Can’t say I’ve been in SL much in the past ten days or so, mainly due to some reorganizing in my first life that didn’t leave me too much time to be in-world (and it’s not really convenient to attend events and such when you only have 15 minutes ahead here and there). However, I must admit that some of the recent developments also didn’t encourage me to try and find the time. There’s a chilling and nasty wind blowing in here these days, it’s like the new year and the changes brought in-world have made some dark little things walk out of the closet all of a sudden, and everybody’s become snappy and irritable, at least on the forums (and in-world too from what I could see when I was in). Of course, I’m still regularly browsing the forums, because not being in-world doesn’t mean I must remain deaf and blind, after all; although, perhaps this would be a blessing, in this case!

I also kept an eye on the SLExchange trainwreck – how couldn’t I, it’s everywhere now. I’m not a person to decide in haste, and thus so far I haven’t jumped on any bandwagon of “I’m boycotting!” or “I’m not!”, but this affair sure keeps me at unease and with a bad taste in my mouth no matter what. It reeks – I can’t say it otherwise, it reeks; of more hidden reasons (in spite of the explanations given), of PR stunts, of ugly feelings. I’d be tempted to not follow the forums anymore to simply avoid seeing these, but it’s never a solution, and it just shuts one off from (sometimes) useful information.

Actually, I’m not sure if I want to take an position in this – I can and will express my views, but nobody ask me to take an active militant role or whatcrap. I don’t care whether I’m being a coward or not; I simply know well enough what it is to suffer from hard feelings stemming from a “game”, and I know that I don’t need this currently, nor will allow myself to get engulfed in such happenings again. The day I’m letting myself get down again because of some frigging online world, and the emotional involvment is indeed real, no need to blind oneself with this – the day this happens, I’ll just keep quiet and in my corner until I’m calmed down, period.

Regardless, will I pull out my stuff or not, when I’ve been in from the beginning (thanks, I must say, to Merwan exclusively, as he’s the only one I’ve ever had contact with regarding SLEx)? I don’t know, it’s been a nice ride after all, but… the answer is “likely, if things go on in such an ugly manner”. There are too many shady parts unveiling and building up to my liking, and I very much doubt I wish to be part of this for very long, even if only to see “what happens”.

I suppose it’s no use to ask “why can’t we all get along”? sighs

The highlights –

Linden support of most events, other than educational events will be discontinued starting next week with events scheduled 17 January and after.

Bonus amounts paid out as weekly ‘Stipend Ratings’ will be decreased over the next several months, beginning next week.

We will begin charging L$25 for a rating – starting after the update tomorrow.

The Top Picks will be replaced by “Sponsered Links” which will be auctioned off on Ebay. This is an experimental program to gauge community interest in advertising in an in-world directory. If successful, we’ll bring it to the internal auctions. If not, we’ll can it.

There is no change to the basic weekly stipends you receive.

Finally, please note: there will be no changes to Second Life land fees or membership fees paid to Linden Lab.
—Robin Linden

Alright, I know that 3 pages of forum threads already beat this topic enough as it is… I guess I just wished to put it here for myself, though. I don’t know yet whether this is going to have a positive impact on Second Life as we know it (perhaps on middle- or long-term only), or will turn to be the next catastrophe just waiting to happen. The only thing I’m sure of is that, as usual in such a situation, there are LOTS of talks, rumors and misunderstandings. Misunderstandings that the stipends will be halved, for instance when in fact the basic (50/500) stipends won’t be touched. And from there… the escalation? It’s hard to think quietly about all of this, especially when the news downed on us so fast after the New Year.

In fact, I think I can’t decide what my opinion about all of this is. I’m not very worried, but also, I don’t depend on stipend and ratings bonus to get L$, so in itself, my opinion is already biased. The ratings… couldn’t care less about them; perhaps now they’ll finally become “fair”, and not a contest of I-rate-you-you-rate me? Or at least prevent random fly-by neg rates? (I must admit that I already happened to give ratings back, yet not if I don’t see something deserving a rating, even if this something is “only” a nicely dressed avatar.) The Ebay stuff related to the Top Picks… I’m not too fond of this idea, likely because it just reeks of “those with the more cash will get it all, and the little/new ones will get the shaft”. I’m not sure. As for events… this is to be seen as well. I can at least foresee several types of events where the support wouldn’t be absolutely necessary (for instance, it’s not an absolute necessity at events such as bingo, where attendants help making the pot anyway), and some others (“Best clad-in-blue-and-green AV contest”, etc etc) which numbers would maybe decrease – let’s admit it, we get a shitload of these as well.

Hard to tell, yes. So… Personal policy on this? “Wait and see”. In the meantime, I’ll finish working on my kimonos in my little corner of Varney. This never harms!

Because I am a downright moron who cannot keep her head on her shoulders, I jumped in game in a hurry earlier on, due to this thought that popped into my mind all of a sudden: I hadn’t taken a copy of my build for the Winter expo … which I wanted to do, to at least keep a trace of it once the land would be cleaned, and I of course forgot. Expected? Sure thing. So I hurried to Zermatt, and fortunately, the builds haven’t been wiped off yet – I guess I was under the assumption that December 31st would be the very end of it, and that it’d cleaned two days after or something. Well, at least for once I’ve been lucky, and I could grab a copy of my own stuff. Go fig.

So the new year has started, and the least I can do is that, err, I haven’t done much yet. At least I have an excuse, given I’ve been sick since before Christmas and this usually doesn’t bode well regarding my energy and creativity. Oh, of course, I have projects in the works, mainly regarding clothing, but while I managed to wipe off a little something, it’s far from being completed yet, and I don’t want to release half of it only. As for the rest? I don’t know yet. Projects, yes. (Still) Vague ideas, yes. Will I live up to my own expectations on this, it’s still too early to tell, but I hope I’ll manage to at least keep up with last year’s pace, which would already be a good thing.

Setting myself back to work, slowly… Let’s hope that this SL year will be as good as the previous one!