned him.<br />
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In our endeavor to be transparent, I detest doing things like this, but on the other hand it's good to expose. I think the biggest issue we have with this sort of stuff, is if you have this much time on your hands to worry about us, maybe you need to find something else to do. Have we been to other grids? Sure. Do we do anything to potentially harm their systems? No. And if we found some sort of exploit, we'd report it. Rather than blaring it all over or using it for our own devious ends. Maybe we're a bit higher on the moral grounds and have a tad better understanding of responsibility.... but seriously? Penis? As a role? <br />
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Til we meet again <a href="http://inworldz.com/">InWorldz</a>!Eleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13447701276538994998noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600649836965533725.post-90115948352904271522011-01-20T23:58:00.000-06:002011-01-20T23:58:11.916-06:00Competition in the MarketplaceLots of crap flying through the metaverse as of late. Accusations, conspiracy theories, paranoia, and flat out lies being throw about like stale jelly beans being spit out of a kid's mouth. Those hurt btw, I strongly advise never hang out around kids when they are checking their Halloween candy for whatever might still be good!<br />
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Something emerged from my brain though through all this mudslinging the last week or two: Competition. That's a double-edged sword, for anyone who tries to make a buck. No matter what business you're in, it revolves around that almighty dollar (or equivalent for whichever country you reside in). Even charities have to have money to continue functioning on a day to day basis. And even charities compete for it. So what am I rambling about competition for?<br />
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Well, there are two thoughts on competition. You can either fear it, or embrace it. There's no real middle ground there. You can't embrace and fear something at the same time when it comes to competition. Which direction you choose to go, will make all the difference in how you behave in the marketplace. Now, while I don't stand for anyone outright lying about InWorldz, for the most part, we happen to embrace competition. Look at our largest competitor... we don't fear it. We embrace it.<br />
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Competition is not just a one way street where corporations get to make all sorts of moolah. Although, in today's world, you see most corporations trying to clear the field of any competition, which usually signals something bad to me. For example: I recently left my ISP. They had a stranglehold here in the Chicago area on internet. For years we had been with them. And every year, they hiked our prices up. It got to a point where I had to call every 6 months to get them to discount it, til one day they told me "I'm sorry, but you'll need to move to our "Blah" package" which was buying all three of their services. I didn't go through dismantling them over 5 years from all their services cause I wanted all their services. I did so, because other companies did the same job, or better, for less. So finally, another provider offered the SAME service, much cheaper, without a "discount deal for new customer". Let me state, this company has already been through the mill and at one time was so huge that the government forced them to break up to start competition. This is what Americans can do when they get really irritated... but that's another blog, for another day.<br />
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It is by far, one of the most solid principals that we are founded on: Competition is good. It's good for consumers, it's good for companies, it's good for innovation. It's all around a win for everyone... with one caveat: You gotta embrace it! The minute you start to fear it, you're doing something wrong.<br />
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We are starting to see some of this in the Metaverse itself now. Changes being made by grids to offer up something new to their residents. Which is excellent. Why do I say this? Well, we stated long ago who our target market is, that has not changed. We're not looking to be the end all be all of grids, we have seen where that leads to. This technology has amazing potential, and it needs to be fostered and developed. This is starting to happen. There are entire groups, we'd much rather send to other grids, because we simply can not try to handle all the varying issues they will bring with them and detract us from our main big picture. And we have done this, without a qualm inside us whatsoever based on those companies track records. Are they competing with us? I suppose, it really depends on your viewpoint really.<br />
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What we're seeing is rather interesting developments though. I wouldn't say this is because of <a href="http://inworldz.com/">InWorldz</a> by any means btw, but because of the entire Metaverse itself. Each grid doing their utmost to offer unique solutions to their residents. We're seeing changes in the Legacy grid, to changes through out the other grids in how they compete. This is a good thing. It offers Metaverse hoppers the opportunity to really explore out there and find what's right for them. And it promotes grids to get on the ball and really do things their residents want. Which should be unique to them. Not every grid can offer everything. It's simply not feasible. And it drives the grids to rise to those challenges and develop that technology they need to better fit their marketbase.<br />
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Even in software, competition drives the technology. You can look back to MicroSoft for a primer in that, with Linux. That brings us to another point though in competition. And it's one that utopians hate hearing ;) Commercialism drives competition. Anyone remember the government looking at MicroSoft for too large a marketshare? Well there was little Linux, plodding along, opensource, and free. Now, it's a $1billion dollar company... RedHat that is. They were competing with a commercial product, a giant in the industry, because they felt they could do it differently and more in tune to their needs. And they did. They laid down solid groundwork, set up policies for commits and worked it right up.<br />
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I'm not saying VW techology is on the same par as the above paragraph, but it IS vital to have a commercial product or two in there to compete against. Or else, there's no end goal... no "drive" to finish it. Unless you're just independently wealthy and have this burning obsession to create competition. Which has been done as well. <br />
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So, this is like one of those moments where you sort of have to say "gimme some love" or well.. "give em some love", cause in the end, the competition is good. I suspect we'll see quite a bit of it emerge in the Metaverse over the next year.<br />
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Til we see ya <a href="http://inworldz.com/">InWorldz</a>!Eleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13447701276538994998noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600649836965533725.post-85103800693111725542011-01-03T20:29:00.000-06:002011-01-03T20:29:36.378-06:00Ya Know You're Doing Something Right When...Happy New Year everyone! I didn't blog last week as didn't really think anyone would care! And now that we're in a New Year, of course all the new stuff starts. Fresh year, gotta have fresh rumors after all! And I'm feeling pretty spunky today so I figured I'd address these cause they really are funny!<br />
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Over the recent months we've heard all sorts of fun stuff. So let me start knocking them out for your consumption and hopefully humor!<br />
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#1. <u><i>We're closing our doors in February</i></u>. Now, I heard this a while ago, I found it immensely funny. Really? Predicting our doom as early as February? Tranq's gonna be bummed out, I better tell him that dev we're working on hiring isn't gonna happen...<br />
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#2. <i><u>Our concurrency numbers are fudged:</u></i> This is really funny too, and Tranq posted once about it. Why on earth would we NEED to fudge our numbers? To make ourselves look good?!? I could be way off base here, but I'm fairly certain if we had a number issue, such as they were way off, we'd be hearing about it from our residents. To date, the only thing we've heard complaints about is the fact their friends don't show online when they are or vice versa in the friends list.<br />
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#3. <i><u>We use what others fix to make our grid look superior:</u></i> This is one of the nastier ones, I've heard about, and I won't lie, it bothers me. To those who seem to think we're merely taking OS diffs and running them into our code, you might want to step back, take a look at where we've said our code can not be merged to OS at this point. You might also want to read some of the posts in our forums which outline exactly we've done, without giving out too much information.<br />
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#4. <u><i>We have strong marketing people:</i></u> Yeah ok, we do no marketing, so every one of our residents has to stop talking about InWorldz NOW! That's right, you heard me guys and gals, you're too good at marketing, so stop that! Oh and we'll have to stop paying you I guess too... what does zero from zero equal again?<br />
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#5. <i><u>We use our currency funds to fund our grid:</u></i> Wow, this one really is humorous. We use our currency funds to fund our grid?!?! Is that the LAMEST idea you could come up with? This shows how little these people know about a grid (and to think they actually "run" one) or the actual costs involved. Newsflash: while currency is profitable for us, it's not enough to fund 760 regions on almost 40 servers. Get a clue... please?<br />
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#6. <u><i>We are a "technical nightmare":</i></u> Another one of my favorites has been this one. Really... compared to what? Compared to an empty grid that has no useage going on with it, where there's no uploading, no building, no storing of assets, no events going on? If comparing to the other world, then I guess it's 6 in one hand, half a dozen in another as to what users consider a technical nightmare, but as they have not called us that... I'm gonna dump this one in the recycle bin where it belongs. <br />
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#7. <u><i>We were the original creators of Legend City Online (LCO):</i></u> False, false and again false. We had nothing to do with the grid, not when it started, was running, nor when it was shutdown. There is some interesting facts to be found out there however for people to dig up in regards to it. Even more interesting is knowing which of our "competitors" started that rumor.<br />
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#8. <a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1553380876"> </a><u><i><a href="http://inworldz.com/">InWorldz</a> will be part of a "multi-grid empire":</i></u> I hate to burst these people's bubble... wait no I don't... but no, we're not. We're not for sale, and I highly doubt the perpetrator of this bit could pay our price if we were.<br />
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Now, while most of this is tongue in cheek, it does prove something: We're doing something right. So to our detractors, those who are upset with us, those who have started these rumors: Thanks! Let me also point out, we know exactly where each and every one of those rumors originated from... which grid operators said what, and when. So with that said, let me offer my bit of New Year's advice to you...<br />
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Stop trying to figure out how to put us down, or make us look bad. Don't you have code to write, or a grid to run? Or is it more fun to fight like a pack of dogs over every bit of resident you can? Well, newsflash, it's a free Virtual World (well, for most of the grids out there it is anyways), and people will go where they want. They'll live in whatever grid they want, they'll visit their friends where they want, and they'll spend their money where they want. It's called competition. Deal with it. If you're too busy bemoaning that we won't give up our code, do you think whining is going to endear us to release it? Instead of whining, how about you figure out what we're doing, and fix the stuff (cause contrary to the above, we really do actually CARE about stability before shinies, which I know is anathema to everyone else), and maybe work on how best to get your grid to do what you want it to do and stop worrying about InWorldz.<br />
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To our residents... you guys rock. If it weren't for you all, they wouldn't be doing all this. Til we see you <a href="http://inworldz.com/">InWorldz</a>! :)Eleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13447701276538994998noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600649836965533725.post-69645000273763089442010-12-20T21:58:00.000-06:002010-12-20T21:58:41.494-06:00Season for Giving<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSYbxYnMxZtOAPq1nzt3Tal0s1dQkywMoNyonCuSS4aIcuhfOOOQLNwlvyqsPNvlXvbyrxHOrgM60AcfIbxSEP_8m6sshoTvLeVDR-EyZaQC4L0afEicOUR3uTvmL4jTIjSzLpzAuBAfg/s1600/christmas-holly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSYbxYnMxZtOAPq1nzt3Tal0s1dQkywMoNyonCuSS4aIcuhfOOOQLNwlvyqsPNvlXvbyrxHOrgM60AcfIbxSEP_8m6sshoTvLeVDR-EyZaQC4L0afEicOUR3uTvmL4jTIjSzLpzAuBAfg/s200/christmas-holly.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>'Tis the season for giving! And with only 5 days left before that Merry day (and I think my kids are close to counting down hours now), I thought it would be nice to spread some really good cheer!<br />
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The Holidays always seem to somehow show our best side as humans. We give more to charities, we try to be a little nicer (unless we are aiming for the last SOMETHING in the store that we simply MUST have) to both our elders and our fellow humans. We are more friendly in general, to anyone than we normally are. I was giving directions to some poor soul in Toys R Us today, trying to find Barbie stuff.<br />
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The above goes the same for VW's, at least in <a href="http://inworldz.com/">InWorldz</a> the last couple of weeks. Raglan Shire has their <a href="http://inworldz.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6134">Tiny's Holidays Tree</a> (which I hear tell they are referring to it as WootMas now), and are preparing to go caroling all over the grid. If you get a chance, please do not miss the caroling! I've had a preview and it will absolutely put you in the season mood.... or make you laugh like crazy, either of which is a good thing ;)<br />
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We have the <a href="http://inworldz.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5380">Yule Tree over on Isle of Anu</a> started by Marie Ravencrow, and I hear presents are piling up and people are sharing their best for it.<br />
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We had a great event all weekend: <a href="http://inworldz.com/">InWorldz</a> Winterland Event. I didn't get to spend much time at it, but that's ok, I heard a good time was had by all who attended it. I do know, it was well attended all weekend with an avg count of about 25 people at all times, and held up beyond well all weekend.<br />
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What was very cool, is we hope a new tradition has been born in <a href="http://inworldz.com/">InWorldz</a>. Over the last week, our residents pulled together more than $500 to donate to <a href="http://www.toysfortots.org/">Toys for Tots</a>, which <a href="http://inworldz.com/">InWorldz</a> will match to make it over $1000 to be donated to <a href="http://www.toysfortots.org/">Toys for Tots</a> this season. It's wonderful to see our community growing and wanting to give to those less fortunate. And hopefully, we'll see this number grow immensely next year.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_09KCmLheaZrY3ews9mQns-j0sYyYahewmc_kJ-CNMCRL7_07Hc4z3vHKwT73EVIaK0F4bESCs-SWX4ZMu-MliDvlYJXtTkExHOTA-hNJ-JHnlBLFqXEXL9K8CIas3o86nOUyacxxxtg/s1600/christmas_story2_500x322_121320061111.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="128" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_09KCmLheaZrY3ews9mQns-j0sYyYahewmc_kJ-CNMCRL7_07Hc4z3vHKwT73EVIaK0F4bESCs-SWX4ZMu-MliDvlYJXtTkExHOTA-hNJ-JHnlBLFqXEXL9K8CIas3o86nOUyacxxxtg/s200/christmas_story2_500x322_121320061111.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>I both hate and love this season personally. I love to see people be so good to one another, because barring some major catastrophe, we seem to have lost our way a bit, and this time of the year brings us back to our roots. The parades, the window shopping, the snow (ok, for us in the colder northern part of the world), the Christmas Carols, and can NOT forget "A Christmas Story" ("he looks like a deranged Easter Bunny!"), the Salvation Army volunteers outside the stores with their bells, the smell of cookies in the oven, or pumpkin nut bread in my case hehe. I hate it because it also can bring out the absolute worst in people. I despise the traffic during this time of the year. I hate going physically shopping, and yeah I did part of my shopping online (someday ask me how that worked out for me!) this year, but I do like going out and picking things out and seeing what's new. And no, silly bands were NOT a part of presents this year!<br />
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But, the best part of the season, is the day itself. Yes, it's a big day of cooking, presents, family and laughter. For me, that means my girls waking me up at the ungodly hour of 6 am (and it took years to get them to that point! It used to be 5am!), rambling downstairs and telling them to be patient, let mom get some coffee first, and finally settling down in one of the chairs and to watch them open their presents. What took me hours if not a couple of days to get all wrapped, is destroyed in mere minutes between howls of happiness, thank you's galore, ooooohhhh's and aaaaahhhhh's.<br />
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At the end of this huge day, we're exhausted, probably stuffed from eating way too much food, happily sated in our beverage of choice, and we've added another wonderful memory to the book.<br />
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To our residents, this our 2nd Christmas, although many of you are new. But thank you for sharing your lives with us, on the forums, your blogs, in the world... for sharing your kindness, your thoughts and your hopes. For being patient, having humor, and most of all, for just being you. May the Holiday Season bring you many blessings, laughter and joy.<br />
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Now... let me see if I can work on getting up at 7am this year... Til we meet <a href="http://inworldz.com/">InWorldz</a>!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3xwhrH7FIkvq84suhNM7Uvl5A95QD318p3TzMyTAPbLkA7FcyXJlfew8Oj24KO6GXJCGj4-MxHqLGBO_8TdUPMKf4jjUceGGSifWaAmLIT25a29HGk141CLjlnD_T4yeRhNMTrDT4a4o/s1600/christmas-Greetings.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3xwhrH7FIkvq84suhNM7Uvl5A95QD318p3TzMyTAPbLkA7FcyXJlfew8Oj24KO6GXJCGj4-MxHqLGBO_8TdUPMKf4jjUceGGSifWaAmLIT25a29HGk141CLjlnD_T4yeRhNMTrDT4a4o/s1600/christmas-Greetings.jpg" /></a></div>Eleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13447701276538994998noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600649836965533725.post-6702013869391477622010-12-13T22:08:00.000-06:002010-12-13T22:08:53.832-06:00The InWorldz HistoryI'm in a bit of storytelling mode tonight and my sincere apologies for not blogging last week, but I had a bit of the winter doldrums. Reading through the forums, and <a href="http://whiskeyshots.wordpress.com/2010/12/01/inworldz-blogger-challenge-3/">Whiskey's blog challenge</a> last week brought up some old memories (and when I say old, ok, they are only almost 2 years old but still!). Grab some hot cocoa, or vodka, or whatever liquid you prefer and read on!<br />
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Once upon a time, there were a few people who saw the promise of Virtual Worlds beyond what was being presented out there. The playbooks almost identical with a twist here or there: one jacked people's inventories after breaking a deal they made; one ran by a scam artist who had a trail of unpaid bills behind them; and yet others who felt that a grid was a great way to get rich quick. Far and few between were the grids that actually were doing anything on their own, or providing awesome support, but finding them after the other fiasco's is slightly akin to having severe PTSD. Once bitten, twice shy kinda deal. These few daring souls, figured they could do a grid.<br />
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It all started back in February, 2009, when we got a very bare bones server, from GoDaddy of all places. I mean seriously, it was a 512Mb RAM system, 1 core. And on Feb. 12, we were able to actually log in, all of us, into the one little region that was our "grid". I don't even remember the name of it back then. It was a test to see if we could even get it going. We were ecstatic! There we stood, on our very own little blob of a region, saying well HEY lookie at this! Obviously, this server was not going to do what we'd want for long, but the test was completed, we knew it could be done.<br />
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Within 2 weeks, we had researched providers and compared prices and even found our first "dev". That box itself, was nothing massively special either, but it was dedicated and we started with it. At that time, the discussions started on what we wanted IDI to look like. Which btw, is where the name comes from! InWorldz Desert Island was slated originally to be a.... you guessed it! Desert! We were a tad sick of tropical. And we were gonna do something kinda romanish. So here's one of the oldest pics from InWorldz:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHlFHWyoHogGQppg03AvJC9TaScR8ewZr8o8CgmrOiB7hOaRyfcPi2YhXgGgO4o6dBRbD36qy4rlQkS4BClGYT-pH3FuGKM85dMXFQyyVCd192kA-fP7na3r-3Vh_uJqeMCPuDwbxmqcQ/s1600/Feb2009IDI.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHlFHWyoHogGQppg03AvJC9TaScR8ewZr8o8CgmrOiB7hOaRyfcPi2YhXgGgO4o6dBRbD36qy4rlQkS4BClGYT-pH3FuGKM85dMXFQyyVCd192kA-fP7na3r-3Vh_uJqeMCPuDwbxmqcQ/s320/Feb2009IDI.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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That is myself, Lecktor, April and Loki. Playing with columns and sculpties. As you can see, there wasn't even any formation to IDI at that point. Date there, is March 10, 2009. Now possibly Legion or Lek may have some older pics, but that is the oldest one in my inventory. I also have a picture in my inventory, nicely framed of our first InWorldz Party:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw7NDhJnesJWa1FOLFJm6OjkxR7h9Sh34uNLU5BTsXlN7rf87C-V12W5Hkp1zlP0bwBY5tYoCCIn-SFC3iBbOslu7ysQ9X9_pZoXjvipdlnMxlMjxm8iVKL3sqpvguQumF2paDD7L_wl4/s1600/First+I%2527z+Dance+Party%2521.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw7NDhJnesJWa1FOLFJm6OjkxR7h9Sh34uNLU5BTsXlN7rf87C-V12W5Hkp1zlP0bwBY5tYoCCIn-SFC3iBbOslu7ysQ9X9_pZoXjvipdlnMxlMjxm8iVKL3sqpvguQumF2paDD7L_wl4/s320/First+I%2527z+Dance+Party%2521.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />
That's Legion (baldie), Lecktor, myself, and I'm fairly sure one of the other females is Circle Widdershins and the red head is Copper Rau, but please don't quote me on that, I could be terribly wrong there. And yes, the first dance ball in InWorldz is there. That's from April 12, 2009.<br />
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Then I have this picture of Bob Bunderfeld, on his rez day March 19, 2009 in a crazy shirt trying to figure out why his arms were still black hehehe:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitjwe9rtH2gWD8844ef8V_dP-aZpqnWbkfxhTF0CxLe0dN2av9GhS9UgcKvrUDnQJyM_VUgsdGreDFeSdEto8ZGSz3wp5-4CkiLh26LZUwVtvysluTJYOB_7Zz6ukMqAURQMiHPiW1paY/s1600/BobBunderfeld.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitjwe9rtH2gWD8844ef8V_dP-aZpqnWbkfxhTF0CxLe0dN2av9GhS9UgcKvrUDnQJyM_VUgsdGreDFeSdEto8ZGSz3wp5-4CkiLh26LZUwVtvysluTJYOB_7Zz6ukMqAURQMiHPiW1paY/s320/BobBunderfeld.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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There are the stories as well, of when one of the Founders decided to drop 3k textures into a single prim. Now mind you, you couldn't OPEN that prim, but let's throw 3k textures into one. That took us almost 2 days to clean up.<br />
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What is most interesting is that by our first little party above, we had paying customers! Not alot mind you, but a few. Some of them have since moved on, or were only around for a quick month, but others stayed: Jim and Jo Smart, Rosa and Gaius (sorry Gaius, love you two dearly but I'm NOT typing it all out!), Bladax who came with Erasmus and stayed, Scotsgraymouser. These were the first real beta residents who have stuck with us through thick and thin, when there was NO ONE on the grid, to where it is now. They've expanded their regions, contracted their regions, but no matter what, they've always been there.<br />
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By August, 2009, we had already shed 3 Founders, for various reasons. April left, as did Lek, one we got rid of and then we got rid of our "dev" in August. That left Legion and I and one other. Scots managed in her ever so tenacious spirit to keep asking me what we needed. My response was always the same: a real dev. So scouring SL, did she go in her little mouser way. And she got to talking to PatriciaAnne Daviau and telling her that we were needing a dev. Patti then talked to Tranq, who in turn emailed me about doing dev work. This was early September, 2009.<br />
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By this time, I had gotten the groups code rolled in, gotten the currency turned on and running, and had made some huge changes so profiles worked sorta. I didn't actually finish them until Nov. 2009 IIRC. But we seriously needed a dev who could delve far deeper into the code than I was able to, and start sorting things out. Little did Tranq know what he had signed on for ;)<br />
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We also, had upgraded to what was then referred to as The Beast. It was seriously a pretty heavy duty system, that allowed us to expand and grow. In November, we shed our final Founder. I remember Tranq working on rolling the groups code so it was all C# native rather than what it originally was with outgoing calls to PHP to run DB queries. <br />
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In January of 2010, we were only running that one server. We now run 36 servers. In the space of 11 months, that's how much we've grown. We went from excitement over 5 avatars in world at one time, to Tranq's mission to have 20 avatars online by March, 50 by June, 100 by September. I'm not sure what his next target is, but so far we've made them all.<br />
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In March, 2010, we brought Tranq on board as a full Founder with all the rights and privileges assigned to us Founders: long hours, lots of stress, massive breakdowns of systems whenever least wanted, and lots and lots of support for our customers. We signed our LLC in April, 2010 into actual formalization, which is also when we kinda sorta met. Well ok, I met Tranq, and Tranq met Legion. This is also when we had a sudden wave of new residents.<br />
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As with most things, we had a lot come by, if for no other reason than to keep their name intact, some to check out our progress, some to snipe our residents to other grids, some to try and be drama queens, and some to really find another avenue. Lots left, but quite a few stayed. And they expanded our growing core of residents. Some of them are incredibly outspoken, some of them not so much, some I rarely hear from, others I hear from often. Some I consider friends, and others are not "friends" but they are customers and they have that same open door as any one else.<br />
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But there's a bit of our history, and I've left some names out, because to be quite honest they aren't worth mentioning. We've had our share of drama, tension, stress, fights, sleepless nights (seriously, nights where I had very little sleep worrying about the grid), and a lot of fun times too. I hope you enjoyed story hour, and there's much more information in our forums in regards to when things happened as far as patches rolled out and such, just feel free to dig around until we see you <a href="http://inworldz.com/">InWorldz</a> ;)Eleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13447701276538994998noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600649836965533725.post-60962754474260355062010-11-29T22:00:00.000-06:002010-11-29T22:00:11.960-06:00Trouble With a Capital TAnd it doesn't rhyme with P! Anyone who can name that reference btw, will truly be showing their age or at the very least, their time spent watching far too many musicals as a child ;) I've been doing a bit of reading today, and wow was there a TON to read and go over. It all started from <a href="http://inworldz.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5881">this forum posting</a>, and I actually went over and read the <a href="http://blogs.secondlife.com/community/community/blog/2010/11/18/bringing-teens-to-second-life-s-main-grid">blog post</a> and comments today. Exhausting work let me tell ya!<br />
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So I'm feeling the need to address this issue from a parental point of view. As a resident still of SL, the concept of bringing teens into the grid is.... monumentally scary. I remember the first few times I ventured in, my daughters wanted to see what mommy was up to. Those were some very trepidating moments and I quickly shoo'ed my kids off to do something else, because apparently I had landed at a sim that was erm, yeah. I'm not a prude by any means, but my first thoughts about SL were not flattering. And all because I wanted a decent pair of jeans.<br />
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Fortunately (or not, depending on your point of view), I happened to run into an old ex-bf there, who helped me get around SL and away (sorta) from the sex stuff. Well, that is until I visited his sim. Anyways, moving right along... And I actually settled down and started learning how to build. That's when my kids were allowed to see what mom was up to. Otherwise, SL was verboten to them.<br />
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Now, warp to one lonely day on <a href="http://inworldz.com/">InWorldz</a>, on my region in fact, back when there were only 5 people online (and we got excited over that fact). My oldest daughter had asked to check out what mom was up to. So I let her make an account and I told her where to log into, on to my region. So there she was, happily checking out her inventory after I gave her a bunch of stuff. And I had to run over to the old IDI at that time. So I told her to stay put. While I was gone, someone showed up on my region and was testing building stuff. So she headed over by the male avatar, said "Hi, what are you building?". Nothing else. Nothing mean. The guy was nice at first, and they chatted for a few minutes when he asked her where she lived. Now, some of us would not think too much of that question (although personally, anyone who would ask me that within the first 5 mins wouldn't usually like my answer but I digress), however, my daughter decided it best to be very vague and said, "The United States". Well, kudos to her, she's not nearly as much of a smart ass as I am :) The guy got his shirt in a ruffle and asked what kind of answer was that. And she got distressed at that and asked me what she should say to him. That's when I tp'ed back and was nice and explained she's my daughter and he went off on me. I won't repeat what he said here, but it was not nice. And it was in full view of my daughter. Sadly, there are people in the world like that.<br />
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Now, I don't believe anyone should raise my kids but me. I'm kinda firm on that one. And it's not an easy job, it's a lot easier than most single mom's have it, as I'm home all day. And I completely understand that need for a parent to have their "adult" time. Whether that means being a fairy, a furry, a whatever you want, you want to do it without your kids being around pestering you for this or that. Whether it's just an hour away from the rat race, or after they've gone to bed, you need that time. That time to remember you're not someone's dad or mom, that you're not the wife/husband to someone else, that you DO have yourself. You can't lose touch with that, or everything sort of falls apart from there.<br />
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When we, as adults, agree to play in games such as <a href="http://worldofwarcraft.com/">WoW</a> or <a href="http://guildwars.com/">GW</a> or<a href="http://lotro.com/"> Lord of the Rings Online</a>, or any other MMORPG, we sort of take it for granted there will be kids there. And we comport ourselves appropriately due to that fact. Ok, a good majority of us adults do anyways. Or at the very least we keep our adult side to private im's with other "known" adults. If you have a guild, you can set the terms, if you want kids in it or not, and kick them if you find out a member is a kid. Or join an adults only guild. So there is a way to keep away from them in a very limited way. Was not uncommon for me to keep my local chats off in public so I wouldn't have to deal with the endless crap spewed out when I was in any of those aforementioned games. <br />
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Where am I headed with all this? It's a danger as a parent, just monitoring your kids in RL. Knowing what or who is around your area (anyone done a recent registered sex offender search in their area lately??) where your kids play every day, go back and forth to school, and are out and about daily is a challenge in and of itself. How are you supposed to monitor them in a virtual world that in some ways, is MORE expansive than their real world you allow them access to? How do you rely on knowing that the people they are interacting with are not exactly the SAME people you are trying to protect them from in the real world?!<br />
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My girls have accounts with <a href="http://clubpenguin.com/">Disney's Club Penguin</a>. I pay for this every month for them to fully enjoy it. Why? After having read through Disney's safety structure and guidelines, I felt my kids would be safe there. That Disney had gone above and beyond making sure kids would be safe there. They monitor the chats, various chat types are removed, and they are heavy on the ban hammer for anything inappropriate. So I happily pay $6 a month for each account for them. They do not have Facebook (although my oldest keeps begging for it), they do not have MySpace, they do not have personal blogs. The internet is not a toy. It's full of all the same dangers as the real world are and in some cases, far more so depending on the venue.<br />
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Now, back to the purpose of this blog. If I, as a parent, were informed by the powers that (are now seemingly lacking to) be that my teen was to be moved to the adult oriented main grid, and their security was a spotty "age verification" process, you can bet as a parent I would be livid. And their accounts terminated. I'm sorry, but no one has the right to just decide for me as a parent that my child is old enough to be migrated from one place to another without my say so. My kids already KNOW how to avoid the age problem when it comes to registrations and so on. But my job, as a parent, is to make sure I know where they are. And that includes the internet.<br />
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I would have to say, I'm actually angry at the lack of foresight in this disaster in the makings. And I don't even have a teen being migrated. I'm angry on behalf of the parents who have no idea, or who have been blinded by their kid's dazzling gloss over of what SL is. I'm angry for the adults who now are being forced to change their ways and limit themselves after years of having their own adult time. I'm angry at once again, corporate making the decision without listening to their user base. AGAIN. I'm angry that this is being done to "conserve" costs, rather than modifying the business model that obviously failed, now it will be foisted on the adults to deal with what they do not want to. I'm angry that kids who don't want to, will now be forced to be around a bunch of cranky adults. I'm angry that the first time some perv goes after one of those kids, some kid is going to get hurt. I'm angry that the first time some adult makes a kid angry, they will level charges at that adult and their life will be ruined, and not just in a virtual environment. Overall, I'm just plain angry over this idea.<br />
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I know there's lots of tinfoil ideas out there on why this move. But at this point, I don't care. It's a bad one. It ranks right up there with some doozies I've seen other corporates do, but I seriously think this one takes the cake in my book. It's reckless, stupid, haphazard and full of half-baked spin.<br />
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I have this life sized image of a very jaded board of directors facing the front of a sterile conference room, and there is little R2D2 with his flickering image of Princess Leia with this message playing: <b>"The more you tighten your grip LL, the more regions will slip through your fingers."</b> This causes hysterical laughter to erupt in the room and they all pat themselves on the back and mumblings can be heard regarding "the lemmings" and "the sheep have been herded". Fade to black.<br />
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Til I see you all <a href="http://inworldz.com/">InWorldz</a>... give a big squishy hug to your kids. And your pets. And your stuffed animals. And wow I need to stop now!Eleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13447701276538994998noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600649836965533725.post-6412882129672632492010-11-25T17:21:00.000-06:002010-11-25T17:21:56.635-06:00Food Coma = Thankful... or Something<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbfXyi4TEMHcNw2sKZf-8Dd5HMf-JiMzN9yIPwfIV20-vPbh5mHIzihpjbdgb88xDx8I40rvvPX7d5Ayi5RHBYuW1gGYgTu-Vo2N0Sy6lDw8vONyu2E9uG-AaIgeHlcpMp-4fz0txxCUQ/s1600/gobble.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbfXyi4TEMHcNw2sKZf-8Dd5HMf-JiMzN9yIPwfIV20-vPbh5mHIzihpjbdgb88xDx8I40rvvPX7d5Ayi5RHBYuW1gGYgTu-Vo2N0Sy6lDw8vONyu2E9uG-AaIgeHlcpMp-4fz0txxCUQ/s1600/gobble.jpg" /></a></div>Happy TurkeyDay, or as I refer to it, National Food Coma Day to all my American compatriots! So this is my special Food Coma Blog, or the start of a new tradition I suppose. I've often wondered how stuffing ourselves at a table based on history that quickly gets mired in lots of dead people equates to being thankful. Be that as it may, turkeys, comas, dead people, here are a few things I'm thankful for (and yes, this is on a completely personal level).<br />
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1. I'm thankful for my family. Sure they drive me absolutely rant raving luatic, which they will tell you is not a long drive for me, but I can always count on them to throw some humor at me when most needed. My 12 year old has this really wonderfully warped sense of humor (I disclaim any and all knowledge of where she got it from btw) and her and my mom start arguing in fun and next thing you know the whole house is insane. Not only that, but they sacrifice alot while I work on the grid so many hours a day. They may hate it some days, ok most days, but they also realize they are luckier than most kids.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijv1kNye79XWectlOOqw3DcBm6m71jtWfK2G8Qm_Y4UV6DEC3QDxBPtnkG5AWlOdLScvsy1uae_IPOuN5lYIb7kP2DjixE-AOeaEA7gZhRDXBTOMtRgiEThGJOjLB9OF4Uy_55Jel-eM0/s1600/IMAG0013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijv1kNye79XWectlOOqw3DcBm6m71jtWfK2G8Qm_Y4UV6DEC3QDxBPtnkG5AWlOdLScvsy1uae_IPOuN5lYIb7kP2DjixE-AOeaEA7gZhRDXBTOMtRgiEThGJOjLB9OF4Uy_55Jel-eM0/s200/IMAG0013.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>2. I'm thankful for my puppy. He is a big ball of trouble, but he's the sweetest thing on the planet, and one thing I know, when I'm stressed out during the day, he'll be there to give me a big ol' puppy hug and sloppy kiss, even if I did shower just 15 minutes before that!<br />
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3. I'm thankful for my friends. Admittedly, I don't have a ton of them, and when I do make one, they quickly get upset over the fact that my finding time between grid and family doesn't leave me with much other time. But I have a couple really close friends, where we don't require a ton of each other's time and personal touch. Sure we get together a couple times a year, and we have a blast when we do, and we keep in touch via emails, phone, im's, which really keeps us going. They say, if you find 5 good friends in your lifetime, REALLY good friends, ones you trust with your very life, you should count yourself lucky. I count myself thankful.<br />
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4. I'm thankful for our residents. More like my extended family in alot of ways, because they too can drive me absolutely rant raving lunatic, but they also bicker and fight with themselves, make up and hug after, and at the end of the day, always bring a smile to my face. They are crazy, fun, humorous, creative, and overall, we could never have asked for a better core group of residents.<br />
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5. I'm thankful for finding SL. Yup, I am. At a time in my life when I had basically closed off the outside world to focus on my kids, I found SL and got my social outlet again. But better than that, it gave me the drive to move beyond just being a resident. To do something I love doing and have the desire to do every day. Not everyone can say they love their Just Over Broke.<br />
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6. I'm thankful for all my virtual friends. There was a time, not so long ago, and in some circles it's still not considered "mainstream" (psychiatrists warn against internet addiction after all) when mentioning you had friends you had never "met" face to face, was frowned upon. But I find the people I associate myself with in the virtual reality, to be just as real as my friends above that I don't see that often. Where is the difference I often ask myself, and I know there really is none other than you may miss vital social cues from body language. Well, we live and learn that way too.<br />
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7. Last but not least, there is one person, who I'm not going to name here, that I'm very thankful for. And sometimes he doesn't get to hear that enough cause I'm just so not the mushy type. He makes me laugh when I desperately need it, he listens to me vent when I need to vent (mind you, he tunes it out, but what man doesn't?!?!), he lets me ramble about crazy ideas, and with his schedule, he's as busy as I am some days. So he let's me have my space as I need it, without either of us worrying about insulting the other. <br />
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I'm sure there's lots of other little things I'm grateful for, but seriously, this would turn into the worlds longest blog then. Whether you're American or not, sometimes it's good to review the things you're grateful for and just go over them and smile at the reasons why you're thankful to have those in your life. <br />
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Until I see you <a href="http://inworldz.com/">InWorldz</a>... what are some of the things you're thankful for?Eleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13447701276538994998noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600649836965533725.post-87208559144041389562010-11-22T22:58:00.000-06:002010-11-22T22:58:48.664-06:00Beta Test Crash Helmets Available Here!Yup, that's right, tomorrow starts our big beta test! At noon and 6pm <a href="http://inworldz.com/">InWorldz</a> time, we have put a call out for anyone and everyone that can make themselves available for testing. We of course, will be handing out crash helmets for all our test dumm.. er victims. Yeah, victims, that's what I meant ;)<br />
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This is a really huge test as it pertains to the network and Tranq has worked his fingers to the bone on this... which leaves him a tad funkeh looking with boney fingers and all! But he had excellent results testing on his standalone and I was in the beta grid last night and it was very cool. We'll release the beta viewer as well for this, as the two go hand in hand with things that were put in place. The beta viewer WILL work on the main grid as well, so by all means feel free to replace your InWorldz viewer with this one.<br />
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The beta viewer has some of the stuff our residents have requested as well, such as the built-in AO, radar and other fun stuff. No bouncing boobies... and no RLV either, sorry folks! The neat thing is who is working on our viewer, so you guys may or may not be surprised by that, but the good part is we'll be able to work on some new features there. Obviously we'll be keeping those quiet until they are implemented and the viewer released, but we have some really cool stuff in the plans!<br />
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On a completely different track, I went over our numbers this last month, except currency, which I'll run after the 1st of December. Things are very much where I expected them to be, considering our huge expenses we had this month. Hey, going to San Diego is NOT cheap! But was it fun! :) First time land purchases fell, as I predicted, to half, but was slightly recouped with the new region resells. Region resells are spotty at best right now while I bring the system into full swing over the next 30 days. Renewals increased, which was a great thing to see, and I noticed an interesting trend from Oct. to Nov. numbers: Alot of our residents did 3 month renewals to get them through the holidays. That was great to see! We also had some other major expenses come out which will be announced with the next viewer (not the new one coming, but next one, I think... I may be wrong here). And we had our licenses covered for various things, and we also started our Trademark process. So all in all, while we did exactly what I expected for numbers, we spent alot of money too :)<br />
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So on that note, I leave you with this beautiful picture we took, Wednesday night, at Cardiff by the Sea, the Beach House restaurant. We got there right at 4:30pm for dinner, and I could not resist taking this picture. I felt right at home with this view ;)<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqTG6j45HAy-IgcNvuqOOWKt4PjteHd9wBkj5YfHn4RCPKM52ohbIZ5vNsnnrb2tFKcbga-1QGiHUlYbi1hQnib9MxJHesjovyd3h-7K_09zrPBlSRHm_vSrEc7Jm8Z_I3xJuts2bpERE/s1600/IMAG0014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqTG6j45HAy-IgcNvuqOOWKt4PjteHd9wBkj5YfHn4RCPKM52ohbIZ5vNsnnrb2tFKcbga-1QGiHUlYbi1hQnib9MxJHesjovyd3h-7K_09zrPBlSRHm_vSrEc7Jm8Z_I3xJuts2bpERE/s400/IMAG0014.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yes, our table was RIGHT there!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Eleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13447701276538994998noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600649836965533725.post-48130191203187465282010-11-15T20:50:00.001-06:002010-11-15T20:51:12.459-06:00SymbiosisEvening wonderful readers! I've been debating on what to blog about this last week, when there are so many interesting topics to go through! I finally decided on just another one of my not so famous rambles (and they aren't infamous either, so we'll just leave it at that) and see where it all leads up to!<br />
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Topmost of my brain tonight is a huge amazement at last week. It was rather fascinating to watch from afar all the outlets about <a href="http://inworldz.com/">InWorldz</a>. First, we had our interview on Prim Perfect with Saffia and Elrik released (which I will of course embed below, in CASE you missed the forum postings, the tweets, FB release, etc). Then, Whiskey Day had this brilliant idea of a <a href="http://inworldz.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5529">Blog Challenge</a>, about the Best of <a href="http://inworldz.com/">InWorldz</a>. This has produced quite a few blogs out there, which in turn spurred MORE blogs about them. I will link them all in just moment here for anyone to see. We also had requested a machinima from Celestial Elf focusing on our community, and the best way to embody that in a machinima is to focus on some of our actual communities growing <a href="http://inworldz.com/">InWorldz</a> already. What a beautiful bit of work he did. So here's all the links I was tracking this last week:<br />
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<a href="http://metafret.blogspot.com/2010/11/strange-roots.html">Jazz Cognito's Best of InWorldz</a><br />
<a href="http://whiskeyshots.wordpress.com/2010/11/11/the-best-of-inworldz/">Whiskey's Best of InWorldz</a><br />
<a href="http://kranfel.blogspot.com/2010/11/sound-of-music-inworldz.html">Mera Kranfel's Best of InWorldz</a><br />
<a href="http://inworldzcommunityrag.blogspot.com/2010/11/whiskeys-blog-challenge.html">Rosa Dagostino's Best of InWorldz</a><br />
<a href="http://absurdlynewfangled.blogspot.com/2010/11/blogger-challenge-accepted-innocence.html">Southie Allen's Best of InWorldz</a><br />
<a href="http://lalotelling.blogspot.com/2010/11/inworldz-best.html">Lalo Telling's Best of InWorldz</a><br />
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Which, interestingly enough, spawned off to Ener, not just posting one, but two blog posts (in a row even, watch out Ener, we'll convert you eventually *wink* ):<br />
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<a href="http://iliveisl.com/inworldz-seems-to-be-the-social-leader/">InWorldz Seems to be the Social Leader</a><br />
<a href="http://iliveisl.com/inworldz-will-never-be-what-second-life-is/">InWorldz Will Never be What SL Is</a><br />
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What is truly amazing in these, is number 1, I GOTTA get those bouncie balls from Abraminations! And number 2, is how tight knit the community is at times. It's kind of daunting to be honest. To see how that community is felt right down to these blog posts, to people who have never logged in to our world... that is something we have worked very hard at. The last thing that hit me with these blogs, is I think Ener got something nailed very much downpat with us as the Founders:<br />
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<blockquote>"with InWorldz, it seems that they love virtual worlds first, then let the money come in after that. that is a huge diff (and i hope they make enough so that they don’t burn out)"</blockquote><br />
I would say, that our hard work, our love, our dedication to not only the grid itself, but to our residents come through in just about everything. I won't say everything, as we're not perfect, and we can't please everyone all the time, but we work really hard at keeping the vast majority happy.<br />
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This in turn, has shown that our residents give back to us. Through their blogs, the humor they present on the forums with the bugs, to the polls we've asked them to partake in, to our sales and growth. To producing machinima's, and in general even battling the trolls where so needed. Our many many thanks are not sufficient to express ourselves to our residents.<br />
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Really, give yourselves a pat on the back, as each of you are the reason we've seen this growth. Obviously it's a symbiotic relationship, between us and you, much akin to creators and socialites in the world, we never want to lose this relationship with you. Ever. I don't ever want to be afraid to log in to the grid. Sure, I don't want support IM's and so on, but any one of our residents is welcome to IM us at any time, with.. whatever. Whatever is on your mind. If we can fix it, we will, if we have an answer, we'll give it, if we know the progress on it, we'll let you know. Or if you just want to say hi. That works too :)<br />
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I think I've been more than mushy tonight, but I wanted to let you all know how much you rock. You really really do. On a completely unrelated note, we have some really exciting things we'll be letting you guys in on next week, so pay attention to the forums and so on.. as we'll be releasing some info there in regards to the viewer, the beta testing that will be going on and something that's happening in the background that we're not telling! So until then, don't break the grid and we'll see you <a href="http://inworldz.com/">InWorldz</a>!Eleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13447701276538994998noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600649836965533725.post-42334314178684581172010-11-08T21:12:00.000-06:002010-11-08T21:12:02.194-06:00InWorldz, Trust, Future and HG?It's been a pretty interesting week I will admit. Ok, interesting month... oh well heck, interesting year! I finally got to sit down and while I tend to do the books every month *coughs*exceptseptemberoctoberbooks*coughs*, I did some neat graphs for our residents to see, and then I have some general rambling about our future and something I'm sick of hearing about.<br />
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Let's start off with the first graph which is our 3rd quarter general snapshot. This covers July, August and Sept, until the 20th, as that's our books cut off date.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://inworldz.com/img/InWorldz3rdQ2010Snapshot.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://inworldz.com/img/InWorldz3rdQ2010Snapshot.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Now, as I posted in another <a href="http://eleslilworld.blogspot.com/2010/09/proportional-growth-proportional-issues.html">blog</a>, one of the interesting facts of this chart that we don't individually represent is our currency, I'z, purchases:<br />
<br />
<ul><li>July I'z sold: 2,065,000</li>
<li>August I'z sold: 4,331,750</li>
<li> September I'z sold: 6,384,250</li>
</ul>I stated that things were doubling darn near in the terms of currency purchases, which is what those numbers show. What's more interesting is to combine those numbers with the October, 2010 cashout chart I did:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://inworldz.com/img/IzCurrencyOct2010.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://inworldz.com/img/IzCurrencyOct2010.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Our numbers for October:<br />
<br />
<ul><li>I'z purchased: 12,906,500</li>
<li>I'z sold: 8,864,500 </li>
</ul> Which means, once again, from Sept to Oct, our I'z purchases doubled again (although do realize our graph for Cash outs ends Oct. 31). This also means our economy is healthy and growing. We have some pretty happy merchants as well, as we cashed out over $17k during the month of October.<br />
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There's another fun fact buried in all this, which is not of released numbers in all actuality, but that we're about 10k shy of handling 6 figures a month in transactions. That's a pretty big leap from a year ago... er, well from 6 months ago... 3 months ago?! I think that says alot for the trust levels from our residents, and that we're not a fly by night operation.<br />
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Downside of all this? We're in the holiday season, and already our provider is teasing me on the phone with my knowing our market trend too well. We were originally picking up almost 2 servers a week to meet our growth demands, right now, one a week. I warned them this would happen :) The other half of this is people are waiting on me to finish the Region Xchange (which yes, I am working on! Don't bludgeon me with potatoes!), and pick up our spare regions not making money.<br />
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Today, we had alot of fun over on <a href="http://treet.tv/">Treet.TV</a> with Saffia Widdershins and Elrik Merlin. They are really great people, and who doesn't like the UK accent, seriously?! Either the UK or the Aussie accents, I'm telling ya! Apparently Tranq picked up some fans in the interview (No, Conie, I'm not referring you... or am I?! mwahahaha), and we had a lot of fun discussing InWorldz with them. Big big thanks to Julia Hathor for letting us swipe her region, and to Johnny Night, and to Zauber Paracelsus and to Jeri Rahja! You guys are the best! The video should be released tomorrow and we'll be sure to do an embed on it for everyone to see who missed it!<br />
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On to the thing that I'm quite tired of hearing about: HyperGrid. Yup, I said it, I'm sick of hearing it. I'm tired of armchair referees who don't run their own grid, who don't understand all the nuances of IP protection, squawking at the tops of their lungs that we won't connect to the HyperGrid. There, now I've REALLY said it. I don't think I can make it much clearer than that. I'm sick of hearing about it. We're not doing it. Not anytime soon. I'm tired of hearing we're going to "control" code if we ever get to that point. I'm sick of hearing how our residents are "missing out". If our residents were missing out, be assured, they would tell us. They would scream, yell, throw things at us, and otherwise make their opinions known.<br />
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In fact, we recently encouraged our residents to take part of a poll by <a href="http://www.hypergridbusiness.com/2010/11/opensim-land-survey/">HyperGridBusiness</a>, and I can tell you for most part, what our residents voted for that they missed: Vehicles, Online Marketplace, and Search. Notice, I do not mention HyperGrid. <br />
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I remember, way back when (wow talk about dating myself here!), how the internet would be made up of nothing but self-hosted websites. Guess what? It's not. Why? Well, it's simple really. Security. That's what web hosts provide to the normal average cookie. Same concept. And I'm applying the internet analogy here, because I keep hearing how HG is the next wave of the internet. Do I think that's wrong? Nah. I do see a great potential for the HG concept. Just not it's implementation as it stands. Because, like the internet, there will be hosts and providers. Companies, just like<a href="http://inworldz.com/"> InWorldz</a>, who will be there to step in for the security issues, to handle them correctly. A fall back for IP protection, where you can legitimately file a DMCA and have the content removed. <br />
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Now, I am totally aware I just probably irritated a whole lot of people. I'm not going to lose sleep over it. Sorry.<a href="http://inworldz/"> InWorldz</a> has it's own path and growth we're going to follow. And when the time comes that our residents say to us "Hey guys, we'd like to go from grid to grid", then we'll step up to that plate. Until that time, all those who want to scream that we're not HG connected... Allow me to introduce you to the concept of Social Networking, then point out the real HyperGrid numbers. When you put the two together, they don't add up. <br />
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This is probably one of my more brutally honest blogs, because, let's face it, I'm human. Yes, really, I don't run on cogs and such, nor do I have caffeine coursing through my veins or anything else. I'm human. And I get tired of hearing the detractors scream at us for this or that. So I need to vent once in a while. I think I've successfully done that!<br />
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So, to my lovely readers, thank you for letting me get that out in the open.... See ya <a href="http://inworldz.com/">InWorldz</a>!Eleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13447701276538994998noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600649836965533725.post-86410912195194245562010-11-01T22:57:00.002-05:002010-11-03T11:37:11.365-05:00Beware the Prims Meshed!It's a blog night! And for the day after Halloween I'm throwing out caution notices! I happened to pop in tonight for a quick IM catchup fest, when I got an IM asking me if I had a spare moment to pop by a region to meet someone, <a href="http://laneslist.blogspot.com/2010/11/inworldz-art-scene.html">Nazz Lane</a>. So I said, sure. As we stood there making introductions (ok so MY version of introductions are handling a few different IM's while trying to type out a Hallo minus typos' might be slightly off from your version, but hey it worked!), Jeri Rahja says to me something about artistide despres. Then flies off to her other region, and I'm left looking a little lost and confused... yes yes, don't point it out, I know I'm typically lost and confused! I get a TP request to <a href="inworldz://Angels%20Loft/128/128/22">Angels Loft</a>, and WOW!<br />
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Jeri is a patron of the arts, not the first in InWorldz by far. Stefanik has his great sims dedicated to the artists. Tonight though... I said WOW. Which, yes, I do say that quite often when I'm out meandering, but this was truly a WOW moment. So without further ado... let me lead up to the WOW moment :)<br />
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First, there's this cute little guy:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK52I2cQQHpFOUw6pFckNy_qEYXeomqu9HuExrVrRWwDH4HpJ8FqsA2Iwx_FHsjhnVXNvlutAMYNYBFwe3CgLRfSkhlxzhqpXoM8A4O0Gz6W_V7FHiEK7Zg4y0QRdNYQiyf0OTmKyGYHY/s320/Grasshopper_001.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Who doesn't like a grasshopper this cute?</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK52I2cQQHpFOUw6pFckNy_qEYXeomqu9HuExrVrRWwDH4HpJ8FqsA2Iwx_FHsjhnVXNvlutAMYNYBFwe3CgLRfSkhlxzhqpXoM8A4O0Gz6W_V7FHiEK7Zg4y0QRdNYQiyf0OTmKyGYHY/s1600/Grasshopper_001.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><br />
Then moving on further, you find this cute little bunny guy offering a script garden!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdhMBOHO7uzvt_tWynocjmrgDnfKgG9rthLGTOhqokO5VmWSd5nYL2S86BSJdZE5rCoGA0eHPOiOSM-sqEnFmQcf6NAba_lwI_K1WE-q7HGXKTUF0o5Zct55gPW7AdiuD2aYMB9tfrU2g/s320/Grasshopper_004.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vague recollections of Alice in Wonderland anyone?</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdhMBOHO7uzvt_tWynocjmrgDnfKgG9rthLGTOhqokO5VmWSd5nYL2S86BSJdZE5rCoGA0eHPOiOSM-sqEnFmQcf6NAba_lwI_K1WE-q7HGXKTUF0o5Zct55gPW7AdiuD2aYMB9tfrU2g/s1600/Grasshopper_004.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><br />
Some more of Soror's beautiful work, I particularly like this scenery setting:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmwmyT_tMEDqxCm66fJDTDi2eIGi8OGcdGUaUss_moedVTkWOtR18-ZvNmiDRJpovbtsyCFUo-3SZNR2J5k17GA_ILbEOGza0cU7JjQUsKEHr8iCjXUm2WEAPAnUfDKT8q7VJlM5bkUcY/s320/Grasshopper_005.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ahhh peace at last!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmwmyT_tMEDqxCm66fJDTDi2eIGi8OGcdGUaUss_moedVTkWOtR18-ZvNmiDRJpovbtsyCFUo-3SZNR2J5k17GA_ILbEOGza0cU7JjQUsKEHr8iCjXUm2WEAPAnUfDKT8q7VJlM5bkUcY/s1600/Grasshopper_005.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><br />
Now here is the WOW... it may not look like much, but that is a full female avatar, made completely out of prims to resemble a mesh female avatar. Right down to the textures. This is almost 1k prims making her up, and you really do need to see it to get a feel for how much work was done to it over at <a href="inworldz://Angels%20Loft/128/128/22">Angels Loft</a>:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwB_ceSFWnT0Dt050WpopyX_o3TCjw6PTdjESivElcpcZkhmdm-EJIADOcCyHyWTYk9AaTFLgmIK5jFAztAk-fZA91rwV7gxBNW-rcTAg_TXSMHu6mN2iqeaIz-5ilJpM6XPVcILEtIBc/s320/HumanMeshInPrim_001.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Don't be fooled, she won't stomp on ya!</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwB_ceSFWnT0Dt050WpopyX_o3TCjw6PTdjESivElcpcZkhmdm-EJIADOcCyHyWTYk9AaTFLgmIK5jFAztAk-fZA91rwV7gxBNW-rcTAg_TXSMHu6mN2iqeaIz-5ilJpM6XPVcILEtIBc/s1600/HumanMeshInPrim_001.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>Who knows what will inspire me next week?! Til then, see ya <a href="http://inworldz.com/">InWorldz</a>! :)Eleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13447701276538994998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600649836965533725.post-24392675335642136922010-10-26T12:50:00.001-05:002010-10-26T12:50:47.939-05:00Textures, IP and Copyright?So tonight I was supposed to go and post about nifty regions and such from InWorldz, but I'm finding myself in a dilemma here, as that's not what I want to blog about, so I'm not going to. Instead, I'm going to go out on a limb here and post some stuff that some may raise an eyebrow over. I think it's critical though, to bring this up as it's becoming a heated debate for people.<br />
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Over the last couple of months, I've been reading many blogs and posts and our own forum discussions in regards to IP and copyright protection. I've heard about so-called IP conferences being held to explain rights and so on. I've heard wide sweeping claims of unfairness, profit-driven licenses and claims of stolen good not able to enter worlds. These are bothersome to me in several ways, and I feel I need to vent. Now, by no means am I an expert, which is why we have an attorney to help us deal with where our knowledge may lack.<br />
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What I do know from an OSP standpoint is pretty important, and we've tried to make these things very clear on our forums. What I do not understand is why any OSP would want to avoid dealing straight on with the issue of IP protection. I do not understand why anyone would think it's wiser to bypass the laws already put in place to protect an OSP, and even better yet, why anyone wouldn't want to investigate these issues themselves.<br />
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Intellectual Property... it's kind of a daunting phrase when you think about it. What exactly IS Intellectual Property? From the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property">wikipedia</a>:<br />
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<b>"Intellectual property</b> (<b>IP</b>) is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which property rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-0"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_property#cite_note-0"></a></sup> Under intellectual property law, owners are granted certain exclusive rights to a variety of intangible assets, such as musical, literary, and artistic works; discoveries and inventions; and words, phrases, symbols, and designs. Common types of intellectual property include copyrights, trademarks, patents, industrial design rights and trade secrets in some jurisdictions.<br />
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"Although many of the legal principles governing intellectual property have evolved over centuries, it was not until the 19th century that the term <i>intellectual property</i> began to be used, and not until the late 20th century that it became commonplace in the United States.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Lemley_2005_1-0"></sup> The British Statute of Anne 1710 and the Statute of Monopolies 1623 are now seen as the origin of copyright and patent law respectively.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-2">"</sup><br />
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I think that's fairly clear as to what Intellectual Property is. What starts to make it unclear though? Well, you can create "derivatives" of IP, however, there has to be some guidelines to them. There's a very fascinating article at the Wikipedia on this exact subject and I'll highlight the tidbit that truly intrigued me in regards to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derivative_work">Duchamps defacement of the Mona Lisa</a>:<br />
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"The most famous derivative work in the world has been said to be <i>L.H.O.O.Q.</i>,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-17"></sup> also known as the <i>Mona Lisa With a Moustache</i>. Generations of US copyright law professors — since at least the 1950s — have used it as a paradigmatic example. Marcel Duchamp created the work by adding, among other things, a moustache, goatee, and the caption L.H.O.O.Q. (meaning “she has a hot tail”) to Leonardo’s iconic work. These few, seemingly insubstantial additions were highly transformative because they incensed contemporary French bourgeoisie,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-18"></sup> by mocking their cult of “Jocondisme,”<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-19"></sup> at that time said to be “practically a secular religion of the French bourgeoisie and an important part of their self image.” Duchamp’s defacement of their icon was considered “a major stroke of <i>epater le bourgeois</i>." Thus, it has been said that the “transformation of a cult icon into an object of ridicule by adding a small quantum of additional material can readily be deemed preparation of a derivative work.”<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-20"></sup> A parodic derivative work based on Duchamp's parodic derivative work is shown at http://docs.law.gwu.edu/facweb/claw/ch6c2.htm."<br />
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In other words, this derivative work, while it enraged people, it DID in fact have enough impact on the underlying group of people to break apart into ridicule of these people.<br />
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So how does this all apply to what we see and deal with as an OSP? Well first off, we are not the judge, jury, nor executioner by any means. The law strictly states that we are NOT to be in fact as a registered agent. And anyone who thinks they can do better than being a registered agent, really should read up on IP laws again. By not being a registered agent, and allowing any kind of content into their world, they are risking exposure to lots of lawsuits. As a registered agent, we are protected by that, as we follow the law, and we make sure we comply with that law.<br />
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So <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Copyright_Infringement_Liability_Limitation_Act">what is that law</a>, what are our responsibilities? Our responsibilities are not to police the content, that is first off. The law recognizes that no ISP/OSP can monitor every single bit of information that goes through their service. However, once content is recognized as copyright infringement, it is up to the original copyright holder, or their authorized agent, to file a DMCA with the ISP/OSP. Only a copyright holder, or their authorized agent, may file a DMCA. Once a DMCA is filed, it is not up to the ISP/OSP to decide if they should take it down. It is up to the ISP/OSP to block access to the material immediately, and to notify the original uploader/creator/responsible party that the content has been blocked. The other party then has the right to file a counter-claim. At which point, the ISP/OSP then gives the information to the originating party of the original DMCA filed, so that it can then be taken to court. The ISP/OSP then waits 10-14 days, if no suit is filed, then the block from the material must be lifted.<br />
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So what does that have to do with the above as far as derivative works and so on? One of the single most contested things I read about are textures. Textures, textures and more textures. Textures are vital to any build, the build is nothing without them. Unfortunately, for over a decade, Intellectual Property on these was not something very highly regarded. Mostly because back then, textures that were out there, weren't really used for much other than web page backgrounds and so on. But as the gaming industry and graphic arts industry started to grow in leaps and bounds, IP rights suddenly became a very big deal. Few years behind the trend, but isn't that always the way with hindsight?<br />
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I have seen many textures that are supposedly original works, but when you look at them, they really are not. They are a texture taken from a pack that was bought (or in the worst cases, not even bought) or found on the public domain sites, few pixels added to them, and claimed as new work. These are started to be contested more and more, and I will watch with interest what our court system has to say about this, as the derivatives that they speak of have a fundamental philosophical impact to what they do. So, does changing the color of a carpet texture from red to blue, have a fundamental philosophical impact? Little limited in the breadth of the example, but this is something to think about. In our digital worlds that we enjoy, do these things have an intrinsic value in how the new work is thought of? These are things our courts will have to decide on, and I'm guessing in the next 5 years we'll see some of this start coming down the pipeline.<br />
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Now comes the next hardest part... the licensing a copyright holder puts on their goods. Well, simple fact is, it IS their goods. Whether you like it or not, they have a right to put as restrictive a license as they desire. They have a right to limit exactly how much of it you can use, where you can use it, and anything else they want including "may only be used when the moon is blue in the designated year of 1874". Nothing you can do about it. And this holds true for virtual worlds. Just because you own something full-perm, doesn't mean there isn't some licensing above and beyond that. Only the original copyright holder can state what those terms are, and those terms be upheld by them, or their authorized agents.<br />
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It is up to the end consumer whether or not they will continue use of those items, as most of this is market driven. What does have me concerned however, is not so much the market driven basis for these licenses in VW's, as I've seen some VERY fair policies in regards to licenses being extended for a moderate price to allow the user to use them in ANY virtual world, but the concept of reversing a ToS, and not just by those copyright holders (which is a whole 'nother blog I may or may not do someday) to make more money off the copyright. This is bad juju in any business, not to mention, completely unenforceable. Case law already states that outside of humanitarian rights, you can not simply reverse your terms of service unless both parties agree in writing to the reversal. This is becoming more and more a practice. So my advice to a copyright holder: speak to an attorney first. Understand your rights as the copyright holder, and what you can limit and how best to do so, and most importantly... the wording of your license.<br />
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To merchants, or creators, looking to expand into more VW markets, do your research. One of the single biggest fallacies I hear, is that a world is secured by not allowing other viewers in. If the world is using the LL based viewer in connecting to their world, guess what, they are under licensing terms to release that code. And anything that is opensource, is never fully secure. No matter how much one wants to croak out that it is, it's not. So unless they are in violation of the licensing terms for the viewer, or using a completely rewritten viewer that is proprietary to them, the claim is bogus.<br />
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Check the business, and it's affiliation to the USPTO's registered OSP agent list. Now, true, given how slow our government works, they may NOT be listed there, but that doesn't mean you can't find out, ask them for a copy of their paperwork filed. Remember, they WANT your business, you have a right to ask anything you need to know as a consumer. This was something we missed, and it could have cost us alot, but we have since rectified it and made sure our paperwork is in place. Any OSP who doesn't do this, and to be blunt, any grid is an OSP, is going to find themselves in a world of hurt later on down the road. If the business is not registered or held in any part under the United States, find out where they are located at and check against the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berne_Convention_for_the_Protection_of_Literary_and_Artistic_Works">Berne Convention</a> to see if they are participators. How the Berne Convention affects filings of copyright and so on, I have no idea, as we fall under the US laws. What I do know, is the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_parties_to_international_copyright_agreements">Berne Convention</a> requires each participating country to have pretty stringent copyright laws in place and how to deal with infringement.<br />
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I have heard things like IP will be obsolete by 2012, well I don't see that as being the case. I do think it's a very uphill, very challenging battle, but I have faith that we as humans, and as morally right people collectively, will find a way to negotiate these challenges and find what is a fair and balanced way to protect consumers and creators. Yes, the courts will drag their heels and the digital age is expanding by leaps and bounds, but I do feel it will all come around at some point... I just hope it's within my lifetime ;)<br />
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See ya InWorldz! :)<br />
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Oh, and PS. ya'll can blame Tranq and Legion for the lateness of this blog as I started it last night but didn't get to finish!Eleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13447701276538994998noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600649836965533725.post-20781032415097928962010-10-18T20:09:00.000-05:002010-10-18T20:09:48.834-05:00Oh The Places You'll Go!First sign of too much parenting: You can quote Dr. Seuss without thinking about it! Sad state of affairs heh.<br />
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As much as I would love to get around the grid far more than I do, sometimes that's just not feasible. Usually, the only way I get to see what our lovely residents are up to is when a problem arises and I need to head to the region itself to see what's going on. And it's not from lack of desire to go to see regions or go to events, it's just busy, busy, busy. This is not to say, that what I show here tonight is any kind of bias, or me having favorites in any way. They are regions I've had to show up and fix something on and took some pics of.<br />
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We have interesting regions abounding, we have groups that are forming their own little colonies if you will, and we have those wonderful singular sims that can enchant you, delight you, entertain you, or even make you ponder things.<br />
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Some of the bigger landmasses are of course the Victoriana Sims, with 14 regions, LittleBlackDuck has been a very busy little erm, well duck! So I was wandering around one night over there, when I happened to run across this lovely avatar, dressed to the 9's in Victoriana and I thought, HOW appropriate! So she happily allowed me to take a couple of shots of her.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3_U_I18LI5E5cH-e93stu2_i30Gf-OgcalY_CQrNCnby5egekCGPnbTPj7WOziZ9FqPFx-QlM4Bny5MjTHlEX5Ylk8c8Lt0v-__eO9HTf4Lg0Wt0Q8X5F0W8U8N8wvsU4b-7MuTxCrfM/s1600/Snapshot_001.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3_U_I18LI5E5cH-e93stu2_i30Gf-OgcalY_CQrNCnby5egekCGPnbTPj7WOziZ9FqPFx-QlM4Bny5MjTHlEX5Ylk8c8Lt0v-__eO9HTf4Lg0Wt0Q8X5F0W8U8N8wvsU4b-7MuTxCrfM/s320/Snapshot_001.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spirit of Victoriana</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQEzBerhjREAhHoZDvUah5V4wwH8myoHbZk9rJJJtnI3IvzBMHwh8Ejztuqct432fHO2ZUXaQmuG2smKd6Pk5MtViEgJZ7luclW75jlXIObxxDyaV-9XvESDg0GXXUvF0UEP5NZSDsIR0/s1600/Snapshot_002.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQEzBerhjREAhHoZDvUah5V4wwH8myoHbZk9rJJJtnI3IvzBMHwh8Ejztuqct432fHO2ZUXaQmuG2smKd6Pk5MtViEgJZ7luclW75jlXIObxxDyaV-9XvESDg0GXXUvF0UEP5NZSDsIR0/s320/Snapshot_002.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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We also have the Magellan Colony forming together from a group of residents, and we have the Elf Clan, who's lovely regions I have not yet had the pleasure of visiting yet! But it's on my list! Really!<br />
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The other nifty spot I was at the other day, was Raglan Shire. Which begs the question, what is it with Tinies?!? The tinies are sooooo creative! Not that the rest of us normal sized avatars aren't creative mind you, but when you enter one of these regions and look at it from a tiny point of view, sort of makes you appreciate the wonders of nature that sometimes we miss in real life.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Little Things in Nature</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Who doesn't like Pie?!</td></tr>
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One of the other really neat spots I'm watching and happened to pop by the other day (because the map tile really intrigued me as I was doing region setups), was soror Nishi Island. Now I have a couple of things from soror, I am so not sure where she gets her ideas, but I think her and Scots have a thing for really bright colors! Whatever the case, here's a little sample of what she's up to, and I can't wait to see what the whole region turns into!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTsmFm5n7A1J1VlWyGzMmeVGgrBh-zHA-RjfOolrkG0lV0soz76e6w5za5Ka6gKj06_SUCFRHJ6JjBt0DZkCtmkmWVMI4evWWpxvfz7RKP-YOsWjCkJmevi2ttifcwS8oShJbO_uU92Hg/s320/Snapshot_005.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Color Anyone?</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTsmFm5n7A1J1VlWyGzMmeVGgrBh-zHA-RjfOolrkG0lV0soz76e6w5za5Ka6gKj06_SUCFRHJ6JjBt0DZkCtmkmWVMI4evWWpxvfz7RKP-YOsWjCkJmevi2ttifcwS8oShJbO_uU92Hg/s1600/Snapshot_005.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><br />
Next week, I'll hit some of the other groups like Elf Clan, and a couple of other smaller areas that I've been wanting to pop in and check on from their first builds, but I'll keep those quiet for now ;) In the meantime, I highly encourage you to wander the world, as there's so much beauty to be seen, and I hope I can cover alot of them over the next few months! See ya <a href="http://inworldz.com/">InWorldz</a>!Eleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13447701276538994998noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600649836965533725.post-9999614480182055202010-10-11T22:04:00.000-05:002010-10-11T22:04:55.615-05:00So What Is It with Virtual Worlds?We have this talk a lot amongst us privately, about what drives people to Virtual Worlds and of course what drives them out. Usually, we come back to full circle about what it means to people to be in a Virtual World. Now, obviously that just doesn't mean <a href="http://inworldz.com/">InWorldz</a>, it can mean games like World of Warcraft, Guild Wars, Lord of the Rings Online, Dungeons and Dragons Online, or even FaceBook. Short version: community.<br />
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It really all boils down to that. When you're running amok killing ogres or snowbeasts or spiders, or farming your crops, or gabbing with your friends at a nightclub, it all boils down to your friends and the portion of the community you communicate with on a daily basis. When you play in an MMORPG, you join a guild for the camaraderie, the help, and usually you make a few friends in there. When you're in a grid such as <a href="http://inworldz.com/">InWorldz</a>, you meet people who help you out, you join groups, and you interact with people. These are the reasons you keep logging in. Sure, you may want to go kill 500 critters to get that neat piece of armor you need next, but you'd be bored silly doing so if you had no one to talk to (well other than those who are completely anti-social, but in current MMORPG's that won't get you through raids and such unless you join a PUG).<br />
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That community, is more than just a sense of being, it's of belonging, of friendship, of people you can rely on to help you out. And it's something we spend a lot of time fostering in our world. It's also something that drives us, as the Founders, to continue working as hard as we do every day, as many hours as we can, because we see our community, and how each and every single one of you reach out to each other. Like any big family, sure there are squabbles, sure there are disagreements, and sometimes things get a tad out of hand, but on the whole, our community is strong and helpful.<br />
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I touched on some of this the last blog I did, although not nearly in this route, but what it means to us to know our residents. But it also means for our residents to know each other, and us. So today, on my semi-quasi day off, I spent some time wandering our world and our forums. There's been one thread in particular I've been following: <a href="http://inworldz.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=4678">Disabilities - What are they?</a> That's not the only thread I follow obviously, but it definitely caught my attention this week. I was amazed at how everyone in the thread opened up and let us all have just a small peek into their RL and what they go through. Thank you, every single one of you. What may seem to you as just a quick glimpse into your reasoning for being here, to us, it's a reason to keep going on each and every day. To bear with all the complaints, the bugs, to listen to all the upset and yet know, that every single one of you has your own special reason to be here.<br />
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The other thread I love to monitor is <a href="http://inworldz.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1918">InWorldz Picture Album! - Share Your Photos Here</a>. I love this thread, because it let's me see into your regions and builds (or silliness) that I simply do not have time for otherwise. Some of my favs (I've taken the liberty of just uploading them here):<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">By Talia Fournier</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQpG6EzVPUnS1E-5Jr8dPwJuKxghyNyS8tn69e757vCme5h4WgQzikoyoYZT9lvAlGt83kney_V4kY0-vkdbmJlnviKh8kw2jnud7kc0VFEombtgjf1Gk4NI80DpyQo6KyqfRDkG0VsEU/s1600/We-are-the-future.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="372" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQpbsCyJTVS6Eyo1AQXFJ4sfe6h5uDYd2lyepwwA8nNEqg1AmcdM8fh2zL0XxOgTxncNFvA6cX-HNFbOrk_Eut9HCNz6y7m5DiWtXLYNxSCoJCZqkVxtyl5hsL99bvWCkpk2DGfIgFhMU/s640/emili99_001.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">By Emilie Autumn</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQpbsCyJTVS6Eyo1AQXFJ4sfe6h5uDYd2lyepwwA8nNEqg1AmcdM8fh2zL0XxOgTxncNFvA6cX-HNFbOrk_Eut9HCNz6y7m5DiWtXLYNxSCoJCZqkVxtyl5hsL99bvWCkpk2DGfIgFhMU/s1600/emili99_001.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="332" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqgatZ3lRLhzRdc2Sj59DcZ0hsViHPQdHwXqwy7ljFEXr6tPPGQB64RqPjJM-tLaku50OYazcwcmPmTlgV-UuVXMRZanv7SUl7WV0afafiqmp3WV3VTgf45J8VVqB5GRnX4XUT5__3aA8/s640/ghosty_002.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">By Amaranthim Talon</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqgatZ3lRLhzRdc2Sj59DcZ0hsViHPQdHwXqwy7ljFEXr6tPPGQB64RqPjJM-tLaku50OYazcwcmPmTlgV-UuVXMRZanv7SUl7WV0afafiqmp3WV3VTgf45J8VVqB5GRnX4XUT5__3aA8/s1600/ghosty_002.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">By Koshari Mohana</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWTzNPwMkhEJQjI3uijU63CaMv-oLZxy8jtxXE4Rkq2h6UgseN6FxWRmuYWw__0vYGodZdjiijv1PMy-QgHR4_ZI-DtSTis3pWNrHlal3k_roWcxCAdg_tsVnLNCtagx1lokkXf9_Xcek/s1600/Hanging+Gardens.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhejE1EfK1OA8LjK6KboTqm_5wxkvp4elRjnwK9mbp3S8g4XJ-S5tVFD94bTTHAwbti1NPXEpM7LpE9GSxcaol0OtmHnuqUB5k4b6RAYdrueiiL7XxUcCsGwcFRJBBBIk1bZIggYh0bpM4/s640/TU+meet+02.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">By Yvette Clavenham</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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Well, I have a whole lot more than that :) I think, what's most amazing, is that no matter what you are InWorldz, be it tiny, dragon, furry, fairy, lover of fantasy, GOR, Anime, whatever you're into, that when you go to our welcome area, or hang out on our forums, there is always this incredible sense of help and belonging. Sometimes we lose our way, but I see our residents reach out a hand to someone and say, come back, or let us help.<br />
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While we tend to get alot of thanks from our residents, it's really us who should be thanking them. Without them, none of this would be worth it (and believe me when I say we never knew if it would be worth it). Without our residents retaining that strong sense of community and building on it and making sure it's given to every new resident and passed on, we wouldn't have this community at all. That, is worth more anything I can say here.<br />
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So, next week, I plan on putting some stuff out about some of our regions, both larger land masses and groups and smaller ones. I'm constantly amazed at what our residents come up with! See ya InWorldz :)Eleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13447701276538994998noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600649836965533725.post-1926600691362799132010-10-04T23:25:00.000-05:002010-10-04T23:25:26.707-05:00Just Random Ramblin'I have all these things I want to talk about, but some have to wait for now, and others are probably going to stoke a fire that would not be good for anyone's blood pressure :) So I'm going with random ramblin' tonight on a few different topics! Kinda like my puppy tears through my house which we now affectionately refer to as being Rorycaned. I think he probably qualifies as his own storm type, but I doubt the NWS would allow me to do so!<br />
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First, my apologies for not blogging last week. We were so consumed with the grid roll and the hardware changes on the back end, which got delayed, that my day off was shot to smithereens hehe. <br />
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As you all know, we released the currency exchange this last week. Majority seem happy with it, however, we have a few who are discontent. This never makes me happy. These are the times I wish I could speed up time and have everything in place for everyone and then everyone would be happy as ducks in water. Sadly, this is not the case, and we have to move one step at a time, but rest assured, our goals are to ensure that particularly in this endeavor, we satisfy as many people as possible. I have come to learn, can't please all of the people all the time, but I do think this is one of those times, we can make a whole slew of them happy over time.<br />
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We're also having quite the discussion about the marketplace / search and how it will all tie in together. Kind of interesting, it's one of those crossroads we're at where we know we can do it differently, but will it be better than what most are used to? Hopefully so, as we continue to take in our residents suggestions and feedback so we can lay a solid foundation to work from.<br />
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The other trend I'm noticing, is region sales. It seems land is not stagnating when placed for sale, so this has me slightly intrigued. I'm looking at the things I have to do to transfer a region to a new owner (no small feat believe it or not), and how we can streamline this process for our end users so they aren't waiting on me. Alongside of this is the region moving or server shuffles I'm finding myself engaged in for the last couple of weeks. Again, another that is no small feat to do, it's like playing with one of those big shuffle puzzles, 585 regions with 1 extra tile to make everything work right. Fortunately, I was always good at those puzzles ;)<br />
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We also released our real life info this last week. So, let me give a short intro of myself, and really, this needs to go up on the wiki, or somewhere but who's looking right? As much as I love my chosen InWorldz name (although, Llewellyn, well hmmm, yeah that's all I'll say there), my rl name is Beth Reischl (you can also see this on our FAQ). I was a hellion growing up, but was an overachiever. Didn't take much either, as I have an excellent photographic memory and the school system I was in wasn't high on homework. They believed in test grades being the proof in the pudding. My dad started his own business back when I was in High School, he wrote software for CO2 industrial lasers. For those who want to know what that means, it means they cut steel about an 1 1/2" thick. Not the kind you want to play around with.<br />
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The software was the translator between DXF file outputs (we typically used AutoDesk's AutoCAD, which back then was version 1.2 when I learned it) into CNC (computer numerical control) language for the lasers. I had this knack, for listening to his support calls and understanding exactly what the customer was asking. At that time, Windows was still a twinkle is Mister Gates' eyes. So the software was written in QBasic, and running on CGA monitors. Wow we've come a long way :) My first training for him was in OR over my senior year Christmas break. Zomgs, talk about learning how to roll with code and fixing things on the fly! That was an interesting training needless to say. From there, I handled all the training, wrote our training manuals, moved into handling sales, also did alot of custom work in digitizing. Don't ever ask me to draw you diddly on a piece of paper as I can't. But give me a CAD program and I can do anything on them, probably why I love VW's so much. I also spent my time that year, becoming certified in MI to teach AutoCAD to our customers, was really kinda wasted on me by that time, but was the paper cert I needed for validation. Our customers included Mitsubishi, Anorad, Amada and a few other laser companies. Mitsubishi eventually bought out the business about 6 years later, and my father was going to ghost write the code and I could continue with a new business, but I wasn't ready at that time. Too much responsibility after roughly 6 years of steady travel, little social life, and too many other things going on.<br />
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So I took my sales and support experience and went to work for Michigan Rx. They sold prescription pharmaceuticals to pharmacies. At the time they were in 6 states around MI, but the time McKesson bought them out 3 years later, I had been responsible for branching us out into 35 states by then, and handled a team of 5 sales associates. I went through our stock, made sure what we needed to get rid of, put together our sales flyers, handled support of any customer, and generally worked as a go between on accounts that were past due and the billing department. It was at this time I had my first daughter, then moved to Chicago.<br />
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From there, I worked for PowerDirect. Not necessarily a company I want to discuss, but there it is. Again, I set sales records, handled customer support, and was generally considered the closer on any potential accounts that needed a final closing on. Two years later, I had my second daughter.<br />
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My youngest, is diagnosed ADHD, Bi Polar and ODD (oppositional defiance disorder), and her diagnoses shook my world quite a bit. The mortality rate is not good for them, especially in the teen years. So, I heeded the advice of my mother and quit working to make sure she got whatever she needed in the form of counseling and so on.<br />
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Somewhere along those years of raising my kids, I got introduced to Second Life, and loved the entire concept, not to mention it gave me my social outreach I needed. The only thing that bothered me, was as a single mom of two girls, who was more interested in seeing them get to adulthood than jetsetting my own career, I could never afford my own sim there. Even owning a 1/4 parcel really stretched me thin. So my dear friend, Bob Bunderfeld (who shall NEVER live this down btw) introduced me to another grid where it was far more affordable, more prims, the whole nine yards. I was in heaven. Well, for a short while. A few of us got tired of having issues there, and nothing being fixed and false promises. So we said, we can do this better. And we set out to do just that.<br />
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Here we are today. I look at our residents, our disabled, our different, our single mom's and dad's, our older folks, and sometimes I get a little teary, because I've been there. We get your thanks, and we really do get it. We understand completely. We know for that so many of our residents, this isn't just a hobby, it's a way of life, a way to throw off the rl shackles, the way to express yourself in no other medium. It's a way to be the real you rather than what you're forced to be.<br />
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On that note, I think I've probably rambled enough. See ya InWorldz :)Eleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13447701276538994998noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600649836965533725.post-24457222541022551232010-09-20T23:49:00.000-05:002010-09-20T23:49:14.072-05:00Crazy Week!WOW! That's all I can say... Wow! This weekend really blew us away in terms of concurrency! Our highest records yet for users online, and we got to see how the hardware and software would hold up to it. So I'll cover a bit of that and some of where we see things going, and something I'm working on and something I'm going to be working on hopefully this weekend ;)<br />
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And I just realized I used a whole lot of "somethings" in there! So I guess I have alot to cover! :)<br />
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First, our concurrency definitely showed us some flaws both in the back end code and hardware. We're already addressing these issues with a couple of different solutions in the hardware area and some fixes to come in the software. Surprisingly, the entire system held up though, albeit there were a couple of crashes here and there, but all hands were available this weekend to keep them minimized.<br />
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One of the things I worked heavily on this past week was the payment code for region renewals and such. For anyone who's paid any attention to things (and yes I know you're out there!) you'll have noticed we have two different PayPal accounts. All of the code for renewals was ported to the newer (I won't say new as we've had it a few months now, just was severely underused) PayPal account. This was in preparation for the currency exchange that has landed in my lap. Now, while I wanted this done LAST week, we wanted to make sure we did this right the first time around. Along with this code, alot of hooks were built in by me for various other things such as estate name changes, mainland purchasing, region name changing, etc. The currency exchange part is now ready to be written and tested over the next couple of days, so long as I can keep myself off the grid!<br />
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Official word on the currency exchange will be given on the <a href="http://inworldz.com/">InWorldz</a> site of course, with lots of explanations for everyone!<br />
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In other news, a few might have noticed our screens changed both in the loginscreen and on the main site. This is mainly due to a couple of blogs that circulated this weekend, of which I will not bother linking to. And since we had to change the screens, I did manage to get the original psd's from our web graphics artist who did the original layout for us. So after currency exchange, I will be going through and getting some new pics (I do have some but I intend to use those for the loginscreen) of people's regions to showcase there. Besides, we need a nice showcase area. We have some GREAT pics on the forums already, so I may pull a few of those too ;)<br />
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So, to everyone, I just want to say, WOW what a crazy ride this weekend was, with 311 people online at once! And seriously, I read alot of the blogs this weekend, and I just have to say it's so great to see so much enthusiasm and love for InWorldz out there. We are pushing so hard to get things that people want fixed and to see how many wonderful fans, groupies, or whatever you want to call yourselves, stand behind us, is phenomenal! Thank you, you have no idea what it means to us!Eleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13447701276538994998noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600649836965533725.post-28788888975895342442010-09-13T23:40:00.000-05:002010-09-13T23:40:57.284-05:00Proportional Growth = Proportional IssuesAhhh the joys of growth! As much as I'd like to say I enjoy running around the grid and seeing what our users are up to, sadly, that just doesn't seem to happen. With the growth, comes the growing pains, the support issues, and the day to day problems that crop up that is directly proportional to the size of the community.<br />
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I typically don't tend to pay much attention to our numbers (seriously, I had to find out from our residents on the forums we hit 10k users!), outside of the financial bits anyways. Which means I track the region setups, the currency purchases, the I'z to L's transactions (which will be coming to an end soon!), and our overall financial growth and laying out our projections for expected future growth, and expected costs to be incurred. Since this is theoretically my day off, I managed to pull some numbers that I found of interest, and would like to share. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYFjm2Ob_f99YzR35IUj2pSPVsk6ro3GK18ShnDpXtDxC2yJMPGO1EKSQRjmI2rQ0m8IXOlrhmGREk0T5JpDNusY6-NYvd2LfHPPwHUOoTAkieS1nG1FxGuETx4d1NCf6XIE2Q1vPHRB8/s1600/IW+Growth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYFjm2Ob_f99YzR35IUj2pSPVsk6ro3GK18ShnDpXtDxC2yJMPGO1EKSQRjmI2rQ0m8IXOlrhmGREk0T5JpDNusY6-NYvd2LfHPPwHUOoTAkieS1nG1FxGuETx4d1NCf6XIE2Q1vPHRB8/s320/IW+Growth.jpg" /></a></div>First, let me thank Anyraya for a great chart she did for our growth, up until Aug. 12, which is when we hit 10,000 users. Today, is Sept.13, and we're at 14k+, a 4k user increase in 31 days. Our concurrency is showing strong numbers as we monitored those this weekend with our average ranging over 150 and peaking at 195 at one point. <br />
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As I said, the financials is where I look for our trends. So, without further delay here are some numbers (no, sorry not any actual values for dollars here!):<br />
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Starting around May, we had about 150 regions online, quite a large percentage of those were owned by InWorldz, such as the mainlands and straits, the sandboxes, InWorldz Desert Isle and Island and some oceans we had then, along with the 10 configuration islands. Today, we have well over 500, and InWorldz only owns about 20% of those regions now. This is a huge jump for us, which shows in the financials below:<br />
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Currency purchases, from May to June more than doubled, then doubled again from June to July, and almost doubled from July to August. Our region renewals, this is always such a fun number to calculate btw, doubled from May to June, saw a 45% increase in June to July, then just a slight increase from July to August. The reason for renewals not to see a huge growth is the combined 1 month to 3 month payments along with users who pay up 6 months in advance, so while the number doesn't appear to increase, the monies were taken already and applied somewhere else. New region orders, of course are apparent to anyone paying attention to the growth rate.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA122RAysbgKCI38ueNGS8FlxB5Izx2e1PHs8QNMTlO2YyC-NE8_-_iWRUBvGqRPsed26wMJXlo6SmzROrGcJkq6Amz0oTngt4pQ3_PjwkjIBJAISQFL94Fjj5f5WArNl9-falki-4KIQ/s1600/alien1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA122RAysbgKCI38ueNGS8FlxB5Izx2e1PHs8QNMTlO2YyC-NE8_-_iWRUBvGqRPsed26wMJXlo6SmzROrGcJkq6Amz0oTngt4pQ3_PjwkjIBJAISQFL94Fjj5f5WArNl9-falki-4KIQ/s200/alien1.jpg" width="151" /></a></div>So, why do I bring all this up other than to feed the gristmill of what we're doing? Those statistics also represent something outside of the financials I see day to day. They represent human beings. Well, we think you're all humans anyways... I have heard vicious rumors, erm, nevermind, probably another blog on that!<br />
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Human beings, while we are social creatures (for the most part), we are also not immune to highway accident syndrom I like to call it. HAS is when someone has had an accident on the freeway, and EVERYONE must slow down as they go past to stare at the wreckage... omg, was anyone hurt, is there any blood I can see, I MUST text EVERYONE I know about this and take pictures too! What happens to all the ill-fated drivers behind? Their day goes down the toilet (although do note, they can't stop staring either once they get there, but usually there's nothing left to see of importance which really sucks for them), and they've been slowed down by all the HAS gawkers.<br />
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I refer to, of course, the drama! None of us are immune to it, none of us are able to go our entire life devoid of at least one memorable dramatic moment. In fact, if we didn't crave drama, reality TV would have died a very ugly death long long ago. But I digress. Fact of the matter is, as our world grows, so will it directly grow in proportion to the aforementioned blog post on griefers, trolls and botters, and the drama-centrics. I can't call them drama queens, cause really it's not always the starting of it, but the fueling of it. It's like being a HAS gawker, you just can't help yourself. You have to gawk. You have to stop, stare at the wreckage, and said... WOW! What happens though, when the drama happens? Do you get anything done? Do you sit down to work on that neat hair style you wanted to work on, do you get to go to your fav club for music that night without being embroiled in it? If you find you can't get anything done, congratulations, you are in fact human and have become embroiled in drama, whether you wanted to or not.<br />
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The question is, how do you deal with it? Some, take sides in it, then it turns into a back alley brawl, which can get really out of hand fast. Do you just decide to be a venting board to both sides? Or do you decide the drama looks like too much fun, so instead of creating bruhaha with someone, you just turn schizo and have a huge bruhaha with your inner voices? Whatever the choice you make in how you deal with it, at the end of the day do yourself a favor and sit back and say, did I change or affect anything for the better with my actions? If not, then maybe learn a lesson from there the next go around, and try to find a more practical approach to dealing with whatever drama has hit your life.<br />
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Just remember one thing in all this craziness that is called growth: we have our friends, we have our community, we have some strong bonds in our world, and we have strong opinions (and I thought I was bad!)... try to incorporate as much of that in your day to day life, both in the VW and RL as you can, life's too short for dramafest.Eleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13447701276538994998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600649836965533725.post-14656075489340047912010-09-05T17:40:00.000-05:002010-09-05T17:40:02.212-05:00Happy Birthday Imp!Amidst all the Emerald reborn into Emergence.. reborn into Phoenix (at this point I think I've lost track of what viewer is which now with this team, or who the devs are to be honest) drama, there was one very rocking party going on in <a href="http://www.secondlife.com/">SL</a>, for the <a href="http://imprudenceviewer.org/2010/09/03/imprudences-second-anniversary/">Imprudence Viewer birthday</a>.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNuDkapKQIyb3onNeKt6rVz3ukVUT9EEfa_nTaMP3P55f8AODn-z-zAz0DZYrr76jPPZloMj64lz0bII7UR6B3YOvsrasMv9yTw5q1Dz3uK0nxGGyx76UM8yJ48Lv99JCOUmT8_AdQht0/s1600/ImpBday.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNuDkapKQIyb3onNeKt6rVz3ukVUT9EEfa_nTaMP3P55f8AODn-z-zAz0DZYrr76jPPZloMj64lz0bII7UR6B3YOvsrasMv9yTw5q1Dz3uK0nxGGyx76UM8yJ48Lv99JCOUmT8_AdQht0/s400/ImpBday.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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Alot of our users have migrated to the <a href="http://imprudenceviewer.org/">Imprudence Viewer</a>, due to the drama, and after 2 years of work by the team, it seems they're making a very nice splash for themselves. By all accounts, it runs far smoother than alot of other viewers out there, and the team is completely transparent with their users. I'm quite guilty of not using it much myself, other than today for the <a href="http://www.secondlife.com/">SL</a> party. I can't talk about ANY of the features other than I had purple over my head, and I even wore a hat to match it ;)<br />
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So, without further ado, Happy Birthday Imprudence! May the next year be just as successful (minus the drama) for you all!Eleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13447701276538994998noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600649836965533725.post-48533916334212916122010-09-02T19:54:00.000-05:002010-09-02T19:54:50.690-05:00Griefers, Botters and Trolls... Oh My!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMcEXr96H95mtVcKaMzOVwIcU6CkyNe1ysrl56Rod1cf27N4tkqa9iz3n1lTgjXJSshNv_rKzmF-pqPKMumwBxQ26szqMl60DNX-CSJCLLBRHZuOQoRI5WQThvgqnWCbHjTMGNJBPt8dU/s1600/WickedWitch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMcEXr96H95mtVcKaMzOVwIcU6CkyNe1ysrl56Rod1cf27N4tkqa9iz3n1lTgjXJSshNv_rKzmF-pqPKMumwBxQ26szqMl60DNX-CSJCLLBRHZuOQoRI5WQThvgqnWCbHjTMGNJBPt8dU/s200/WickedWitch.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>I've often wondered if the Wicked Witch of the West would be considered a Griefer, Botter (well, she did wanna copy her lovely sister, or walk in her footsteps so to speak) or a troll. Seriously, she's green, I think that qualifies for trollness... she threw fireballs and tried to block Dorothy's path with destructive behavior, and I already covered the botter part.<br />
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Any of the aforementioned three, can be quite irksome to say the least, but over the years I've gotten pretty good at dealing with two of the categories, and well botters will be botters, so all you really can do is be extra paranoid I suppose. Botters are probably the most destructive though as they can completely wipe a business out in a very short amount time. I sort of throw them in the mix, because there's no joy in it for them really other than knowing they destroyed someone's work, much like a griefer. They are just more insidious in their work, as it takes a little bit of time before realizing that your work has been botted and is now full perm and free in the various markets out there. <br />
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Then you have the griefers. And you sincerely have to ask yourself their motivation in doing silly things like say covering a sim in rezzing objects over and over. Or, blocking pathways with invisible walls. Loading 16k scripts on their avatar to drag a sim down. What exactly drives them to be just plain malicious in other words? Some, are REALLY creative in their tactics, and they get a bit of grudging respect (I said a bit, let's not go off the wall with that comment). So then you have to wonder, with the creative ones, what could they do with themselves if they put that energy to something useful? Not that griefing isn't useful, it is. Seriously. Don't look at me like that, or I take the chair away!<br />
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Griefers DO have their uses, no matter how foul, or how much work it takes to clean up their messes they leave behind, you can always learn something of value. It just depends on if you're willing to look at the lesson learned. For example, how many new land owners, leave their sims open to build on, script on, the whole nine yards? And how do they learn to turn those options off when they can't be there to babysit their region? Someone comes along and whether innocently or not, builds from one prim to a script that can bring the sim to it's knees. Once the mess is cleaned up, watch how fast those little options get turned off. Sometimes, even, when they are using illegal viewers it's handy, as things can get blocked out that shouldn't be allowed through. But that's the point of saying griefers are handy lessons, if one is willing to actually fix the things they show to be broken or exploitable. This is not to say we should welcome them with open arms and never do anything mean to them such as banning, just to look for a lesson learned in the exercise.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsyN-OWAes_MH5R2BYifIwnDBRr-AZVUNKP59maAJXkinKBcnzSGB0Hp0ftQKLD8FjMuywleJeWaAjhkF2sMS3ehGxOm6gM-O1HQ0VszY59MZDZU-fVBVLOMVpKU313Yy_Lna1nbzJC_Y/s1600/trollSign.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="106" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsyN-OWAes_MH5R2BYifIwnDBRr-AZVUNKP59maAJXkinKBcnzSGB0Hp0ftQKLD8FjMuywleJeWaAjhkF2sMS3ehGxOm6gM-O1HQ0VszY59MZDZU-fVBVLOMVpKU313Yy_Lna1nbzJC_Y/s200/trollSign.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Trolls, are a tricky lot though. I live by the golden rule: Do NOT feed the trolls! What a tough rule that is, every ounce of you screams to either pick at them, make fun of them, tell them you're not reading or listening (when, duh of course you are cause you WANT to comment!) or say something snidely. It's tough to ignore the trolls when they've made a successful round. They all have their own interesting tactics... Some play really stupid so you feel the need to correct them, and I think we all fall into that trap at some point or another. Some like to scream how they will grief you to no end if you don't listen to their drivel, which typically means they can't do any griefing. Some show up with just completely OFF the WALL stuff that you sort of cock your head at your monitor and say Huh? Whatever their tactic, once a troll has been identified, the only way of diffusing them is to completely and utterly stop feeding them. It's what they want. They are seeking attention in whatever medium or format they can, and they will sit behind their computer and cackle maniacally as you respond to them (I knew a troll once, this is no joke, was something to behold). Banning them, is generally a futile exercise. For every single troll you ban, there's 5 more lined up right behind them. And while it might fall into a TOS as harassment, can they truly harass you if you don't let them? If you don't feed them, do they really pose a threat? 90% of the time, that answer is no.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcP4pmjxnXy9LNmqKXJam_gpgDTbrXb4XPqu8lbQVEqsWjWc9y_LIk_J1SMBfkBD8cvCIyHXYce37KNcXQjc5A5ytwJV7cDd207h1bHlVxRxi2A9v1AqGVrtNcL-3goyGT9hvt6cyxUg4/s1600/nerd_computer_repair.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcP4pmjxnXy9LNmqKXJam_gpgDTbrXb4XPqu8lbQVEqsWjWc9y_LIk_J1SMBfkBD8cvCIyHXYce37KNcXQjc5A5ytwJV7cDd207h1bHlVxRxi2A9v1AqGVrtNcL-3goyGT9hvt6cyxUg4/s200/nerd_computer_repair.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>We've had all of the above already InWorldz, and we've dealt with the worst 2 of the three. Most Trolls, I simply don't bother with. Banning them is almost like feeding their ego. I can see the little troll sitting at their computer whooping with glee, screaming "MWAHAHAHAHAHA I irritated them so much they banned me! Let me make an alt! BWAHAHAHAHA" Probably in their underwear, with bad hair and breath going on, cans of empty Mt. Dew littering their floor all around them, and half eaten bags of chips, cheetohs and other unidentifiable things that should have been thrown away ages ago. Maybe I'm stereotyping (do NOT ever ask to see my desk!), but this is the mental image I have.<br />
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No matter what they are, griefer, botter or troll, just remember there is always a lesson to be learned or a mouth to be ignored, either which way you choose to deal with it, it will save alot of personal angst down the road, and seriously, stress only makes us all a bit more insane than we currently are!Eleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13447701276538994998noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2600649836965533725.post-47313759604898087992010-09-01T15:54:00.000-05:002010-09-01T15:54:22.331-05:00Eles Lil WorldI decided maybe it's time for a real blog and to actually get into really getting into good convo's outside of the grid.<br />
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So, here we are, my little world. Comments always welcome, it's a great point I think to hear from our residents and so on, and to share ideas, not as a Founder, but more as a regular joe person like the rest of our residents.<br />
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I like the layout on this to be honest, so grab a chair (the nice big overstuffed one there), and sit back, enjoy, read, participate, and whatever else comes across your mind.<br />
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Some of what I'll post in the future is what I see in the grid from a resident perspective, some of the things I've found to help others out, thoughts, rants, and well, who knows what will come out of my heavily disorganized brain.<br />
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Welcome, to my lil world :)Eleniahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13447701276538994998noreply@blogger.com7