Archive for the ‘Second Life’ Category

Smash Lane as he watches over PNC sim

Back on June 29, 2009 I blogged about a rude encounter arriving in a sim during an event in Second Life®: The Rudeness Within….

It pains me to report that the rudeness continues.

This time it happened at an event at Plush Nonprofit Commons (PNC), a sim managed by TechSoup Global which the website states, “is a virtual community of practice for nonprofits to explore the opportunities and benefits of Second Life.”

During the Second Life Community Convention this year (SLCC09) I invited my real life son, Gavin, to go with me to an event at PNC on the topic of Virtual Museums as K through Adult Learning Platforms, a subject in which we both have a high interested. I was excited to have my son experience an SLCC panel before we got to the real world convention the next day.

What started out as a great plan kind of came apart abit as we fought SL for access to the sim. So when we finally teleported in and waited to rez it was with excitement we wanted to see where we were.

Then Gavin was IM’d by one Smash Lane, who apparently had volunteered to be security for every inworld event for PNC and was allowed to do just that… with an iron fist and a Southern Sheriff from the 50’s attitude. Here is the encounter from Gavin’s logs:

[2009/08/14 15:39]  Smash Lane: no weapons please
[2009/08/14 15:39]  Gavin Merlin: I don’t have any weapons
[2009/08/14 15:39]  Smash Lane: you gotta shut the red beam then
[2009/08/14 15:41]  Gavin Merlin: no thank you, I’ll just leave
[2009/08/14 15:41]  Gavin Merlin: I’m offended
[2009/08/14 15:41]  Smash Lane: ok
[2009/08/14 15:41]  Smash Lane: im security
[2009/08/14 15:41]  Gavin Merlin: great good luck stoping laser beams
[2009/08/14 15:41]  Smash Lane: my job is to not let anything interrupt
[2009/08/14 15:42]  Smash Lane: sorry but shut it or i gotta eject you
[2009/08/14 15:43]  Smash Lane: not a weapon, but it hard enough getting things working here without a lser flashing the panel
[2009/08/14 15:43]  Gavin Merlin: sure, good luck with that

Alas Gavin Merlin in his Starsuit & Forbidden Laser

Gavin and I rez’d in at the same moment since he was teleporting using a SLurl I provided. It was a stormy  inSL that day, teleporting was chancey, rezzing was slow. Being patient I took the time to try to take a snapshot of our arrival not realizing that Gavin was not seeing the humor in this moment of our avatars merged as one.

In the course of dealing with the fact that my guest was not being given a chance to feel comfortable at an event held in a sim that is accessible to mostly everyone I never snapped the shot. As I fielded the astonished IMs from Gavin about not being able to be there I decided to approach the ‘Security’ guy myself. Here’s my conversation with PNC security:

[2009/08/14 15:58]  Wyn Galbraith: Who are you to harrass people arriving at this event?
[2009/08/14 15:58]  Smash Lane: You mean besides head of security?
[2009/08/14 15:58]  Smash Lane: and I haven’t harrased anyone
[2009/08/14 15:58]  Wyn Galbraith: One Gavin Merlin over a lazer light.
[2009/08/14 15:58]  Wyn Galbraith: I’m reporting you.
[2009/08/14 15:58]  Wyn Galbraith: you had no business doing that
[2009/08/14 15:59]  Smash Lane: asked him to shut it, was flashing on the av’s in the panel
[2009/08/14 15:59]  Smash Lane: he coulda just turned it off
[2009/08/14 15:59]  Smash Lane: ok, i have the im with him on notecard
[2009/08/14 15:59]  Smash Lane: i did ignore the parachute
[2009/08/14 16:00]  Wyn Galbraith: Whatever if it’s a problem let someone who’s offical deal with it. The parachute is temp object that closes down after a moment. [2009/08/14 16:00]  Smash Lane: i am an official, as In head of Security here
[2009/08/14 16:00]  Wyn Galbraith: right
[2009/08/14 16:01]  Smash Lane: its my job to keep things running smoothly
[2009/08/14 16:01]  Wyn Galbraith: well thanks you spoiled a cool event
[2009/08/14 16:01]  Wyn Galbraith: give people a chance to rez
[2009/08/14 16:01]  Smash Lane: you know what, im doing this for 4 hours today alraedy
[2009/08/14 16:01]  Wyn Galbraith: check secondwynd.com for my blog about rudeness in SL when people arrive. You’re just like that.
[2009/08/14 16:01]  Smash Lane: he the only one who got offended by a small reuest to not interfere with other people watching the event
[2009/08/14 16:02]  Smash Lane: if i was rude, i woulda ejected him
[2009/08/14 16:02]  Smash Lane: rude is not letting other people enjoy a cool event
[2009/08/14 16:02]  Wyn Galbraith: you threatened that
[2009/08/14 16:02]  Wyn Galbraith: Rude is not letting people rez on arrival
[2009/08/14 16:02]  Smash Lane: yea, an he got offended at that
[2009/08/14 16:02]  Wyn Galbraith: jumping to conclusions
[2009/08/14 16:02]  Smash Lane: i did
[2009/08/14 16:03]  Wyn Galbraith: you didn’t I arrived at the same time
[2009/08/14 16:03]  Smash Lane: all he had to do was say ok, i’ll shut it when i rez
[2009/08/14 16:27]  Wyn Galbraith: who’s your boss?
[2009/08/14 16:28]  Smash Lane: i dunno, I guess the ones that drafted em to do this
[2009/08/14 16:28]  Wyn Galbraith: who’s that?
[2009/08/14 16:28]  Smash Lane: look up NPC, check the owners
[2009/08/14 16:28]  Smash Lane: Try Glitterartica or Penguin
[2009/08/14 16:28]  Wyn Galbraith: so you’ won’t tell me who you answer to?
[2009/08/14 16:28]  Smash Lane: i dont answer to anyone
[2009/08/14 16:28]  Wyn Galbraith: great wannabecop mentality
[2009/08/14 16:29]  Smash Lane: an i dont get paid for this an wont cry if im fired
[2009/08/14 16:29]  Wyn Galbraith: self appointed security
[2009/08/14 16:29]  Smash Lane: see names above

After questioning ’security’ as I had I worried that he might choose to eject me from the sim for being a troublemaker. IF he had been given the estate power of ejecting or was he bluffing. I did get to stay though I could not enjoy the event knowing that behind me sat someone who had more power than they deserved or knew how to handle. Ever hear the phrase, “Legend in his/her/it own mind…”?

As you can see I got to stay... This is not where we rez'd, that was somewhere near the back row.

Gavin passed me a notecard inworld which I passed on to the people I contacted about the incident. I include a copy here with Gavin’s permission:

~=*=~

To whom it may concern,

Friday August 14, 2009. After being invited to attend the SLCC event in Plush Nonprofit Commons, I was harassed in a manner that was offensively coarse, intimidating and threatening, before I fully rezzed. [ See ?? ]

The harrassment came from a resident named Smash Lane. The following is a log of the conversation that occurred between us,

[2009/08/14 15:39] Smash Lane: no weapons please
[see above for rest of this log]

During the course of the above exchange which is 4 minutes max, I was not allowed to even fully rez or to send messages to all of the people whom invited me to that event, so I merely teleported away before Smash Lane could embarrass me and carry out his alleged authority over me and the laser attached to my head.

I have an accessibility use for the laser on my head. It illuminates objects right in front of me that I am looking at, and this is best used whenever and wherever it is dark. I am not legally blind but I am capable of having my own accessibility issues that I can resolve by myself. I was not even dignified with a question to why I was wearing this laser.

On the other hand, the accusations that the red beam would disrupt the meeting is erroneous because my laser has a limited range and the spot it illuminates no where near reaches the panelists at that said meeting, nor was I anywhere near the panel for them to be illuminated so it is my opinion that Smash Lane made false accusations and made up this story that my laser would disrupt the meeting.

In my defense, I mentioned to others that personal lighting has its variety and tends to bleed over into other lighting, however, there was no evidence that I was disrupting anybody nor has any screenshots of such activity been presented to prove this accusation that the light beam attached to my avatar’s head (at that time) would interfere or interupt the proceedings.

I believe the viewer standard is only five lights can be viewed at any time? I may be wrong but, local lighting shouldn’t be enough to disrupt a meeting that I was so very happy to attend and had no intention to disrupt.

As I said to Smash Lane, I’m offended that I wasn’t even treated with any kind of dignity from this self proclaimed “hired security” and hired by whom? and for what? To discriminate against me without any patience.

THis is EXACTLY one of the points that Gentle Heron brought up at SLCC’09 as a panelist, speaking to us to ask us to have more patience with people who have accessibility issues, however minor.

Thank you for your time,
Count Gavin Merlin
Forever’s End Vampire Club
2009-08-17

~=*=~

The response I got from those responsible for Smash Lane being in charge of security expressed concern for our experience and one said they would talk to Smash. So I’ve been waiting, sitting on this to put some distance between myself and the incident. I guess I was hoping too, that there might be apology from Smash Lane, or at least acknowledgement, though none has come and I don’t think it ever will.

What gets me to the heart is a sim dedicated to being accessible to those with real life disabilities, yet hires a security person with no patience for the handicap of the Second Life Viewer interface, networks, routers & computers.

Anyone who has been inworld for any length of time should be aware of the hardship coming into a large sim event, how long it takes to rez sometimes, how long it takes to see where you are and who’s around you. No one should be jumped on immediately on arriving no matter how annoying they might be to those already there.

BE PATIENT WITH REZZING AVATARS

This is what it looks like to not be rez'd in SL. Use to be Ruth'd, but now just a big glowing green globe of goo. Green is good.

Oh and by the by, Smash, the parachute you mentioned was a Terra E-Chute 2.0 that is a freebie by Cubey Terra and is only visible for a moment till an avatar lands. So if you saw the chute then Gavin’s avatar had just arrived and had not touched ‘ground’ yet. The chute is triggered by sensing the avatar is falling, animates avatar in freefall, the at last minute pops the ‘chute’ and lets the avatar land gracefully without the usual built in faceflat fall. As you can see in the image below there is not a canopy. It’s just the harness. Even if it was open how much could it block?

I demo the Terra-E-Chute at Plush Nonprofit Commons ~ no events where interrupted by this fall.

Tolerance should be developed when it comes to disabilities that people might have. Disabilities may not be physical or visible, they may be caused by technology or helped by technology. In a virtual world a little less rudeness and more consideration for what someone else is experiencing is important.

You cannot see what’s on the other side of the avatar, who that person is or what they are about. Patience is a virtue that should not be left at home. Little acts of kindness in the global community is the best practice. Let the avatar rez!