Jaywalking in Second Life

There have been a number of issues that have come up recently that have gotten me wondering if the complexity of play has passed some threshhold and whether it is possible to even educate people about the complexities.

For example, every one in a while, some RL city decides to enforce its jaywalking law. After passing out a few citations to people who had no idea they were committing a misdemeanor, the press usually reports "Local Pedestrian Ticketed for Jaywalking" and the police are shamed into stopping enforcement.

Here are some things that recent threads have shown are not obvious to all:

1. If you deed land or objects to a group it isn't your's any more and officers can "legally" abscond with it
   
2. If you copy an RL trademark in-game you may well get heat
   
3. If you have a group and all but two members leave, the group dissolves and deeded objects become unowned
   
4. If you are overly hostile on the forums, it might be game over
   
5. That thing you just paid someone L$500 for is available for free at a telehub
   
6. The person trying to buy or sell you something may be scamming you and there is no recourse
   
7. Object permissions are inscrutable
   
8. If you buy land in a casino laden sim you might get lagged to death
   
9. Never get involved in a land war in Asia
   
10. etc.
    

These were just off the top of my head and I'm sure many more could be added. Sure, scam avoidance should be a caveat emptor bit of common sense, but the absence of recourse is not. Walking into Second Life today is infinitely more complex than it was two years ago, and a lot of intuitions don't apply. I've been working Live Help and am constantly surprised by things like (3) above.

Must it all be the school of hard-knocks? I fear so. Is this different than, say, World of Warcraft? Probably, because SL is far more open ended. I guess the motivation behind this musing is that I'm beginning to feel sorry for some folks who ring up Live Help only after the irrecoverable mistake has been made and wish that there was some way of preventing it. Ideas welcome.

Edited: Not particularly germaine to the thread.

coco

Did I mention this is getting old? (yawn)

ObTop: there are a number of 'gotchas' in the game world... most deal with being here long enough to see how/why they are so, some are simply esoteric, or deal with instances in which usability and error avoidance have not been properly addressed by the code.

I think it would be nice to have a comprehensive list of code-related ones, if only to have something to refer to when considering building, etc.

The social and cultural pits most people hit and learn by experience to avoid. Or, as we see above, not.

That's probably why I used the conditional "might". Thank you for your insightful and well-considered reply.

It certainly does, as not everyone relentlessly windmills at other residents and the Lindens with highly antagonistic and incredibly voluminous missives, festooned with expletives and labels. It takes a certain type of person.

I must ask you Coco, what good did it do to insert that into this thread? You have nothing to say about the other points Mal made? You are just going to let jaded bitterness over the fact that your friend was barred from posting in the general forum dictate your response?


Great post Mal, it certainly does seems to be a week by week thing in most cases, although the copyright thing has been bandied to death for some time now.

I think when issues reach that super celbrity status like the copyright/trademark issue, LL should step in and quell the the multitude of heated threads by simply posting their EXACT stance on it, and how we as residents should handle it.

As of today, nothing has been "solved" with regard to that specific issue, and we have many pissed off posters still going round and round with each other as a result.

It did no good, and the friend of mine you referred to didn't have anything to do with it. I just get SO MAD sometimes, and I was very much when I saw that point number four. I will edit that post. Carry on.

coco

Could you move number 9 up higher on the list? Maybe it wouldn't be forgotten as much if it wasn't so low.

Still beating that tired old drum, eh coco? I even think the whole fic thing has run its course.

~Ulrika~

I told you, it didn't have a dang thing to do with my friend. I'll report on it to y'all at another time. And no, the whole FIC thing has not run its course.

coco

I dunno if I would go as far as to say there is selcetive enforcement. Sometimes it appears that way, though.

And the FIC is what it is.

Good thing your forum reform wasn't adopted, Cocoanut. You'd be disciplined for derailing this thread.

Bravissimo!

I was about to suggest that we quit feeding the obnoxious trolls and get back to the subject at hand, but it occurs to me that the obnoxious trolls are part of the problem being discussed. Perhaps we could solve that problem by orchestrating the banning of these nuisances? What say you, FIC ops?

Hmm...

11. Objects lost on other's lands probably won't be returned to you.
12. Be a good guest, clean up your prims before you leave.

I'm very, very aware of 11. I lost a dance chimera a while back and even though the land I lost it on had an autoreturn, it only /just/ showed up! And that was MONTHS ago!

13. If there is more than 5 people in an area, it must be a paying event.

I resent being characterized as an "obnoxious troll."

coco

Yeah, I know, Enabran, and I'm sorry about that. I just happened to be super-mad at the point at which I read the post. Carry on.

coco

I demand an apology and a retraction immediately. You were never characterized as an obnoxious troll, and to suggest that I would do such a despicable thing is actionable defamation!

Is it possible to, in very succinct and plain language, outline some of the caveats in a notecard available on Orientation Island? I understand that this would be a priori for new people, but in notecard form, at least it can be referenced at a later date.

In addition, it might be a fun, interesting, and helpful class for an instructor to present in a panel discussion format--like Jerry Springer without the expletives.

You know Stern show was doing the "jaywalking" bit long before that robotic Leno, right?

11. Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line.

12. Plato? Socrates? Morons!


The Princess Bride who can resist?

HOO HOO Robin I invented everything.

Tell em Fred

Inconceivable.

Is that Eastasia or Eurasia?

Oceana is at war with Eurasia... Oceana has ALWAYS been at war with Eurasia..

Ah. Yes. Quite right.