Linden Lab Nukes Sandvich Sim
by Pixeleen Mistral on 26/09/12 at 1:47 am
JLU gang leader claims responsibility - thanks Michael Linden for swinging banhammer
Monday, Linden Lab suddenly deleted the Sandvich sim, a popular Steam-themed region in Second Life which inspired a chaotic YouTube video tribute. The Lab's action sparked a round of protests as banned players were stripped of their virtual assets - without any sort of due process - and took their complaints to teh Interwebs' court of public opinion with a post at the Reddit.com web site titled "R.I.P. Steam/Reddit Second Life theme park. Linden Lab banned it".
Sandvich sim before the ban hammer fell
The post reached #16 - leveling up to the front page of Reddit - and has received over 750 comments as of this writing. This may be more than just another tempest in a sandbox world. Reddit.com is currently ranked as the 66th most popular web site in the US and 137th worldwide, while Second Life's appeal has become much more selective in recent years - a problem widely attributed to exorbitant virtual land prices, bait and switch business tactics, and a history of questionable game governance.
The situation is so dire that even hardcore fanbois are now running thought experiments on a player buyout of Second Life.
Lab nukes sim - makes front page news at Reddit.com
Hoping to reverse - or perhaps delay - Second Life's decline, Linden Lab recently announced that Second Life will be listed in the popular Steam game portal with the promise of exposing the game to a larger audience. This news inspired a group of Second Life players to re-purpose a Reddit themed region that ex-Linden Lab staffer Hamlet Au has been hyping for months into a Steam-themed sim in hopes that this might grow their community as Steam players began exploring Second Life.
However, in the meta-gaming faction wars of Second Life, growing your community can be seen as an existential threat to other groups - or even the game itself. Oh noes! Could it be that a long standing feud between The Justice League Unlimited and the Soviet Woodbury/Wrong Hands/PN factions led to Linden Lab's removal of Sandvich sim? It seems so.
Kalel Venkman claims responsibility and thanks Michael Linden
According to what appears to be a screen capture of a Proactive Security group notice, JLU gang leader Kalel Venkman is claiming responsibility for identifying a "Woodbury/PN enclave". Mr. Venkman - who appears in Second Life in the form of a Superman avatar - was gracious enough to thank Michael Linden for his part in the Sandvich smackdown. It is good to see that Lab staff seem willing to take sides in the in-world faction wars -- this will certainly inspire more players to spend $295/month renting server space. What could possibly go wrong?
However, despite the confidence that a superman-of-steel avatar with a weakness for frivolous DMCA complaints inspires, I do have a few questions. Did Venkman ever consider what sort of publicity he would garner for Second Life? With friends like Venkman, who needs enemies?
Michael Linden's involvement in the Sandvich destruction also raises questions. Michael was most recently sighted working on the road crew Linden Department of Public Works and not believed to be involved in Second Life governance. Perhaps he made an exception this one time - but why?
More to the point, mixed signals from the game gods were evident as certain Linden Lab staff including Tommy Linden had been sighted at Sandvich sim socializing with the sim owners and builders. It appears that Tommy Linden enjoyed his visit so much that he posted a picture to his my.secondlife.com profile at one point - then suddenly removed it. But the evidence lives on on in the Google cache. Is it any wonder that the Sandvich residents were caught off guard? In the hall of mirrors that is teh interwebs, who can you really trust?
Tommy Linden liked Sandvich sim - then changed his mind
Glenn Beck
Sep 26th, 2012
You know who else invaded and destroyed cities?
…Hitler.
Boyd Doghouse
Sep 26th, 2012
I wonder how much snooping on an alt it took for Kal-El to find this “fort longcat” at a high altitude. I’m suspicious about his fingering Michael Linden too. Unless there’s been some changes, that’s not his department.
I would be surprised if linden labs didn’t know who they were renting to and who was spending time there. If they didn’t, I’m sure Prokofy Neva filed dozens of AR’s for alt abuse to make sure LL knew who was who.
Big parts of the story aren’t being told and probably never will be.
hobo kelly
Sep 26th, 2012
I can almost feel the anger out there tonight. Its almost like when that commie president we got went and bragged about killing Bin Laden and then all of the sand creatures started going off across the middle east. Well, Neva and Venkman are sitting back laughing their asses off somewhere tonight. Bragging about taking down the Steam sim SANDVICH and Tizzers and company. And I can almost feel the anger towards them out there tonight.
After midnight I’m going to be out there on the roads. Starting at Waterhead then travelling on towards Ravenglass and points beyond. Stuff’s gonna happen tonight…
Maria Kloster
Sep 26th, 2012
It’s a permanent part of Second Life’s and Linden Lab’s history now (probably even the most noteworthy incident in their history) and should serve as a warning to other potential customers, especially educational institutions and gaming communities. Say, why would a university, for example, invest money in a platform where there is a very high risk of the company offering the service will suddenly and without warning delete their simulators, destroy their work and even take their “virtual money” with no compensation? No serious business behaves like Linden Lab does.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Life#Ban_of_university_and_gaming_community
amonymous
Sep 26th, 2012
To be fair, Linden Labs shot themselves in the foot on this one. If Kalel did indeed have a hand in this, Thanks for the help! you tool
Most of the reddit comments decry SL and brough publicity that LL doesnt need at this point.
Thanks again Kalel, you just helped put another nail in LL’s coffin.
GreenLantern Excelsior
Sep 26th, 2012
“…a popular Steam-themed region…”
You keep using that word “popular.” I do not think it means what you think it means.
James OReilly
Sep 26th, 2012
Use eConsumer.gov for International Abuse Reports
http://www.econsumer.gov/english/report/overview.shtm
Laetizia Coronet
Sep 26th, 2012
Woooo… Hobo Kelly and his spinning cubes. FRIGHTENING!!! OH THE HORRIBLE POWER!!!!
Get a life, pimple squeeze.
Gaben Bot
Sep 26th, 2012
Sandvich was averaging close to 20,000 traffic a day. Popular is a completely valid description.
Tux
Sep 26th, 2012
Once more Kalel’s unhealthy obsession brings my name into the picture. Despite it having nothing to do with me. He should go back to what he is good at: chasing the chub!
Paul
Sep 26th, 2012
“Could it be that a long standing feud between The Justice League Unlimited and the Soviet Woodbury/Wrong Hands/PN factions led to Linden Lab’s removal of Sandvich sim?”
Maybe. Or could it be that the ridiculous behavior of the self righteous shadow boxing JLU vigilantes like Kalel, desperate griefers like Tux, penny ante slum lords and fake land realtors, and tin plate capitalists like Strokerz Serpentine made the Second Life experiment nothing more then a grotesque exposition on the most petty, venal, and cruel side of human nature, thus leading the new owners of Linden Lab to conclude that those kinds of users could all just take a hike and they’d be better off marketing to solely casual gamers who want to ride dune buggies and lonely hearts that just want to talk to someone?
EndOfStory
Sep 26th, 2012
“In the hall of mirrors that is teh interwebs, who can you really trust?”
Obviously not this coverage! The Tux avatar wasn’t Tux at all and backstory here is completely off-base. It does give the pro-tards another opportunity to point the finger at the JLU though…..
Protip: Look elsewhere
Biff Baker
Sep 26th, 2012
bejeebbers, when I heard about this reddit trap last month I never thought the Lindens would be stupid enough to take the bait. And yet…
black dynamite
Sep 26th, 2012
Are they so stupid they don’t realize the PN will just make new alts and put up new high altitude ban-me traps? I guess so.
LL didn’t learn shit. The PN can only be stopped by losing interest – being a big fat gay baby will keep it – and pissing off people who might gain interest in your big furry yiffMatrix and bring some new life into it is only speeding SL’s demise.
But then again what do I know? Oh, just the past 5 years or so of SL’s decline and how pitifully inept LL is.
When VALVe gets bored or runs out of excuses to finish ep3 and makes their own SL clone (massively multiplayer gary’s mod?) I’m going to fucking laugh my ass off.
EndOfStory
Sep 26th, 2012
“bejeebbers, when I heard about this reddit trap last month I never thought the Lindens would be stupid enough to take the bait. And yet…”
Yes it is obvious to many that the Queen Mary strategy, as it was construed for many months prior to August, was this sole-purposed outcome, all along.
The quesiton IS and should always BE:
TSO butthurt raged for quite a while but this chapter is exceeding that at an alarming rate. Why the extended butthurt from the geriatrics on Second Life? Is brand-destruction the only way out when griefer funds have been forfeited?
Dontspill McGinnis
Sep 26th, 2012
@ endofstory
You aren’t qualified to give protips.
But your attempted commentary is somewhat amusing.
T-Bone
Sep 26th, 2012
Despite the attention seeking comments of the griefers and wise (coughs), the important thing is…another good, interesting piece of VW journalism.
Not before time, mind you. Unlike SL, perhaps there is hope for the Herald, after all. :O)
Jim Jesus
Sep 26th, 2012
>GreenLantern Excelsior
>“…a popular Steam-themed region…”
You keep using that word “popular.” I do not think it means what you think it means.
Just like how you have a different version of expressing empathy. It means you’re providing understanding of other peoples feelings, not calling up dead people’s families just to make sure they’re really dead so you don’t have to worry about them fucking up your video games.
Besides, what the hell are you doing here. Don’y you have some Mexicans to hate, you sick lunatic wingnut?
Biff Baker
Sep 26th, 2012
>the Queen Mary strategy
End, are you saying that this is what the griefers and egg heads were plotting on the Queen Mary?
LOL
Sep 26th, 2012
IMO, Linden Lackies wanted to be the ones who promoted Steam on SL for thier own financial gain.
By deleting the only resident rented and managed Steam related region on SL to date, Linden lab has in essence held onto thier monolopy. plain and simple.
Don’t forget, the space bucks stop at linden lab.
Chris Toumanian
Sep 26th, 2012
I owned the Reddit sim and promoted it as an open sandbox. Tribal factions in Second Life sound ridiculous – why would Linden Lab take that seriously? It’s just a game.
I don’t know who Tux is, and have only heard of the JLU in passing. Is it a sim owner’s responsibility to look into the history of everyone who logs into their server and police them? Banning by association is a terrible policy.
There was no reason for me not to allow Fort Longcat to exist. At one point I did return it because it was taking up so many prims, but a few players really wanted to build it and I figured having a few memes up in the sky wouldn’t cause anyone harm. Why allow people to build one sort of thing but not another?
If this was a question of moderation, I’m not sure why Linden Lab wouldn’t simply tell me or ban the offending players and objects. If they had done that instead of banning me and refusing to communicate I would have been forced to moderate the sim more heavily – but I would need a list of who isn’t allowed and what not to spawn because I have no idea who’s who and don’t really care.
This sim was about starting a community based on contemporary Internet culture such as Reddit and current events like SL going on Steam. I wanted to show that Second Life could be relevant to gamers and fun. Evidently that isn’t encouraged.
potosi abonwood
Sep 27th, 2012
Nice to see GLE of the Super Griefer Friends still active and posting. Also still proving his amazing lack of intellegence to boot. Guess since they didn’t use the JLU protection racket he doesn’t consider the sim ‘popular’. It’s very evident he doesn’t know what that word means.
Paul
Sep 27th, 2012
Hi Chris:
“Tribal factions in Second Life sound ridiculous – why would Linden Lab take that seriously? It’s just a game.”
They are completely ridiculous, and are only taken seriously by themselves and by each other, but unfortunately both sides take themselves so seriously that they interfere with the gameplay of regular folks who go into SL for fun and some amateur creativity. SL sometimes has to at least try to blot them out, often, apparently, with collateral damage. You seem to be the mermaid caught in the shark net.
“I wanted to show that Second Life could be relevant to gamers and fun.”
I think Linden Lab is at least trying to move in that direction, but they are still hamstrung by these metagamers griefers and vigilantes who have invested their very sense of self worth and identity into being living in and being big cheeses in what is basically an obsolete video game.
Don’t feel bad, you are not the first person to try to build something with a gamer’s sense of earnestness only to be run over by the ridiculous self righteous indulgences of people like Superman and the Penguin. It’s just trolling for attention, in the end.
Darien Caldwell
Sep 27th, 2012
Well, at least LL got some publicity out of this.
GreenLantern Excelsior
Sep 27th, 2012
“Jim Jesus,” eh? So who are you supposed to be when you’re up and dressed? Nothing says “crackpot” like a staunch Gary Johnson voter.
Biff, I heard about a Woodbury SL alumni meeting aboard the Queen Mary not too long ago. Care to elaborate?
Jim Jesus
Sep 27th, 2012
1. I’m not a staunch voter of any candidate, Johnson included.
2. No, I will not elaborate on Queen Mary because I wasn’t there.
This illustrates your investigatory skill fail. You’re a moron. Now go back to sucking that crackpot Joe Arpaio’s cock. Maybe you can call my sister if I get hit by a bus to make sure I’m not here to ruin your day with blog comments. Jackass.
Jim Jesus
Sep 27th, 2012
A racist birther minuteman calling people crackpots. That’s rich.
James DOe
Sep 27th, 2012
So If Tizzer hates sl so much, Why does he keep coming back.
It amazes me that these people have nothing better to do.
Its so funny NO one has heard Jack from the JLU in what 8 months.
But the Greiefers must be getting bored. They are getting back to school and have nothing better to do than hide behind the schools IP address’s and cause trouble.
Tizzer if he was so smart (which he isn’t) would have walked away from SL and done other things. But the poor baby is still but hurt so is the alphaville hearld.
@Chris Toumanian
Please no one is believing anything you say here or in SLU. Seriously.
Senban Babii
Sep 27th, 2012
@Darien Caldwell
“Well, at least LL got some publicity out of this.”
Publicity is the last thing Linden Lab needs, wouldn’t you say?
“Many companies – and even more so customers – are discovering a critical lesson. Building an online channel on top of inadequate or inefficient business processes achieves only one goal: it broadcasts and magnifies the fact that a company’s back office systems or operational processes are really bad.”
‘Evolving the e-business’, Professor Michael Earl, 2001.
EndOfStory
Sep 27th, 2012
“I owned the Reddit sim and promoted it as an open sandbox. Tribal factions in Second Life sound ridiculous – why would Linden Lab take that seriously? It’s just a game.
I don’t know who Tux is, and have only heard of the JLU in passing. Is it a sim owner’s responsibility to look into the history of everyone who logs into their server and police them? Banning by association is a terrible policy.
There was no reason for me not to allow Fort Longcat to exist. At one point I did return it because it was taking up so many prims, but a few players really wanted to build it and I figured having a few memes up in the sky wouldn’t cause anyone harm. Why allow people to build one sort of thing but not another?
If this was a question of moderation, I’m not sure why Linden Lab wouldn’t simply tell me or ban the offending players and objects. If they had done that instead of banning me and refusing to communicate I would have been forced to moderate the sim more heavily – but I would need a list of who isn’t allowed and what not to spawn because I have no idea who’s who and don’t really care.
This sim was about starting a community based on contemporary Internet culture such as Reddit and current events like SL going on Steam. I wanted to show that Second Life could be relevant to gamers and fun. Evidently that isn’t encouraged.”
If you take anything that Chris says on face value then the obvious questions arise:
You only heard shit in passin (on the Queen Mary)? You realize that who you met with there are deeply entrenched in the subculture of long standing TSO butthurt and LL enforcements along the way, against Woodbury – Revolution – Wrong Hands, etc etc..
If the goal all along was a consilitory one, why all the permissive behavior on Sandvich? I mean seriously, all the PN gear “upstairs”, the 2fort, the griefer activity? No one spends hard-earned-money on a proposition fraught with all that nonsense and expectes happy outcomes if happy outcomes are the goal. Chris, lose the “well intentioned” facade bro, no one is buying it. Anything “woodbury” or overtly “tizzers” badged in SL is similar to walking into a library and shouting FIRE!
You hollywood types are a crack up..
Senban Babii
Sep 27th, 2012
Hah! Posted just three hours ago :7
The only winning move is not to play.
Intellagirl PhD @Intellagirl
I am about done with Linden Lab. They’ve messed up our billng AGAIN and now claim that wire transfer may be the only way to pay. Ugh!!
hobo kelly
Sep 28th, 2012
I can see Prokofy Neva, Kalel Venkman, and Green Goatse Excelsior sitting up on the fence in this video. Who were the other two yapping assholes I wonder?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyVTH-5ZDFI
GreenLantern Excelsior
Sep 28th, 2012
“1. I’m not a staunch voter of any candidate, Johnson included.”
The website you link to, jimjesus.com, is a blog. Its first post is entitled “Why I’m Voting for Gary Johnson.”
I heard about a couple of quotes from Lindens a few years ago (the dates and the names of the speakers have faded into the sands of time). I remember that the first statement, in response to the return of Tizzers after being permabanned, was something to the effect of “There is no such thing as a ‘permaban.’ If a banned user returns under another name and behaves himself, then we don’t do anything.” I recall the second quote verbatim. It was “Tizzers Foxchase is not welcome in Second Life.” In many cases where the Terms of Service don’t cover everything, you can get conflicting stories depending on which Linden you’re talking to at the time. But in this specific case, I believe that the Linden who made the first statement is no longer on the payroll, and the second quote appears to be current Linden policy. It has been proven over and over that whenever Tizzers shows up, the Linden countdown begins. Sooner or later, Tizzers and the sims and avatars around him will vanish in a nuclear fireball of Linden love. So here’s a friendly word of advice: the next time a Tizzy Teardrop or a Twinkie Swizzle or a Hissyfits Resident shows up and begins organizing a new sim, remember to run at top speed in the opposite direction before the banhammer comes down.
Jim Jesus
Sep 28th, 2012
@GLE
Again, you clearly demonstrate your inability to process the most basic pieces of information, especially if it doesn’t fit in your narrow wingnut delusions of grandeur.
You actually have to read the article to know what my point is. You just can’t read a title of a blog post and think you got life figured out. Fucking. Idiot.
Besides, you’re an Obama Birther and a minuteman. You’re in no position to call anything ‘crackpot’ because you’re a racist conspiracy nutjob.
Go back to listening to Rush Limbaugh while you play phone-call vigilante against those Mexicans you hate so much because you’re not good at much else. That or you can tell us about the time you called DeadlyCodex’s family pretending to give a shit just so you could make sure he was really dead and not drop lolcubes on your e-lawn again.
God, you’re a worthless piece of shit.
Jim Jesus
Sep 28th, 2012
Let’ take a stroll down crazy lane. a.k.a. you’re twitter stream:
9:55 PM – 21 Mar 12
“Sheriff Joe Arpaio has “tons of other information that could be very shocking” regarding Obama’s documents. Go Joe! ” (link to WorldNetDaily’s post about Arpaio’s Birther nonsense omitted)
7:55 PM – 1 Aug 12
“Stood in line for an hour at #Chickfila, loving every minute of it. Now that was a group of nice people. In your face, Rahm.”
6:45 PM – 30 Mar 12
“When I win the lottery I’ll build The Great Wall of America on our southern border, put Denny’s inside it, and the guards will be retirees.”
And I’m a crack pot because I typed a headline about how I’m not voting for Mitt Romney? Whatever, bigot.
Jim Jesus
Sep 28th, 2012
Edit: (your not you’re)
Tux
Sep 28th, 2012
Two days ago, I opened my front door to the postman try to post a pakistani through my letter box. I looked at the senders address and it said GLE.
Yesterday it was a really fat african woman, the sender was Kara.
And again today! A old grey haired jamaican. The sender this time is Kalel.
I get the distinct impression the JLU are trying to blackmail me.
GreenLantern Excelsior
Sep 28th, 2012
You may as well paint a big target on your sim if it has one of these in it:
http://i45.tinypic.com/2col8pv.png
The message sent by this object is “Hey, Linden Lab! You wouldn’t dare delete my sim and ban me!” Then when Linden Lab deletes your sim and bans you, make sure to get all weepy and start posting messages everywhere about how your sim was just an artistic endeavor, and how big old mean Linden Lab is SO NOT FAIRRRRRR!!!!
The Woodbury folks can’t help but mark their territory with logos from the past whenever they return to SL:
http://i46.tinypic.com/esmdlz.png
It is a self-defeating behavior. Guys, try something new next time. The same old tactics are still not working for you.
IntLibber
Sep 28th, 2012
http://alphavilleherald.com/2008/08/national-tizzer.html
Tizzers being verboten is not new, and to quote commenter “Big Brother” from that long ago post:
Big Brother
Aug 19th, 2008
This is really reflective of a totalitarian regime which seeks to alter history be erasing its opponents from not just the history books, but from the public record, and punishing anyone who dares to speak their name.
Everyone must participate in the 5 minutes hate for the evil jew counterrevolutionary, Tizzers Foxchase.
The job of the Linden Lab Love Machine aka the Ministry of Love is to spread and foster Hate, of anybody who does not learn to Love Big Linden and his Big Six.
The job of the LL Ministry of Truth is to convince everyone of the truth of untruth with their reality distortion field.
The three slogans of the Linden Party Ministry of Truth are:
“Tolerance is Intolerable”
“Injustice is Just”
“Secrecy is Transparency”
The Ministry of Plenty is of course responsible for dumping land on the market to destroy residents investments, blacklisting resident content which is not involved in copybotting while ignoring real copybotters, and fining people 150% when they are the victims of someone else’s L$ Fraud.
And the Ministry of Peace is, of course, responsible for inciting, promoting, and conducting GridWar. It is otherwise known as the Governance Team.
Tux
Sep 28th, 2012
And yet GLE, Economic Engineer remains?
And ‘the same old tactics’ are not working for you either. You want someone to prove that you are still not leak proof? And that you are still up to your old tricks of data mining and privacy invasion?
Certainly do not believe Kalel when he tells you its all secure, it’s not. In fact it is worse than ever. It has been for some time. Pretty much since your leader dumped his RL wife and child and began chub chasing with his morbidly obese pixel partner, Kara.
Go on, issue the challenge.
Nym
Sep 28th, 2012
Kalel is just such a silly silly man. Well so is anyone involved with the JLU. … it’s just a cartoon guys
and always better the Devil you know.
Avenger Chip
Sep 28th, 2012
Just a tactic. They created the region with the aim of being discovered. They knew they were going to be banned. What were their intentions?, Answer: A campaign of negative image in reddit and other sites.
IntLibber
Sep 29th, 2012
Woah, GLE, some crack investigatory skillz you’re demonstrating there. As if nobody on the grid has any woodbury branded content anymore, it all must belong to real woodburies, eh?
IntLibber
Sep 29th, 2012
Does this mean that if, say, Prokofy, has woodbury stuff in her inventory, that she must be a griffer?
Alyx Stoklitsky
Sep 29th, 2012
Fuck me, you twats are still at this? It’s been nearly five years – FIVE FUCKING YEARS.
Tizzers, Kalel, all of you; you’re all a bunch of neurotic aspie fucks.
At0m0 Beerbaum
Sep 29th, 2012
Sshhh Shhh Alyx, it’s over now. the nightmare is over.
At0m0 Beerbaum
Sep 29th, 2012
Dear GLE,
There was much plotting on the Queen Mary, such as what to eat for dinner that night. Some evil fucking shit there.
At0m0 Beerbaum
Sep 29th, 2012
One more thing I wanted to say: I wonder how many of the commenters here will kill themselves if SL dies. I’m taking bets on the rise in suicides after SL shuts down as Linden Lab moves on to other failing ventures.
hobo kelly
Sep 29th, 2012
So, what Tux is saying is just shocking SHOCKING. According to Tux, this Kalel Venkman (spandex identity: superman) went and walked out on his RL wife (spandex identity: Lois Lane), and walked out on his RL kids (spandex identity: Manny Moe and Jack Bronies), (also known as “The Sparklehorse Rainbow Continuum with Gayson”) and this Venkman is now on the run in an adulterous fling with the RL Kara Tim Tam Thank You Mam Vunderwoman (spandex identity: Pillsbury Dough Boy)?? “Simi Valley” takes on a whoooooole new meaning…. (gross bunch of drunks)
(dont watch this video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWfRy0yZKW0
Dontspill McGinnis
Sep 29th, 2012
@ hobo kelly and Tux
Maybe Kalel Venkman didn’t really leave them, maybe he errm, ah.. you know… Forgot where he lived, and just got pulled into errm… oh… it’s on the tip of my tongue… Kara!
Kara’s ermm… damn it I’m forgetting everything today… ermm… Gravitational field..
It’s no wonder he never comments on here, he isn’t exactly Mr personality, is he? Public speaking is not one of his strong points. Dressing like a homeless clown however does seem to be.