Idol Linden or Beggar Linden?

It could be that the SL general populance mistakenly got the impression that the Lindens were Gods the night that they saw Lee Linden dressed as the Aztec God Quetzalcoatl with Char dressed as the Goddess Tezcatlipoca sacrificing fresh newbies at the temples near Furu. Lee was screaming "worship me you little 404 worms" and Char's evil cackle echoed against the cold bloody temple stone.

Yup, I remember it well. Newbie blood flowed freely on the temple steps that night in June. None of that "Badger, Badger" crap, no evil penguins, the furries were hidden, shivering in the SL forests, hell even the mole people knew better than to crawl by.

The FIC were all wearing black and chanting (except for Aimee - Phillip Linden's, I mean, the devils hand mainden), she was wearing a scarlet robe with wings to match. She was tossing the newbies to Lee.

It's difficult not to think of the Lindens as Gods after witnessing a scene like that.

AH I see you werent one of the Ancients that fled through the worm hole of the stargate that night...damn didnt you get the Memo???

Being one of the most (if not the most) active Linden engaging in the transfer/trade of resident-created objects, I ALWAYS insist on paying users for their objects.

I would never ask anyone for something expecting to not have to pay for it. Personally, I think that'd be rude and presumptuous.

Many times residents "give" me objects as a gesture of good will, but I personally feel that everyone should be given their due. Therefore I often engage in lighthearted verbal judo to strongarm them into accepting my money. The only time I've ever threatened to put a "God Mode Smackdown" on someone was when they refused my money.

I appreciate the gestures, but I don't view myself as anyone special who deserves benefits or special treatment because my last name is spelled a certain way.

I'm a regular guy, doing a job. And if that means I need your car, outfit, or hair to do it, I'm gonna pay you for it. If you refuse... I have a gravity gun and God Mode on my side.

As far as using God Mode to copy an object or take an object without a resident's knowledge or consent, that NEVER crosses my mind. Not even an option as far as I'm concerned.

-Bub

PoV 1. Looking from the real world into SL you have a company in SF who developed a 3D interactive 'space'. Users from RL go to the space and do their thing. When things go wrong or the 'space' needs expanding or upgrading then the Linden employees get to work and do their stuff.

PoV 2. Looking from inside SL, Thousands of avs who see only the land around them, land that magically appears from nowhere. They can fly, even create prims from thin air, but they can not create land. Only the Gods can do that. Sometimes the Gods visit, taking on the form of avs like the users in order to inform the new borns of the ways of SL and generally interact with the mortals...



So are the Lindens 'just employees' or more? It all depends on your point of view.
I would sujest that those who see SL as 'just another game' would take option 1. Those of us who know SL is way more than that may well go as far as option 2, though personally I feel a halfway point would be a better description.

Shadow you will have to show me that worm hole some night (not the worm, the worm hole).

With the addition of the new continent I have a fear that there will be a repeat of the same sort of Linden sacrificial worship.

I mean we have the volcano and the temples, what will be next, the Druid burning of the man in the basket?

I've heard rumors about their making Newbies run naked through the new forest while one of the Lindens wearing staghorns and a loin cloth hunts them down and mates with them.

I think I really want to be through the worm hole on THAT night.


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Do any Linden's have alts?

<chums the water with Prok bait>

lol this cracks me up... what kind of gods are we talking about? hard drinking norse gods? backstabbing, political, horny, extremely-human-like Greek gods? omniscient and reasonably benevolent (unless you're a fire and brimstone adherant) second testament god? multi-faceted, multi-faced representations of the one truth Hindu gods?

of course at the same time, your definition kind of implies that all SL customers are gods, just some with greater powers than others. What a messy pantheon, eh?

I wonder, when god first created fire, did the other gods say "you copied my idea!" ?

I can't think of a diplomatic way to say this, so I will just be blunt: some of the customer base is really stupid, childish, and immature, and requests for an object from a Linden might strike them as a form of extortion by someone who is a combination bully, teacher, principal, hall monitor, policeman and prison guard all wrapped up in one, with magic powers to boot. This would be the same type of stupidity and emotional immaturity as displayed by one person who was heart broken when the person they "fell in love" with after one night of fun started wanting to get paid for their av sex.

A number of SL customer's see forum moderation as totalitarianism, and filing abuse reports as murder, and the Linden Lab company as a police state, so it would be pretty consistent with that point of view to see a request for an object as a form of extortion.

Thank goodness I don't see things that way. The liaisons are customer service representatives who have a tough job, and I would be really pleased if I made something nice enough that they wanted to have one. If one of the programer Lindens though I made a scripted object neat enough that they wanted one I would be dancing with pride.

I never said antying about a Worm...just the hole...only worm I know is at the bottom of a bottle of Ta Kill ya..

That got me thinking... (lookout...) We have water, land and air built into the backbone of SL. But why not fire? It is afterall one of the prime elements..

I am thankful I don't see things that way either... unless "tacky" or "odd" has the same meaning.

If a Linden IM'd me? Unsolicited?

I would write a letter to my Mom. I wouldn't wash my keyboard fingers for a month. I would plant a tree with an engraved plaque to commemorate the occasion. I would finally realize the futility of my petty pursuits, give away all of my possessions and start a new life of charity and mercy, traveling from town to town helping the sick and the needy.

Seriously, any Linden can have anything they want from me any time they want. Where would I be without SL? Stuck with RL?

(Except the source code to my scripts, of course.)

(Oh, and my land, they can't have that.)

(And the poses are mine. They are a LOT of work. Sheesh, no, they can't have those.)

(Well, OK, anything I got for free they can have for free.)

Buster

As soon as my ribs stop hurting from laughing my ass off, I'm going to have to get a mop to clean up all the coffee spit all over my computer and monitor.

Bub Linden wants to meet you on the eve of beltane. He will be wearing staghorns and a loin cloth.


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On the do Linden's have alts - Who the hell do you think Aimee is????
Secondly, I've been asked for stuff from the lindens and I gave it. It's a nice thing to do.

There was that one time Bub smacked me around, but then he paid me for it....

Yeah, uh please don't speak for me. Things get lost in the "filter." I never said anything about a loin cloth.

-Bub

<sigh> How 'in-crowd' do you have to be to see Bub naked?

Um, there's a simple thing you do here. You direct the Linden to your store where they may purchase your object for the price set on it for the market and the general public. This isn't Animal Crossing where we're selling to Tom Nook, and not the Middle Ages where the craftsmen society barters and trades. This is the modern world where prices are the lynchpin to bring a willing buyer and a willing seller together rapidly and successfully. If someone would prefer to play haggling bazaar, a more conservative and ancient tradition, where my personal connections and my relationship to your wife's brother play a role in that price transaction, then play bazaar. Let the Linden, with his godlike custodial monkey-wrench powers, pay a higher or lower price depending on how you view him. I find that an obstacle to the game's modern free economy, but hey, it's your game on your lot.

I got an Easter teddy bear from a Linden. Imagine! I heard a tenant talk about it, and IM'd that Linden just to see if it worked for any of the common folk. I got the bear merely because they were left, I think, not because that Linden thought I might scream on the forums (I might have). Now I'm mulling it over, and I think I'd like to pay that Linden for that bear. So I will pay her $50 which is about what it is worth. She's going to return that $50 to me saying that she can't accept financial gifts and her huggy bear is just a huggy bear *hugz*. But I will tell her that if her company can make thousands from the ebay sponsored links, she oughta make a little on the side from her hugzy bear.

Lindens are the gods in a MUD-sense. If this is a game they are clearly the immortals...

Bub Linden rules.

I was preaching his gospel to potential followers of the Bub one night and out of thin pixels he appeared. After blessing us all, he reassured us that we are safe with his words: "Do not fear, because Daddy is here." And he left as quickly as he arrived.

Bub rules a lot. I don't know how IN crowd you have to be to Bub naked tho. Even I've never seen that much. Daddy makes everything better.

You'll wear the horns though right? Pretty Please?

I just can't imagine anything hotter than a naked Linden wearing horns.

/*** looks over shoulder for Catherine Linden

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I give stuff out to the lindens sometimes, if they answered a question i had about something i'm building or scripting, and it helped me get it to work, i'll give them a copy of the object to show them what i was aiming at.. But then i'll do that to other residents too if they help me out with something...

i really don't charge for much of what i do in SL anyway unless its on a comission basis, mosta my general work is stuff jus either useful, or fun, and i generally give it out if i think it'll have some use to somebody.

If a particular object required a particularly clever trick, or was extremely time consuming, i will generally make it for sale, and then try and find a way to minimize that with a newer version, which i then give away for free (tho often with a slightly smaller scope or scale of effect (i generally do particles). So i mean if a linden goes 'wow those fireworks look neat, i'll give them a launcher, and if a resident goes 'wow those fireworks look neat' i'll give them a launcher too.

The only other time i've given things to lindens was for help with permissions bugs, and honestly thats important enough stuff i am far more concerned in getting the bugs identified and repeatable, than in fretting over 'my rights' to the objects, after all if it is for sale, and the permissions break, then no one has any real 'rights' anyway

All of this attitude sums up what is wrong with SL and what constitutes the chief stumbling block to its growth.

Totally agree!

Some of you get so starstruck if you see 'Linden' as a last name. Yeah sure, I like the ones I've had dealings with but they are merely employees of the company that hosts the game. If they want something they should buy it. If they feel they cannot make the experience better for members because they cannot afford to buy anything they need to go to Uncle Philip and get him to increase their stipend.