Nferia's blog: "About My "Second Life""

Second Life, the virtual world that gets hyped ceaselessly in the press, has been facing some major issues this week. In a story that sounds like a sci-fi plot, a script called CopyBot was released that enables users to replicate items in-world. That spells trouble for those who make a living, or at least a second income, selling clothes, cars, furniture and other goods in the virtual world - why buy something when you can clone it for free? As plenty of newspaper articles have pointed out, the SL economy is fairly large - they did $491,989 USD in transactions in the last 24 hours, which is likely lower than the daily average. Even worse, Copybot was created by libsecondlife, an open source project supported by Second Life owner Linden Labs to reverse engineer the SL software - although it has a wide range of applications, the one that’s causing problems is the ability to clone any object or avatar in-game, even those marked as “no copy”. The code has since been pulled from the libsecondlife website, but not before it was dispersed widely. Yesterday, a group of shop owners closed their stores in protest, and anti-CopyBot t-shirts and flags appeared. The group claim that there were 600 stores closed, although it’s hard to confirm that figure. It seems that CopyBot may have been modified by someone outside of libsecondlife to be used in this way, but that hasn’t stopped residents blaming Linden Labs, with banners reading: “Linden Lab once again did hurt our world (sic?)”. Shopkeepers also threatened a lawsuit against Linden yesterday, while Linden said in their official blog this week (seems to be offline at the time of writing) that anyone using CopyBot to steal objects would be held responsible for copyright infringement. Linden Labs have made their in-world economy a massive selling point, and successfully hyped their numbers in the press, with an endless stream of articles about how entrepreneurs are making a living in-world, not to mention the size of the SL economy and neverending stories of companies setting up offices there. More recently, the arrival of a Second Life Reuters correspondent attracted attention. As a result of all this coverage, they’ve got to handle the backlash when that economy is threatened, especially when the company itself is being blamed.

I have now been given two awards for a picture I created in sl. That friggin rocks! If you would like to see the picture, let me know and I will link you. There is someone I do not want looking at ANY of my pictures, because he is a jealous FREAK and I am sure he will have his own story to tell ppl about my models. The pic that won, is PG purfect. Let me know.. hugs

Second life, is a growing industry. A MULTI BILLION dollar one to add. A game.. a place to act out your inner inhibitions. A place, to go to NOT be yourself. A game.. in the minds of most. On the other hand.. Second Life, for some is a way to connect to our loved ones, across the world... A place to make friends, and experience life, that we only could dream of. It is the one place where one can go and be ANYTHING or anyone. Without being judged. People can open themselves up for friendships that normally they wouldn't consider due to society. Example: the jock the geek the prom queen. You get the picture I'm sure. Altho, yes.. SL IS a game.. People also make a living .. They have jobs, and or land that they rent. People have been known to use SL as their main source of RL income. It's not hat hard with a little practice. So we have this brilliant "world", and I still hear people saying it's only a game. I have some questions... IF SL is only a game.. Do we not bring ourselves to this "game"? When relationships are formed.. And we fall in love.. or.. we spend time together.. Is it not US, in RL behind of avatars? OUR feelings? OUR personalities? OUR hearts? When a relationship ends... Is it not OUR feelings that are damaged? Granted there are people out there, that have the ability, to form this wall around themselves to stop from being hurt.. but, is this really a good idea? Is that not just becoming more the GAME then the human BEHIND the game? I don't know about others.. BUT I conduct myself, as much as I can the way I would in rl. Some things are different.. Believe it or not, I try to be more out going, and friendly in sl, as a pose to the raving loon that I am in rl. (lol jk) In rl, I am not "easy", so in sl... altho SL is HUGELY based on sex, I conduct myself in a lady manner, since in rl I am not a whore, I will NOT become one on SL. I keep that one act for my partner.. someone that I care for, that I feel deserves that "gift". And lets face it ladies and gents.. If you know that your partner, doesn't "give it away", then doesn't that make it so much better to you? I know it would for me, altho I wouldn't NOT partner with someone because of how they handled themselves in the past. Another thing, that makes this not just a game.. JEALOUSIES. When people hook up in RL.. they tend to be jealous, tho they say they are not, of the ppl in their mates present and previous life.. This includes, ppl, jobs, past loves... This baring in mind.. How is SL ANY different then rl? In a relationship on SL, you still need to get over what others have done in the past. Same as with RL. With all this being said.. I personally enjoy going to SL, to spend time with the ppl that I love, and my new friends. I also enjoy my studio, and soon to be gallery (I love the Idea, ty Damian), I enjoy making tattoos... I enjoy dancing, and meeting new ppl, and hanging out with old friends. I know I have made HUGE mistakes on the relationship front, as I am not perfect. I have hurt ppl from the past, and I swear to god, or to LL, that if I could change it.. I would. (wouldn't that be great? to find a time machine on sl, that could actually take away all the pain that lead up to a mistake, and let you do it over again?). All I can do, is try to MAKE them listen, and try to make them see...... And if it won't happen, all i can do is move on. I have loved ppl in the past, in rl.. BUT I find, in SL, it can be soooo much worse.. Its not the PHYSICAL, that you fall for in this "game", this "alter world". It's the PERSON, behind the avie. So in sense, its their heart, and their souls that are the attractive part of them. I would love to be able to say, wrap yourself up in a cocoon and don't get "involved", with anyone...but, in sense.. its one of the best experiences of SL. For some of us.. we meet amazing new friends.. For others, they find the loves of their lives.. and for a few they find more reasons to care for someone in their present, just may it be that they are just far away from them, but that relationship may grow on to new and stronger, better things. Believe it or not... some of these ppl..meet on sl.. and get married in rl.. (poking at Bebop Vox and HIS heart beat that he married.). So, I will close this off now.. any questions, please leave a comment, and I will answer them... If your brave,and haven't tried SL yet.. Come give it a try.. It's free for a basic account, so for the person that referred you, please, add Morgana Hilra (thats me!!) http://www.secondlife.com/join/?u=ae7c27a6813c9f1c222e534653fd1367 Well, I hope to see you there. And If your a first timer, please, add your name from SL below, and maybe we can meet up for coffee (lol) some time. Peace Out Lovers! Angel (Morgana)