Lab To Cripple Furry, Tiny Avatars With Faux Bug Fix
by Alphaville Herald on 12/05/09 at 8:12 am
Player protests on JIRA leads to 1 day suspension from Second Life
by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk
Maya Remblai was given a one day suspension from Second Life last friday after some vigorous discourse with BigPapi Linden caused BigPapi to start SHOUTING IN ALL CAPS on the JIRA bug tracking system, while refusing to address legitimate resident concerns about his forthcoming bug fix. Eventually the Lab called in Alexa Linden to start swinging the ban stick, and Maya spent a day off the grid.
The cause of all this drama? A disagreement between the Linden game gods and custom avatar creators specializing in robots, gargoyles, furrys and tiny avatars over how to hide the standard human avatar mesh.
In a virtual world where much of the gameplay centers around constructing elaborate representations of fictional characters, the timing of bug fixes that affect the rendering of avatars is a hot topic – particularly since the Lab has not provided support for transparency in the standard avatar mesh despite well documented needs dating back two years.
Currently at issue is BigPapi’s fix for the mega-invisiprim bug – a bugwhich some avatar creators use to entirely hide the normal avatar mesh,so that only attachments are rendered. This bug is particularly usefulfor very small or non-human avatars, since using smaller invisibleprims create ugly visual artifacts.
Two other approaches to minimizing or removing the standard avatar are also unsatisfactory because they do not allow for articulation of the avatar. This rules out hiding the mesh underneath the ground and crumpling/folding the avatar mesh into a small ball – a pose that understandably disgusts players who see the deformed avatar sans-attachments.
So as creators of the non-human avatars complain the Lab has made no commitment to providing an avatar invisibility alternative at the same time they remove the mega-invisiprim bug, speculation turns to the motivations behind BigPapi Linden’s outburst.
Is fixing this bug now the only thing that stands between BigPapi and the coveted “employee of the month” parking space? Or is this somehow tied to making adult content invisible to the unverified? With the Lab moving as quickly as it can to sequester and filter adult content, the most likely explanation is that tinnies, gargoyles, robots, and furries may have to be sacrificed to the continued disneyfication of Second Life.
Strangely, the suspension of Maya did not cover access to the JIRA itself – only Second Life and the Second Life forums – Alexa might want to look into fixing that bug at some point.
[18:00] Pixeleen Mistral: hi
[18:00] Second Life: User not online – message will be stored and delivered later.
[18:01] Pixeleen Mistral: I write for the the alphaville herald – www.alphavilleherald.com
[18:01] Second Life: User not online – message will be stored and delivered later.
[18:01] Pixeleen Mistral: did you REALLY get a 1 day suspension for complaining in the JIRA?
[18:01] Second Life: User not online – message will be stored and delivered later.
[18:04] Maya Remblai: Sure did. 
This is part of the email I got. I can't log into SL or the forums, but I can still post on the JIRA. Go figure. Dear Maya Remblai, This email is notification of action regarding your Second Life account, Maya Remblai, for violation of the Second Life Terms of Service or Community Standards. Violation: PJIRA: Failure to Comply With Rules of Conduct
[18:06] Pixeleen Mistral: wow
[18:06] Second Life: User not online – message will be stored and delivered later.
[18:11] Maya Remblai: Yeah I thought it was pretty sad. Fortunately I have my IMs sent to email so I haven't lost contact.
Meanwhile, opinions on the JIRA itself were sharply critical of the Lab as Barney Boomslang commented:
So Maya is absolutely entitled to reopen the issue according to the very same wiki page you quote to threaten Maya with being banned from the Jira.
How about actually giving a technical reasoning, as this is a technical forum about bugs and problems? If you target the megaprim hack and disable it, you destroy existing content without – at least according to the current discussion – any technical imminent need to do so. Nobody expects you to make this a supported hack – it's just a question about timing. Your answer to that request is essentially "no, bugger off, we don't".
I have to say that attitude you put up here doesn't go well to the tune of having payed several thousand dollar to you guys over the last years …
Myra Loveless may have said it best:
BigPapi Linden's behavior is egregiously rude.
While what's happening may be the definition of a bug, the fact is that there are many things in SL that are the very definition of a bug which the policy has long been standing that it will never be fixed because of content that relies on it. Such as invisiprims and the alpha sorting issue. Then there's also the llSitTarget teleportation that was fixed and subsequently unfixed. Also, there's a bug in LSL that causes repeated movements in a list for llSetPrimitiveParams to cause >10m movements in one frame. That was not only unfixed, but it was even added as a supported feature to Mono.
Just because it's a bug doesn't mean there is a technical need to fix it. Traditional invisiprims are also technically a bug. They also technically cause something to not render when it should be rendering. Invisiprims rely on an 8bit texture. This texture was never intended to be placed on prims. When it is placed on prims, those 8bits get interpretted by the renderer as an alpha texture, but by the culling routines as a solid texture. The result is that any avatars or alpha textures behind it get culled. This bug was fixed at one point but got quickly unfixed due to community outcry.
I personally feel that this "bug" should be left in until such a time as the alpha mapping is put in to the client as well, or possibly left in forever. There are problems that will arise if it is fixed. For starters, the only prims that cause this problem are so large as to be griefer material should the bug be fixed. Ontop of that, the prims are too large to have any practical use on an avatar to begin with. Then there's the people who will refuse to update the client who will still run around using it and thus getting false AR reports filed on them for using it in an avatar. Yes, something is not being rendered that technically should be rendered, but the consequences of rendering it far outweigh the consequences of not rendering it.
As for it being impossible to do it simultaniously, that's a flat out lie. It can in-fact be done simultaniously. Strictly speaking, if it's impossible to do it simultaniously, then they'd have to unfix the avatar hiding bug inorder to get the alpha mapping put in.
Again, BigPapi Linden's behavior while on the BigPapi Linden account reflects directly on Linden Lab. If you're going to represent a company, you don't shout (that is type in all caps) at the user base. Besides that, when the content creators stand up and say "leave this in" it wouldn't hurt to actually sit down and listen about why. To do otherwise is to be willfully disconnected from the needs and desires of the people who actually make SL profitable. No one likes a politician that is out of touch with his or her constituents. Likewise, no one likes a company that is out of touch with the people who make it profitable. The number one rule of business is to know your market.
Perhaps instead of being hostile toward the users who feel differently than you, you could come up with some kind of a compromise that will please everyone or at the very least be open minded enough to take our opinions into consideration.
Might I also remind Alexa Linden that the "be courteous" rule applies also to Lindens. The whole "one set of rules for us, one set of rules for users" thing is not good for PR. Also, as for this not being the place for opinions, any time it comes down to features to add or remove, or bugs which are useful for content creation, any argument for or against is going to be full of opinions. You can't address the issue without opinions.
Adric Antfarm
May 12th, 2009
Compromise. They can be small if we can smash them.
Sweatback Papi
May 12th, 2009
We all know LL hires their personnel on the parking lot of a 7/11. I’m surprised all these sweatback Lindens even type English. It’s expected they behave like this.
Pappy Enoch
May 12th, 2009
I wants tu deny all rumurs that I are BigPapi’s Alt.
Howsoever, let me set ya’ll straight on wun thing:
I luvs me sum lil’ fuzzy-wuz tinies. I won’t nevur fix no “bug” that makes it harder tu be tiny.
Them critters am good sport with a scatturgun n’ dove-shot. Espheshully when yu am drunk.
Husker Dookie
May 12th, 2009
I really like how the Lindens absolutely REFUSED to listen to reason in any of its delightful forms. IT IS MISTAKE! WE FIX MISTAKE! What a buncha trogs.
Alyx Stoklitsky
May 13th, 2009
Yet another example of “Your world, your imagination.” being a lie.
Alyx Stoklitsky
May 13th, 2009
Also, if you really want to piss the Lindens off, start distributing and/or selling the avatar hiders on a massive scale to create maximum public outcry when they no longer work.
SPACETARD
May 13th, 2009
FIX THE BUG. FIX IT!
It’d be great to know that shit tons of avatars around SL are fucked.
Archie Lukas
May 13th, 2009
“BigPapi Linden caused BigPapi to start SHOUTING IN ALL CAPS on the JIRA bug tracking system, ”
It’s been removed from JIRA
Nice PC control………
IMO
May 14th, 2009
Linden Lab, you’re the worst company of all time!
Maya Remblai
May 14th, 2009
Actually Archie, it’s all still there. The only thing that isn’t showing up is all the closed/reopened notices. BigPapi’s caps lock is still there. Interestingly, BigPapi’s more recent JIRA comments and his behavior at Nyx Linden’s office hour were more rational. No caps lock at all!
At0m0 Beerbaum
May 14th, 2009
Linden Labs really could care less about its users, and you all act shocked?
I’m waiting for them to start nuking off adult content entirely, including gor and furries.
Dohoho, it will be epically hilarious too.
An observant observer
May 15th, 2009
Linden Labs really could care less about its users, and you all act shocked?
I’m waiting for them to start nuking off adult content entirely, including gor and furries.
Dohoho, it will be epically hilarious too.
Posted by: At0m0 Beerbaum | May 14, 2009 at 09:01 PM
lolol
And lose 99% of their income?
I doubt it.
But they might come up with a new scheme, called the ‘Adult content tax’
Malaise Maladay
May 16th, 2009
Bunch of whiners. They’re going to be implementing base avatar alpha layers, which is much better than this fakery.
Alyx Stoklitsky
May 16th, 2009
>Bunch of whiners. They’re going to be implementing base avatar alpha layers, which is much better than this fakery.
Only for hiding the entire avatar, as ‘this fakery’ can be turned on and off via script.