Goons’ Ban Game – SL Relay for Life Fund Raising
by Pixeleen Mistral on 18/03/07 at 5:42 pm
Public invited to purchase words that may not be spoken – for charity
0h d4mn 1t 1 h4t3 l33t sp34k
by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk
careful what you say
Some of those that frequent Baku sim or hang with the W-Hat goons are known for a willingness to push the limits of community tolerance up to – and then right past – the breaking point. As reported for several years in the Herald, this sort of fun generally leads to public outrage and periodic perma-bans from the Second Life metaverse. How can a community with a taste for griefing join in the Second Life Relay For Life charity campaign – without compromising their “values”? I recently visited Baku to find out.
In the middle of Baku – now themed as faux-Hollywood called “Bakuwood”, the goons have invented a game that reflects their worldview. The object of the game seems to be to disrupt conversation inside Baku by purchasing words or letters that may not be spoken. For some reason, I was not surprised that the goons would invent a game based on disrupting the normal social order.
The punishment for speaking a banned word is immediate ejection and banning from Bakuwwod – although the ban only lasts a few minutes. Shorter banwords cost more to buy – but can be quite effective in creating disruption and commotion – exactly the sort of short term griefing that will appeal to the latent goon in even normally well-behaved citizens.
the menu
As this banword meta-game progresses, residents attempt to chat in spite of an ever-shifting set of words/letters that cause bans. The challenge for those who wants to talk is to get the message across without using a banword and ending up in the river – where I was dumped at least 7 or 8 times.
The subtext of the game is interesting – are the goons making the point that bans may be completely arbitrary and due to seemingly random changes to the rules? This sort of complaint has been a common theme after Linden Lab griefer crackdowns – and now anyone with a few spare L$ can change the rules of conversation, and experience the heady thrill of being a demi-game-god for one small part of the metaverse.
The political implications of having the notorious W-Hat goons raising money for cancer research is interesting as well – particularly since the same vendors that sell credits for banwords also sell credit for aspiring W-Hats who want to skip the waiting period for joining the goon group. Money for the Relay for Life charity and recruiting goons – Eddie Haskell would be proud.
In any case, for those with spare L$s and a willingness to disrupt Baku, my advice is go for the vowels – their hearts and minds will certainly follow.
W-hat goons in 12th place for fund raising
Here is a partial transcript from my Baku visit to give readers a flavor of the game:
Cancer Box: banning Masakazu Kojima
Pixeleen Mistral: banword,a
Stahi Columbia: OH NO
Pixeleen Mistral: /banword,a
Kalo Division: Oh fuck
Stahi Columbia: Oh good lord no
Stahi Columbia: Issit broken?
Pixeleen Mistral: /banword,o
Cancer Box: banning Pixeleen Mistral
You have been banned for 1 minutes
Mikko Kralomoc: note to self dont use keys
Stahi Columbia: o.o
[SYSTEM] AUTOBAN: Stahi Columbia autobanned by Stahi Columbia for 1 minutes (‘.’ – 1 remaining)
Stahi Columbia: Ah dammit
ian Boffin: /banword,words
Cancer Box: approved
[SYSTEM] AUTOBAN: ian Boffin autobanned by Pixeleen Mistral for 1 minutes (‘words’ – 8 remaining)
[SYSTEM] BANWORD: Use of ‘words’ has been banned for 18 use(s) or 1430.2 minutes by Pixeleen Mistral & ian Boffin
Cancer Box: banning ian Boffin
Stahi Columbia: wht
Stahi Columbia: hppnd
[IRC] nex: geez pixeleens going nuts
Stahi Columbia: wht dd sh bn
Pixeleen Mistral: /banword,e
Cancer Box: approved
[SYSTEM] AUTOBAN: Pixeleen Mistral autobanned by Pixeleen Mistral for 1 minutes (‘a’ – 6 remaining)
[SYSTEM] BANWORD: Use of ‘e’ has been banned for 10 use(s) or 720.0 minutes by Pixeleen Mistral
Cancer Box: banning Pixeleen Mistral
[ some time later]
Stahi Columbia: hllo suzr
Sauzer Woodget: wut vowls r gon
Tagistopheles Basiat: o jesus
[SYSTEM] AUTOBAN: Tagistopheles Basiat autobanned by Pixeleen Mistral for 1 minutes (‘e’ – 7 remaining)
Cancer Box: banning Tagistopheles Basiat
[ some time later]
Can’t enter parcel, not on access list.
Stahi Columbia: r0tfl
Tagistopheles Basiat: r1ght
Mikko Kralomoc: 0h d4mn 1t 1 h4t3 l33t sp34k
Kerian Bunin
Mar 18th, 2007
Nice article
Ordinal Malaprop
Mar 18th, 2007
Ha ha ha.
Seriously, what is the point of this? “Hello, goons are perpetuating memes / being dicks in XYZ fashion omg it is a news story”?
Seriously, Mr Sklar and Ms Mistral, you are considerably over-impressed with these people, and, you know, they are all laughing at you. They don’t think you’re cool. Hello, it means nothing.
Angel
Mar 18th, 2007
l00ks l1k3 fhn
but couldn’t you have censored or mangled the F word in the transcript? Not all of us like to see it.
DecomposingMonstre@hotmail.com
Mar 18th, 2007
I thought it was a great article, but then again i’m a incredibly biased w-hat
Also in other good news today, Fox approved my request to donate the 100,000 linden prize money I won for the Fox Atomic contest to the relay for life foundation on my behalf.
(Although Prokofy probably would have you believe this act was a sin and utter evil).
http://www.secondlifeherald.com/slh/2007/03/shock_video_cel.html#comments
Nacon
Mar 18th, 2007
Can’t say “I knew Pixeleen was a bitch” cause it seem quite clear anyway.
Good man, Monstre!
Urizenus
Mar 18th, 2007
Congrats on getting permission to donate your money to the ACS, Monstre.
Good story, Pix. The game reminded me of this Herald Classic by the old Alphaville Riot Grrrls:
http://www.secondlifeherald.com/slh/2004/01/profanity_filte.html
Gillian Waldman
Mar 18th, 2007
Hilarious. Good stuff.
Baba
Mar 18th, 2007
Never been to the SA forums? They play the same ban game ;0
Petey
Mar 19th, 2007
I got banned momentarily before I found out about this. I think it’s a fun way to raise money. And baba is right–there was essentially a similar thing over at the SA forums not long ago.
And Ordinal, not all of us think Uri and co are such bad people. Crazy, perhaps. But not bad.
And congrats to you too Deco!
Ordinal Malaprop
Mar 19th, 2007
Somehow I managed to entirely miss that this was a charity event. Well, I feel a bit daft now then. I was in a rather bad mood last night.
A-Hat Webster
Mar 19th, 2007
Reminds me of the mob among other criminal organizations. Do some charity to deflect attention from other activities. W-Hat are a bunch of anti-social juveniles who are blight wherever they go, charity or not.
Assman Holder
Mar 19th, 2007
snds lk a fun wy 2 rais mny – count m3 in!
Erasmus Chevalier
Mar 19th, 2007
Compared to the mob! Hahaha. Good work! Discourage that social betterment!
Allana Dion
Mar 21st, 2007
Sounds like it would be hilarious fun.
Ben Kerensky
Mar 21st, 2007
“Reminds me of the mob among other criminal organizations. Do some charity to deflect attention from other activities. W-Hat are a bunch of anti-social juveniles who are blight wherever they go, charity or not.”
Hey guess what, we sell things and make e-livings just like you, Mr. Malaprop.
urizenus
Mar 21st, 2007
Ben the quote you were responding to was from A-Hat Webster, not Ordinal. The name of the comment author is *below* the post, not above. Happens all the time, don’t worry about it.
Jade Lily
Mar 23rd, 2007
I’m impressed with the W-hats’ creativity and happy to announce that at the time of this writing they hold the record for most items sold from a single Relay vendor with 185 “W-Hat RFL Flower Tokens” sold (next closest sold 64).
They also hold the record for most money raised from a single Relay vendor, with L$89,250 raised from “W-Hat RFL Heart Token” sales (they’re also in second place here, with an additional L$40,640 raised from the Flower token sales).
W-Hat has currently raised L$157,371 total. Way to go, guys!
RC Mars
Mar 23rd, 2007
Honestly I find the whole thing superb. I really appreciate the charitable nature of the W-Hats, and know that they have been involved in Relay for a number of years. I thank thme for being dam creative and making such a strong statement, and us the beneficiary. Thanks guys and gals.