Griefer Attack!

Ah, I've witnessed my first true griefer attack. I've heard of others, of course; heard them described in detail. I've listened in group chat to the cries of a multitude of club-goers who managed to get stuck in a sim when it nearly crashed because of a concerted griefing attack. But, like street violence, griefing had, to me, always been something that happens "over there".

So yesterday, after a bit of wandering around, I teleported to my house. Home is where I like to go when I plan on doing a lot of browsing in the search function, or doing some inventory work, or doing really anything else that would keep me from interacting with my surroundings for a moderate-to-long period of time. So I get there, and go upstairs and out onto the balcony, preparing to climb to the roof - it was a lovely evening.

At that point, I noticed the particles. Small square particles, consisting of pictures, the subject being unclear as the particles seemed pretty far away. I looked around and noticed a largish spinning cube hovering over a neighbor's house. This cube was acting like a kind of fountain, spraying the particles in all directions. Soon, another fountain-cube appeared, somewhat closer than the first - closer enough for me to see the particle-pictures. Disgusting stuff!

I flew up to the latest cube, flying through a barrage of pornographic horror. Locating the cube, I examined it and found the owner/creator (it was the same person in both instances), pulled up the fellow's profile, and muted him out of spite. Curiously, when I muted him, the particles disappeared. So now I know: muting somebody also turns off their annoying particles, at least as far as your own viewer is concerned.

And it was none too soon, either, for no fewer than a dozen of these spinning cubes appeared in short order, sometimes moving, sometimes stationary. They seemed to be concentrated around my house, though I can't say for sure if that was intentional. I do know that if I'd been able to see all those particles, the sheer number of them would've lagged me to the crashing point.

Checking the mini-map, I saw a green dot appear at some point not too far away. Thinking this might be the dweeb responsible, I tried camming over to the dot, and couldn't find any corresponding avatar. So I got up and flew over there. My intention was to ban the offender - even though he was not on my specific rental property, anybody in my rental group can eject/ban anybody from any land owned by the rental company. When I got there, same deal as before - I couldn't see anybody. I searched high and low, I turned on Show Invisible, I even switched to wireframe mode to see if the person was hiding inside a local object. Nothing. Creepy!

Another green dot appeared by my house. Angrily, I flew back and found out it was my landlord. Thank the gods, and I hoped he didn't think that I was responsible for the shape the sim was in - after all, this mess had been going on for a good 5 minutes or more and I hadn't PM'd him asking for help, which I probably ought to have done the instant I discovered the porn-fountain-cubes. I asked him what was going on, and he confirmed that the sim was under a griefer attack, and that he and the Lindens were working on the problem. I directed his attention toward the green dot without an avatar, and he informed me that it was a Linden. So not having an avatar is kind of a superLindenpower, I guess. Ah well. So I settled back on my porch as these huge cubes spun around the place. One especially huge one had materialized right off my balcony - it was nearly as tall as my house. I waited while my landlord and the Linden-Who-Wasn't-There did whatever it was they were doing. At length, the landlord told me it might be better to just leave for the time being, and he would tell me when it was all right to return. This I did, and about 15 minutes later I got the all-clear. Nothing has happened since. But it was a good ten minutes of excitement on an otherwise boring day.

Sokmunky Rutabaga

OK, this is my first post dedicated to a single person. In fairness, I'll concede that it is being posted without that person's permission - but I am evil like that.

The av in question is Sokmunky Rutabaga. She's a sheep, really - though she doesn't look like one, because she's disguised as a 13-year-old girl. Although I had met a number of people after joining SL, she was the first one I'd actually spoken with for a while before she sent me a Friend invite; thus, she occupies a place of importance on my list. But of course, it's more than that. Sokmunky (or "Soki", as she is typically called) embodies much that I want to be and achieve in SL. Well, except for being a girl. And having pink hair - I don't want pink hair. But besides that.

For one thing, Soki seems to know everybody, and everybody seems to be on friendly terms with her. If anyone doubts this, they could've been set straight a week ago, during Soki's 2nd rez-day party. A rez-day is something like a birthday - the anniversary of the day you joined SL. I attended her party that night - though I couldn't stay for long, sadly. But before I left, I counted no fewer than 30 avatars there - more than I'd ever seen at any function for as long as I've been on SL. If I have a party on my second rez-day, perhaps I can hope for maybe half as many people. Whatever she's got, everyone around her sees and respects.

She's also quite fond of literature, and likes to read - an attribute with which I can relate. Her "personal" space in SL is a treehouse library, lined with bookshelves, with larger-than-life books serving as ad-hoc furniture. Quite classy, if I do say so myself.

In any case, all I'd really wanted to do with this post was wish Soki a happy rez-day. I know it's a week late - I'd meant to do it on the proper day - but RL sometimes intervenes and I wasn't able to get around to it.

Soki's known for some singular musings, so I recommend to your notice her own weblog, which you can find in my link list on the right.