Do we dare face SL's 5 worst evils?
by Mony Markova
In myth, Pandora was the first woman ever to be created. She was fashioned from clay and blessed with every gift the gods could grant. With evil intentions Zeus endowed her with a box to present to the man who married her, who opened the box unleashing all the evils and diseases to afflict the world. Only hope lingered at the bottom of the box to console humans. Come closer, and look into Second Life’s own Pandora’s box. Start with the fifth ugliest worm of the metaverse:
#5 What the hell are you anyway!?
With all the new residents we are getting after EA Land’s demise, who of course are very welcome, we are seeing a new set of citizens, experienced yet sometimes sad expatriates from that soon to be lost world. One of them gave me the best ever ice breaker line I have been approached with: “Are you real or a computer-generated character?”
And after the fun I had because never been offered the opportunity to pass as a talking bot, the question reminded me about the identity thing, especially as I had heard that more than 70% of all female avatars in SL are actually men.
So let’s look into official LL statistics to search for the answer. This data does not account for the character or ALTs that are created afterwards – and this is most accurate statistic available and the good news for those hopeful romantics and heterosexual (not fantasy oriented) is that 41% of avies are created by a woman.
Interestingly enough, only 35% of avies were created by a woman in September 2003 (almost 70% as street says) a relevant 6% growth of females in five years. This as a population shift as to be a big one if you ask me.
Of course, it remains to be answered what the percentage of female vs. male avatars is. And that one beats me. However you also need to ask how many male avies are actually women? Ha-ha – You forgot that one, right?
If you feel gender paranoid, you can easily estimate the “mmm” factor at any place in two steps. Quickly calculate the percentage of female avies present and compare it to the 41% data I just gave you… and you have the “mmm” factor at that place. Don’t try this approach at shoes or hair stores.
#4 Evil Griefing!
This one needs no introduction but perhaps some classification. The SL Police Department, based at San Miguel, is a non-role play organization that includes real-life officers along with normal citizens. It is a serious volunteer organization that defines griefing in the following way:
“Griefing can take many forms in Second Life, from shooting, bombing and pushing to more subtle forms such as intimidation, spamming and harassment. Griefers may be classified as follow:
* Weapons Tester: Uses new weapon purchased on residents without their permission
* Weapons Abuser: Hits a lot of people with a weapon. A Hit & Run griefer fires and leaves the area
* Hit & Run Viewer: Griefs first, then hides or remains out of site in order to watch the reaction of residents.
* Experienced Griefer: Usually has high-powered weapons systems and/or scripts.
* Scammer: Attempts to steal Lindens by using some form of scam or malicious scripting.
* Griefing Groups: Organized single group, with one locale, but will migrate to other areas upon discovery. Usually they are found in areas of mass traffic, info hubs, Help Island, Freebie Warehouse.”
For more information contact Chief Mysha Milland and ask her about the 911 hotline available as a free service, metaverse wide. If in need you can call in the good guys in seconds.
#3 Living in a Barbie Economy!
For some, it seems natural to come to SL and try to become rich. It’s like a quest. Well, once more, armed with LL statistics, I offer my ever-cynical view of the current state of the Barbie Economy in Second Life.
First a reclaimer (vs. a disclaimer) Even though we understand that Second Life offers real business capabilities, the regular citizen don’t seem to be making the most of it. There’s a joke in a business magazine that reads, “First thing we need to do is destroy the public notion that the best things in life are free.” The second factor is high land maintainance payments; but let’s not get too technical here - we are just looking at the worms, not killing them!
In Philip Linden’s interview by The New York Times, Dec 13, 2007 the then-CEO of LL stated that “More than 40,000 people in SL make a profit” Since we like precise and accurate numbers, we will make that figure 40,000 and forgive Philip the “more than” expression. Maybe those few more were LL employees, which are less than 90 people. Excuse the pun, dear Philip, but your numbers seem odd.
So if 40,000 people were making a profit and the population was 11,704,934, that give us… that 0.34% of avatars created in SL history have ever made a profit! Even though that exclamation is correct it seems somewhat unfair: 1 in every 300 avatars in history make a profit? Yikes! Philip, in your new role please, don’t give away statistics. Let Mr. Kindon, the new LL CEO, do that from now on. How should we read LL figures then?
If you are 100% for the business deal you need to factor in real manpower hourly values into it and a broadband connection. You see? But that is also something we could discuss in other opportunity, when we set to kill the worms.
So let's face it. We need to advance in creating new solutions and new agreements even among citizens. This is why SL Barbie Economy it’s the 3rd worst worm in SL Pandora’s box.
Now let’s look into the next one.
#2 Loving for L$ spacebucks is easy and pays well - what other options exist?
So let me make clear this is not against escorting for pleasure or money -- this is against the lack of alternatives as good income jobs! And yes this is a consequence of the #3 worm, until we have a stronger economy we will have stronger jobs. This one is placed higher than Barbie Economy because it affects the individual.
The money made in cyber sex industry and the ease-of-entry into makes them a feasible proposition. Just compare them out: A non-cyber sexual greeter job at an average club pays from L$100 to L$300 per day. If you are lucky enough to become a host for a rock star, you can make ten times that. But these positions are few. If you are a columnist or media whore, as we writers have been tagged, you can get paid from L$1,000 to L$2,500. Hey, if you torture your readers with more text, you get paid more! So keep reading please.
Oh, and before I forget: Camping! Just a note – not only does it completely sucks but it’s an example of a poorly understood statistic –popularity – resulting in a self-fooling strategy. Die all you empty bots! Yes the ranking of popularity need to improve.
Cyber Sex pros claim to make up to L$10,000 a trick. If you manage a group of cybersexual pros or if you or your staff are into kinky stuff, this figure has been claimed to be higher. However, a very dedicated sex dancer at an average joint will make about US$4 per day after connecting for more than five hours. Hi Arwana, follow the bots to the beach please!
We are living in a Barbie Economy where the cheapest trick is to lend you avie for cyber fun. But behold the #1 hard to face ugliest worm of SL:
#1 What hides beyond Second Life Enchantment?
If you are affected by this you might deny it. Also its true that many people manages it correctly finding a correct balance between real life and SecondLife.
Beyond normal use, some people develop an attachment that can be very unhealthy to them and their RL loved ones. Worst of all, this very ugly worm could have consequences to LL when someday something gets way out of hand, and a law firm comes chasing worm owners.
This one is hardest to look upon, and sadly a crude reality many of us have experienced. The reason to have it as worst worm today is because it goes beyond the boundaries of our metaverse and it is affecting more people in an often terrifying way than you could imagine, we need to stop looking the other way.
Don’t believe me? Consider the situation with larger companies like IBM, Cisco, Sun and others. I asked two SL citizens, who happen to work for two of those organizations, if their companies provided them with any guidance before asking them to join and explore the platform. Both said no. There was no warning or any form of preparedness before being sent in.
Now watch this BBC series and see for yourself the size of the danger.
1. http://youtube.com/watch?v=PniWHuv9Xko
2. http://youtube.com/watch?v=0s5CTLRVUPY
3. http://youtube.com/watch?v=G91yGTVE3cg
4. http://youtube.com/watch?v=06J89zCJGac
And the following blog with real-life cases is chilling enough to scare a hard core Second Lifer – maybe especially hardcore second lifers. It’s been running since January 2004 and still gets entries periodically.
Or visit what is left of SL Awareness Addiction inside world at http://elliptic.typepad.com/elliptic_blog/2004/01/second_life_add.html
Hope on the bottom of Pandora’s Box
In our adventures in SL this has to be the beginning, not the end. Did you recognize any of these realities personally? Were you surprised? Do you dislike them?
Of course we left out other ugly worms that somehow did not make the list, (maybe because I made it at my own personal taste) but what about, lag, or technical difficulties… hey name your worms if you like, my final offering is a question.
Can we find hope?
Next time… let’s look at the other side of the mirror Second Life’s Five great Wonders.