THe FIC

Awww...you guys are ruining the FIC for me

It should be fresh, fun and pine-scented! The FIC has to be real...

Next thing, you'll be trying to tell me there's no Santa...

Santa is a FIC Linden atl griefer...

He gave me an ipod for christmas I'm in with the love fest!

Nice feet, were they wrapped when you were a child? Surely you were oppressed by someone!

mmm Willow wrapped in bacon, what a tasty breakfast treat!

I'll up it to $5,000L Blaze.

$6,000L total says SL will make if past six months from today!

I'll bet you 1 L$ I never made that prediction.

Oh no, I'm on another fools' errand?!

You know I read all this after what I said to Nolan before and it still holds water no holes punched in it lately.

The FIC is still a very rampent Idea of book learned association to societal workings that Prokofy holds dear and near to his/her/its heart ((sorry have to be PC so I dont offend))

But Blaze,(...LMAO) I have 9 Band wagons blaze each with a different topic of discussion which one will you jump on or will it be Musical Band Wagons for you?

Condsider these personal attacks if you wish I consider them insight into individual mentalities expressed through continued spouting of circular rhetoric that lead back to the same ass they came out of in the first place.

To put it simply if we were to remove Prokofy and Blaze from the equation would the FIC exist any longer other than as a joke?
No! it wouldn't as it never existed in the first place.
All the societal references that are repeated and all the finger pointing that is done is simply from the stand point of individuals that are sincerely jealous of others and their
abilities.
To assume any different is folly and falling into the "Mob" claimoring that these words are meant to induce.

I'm sorry I don't follow so blindly down that path that what one individual says is oh so true that it must be.

But I do think its funny as hell all the sheep that follow these opinions and think they are true without questioning further into the realistic aspects of it all.

I think I have said enough for now and wish everyone the best but to be honest it doesnt matter what I say as according to the "Sooth Sayers" I am feted because I sell and I talk to lindens and I have a great multitude of friends. But am I feted, I think not as I simply speak my mind make my stuff and have fun otherwise the rest is all dramatic and conjecture and I typically other than delving into the forums dont put up with it in world.

Take care and have a nice day.

Sincerely, Shadow Weaver.

OK, here's a question.

"But...what if there was a different story? What if the visitor comes to the small village, and find that they are smug, insular, self-referential, besotted, feted, sitting on forever-subsidized 4096 acre plots of land, making state-socialist clone builds, getting state waivors on tier or purchase price, getting state developer awards, etc. etc. etc."

As you know, I'm new to SL, but I have gotten the idea that once upon a time things were different, and possibly easier for newcomers, in the following ways:

1. That people were able to get land without paying tier on it, and never would have to pay tier on it ("forever-subsidized 4096 acre plots of land". That people who came into the game during a certain time period can have much more land (and the resultant prims - it's all about the prims!) without ever having to worry about paying for it every month with rl money.

2. Ratings - that ratings once cost only $1, and so people rated each other like crazy and got lots of Lindens every week for it. But now they cost $25 each, so people don't do this so much anymore (certainly I can't afford to, so I ignore this whole facet of the game).

3. "State developer awards" - not sure what this means, but putting it together with, I think it was Blaze's, call for contests for new players, I assume it means that the well-known, already-established and already Linden-feted players also get these awards. (I'm not saying they don't deserve them; just that there are no comparable rewards and contests for newer players.)

4. That people could once hold events and get subsidies for doing so, so that they could hold games and have prize money to offer, etc., but now the only event with built-in pay is to hold classes for building and scripting, and you are paid only if a certain number of people attend.

So, is all this true?

When I think of the "feted inner core," I think of the responses I get when I bring up the need for players, especially new players, to have more ways to make money in the game, and have more things that are fun and lucrative to do that don't involve skills in building or scripting.

Whenever I bring this up, I get told things like (a) we were all new once and in the same boat as you, (b) you just have to learn to make a product people like, and (c) stop being greedy and envious. Or (d) go buy money, or, even worse, you don't need money anyway to enjoy the game.

Well, it seems to me that we weren't in the same boat at all. That the playing field for new players now and players who enjoyed advantages 1-4 above is not in the slightest equal.

So that is what irks me, and that's what makes me believe in FIC. Understand, though, that I don't mind nearly so much that FIC exists as I do the condescending comments I keep hearing (a-e above) when I voice my idea of what would make the game better and attract more new players. It does start to sound like they are just more interested in protecting the status quo, which just so happens to favor them.

I think things were different when those players joined the game, and they have basically no idea of what it is like to join now. I know my entire game would be vastly different if I had a 4096 plot of land I didn't have to pay for monthly, to name just one of the differences.

Try joining the game RIGHT NOW and see what you find. Try even IMAGINING joining the game right now and consider the options (or lack of them) for what a player can do to enjoy a modest amount of success (i.e., make a "living", and enjoy the game and their home in it without spending a rl fortune.

When I joined the game, I saw this challenge, and I formed my own way of meeting that challenge, difficult though that way may be, so please, PLEASE don't offer me any well-meaning advice delineating where I, personally, am going wrong, when I am trying to point out where the GAME is going wrong.

Also, I think most of the FIC (assuming, of course, for the sake of argument, that it exists - which I think it does - and without putting any value judgment on it as bad or good) is completely blind to the fact that there need to be other and equally lucrative ways to succeed in this game besides building things and scripting. That is just so incredibly limiting and boring, when you think of all the things that could be done in this game.

The village does need more variety, more categories of livelihoods than stores and real estate. Entertainment, for instance, is a category that is sorely lacking.

coco

You know Coco some people think that others that make all the statements like I do dont consider the new member.

For a Year now I have been as an experiment been testing other "Avatars" to see how hard it is to make money in world.

I do have to admit its not very hard. None of which is based on the skills my Primary has.

Now why would I do something like that.
Why would I for a moment presume to make a "New" charature and deny myself of the abilities that I have earned in the past.

A. because I have learned that when you walk a mile in another persons shoes you are more in tune with their needs.

B. being fair is the way to approach things instead of having an assumed sense of judgement.

C. by doing that you find out how people really are.

So, how do you make money as a new avatar.

You question everybody.
You give people the oportunity to excell and be better than others portrey them.
You learn and sometimes you may even learn something new.
But most of all you approach it with an open attitude.

So far I have found that the "Feted" are not as "Feted" as people think.
They are very simple wonderful loving people that are misrepresented because they were addressed in a haughty "you better do what I say attitude."
Hell, if I was approached the way some people approach a "Feted accused" avatar the way some people approach them with my test avatars I'd be just as big an ass as they were to them.

Sorry folks its all about perception and treating people the way you want to be treated. If you treat them like an anus they will treat you as such and the same goes if you treat them nicely.

Another thing that comes to mind is this, if you worry about everyone else and what they are doing then in the end it will cause you to fail as you will waste all your energy in trying to keep up with the Jones's than focusing on bettering yourself.

Anyway I digress.

Shadow.

Coco,

I joined in August, so I don't think I'm one of the FIC. And while when I started rates were $1, I' didn't have the free land tier. I believe that was for beta testers. Kind of the same way in TSO they have Simmy's and Anniversary statues and trees. I came here from TSO because I wanted the freedom to create. In TSO I paid for 3 accounts so I could have some help with property limits in some cities. So the $30 a month was more than what I pay here if I had the 4096 tier. But of course I chose to go higher.

I can't imagine what SL would have been like without the "people already here". Yes things changed, but that happenes in every game.

I think everyone things it would be nice for all people, even new people to make money. The main way is through creative ways, since the game is based on being creative. I also have friends who have fun without having extra money. Or they splurge every once in a while. Even if you do the premium, in my opinion, that is the best option because you get some money every week.

As for entertainment, it's the same as in TSO, you can make your own. I try to have games and different kind of meetins when I'm not busy landscaping or hanging out.

I wish we could all just enjoy this game and not pit old players against new players.

This is a mouthful right here.

Last night we CityGirls threw a fashion contest open for all designers younger than 6 months. Let me tell you, some of this work was breathtaking and some of the contestants are already making a big splash in the fashion section of the forums.

I don't think any of the usual folks that write FIC threads would recognize their names because they don't post here. They are far too busy creating great clothing. But because of their artistic skill, hard work, and dedication you will eventually see them. You will see them in SL Promotional images, you will see them hanging with Lindens, you will see them working on Linden sponsored projects. And shortly after all this, you will see them stand accused of being FIC.

It reminds me of the old saying "People who work hard get all the luck".

Aimee,

I think the argument can be made that if you have a Fansite listed on the Second Life web page, you are FIC.

*Grins*

You DO know ANYBODY can have a fansite, right? All you need to do is place the proper trademark notices on your site and submit it to the Lindens and *POOF* you're FIC!

I just FIC-ed in my pants when aimee said that.

So uhm... someone with a bigger ego than yours crooked their finger at you?

... So what if a Mentor lambasted you? What if a newbie lambasted you for wearing goofy pants? If it's not against TOS or CS -- so what?

People have done plenty of things to me that are not against TOS or CS, but they are 'mean'. The Linden response has been, "Sorry. Can't do anything about it, not against TOS or CS". I get my "feelings hurt" several times a day in SL. It's a popular sport. On SL you have to learn to adapt to it.

So someone has a Mentor tag. You know that this doesn't mean they have any actual power.

As far as your encounters with Ulrika go, you may think she's a genius. If so, some others feel that you are misguided. It has nothing to do with her crossing oldbies, and everything to do with her manner of self-aggrandizing while belittling others.

Nobody has 'rank' here. The '4096 subsidized plots' that you guys talk about, were actually paid for. That sort of thing happens in the real world all the time. (Expensive early-adopter devices with 5 year warranties, vs cheap-ass wal-mart devices with 90 day warranties.) Early adoption incentives are used to head off initial development costs.

It's not a state subsidy. They were paid for. Just at a different price than now. LL needed money quick, to get rolling. Some people forked it over.

Blaze, repeatedly, you bring up stuff like "a Mentor lambasted me", "Senior people were all over this".

You act as if for some reason they actually have some sort of authority for being a Mentor or being senior. These people who YOU think have authority, didn't approve of you.

They don't actually have authority. And I think somewhere, you know that.

"The '4096 subsidized plots' that you guys talk about, were actually paid for. That sort of thing happens in the real world all the time. (Expensive early-adopter devices with 5 year warranties, vs cheap-ass wal-mart devices with 90 day warranties.) Early adoption incentives are used to head off initial development costs. "

What do you mean?

coco

1. The lifetime accounts were available to anyone, when the entire system was running under different rules. You bought a liftime account to avoid paying monthly fees, as tier did not exist then. Since the rules of the game changed, as it were, those with lifetime accounts were given the 4096m2 of land tier as compensation. Otherwise people like myself would have paid $225 for less than 3 months of service. In today's SL, 4096m2 is not a lot of land compared to what people tend to own, and many of these lifers are paying sim-sized tier fees on top of that. To top it all off, the number of active lifers is a vast minority.

2. The $1 ratings will, in about 4 months, be completely purged from ths system due to the rolling dropoff, making this 'bonus' rather moot. Most of them are gone already, most especially from the longest time players that were so utterly Linden-feted.

3. Dwell-based "dwelloper incentives" have no regard to how long someone has been in-world. You can be a week old and get one if you make some place popular enough. There was only one judged contest run, to my knowledge, where residents (any resident could enter) created an item to be placed into the starter inventory, along with some L$ reward. I can't even remember the winning item, or how much the prize was. So that should be an indication of how important this was in the scheme of things.

4. Yes, event payment was once available for all events. This is to encourage a growing world, to give people something to do. It is rather unfortunate that many users saw, and used, it as welfare and became dependant on it. But the world does not need this support like it once did, so it has been reduced in favor of encouraging classes to help fellow residents.

In short, don't believe the overhyped FIC claims that we've come to expect from certain users. Hopefully this has helped. ;)

Lifetime accounts, with the 4096 plots, were not just handed out to all 'oldbies'. They were offered for a price, and those who chose to, paid $200+ US for their lifetime accounts.

Yeah, we bought into the FIC... oh.. did I say that or just think it? *blush*

Excellent! inspiration Aimee. I will be including you as a SLICK!

What you don't know about SLICKs?

Click to SLiCKs (SL Inspired Cool Kids)

Aweee <3

The only reason to pay any attention to the whole FIC nonsense is to be ever watchful that Phil might have a bad hair day and start paying attention to it. Otherwise it isn't worth spit. Thank you very much.

Maybe we should have a Fete? Scandalousl blondes love them! (So do Scandalous brunettes and Redheads, and pinks and greens and powder blues...etc.).

Lots of talk about the inner core, but the active part is fete! As long as I am properly feted, then who cares if I am inner or outer core.

So lets throw a fete in the central park in midnight city. Or better, on the prim rig!