06-24-2003 15:24
The week leading up to the Big Launch Party seemed destined to be loaded with Blotter-filling mayhem. In the same way that the last days of school before Summer break provides students with the courage to pull the fire alarm, the Police Blotter had expected the last days of Beta to be characterized by a breakdown in resident deportment.

In the end, any plans to disrupt the festivities failed to materialize. Bold promise to leave Second Life with a bang came off as a whimper. Sure, residents of Hawthorne and Jessie found the hidden plasma turrets to be a hassle, but everything was quickly cleaned up and no one seemed overly upset. So much for ‘Shock and Awe’.

The real action, these days, is land disputes. Tennant fights landlord, neighbor argues with neighbor, and before you know what happened a small scale war is underway! Investigation of such incidents invariably reveals both sides of the dispute to be full of righteous anger, convinced of their moral superiority. In the majority of cases, everyone’s acted a bit foolishly.

In a perfect world, the two sides in these disputes would come together and devise an equitable solution. In practice, everyone gets angry and pulls out the guns, banning scripts, and curse words and everyone ends up suspended. It’s easy to go too far when the blood gets hot, but the Community Standards do not hold “crime of passion” to be a valid excuse. I’ll throw a bone to all the Classics majors and let Cicero sum it up: Legum servi sumus ut liberi esse possimus.

Finally, allow me to pass on the launch week Naked News in the most felicitous manner possible -- Blotter Haiku:

A Glowing Ball Drops
To Honor commercial Launch –
Where are your pants?

Naked in PG,
Punishment is sure to come;
A warning, this time.

Statistics: Fifteen complaints of harassment, intimidation, or vandalism, four complaints about voting farms, seven instances of inappropriate content on a PG sim, four reports of disruptive behavior, and two complaints of an undisclosed nature. As a result of these complaints and our subsequent investigations, six residents were suspended, seven warnings were issued, and two cases are still pending.