BAN .:BLOODLINES: The Thirst:.

I am a Bloodlines: The Thirst Vampire.

I joined of my own free will because the name itself is based on the Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines RPG game set in books and PC games that I have played since they first hit the scene several years ago.

I have been a Bloodlines Vampire for just under 30 days.

I thought I was getting into something that was similar. I didn't do any research first, just saw the name, was attracted to the idea, put two of my passions together, and asked to be bit, and converted.

I have had no training on how to "hunt" or "proper" techniques.

I was at a friends business in-world today, scanned a person who had came in, saw they were "fresh meat", and sent a request to bite.

I was denied with the sweet message you get when you are denied "So and so does not wish to be bit at this time" or whatever it says.

I left them alone. No spam. No repeat offers. Done.

I was soon approached by her friend who started yelling at me, well at my sister who was standing next to me and had no clue I had even sent the request to begin with, but it was meant for me had that someone paid attention. Needless to say, this person was also a Bloodlines member and was with an entire posse from her clan, including her queen.

My sister approached the accuser and requested her apology and the process then involved the queen herself who informed me of several things, including how the "potions" created by Bloodlines are there because of people "like me" who just spam a bite without asking (I thought it was actually ASKING, not trying to "trick" other users... I wish I had paid more attention to the request sent to me when I joined).

So I decided, better late than never, to do some in-world research... and returned to the Bloodlines sim itself, where I went briefly to buy my HUD when I joined.

After wandering the hall looking at everything, I noticed a suggestion box by the exit.

Here is what I wrote for my suggestion:

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Today, I was hunting and was approached by a queen from one of the clans for Bloodllines, who remarked at my being rude and in need of manners because I had simply scanned someone and then sent a Bite Request to that person.

Whether this is proper tactics or frowned upon is not the point here but what was said afterwards that made me think.

I was told that hunting in this way is "tricking" people into being bit because people may not understand, may just click to close, or may be busy and click by mistake, on the accept link in the menu, thus losing thier soul to limbo until they choose to play.

I was told that this is the reason the potions were made, especially the Wormwood potion, to give people the opportunity to regain their human souls when tricked into being bit.

So here is my question... WHY ARE WE CHARGIJNG FOR SOMETHING WHEN WE ARE CLEARLY STEALING FOMR PEOPLE BY TRICKING THEM INTO IT TO BEGIN WITH?????

The WORMWOOD potion should be ABSOLUTELY FREE of charge... we should NOT be making money off of stolen souls.

I think that ALL potions should essentially be free if they work to return you from vampirism/lost soul (WORMWOOD, NIGHTSHADE, and HEMLOCK) situations. IT IS IMMORAL to charge for any of these at all. Why?

WORMWOOD: I hunted and "TRICKED" someone into being bit. They lost their soul to limbo because of it and a portion of their humanity as well... would you charge a victim of a mugging to give him his belongings back??????

HEMLOCK: WHY is it the fault of the vampire under the Leige that was destroyed that they are now in the abyss? It is not their fault by any means. If my leige is destoryed for not feeding, how do I become responsible for that????? AND HOW THE HECK ARE YOU GONNA CHARGE ME FOR WHAT IS NOT MY FAULT?

NIGHTSHADE: I DONT WANT TO PLAY BLOODLINES ANY MORE! I dont want ANY association with this game as we are nothing but THIEVES with no morals regarding those that do not want to play, or that have been tricked/decieved. I WANT OUT. I want my human soul back and my humanity restored to 100% WITHOUT HAVING TO PAY ANOTHER L$500 + L$14 per apple to do so!!!!!! I ALREADY PAID L$599 to buy the HUD because I THOUGHT this was a much more enchanting game, and based on TRUE vampire legend. Not just a bunch of rogues with teeth

I also have learned, to my astonishment, and most likely naivity, that Blodlines is THEE MOST FROWNED UPON RP/COMBAT system in ALL OF SL... not just the vampire games, BUT ALL RP/COMBAT games and there is a HUGE forum about it at the SL FORUMS!!!!!!

This is repulsive and I plan to take this all the way up to the top of whatever I have to... I am considering myself out of this system and will let myself be destroyed or whatever it takes, and then I will spend MORE L$ to PAY for your potions so I can be a human again with my human soul... and then I will buy enough apples to regain my full humanity once my Vital Blood is converted to Humanity %. And then I will figure out what it is that gives you the choice to just plain OPT OUT of bloodlines all together...

I dont expect pity from you or Bloodlines. I joined on my own free will without bothering to do any research first to be sure this is what I wanted, but I am less than 30 days into it and am ashamed to consider THIS a part of the RL gaming system known as Bloodlines, which was the appeal in my reason to join to being with.

THIS IS NOT VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE BLOODLINES!!!!! THIS IS A MISTAKE THAT STOLE THE NAME OF AN AWESOME RL RPG GAME TO MAKE IT APPEAR TO BE ANY WHERE NEAR AS GOOD!

SL BLOODLINES IS JUNK and word of mouth is about to spread this exact thing in every language possible SL WIDE!

With every intent on watching SL Bloodlines disappear forever,

Jaelin Kira - DISAVOWED AND SOON TO BE EX-SL BLOODLINES VAMPIRE!
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I got a garlic necklace after this and wore it, activated it, and then removed it.

I am still a registered Vampire with the Bloodlines Game. But, EVEN IF I WEAR THE HUD, FANGS, AND BITE MARKS, and request bites from others, if anyone tries to scan me, they are sent a message that I have chosen toi be left out of the game and not to bother me.

My info has been removed from the database and thus the website slbloodlines.com, and even after biting someone else, it still is not appearing.

If I run my own stats or wear the stat hover text viewer that all can see, then it shows my true stats, registered, my soul owner, and my blood level and clan name.

But unless I wear the hover text, no one knows I am a vampire, even scanning vampires.

The only dilemma now is that I am forced to spend ANOTHER L$498 on "potions" to restore my humanity and soul so that I feel human to myself again.

My "liege" (my sister) also wore and activated the garlic necklace. She is still listed as my soul owner in my own stat scan, but she is now as I am to anyone else who scans or looks on the web site.

What makes me the most upset about the whole thing is that the rules have turned us from Vampires into rules.

A vampire, by nature and legendary tale (as well as media,literature,etc.) does not have to be nice and take you out to dinner and a movie, be sweet, or any of that to bite you... heck, they can just BITE you... period.

So to get yelled at that I had "no manners" and such was upsetting enough, but to learn that "we" have these potions in place for those that "we" are "stealing" from and that we are CHARGING for those potions????

BAN SL BLOODLINES AND ANY OTHER RP/COMBAT GAME THAT DOES NOT ALLOW YOU TO RETURN TO YOUR STATE PRIOR TO JOINING THAT GAME FREE OF CHARGE!!!!!!!!!

I now step from my soap box, leaving my fangs and HUD for anyone to step on as they walk by.

.j.

ermm...I dont know about much of this..but really...cant you just NOT be a part of it? Surely its that simple...

It's not that simple. Once bitten, you are added to the Bloodlines server, and your information is available to anyone with a Bloodlines HUD.

You CAN opt not to be a part of it... by getting a Garlic Necklace (FREE)... but if you are accidentally bit before hand, you are a part of the game via their web server and database until you remove yourself... and then its another story to get your soul back and your humanity restored as that costs $L to do!

Eh........ it's all pretend.
You can't even misplace your soul, nevermind lose it.

Oh, here we go. This has been discussed at great length here and in other forums.

To many of us, Bloodlines has nothing whatsoever to do with role-play nor vampires, but is just a clumsily contrived sham intended to veil a spam virus, and the saps who engage in it are just patsies for a particularly avaricious scripter.

But I won't vote in the poll here because it misses the point. It's really not (just) about making it free to opt-out of the spam. It's about having to opt-out of spam at all.

It's also completely unacceptable to have to engage in vampire role-play--wearing a despicable "garlic necklace", of all things--for the privilege of being left the fuck alone.

All the spampire paraphernalia needs to be blacklisted and the spampire web host needs to be blocked access to SecondLife networks.

Well, banning combat systems? no, banning bloodlines? also no.
Banning the noob like OP, for annoying people with unwanted bite requests. HELL YEAH!

Just keep your role playing in the assigned role playing areas.
People asking me for a bite, mostly because I seem to be fresh meat, get's muted denied, and yelled at.

Not because just one, sometimes, just requests a bite, no.
I'm talking about at least 10 while I'm online.

I muted hundreds of idiots keeping the bite request going, even if I deny them. So muting is the only option left.

"Hey why can't I bite you?"
"You are a virgin(????) I'll pay you for a bite" <--- What's with the virgin thing anyway?

And then request again, and again, and again.

This is harassment, and should indeed be stopped.

Also, your "state" means nothing in an RP game while using SL. You are not actually a vampire, and you won't die if you quit playing.
Just detach the HUD they give you, and you are back to being a fresh avatar with no history.

I find this vampires stuff to be deeply and truly boring. I find myself moved to fits of severe apathy whenever anyone mentions and overcome by an overwhelming desire to reach for the mute button whenever anyone mentions anything to do with any vampire shenanigans. I'd be more motivated to do something about it if I wasn't so deeply unint....


Oh look, shiny.................

If my nephew comes over, puts on a magician costume, and pretends to turn me into a newt, I don't lose sleep because he didn't turn me back after his mom came to pick him up. I guess it would be nice if he cleaned up after himself, but it's OK, I'm really not a newt, even if he does write my name down on a list of people he's turned into newts.

And there exactly is the problem...

Assuming that a person you never met before in a non-RP area is willing to get involved in your own RP is just plain wrong, rude and unacceptable. Period. If that happened to me, I would have very clearly told you where you could stuff your fangs.

Just because you're part of Bloodlines and likes to RP as a vampire does not give you the right to assume that all other people at any given location in SL is in on it.

No other RP group I know of in SL behaves that way, so why should you? I don't care about garlic necklaces and opt-outs, I just require people to use their common sense. Play your vampire games as much as you want, but do it in areas clearly designated for that kind of RP. If you want to play your games outside those areas, make sure that the people you confront are into it BEFORE you start sending bite requests. The entire Second Life populations is not fair game just because you joined a specific RP group. Nor should anyone in Second Life have to opt-out to be left out of your RP. Why is that so hard to understand? Why do these threads have to come up all the time?

I got bitten once. It was a dull experience. I have never been annoyed again by vampires. I haven't noticed any ill effects from losing my soul. I guess it wasn't doing much, maybe even nothing at all.

If the bloodlines allowed their minions to alter other avatars permanently, that means changing their core file, and thus hacking into your account.

If that was true, LL would have banned them hard long ago.

LL should force Bloodlines to make their system opt-in only: that is, you shouldn't receive bite requests unless you wear a HUD or click an object that says you're willing to be bitten. That would completely solve this problem.

tl;dr


Cliff note version, anyone?

Bueller?

Bueller?

I can't believe this wasn't posted on a Friday.
Maybe Monday is the new Friday?

Anyways, the whole "revert to state" thing is a non-issue. It's all pretend anyways; who cares? That shouldn't be a reason to ban Bloodlines; let people pretend-play however they want (as long as it is legal.)

What _IS_ a good reason for banning bloodlines is that it is a spam ponzi scheme. It isn't even an original idea; anyone who has frequented the internet for a long time has seen similar systems, but on the web instead of on SL (and usually with vampires). It is a spam system because the way the system works is through unsolicited requests to interact with and join the system. That is how players "advance." They also "advance" by giving the system money, and so the spam grows like a ponzi scheme, and the money is funneled to the creator.

It is a complete racket, and a complete scam with absolutely no value. What's to not understand?

This should be banned under current TOS policy of prohibiting spam. Stopping it is easy; first you warn the creator that he is breaking the TOS, and give him a set period of time to completely remove the spam system. If he does not, you ban. If you have further troubles, you start blacklisting objects and scripts in the system.

Of course it will take Linden Lab at least two more years to actually do this; just like the "bank" scam, this will be allowed to continue until it reaches a point where it seriously affects SL in a negative way, instead of being proactively banned.

I don't know. It's all a bunch of jumbled stream-of-consciousness sentences. Reads like a 14 year old angrily ranting about drama.

I think he's angry because he doesn't like the pretend play element in his chosen spam game.

Um..... Wow! Did you even read the post before setting phasers to "nuke"?

*hides her babies before they are eaten*

Seriously - as annoying as the spam requests can be, your response seems way over the top. Anyone who cannot take "no" for an answer is going to be a pest regardless of whether they are in Bloodlines, members of a Gorean sect in a recruitment drive, or activists members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Canned Pork Products, and the only cure for a pest is the mute button.

I am certainly not defending the practice, but - really: Is it really worth getting one's panties in a bunch? Is it really worth ripping the head off some poor newb who doesn't know any better and feeding it to her children?

What's the absolute worst that could happen if you accept a bite? You "lose" your soul? If you're never going to be part of the game, then what does this matter anyways?

As a matter of fact, a rather funny thing happens after you've been bitten: Most "spampires" leave you alone!

Seriously - Life is too short to get THAT worked up over what happens to a bunch of colored dots on a screen.

I ban bloodlines people from my store who send requests to bite people there without chatting and asking first. I did it yesterday when one of the dickheads wanted to bite 3 of my models and, presumably, anyone else who was in the store and within range. I consider to it to be harrassing my customers.

I say ban it, why? Because 9 out of 10 people don't ask and everytime I mute it, they come out with a new version. It's like the heroin of SL. Please, please, ban them!

I thought you came from the roleplaying corner. I thought you were intrigued by the media version of vampirism. Seducing your victim, coaxing it to go along with you, that's usually the fascinating way, the way that is fun. Hanging around just grabbing bites - well, this strictly predator version usually only appeals to the players who feel weak in RL.

If you had gotten almost as many uncommented bite requests as uncommented friendship offers, you'd consider it pretty damn bad manners, too. A lot of your so-called hunters have taken up shop in newbie places, like money tree locations, hoping to get a bunch of folks who don't know what they're getting themselves into yet. To me, it's only common sense to actually roleplay the "hunt". But like all online games (and in this case, I really do just consider it a game) there's the power levelers...

I don't exactly want it banned, so much as the makers to change it to make it less annoying for the rest of the grid.

However, like the OP, when I first heard about Bloodlines, I thought it WAS a White Wolf game brought into Second Life. Upon going to the Bloodlines website, I found it wasn't. I'm wondering what White Wolf would think of that? I mean, White Wolf was silly enough to take on Sony because of Underworld..

Incidentally, none of the groups you mention have ever approached me with unsolicited requests to join any form of database or tried to get me included in roleplay without explaining the purpose or objectives of their particular roleplay or community. Only from vampires has that happened.
So, no, I don't think it's over the top. The Bloodlines issue has simply got out of hand

I'm not attacking Jaelin Kira personally (if it appeared that way, I deeply apologize), but I'm attacking the practice of conducting RP on unsuspecting and unknowing victims. Since the whole construct behind the Bloodlines pyramid scheme appearantly triggers that sort of behaviour, it makes people break fundamental rules of common courtesy that should apply to any online community.

And don't woory, I'm not getting overly worked up, I'm just stating my opinion, possibly more bluntly than most people, but still just my opinion. Take it for what it's worth, no more and no less

/me dons her wizard hat and robe.

There is the Garlic Necklace, ya know.

http://www.xstreetsl.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=1060674

I personally don't have a problem with the theory behind these games. HOWEVER, I do think Bloodlines is lame because you are becoming a part of their game without even knowing it. AND most of the targets are noobs.
Lame.

I really couldnt agree more on the pyramid scheme. Everyone wants to be ontop of the world and that in my opinion is why bloodlines had gotten out of control. And for you rpers. If I did let you bite me without my approval, you would be poisoned and die a slow and painful death...me being a shifter. And if I did allow it, you would become shifter being shifters blood about tops the charts as far as toxicity and strength . I think a good option would be maybe some sort of HUD that people who wish to be bitten or want to bite wear and it tracks others around like you. Sort of like the BDSM HUD where if others who wear it are in the same region it notifies you of who.