Op/Ed: Pools Closed …so it goes
by Alphaville Herald on 15/08/07 at 12:02 am
Linden Lab really, really sucks at security – if one of the Lindens can be harassed for hours without as so much as a ban, what about the average resident?
[Mudkips Acronym recently stepped down from leading the PN - a notorious griefing/invasion gang in Second Life. When I contacted him for comment, Mudkips was gracious enough to to take a few minutes from tending his virtual roses to share his thoughts on the turmoil in the PN, Linden Lab security, and the Angel Fluffy controversy - the Editrix]
by Mootykips/Mudkips Acronym, Patriotic Nigras – Founder, Acting Leader
The last few weeks have been an odd time for the Patriotic Nigras, and probably for Second Life in general. After a general grid failure/slowdown (which may or may not have been the work of a PN scripter who shall remain nameless here), and recently the “shocking revelations” coming from one drama-loving furry accusing me of being yet another drama-loving furry, I’ve had my hands full.
It’s surprising Angel Fluffy wants to publicly associate with me. As I’m sure readers very well know, everyone that has associated with PN has regretted it. Woodbury was closed down due to reports of PN griefers inhabiting it, and the reputation of one Intlibber Brautigan has severely declined following his attempts at hiring PN to crash the sims of his enemies (such as Anshe Chung, who he also had the nerve to make a racist remark against). The question of what would have happened to FurNation had I claimed that Angel Fluffy was me will remain a what-if, just as if the John Edwards attack was more coordinated along the lines of the original plans. I don’t deal in what-ifs.
As we all know, Second Life is serious business. While I’ve only been involved in this game (yes, it is a game) for a little over half a year, I’m very aware of the various rivalries that exist in-world. The problem with PN is that that “serious business” attitude slowly crept in to the point where new members were all treated as suspected spies – but those new members often did the most for the organization, such as scripting the aforementioned grid crasher.
It obviously got so bad that even I was suspected as some sort of secret furry agent. Though there was little or no hard evidence to support these claims, I was quickly turned on by my own troops. Those who are familiar with Star Wars will recall the shocked expression of Ki-Adi-Mundi, the Jedi leading a legion of clonetroopers on the industrial planet of Mygeeto, as they suddenly stop their charge, raise their guns, and open fire upon receiving the order to betray their general. So be it.
I’ve never felt that PN really needed a leader. They needed a spokesman, they needed an organizer, they needed propagandists. As such, I considered myself just like everyone else but with an older avatar and with more experience at handling the press and such. After I decided to resign, we attempted to hold elections. This was a Bad Idea, as the winner of the elections was later determined to be a furry and hardly trustworthy. From there, PN’s leadership broke down, and I decided to delete my forum account after telling N3X15 I was “fleeing to Mootxico”.
Linden Lab will not change. Linden Lab never changed. Linden Lab really, really sucks at security, and they will stay that way into the near future. New avatars can be created within the space of five to ten minutes, and scripts cannot be blacklisted.
After Frontier Linden was demoted and no longer had banning powers, many PN took the initiative to follow him around and “grief” him with seeking lolcubes (fuck yeah, SEEKING!) for an hour or two. If one of the Lindens can be harassed for hours without as so much as a ban, what about the average resident?
So, is PN dead? I don’t know. I’m in contact with a couple ex-PN who have joined me, but they know nothing. The PN forums have either been moved or deleted. I still hold all of our scripts and this should not be seen as a “victory” for the SL community or specifically the furries. The mindset of Spy vs Spy and cloaks and daggers has infected those who initially joined the PN for laughs and community, which is really a shame as I hold many of those I worked with before in high regard.
“Here it was again, the most ancient of roadforks, one that Paul had glimpsed before, in Kroner’s study, months ago. The choice of one course or the other had nothing to do with machines, hierarchies, economics, love, age. It was a purely internal matter. Every child older than six knew the fork, and knew what the good guys did here, and what the bad guys did here. The fork was a familiar one in folk tales the world over, and the good guys and the bad guys, whether in chaps, breechclouts, serapes, leopardskins, or banker’s gray pinstripes, all separated here. Bad guys turned informer. Good guys didn’t — no matter when, no matter what.” – Player Piano, Kurt Vonnegut
PN may be dead – though the technology lives on. Mudkips Acronym is dead – though the mindset lives on. And as Vonnegut said upon the death of things: “…so it goes.“
OpEdUriSux
Aug 15th, 2007
I’m so glad that Ruinous Skar has decided that the opinions of admitted griefers are worthy of publication here.
Uri wouldn’t your time be better spent editing wiki entries about Anshe Chung to make sure they are sufficiently flattering?
Witness X
Aug 15th, 2007
I’m Maldavious Figtree!
lulz
Oh that still cracks me up!
They should rename this the PN Herald.
mootykips
Aug 15th, 2007
“-admitted- griefers”? Was a qualifier really necessary there? Would it be OK as long as I didn’t admit I’m a griefer? Because I don’t like that word anyway.
Dire Allen
Aug 15th, 2007
/clap
Good read. No matter what you might have to say about Mootykips, the guy obviously isn’t stupid. It seems like he has a good head on his shoulders as well. And the most valid point made in this interview is “Linden Lab really, really sucks at security”. I could not agree more with him.
I’ve said it before already. Who’s more to blame for griefing in SL? The Griefers, or the Maker? I’ve always said the Maker. Fix your game, and no more screaming Spengebob Spawns.
Prokofy Neva
Aug 15th, 2007
The Voice of Pixeleen!
I checked with Frontier Linden directly, he said there’s no truth to these rumours.
N3X15
Aug 15th, 2007
fyi forums aren’t down, just nullrouted due to synfloods. Fixed my firewall settings, so all’s good.
mootykips
Aug 15th, 2007
Prok – of course Frontier denies it. However, make an alt and go around yelling FAGGOT FAGGOT as a lot of PNs did and you’ll note that you won’t be banned immediately as you used to be. Frontier has a Second Second Life as a furry sim owner that he can’t divulge, and I have a sneaking suspicion that his actions there caused him to get knocked down a peg.
UnnamedPN
Aug 15th, 2007
Well, this is one of the last things I ever expected to see: mootykips writing an article for The Second Life Herald.
I agree that Linden Labs is now, and will always be, terrible at stopping griefing. In under 10 minutes I, or any other griefer, can register an account, set up weapons, and begin crashing sims. Many times, I can spend upwards of 3 hours going from sim to sim griefing before my current alt is so much as temp banned.
I also agree that many members of PN have a bad case of SERIOUS BUSINESS. In my opinion the SERIOUS BUSINESS attitude doesn’t in any way affect the outside effectiveness of PN, but rather changes the internal mood of the group, making something, which is usually extremely fun, seem as serious as one’s profession. I won’t comment on the Angel Fluffy situation, since that is a story too large and complex for a comment of this sort.
As of right now, PN is NOT dead, and I see nothing to indicate that PN will die anytime in the near future.
Not spell checked, grammer checked, or read over, Grammar/Spelling Nazis have at it.
Yaranaika
Aug 15th, 2007
“After I decided to resign, we attempted to hold elections. This was a Bad Idea, as the winner of the elections was later determined to be a furry and hardly trustworthy.”
<3
mootykips
Aug 15th, 2007
“In my opinion the SERIOUS BUSINESS attitude doesn’t in any way affect the outside effectiveness of PN”
Oh, bullshit. Me being a spy was what we joked about in April between readings of Prokofy’s blog and half drunken rants about wishing to be the little girl on IRC. Codec, Dick Burns, none of the newer members would have joined without me taking executive privilege to tell the rest of PN to shut up and give them a chance. If you think, for example, Codec not making it into PN wouldn’t have affected raids in any way, you’re obviously either misguided or new here.
Nicholaz Beresford
Aug 15th, 2007
Funny how peole always tend to become what their enemies are. The griefer fighters restort to griefing and the PN do that what they went out to fight, i.e. taking themselves and what they do here too serious.
Captcha (PN Member)
Aug 15th, 2007
PN isn’t dead – rather it is in something of a hiatus whilst it sorts itself out internally. The drama over whether Mootykips is or is not Angel Fluffy is totally irrelevant, because, as he said, the knowledge lives on and the mindset lives on.
I have not been an active griefer within secondlife since the early days of PN, but I have remained in the group out of the desire to preserve and add to the knowledge base of advanced griefing, contributing tutorials such as the “Field Improvised Doomsday” – a guide on how to turn Eric Linden’s popgun, the item we all have in our libraries, into an instant sim crashing weapon in literally less than minute.
Prokofy: There is absolute truth to these rumours. Frontier used to run around banning PN left right and center… and now he no longer bans atall.
He was disciplined by LL for contacting a resident outside of second life over Skype and asking them to move in with him.
I shit you not.
Hells Angel
Aug 15th, 2007
Have your fun while you can, PN punks. You’ll be changing your tune once we break a few of your bones. In your home. In your face. You can run, but you can’t hide. Ever. We can find you. Anytime. Anywhere.
Jim Schack
Aug 15th, 2007
“and the reputation of one Intlibber Brautigan has severely declined following his attempts at hiring PN to crash the sims of his enemies (such as Anshe Chung, who he also had the nerve to make a racist remark against).”
Wow, Moot just surpassed Prokofy is crazy bullshittery. Congratulations. I’d also like to see some proof of him making comments about Anshe. Shall we dive into your racist remarks Mooty? What about we never did IntLibber’s bidding because “We are not anyone’s personal army”?
Mooty, your peeing on your own foot. Now that Mooty has decided to walk away from whatever fame he did have, why are we still listening to this guy?
Mooty and the PN are the cancer that is killing /b/
UnnamedPN
Aug 15th, 2007
Jim Schack:
The racist remarks against Anshe Chung are genuine. They were made over IM to Alyx Stoklitsky some time early this year.
Why don’t you ask Intlibber himself, huh?
NobodyImportant
Aug 15th, 2007
Dear Jimbo:
Yes, IntLibber actually did try to get the PN to attack Anshe’s sims. He attempted to pin N3X15 as a subordinate of Anshe, making money off of the PN (it failed, by the way).
Oh, and then there was the time he commented that the Electric Sheep Company was “notoriously lax on security”, saying he was “surprised you don’t grief there more” and even dropping such nuggets as “plenty of sheep sims are buildable”.
Oh yes, Jim. IntLibber’s a jewel. He would never try to suggest anything to a griefing group.
Lulzy
Aug 15th, 2007
Although nicely written, this piece still cracks me up.
The best part for me was the whole “The PN are practically dead”, and then the sock puppet gets raised high in the air, and it says “This is not a victory for you!”
That and also how it’s underlying emotion is borderline “The man is trying to keep us down.”
That is fucking funny, dude! ROFL.
SLaddict
Aug 15th, 2007
Oh, puleez. Hate the game gods not the players. Except for stopping griefers from crash sims, everything else is good for LL business.
Loloz Oh (Not in PN)
Aug 15th, 2007
“No matter what you might have to say about Mootykips, the guy obviously isn’t stupid.”
There is a common misconception that all griefers are retarded script kiddies. The truth is that a lot of griefers are very smart, creative and well rounded. Griefing is fun no matter what game you’re playing. It’s fun on SL because it’s sooooo easy.
Prokofy Neva
Aug 15th, 2007
>Mooty and the PN are the cancer that is killing /b/
Just want to point out how the snake is eating its tail here, and how it’s all lies.
Mudlips and Tizzers go ranting on and on with their cult meme about how “even if accounts are banned or people step down, the mentality lives one”. That suggests Tizzers is celebrating the mentality of the racist griefer Mud.
So then…if Jim Schack suddenly says Mooty and the PN are a cancer, and tries to save the soul of /b, how can he account for a) Tizzers celebration of the mentality and b) her hubbie Hazim who is the epitome of the mentality.
Yes, Schack has tied himself up in knots with that one, and they’ve got him chasing his own tail.
A reminder to all of the sequence of events when Anshe was attacked with the penii:
a. Plastic Duck called me at home, got my child on the phone who accidently confirmed it was my line. I took the phone, he introduced himself, I got the number, it was the same one everyone has given out as Patrick Sapinski’s number in Toronto.
b. Within minutes of hanging up the phone, an email comes to me “WELCOME TO SECOND LIFE” with a name from the people list similar to my RL name. As I had not made any account, I realize somebody — and likely that person just calling and confirming my phone number and address — was spoofing an account as me.
c. Within minutes after that email, Anshe Chung was IMing me frantically asking me if it was true that it was me scattering penii on her — of course she knew that it wasn’t, I said it wasn’t of course, and struggled to get a Linden on the problem of shutting down this spoofed account — it took WAY longer than it should of given that I did reach a Linden live, but they didn’t move too fast.
d. Therefore, if people are still lingering with concepts like “oh, w-hat and Plastic Duck have nothing to do with /btards” and “b/tards have nothing to do with PN” they are drinking all these folks’ Kool-Aid.
Tizzers Foxchase
Aug 15th, 2007
“Mudlips and Tizzers go ranting on and on with their cult meme about how “even if accounts are banned or people step down, the mentality lives one”. That suggests Tizzers is celebrating the mentality of the racist griefer Mud.”
That’s not mud.
DaveOner
Aug 15th, 2007
Does anyone that isn’t in one of these little groups give enough of a shit about this stuff to read through that much rhetoric? The title made me think this was going to be about a Linden being harassed and the story surrounding it but I couldn’t see any of that in the “PN is important” pamphlet read-off, there.
I miss the AN vs. Mercz war reports now.
Alyx Stoklitsky
Aug 15th, 2007
DaveOner:
Prokofy seems to.
Thrax Trilam
Aug 15th, 2007
“I miss the AN vs. Mercz war reports now.”
The AN are falling apart, members are leaving faster then they are joining, not to say they are about to die, but for some reason, they are getting severely wounded numbers wise. im not to sure how the mercz are these days, still getting raids every so often from the an i supose, but no real news aside from the recent switch of sides by the SLSN from the AN to the Mercz. course, im sure there was other crap happenin, but i wouldent know. the war has defenatly calmed down somehow, i can only hope it sparks back up soon, cant wait for action again, sparta and GA dont quite make it past practice for me
- MAJ. Thrax Trilam. Marine commander, SLSN
SqueezeOne Pow
Aug 15th, 2007
Heh, well Thrax, the Mercz came to the 39th MHTF base threatening us for having friends in the AN and Vanguard visit…even though we didn’t have any official alliances at the time. Love them bullies!
From what I hear the AN and Mercz are back at it again as of a couple days ago. I guess you’ll be able to put that SZ.02b to use soon!
Angel the annonymous female
Aug 15th, 2007
Im suprised to read this article and a little shocked that you guys would put this down. I do find it suprising that in second life some of these people are greated and liked no matter what they have done to others in second life. I am a friend for a very popular performer in second life adn they wanted to hold them black mail for 10 thousand linden a month to not crash their concerts. If you think that this is something worth celebrating and joyouss your wrong. If its morally wrong in real life, how can you think itll be the right thing in second life.
Jim Schack
Aug 15th, 2007
Pics or it didn’t happen Unnamed.
Bored
Aug 15th, 2007
Why, oh why did I suffer through yet another article on this? Seriously, what does any of this have to do with the price of land on Nautica (sorry for the lame SL joke – price of bread….ah, you get it…).
Yet another article about a few avs that act like teenagers. *Yawn*
shockwave yareach
Aug 15th, 2007
Saying that it’s our and LL’s fault that we can’t play the game is like saying it’s your fault your house got robbed because you have easily broken windows. Yes, some changes need to be implemented because of trolls who run right to their computers after getting off the short bus from school. The sooner those changes can be implemented, the better. But we aren’t the ones responsible for the troublemaking – the troublemakers like the PN, the channers, and the rest of the “virtual guts” crowd are.
real captcha
Aug 15th, 2007
> as posted by: Captcha (PN Member wannabe)
He was disciplined by LL for contacting a resident outside of second life over Skype and asking them to move in with him.
I shit you not.
No I you do not shit us. You are still so full of it that I you have not let any out your ass yet.
The “discipline” for the above mentioned actions is not a ‘don’t ban so much’ slap of the wrist. In RL (and not in your moms basement) it is in most if not all companies, LL included, cause for immediate dismissal with cause.
urizenus
Aug 15th, 2007
“[griefing] is fun on SL because it’s sooooo easy.”
Yes, remember the olden days when we thought challenges were fun? Wow, what were we thinking? Hey, I have an idea, for serious lulz let’s go steal some lunch money from first graders, and then knock some grannies off subway platforms! The easier the funner I say.
Blinders Off
Aug 15th, 2007
((After Frontier Linden was demoted and no longer had banning powers, many PN took the initiative to follow him around and “grief” him with seeking lolcubes (fuck yeah, SEEKING!) for an hour or two. If one of the Lindens can be harassed for hours without as so much as a ban, what about the average resident? — Mudkips))
Mudkips, I know nothing about you or your group. I do know I hate griefers to the very core. But I do have to acknowledge the above statement and the one, single purpose that I have felt griefers might serve on SL– to get LL to open their eyes. Unfortunately, no matter how many griefers attack the board nor how hard they do so, that simply seems to have no effect– as you observed in your above statements (“Linden Lab will never change”). Thus, griefers in the end run, accomplish about as little as anyone else… but with greater damage to innocent bystanders.
I fully agree that LL security just stinks. One of their biggest mistakes was in opening the board to unverified members just to hike their numbers ratings. Everyone who is anyone knows the membership retention rate of Second Life is about 5% and their paying member rate is less than 2%. If that hasn’t given LL a clue that their management of the board is totally messed up, nothing will. Not me, not all the bug reports, and not griefers. So in the end run, all that griefers accomplish, aside from their rare attitude that they are in effect forcing LL to plug the holes for the betterment of the system… is to hit the same brick wall that everyone else hits when trying to get LL to fix anything.
The day that LL fixes the freaking notecard system so that we can once again read notecards within a notecard is the day I will likely have a coronary.
Loloz Oh
Aug 15th, 2007
“Hey, I have an idea, for serious lulz let’s go steal some lunch money from first graders, and then knock some grannies off subway platforms!”
You know that would blow up on youtube.
but srsly Uri, since when does funnay need to be complicated and/or challenging?
urizenus
Aug 15th, 2007
First, we are talking about ‘fun’, not ‘funny’.
Second, I didn’t say simple things couldn’t be fun, I took issue with the claim that something was “fun *because* it is so easy.” [my emphasis]
Third, I recognize that there are people for whom simple things are fun and difficult things are frustrating and not fun. That’s fine, but then let’s not talk about how “intellgient” those people are. Let’s call them “special” instead.
Ordinal Malaprop
Aug 15th, 2007
I have to say that I did notice the SERIOUS BUSINESS element starting to creep in, even though I am hardly involved with any of the players in SL; I think it was the posting of some ridiculous “manifesto” here in the Herald comments, actually, which was so amazingly pretentious that it had to spell the death of any group that draws its members from the ranks of deliberately trivial internet comedians. If any significant number of people actually believed that rot it would cause a split.
Also: people get older, and either get bored with the whole practice, have no more time for it, or appreciate the positive aspects of the environment and decide they want to actually participate. It happened with the goons, it seems to be happening here and I’m sure it will happen with the next lot as well. (I expect that the next lot will concentrate elsewhere though – by that point there will be more virtual worlds, far more controlled and thus far more amusing to poke at).
Second Lulz Vigilante
Aug 15th, 2007
“Have your fun while you can, PN punks. You’ll be changing your tune once we break a few of your bones. In your home. In your face. You can run, but you can’t hide. Ever. We can find you. Anytime. Anywhere.”
@Hells Angel
Look dude, I’ve slapped several dozen grieftards around on SL in the past year. But griefing isn’t something important enough to try and invade their RL homes over. Besides if you could find them “anytime, anywhere” you’d have done it already and we’d be hearing about hospitalized griefers your arrest on the 6pm news. Just chill, okay?
“Yes, remember the olden days when we thought challenges were fun? Wow, what were we thinking? Hey, I have an idea, for serious lulz let’s go steal some lunch money from first graders, and then knock some grannies off subway platforms! The easier the funner I say.”
@urizenus
Actually, RL grannies and first graders are WAY too much of a challenge for these guys Uri. Hell, when Anonymous goes out into the real real world they can’t even keep furfags from stealing their protest signs. That’s why they grief you know. RL is too tough and frustrating for them so they act out their little power trips on SL…precisely because it’s a soft target. Hard targets make them cwy.
@mooty
Yeah, you’re damn right about SL security being teh suck. Ever since open registration SL has become like the Wild West. It’s gotten harder for griefers(and us vigilantes too) to do our thing(additions like Push Restriction and the Grey Goo Fence) but they’re still way short of where they need to be at.
Specifically Named
Aug 15th, 2007
Just thought this might be an appropriate thread to throw out the news that a bunch of griefer folks who were thinking about joining the PNs but were put off by the creeping Serious Business ethos appearing here and there (to say nothing of the rampant spy paranoia) are starting to organize themselves as the Traitorous Crackers. (TC, for short)
I am tangentially related (by marriage, twice removed) to one of the organizers, and I must say….they appear to be *very* prepared for fun and games: They specifically state that they:
A.) Do not do it for the ‘lulz’ becuase they are older and closer to the origins of the Internet then these PN kids. The do it for the ‘lols’ instead…all these 4chan memes, they say, give them headaches.
B.) They are NOT Legion, but rather are Phalanx. On a good day, on flat terrain, populated by Spartans, a Phalanx will usually beat a Legion.
C.) They are NOT racist, despite their seemingly southern nom de guerres, but still remind everyone politely the proper term is ‘The War Of Northern Aggression’
D.) They have such a loose secretive organization, it will be hard to track them down…or even perhaps to be truly sure when they have struck. They do not use message boards or any of that modern whatnot, they communicate using spoofed FAX transmissions, scrambled POTS lines, and carrier pigeons. No really, pigeons are cute and reliable. You should try it sometime.
D.) Don’t worry, like PN and every other sane individual, they also hate Furries.
All further communication between them and SL will take the form of attacks, and/or through their mouthpiece in Middle Earth, Me. The Specifically Named.
Just cant remember what my name is, at the moment. Dropped a bunch of the brown acid. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can get the floating Prok avatar off of my ceiling.
Prokofy Neva
Aug 15th, 2007
>not to sure how the mercz are these days,
There are now real communists, at least 200 of them, organized, growing, in ranks, disciplined — if I still posted at the Herald, I’d be covering this. Just like RL companies rolled in and ruined the buzz for all the fake little SL companies, so the RL commies have completely rendered obsolete all the fake commies.
greta garbo
Aug 15th, 2007
i dont care about you and i dont understand why Uri is indulging this.
Kerian
Aug 15th, 2007
>many PN took the initiative to follow him around and “grief” him with seeking lolcubes (fuck yeah, SEEKING!)
That statement is ludicrous. To “seek” an avatar it requires a sensor. Lindens have the ability to hide themselves from sensors, when they enable their god mode. So either you “griefed” him while this mode was off and he was AFK, or more likely you are full of crap. To my knowledge any linden from the devs and accountants to the liaisons have the ability to log someone out. This seems like bullshit to me.
a premium resident
Aug 15th, 2007
Now theres a Linden who really deserves to be griefed for an hour… Thanks for that. I feel better now
I didnt know he’d been demoted… Probably explains the attitude.
Reg Baxter
Aug 15th, 2007
Posted by: greta garbo
i dont care about you and i dont understand why Uri is indulging this.
Well 99% of Sl could care less about them too Greta but they do stir up noise in the blog segments and they get the herald many site hits and comments generated which is why Uri indulges them.
This more hits a the site owner can get and get people to pay attention (via comments) to his site, the more revenue he can charge or get from all the side ads you see. So basicly its about bucks, well and in Uri’s case a lot about ego also, to get as many people to this site, no matter what has to be done to accomplish that.
urizenus
Aug 15th, 2007
Hell yeah!
It costs a lot of money to keep the Herald yacht on the water (and the bar stocked with yellow label). Good thing griefers can’t stop clicking banner ads! We would be in dry dock without them.
Nicholaz Beresford
Aug 16th, 2007
)) It costs a lot of money to keep the Herald yacht on the water (and the bar stocked with yellow label). Good thing griefers can’t stop clicking banner ads! We would be in dry dock without them. ((
It’s part of a diabolic griefing plan. Them click der adds, yo get der money, yer buy der booze, ya get der bad liver and die, them got der lulz.
DaveOner
Aug 16th, 2007
“There are now real communists, at least 200 of them, organized, growing, in ranks, disciplined — if I still posted at the Herald, I’d be covering this. Just like RL companies rolled in and ruined the buzz for all the fake little SL companies, so the RL commies have completely rendered obsolete all the fake commies.”
You think they’re organized and disciplined. You should actually go to some of the areas where you would actually come in contact with them! Then you’d know what you were talking about!
Real communists?! They’re a bunch of kids playing G.I. Joes and chose to be Cobra!
It’s army RP, Prok. Not the serious business of griefing.
Ethan Schuman
Aug 16th, 2007
CCCCCCOOOOBBBBBRRRRAAAAAA!!!
I haven’t been coming to the Herald much lately because the lack of war stories combined with an absence of Prokofy’s lunatic ravings have made this rag rather dull. However, as it seems there’s an interest in Mercz/AN affairs, I’ll give a brief update.
After Emit Time, all four of the Alliance Navy admirals went inactive, each for their own reasons. While Admirals Herbst and Zander haven’t been very active for a while, Admiral Mahfouz left for Basic Training (which he has recently returned from) and Admiral Salome took a break for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which was a career advancement opportunity (congratulations to him on that). In order to hold things together in their absence, then AN Wing Commander and Templar Brother Judge Hocho was promoted to the rank of Admiral. According to reports from AN members who defected, this is when things began to fall apart for AN, as Judge is a dedicated professional, and has high standards of expectations for his troops. Unfortunately, his “my way or the highway” attitude of dealing with grievances led to the much strife within the group, which caused the resignation of quite a few of the Alliance Navy’s most valuable personnel, such as Pezz Zenith and Alice Mirabeau (who defected to the Merczateers and inspired us to start up a capital ship development program), Jeremy Duport (one of the original members and a scripter of amazing skill that was responsible for most of AN’s vehicular weapons technology, including their dreaded Talon missiles, and who has helped Merczateers weapons tech advance in quantum leaps since his defection), Faril Iredell (a former Alliance Navy marine officer who has since seen just how bad things were in AN after having an alt in Mercz to spy), Raideur Ng (a scripter and arguably the best pilot AN has ever had in its ranks), Avil Creeggan (another of AN’s top scripters, and reigning SL Military Chess Champion, who was responsible for the Talon’s flight engine, the STRANGELOVE bomb, and numerous other things that went boom), Architect Jericho (another long standing Fleet officer, and all around good guy), as well as the others who I’ve omitted. The loss of these people has seriously wounded the Alliance Navy, and it’s quite unlikely that even the most fanatical of their members will deny that. Meanwhile, the Merczateers Research & Development teams are hard at work, developing new weapons all the time not out of necessity, but just because we can. New weapons, new uniforms, new structure, a second sim in the final stages of planning… all of these are things we have going for us. It’s a good time to be a Merczateer.
While the Merczateers and the Alliance Navy never officially declared peace, the Alliance Navy did issue a retreat order from Badnarik and banned many of our soldiers from Dorien (their home sim), forbidding their soldiers to have contact with us. This, in effect, created a ceasefire, which ended a few days ago when the Alliance Navy attacked the Alpha Marines, who are allies of the Merczateers, and the Mercz showed up to assist. After the battle, Marine Commander Mikael Khalamov attacked Badnarik. Admiral Mahfouz was notified of his trespass. When Khalamov attacked again, active hostilities were re-declared and the Alliance Navy launched an invasion of Badnarik. This led to the Ordo Imperialis rallying into Badnarik to assist in defense as the Merczateers counter-attacked Dorien. While the Merczateers had limited success in Dorien for whatever reason (I was unable to get in at the time, so I can’t give a firsthand account), the battle against the Alliance Navy in Dorien was intense, the sheer number of combatants bringing the sim to its knees. The battle finally ended with a sim crash, which caused the Alliance Navy and Ordo to withdraw, and the Merczateers to return home.
Two days ago, another battle occured. Figuring I’d get some laughs, I called all pilots who were online at the time to the docks in Badnarik to prepare for an aerial attack on Dorien to demonstrate our new air technology. With 8 pilots, we were splitting up into wings when we got word that the AN was mobilizing. I tried to warp in, but found myself unsuccessful. It was about this time that the first of AN’s fighters began to appear in Salamis. Given that the element of surprise was lost, we decided to fight it out over Badnarik. All pilots launched and took their ready for what would be the Merczateers’ first TRUE showdown against the Alliance Navy Air Division using our new fighters. Through the use of coordination between wingmen and trapping AN fighters in crossing fields of fire, the Merczateers were able to obliterate the Alliance Navy aircraft while taking minimal casualties themselves. Combining greater numbers with superior aircraft technology, and tactics designed to fully exploit these advantages, the Merczateers proved that they are a force to be reckoned with in the skies as well as on the ground.
The current state of affairs is quite different from what it used to be. In addition to the superior numbers the Merczateers have always held over the Alliance Navy, we now make use of better weapons, better aircraft, better training, better developers, and while I can’t say this for sure, I’ll hazard an assertion that our finances are much stronger as well. On top of all that, our gear even looks better. This is going to be a long, hard battle for the Alliance Navy… a battle from which I can say with the utmost certainty that the Merczateers will emerge victorious.
==========For Prokofy==========
com·mu·nism /ˈkɒmyəˌnɪzəm/ Pronunciation Key – Show Spelled Pronunciation[kom-yuh-niz-uhm] Pronunciation Key – Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun
1. a theory or system of social organization based on the holding of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole or to the state.
2. (often initial capital letter) a system of social organization in which all economic and social activity is controlled by a totalitarian state dominated by a single and self-perpetuating political party.
3. (initial capital letter) the principles and practices of the Communist party.
Merczateers currently own one sim, the sim of Badnarik. That sim was bought and paid for, and is maintained, using money given to the group primarily from the two Supreme Commanders, Marshals Lurdan Huszar and Anthony Lehane, who both work real life jobs in addition to their Second Life enterprises to pay for the group’s expenses. This being said, the sim is referred to by all as “The Merczateers’ Sim”. I guess in a WAY that makes us communists, but that would also classify quite a few other groups as communists. But wait, let’s look at that. The average grunt doesn’t stake financial ownership to Badnarik, just calls it his home, defends it when it’s threatened, and comes to it for Merczateers related activities. Hell, the only people with land powers are the Kommissariat, and even then, only Lurdan maintains estate powers (thanks to IntLibber). However, that grunt maintains his own private land independant of the group unless the grunt wishes to let the Merczateers make use of it, like Kekken Bibberman does with the land we have Fort Volga built on. Even then, Merczateers don’t own that land, Kekken does. Members control their own independent land and finances, giving to the group only if they choose to do so, without pressure, and with the group’s appreciation as their only reward.
As far as social structure goes, we ask Merczateers personnel to maintain a standard of professionalism and behavior whenever on base, in uniform, and under tag. Those measures are in place to maintain our image, not to assert control over our members. Let’s talk about freedoms now. Merczateers has an extremely diverse membership pool, in terms of avatar race, sexual preference, payment info, ideology, political beliefs, religion… and we not only allow, we encourage them to be themselves. As comical as the sterotypical retarded grunt in a gas mask drooling on himself while shooting his rifle at a crate of explosives to “see what happens” is, the truth of the matter is that each individual Merczateer is a unique person, each with their own personality and social patterns, and we will not restrict that ever. Many of our members, myself included, have friends inside the Alliance Navy. We still socialize with them (though I should note that in the AN handbook, there is a clause that strongly forbids the association of AN personnel with members of enemy factions. Sure you’re looking in the right direction for the bad guys, Prok?).
Prokofy, the Merczateers are not about authority, nor control, nor assimilation. We’re about having fun in a postmodern/futuristic pseudo Russian-themed military roleplay (a roleplay which in itself incorporates VERY VERY few elements of Communism) group, and that’s all. We are FAR from Communists, and every time you open your fat yap claiming that we are, the only thing you do is highlight your ignorance, a willfully maintained ignorance I might add, about our group is and what we do.
GreenLantern Excelsior
Aug 16th, 2007
I’m just a rookie GLC member, and not all that experienced in the ways of griefers. But I met some self-described “/b/tards” in a sandbox last night, and once they understood that I wasn’t JLU and wouldn’t report them when they rezzed a single screamer cube, they turned friendly and we got along just fine. Later, one couldn’t resist filling up our area of the sandbox with particles and sounds, but when I asked him politely to stop because the residents were complaining, he did. Firm, fair, and friendly, just like RL law enforcement.
Rather than breeding hostility by labeling everyone a griefer and vowing to destroy them, it might be worthwhile to be nice. Next time, compliment the person on sending out 50,000 Mario images in under 30 seconds. Find out how he makes the tops of his screamer cubes warp and twist like they do. Or maybe ask him what other cool tricks he has that he could show you. And once you’ve given him some time to show off his inventory, you could then point out in a friendly way that if the particles are stopped for a while, you need to get back to building your sandbox project or whatever you were doing. He may ask you what it is, see if he can help, or offer artistic suggestions. Even if he just turns around and leaves, he gets the chance to display his talents, you get back to what you were doing before, and neither one of you goes to bed angry that night.
Treating people with respect generally earns you the same in return. Treating people with contempt makes enemies. The same concept works in SL and in RL too.
P.S. – Maybe the Lindens should create “Griefer Island” on a dedicated server and challenge scripters to try to crash it. Make it a combat zone and invite the Anti Griefer Space Navy to play as well. That way the war wouldn’t slow down the rest of the metaverse, and both sides could get their jollies without harming innocent bystanders. Just a thought…
SqueezeOne Pow
Aug 16th, 2007
Hey Ethan
Is it true that you came by Black Watch HQ and threatened to bomb our base if we kept company with anyone from the AN or Vanguard? I heard about this second-hand so I don’t know that I have all the info here.
Thanks!
d3adlyc0d3c aka codec
Aug 16th, 2007
I have no idea what to say in regards to all this. One thing is clear, I miss the PN I first became a member of. Im sure many people share those sentiments. This cloak and dagger BS is just a waste of time. The more I think about it, the more I wonder, who gives a shit about spies and being someone’s personal army if we all accomplish our agenda or have fun. Thats what the shit is about, the damn lulz. Everything else is secondary. I for one, as Anonymous is my witnes, will continue to produce lulz of epic proportion, and cause the most ‘prominent’ SLers knees to tremble in terror at the mention of my name. Im having fucking fun and creating new weapons. Thats why I fucking joined. It just sucks that all this other shit happened.
Nikola Shirakawa
Aug 16th, 2007
GreenLantern Excelsior, thank you for that intelligent viewpoint. I am glad to see that some people on the grid are willing to be a little more open and diplomatic. Your method of dealing with the potential griefers should be the favored, bravo.