Clones!
by Alphaville Herald on 27/04/04 at 8:49 pm
by Montserrat Tovar, The Phantom, and Los
Clones are avatars with names that are very similar to the name of a known well-established avatar. For example a sim with a name like Johnson might be cloned by a sim named Johnson’. Clones are established for two basic purposes on tso. First, sims use them as tools to harass and debase the reputations of good sims. Second, traders are often cloned in an effort to scam users out of money or objects by duping them into thinking they have acquired the services of a trusted trader. While cloning has been very common on TSO for some time, it is becoming more of a problem in recent days. In this story, we discuss three cases. First, there is the cloning of the widely respected trader Lead Architect by Lead Archetict, and the equally respected rares trader SharpST by numerous clones. Finally, we will examine the cloning of x tweety x by xtweetyx.
Lead Architect is a respected trader in objects and money, specializing in eBay sales and between-city trades, but also is well known for his sim architecture skills, as his recent projects demonstrate. Recently, however, he has been cloned by a sim named Lead Archetict, who has used the deception to dupe numerous criticism out of their property including the theft of a tiger, a blue simmy, simoleans and other objects. According to leg work conducted by Lead Architect (yes, the real one) it appears that the person cloning him was also cj johnson. The operation went like this. cj johnson asked Lead Architect to move a tiger to another city. At a later point, noticing that the clone was online, Lead Architect IMed the clone directly and addressed him as though he were cj, asking if he was ready to hand over the tiger. Foolishly, not paying attention to the guise he was in, cj responded to Lead in his clone persona, and Lead Architect took the following screen shot.
Another recent cloning which has been connected with cj johnson is the cloning of the respected collector, trader and seller or rares, SharpST. SharpST in Alphaville has been cloned by ‘SharpST, Sharp and SHARPEST, and there has been a further cloning of his AIM screen name SharpTSO by SharpTS0 (notice the clone uses a zero instead of an oh). According to SharpST, the clone has often been seen in the company of cj johnson in alphaville as well as other circumstantial evidence.
If all this wasn’t distressing enough, the clone Lead Architict has reputedly been attempting to probe sims for account information and password information, so the allegations may eventually be broader than mere cloning.
For those of you keeping score at home, the following are cj johnson’s sims in Alphaville
cj johnson
cj johnson II
Cj Johnson II
In BF he is
cj johnson
The clones of SharpST are as follows:
‘SharpST
Sharp
SHARPEST
and on AIM SharpTS0 (with a zero)
Exercise caution with all of the above avatars.
In a case not involving high finance but rather pure harassment, x tweety x, the proprietor of tweety’s charisma cage was recently harassed by a clone, xtweetyx. The clone was offering to buy houses in a scam that would rely upon the trust established by tweety’s name. The clone also sent out spam to house visitors at the charisma cage in a move that is a common tactic used, for example, by mafias to drive houses out of the top ten and replace them in the rankings with mafia houses. As Tweety’s roommate Kezia said: “i have seen this tactic employed on at least 5 other lots. In one case the house was tagged as soon as it reached #4. now that house is out of the top 10 and it is sad.” Although firm statistics are not available, there is some belief that the incident of these clone attacks has increased in the days since tagging has been eliminated, since clone-generated spam is one of the few remaining tactics of aggression.
x tweety x has reported the disruption, which we have witnessed, to maxis. maxis has addressed the complaint by dismissing it because … you guessed it… there is “not enough evidence” to warrant an investigation. No doubt maxis is too busy designing monkey heads and other entertainments to have time to address user concerns.
In the meantime, x tweety x received many ims from other sims complaining about the clone’s behavior. tweety expressed determined not to be swayed by the continued harassment, and intends to remain. “I will not delete.” she said.
Moral: please pay CLOSE attention to who you are working with. And make sure the spelling is EXACTLY right. Pay close attention to the age of the avatars!
For those of you wishing to work with Respected Architect, please pay close attention to spellings of his various avatars:
“My Transfer service operates independently, do not be fooled by someone else claiming to be myself or to work for me. To be sure, here are the exact spelling of my sim’s names, they are the only sim’s I own: * All my sims except my newest one who is located in EJ, are over 135 days old. Alphaville: Lead Architect Blazing Falls: Lead Architect (this sim doesnt show up in search, you will have to use the Inbox to call this sim) Calvin’s Creek: Lead Architect Dan’s Grove: Lead Architect East Jerome: Delivery Man Fancey Fields: Lead Architect Interhogan: StorageGuy Jolly Pines: Lead Architect Mount Fuji: Lead Architect Test Center: Lead Architect”
RB
Apr 27th, 2004
Yes i still recommend Lead currently. YIM: tsorealty. He is a good person as far as i know him and i am referring all trades to him while i am temporarily poor.
This CJ person is a suspect in the hacking cases, thus Mr Lead thought he was dealing in stolen goods and thus ceased to deal with this impostor.
Also Uri. i think you were confusing us two when you wrote the following line:
“For those of you wishing to work with Respected Architect, ”
Notice half of his and my name there. lol.
- RB
Urizenus
Apr 27th, 2004
lol, that is the fault of Los. I guess I’ll have to fix it.
Pip
Apr 28th, 2004
I also reccomend people to Lead..and have been cloned myself…the first one I know about was about 8 months ago and was just for the purpose of destroying my rep. Luckily a friend noticed the extra L in the last name and we spread the word.
There are several in other cities as well and from what I have heard, they are doing money trades, sending people to AV to check my standing and then stealing the money. I was tagged several times by people who had been scammed.
monkeybear
Apr 28th, 2004
this is monkeybear303 on yahoo, i’d like an interview too because i am one of the victims of Cj Johnson’s scams which was much more than that you see I had a trial account and he tricked me into giving him my account information he has also scammed 20 rares of me when i wanted a trade to AV from FF
Dyerbrook
Apr 28th, 2004
It’s a little sad that MT has viewed the “clone Sim” phenom so two-dimensionally, as just a function of griefing and scamming culture. “Clone” sims, or “spoof Sims” as many prefer to call them, have a rich and variegated history in TSO. They are used as a narrative device in the Big TSO Story to parody, critique, celebrate, emulate, deter, all kinds of phenom, not just griefing. I’ll never forget the brave soul who stepped out with Mia Wallace’ — and a parody profile about her big titz. That sure let the air out of her balloons.
And I have been spoofed not only with Sims like Dyerbrook’ or DB’s Sanity or characters from my stories suddenly coming to life like in Solaris, there have been more subtle spoofs like brb lol afk’s Sim with exactly my face and outfit whose purpose is some kind of subtle prank, ostensibly because the owner “likes the look” LOL. It’s a blast. I myself have made spoof Sims like the Lord Cheetah to that insufferable Lord Cougar, and his consort, Lady Tellonyou. There’s Selene Moon who belongs in the category of a spoof Sim. There is a sub-phenom of all kinds of girls who write Hello Kitty or Kitty with various xs or os because this kitty concept means something to them, I’m not sure what and they wish to copy it.
The naming of sims is a sacred and special act. And making a spoof or a clone like creating a golem. It walks, it talks, will it pass? Will it acquire power?I’m quite aware that there are all sorts of Mr. President type clones designed to grief or revenge against griefing, which 9 times out of 10 creates more havoc in TSO, but really, take a broader look at this phenom, it is not all negative, some of it fulfills a very positive, corrective function in TSO.
Matthew Armone
Apr 28th, 2004
Just a warning to money traders, ppl can use “l” in place of the “i” in game and it looks eerily similar – a way that mafias (myself included) used to tag certain people, unfouretnatly I’ve seen people scammed with this as well…so for people who deal with traders with an I or an L in their name, make sure it’s the correct one.
-Matt
tbt
Apr 29th, 2004
Yep has happened for ages in tso its pretty common…
Maria LaVeaux
Apr 30th, 2004
In my first months in AV, someone attempted to Mimic me, My name and Bio were copied down to the letter.
I think they would have gotten away with it indefinatly under the TOS at the time had they NOT attempted to have relations of an adult nature with one of my girls at the time.
I was on at the time, and attending a function at another home when my girl called me to ask if i had a second account, and was i checking up on her.
My complaint, coupled with hers for what ammounted to Sexual Harassment caused this indeviduals spoof sim to be deleted almost Immediatly.
Dyer once “Spoofed” a friend of mine. Dyer had the taste, and good sense to Alter his name sufficiently that no one would confuse one for the other, so his claim of having done it just for fun has some Validity. However, the person who “spoofed” me Was, in my view Clearly attempting to be destructive or Hurtful. I think that there is a Clear difference in the Intent.
I CAN after a Fashion forgive Dyer for “Lord Cheetah” (Though i still feel this sort of “Fun” is Juvenile) But I could never forgive the person who tried to hurt my girl. That wasn’t fun, it was just plain Cruel.
Maria.
Meri (Reyes on Sims)
May 5th, 2004
Lead Archetict (notice spelling)came into my house wanting to buy my Robot Cat. The real Lead knows my Yahoo ID so i told him this is ***** on Yahoo IM me. So the Fake on Imed me with the ID of tsoreality. Thought nothing of it thought it was the REAL Lead. He said he would give 50 mill simoleans for my Robot Cat. I said OK so then he says price the Cage for 1 mill then i will give you the 49 mill in trade. I THOUGHT NOTHING OF THIS CAUSE I KNOW AND TRUST THE REAL LEAD. so i did and well then he went POOF and then i Imed him and asked him for my money and he called me a few Curse words and logged off. I know he has scammed people before and he NEEDS to be stopped. He got my Robot Cat for 1 mill and nothing can be done about it. Please email me with any suggestions. Thanks, frustrated Meri
x Tweety x
May 6th, 2004
Life gets quiet when you are not an owner of a top ten skill lot in AV anymore and a lot easier. The harrassing stopped as soon as I closed my house. I didn’t close for that reason, but it is sad to draw the conclusion that some people can obviously only enjoy the game when harrassing others. The only words that come to my mind are envy and jealousy when I see that happen.
For me there is only one little regret, I know there are still people around who think I was the spammer and the one who randomly invited people. I am not going to defend myself, because people who know me well know I would never do that. Besides lots of people helped me by banning the fake tweety’s (there were more). With a little help we can keep Alpha a nice city to live. And I feel with all of the sims who have to live through the clone thing, it really is very annoying.
But they get bored sooner or later and will find a new victim or another way to harrass.