Burning Life '08 General Discussion

I would say nudity should be allowed. It's allowed at Burning Man. People who'd have any sensitivity to nudity don't go to Burning Man. They shouldn't go to Burning Life for that same reason. I can't see any reason that anyone could bring up against nudity.

Last year there were a couple of issues which arose regarding censorship due to PG sims. You were on dodgy ground if you got caught naked or showing nipples on a PG sim... or even if the offending items or person could be seen from a PG sim.

If there is to be a hedonistic festival in SL then this should be it. On the final night of the Temple Burn the playa was covered in semi and fully naked dancers and revellers. I don't think that PG sims should be included or encouraged. Just because it's rated mature doesn't mean it's going to be over the top.

I will continue to discuss these issues on my blog this year at ---- URL removed by Katt Linden ------- (shameless plug) and you can catch up on last years events by looking at the 2007 links on the right sidebar.

I believe there will be both "PG" and "Mature" areas, but I'll verify that and post again later.

Aaaaaaaaand we're off to a flying start.



GavinLeigh's blog sells no products or services, includes no advertising beyond a "support this site" button, and contains only observations, images, commentary and comments on Burning Life, a blog now in its third year and including a great deal of BL history not available anywhere else. A link to this blog-which-shall-not-be-linked has even been allowed to remain on the SL Wiki entry for this year's BL event.

But not here. So I'm curious now, does that mean we're not allowed to link to any outside discussion, conversation or images about Burning Life, or even our own blogs?

Oh yes, and for the record, Nipplegate was in my opinion ridiculous and served only to embarrass last year's policy makers. PG is all fine and good, but nipples on a virtual stone statue would seem to me to fall under PG since they can be found in public parks, museums, building facades and gardens around the world. Let's try to avoid such heavy-handedness this year, please, and stay a little more within the spirit of the Burning.

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Well, you'll get no answer to that here, being of course a wholly inappropriate question on the Linden Sponsored Events forum, but looking at information on the blog-which-shall-not-be-linked, I would recommend you approach this event with due diligence and caution.

Katt, a pointer to discussion elsewhere is perfectly reasonable, and not by any stretch "advertising", even when it's his own web site.

GavinLeigh, would that be the burninglife.com site? (With which, Kate, I have no connection, I just googled on GavinLeigh's name.)

According to Google's automatic judgement, burninglife.com is the major Burning Life web site, and if that is the site in question, to censor its mention in the Burning Life forums here is...breathtaking. Is that a polite enough word to use here, Katt? Breathtaking? If you want to imagine what else I might have said, go right ahead.

I just got up this morning... I haven't even drunk any coffee and already there's something going on. That's funny that I can't link to my commentary blog from this discussion. As previously stated, yes, if you google Burning Life you might be able to find it... it comes up first on the results list.

Previously they have allowed that kind of link to exist and the fact my last blog post actually linked directly back to this site describing it "as a place of lively and open discussion" comes across as somewhat funny now.

The links to (the site that can't be mentioned) on the Wiki and Wikia website were added by me recently. So time will tell whether a reference to the only 100% dedicated event blog is acceptable content. I feel it is justified, but then I am biased.

Alright I have to get some coffee now.

theres a whole lot of posts edited and missing here...
seriously now, if you wish to discuss something with players, than let people discuss.
otherwise just make a forum with certified linden posters that only post what you want posted, but this is getting kind of ridiculous.

That my question, too. When, where, how, and all that.



This is a question for me too, of course, even though I'm not planning a kid-specific build. I also suspect any questions on that were kinda sorta settled with SL5B

Mari

Katt

I checked out the site by the way and found it to be full of usefull information, is it policy just to remove web addresses from the forum without investigation?

If so perhaps this should be highlighted more clearly.

Anyway after investigating for my self which took only a couple of minutes btw, I decided I liked the idea of the burning life festival and would like to be involved, my main area of interest is building.

However as a newer member of the SL community is there a way I can be involved in helping to participate with building, without having to take on a role that will put large expectations on my skills.

I guess what I am really asking is there going to be a chance for new comers to have a go at creating things or is it a closed shop for experienced users only?
Perhaps GavinLeigh could clarify this with his obvious previous experiences of burning life.

I can understand the editing for the name of last year's ------- Slur removed by Katt Linden -------------
... but I don't understand the editing for a blog dedicated to all that is Burning Life.

I'm glad to see more communication via the forums from LL, but... you guys don't communicate everything. And shouldn't.

What you said.

Neptune,
There was a lot of space available last year to just put a creation on the open Playa (desert) at the center of the festival. They had a 50 prim limit on an object and people placed sculptures they had created, and all kinds of other things. As long as they weren't commercial there wasn't an issue.

The camps that were created weren't all run by experienced builders either, although if you are going to have a camp it's important to be committed to getting something built (even if it's only a camp fire and a few chairs). Personally I hate it when people were allocated land and did nothing with it... just left it bare. The best thing is to get with a few friends and all work on something, or use the playa space.

It can be a lot of fun, and it really pushed me to build something too. I am not a great builder, but I've just been around a while. Don't be afraid of taking an interest.

Let's look at the good things of last year and not the bad.
It's a year later and people have grown, mature and learned new skills.
One of things about Burning Life is that's it's wiped out at the end of the event.
So let's forget about any shortcomings of last year and look forward to a great event this year.

Yeah, people have gotten older, ------- Names removed by Katt Linden -------------
is even of legal age to be on the adult grid this year, unlike the first year he built the man.
And yes, he is involved along with his heavily litigious non girlfriend, ------- Names removed by Katt Linden -------------
. Who, btw never called ------- Names removed by Katt Linden -------------
in real life and has only threatened to sue him once.
------- Names removed by Katt Linden -------------
was being a little modest I think about his building skills, he did the snow dome last year and it was amazingly beautiful. I would love to see it there again this year or some version of it, however I get the feeling that you’re going to see that snow dome in hell before he'd be allowed land on the virtual playa this year, haha.
As for the Linden sponsored version of reality here on the forums, well there's too much censorship for my taste. I'd rather communicate openly on that other site that shall remain un-named.

Oh, BTW... that sound you hear is Larry Harvey spinning in his grave at the travesty SL makes of his Burning Man festival, and he's not even dead!
I think it's really cool of the Lindens to set this land aside and let people build on it... but PLEASE, it has NOTHING to do with BM, let's just admit it. Seeing the spirit of Burning Man hacked by the “rule setters” (you can find out just who they are at the UNOFFICIAL site that shall not be named) makes me want to pull kittens tails.

PW<<< sits back and waits for this post to be censored.


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Thank you,
-- Katt Linden

Well, then.

There's a thread in the Town Hall Feedback forum about the upcoming changes to the forums rules. Instead of derailing this thread with talk of moderation, maybe that other thread would be a better place.

Or, if you just want to talk about last years BL, maybe start up a new thread.

Or, if you're just trying to piss off the Lindens so you can then complain about them smacking you upside the head, make sure to let us know how that worked out when your suspension is up.

Woot another year to come, anyone going to Burning Man?

I wasn't involved in this last year (was away from SL for a few months) but I'd like to volunteer my services as a linguist for this year's. I speak English, French and German fluently. In a pinch, I can read Spanish or Dutch, too - at least enough to translate back for a third party. There's a lead linguist position on the main list of jobs - can I assume that this means there's a team being formed? Failing that, multilingual rangers could come in handy. The website doesnt' appear to be open for registrations yet, though - does anyone know when it's likely to ready?

just signed up to do some building, the form sent but then i came to a log in page for whomever runs the form. because i did not want to sign up to this site does that mean my form won't be sent through?

cheers

-Crunch

BL 2008 starts on my second rezday so I kind of feel 'called' to participate.

Thanks for your response,

Have now volunteered for the Porta Potty design task, thought it sounded like a good place to begin as a new volunteer.

LOL

Thought I should start low and build up, to see how it goes

I agree there is nothing worse than unused areas where people who volunteered didn't actually do anything, thats one of the reasons I wanted to check first that my skill level would be acceptable.

I'd really like to see the process return to how it was prior to last year's debacle.

I had a blast building my bubblegum factory and socialising at the 2006 BL, but last year... meh.

Edit: Just had a look at the wiki, looks even more corporatised than last year.

Can't anything ever stay simple? This is supposed to be a virtual version of Burning Man, not a World's Fair.

While worded a bit confrontational, this really is a valid question.
Without reopening that discussion, fact remains that there was a lot of controversy over policies at the last Linden-sponsored event (SL5B); that due to the "officially endorsed" status the requirements for the builds ended up more restrictive than a generic mature-according-to-ToS sim would allow; and that some categories which were specifically mentioned and included in the drop-down menu on the submission form were later disallowed.
So it seems fair to ask for a timely and clearly communicated policy before signing up here.
To me, Burning Life is a decidedly more mature event than a birthday celebration, but this is just my perception, and I haven't found any information to confirm or deny this, or telling me which policies I should expect to operate under.

I am not sure that any defined policy exists as yet, but there used to be some information listed on the v------- Names removed by Katt Linden -------------
site. However that information page just links back to the wiki page now. Personally I think that a festival that purports to embody the spirit of Burning Man should at least be willing to allow a similar set of freedoms, and not a new set of restrictions.

We still have over a month until the festival opens so I imagine we'll see some information trickle out of LL in the next week or two.

Would this Burning Life PG sim be adjacent to a Burning Life mature sim?

If not mistaken isn't it rather impossible to have a PG sim if there is an adjacent mature sim due to view distance 512 meters and viewer camming capabilities? I.e.; to have mainland PG sims in world at all sort of requires a PG continent with no mature sims adjacent to any of the PG sims. A PG continent is something LL could work on anyway since it is sort of impossible to restrict camming reliably.

Just a thought.

I'm looking forward to this event.