Griefed in Orientation Island?...by a mentor?

So I've been playing SL for a few weeks now, spending all my free time in world, just exploring, not shutting up about it IRL, the usual stuff newbies do

Apparently I talked enough about it that my wife signed up with her own Av tonight (hehehe....one of us...one of us...one of us...).

While she was going through Orientation Island (at the Beach Ball station), someone with "Second Life Mentor" above her name came up and said "Yay, a script area" and set off something she called "Lemmings", which made lots of noise, and particle explosions that brought SL to the verge of crashing, then set off a bunch of Muppet "Yip" aliens that reproduced until they filled the screen.

I got on the computer and went to Live help. A Linden told me to file an AR, which I did (still under my wife's account) and said he'd check out the situation. While waiting, I checked the profile of this "Mentor", and she really was a mentor, been in SL since the end of 2003. She made another comment about the Beach Ball area being the only place in OI you can run scripts, then handed out "Newbie pointer"s to me and another person at the same station. I declined the offer, the other guy accepted and put it on. It was a dunce cap that said "Newbie" with an arrow pointing at the wearer.

Another Linden showed up and hovered overhead for a bit, the Mentor noticed him, said something about storms and set herself "Away". My wife left, continued the OI tour, and that was that.

Do mentors get vacation time? Cuz I can think of one that may need a little time off...

Frankly, I am surprised that a 2003-born resident would do such a thing and that makes me wonder if an account was hacked. But then again, there isn't much quality control when it comes to the volunteer groups, which is a big reason I stopped participating in them. Personally, I think LL needs to hire someone full time to manage all the "official volunteers" and have them do nothing but deal with the volunteer groups.

the lemmings script cracks me up, brings back memories. Nominally I'd say the mentor was just showing off, but the newbie cap thing makes me think "asshat"

For lack of a better word, I think the experience you just related is shocking. Truly is. There's a time and place for everything -- orientation island is not the right time nor the right place for any of this. I am sorry to hear this happened to you.

Troy

Spaceman, you may want to use the User CP, Edit Options, to turn on forum private messages.

This post produces in me the desire to ask who it was.

Normal abuse reports may be filed in the event of misconduct by any Second Life volunteer, but in the event of misconduct that seems to be also a violation of the spirit or letter of the law regarding Second Life Mentors, you might want to send a forum PM to Jeska Linden or send an email to her at [email]jeska@lindenlab.com[/email] .

Oh please, you are all way over reacting. The lemmings and the Yip Yip are not griefing. They are silly items that this person was being irresponsible with. Griefing is the intentional abuse of another player. The newbie hat was meant as a joke I am sure, and I can see people actually wearing one to let everyone know that they wouldn't mind a helping hand.

You all need to lighten up.

I think setting off a script that nearly crashes the sim and fills the screen with yip yips would be considered "griefing", especially by a "mentor".

You abviously have no idea what the yip yips are. It's not a script. It's a single object that follows you around as a pet. If you rez more than one, they interact with one another. This person was obviously just trying to be cute, and not trying to crash the sim.

The lemmins is a cute little scripted object. It rezzes a line of about 40 tiny little "creatures" that dance for a minute and then derez in a small "explosion" of particles. Again, not a griefing item, just silly.


Stop being whinny cry babies and lighten up and have some fun.

I didn't say the yip yips were scripts, did I? I said "nearly crashed the sim with a script and filled the screen with yip yips".

I can only go by what the poster described. Did you even read it? According to him, it wasn't a cute little script, it was causing serious problems. If you set off dozens of the lemmings at one time, then what would happen?

Now, was his wife overreacting? I don't know, and neither do you.

Vares Solvang wrote:



Sorry, but almost crashing a newbie's computer is more than being irresponsible, esp. for a mentor. A Mentor's job is to show newbies what's cool about SL, and yeah, from my POV the Yip Yips were kinda neat...brought back some old memories.

But the issue isn't my POV, it's a newbie's. Say you're a newbie and this happens to you. Someone with "Mentor" floating above their head shows up, says "yay, scripts", and proceeds to do something that slows your computer to a grinding halt. Would you be more turned on or less turned on to the idea of SL? If the Mentors are like this, what's the general population gonna be like?

Luckily, my wife had me around, and I've been talking about all the good things in SL in addition to the little bad I've seen, and I've talked about all the recent controversies here in the forums, so she's going in with a (granted, very) little more knowledge than your average newbie.

If she had come up and said, "Hey, newbies...look at some of the cool things you can do in SL!", and set off her scripts, that would have been one thing...but to just show up, set them off, and then call the newbies around "dunces" for asking what the hell was going on, that's just not cool and is not the way to be welcoming new people into their Second Life.

PM's are turned on, in case anyone wants the name of the mentor, and I've sent an email to Jeska pointing her to this thread.

-Space

Maybe you were the asshat mentor, afterall.

The point here is that while the yip yips may be cute, interfering with new residents on OI is something that we Mentors simply do not do. Once they've reached the exit temple is one thing, but accosting them when they are going through the OI stations learning the basic skills to get around in SL is a bad idea and borders on harrassment. That Mentor should be AR'd and booted from the progam. Confusing people, dropping inventory on them unannounced and interfering with orientation of someone who knows nothing about how SL operates is harrassment and should not be tolerated, they will get enough of that when they rez in the mainland for the first time.... Help Island is the place to show off the cute toys of SL, not Orientation Island.

Vares,
as a Mentor Myself, i can say Spaceman is NOT "Way Overreacting" This behavior goes against Everything the Mentors were set up to Acheive. We are there to Help new people, Not abuse, or belittle them. Imagine it for a Moment from the POV of a new person, the first "representative" of SL they meet treats them Badly, what are they going to think of the whole game? Many would quit befor they even start. If this mentor had been in game since 2003, then they KNEW that there is a Sandbox or two on the Main map where they could test a new toy IF that was their intention, Instead, they chose a completely Inappropriate time and place to behave like a jack*ss.
This needs to be dealt with, Something like this Damages the credibility of us ALL (Mentors).
Spaceman, Report this person to Jeska. This person needs to be Removed from help Island, and it's accesses to OrientationIslands and New Players.

Angel

Few points on each side. First off reported the image post as abuse. Its totally uncalled for and against the posting guidelines of (flaming, trolling, herassing, etc).

Next the lemmings alone is a widely known item on the mainland. I've been given one of them as a gift multiple times. Its a bit spammy but very breif if ONLY used once (responsibly). If the mentor rezzed it out multiple times then that is definately AR material for rudeness and spam. Its effeciency aside being as Lemmings is a copyrighted object it should NEVER be rezzed on Help Island under any circumstances. That is AR material.

Not sure which 'yip yip' you are referring to so no comment there.

About the newbie pointer that is an item i recieved my first day in SL back last au gust and proceeded to not remove for nearly a week. I just loved the thing. Figure people might not have to check my profile and start handing me free stuff (and they did) and got tips and tricks on many issues which helped me learn quick. As far as a Dunce cap that on the other hand is demeaning. Newbie refers to being new and not yet versed in systems and policies (whether official or unofficial) but a dunce is implying the person is a moron not capable of even understanding those issues if told. Major different meanings so the dunce cap is AR material to me.

In the end you are justified many tiems over if you want some form of compensation. Just keep in mind that you ARE NOT ALLOWED to bring up private matters like this in public. At least not with much detail. (dont give out names). So what you got so far is perfectly acceptible. DO NOT under any circumstance share the name of this person with any other resident claiming to 'need to know'. The only ones you should give names to are the Lindens.

I'm sorry for your bad experience. Many mentors like myself read the forums regularly and comments like this (well written and constructive, explaining your opinions with reasons) is very useful in helping the volunteer corps as a whole to police themselves. Feel free to bring up any other issues you have in this manner. Its very welcome when you handle it as calmly as you have.

Agreed.

P2

Seconded.

Uhm... Thirdrized?

Quartered... ?

Well, that's probably what this mentor deserves...

The volunteer programs need to be more exclusive indeed.

Hung, Drawn and ?

Quick! Someone find four horses!

That was the implication, yes...

Naw, been reading the griefer complaint threads for a while and he/she/it jumps to the defense of every griefer or mentally challenged individual with a kindergarden sense of humor (like this mentor has demonstrated) claiming people need to stop 'crying'. Some folks support others rights to be left alone, some find asshat behavior amusing.

I for one, think this mentor needs to be nailed and hard. Another player handing a newbie a dunce hat....eh, low-function humor you'd expect out of a child...but from someone representing SL? Not at all amusing to embarrass a newbie for a cheap laugh.

Jokes and ribbing between old friends who've been playing and are already comfortable in SL are one thing. A new person is confused and lost and looking for guidance, not overwhelming, blinding scripted chaos and being made fun of.

That mentor has absolutely no business being a mentor simply because everything he/she did is counter to the purpose of the job.