Reflections: Ten Years Ago ...

By Bixyl Shuftan

I forget the exact date, but it was one weekend a decade ago that the decision was made by it's editor to close the newsletter I worked for at the time, the Second Life Newspaper.

It had not been the best of times. Second Life's Golden Age was behind us. This was partially due to the hype from the 2006-08 years having faded as stories in real life media about the possibilities of what could be done here such as the Relay for Life became replaced by tales of marriages broken by virtual adultery and "flying penis" griefing attacks. So fewer people were signing up. The global economy was still sluggish after the 2008 crash, and it was reflected in Second Life with fewer people having plenty of money to spend. The number of private sims down began a long slow decline, and it was harder to make good money.

For the Second Life Newspaper, we had our own troubles. One of our sponsors had suddenly up and went under in a very public collapse that angered many of his customers and some of it went our way due to his sponsorship. There were also fewer reporters on the staff. The owner of SLN, JamesT Juno, had left Second Life for personal reasons. Editor Dana Vanomer was in charge, but was also being dragged down by real life matters. Fortunately, the paper had a short-term contingency plan for times she wasn't available for a day or two. The "office manager" of the newsletter, me, would post articles when she couldn't. So we continued on.

But eventually, Dana came to a realization. So it was one weekend in early April 2010 that we met for an "emergency meeting." I had hoped it was a new sponsor. But instead, she told us the newsletter would be closing in three months. I was, stunned. For over two years, most of my time here in Second Life, I'd spent my time as a reporter, and it had become my online identity. And now, we were faced with it coming to an end. Gemma Cleanslate was the most outspoken of us, saying there had to be a way to keep things running. But the way Dana saw it, it was James' paper, and she had no right to give it to anyone else.

And after that, some of the team dropped out. The rest of us continued to do what we'd been doing, reporting the news about Second Life. But we talked to one another. And four of us came to a conclusion: start a new paper, a new newsletter. And the very day Second Life Newspaper folded, the Second Life Newser would begin.

If it was in my power, I would have taken the chance in an instant to be the owner of the old Second Life Newspaper. But after a rough start, we continued to do well under the new name. Perhaps there's a lesson to be learned here. Life, virtual and real, is full of change. But life goes on. Sometimes it means saying goodbye to something, or someone, you've cherished. But still, life goes on. It always has.

Ten years later, Gemma Cleanslate and I have been part of the Second Life Newser, having worked with some fantastic writers over time, Grey Lupindo, Shelly Sands, DrFran Babcock, and many others. Numerous sponsors have backed us over the years. Times have changed, both in virtual reality and real life. But our mission remains the same: reporting the news big and small about the people, places, and events across Second Life. And we have every intention of keeping it up.

Bixyl Shuftan

Commentary: Ten Years of Writing About Second Life

By Bixyl Shuftan

For most in Second Life, their big day is their rezzday. For me, I've had other milestones. There was when I first began logging onto the Grid on a regular basis, when I got my fox avatar, and most importantly, when I first became a journalist here, in November 2007.

My journey to Second Life actually started almost a year earlier. Although I'd been told about Second Life before, notably by an online friend who went by Kamilah Hauptman here, telling me how great the place was, that unlike an MMO one could build their own place and look how they wanted. But as I only had dial-up Internet at the time, I didn't think I could access the place. Finally in Dec 2006 I got high speed Internet and came here. Unfortunetly, Kamilah was suddenly unavailable due to new responsibilities. Going around, I found mostly just homes and ban lines, with no idea where the events were or how to find interesting places. There was no Destination Guide back then to look for them. So my visits became few and far between, spending more time in "World of Warcraft" with friends whom were available.

Things began to change in July 2007. Kamilah told me about the Relay for Life, and gave me the landmark for the Relay Track. Seeing many interesting builds, my interest in Second Life was rekindled, and I began to both learn more about how to go about and look around. I came across Luskwood, and began finding friends there. I soon ditched the starter ringtail for a red Luskwood Fox, and began looking over newsletters and blogs about the virtual world. The most interesting of these was "Second Life Newspaper," owned by JamesT Juno and edited by Dana Vanmoer. I found it more informative about what one could see and do in Second Life than certain other tablodish webpages. After reading it for a while, I saw a call for readers to send them stories and interesting pictures. So I sent in a few, feeling at least it would get me a little attention. It got me more than a little; James and Dana asked me in for an interview. During the chat, they were satisfied with what I could offer, and I was invited to join the team. With my first payment for a story, I bought an overcoat and a fedora, the classic reporter's garb. Combined with my avatar, it made for the "Fox Reporter" look that I continue to wear to this day as my everyday look.

I would write about all kinds of subjects in Second Life, it's people, places, and events. There were popular places and noted personalities, and there were out of the way locations that I found interesting and relatively unknown people whom had done things I felt were worthy of attention. There were many events, such as holiday celebrations, openings and the anniversaries of locations, the Second Life Birthday event, Burning Life, which was later changed to Burn2, the Relay for Life, and many more. There was the occasional personal experience that I found noteworthy. And there were the screenshot cartoons that I would send in every week. I was always able to find something noteworthy to write about every week, covering a little bit of everything, and was always finding scenes with potential humor. And we were a team, were I made friends such as Gemma Cleanslate, Grey Lupindo, Covadonga Writer, Shelly Sands, Nazz Lane, and many others. Eventually, I was giving the position of "Office Manager," which meant updating the paper when Dana couldn't.

Not everything went well. Sadly one of the first things I would write about in 2008 was the closing of my first hangout after Luskwood, the STA, and over the next few months many of my friends at the time would drop out of the Grid. Over time, I would be invited to be a part of other places and groups in Second Life, the Fortunas Club and Fortunas Estates, the Woodlin community (not to be confused with Woodland which had a different atmosphere) and the Star Tails club, the Foxworth community and the Blue Parrot Club (later known as the Bahama Beach Club or BBC). But all of these locations would eventually close and fade, with nothing left but screenshots and memories, and the treehouse I would take with me from Woodlin. It wasn't until Spring 2010 that I finally found a place that lasted, and became a part of the Sunweaver and Angels community, where I remain to this day.

By this time, my role in virtual journalism was about to change. In Fall 2009, JamesT Juno had to depart Second Life, and Dana Vanmoer wasn't able to give the time to the paper she once could. So she reluctantly made the decistion to close Second Life Newspaper. I along with the rest of the team was shocked and saddened. The newspaper had been such a big part of our experience in the virtual world, we couldn't imagine life here without it. So I talked with the others, and three others, Gemma, Grey, and Shelie, agreed to join me in the founding of a new paper that would take over from where James and Dana left off: The Second Life Newser. With the new paper starting up in June 2010, my role changed from being just one of the reporters to the editor and head of the publication. The Sunweaver/Angels offered us a place for the office at the start, and we soon had an inworld office. Under a new banner, we kept on covering the people, places, and events across the virtual world.

Over the past ten years, much has changed in Second Life. I came on when it was the darling of the tech media, considered "Internet 2.0," and mentioned in big media, including newspapers and TV news, even prime time TV shows. By the time the Newser took over from the old SLN, it was already fading from public view and the public was changing it's attention to other computer applications it could easier understand, such as Facebook. Many places here have come and gone. A few such as The Lost Gardens of Apollo have been lucky enough to be brought back by Linden Lab. Second Life's media has changed as well. Treet  TV used to do live programing across the Grid, viewable on inworld TV sets. Today, live programing is a rarity, reserved for a few special events. Shows like "Tonight Life" and "The 1st Question" that went on for a number of years are gone.

But while some things have been lost as time has gone on, there have also been some additions. Over time, new people have come to Second Life and made their own marks on the Grid. New places and builds have been constructed, giving those here new areas to explore. There's always something new here. One just needs to know where to find it.

Of "The Lab," as the residents call Linden Lab, the owners of Second Life, the love/hate relationship the residents have with them is still there. When I first came on there was some interaction with the residents. But after Linden Lab's founder Philip Rosedale/Philip Linden stepped down, they seemed to become more distant. Then with the appearance of the current CEO Ebbe Altberg/Ebbe Linden, there was more interaction again. But while the increased interaction helps, the view the residents have of The Lab is still mixed. They appreciate it's founders inventing Second Life, and the present company maintaining it. But at the same time they groan, sometimes curse at it for it's blunders. It seems the Lab puts developing new bells and whistles to getting rid of bugs and glitches. When it comes to banning people, there's a general feeling that the Lab has a way of being unable to stop a location from being repeatedly griefed by day-old alts made by the same owner, yet accounts that have lasted for years end up banned for trivial infractions. And then there is Sansar. While a few people here see promise in the "next generation virtual world" as it was originally called, at least some years from now, most residents see it as a waste of Linden Lab's time and their money, feeling all Sansar does for them is delay the amount of time bugs and glitches get fixed and raise their fees.

For myself, there have been ups and downs along the way. Old friends have stopped coming on, often when real life demands their full attention or otherwise makes it impossible to be here. This includes some hands at the Newser staff, of whom we've had to say goodbye to some talented writers such as DrFran Babcock. But new ones have continued to come in to bring in their own skill at reporting, such as Deaflegacy and Klaus Bereznyak. My home of the Sunweaver and Angels Estates has seen some changes, sims vanishing and appearing, clubs closing and opening, and people leaving and coming in. Club Zero Gravity for instance had to close it's doors for a time when finances forced it to, but recently reopened back and as good as ever. I myself have been helping Nydia Tungsten and Skylark Lefavre manage the community's beach club the Happy Vixen.

So what's ahead? Ten years ago, I had no real idea what my future was here beyond the next year or two. I never saw myself two and a half years later heading the publication that would replace the one my old employers had then. Despite Linden Lab's heavy handedness at times, it's a safe bet the Grid will still be around for a few more years, probably several more years, unless there's a major catastrophe such as a devastating earthquake in California that takes out the Lab and it's servers. I have expanded my writing beyond the virtual world, doing a blog about matters outside of Second LIfe, which I named "Food on the Table" on hopes it will eventually lead me to a writing job I can make a full time living on. I've also been writing a science-fiction novel on the side, the working title being "The Corsean Encounter." In the story, two humans end up on a pre-Industrial alien world, followed later by others with hostile intentions. If it does modestly well, I'll write more.

But I have no plans on stopping my reporting on Second Life, and the good this virtual world can do for people. As long as you keep reading, as long as I have a team by my side and as long as I'm able to, I'll keep on writing about the news here..

Bixyl Shuftan

My Time At Second Life Newspaper

By Bixyl Shuftan

It was November 2007 in which I became more or less what I am today in Second Life. Although I first came here almost a year before, for months I'd only come on only intermentally. It wasn't until June in which I began appearing inworld with any sense of regularity, enjoying the creative builds, such as those of the Relay for Life, and finding a social hangout where there was always someone: Luskwood, where I began making a few friends.

But where to find out about interesting places to see and do inworld. Word of mouth was one way. But what about blogs? I began Googling and Yahooing for Second Life based websites and found a number. Some were more frequently updated than others and covered more subjects. There was the Alphaville Herald, but I found it to be mostly "peanut gallery" material with it's stories about griefing and a focus on drama. New World Notes was useful, updated about five times a week. But one newsletter stood out: Second Life Newspaper. It had several sections, and had multiple updates a day. So it was definitely a source of Second Life news to check every day.

Not long after I started reading it, there was a request for "reader submissions." So I sent in a few funny pictures and a small article about a couple funny situations. It wasn't long before it's owner JamesT Juno and Editor Dana Vanmoer asked me to drop by the office for a possible job. A bit nervous, I showed up, and we talked for a while. It was a happy moment when they welcomed me aboard their team. In real life, I had taken pride in keeping up with the news. Now in Second Life, I would be covering it. With my first paycheck, I decided it would be better if I dressed in a classical reporter's outfit. So I got a fedora and overcoat. I had a "Fox News" look that fit pretty well, and gave me a unique look.

I ended up covering a bit of everything. There were art shows that Dana didn't have the time to write on herself that she felt needed a spotlight. But my exploring around, a number of the places I saw through Sean Voss' Second Life Tours, provided no shortage of material. I also reported on the happenings of my first hangout after Luskwood: The STA. And I would write about the various people I came across, such as musicians. And of course the screenshot cartoons. I kept sending as many as Dana would put up.

And of course we were a team. Just after I joined was the first anniversary party, and I ended up chatting with the others durring a dance. James and Dana also had a club, the "Metamorphasis." The name was from it's being changed to reflect the theme of the dance. One month, it resembled a bloodly mad doctor's hospital. Another month it looked like an alien base. Another month it was a Fantasy settling. But the place took a lot of time to rearange. So eventually it was given up. But there were also the beach parties, often DJed for by KONA and GoSpeed Racer. I made a number of friends among the staff, such as Dashwood Dayafter, Breezes Babii, Delinda Dyssen, and Dixie Barbosa. Gemma Cleanslate signed on just after I did, and we would stay in touch.

To my sadness, among the things I ended up covering early on was the STA's closing. And so my "home location" would be the office building for a while. Or rather the new office as they had moved from the place they had when I came aboard. The favorite hangout of my friends was gone, but Second Life would go on, and there were still places to explore and write about, such as the Silverscreen area setup by a real life movie company whom had exhibits of various movies set up, and even a freebie Transformer av and Greek Spartan outfit. There was the Mystery Science Theater 3000 build, which prompted me to do one of my most whimsical articles. There was Tuna Oddfellow's "Odd Ball," which I would continue to write about for years. There were performances such as "The Wall," and exhibits such as the Berlin Wall. And then there were the three grand events. June had the Second Life Fifth Birthday, of which there were many exhibits to see, including one for the paper shaped like a newsbox. The Relay took place on an "H" shaped track, and the number and variety of sights never failed to amaze me, exceeding even the year before. And in October came Burning Life, Second Life's largest art festival which was a reflection of the yearly Burning Man festival in real life that was an inspiration to help create this virtual world. Then there was my interview with Azar Shelman, who in real life was Tony Dyson, the man who was credited with creating R2D2.

Two happy times stood out for Second Life Newspaper in 2008. One was of James and Dana's virtual wedding in June. I was among those who James trusted to invite for his bachelor party (and what happened still stays there *wink*). And the wedding itself was just beautiful. So was the reception which was reporter Breezes Babii's real life daughter Glitter made her debut appearance. The other happy time was the paper's two year anniversary. It was a week of celebrations from formal dances to a western party, and more. One party was distinguished by a "sploder" that broke and people kept feeding it cash for when it would eventually release the cash, giving half to the last guy to put in money and spliting the other half with everyone else. It was over 25,000 Lindens when it finally exploded, giving one lucky guy almost 13,000. One guy whom was broke whom I loaned 10L to put in the machine ended up with a few hundred Lindens. A year ago, the team had gone from a glorified blog to a respeciable newsletter. Now we were clearly established as the source of news to check out about Second Life.

And this was the time Second Life was in the media spotlight. Real life media, such as CNN and Reuters were establishing presences here. So were real life businesses, such as car companies whom were making cars inworld with hopes people would be inclined to buy the real thing in real life. Just before I joined the paper, CBS and Linden Lab were doing a cross-promotion in which the CSI TV show had an episode in which the police investigated the virtual world to catch a killer, and Second Life was host to a game in which players solved murder mysteries. The grid also found itself the scene of political expression as people set up HQs for political candidates, and even politicians such as Newt Gingrich popped in. IBM was known as a generous sponsor, paying for dozens of sims.

But hype and reality, or in this case virtual reality, had a way of clashing. Real life reporters coming in as newcomers were puzzled by how to go about the virtual world. Real life carmakers when making virtual cars often tried making them themselves instead of hiring local builders and made shoddy products. Of CSI fans who saw the Second Life episode and came here found the place much different from the idealized depiction on TV, few people using Voice, bugs, and of course the lag.

Then came the sex stories, or "cyber noggie" as my real-life coworkers called it, real life media reporting on couples whom were in trouble or breaking up because one was using Second Life to have virtual intimacy with someone there. The addage "sex sells" is well known, and the stories were soon less about the virtual world being a technical marvel and a place where people could build anything and socialize from people around the world, and more of a place where people could go to indulge in sexual fantasy, or even a place that attracted sexual deviants. It got to the point Newt Ginchrich's visit here was used as a minus against him. Stories such as charities raising money here and disabled veterans using Second Life to meet up and chat became increasingly ignored. Alesia Schuman, who worked with real life media, called it a sad reality, "It is so easier to sell to the public when there is controversy than when the story is constructive."

Another problem was Linden Lab itself began to seem increasingly detatched from the residents. In October 2008 came the Openspace controversy when the Lindens announced a huge price increase for the sims intended as low use areas. The result was protests and demonstrations, people accusing Linden Lab of "bait and switch" tactics. In May 2009, changes were annouced with a new "Adult" content rating, an "adult content" filtering system, and a new continent with all Adult rated sims, Zindra, coming up soon. Critics feared Second Life would be about to go through massive censorship, unable to wear small dresses or even engage intimately with partners in private behind closed doors. There was Linden Lab getting rid of their official mentors group. There was their new Viewer 2, which residents found awkward to use.

Why was Linden Lab doing this? I couldn't help but think of the Ferengi of "Star Trek" whose motto was "never let long term thinking get in the way of short term profits." Later on, others would suggest something else was at work. One blogger would write that this was an attempt by the leadership of Linden Lab at the time to "transform Second Life from an anarchic virtual frontier settlement into a business-friendly company town." As I would write later, This wouldn't the first time a business decided to alter it's focus in an attempt to gain a wider audience. Unfortunately like many such businesses, it ended up alienating it's existing market while failing to gain a new one.

But Life, or rather Second Life, went on. Although some friends of line moved on from the paper, Delinda heading to become a part of the "Tonight Live" talk show, others came in such as Covadonga Writer and Fox M, whom did some interesting SL fiction. While at the SL6B, I ran into Grey Lupindo, who saw my reporter's tag and asked about Second Life Newspaper. She would later sign up with us, and we remained good friends. Also coming in was Shelie Sands, whom distinguished herself with her poetry. We soon moved to a larger brick office. It was there that James and Dana offered me a promotion of sorts, "Office Manager." This meant updating the paper when James and Dana didn't that day, and answer any questions others had when they weren't around.

We continued to report on stories such as the rumors about Australia banning Second Life, the Sixth Second Life Birthday Celebrations (of which the second time around might not have been as exciting as the first, but still great), a moon rocket ride to celebrate the Apollo landing's 40th anniversary, the Relay for Life (of which I helped put the spotlight on the Passionate Redheads and their Wild West camp, and got a special "Hope Kitty" avatar from Lost Furest), the Netroots political convention, Paisley Bebee's "Live n' Kickin." the 9/11 anniversary, the goings on at our minor sponsor Mystery, my appearance on "the 1st Question" game show, and more.

Unfortunately, it wasn't just Linden Lab's blunders and Second Life's dwindling public spotlight that were our problems that year. In October dropped a bombshell: Our main sponsor BNT went bankrupt, taking the area where our office was with it. It was reopened just long enough for us to get our things. We were eventually able to find another sponsor, and space for a new office. But there was another problem. James had departed Second Life for personal reasons. Dana was now in charge, but with her partner gone, things just weren't the same. I was updating the paper for her more often. But I was confident she would eventually step back to resume her role.

The first quarter of 2010 went on with us exploring about the Grid as usual, covering the people, places, and events. But there were fewer of us. There weren't quite as many coming in to replace those stepping out.  But still we went on. We were still Second Life's number one newspaper, getting the news of the Grid to the residents.

In early April, Dana asked everyone to attend an emergency meeting. I showed up, thinking perhaps this was about a new sponsor or perhaps James ending his hiatus. Instead she delivered some stunning news. She told everyone she would not be able to keep up her duties as editor, and the paper would be closing in early June. Needless to say we were stunned. We asked why couldn't someone run the paper until she was ready to come back, even if it took months or over a year. Dana answered that this was really James' paper, and she felt she didn't have the authority to turn it over to anyone else. The only option was to close it down. Gemma in particular was outspoken, perhaps defiant, insisting there had to be another way. If not one of us, have someone else run the paper to keep it alive. But the decision was done.

Stunned, we could only move on, continuing to write as we did before. We had several more weeks, Dana wanting to honor our obligations to our sponsors. But we were asked to keep quiet about the paper closing, which we did. It was about this time our star reporter Nazz Lane went on his own to concentrate on his own blog and Second Life fiction. The rest of us talked amongst ourselves about what to do. Finally four of us, Gemma Cleanslate, Grey Lupindo, Shelie Sands, and myself came to a decision. There was no guarantee it would work, but we didn't have much to lose.

In mid-May, Dana gave us the date of the last day, Saturday June 5. The event would be marked not just with a final goodbye message, but with a party alongside our friends and readers, "Let's end this with a bang." Eventually the day came, James ending his hiatus for the event. The event was all smiles, until James got on stage to make the announcement, "It is with pain in our heart that we salute you tonight. It is with pain in our heart we leave this place. It is with pain in our heart we allow the final curtain to fall. For us as avatar, and for our beloved newspaper, its time to end it. The sl-newspaper will end."

The response was naturally sad sighs and expressions of sympathy, but James and Dana insisted that things go out with a great party. So that's what we gave them. After two hours, they logged out for what we thought could very well be the last time.

But their last word, or rather Dana's, would be that night. She had a farewell message thanking the staff, their sponsors and friends, and of course the readers. Dana did have two wishes. One was, "that people do not give up on the good that can be achieved within these virtual worlds," citing the Relay for Life as a prime example. Her other wish was also a final swipe at Linden Lab, "One thing I would hope for the future of SL is that the Lindens go back and realise what they are destroying with their policies. The sheer creativity, communication and international impact somewhere like Secondlife can be is being eaten away by the Lindens stupidly ignoring the content creators with their ill thought out policies which help no-one except their own pockets."

The website's main page was changed with a red "X" over the newspaper picture, symbolizing its closing. For some reason, most of the sections were taken down. Only the Front section remained, though one could sometimes access the People section. A few years later, the website and paper would vanish. Only parts of the front section could be accessed by way of the "Wayback machine" aka the Internet archiver.

The reaction to Second Life Newspaper's closing went on for days. People kept asking me what the heck was going on. The overall response was sadness, but there was some anger. One former minor sponsor was furious neither me or Dana told her about this, accusing her of selfishness. Our "arch rival" the Herald mentioned our closing in an article I felt was respectable, suggesting Dana was simply being practical.

The "Gray Lady" of Second Life was gone. What had been accomplished? As a source of news, it covered the Grid for three and a half years from November 2006 to June 2010. From when Second Life was the darling of the tech media, it's landscape littered with shopping malls and "ad farms," to when it's popularity among the general public had wanned, and those who came to make money were more and more replaced with those looking to build roleplays and the virtual home they couldn't have in reality. What started as one man's dream had grown to a staff that at one point was close to two dozen, others whom shared the dream. James and Dana had been great leaders of a great team. And for that we thank them.

But Second Life would continue on. Just a week after James and Dana's farewell party. Linden Lab dismissed thirty percenty of their staff. Gone were popular Lindens such as Teegan and Blue. Then came other events such as the resignation of Linden Lab's CEO, the "Emeraldgate" controversy, the decision to merge the Teen Grid with the main one, and others. It was a time when Second Life's future was in doubt.

What would cover these events was a new newsletter, staffed by those from the old. Shellie Sands, Grey Lupindo, Gemma Cleanslate, and me, Bixyl Shuftan, were back under a new name: Second Life Newser. This would be the legacy of JamesT Juno and Dana Vanmoer. And five years later, it would still be standing, keeping the dream alive.

Bixyl Shuftan

Caricavatars Political Satire Sim (2007/2008)

Second Life has been the scene of political expression. One of the more notable examples was when a member of the right-wing French National Front built a place where his party could express it's views and promote it's candidate Le Pen. But the result was protests from it's opponents that sometimes went to the point where they could be considered griefing (youtube) (The Guardian) (New World Notes). Another example from France was the Caricavatars sim, owned by Christophe Hugo. He called himself a political satirist, with caricatures of political figures, hence the sim's name, of the United States and several other countries, notably the sim owner's home country of France, in the sim, as well as builds made with the purpose of expressing political views such as "George Bush's Colon," and "Larry Craig's Bathroom." However, Christophe could be a little thin-skinned when it came to anything he considered a slight in his direction. His place would be the scene of two articles by Second Life Newspaper, by Brutha Voodoo in April 24, 2007, and several months later by Bixyl Shuftan in Jan 25, 2008.

*  *  *  *  *
April 24, 2007

Vive La Politque


By Brutha Voodoo,

So there I am... standing in a nightclub high above the ground, trying to interview with a man who is sitting pointing a rocket launcher squarely at my head, as he sits in his army helicopter, telling me in no uncertain terms that if I was not French, then I would be removed from his island... and since I'm not, and can barely speak French... well, you can see what I have to go through in the name of a story.

"So how did you get yourself into this strange situation, and should I call amnesty international or the UN to ensure your swift release?" you may be asking? Well, to answer that, I need we need to go back to a previous article I wrote, where I interviewed a gentleman doing a study on SL for university (http://15timez.blogspot.com/2007/02/interview-study-of-sl.html). In the interview, it was mentioned that "The French National Front set up a HQ in Second Life, which caused a protest, which broke down in to a riot." This stuck with me, as the idea of having politicians following us into our little virtual fantasy world, where we go to escape the boring day to day grind and reality of things just like this, was not one that particularly struck me as being conducive to fun. However, being the studier of the human condition that I am, it intrigued me, and so I went searching for evidence of real world politics in SL.

Frustratingly, I found little evidence of the politicians actually getting on their laptops, logging into Secondlife, and canvassing the streets for potential voters. There are a few groups and places for politically like minded people to gather and chat and debate (as much as you DO debate when you're politically like minded). There are even a few places independently trying to promote certain political candidates, but are completely unaffiliated with the party the represent, or the person, and didn't really seem worthy of in depth investigation (although I did learn that Hilary Clinton seems to have her own logo).

Frustratedly, I moped around the sl-newspaper offices, until, while discussing this piece with fellow newshound Dixie Barbosa, it was suggested that I return to the source of my intrigue. With the French Election in full swing, we set off to investigate it's effects on SL.

And thus, we ended up on the island of Caricavatars, a place of political discussion, demonstration, and from what we discovered, performance art. The place is littered with signs and posters, protesting for amongst other things, gun control (with their own little tribute to the Virginia Tech victims next to a picture of a George W Bush type avatar wearing stars and stripes boxers, and holding two handguns). There is a castle with more propaganda and political statement, and a nightclub where folk gather to chat about the pros and cons of current political feeling. But the thing that really got my attention on arrival, was the gunfire. At first, we thought it was a griefer, but upon closer inspection, a caricature avatar of the French centre-right politician Nicolas Sarkozy, current UMP candidate for the French Presidency, was shooting randomly, and flying a military aircraft. Eventually I managed to grab a few words:

[16:36] You shout: Hello!
[16:36] You shout: May I ask what you're doing?
[16:37] Christophe Hugo: I am the owner. Next question
[16:37] You: ah... np.....
[16:37] You: was just looking into this place as part of a story on rl politics in sl
[16:38] Christophe Hugo: there is no rl politics in France. There is just a dictatorship
[16:38] Christophe Hugo: I am the dictator
[16:38] Christophe Hugo: any more question?
[16:38] You: right....
[16:38] Christophe Hugo: are you French?
[16:38] You: no... english
[16:39] You: but interested in learning
[16:39] Christophe Hugo: I am sorry but I have to protect the French national identity
[16:39] Christophe Hugo: consequently I will have to ask you to leave if you are not French
[16:39] You: o....k......
[16:39] Christophe Hugo: you can't learn to become French
[16:39] Christophe Hugo: you're French or not, simple for Sarkozy
[16:40] You: no.... but I can get a perspective on french situations and politics
[16:40] Christophe Hugo: easy:
[16:40] Christophe Hugo: (a) me Virtual Sarko next dict... next president
[16:40] Christophe Hugo: (b) you and all French people have to obey me
[16:41] Christophe Hugo: (c) for the next 5 years
[16:41] You: ah...
[16:41] Christophe Hugo: simple
[16:41] Christophe Hugo: and it seems that you truly are not French...
[16:42] You: well... thank you for the information, my brother from across the channel
[16:42] Christophe Hugo: you welcome.

This is the fascinating and impressive thing about island: Not only is it being used to allow political debate and discussion, and proving to attract many intellectual residents to engage in these talks, but also for performance art, using skillfully modelled cartoon avs, to make dramatic points about the real world, through character and presentation. And while the ability to move the discussion from the real world to the virtual, to get a wider mix of perspectives, is undoubtedly a good thing, the use of the medium to create thought provoking pieces, that actually engage with you, and make you think, is much much more so. And if the rl political influence into SL produces more things like this, then it can't be all bad, can it?

Thanks to Dixie Barbosa for the assistance and photos

Brutha Voodoo

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January 25, 2008

Hillarious 2008 - Biting Political Satire

On one of Sean Voss' tours, he showed me and the others in his group a unique sim in Second Life - Hillarious 2008, of the Caricavatars sim.

Teleporting into the sim, one finds oneself surrounded by caricatures of various political figures, black helicopters, A Beijing 2008 Olympic flag with "N"s circling the Olympic rings so they resemble "NO"s. Further in the distance is a punching bag with a picture of Hillary with a black eye, in front of a recreation of the White House.

Nearby on a chair sat the creator of the sim, Christophe Hugo.  He never spoke a word outside IM to us, but after overreacting to a question by one guy in the group (more on that later), he changed into a Hillary Clinton avatar, then took a gun and began popping at us, "Hey, don't shoot, we're Democrats!" As this was not a combat sim, we weren't hurt, but it encouraged us to retreat to the White House.

Sean got the codes to enter the White House from Hugo through IM, then we went in. The first floor had a public restroom lampooning the disgraced Senator Larry Craig. The second floor had what might be called "Hillary's Oval Office." There was a funny picture of Bill, and the computer on the Resolute Desk had a google search no doubt done by Hugo's version of Hillary Clinton.

Christophe Hugo is a biting satirist, whom some might say is the kind that's the most fun. Unfortunately, his temper was anything but fun for someone in the group. All the visitor did was ask about a red mosque in the sim that was supposedly the subject of some controversy for being insulting to Muslims, and Hugo threw him out. Talking to the guy who had been unceremoniously given the boot, he told me Hugo had insulted him, then before he could answer, was told he was being muted.

Returning to the place later, Christophe Hugo would only respond to me in Chinese characters. Of the Red Mosque, there was no sign of it. In the place where a picture I found on a website showed it in another area of the sim, was a Sphinx with face of the French President's fiancé. Apparently he had taken it down.

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Christophe did not appreciate the second article written about him, he writing in the comments that not just would I be banned from the area, but all of Sean Voss's exploration group. He would also appear in the Second Life Herald (2006), and Free Rebublic "Xeroxing Hillary Clinton" (2008). Hamlet Au had the fortune to contact him when he was feeling civil, explaining he had a mild form of Autism. (2008). He called the 2008 elections a challenging one for satirists, as criticism of women and blacks could easily be taken the wrong way. I would later hear that someone complained about an exhibit to Linden Lab and he was asked to take it down, he angrily took down everything in Caricavatars. I also heard he had been banned soon after.

Satire can be a tricky art to pull off right for even a man of mild temperament, let alone one with a temper. It appears either his art or his behavior got Christophe Hugo booted by Linden Lab.

Bixyl Shuftan

SLN Archives: BNT Bankrupt 53 Sims Offline ( October 2009)

Original article by Dana Vanmoer,
Additional comments by Bixyl Shuftan

In the history of Second Life Newspaper, one of our major sponsors for a time was BNT holdings, held by an Intilibber Brautigan. He could be a little opinionated at times, once remarking (not an exact quote) "Second Life's furries should stop yiffing and start actually building things." As a defender of Woodbury University, infamous for having a reputation as a griefer hangout, he raised more than a few eyebrows. But his business seemed to be doing well, and his sponsorship bennefited us for a time, Second Life Newspaper getting a huge space for an office, a quarter sim, of which a three story brick and mortar building was built on. James and Dana also got their own private island, on which we had a few parties on, notably our second anniversary bashes. Then in mid-October, there was trouble, major trouble. We couldn't get to our office, Dana couldn't get to her island. Dana soon found out the reason: without warning our sponsor had defaulted on the sim payments.

October 19, 2009
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A couple of days ago I got a message to say my sim was offline, ok these things happen so I didn't worry too much, next day I logged in to find 'Your location is unavailable you have been moved to a nearby area'.

OK whats going on???

I went to the office and looked at the map about 1/2 of BNTs sims were gone - including my island WTF!!!????

Scrolling through past notices I found one in the Brautigan and Tuck holdings group:

BnT Holdings started with one man and his dream. A dream of building a virtual free state where the residents could proudly call Ancapistan home. Unfortunately even the world's greatest empires have endured hard times. These times are no exception. Due to the current economic status of the world and Second Life, it has become increasingly difficult to sustain 50 sims. BNT Holdings will continue to exist, but we must take one step back in order to take two steps forward. If you wish to remain a part of our family at BNT, we will be happy to relocate you to our original estate in the Surreal BT sims. Thank you for being a loyal part of BNT. Here's to a bright future.



No warning, no notice, nothing just gone.

Next - will we lose the office? Our 1/4 sim on BNT land the answer came the next day when that too disappeared. In this time I had spoken to Duchess Shepard who helped me get the sim back online for 24 hours so I could empty it. The loss of this and all our hard work on Fairyteller was devastating.

Duchess also knew nothing about this until it happened, despite the anger being directed towards her she is doing what she can to help people for which I commend her as many in her position (and some who are) don't log in or hide behind alts.

Many notes followed which I wont repeat here. I asked Intlibber for an official statement that I received this morning, which to be honest, I am not going to publish in full simply because its an out-pouring of spite and blame on others (named) none of which actually answers the questions, the rest you can read here:

"Three years ago, I launched BNT with the dream of building a real life sustainable business that could pay a real world income for myself and staff. Those were heady days when land sold reliably for 12 L$ per square meter and one could double their holdings in a few months. I built some of the iconic buildings of the SL business community, and was featured from almost our first week in business in major SL and RL media for our projects. We grew from a half sim in October 2006 to 53 sims this summer, doing so organically from sales, and capital raised via inworld markets. We had begun the transition to becoming a major developer a few times, the first time stymied by sabotage by the largest competitor, and most recently by a smaller competitor with a big obnoxious mouth."

"At the same time, it appears that the real life economy is taking much longer to recover than we had expected earlier in the year. The disposable incomes of SL users continues to erode in RL and SL, causing some of our long standing tenants to give up their land. We have also seen a systemic failure by our shareholders to follow sage investment advice to rent BNT land rather than land in other estates, in order to support their investment in BNT.

Unlike many in SL, we do not subsidize our SL business with real life income. BNT always operated on a sustainable basis on its own organic inworld growth and cash flow and was not a 'hobby' or 'game' like we see so many in the land business who do not operate with common sense business models and who undercut the market with cost-based prices.

As a result of these pressures, this past month we fell into an unrecoverable condition. We had been expecting additional income from development projects but those have not come to fruition in time to even out our cash flow. We do not expect the real world economy to recover sufficiently in the next 6 months to improve the land business, and we have made the decision to get out of the land business almost entirely.

As a result of a sudden severe drop in income, Linden Lab seized our sims on the 16th of this month. We have negotiated with them to reopen the sims temporarily so tenants may recover their property.

We are working to raise capital to recover them so we may sell them off and to pay off existing tenants tier. Once we accomplish this, we will focus solely on the content, finance, and education businesses. Our work with Woodbury University is poised to take off with major student body involvement in SL.

Unfortunately, the 10 sims we have with Surreal are also under attack from the admins there. Despite being paid up on tier with Surreal, and despite having reached an agreement with their staff about our continued operation there, they have seized our sims and banned our staff from serving our customers. Despite public claims by Deuce Marjeta, we have kept tier paid up to date on our Surreal BT sims and his actions we consider criminal theft. Despite his claims to the contrary, we do NOT endorse our residents moving to Surreal, as he reneged on our earlier agreement."

Many are angry at tier paid in advance and lost, from what I have heard Mr Brautigan is trying to arrange the sale of the now defunct sims in order to pay the debts owed - we shall just have to wait and see if anything comes of this.

Despite what people have said about this newspapers' support of Intlibber we have always tried to give an even picture with all sides being able to comment rather than making judgements or leading 'witch hunts' as many other publications do. Not through a desire to keep a sponsor, as accused, but through what we believe to be fair reporting allowing a forum for people to post their own opinions and arguments.

My personal opinion doesn't matter here even if I think someone has acted very badly I will always try to make sure the reporting here is unbiased.

I would like to say that I truly understand the anger of residents who have not only lost money but also content and much much more BUT please direct that anger at the right people not the ones who have tried to help throughout, I am truly dismayed at the outpouring of hatred directed at those who have not tried to hide.

Dana Vanmoer

SLN has a new headquarters http://slurl.com/secondlife/SkyBeam/161/231/38

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We didn't hear much more about Intilibber after his bankruptcy. In 2011, Kal-El Venkman's Krypton Radio claimed he had an alt account named "Overbrain Unplugged," linked to the Bronyville sim, which fell in July 2011 and the account removed as a ban evasion alt. So apparently he had been banned. His page on the Second Life Wiki describes him as being "banned for multiple breaches of TOS." That would be the last we heard of him until August 2014, in which he posted on Facebook about being limited to a 1 sim "prison" in Second Life to put his items on Marketplace as part of a settlement reached with Linden Lab. He would respond in February 2015, in which he stated, "We reached a mutually agreeable final settlement with Linden Lab, and are pleased with the results. ... This has given us the resources for the next phase of things for us." Intilibber stated he and BNT would be launching their own virtual world, "one based on an uncounterfeitable cryptocurrency, copybot-immune DRM." He went on to say "BNT land holders in SL will be compensated with free purchase price on an equivalent or greater amount of virtual land in this virtual world. BNT shareholders will see their shares continued in the new company, Galactic Systems Inc."

For Second Life Newspaper, BNT's bankruptcy yanked the rug out from under us. Dana scrambled to get a new sponsor and new office, and soon cut a deal with SkyBeam Estates. But the paper wasn't quite the same, our third anniversary celebrations being a low-key affair compared to our second. We continued on for a while. But in April 2010, Dana told the staff she couldn't keep the paper going, and on June 5, Second Life Newspaper folded.

Bixyl Shuftan

Classic SLN: Mystery Science Theater 3000 (2008)

Recently, Gemma Cleanslate wrote on the Mystery Science Theater 3000 in Second Life. I had come across the place before, in 2008. And in writing about it for Second Life Newspaper, I did so in a humorous style that Editor Dana loved to the point it was one of our exhibition articles at the SL5B later on. With the close of SLN, however, the article became blocked from view, so here it is again. There have been a number of changes at the place since it was written, so keep in mind this isn't exactly the same ship. Things change in four years.

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From 1988 to 1999 the show Mystery Science Theater 3000, also known as MST3K for short, hilariously poked fun at B-rated science fiction flicks. Attracting a cult following, the show was so popular, to watch a bad tv show with friends just to openly make fun of the lame bits became known as to “Mist” it.

I heard there was a tribute to MST3K here in Second Life, owned by a Squeebee Wakawaka in the BlaksleeWorld sim at (196/160/24). I put visiting the place on my “to do” list. However, the arrival of a couple visitors at the newspaper office sped up my plans a little.

Crow: Look Tom, a fox in a hat and coat!

Me: Wha- what are you doing here?

Crow: Look Tom, a fox in a hat and coat that talks!

Tom Servo: Looks like Rupert Murdock is out to take over the newspapers as well as TV news.

After a short conversation, I brought up the MST3K place here, and the two robots were curious and agreed to go there with me. So we teleported over.

Crow: Wooooooosh! Ah! I can’t see, I’m blind! Oh wait, that’s just the lag here.

Tom Servo, Welcome to Second Lag, where you too can hurry up and wait.

It wasn’t long though before the scene became clear. There stood two large statues of two familiar robots, with a certain ship behind them.

Crow: That does not look like me!

Tom Servo: Really? I thought that mustache looked rather fitting on you.

Crow: And is that the Satellite of Love? Oh noes! It’s half sunken into the ground. The apes have taken over! You idiots! You blew it up! Darn you all to heck!

Tom Servo: Wasn’t that supposed to be “Damn you all to Hell?”

Crow: The last time I used that line, I was in a PG sim and got booted.

We then went around to the front of the ship, at least we thought it was the front. The ship was next to some water with a big fish about to eat a motorboat and a small inner tube near the ship.

Tom Servo: Boy that fisherman didn’t just use special bait, he was the special bait.

Crow: Maybe that’s some college goldfish swallowing initiation. The goldfish swallow them.

When we got closer to the door, it opened and we stepped into the Bridge. For a Bridge, it was pretty bare, just a few screens, but the panel that told everyone “We got movie” will be unmistakable to the fans. There were also a couple vendors which sold items related to the show from Joel’s uniform, to statues, to a Tom Servo avatar.

Crow: Look Tom, you’re for sale!

Tom Servo: I demand a cut of every transaction. And I’m going to have to ask Joel to modify me again. I don’t want a thousand of me running around.

Crow: But think of your fans.

Tom Servo: Hey, here’s one of you too.

Crow: What? I’ve been robbed. Call a lawyer! Hey fox, you wouldn’t happen to know a legal weasel, would you?

I tried pressing the button to activate the “door sequence” leading to the movie theater, but it wouldn’t work. Poking my hand through the bone-shaped-hinge, it went through.

Crow: Holograms! We’ve been had all these years! They were never able to just off oxygen to just the bridge to force Joel to watch movies!

So we then went through the door sequence, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and through the final door into the theater. We found the movie screen with one of the numerous cheesy flicks that aired, with the familiar shilluetes of Joel and the two robots, poking fun at it all the way as always. And in the seats were over a dozen people watching, and joking it along with them, some using language the three never did.

Tom Servo: I have this strange feeling, like there is an audience sitting right behind me, and laughing along with me.

Crow: They can’t do this to us! We have a copyright on riffinig bad movies!

And so, Crow went off to look for someone to complain to. I thought about asking the man behind the sales counter what he might know. But instead, Tom Servo and I got seats, and sat to watch this “so cheesy you could smell the parmesan” for a while. The wisecracks, like in the TV show, were the real entertainment.

Eventually, it was time to go, but not before some final words from the robots.

Crow: Good luck next time at the chicken coop.

Me. Ha ha. Very funny.

Tom Servo: And what’s with that hat and overcoat? Shouldn’t you be wearing a space pilot’s outfit or something and hanging out with a girl named ‘Krystal?’

It was then that I parted company with the two robots.

Friday evenings are the best time to show up as that’s when the MSTK fans meet reguarly for the weekly feature. One can also see the flicks in a lounge chair and TV at the shore near the robot statues, but it’s not nearly as fun

Bixyl Shuftan