June 22, 2007 3:43 PM PDT
A 'Second Life' parody you can't miss
OMG! If this isn't the funniest thing ever, I'm not sure what is.
Following on the lovely "Get a First Life" takeoff of the virtual world Second Life, some crafty folks have produced a YouTube video that shows a real-world take on what life in Second Life is like.
You have to watch it, and if you've never been in Second Life, you might not get it. But if you've ever spent even a minute in that virtual world, you'll probably snort your milk out your nose. Check it out.
Open sourcing it was a desperate attempt to save it. What they don't realize is that if an OSS project is going to work, it has to start with decent code from the get-go.
They need to redesign it from scratch again using an OSS license, but adding well coded opengl, and common sense. And perhaps terrain generators and virtual parks. That software looks like something straight out of the nineties. Try. Again.
When I first joined in 2004, they had inworld help that could assist you with inworld and outworld problems and they did it in a very short time.
Well, this has ceased. NOW you have NO alternative but to WADE through the HEAPS of 'OPTIONS' they offer for 'real' help!
I understand...that is I'm being TOLD I should UNDERSTAND that with the phenominal growth SL has endured in the past two years, they don't have the staff to answer the many, many questions that pop up in a day's time. Now, this may be true...but to have to clk from place to place looking for those places where one can ASK a question and EXPECT an answer is damned near impossible.
SOME of the language they use is soooo techie that unless you have a degree in techie language, you will NEVER find the right place to ask things like: 'Why am I always coming into Second Life as RUTH?(a default who is named RUTH--being 'RUTHED' means you show up with NOT your normal avie but a relatively ugly representation of what your avie is SUPPOSED to look like)
This simple question is ONLY answered when you file a 'ticket'. Then perhaps in 24-1099000 hours you MAY receive an answer--which does NOT reallllly answer much...or offer a solution.
You may be referred to the Jira system (don't ask) to find OTHER SL users who have had the same problem--and there are those who have. These kind people TRY to help you with the things THEY have tried to make 'RUTH' disappear...for GOOD! Now, some of these things work...for a while, orrr....not at all! They have NO hard answers for ANYTHING--just suggestions that work..ooorrrr not!
Questions to do with disappearing inventory, inability to log in, being 'bounced' from sim to sim, inability to find people that you have made 'buddy' lists with, All these things are issues we struggle with daily, in fact, moment by moment at SL. Oh, and have I mentioned 'lag'?
The inability to move around freely because of 'lag', that is the SOMETHING wrong with the servers permitting your avie to move as if it was in a LAKE of molasses! SL or Linden Labs KNOWS about this problem, it is the #1 problem for MOST avies there--and yet they haven't EVER addressed it in a satisfactory manner!
Each time there's an 'update' we wait anxiously to see if THIS time they will make lag the most addressed issue...and each time they fail to 'make it so'. We get promises of 'glorious skies' and other such improvements--but getting rid of lag...so that we can go shopping in deserted malls comfortably...remains on the back burner--causing anxiety and resentment, depression and frustration. This I know from personal experience.
Why do I still go back? BECAUSE I have developed a system of friends and interests that are IMPORTANT not only online, but in the Real World. I have friends in churches there, in some groups that are out there doing good things in the Real World. The connection between Real World and Virtual Reality is bridged for me at Second Life. Those 'Corporations' and businesses who go to SL expecting that they will NOT suffer these indigities are in for a surprise.
I can see where it could be Soooo much more IF Linden Labs would get their collective heads out of the place where the sun don't shine. I love the concept of SL, but I still wish it was a 'CUSTOMER' driven idea...and I wish they would STOP living in techie la la land and give us normal users a BREAK.
DON'T refer me to a page or another blog site that has 'Jira' or some other 'self-help' page--cause self-help ain't NO help if WE don't understand WHAT the hell you are talking about!
Let those who GET THAT stuff read it and enjoy it--give me a CLEAR sentence or two, a paragraph or two--AND an answer that I can UNDERSTAND, K?
AND, for the love of pete, do it ASAP...so I know you CARE about the fact that I'm PAYING your salary by PAYING my monthly membership fees, AND my tier fees (fees for Virtual Land you buy at SL). I'm a CUSTOMER, K? I COUNT--even IF I'm not a millionaire; a corporation; a business! SL was built on the backs of the SINGLE person concept--guess what? IT WORKED--why throw that away now? Do you THINK that a single customer cannot become CEO of a MAJOR corporation down the road? THINK again, it happens EVERY day!
I WANT SL to succeed, I realllly do, because I think it's a concept that moves others in the world to become more than they are now...but you, Linden Lab, need to GIVE us the THINGS WEEEEEEEEE want--not what YOOOOOUUUU are willing to GIVE us! Give us our lag-free environment FIRST; give us our RUTH-free avies FIRST; give us our INVENTORIES BACK; give us our Transports back--do what is BASIC and then...and ONLY then give us the upgrades you want to give us!
K, now I'm off to TRY to log in...again; to TRY NOT to be 'RUTH' again once I get there; to TRY to find all my stuff in the Inventory where I put it; and to TRY to get to my meetings where I'm doing what I can to advance YOUR agenda in RL.
I want to be PROUD to say I belong to SL, not to read online here in this newsletter that SL people are disatisfied, griping, grumbling addicted citizens...unhappy and yet unwilling to let go of what could be the BEST thing EVER online!