Burning Life '08 General Discussion

Yeah, Burning Man has a theme. Larry Harvey (Burning Man founder) loves making them up. And frankly, it does give people a way of narrowing down the infinite possibilities of Art and Concept to something manageable. But the theme is never mandatory at Burning Man, it's just a suggestion if you are stuck for ideas. So we aren't really paying attention to the theme this year. It's kind of a complex one (The American Dream) and it makes sense for something that happens in the US, but the subtlety of it is hard to explain to an international audience, so we aren't gonna worry about it at Burning Life '08.

Now— last week, Larry finished writing the theme for next year's Burning Man. And he can never keep a secret so he barged into my camp and blabbed it all to me. It's a REALLY good one. (Bwa-ha-ha) I can't tell you what it is yet, but we might have to pick it up for Burning Life '09.

So, for Burning Life '08, you can use the American Dream theme if you like, or just go theme-free. It won't change your chances of getting land!

And speaking of land, the Version 1 Map of Burning Life '08 is now posted on the wiki. This may change a bit, so don't get too wrapped up in it. But it will give you an idea of plot size (smaller than last year) and placement. Small art plots on the open playa have 200 prims each. Theme camps range in prim count from about 600 prims to 1500 prims. Stay tuned for more info on how to get land!

Okay, I don't like the art theme very much either. It sounds way too nationalistic (even if the dream idea has some sound foundation). I only hope that people don't get a plot of land and place 300 american flags all over it, or pictures of Obama and McCain.

I've liked that the festival is more of an artisitic enviroment than strictly a display of building techniques, and those who explore the theme can use it as an artistic starting point. Seeing something that works beautifully with the desert environment is a pleasure to behold. And conversely when people place nicely built English county cottages on pads of lush green grass... I just shake my head.

There is a theme of the Burning Man festival... and it is distinct, a hot dusty playa theme of clever artwork and community camps. And then there is the art theme as extra inspiration for the artists. I don't mind if people ignore the art theme, I just think that they should seriously consider whether what they do place on the sandy desert really fits the overall spirit of the festival.

Agreed... it was much simpler, felt much more free and open and enjoyable. The random drawing for plots gave everyone a fair chance, you could pretty much build what you wanted, and there weren't pages and pages of rules and applications. What was wrong with that system?



Agreed again. I had a great time building on my plot and seeing people's reactions that year, but this time around, I just can't get interested. It just seems like it's being made way more complex than it needs to be. And the part on the application about being 'expected to host an activity on your plot each day' really turned me off... I can't always log in every day. I thought Burning Life itself was the interactive event? Does that question mean that builds that don't include daily events/interactive activities will be rejected?

I don't know, it just feels to me like Burning Life has lost the spirit of the original... it's so organized and regulated and, yes, corporate, now. The RL event is pure creativity with a strong element of chaos that's encouraged and celebrated... I miss that.

Right, that sunk the deal for me, too, for a Theme Camp. I'm sure hoping I can get one of the smaller, free-for-all plots--and that they don't have the same requirement. (Even if I *don't* get one, I hope they don't have that requirement: first, that's a scary lot of events, and second, if only event-organizing builders are represented, it's gonna be a pretty sad array of prims on the playa.)

3 simple rules is all that's needed.

1- Linden leadership.
2- Resident involvement as volunteers.
3- Land lottery.

Last year's event was run horribly. Favortism for land plots was rampant, objects were returned arbitrarily, people were needlessly ejected from their land, land was hacked from existing plots while owned by residents (reducing prims and work space), projects were censored, sims were needlessly overloaded with un-necessary prims, alphas and scripts. (60 prims for porta-potties which nobody needed)

Too many rules, and too many loose cannons will only serve to ruin the event entirely.

American Dream? ..... well, that's just laughable.

Thanks for the inside info Dusty! And a free theme is good news!

Just one thing.. why the smaller plots? Could be just fewer prims. In a digital world space is not an issue.. i think.. therefore i exist.. lost it here lol. Happy burning!

Exactly-- just the way it was done the year before last. No requirements or rules for building, lots of people got equal plots, and having it all run by Lindens kept things fairly sane. No applications, just a thread to submit your name for the lottery. It worked because it was so simple... why did we stop using that system?

Just as at Burning Man, major Theme Camps are asked to "host an activity on your plot each day.'

However, there will be many, many other plots and camps, where there is no such requirement!

Well the Linden Labs have managed to render SL less relevant to the majority of the world's population by their moronic themeing of Burning Life 08.
American Dream wrapped up in the stars and stripes OMG how alternative. Don't make me laugh.

I could get angry with the smug arrogance coming out of Linden Labs about how the whole world is American and has American dreams except that I think that it shows just how out of touch LL are with the possibilities of a Global Metaverse.

I toyed with ideas of subverting the stars and stipes gazumping of the term American- after all most Americans are citizens of countries other than the "United States of America" and most would not have English as their first language, but that would merely be re-stating the obvious.
US residents can have their dream that they are altenative.
The rest of the globe will just say Burning Life is not alternative, does not promote diversity and is a second rate playground from a state that is losing any relevance it ever had to the rest of the world.

US cultural hegemony is just plain boring. enough is enough. Burning Life 08 - Just say NO.

~>HarleyMC - to be fair to LL, they did not propose this theme at all, this is the theme for the Burning Man event in real life, I believe that LL considered that this wasn't exactly an appropriate theme for Burning Life in SL and had not mentioned it until a poster here specifically asked about the theme and it was answered adequately by Dusty Linden in post #96.

You should read that post carefully, maybe?

Unfortunately HarleyMC, you seem to have missed the post above where Dusty tells about how Burning Man (the RL event in the desert and NOT related to Burning Life) actually sets the theme for their event, and how this year's Burning Life is not going to require you to be "on-theme" because our residents come from all over the world.

By all means, build something subversive and/or anti-American - you surely won't be alone in that!

Truly it wouldn't be Burning Life without outspoken views and subversive builds. Of those participating in the last couple of years festivals there have been many, many opinions voiced through their builds. Sometimes they were political, or aimed at the state of SL at the time. Sometimes it's about gender, sex or almost any idea of importance. It's not supposed to be all patriotic flag waving and trumpets blaring this year.

If American Dream inspires you in any direction even as an anti-theme then great. If it doesn't then thats great too. Because it's a totally theme or non-theme related festival. Your choice.

People please do not boycott BL08 over a theme that was carried over from RL by default. It has less relevance in SL and you should work around that.

Thanks Dekka
Point taken.
I was responding to the linkages not a single post buried in one of many forums. my bad intellectually sloppy of me - now onto the subject of sloppiness.

Adequately answered? - get rid of those links
------- Names of those being accused removed by Katt Linden -------------
bolted the gate after the horses have bolted. Most of the people who have been bored / disgusted / under whelmed with the US-centrism of burning man organisers won't have made it to this forum even to raise the issue so I know they won't get to read this or ------- Names of those being accused removed by Katt Linden -------------
's post.
If burning life has nothing to do with burning man why are there still heaps of LL created web links to burning man? If LL wants an exciting event that encourages creativity then create a new entity, a new brand or at minimum get rid of those links and put disclaimers in VERY prominent positions.

The Constant barrage of burning life/ burning man linkages stink like the "designers" in sl who appropriate swoosh logos and other brands, the subset of DJ's who play pirated material and don't pay licensing fees or the musicians who don't pay royalties to songwriters and other forms of intellectual property theft from the real world.
But that's a whole different issue from cultural hegemony.

good luck to anyone who gets involved with bl, keep it original and I hope some people come to check out your work

Unfortunately a lot of people have missed Dusty's post.
PS -I've never been anti-American, just a global citizen.

Katt, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say I really find the way you've just "edited" the last few posts to be utterly beyond my comprehension. Will my account even survive posting this opinion long enough to see how /it/ gets edited?

Editing out the name of the Linden who wrote post #96 is just plain silly. Nobody was making a personal attack, it was simply a referral to the information in that post that the resident from post #104 self-admittedly missed. And why is edited edited in post #108 and the quote in post #109 but not in my original post #106?

Equally, that same resident from post #104 was not doing anything that would generally be considered "flaming" even by your own definition. He/she was simply expressing a negative reaction to a mistaken perception of the origination and theme of this year's Burning Life. Subsequently, he/she then looked back and realized this, and went on to calmly express a personal opinion on the relationship between Burning Life and Burning Man.

(See how silly this reads when I have to keep adding bizarre editing rules to anything I say? We can't link anything, we apparently can't name anybody even referentially, address anybody directly, or express any sort of opinion that isn't full of warmfuzzy praise.)

Katt, I'd far rather work /with/ you in the other thread discussing forum guidelines but you really don't seem to be giving many clear answers to direct policy and guidelines questions over there.

Dusty, I'm calling out to you (hope I'm allowed to use your name!). Please let us know how we're supposed to even begin to discuss Burning Life in this thread under these conditions. This is most definitely NOT the spirit of either Burning Man, Burning Life nor even constructive conversation.

What is going on here? This is insane. No one was being personally attacked, much less a Linden. We cannot have a conversation about this festival of free expression when it is being censored in this manner.

Well you might as well go on to the next step and start banning people, starting with me.

THIS IS COMPLETE STUPIDITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'd like to point out a slight difference in what the theme /is/, and what some people seem to think the theme is.

First, a note of introduction. I am American. I am a Patriot. I am not a jingoist. I do not believe in "My Country, Right or Wrong". I haven't been proud of my country for the last, oh let's just call it 7 years. There are points of my country that I haven't been proud of for much longer than that. I see the forced "spread of Democracy" the same as I see the forced "spread of Communism."

"The American Dream" has nothing to do with The United States of America, the country. It has to do with the ideals upon which this country were founded, and specifically, what brought immigrants to our shores for more than two hundred years. It has to do with freedom, security, opportunity, and a voice for all. "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." These ideals are not exclusive to the US - our Constitution, in fact, specifies that these are the purview of all human beings.

This, I think, is more along the lines of what was intended - not a show of patriotism, or a celebration of democracy, but of the ideals which we have before (and I hope, will again) stand for.

Sorry, just to clarify here - is it now a regulation that we can't ever mention anyone's name, now?

I did see that, Mr Jesse Barnett, but, and I mean no offence here, we all know what sort of response "open letters" receive. I am not sure whether Mr Philip Rosedale will ever receive it or care.

(The above may also be considered a test case.)

Ms not Mr
Philip probably does'nt care, he has definitely ignored us long enough on it. But I would bet a $L that he does see it thou. The grapevine is a powerful force in any company, large or small. But the purpose is more then just a note to dear Phil. Change in a society starts with one voice and then another and another.

Katt will either start to think before hitting the delete key or if the outrage grows enough, a revolution follows. Ten people posting names, http addresses and maybe even chat logs in all of thier posts and then twenty and then more. Protest has many forms but it all starts in a few different spots. That was my protest.

Add in the fact that this forum is no longer restricted to premium accounts only. It isn't just individuals perusing these forums, there are bound to be employees of other companies that take a gander every now and then. Wouldn't be surprised to know an IBMer wasn't lurking somewhere or another. I can not be the only person when deciding to buy a new piece of software, looks in thier forums first. That has stopped me from purchasing a couple of times so far.

Wait a minute Dusty...which camp are you talking about? Are you actually running BL from the playa? Surely not. I can totally understand why Larry couldn't wait for YOU to be the first to know about his ideas about next year, (which BTW have NOT yet been decided) because you are so loyal to the cause, quotes like the above exemplify this.
Man, this is almost as bogus as the DNC.

There are still people who wonder WHICH America, North or South, and why couldn’t it have been the GLOBAL dream or illusion or whatever? A quick glance at the ten principles debunks just about everything here anyway.
I think it is time for Burning Man to get back on track, next year’s theme is Dusty Buttocks or Sandy Vagina right? Because there is no place for the corporatism and political correctness of BM or BL.

Hell of a troll shot from the noob alt on the far field...................

Not at all.

It would be subject to moderation if the name was mentioned in order to direct a personal attack at the named individual.

Thanks for the opportunity to clarify.