The Alphaville Herald

Estate Ban’s Borked – Residents Asked to Cooperate

by Pixeleen Mistral on 08/01/07 at 1:13 am

Do not access certain regions – especially when you can teleport to them

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

For land owners, the ability to ban others from their virtual real estate can be a powerful weapon in the sad, petty wars between rival factions in the metaverse. Earlier today, I was under the mistaken impression that a land ban had been lifted and the owner had finally seen the light – by allowing free visits to a previously banned region.

Alas, these hopes were soon dashed. While I was able to teleport into the forbidden region this was not due the lifting of a land ban. Instead there appears to be some sort of problem with the Second Life software that – for at least some accounts and regions – allows teleports into some areas that the land owner claims should not be allowed. But George Linden’s personal touch made it all work out in the end.

While some metaverse citizens would not be surprised to find bugs in the software that runs our world, holes in the land ban sanctions leave land owners in the odd position of asking the Lindens to IM other residents to ask them not to visit certain parts of our shared world – since these are supposedly off limits – but can be visited. It is not clear how to learn what areas to avoid when estate bans are broken so this could be a sort of Catch-22 – I did note that my name was not on the parcel ban list so it remains a mystery how one determines that they are banned when they can visit a plot.

Luckily, a very gracious and understanding George Linden took the time to IM me, and you can see below how we came to an understanding of how the bans that do not work should be handled – its just a simple matter of resident cooperation – which I am happy to do now that a Linden helped me see the light.

While this sort of personal attention is flattering, one has to wonder if this is really a scalable solution – and what other holes exist in the land management tools.

George Linden: You’re still accessing regions you’re not allowed to be in. I need you to give me confirmation that you will leave and not return.
Pixeleen Mistral: Hi George – it seems like there is some weird bug in SL right now
PM: they tell me I am banned but I can teleport in. its also super laggy.
PM: what do you think is going on?
GL: Thanks for your cooperation!
PM: and how am I supposed to know I am banned if SL does not tell me so?
PMl: I mean we kinda depend on SL to enforce the bans – otherwise the residents are flying blind
PMl: so – maybe you can give me some guidance here?
PM: how is it that I am supposed to know to not access regions when the regions allow me in?
GL: It may not be out of malice you were banned but privacy features go without say
PM: weird – now I am listed as being in “unknown region”
PM: can you give me a list of the regions I should avoid?
PM: I mean I kinda need that to cooperate
PM: ugh – and now map search do not work
PM: this is not good
GL: George Linden is typing…

— crash and relog –

PM: so George – as I was asking before we got cut off – how am I supposed to know which regions to avoid when SL lets me into the regions?
GL: If you hadn’t heard from anyone else yet i’m letting you know now but we’ve had several reports that you were let known so we just want to clear this up as quickly as possible without trouble. If you’re having trouble TPing, try removing your attachments temporarily.. and make sure your homepoints aren’t set to these regions.
PM: can you tell me the names of the regions?
GL: Yeah.. let me get you the last half of our IM
PM: ty
GL: ******** ******** and the collection of islands northwest of it
PM: ok – I’m still at a loss for how I am supposed to know this – I seriously thought they decided to remove the ban
PM: but whatever
GL: Okay.. could all be a misunderstanding
GL: That’s why it started as a heads up ‘:) we just have to take these things a bit seriously is all. Thanks for your cooperation!! Have a good one.
PM: I hope you guys can fix your software soon
PM: good luck!