Same Offender, Different Alt
by Alphaville Herald on 01/11/07 at 4:00 pm
There is nothing quite like being abused for writing a news report on an assault
by Katrina Eales
So, at the risk of raising the ire of the misogynists who criticised me for having the temerity to write about having been virtually assaulted and shot in my most recent report, I now feel bound to report yet another attack by the same individual, this time on my neighbour in Caledon.
The latest offence took place at around 12.30 pm tuesday in Stormhold. The offender was an avatar named Blak Hax who just happens to share an SL birthday, a year apart, with one Jerome Nitschke, the man who attacked me.
Nitschke was born on 6/22/2006. Hax arrived on 6/22/2007. It would be stretching the bounds of credibilty to believe that two different sex offenders sharing the same birthday turned up in the same place two days in a row and assaulted women neighbours.
My neighbour described her experience.
“He was on my plot but I didn’t think anything of it until he popped in through the wall with an animation ball that he’d attached to my head…it was called “fuck this head.
“I told him to leave my house and he refused. it was really quite strange and jolting – my first time being griefed in that way.”
She immediately deleted the attached object and banned the offender. But she was shaken and upset by the attack. It goes without saying that many other residents of Caledon are outraged and that the Governor of Caledon, Desmond Shang, has taken appropriate action.
[12:31] (Neighbour) excuse me
[12:32] Blak Hax: LEAVE MY HOUSE
[12:32] Blak Hax: why are you in my house
[12:33] (Neighbour): You need to leave
[12:33] (Neighbour): This is my home
[12:33] (Neighbour): I am reporting you
[12:33] Blak Hax: if this was your home you could just kick my out
[12:33] Blak Hax: its obviously my home
[12:33] (Neighbour): I am about to.
My neighbour was appreciative of the support offered to her following the assault.
“I am very touched that everyone is so up in arms….I hope he does not bother anyone else, as Blak Hax, or as an alt.”
A colleague who read the comments following my story yesterday observed that some critics may be in need of help.
“You know katrina, by the looks of those posts, you really get the sense of how many sick people there are in sl…. these folks are warped beyond belief. Many of them grew up on a lot of video violence and they lack grace and respect.
“The psychology of these spaces are really something….. a new world, almost.”
There seems to be a body of opinion which suggests that women avatars should just grin and bear it. However, I have no intention of being driven away from Second Life by those who believe it should be a “free for all” in terms of causing grief to other people.
The more these assaults occur the more the eye of legislators will be focused on virtual worlds. If Second Life can’t manage its own affairs appropriately there will be a real world intervention. Blind Freddie can see that.
There’s an old Australian saying that describes the attitude of my critics very well. That is “piss on the fire, Jack. My steak’s cooked.”
If you’re not careful your goose will be cooked too.
Penance Sautereau
Nov 2nd, 2007
Billy you’re a drunken idiot. I have no “Leftist lesbian agenda”. The only men I hate are the ones like you and in real life I very much DO tell them to shut the fuck up before my WIFE feeds them their own testicles. (She’s butch and can probably pretzel your redneck ass in under 60 seconds).
Shannon; She’s not calling it real rape or making light of real rape, she’s pointing out how offensive and intrusive this kind of griefing is.
Reverse Writer
Nov 2nd, 2007
“Shannon; She’s not calling it real rape or making light of real rape, she’s pointing out how offensive and intrusive this kind of griefing is.”
Comparing griefing to rape is, in fact, making light of real rape. Not sure why that’s not sinking in. That’d be like me saying that someone stealing my parking spot is akin to Hitler invading Poland. One of these things is not like the other, and griefing is not an analog for rape, plain and simple, no matter how much you try to argue otherwise.
Shannon
Nov 2nd, 2007
Direct quote for her article, Penance: “With the benefit of quick thinking and a couple of months of SL experience behind me I was able to escape his rape attempt…”
Emphasis added.
I’ll concede that she didn’t specify his “real” rape attempt, but it’s not a word to throw around. It’s just not. Justify it however you like. As to the offensive and intrusive nature of griefing: you have the tools to eliminate it, use ‘em.
Jessica Holyoke
Nov 3rd, 2007
Katrina, its stretching things to say that proof of someone being an alt of another avatar is that they share the same creation day,but separated by a year.
Having said that, I have seen Blax Hax’s name in the griefing allegations by Prokofy a lot. The fact that Katrina brings up their name in this article suggests Prok is on to something. (yes, I can agree with Prokofy on occassion, the universe is not collapsing.)
And I am really bothered by the concept that if someone is bothering you or griefing you, then the preferred response is to TP away or log off. Someone else gets to decide what you can and can’t do on SL because they are getting their lulz? Why aren’t people outraged by that?
Rape isn’t about sex, its about control. And while no one here was in any physical danger or drugged, there was a loss of control by Katrina and her neighbor through the actions of others. So maybe its not rape in the first degree, but it is a type of rape.
Cocoanut Koala
Nov 3rd, 2007
Oh for God’s sake.
Sexual harassment against women is sexual harassment against women, whether it happens online or at the local delicatessen.
Sexual assault is sexual assault, whether it is online with virtual appendages or in real life.
Obviously it is worse in real life; that’s a moot point.
(Sexual harassment and assault against men is also sexual harassment and assault wherever it occurs, but it doesn’t occur as often.)
One gets SO very tired of all these uneducated little adolescent bad boys (or developmentally-arrested grown men)constantly spouting all the reasons why you shouldn’t get upset at the things they do to try their hardest to get you upset.
Probably because they never get any irl, or couldn’t get it up if any were on offer.
I get especially irritated with the blame-the-victim mentality: It’s not what they have done to you that is wrong – what’s wrong is you “let it” upset you.
(And we hear too much of that from non-griefers, as well.)
Then there’s the notion that you are supposed to remain indifferent and emotionally unaffected no matter what is done to you, and DEFINITELY not talk about it to condemn it.
Yeah, take it AND keep quiet about it, that’s the ticket.
(Another theory also put forth by too many non-griefers as well.)
As for not reacting emotionally or having feelings about these attacks or you’re a wuss, well, guess what – THEY get to feel every bit of the emotional payoff they do it for in the first place!
They get the “fun” part – to feel the thrill of dominance over and surprise attack of someone unsuspecting (female, in most if not virtually all of these sexual cases).
But YOU don’t get to have feelings of dismay, disgust, humiliation, or of having been assaulted and taken advantage of, because hey, you’re just an avatar.
We can sexually harass you, degrade you, and do whatever we want to you, and enjoy the hell out of it. But if you react poorly, or have FEELINGS about it, then that’s YOUR fault, never ours.
As an aside, I think I know what you are talking about with this head fucking thing. I have a friend who I like a lot, but his sense of humor is a little different from mine.
One night he had on this thing that did this thing where he leaped on my face and went out it bang bang bang. It really wasn’t a good looking animation, or even a funny thing to me, even when done by someone who is a good friend.
It was, somehow, quite disturbing, even though I adore this guy and knew he would never do anything to deliberately upset me.
“Stop it,” I said. “Get off.”
So he did.
Now this was something I didn’t like at ALL, and couldn’t tolerate for even for two seconds, even when done by a friend, as a harmless joke. And I normally have a pretty high tolerance for this sort of thing.
So I can understand it would be very disturbing and if something like this was sprung on you by someone you don’t even know.
Screw all these griefers that regularly flock here to excuse their own rotten behavior. (Practically courted by the SLH, in fact.)
Screw them for telling you it’s your own problem, and you shouldn’t have any feelings about it one way or the other.
Their mommas obviously didn’t do a very good job with these specimens. They need to gtfo and go somewhere where they are wanted, if there is such a place.
coco
Anonymous
Nov 3rd, 2007
I hate to say it, lady, but expect more of these events in the near future, by making a huge deal about this that spans more than one news story, you just sealed your fate on SL with all the griefers in SL.
Well you got the attention you wanted so badly.
what’s worse is you’re doing everything imaginable to get all the wrong attention.
Welcome to the internet.
I fucking lol’d.
Nina A
Nov 3rd, 2007
Coco, reality check. You’re too immersed in a stupid game if it’s hurting you that bad. Is this a gender issue? Do women in general tend to be more involved and see it as reality more than males. Or is it a character trait? People who are more sensitive and imaginative tend to see more meaning than is actually there?
Inga Embers
Nov 3rd, 2007
Katrina, for the record, Hex eventually got tired of chasing me thru the shopping mall to hunch my head on or about the very same date you reported in your story. Since I am very new to SL I couldn’t quite manuver a kick in his “super-charged, amphetamine induced, out-of-control, teenage level testosterone directed” groin. However, as in RL there are people who take matters into their own hands. Hex will do well to watch his back. And not forget there is a cremation oven on one of the islands. He may find himself on a virtual platter–very “well done” !!!!!!
Artemis Fate
Nov 3rd, 2007
@Jessica
“And I am really bothered by the concept that if someone is bothering you or griefing you, then the preferred response is to TP away or log off. Someone else gets to decide what you can and can’t do on SL because they are getting their lulz? Why aren’t people outraged by that?
Rape isn’t about sex, its about control. And while no one here was in any physical danger or drugged, there was a loss of control by Katrina and her neighbor through the actions of others. So maybe its not rape in the first degree, but it is a type of rape.”
Well, TPing away or logging off is just one of the easy quick options a person can do when being griefed like that (and as another person said, I bet you a woman who got raped would give ANYTHING for the ability to Teleport away when it happened), I’ve dealt with griefers quite a bit, all they want from you is a reaction. You give them a super serious “I huddled in front of my computer screen protecting my kids from the virtual bullets as my son clenched his fist in silent rage” reaction, and she’s basically made herself griefer target number one, because that reaction is so melodramatically over the top hilariously serious that even I want to grief her to see what she does. However if you laugh along with them, ignore them, teleport away, log off, make no big deal out of it, mute them, land ban them, or overall just don’t take it seriously (It’s a virtual attack in a virtual world after all), then they’ll eventually get bored, leave, and look for an easier target.
So yes, there’s some loss of control I suppose in that doing what Katrina did would be the absolute farthest thing from the proper reaction a person would want to do to make the griefers go away, but then, there’s that same loss with not wanting to hurt friend’s feelings, or talking to cops, it doesn’t mean you’re not free or you’re being raped (or even a form of rape), it just means that if you want something to happen (like griefers going away or your friend not running off crying when you tell her her butt is huge), you have to think about the proper courses of action.
@Coco
“Then there’s the notion that you are supposed to remain indifferent and emotionally unaffected no matter what is done to you, and DEFINITELY not talk about it to condemn it.”
I think I should clarify, it IS possible to be hurt in a virtual world, there are still the same relationship ties in real life that get people emotionally hurt.
But here’s the difference:
getting hurt because a long time friend suddenly hates you: emotional response appropriate
getting hurt because a complete stranger does a stupid little animation on you in a virtual world for a brief time, or shoots you with a harmless gun for a little while: emotional response inappropriate
And afterwards:
Writing an article about the griefer problems, and suggested solutions: appropriate
Writing a long melodramatic article with flowery language of how you were raped in SL, and how you had to protect your children from the PC monitor, and how the person is probably a rapist/murderer in real life: inappropriate.
You shouldn’t have to WORK to remain indifferent to it, something like that just shouldn’t make you feel anything but indifferent. It’s a virtual action, by a virtual stranger, in a virtual world, to a virtual person, who isn’t even virtually harmed. If that turns you into an emotional wreck, than you need pills.
Not a misogynist.
Nov 3rd, 2007
The thing that probably upsets me the most with your articles is that you’re turning this into a gender issue, when it’s not. They are GRIEFERS, they don’t care whether you are a woman or not. I’m a MALE, yet griefers shoot me and run around pushing me around with huge prim cocks too. Do NOT think this is only happening to you because you are a woman.
Gender is a complete non-issue in this case, and you’re using that excuse to insult everyone who didn’t agree with the way you handled your incident by calling them all “misogynists”. As offended as some were by your blanket insult, I was offended since it showed that you didn’t listen at all to the points they were trying to make, nor did you realize that a lot of people who disagreed with you were women themselves.
Not being outraged at this incident does not automatically equate to supporting the griefer, sympathizing with them, or condoning their actions. I hate griefers too, however writing an article about how badly they traumatized you and your family in real-life only encourages them to continue on with their kiddie shit.
Astonished
Nov 3rd, 2007
I thought Katrina’s first “report” was genuine, but sadly misguided. With the additional evidence of this one, I have decided that Katrina is simply trolling, or, more likely, writing this as grief-bait for reasons of her own. How could you be on SL and read SLH and *not* know what this would lead to? The trap is set, I guess.
Michael Seraph
Nov 3rd, 2007
I can’t believe a word of this. This person is an adult? Please. This person has children? Yeah, right. Katrina claims these attacks were so horrific they were emotionally scarring AND that she let her kids watch. What. A. Load. Of. Crap. Either it’s all true and she’s a sick puppy who likes screwing with her kids or it’s not and she’s a sick puppy who likes to screw with us.
Cocoanut Koala
Nov 3rd, 2007
“Coco, reality check. You’re too immersed in a stupid game if it’s hurting you that bad. Is this a gender issue? Do women in general tend to be more involved and see it as reality more than males. Or is it a character trait? People who are more sensitive and imaginative tend to see more meaning than is actually there?”
_____
Well, if you mean me specifically, it doesn’t “hurt me that bad,” or hurt me at all.
Then again, I’m older than the average koala. I was also repeatedly forewarned about the prevalence of these various cretins before I ever joined SL, having read about them (and God knows, FROM them) often enough on the SLH, which I read long before I joined SL, starting back when it was the Alphaville Herald.
Doesn’t mean I’m not annoyed by it, though, or don’t understand it to be the sexual harassment and assault it is.
And it certainly doesn’t mean that I fall for any of this intimidation nonsense: “OK, you talked about it, now you’re really gonna get it! You’ve just painted a huge target on your own head!”
As for seeing “more meaning than is actually there,” the only meaning is to debase, harass, sexually assault, humiliate, and/or otherwise make life miserable for others.
What more meaning could there possibly be? It’s not like one has a relationship with these jerks.
coco
Cocoanut Koala
Nov 3rd, 2007
Well, Artemis, I see what you are saying, but I was responding to this article (I didn’t read the previous one).
And the things I talk about – how we’re just supposed to take it, and how yes, it can be very upsetting, and yes, they are sexual assaults – represent my own thoughts for a long time now.
coco
Alyx Stoklitsky
Nov 3rd, 2007
Sex offender?
SEX OFFENDER? HAHAHAHAHA!!!
As for Blak Hax, I know who he is – and he’s not ‘Nitschke’ whoever the fuck that is.
If you think the freebie ‘headfuck sphere’ is ‘rape’ or ‘sexual assault’, I suggest turning your computer off, going outside and looking at the ‘real world’.
Don’t try and stretch this into ‘sexual assault *AGAINST WOMEN’ either. It’s not *AGAINST WOMEN*, because we all know that there are no girls on the internet.
From the short chat log you posted, which is infact Blak’s standard trolling routine (go into someone’s house, pretend it’s his and watch them get pissed), there is not even the slightest hint that he gave a rats ass about the gender of the owner.
So in short, yes, grin and bear it. What exactly you have to ‘bear’ I’m not sure – the crude animation of SL hardly seems particularly traumatizing.
Even as a Male, I get ‘raped’ and ‘sexually assaulted’ on an almost hourly basis in SL. The difference between me and you is that I’m not a fucking crybaby and I have a grip on the REAL. WORLD.
Dalien Talbot
Nov 4th, 2007
So, what’s the problem ? I heard that Caledon is a tight-knit group with a few hundred people. Get everyone from that community to get a habit to send a friendly reminder to a said kiddie when they login, something along: “Your make yourself look rather funny with your actions, what do you think ?”, and send him a friendly postcard with a view of a nice sim to visit, in case he does not have anything better to do.
Keep doing this for a couple of weeks and I have a suspicion he will have lots of lulz from this little show – and a valuable set of snapshots from good places which he can explore on his own time
Anonymous
Nov 4th, 2007
wow coco, with that response, you just proved the guy right by how serious you are about these FAKE DEALINGS.
Okay, news flash, Second life is just a name, it doesnt literally mean a second life to live in, they just strive to make it a life-like entertainment platform.
Second, it’s more or less a social experiment. and you’re pawns.
The whole system is fake, all the way down to the money. what makes anything serious or “real” are the people who take it for more than what it is.
The fact this lady can jump off the computer and interact with something other than an avatar proves that second life is fake, that it is nothing more than a viewer that connects to an array of servers.
Want another sane reason why this isnt a case about rape? Simple, it’s impossible to not consent to harassment on SL, you can ignore it and go along with the troll’s mentality, which will bore him and make him leave, but if you react, and let the fucker get to you, you are acknowledging he has some control, you are consenting to allow him to get to you.
unlike real rape, where if the person has a knife to your throat, and is going to end your life if you don’t do what he says, all by force, is rape.
The “control” factor here is being allowed by your actions, the troll has won by getting you to openly bitch here, you have allowed yourself to be “raped” you have allowed trolls to control you. but it cant really be called that as IT IS VERY MUCH CONSENTUAL. and rape is a non-consentual act.
you’re allowing this to happen, you’re allowing a troll to get you to squirm.
YHL, YHBT, HAND. as they say.
But really this seems more like a cry for attention more than anything.
Instead of just explaining to your kids that the idiot on the screen is a bad guy in a fantasy world who’s more or less stupid, you jumped up, got scared, and shieled your kids as if they were in danger of being shot. instead of minimizing the window, smiling to re-assure them it’s okay because “mommy is okay” and sitting them down elsewhere and spending time with them, where later you can open the window up, laugh, possibly log out if you’ve been crushed or orbitted, and your AV be fine, and all for a little inconvenience.
You let the troll not only get to you, but scare the living shit out of your kids by your insane reaction. To which you need help.
you’ll probably ignore this piece of logic, but whatever, I know if I were in your shoes, I’d have done the above instead of wigging out and getting the reaction the troll wanted from you. You should really be spending more time with your children than playing second life, and submitting articles about how you got raped on a fucking game but some newbie with a penis popgun.
You’re probably the worst example of modern parenting to date, well not the worst, there was that couple who played WoW who let their kids starve to death and contract illnesses only found in the 3rd world because WoW was “more important and serious”. but you’re bordering around that.
Bobby Davro
Nov 5th, 2007
Wimminz+internets=lulz
MachineCode
Nov 5th, 2007
You keep trying to make it about the “rapist” that attacked you. I agree with you that raping a person is an unforgiveable act and should not be tolerated. Whether what you experienced was rape is a matter of opinion, and it’s my opinion that it was not. That doesn’t make it OK; the individual who did it has more than a few problems, and this kind of thing should never happen. He is an embarrassment to the internets.
However, the comments directed at YOU should be treated as such. Criticism of your personality in this space is warranted because what you are doing is best described by an IRL idiom: “Making a mountain out of a molehill.” The facts stand that it is very easy for you to escape the situation you found yourself in, and you made it seem like it was impossible. You experienced no physical harm, which cannot be denied. Any “mental scarring” you incurred could have been avoided merely by looking away. You and many people seem to insist that people who write this off as stupid or pointless are just as bad. We’re just trying to keep it real, because we know what happens when someone takes the internet seriously. They turn into someone like you.
Mark
Nov 6th, 2007
Yup yup yup. Crazy people who think they actually live inside their computers.
I dislike griefers as much as the next grown up, but for fuck’s sake, you are just feeding this guy by giving him EXACTLY what he wants.
Not only are you made of glass, you’re stupid to boot.
You scared your kids over this – you did much more harm to them than had you minimized the window and calmly explained LIKE AN ADULT. Instead, you reacted like a child yourself, freaking out and cowering, which of course freaks your kids out. You did more damage to them than the griefer.
Kids are resilient, and weak minded adults barraging them with fear factors only makes things worse.
What I think I see here is a person who may or may not even have kids using these childrens to try and play to people’s emotions. And of course, Cococarebear takes the bait.
KK
Nov 25th, 2007
Ohhhhh….I get it! I see what this is. This is a Halloween April Fool’s joke. Katrina is role playing, just pretending to be one of those useless stupid people…it’s for her (or his?) thesis to graduate – it’s all about the mob response to the human stupidity gene in a virtual setting.
Funny! Well done! Bravo! You skunked us all, joke’s on us for falling for it.
Because if that’s not the case and Katrina is actually for real, then she – along with her “supporters” are completely mentally unstable. Besides, in a real life scenario, if a real life rapist cornered ole Kat in a dark alley, all she’d have to do is open her mouth, unload this load of stupidity and no rapist in his right mind would put his dick anywhere near her…
See, if Katrina is for real, she’s EXACTLY WHY the pro choice movement is fighting so hard to make sure abortion stays legal…to head that kinda shit off at the pass.
PS…where can I find one of those “fuck his head” balls? That rules.
KK
Nov 25th, 2007
And finally, for the record, everybody knows (who has a firing brain cell) that the only raping going on in Second Life is paying 1600 bucks and 300 thereafter a month to own virtual land…just to feed our addiction! ;-p