Second Life Herald

TSO Failure Analysis (reprinted)

RIP TSO

Many of you have heard the sad but perhaps inevitable news that TSO will close its doors permanently on August 1. Many Second Lifers began their travels in the metaverse on TSO and this newspaper began there as well as The Alphaville Herald. From the very first weeks of our covering TSO we saw horrendous weaknesses in TSO, and we reported accordingly. However, for my money the best analysis of the failure of TSO was posted here in January of 2004 by a reporter named Kiss. I am reprinting it here with only minor edits. The comments under the original are well worth a read too. --Uri

TSO Failure Analysis

by Kiss

I'm a 44-year-old Manager for a company that develops simulations and software for the military and have been playing TSO since Beta (November '02). I have never been a member of any of the Mafias, never received or given an enemy link other than to play with my friends, and have pretty much played TSO the way Maxis envisioned it to be played. And yet, I am now going to be reducing my TSO playing time significantly and moving on to other MMOGs. Why am I doing this? Because I hate living in the wimpy environment that TSO has morphed into.

Fox Making Movie from EA's Sims Game

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk

Peter Gilstrap reports in Variety that 20th Century Fox is planning to make a a live-action movie of The Sims, after purchasing the feature rights from Electronic Arts. The script is still being written, and the talent is presently unnamed, but there are some clues in a quote from Rod Humble, who is managing the creative property for Electronic Arts:

"'The SIMS has done an interactive version of an old story, which is what it's like to have infinite power and how do you deal with it. Given that that's an old story, you can imagine how easily that would translate to traditional story telling."

So is this the story of a game system admin handing out perma-ban to players on a whim? Or a player with an exploit that gives them game god powers? Those stories never have happy endings.

Skeptics will wonder if they really need to go to the theaters to see this sort of thing - isn’t that what we get everyday in SL already? On the other hand, at least movie theaters don’t crash all the time. The Herald is offering Prokofy Neva and Urizenus Sklar to consult on the project - they both have some experience with how EA deals with infinite power in its game.

Is Ginko's Alleged Ponzi Game About to Implode? Will Linden Lab be Held Liable?

The Journal of the Business Law Society at the University of Illinois College of Law is running a well documented article on Second Life's Ginko corporation, which claims to have the equivalent of $475,000 US invested in it but which some have called a ponzi scheme, Meanwhile, Philip Linden has comparedGinko to the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh. Finally, someone is calling out Philip on this outrageous attitude. From the JBLS:

More curious than people’s willingness to give their money to Ginko, is that Linden Lab does not seem to find anything worrisome about the venture. Linden Lab’s CEO and founder, Philip Rosedale, believes that banks can exist within the virtual world of Second Life without regulation. Rosedale likens banks like Ginko to Grameen Bank of Bangladesh which makes small unsecured loans to the very poor to help them start businesses and work their way out of poverty.

Meanwhile, a well placed and reliable Herald source tells us that Ginko is in fact a ponzi scheme. We are not in a position to pronounce on the matter, given the real life legal implications, however we think it is about time for Ginko to show some transparency. Where is the money!? Open the books, and show us where the money has been invested. Is it in other Second Life businesses, or in things like sweet new rides, as our source insists? More to the point, if it *is* a ponzi, will Linden Lab be liable? From the article.

Given Ginko’s complete lack of transparency, if it turned out to be a swindle, it would be very hard for depositors to track down the person or persons behind it. Even if they were found, there is no guarantee that depositors would be able to obtain redress. If this were to occur, it is likely that the depositors would sue Linden Lab for not protecting them from fraud. By not taking efforts to ensure that commercial activity in Second Life is conducted in a transparent manner, Linden Lab is in essence putting their stamp of approval on ventures like Ginko. Linden Lab of course absolves itself of any liability for the actions of Second Life users in its Terms of Service Agreement, but there is no guarantee that the Terms of Service Agreement will hold up in court. If a court determines that Linden Lab is liable for fraudulent activities that take place within Second Life, they may be overwhelmed with suits. To avoid liability, and governmental regulation of the commercial activities within Second Life, Linden Lab should develop rules and policies that ensure commercial transactions between users are transparent and legitimate.

See Virtually Blind for further discussion and an observation that, with yields down 60% in 16 months, it does not look good for Ginko investors.

Home for the Holidays

By Dyerbrook, Dept. of Family Holiday Fun

Yes, home is the place, where...when you have to go there, they have to take you in. Tired of lag, grey squares, missing textures, bots, bits, and bobs? There's always The Sims Online, home for many of us who write, read, and comment on the Herald.

TSO is where the Herald got its start as the "Alphaville Herald" in fact. It's a game many long left behind, but in fact, they occasionally sneak back just for the sure joy of having something reliably work, petting that rare dog in inventory that took months of culling to find, and checking the map. Your TSO account probably still works -- they keep them forever -- and it's a bargain because they never charge tier there.

SimArts is still on the map; also on the map are those roof artists of the type we find now in SL in places like Jinsil with their giant PLEASE FIX SL; on the TSO map we can now see a neighbourhood called: UPDATEthis GAMEnow! Seems to speak to a lack of erm...content.

Checked my inventory -- neither my 3rd OR 4th anniversary presents were there yet despite complaints. But there's snow on the ground, a fire crackling, the pooltable beckons invitingly with balls that don't go offworld, and jamming now garners a whopping $3000 simoleons at the best establishments!

LL’s Metaverse Swoons At 16,000 Logins

Residents enjoy saturated network, sim crashing, intermittent teleports

by Pixeleen Mistral, National Affairs desk
Linden Lab today admitted to performance problems that might have rendered the grid nearly un-usable for at least a few users who wanted to do something other than sit in one place and share lagged-out IM and chat over the last several days. Reports earlier this weekend of repeated sim crashes and surprising lag were apparently acknowledged with a pair of in-world announcements - which were also posted to a no-comments thread on the official Linden blob blog. Evidently the Lab does not feel its interests are well served by accepting customer comments via the blog on the poor performance of the grid - perhaps under the theory that many of the complaints come from those using free accounts to partake of the metaverse’s delights.

The reaction from paying customers the Herald contacted was somewhere between angry and resigned with the consensus being that whenever the number of logged in users approaches 14,000 performance is abysmal. Today the Lab’s Second Life world - regarded by some as an ongoing multi-year beta-test - saw well over 16,000 concurrent logged-in users -- with predictable results. Residents who could not teleport to their desired locations amused themselves by collecting screen shots of rare and hard-to-find ‘cannot teleport’ messages - a number of these will be added to the Herald's special collection of unusual images.[see below the fold]

TSO Shocker - Urizenus Sklar Part of Sim Shadow Government

by Pixeleen Mistral, Internal Affairs Unit

Anya Ixchel's interview of Herald founder Urizenus Sklar in SLatenight ends with a shocking revelation - Uri confesses that while in The Sims Online he was a secret part of the Sims Shadow Government - a vigilante group that appointed itself to police the TSO world - and a frequent subject of Herald coverage.

Three Years of the Herald! Come Celebrate, October 26.

You love it, you hate it, you wrap your pixelated fish in it, but there's just no avoiding the Second Life Herald. Though things looked rocky a while back, the Herald has soldiered on, revivified by the bloodhound instincts of new Herald managing editor Pixeleen Mistral, and recently re-joined by Herald founder Urizenus Sklar. Now you too can rake a little muck, by joining us at the Herald's third birthday party, to be held next Thursday, October 26, at 2pm SL time, in the Hyperborea sim. Hyperborea, of course, is the new location of the august _blacklibrary, which hosted last year's event. As ever, we have no idea what's going to go on there, but Hyperborea has a nice big sandbox in the middle of the sim, so bring your party favors.

New Crimes, New Punishments

The New Scientist is running an article in its May 20th edition all about crime and punishment in the virtual world -- one of the Herald's favorite subjects. In fact, most of the piece could have been ripped from the Herald headlines -- and probably was. Of course, it features yet another interview with mafia don and media hound Marsellus Wallace, but don't let that stop you. Mars even outs his gf in this one!

Relevant portions excerpted below for your discussion:

Teh Clones Invade Friendster

Loyal readers of the Herald may recall several episodes of cloning that took place back when the Herald had its HQ in The Sims Online. Most notable was the episode involving a toon named Lead Architect, who was impersonated by a scammer named Lead Archeticht, who used the original's good name to abscond with unsuspecting toons' simoleans. Now comes a report of a cloning on social networking site Friendster, in which a man posed as a woman named Wendy, mostly, it seems, in order to garner a new set of friends. The Herald advises readers to be on the lookout for teh clones, as they have been known to strike anywhere. Always be sure the person you're chatting to is the person you think you're chatting to. This has been a public service announcement on behalf of avatars everywhere.

Mafia Boss Gains Control of SL Stratics

In an ongoing investigation into the news that a Second Life portal was coming to Stratics, the Herald has learned some alarming news: the avatar chosen to manage the soon-to-be-launched Stratics site covering all things Second Life appears to be none other than renowned mob boss (and occasional Herald contributor) Marsellus Wallace.

test post for Herald TV

This is a test post for what in the fullness of time will evolve into the Herald TV branch of the Herald media empire.  Posted here is actually a story from TechTV on the ESRB ratings of online games, featuring former Herald staffer Jessica and cranky professor L.

BUY BUY BUY!!! Uber-Authors' Doomsday Book Debuts on Amazon.com

Woot! If you didn't believe it before, now you can actually feast your eyes: The Doomsday book recently penned by uber-authors Peter Ludlow and Mark Wallace in a flurry of champagne, clattering typewriter keys and cigar smoke is now available for pre-order on Amazon.com.

For those who aren't already aware, the book recounts the adventures of virtual journalist Urizenus Sklar, who founded this very newspaper in The Sims Online only to be bounced out of the game once Electronic Arts got wind of the revealing stories the Herald was publishing. Bringing the reader all the way up through the Herald's recent history, Ludlow and Wallace take a revealing look at what really goes on in the virtual world of massively multiplayer online games and environments like Second Life, and even dare to peek forward into the future.

2005 Avatar of the Year: Prokofy Neva

Avatar of the Year Prokofy Neva (left) with Pathfinder Linden

In December 2004, the Herald reported a story that raised few eyebrows at the time, but which would eventually become the single most controversial issue in Second Life during 2005, and would speak to many questions about how governance in cyberspace might shake out. The December story covered the arrival of yet another immigrant from TSO, the infamous avatar Dyerbrook, whose zealous campaign to protest the hegemonic Sim Shadow Government and the favors they were allegedly shown by Electronic Arts employees had earned him wide disfavor. When the Herald heralded Dyerbrook's arrival in the form of avatar Prokofy Neva, few Second Life citizens took notice. Little did they know that the arrival of Prok on SL's shores would turn out to be an epochal moment in the history of the virtual world. And little did the Herald's editors suspect that one year later they would name him their 2005 Avatar of the Year.

As part of the Herald's 2005 Avatar of the Year special, we are pleased to present the following excerpt from Only A Game: Online Worlds and the Virtual Journalist Who Knew Too Much, by Peter Ludlow (aka Herald Publisher and Editor in Chief Urizenus Sklar) and Mark Wallace (aka Herald Editorial Director Walker Spaight), profiling the Herald's 2005 Avatar of the Year, Prokofy Neva:

Family Reunion?

Pat the Rat undercover in Chinatown

You didn't hear it from Pat the Rat, dear readers (well, actually, you did), but word on the streets of Second Life is that the original virtual mobsters are coming to town. Having left The Sims Online and gone to the mattresses some time ago (the virtual matresses, that is), we hear that a certain Sim Mafia family, ever a Herald staple, is now eyeballing the Grid as a terroritory ripe for their expanding operations.

As devoted Herald readers know, the family only dabbles in legitimate industries like property renovation, temporary financial aid for underprivileged avatars, and providing dime-a-dance girls for weekend sock hops. But still, some people manage to accuse them of getting up to all kinds of dirty deeds. Shame, shame! Pat the Rat says: Let s/he who is without sin cast the first stone (since Pat doesn't qualify on that score, hehe). Just to be on the safe side, though, the Sim Mafia has already enlisted the services of a certain blinged-out consiglieri to defend them against any trumped-up charges, Pat hears. Does he have the Metaverse Superior Court in his pocket already? Or is he just glad to see us?

Major Media Discovers Dirty Mods!

TSO modded with the Kingware Nude Skin Patch

Well gosh golly, it looks like the NY Times, the LA Times, and Hillary Clinton have finally caught up with Clickable Culture and have discovered dirty mods for Grand Theft Auto, San Andreas!

The GTA San Andreas Hot Coffee mod is a bit different than the usual fare, because it requires using a terms of service violating program to unlock a subprogram that is already in the software, but functionally (from the users perspective) there is exactly zero difference between that and a mod that does all the work, like the wildly popular Nude Skin Patch that is almost universally used on Teen rated (13+) The Sims Online.

No doubt EA is please with this turn of events because it has been getting reamed by Rockstar Games-- the makers of GTA, and their own video game (The Godfather) that is supposed to go head to head with GTA is so far a bust, but they ought not to get too giddy about this.

Earlier our contributor J, reported on what a joke the ESRB is, not that anyone except Tech TV paid attention, and the ESRB itself told J to get lost. But now J is in law shool at Pepperdine, and is all tight with the Dean of that school, who happens to be one Kenneth Starr, and one can only wonder when the other shoe tree will drop. Meanwhile we pine for the good old days when video games were restricted to good clean fun like stealing cars and shooting hookers.

End of an error era: JC Soprano avi for sale on eBay

I have to say that I personally had a nostalgia attack and shed a tear or two when I saw this: The JC Soprano avatar/founder account on TSO is up for sale on ebay. Yes, this is the very same JC who fought with the Sim Shadow Government (both in game and on CNN), who managed to get his mug all over the traditional press (e.g. The Boston Globe), and who inserted himself to the internationally reported Alphaville elections by corrupting poor Mr-President.

And now the avi is for sale. Is nothing in this world really sacred? There are two days left in the auction.

Giant Snail Races Leave Trails of Tears and Slime

by Alex Fitzsimmons

The competition in RacerX Gullwing's Giant Snail Races may not be the fastest in the world of Second Life, but it may well be the biggest and slimiest.

Giant racing snails at the gate.

Snorting and heaving against the gate, the snails can't wait to get going!

At about 35 meters from the ground to the tips of their antennae, the cartoonish giant snails easily dwarf ordinary avatars. Mr. Gullwing said he originally designed the snail for a giant avatar contest, then later adapted it for racing. "I was thinking about it for months," he said. "(Isle de) Montmartre needed traffic, so I started it there."

With a little help from his neighbor Catfart Grayson, who handles the artificial intelligence coding, and Mae Best, the owner of Montmartre, Mr. Gullwing started the first races in late November 2004. They weren't without their challenges.

"I had a lot of people show at the early races -- so many that the scoreboard couldn't handle it," he explained. "Eventually, I hit on the idea of checkpoints and limited races to four snails at a time."

At the turn, it's Thirty in the lead!

If more than four snails want to race at a given event, he added, they race in separate heats, with the first- and second-place finishers in each heat going on to compete against one another in one final race.

"But half of the time, one race is it," he said.

Thiry crosses the finish line first and macks for the review stand while fireworks go off.

Mr. Gullwing currently hosts races Tuesdays at 8 p.m. SL time at Hawthorne in Chase's Manhattan and Saturdays at 11 a.m. SL time at Montmartre.

Since he founded the event, Mr. Gullwing has made several other improvements, including scripting the snail avatars not to fly so that he doesn't have to get the land owners to turn off that ability for the races. Two weeks ago, he hosted the first Grand National Championship, wherein he invited previous winners to return and race for more than 10,000 Lindens in prize money.

Two of Mr. Gullwing's most recent improvements to the event include an automated announcer that broadcasts a racer's best laps for the day and moving bleachers that actually detach and float into the air to give audience members a bird's-eye view of the action.

"I think it'll keep getting better as we think of more ways to improve it," he said.

Proprietor RacerX in his bigg-ass avi, entertains the crowd post-race.

Sidebar

Thirty slides to victory in 2:24
by Alex Fitzsimmons

Leaving a shiny trail as he streaked across the finish line well ahead of the competition, Johntron Thirty won Tuesday's Giant Snail Race at Hawthorne in Chase's Manhattan with a total time of 2 minutes, 24 seconds and a best-lap time of 1 minute, 9 seconds.
Describing his technique after the race, Thirty said, "I just faced towards the checkpoints and slid as fast as I could, being sure to avoid any fellow racers."
Dodger Alexander took second place. Citing "shell problems," Wayfinder Wishbrin started late and came in third.
Finally, Ell Pollack slipped into the water and was forced to settle for a waterlogged dead last.
"I sympathized because the same thing happened to me twice in the previous race," Thirty admitted.

On Scamming Scammers

by The Phantom

Recently someone on TSO scammed a scammer and then gave the proceeds to the victims of the scammer. Three cheers for the virtual Robin Hood or bad idea? A discussion has opened on Stratics.

Avatar of the Year, 2nd Place: Sir/Father Callahan

This choice might surprise some, but not after you hear the facts. Over the past year, Sir/FatherC/Ian has been all over tso, and SL, and usually in the middle of some dramma or other. Beginning the year as a small time simolean dealer, he made a name (and drammatically changed gameplay) by acquiring zillions of trial accounts and selling them to mafia's etc. He used Nyk's mazebot, but drew the ire of the simolean dealers by reviewing the new version of the mazebot straight out of the chute. Not long after, he made a name for himself by using his trial accounts to acquire piles of rare cannons, flooding the market. But he really started making news when he joined Mr-President's administration as Press Secretary...

As Press Secretary for the Alphaville Government (AVG), Sir initially led the defense of Mr-President against charges of fixing the election and groping an innocent intern (and even organized a smear campaign against Ashley), but when Sir caught Mr-P in the White House, alone with Angelique Fontaine (Angelina Becquerel in SL), it was more than he could bear, and he resigned his position and turned on Mr-P. Later he formed the Simulated Soviet Union (SSU) with disgruntled members of the AVG, and led a griefing attack in which the AVG Capitol building was trashed. Fed up with the criticism he received for the SSU, he quit tso and moved to Second Life, and had a series of alts banned for griefing (including a bingo fire bombing episode) when he finally stabilized as Father Callahan and worked for the Herald as a reporter.

Father Callahan managed to be in the thick of the dramma surrounding the Second Jessie War, and it was his interview with Tank Levy that led to the big split between One Song and Tank and the end of their joint mega-mall project. Father Callahan was on the ground during the great Jessie Battle as well. His biggest scoop was perhaps the interview with Mimi Coral, after she was accused of being the terraforming terrorist and destroying 6 private sims.

Father Callahan was subsequently banned again from SL, and so returned to tso and set up shop in Dragon's Cove, but with this return the real story turned out to be his reporting and the abuses of power by Stratics moderators, reportage which, given the thin excuses provided, led to his being banned from Stratics for a while.

Through it all Sir has been operating the Alphaville Gazzette, which is the leading source of real news about tso since the Herald moved operations to SL, and it is clearly the second best newspaper in blogspace!

For all this, we consider Sir/Father Callahan to be a bigger newsmaker than Ashley and Mr-President. But not quite number one... stay tuned for that.

Avatars of the Year, 3rd Place: Ashley and Pez

Before the year closes out, the Herald is going to hand out its avatars of the year awards, beginning with third place. The award goes to the avatars+alts that changed virtual news the most (for better or worse) during the past year. This year, third place is a tie between Ashley Richardson and Mr-President, both formerly of Alphaville.

Mr-President, of course, deserves credit for creating the Alphaville Government and organizing the elections. Probably having Ashley as his challenger was key in helping the election to get international press, ranging from Wired News, to an NPR interview, to the New York Times. But on the dark side, Pez was caught up in election fixing charges, and of course his reputation was tarnished by his association with gang leader JC Soprano. Meanwhile, Ashley helped lead the charge for an investigation into election corruption, but then made news herself when the Miss Alphaville pagent that she organized was allegedly rigged, and shocked citisims by enlisting famous scammers as judges in the finals of her contest. Both were big big newsmakers, and added much to tso gameplay. Congrats!

JC Soprano has a Christmas Present for EA

In this interview infamous TSO mafia boss JC Soprano returns to TSO. Having been interviewed on CNN and covered in periodicals ranging from the Boston Globe to CNet, JC is the ghost of Christmas past AND Christmas future, back to haunt EA. In this interview he talks about the reason for his return, his smackdown on Reno Parks (aka Reno Blaze) for two-timing Gina Fatale, his corruption of the nationally reported (NY Times, NPR, etc) Alphaville Presidential Elections, and has some smacktalk for Baller, Tony Gambino, Jeff Brown, etc.

Urizenus: ok, JC, good to see you again, what's the 411?
JC Soprano: Well I have decided to come out of retirement and have been back in TSO Since December 17th. Assumed control of my old property, which luckily was left intact as I left it, and am in the process of reopening the casino. If all goes as planned should be back open by end of this weekend.
JC Soprano: Oh and our website is back online.. www.JC Soprano.com
Urizenus: What brought you back?
JC Soprano: Boredom? lol Actually I kinda missed playing it. Plus I hear they have made some changes that I felt needed to come. I know I said that EA would pull the plug on this after christmas sometime. I figure if I am right I might as well retire with the game and ride it out until the end. If I am wrong well then hopefully EA will be getting lots of new customers because of Christmas and TSO will be the game which it should have always been. A game with a good sized customer base. I just got done playing Star Wars Galaxies and their customer base is huge, but unfortunately if you thought EA Games customer service was bad you should check out Sony Online Entertainment's.
JC Soprano: It's more fun when more people are playing it. When I retired TSO was dying
Urizenus: Well why didn't you come to Second Life.
JC Soprano: I was there indirectly. I never signed up for personal reasons, but have been debating on signing up just to hang out with some old friends like Sonny Satriale and one of our newest Soprano members Gina Fatale. It's cheap enough to sign up so I figure why the hell not. I just am not going to let it consume more time that TSO. There are talks of a documentary being done on my group so my focus is on TSO at the moment. That's partly the other reason why I came out of retirement. Lot's of old members are coming on board too.
JC Soprano: I did manage to mess up Reno Blaze's world though in SL. Bad Boys I think they called themselves.. I didn't even play and I FUBAR'd him.
Urizenus: Do tell!
JC Soprano: He was Gina Fatale's man. Basically I got some intelligence that he was messin around on her in-game and as she is my friend I told her. She of course did not believe me at first and then I got a hold of some names and presented them top her which of course she still didn't believe me. Somehow though the truth came out and they ended up splitting up. So in essence, I broke them up. Then he decided he would be billy bad ass to me on Yahoo. Well punks jump up to get beat down.. So I talked to a few people that I knew played and managed to have his little island taken care of, which it was. From there he became a total dick, not that he wasn't before, but his friends and associates slowly backed away from him or he got paranoid and kicked them out. I had at least 1 person in his gr.
JC Soprano: group and that made him paranoid as hell.
Urizenus: I never did like that guy.
JC Soprano: No one did I don't think.
Urizenus: You think you can still get that kind of drama in TSO?
JC Soprano: hahaha I already have. There is this lil wanna be called Baller. Bought a spot on our island and in his bio it says he is the head of The Sim Mafia. I messaged him my first day in being all nice and he thought I was a friend fucking with him. Which I could understand since i had a 0 day Sim then. He hadn't noticed my founder icon though. I got my old account back, but EA had already deleted my character. He tried to tell me that he created that group and what not, tried to claim he had 15 members. I simply laughed and sent him a press article about me and what I do. He then didn't beleive I was who I said I was so I got control of my old island spot back which is The Sim Mafia lot. At this point I had some members start to gather intel on the guy and found out he has...
JC Soprano: hardly any members and most of them are him on multiple accounts. His lot Sim Mall has himself for all the roomies. Kind of a rip off lot if you ask me too. He sort of scams people out of their objects for hella cheap prices and then jacks up the price to resell. Anyway, I then contacted his supposed family in which they denied even knowing the guy. Needless to say at one point he came to us and asked to join. That was right when I had gotten the lot back from Chances. He also claimed he would leave the island, but that has yet to happen. I figured I would give the kid (assuming) a small repreive until after Christmas. He hasn't gotten into line by then, well.. You can guess..
Urizenus: What kind of business ventures do you have planned?
JC Soprano: Well the casino which has always been our bread and butter will be reopening. I got all the classic dice games. Things are changing within the group too to allow a more independent form of game play. In real life the mafia may work together in a crew but they all have independent things they do to make money. I do plan on getting back into the Simolean selling business and my e-bay strategy guide business.
Urizenus: Are you ready to come clean on your role in the Alphaville Prez elections now?
JC Soprano: hahaha Why you gonna bring up old sheeit? lol Where the hell is Mr. President anyways? I haven't talked or seen him in forever. My role in the Alphaville elections was simply planning. I presented the ideas and whether or not he ran with them I have no clue.
Urizenus: Well did you offer an election-fixing plan?
JC Soprano: Yes of course I did.. I just said that lol
Urizenus: Did he say he liked the plan or did he say it sucked?
JC Soprano: Nah he sounded like he was going to do it. Then that one story came out and he got spooked and was talking about not doing it, so I truly have no clue.
JC Soprano: But yes, I was the idea man on that
Urizenus: rotfl
Urizenus: Any hijinxs planned for EA?
JC Soprano: All I got to say is Merry Christmas EA Games. I missed you Tigger!! You know how I do it. I challenge everything. If EA don't like what I am doing this time around after all the free advertising I have given them and all the people I have resigning up to join, they can kiss my ass. That goes for you too Jeff Brown! It's about time you actually treated the players with a little bit of respect since they are paying the bills, not you.
Urizenus: Tigger quit man
JC Soprano: No shit? Damn... How's the new person? She up for the challenge?
JC Soprano: or He.
Urizenus: Tigger's been working for SoE, rotfl
JC Soprano: No wonder!!!!
Urizenus: fark man, u haven't been reading the Herald!
JC Soprano: Nope haha It was SL Herald
JC Soprano: hahaha Sorry man, I don't play SL so why read it? I do get sent some articles sometimes, but thats about it.
JC Soprano: Gina and a few others are real good about keeping me informed
JC Soprano: I haven't been playing, but I am still very much in the loop
Urizenus: Any messages for PM or Tony Gambino or the Triads?
JC Soprano: Tony Gambino? What a laugh, not worth the time or energy. PM? I haven't talked to him in forever. I hear he's doing well though. Hopefully eventually the past can be the past. The Triads? Don't start none, won't be none. I haven't fucking with them so why would they fuck with me? They could try, but they better pack a lunch. I tried to be diplomatic too much last time I played. This round I won't let things slide as easily. I have a lot of old members coming back. The co-founder of the family Big Italy is coming back as well as a few other old school members.
Urizenus: alright man, merry festivus
JC Soprano: Merry Christmas

Black Hand Mafia Opens Club in SL

by Gina Fatale

Former denizens of TSO remember the Black Hand Mafia. Sonny Satriale, as the Godfather of the BlackHand Mafia was known in TSO, has been spending his days in SecondLife under the name Santino Molinari. Santino has started a chapter of the BlackHand mafia in SL his first family operated business is the club which had its grand opening last night.

ClubBlackHand is owned and operated by the very sexy BlackHand Underboss, Blaydon Loveless. Mr. Loveless was kind enough to show me around the mobsters' joint before the grand opening party began.

Blaydon Loveless, Underboss, Club Owner,….mmmmmm

(here Blaydon takes me to the secret entrance to the “private area” as he called it, as you can see I was admiring his ass oops I mean the hand work on the wall….)

Passing thru the red hand brings us to a small corridor with 4 doors in each corner, so me being the inquisitive reporter I wanted to see what was behind one of these doors….

(all them balls on the bed was more than I could handle so I stayed back)

(I felt so dirty after viewing the sex rooms I decided to take a bath in the “romantic themed room”)

Drunk mobsters dancing

Picture says it all.

Thanks to Evangeline for the pointer.

Viva Toivonen attempts denial of service attack against Herald

Former Alphaville griefer Viva Toivonen (aka Viva T, Angelica, Isabella, Fruitcake Lady) has initiated a feeble denial of service attack against the Herald because the Herald refused to remove comments that Viva posted several months ago and then wished to retract. Apparently the offending comments are in these two threads:

http://www.alphavilleherald.com/archives/000206.html
http://www.alphavilleherald.com/archives/000203.html

Following is a complete history of the threatening letters from Viva. In completely unrelated news, Publisher Urizenus Sklar has announced that One Song will be the new Directory of Security and Retribution for the Herald. Have a nice day.

Bob Busch: Triads pwn Dragon's Cove

Since Liz Montana moved to SL, became Gina Fatale, and went to work for One Song, life has gotten better for the Triad Mafia. Not only do they claim to pwn Dragon's Cove on their web site, but Bob Busch has recently published a dissertation on the virtual Mafia life in Mick Lite's new forums. What is Gina doing? Well, tonight she's getting married. I think the guy sells insurance or alluminum siding or something. Has she gone soft from all the sim luv? I remember the days when she pwned Bobby.

October Census: Alphaville is officially dead

Following up on our February and May Census, here are the results for Alphaville in October (taken Oct. 10) and it isn't pretty. Following are the logged hours for the top 100 properties in every catgory rounded to the nearest hour.

Category

The TSO Task Squad: Stasi-styled group promises to rat out fellow players

In a disturbing and shocking development on TSO, several plays have formed a group "devoted to seeking out and reporting sims that violate the EA Terms of Service." Called the "TSO Task Squad" the stated motive of the group is to "help restore TSO to an enjoyable and challenging game for all". But let's be clear about what the new game really is. It is more aptly called "Stasi" after the East German secret police, and the game strategy is to report your fellow players to a 15 billion dollar corporation for infractions of a contract that the players probably never read. What makes it a meta-game is that it is a nice way to eliminate your competition. And then there is the joy that can only come from ratting out your friends to a corporate monolith. All I can say is that I sincerely hope this is a hoax. The press release of this troubling group follows.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact:
Mr. Adam Roberts
http://www.DragonsCove.00Game.com
Spartacus007@GMail.com

Sims Online Task Squad Forms

Alphaville, Sept. 5, 2004 -- In order to help restore The Sims Online to an enjoyable and challenging game for all, the Sims Online Task Squad was formed today. It is devoted to seeking out and reporting sims that violate the EA Terms of Service in ways that unfairly hurt the game play of the other players.

We are not affiliated with EA, and we make no claim to be an official organization. We are simply a loosely affiliated group of Sims that meet to discuss ways to achieve our common purpose- get rid of the money cheaters.

When The Sims Online first came out, it was fun. There was a struggle to earn money and buying an expensive object or expanding to a full-size lot on the beach was a reflection of achievement. Players opened up restaurants and game shows and casinos.

Now that has changed. Some players were able to develop third party tools that took advantages of the game, and made millions of Simoleans overnight. They sell them on eBay and other places. Before long, for just a few bucks a Sim could get a huge house with everything they wanted without lifting a finger.

Money and Skill houses became all-in-one centers, giving huge payouts to whoever would visit. Making money off charging for food is a distant memory. Pay doors and tip jars are ridiculous to think of. Casinos are required to operate at a loss, just to attract visitors.

When EA announced the opening of the new city Dragon's Cove, the decided to conduct periodic raids and investigations into players suspected of cheating. The idea is that this, along with various other tweaks in game play, would help to stop DC from turning into the boring, cheat-friendly city that is now Alphaville, Blazing Falls, Jolly Pines, and the rest of the Simland.

So why not do this ourselves? There is a handy button in your toolbar in the bottom left-hand corner marked '?' If you click on it you can quickly and easily report a Sim you have found cheating.

But its not enough to passively stumble across cheaters. We need to band together and aggressively seek out and destroy these villains who are ruining the game. For far far too long we have sat back and complained but done little to stem the flow of illegal money in our fair cities. Its time we take action!

When EA announced the opening of the new city Dragon's Cove, the decided to conduct periodic raids and investigations into players suspected of cheating. The idea is that this, along with various other tweaks in game play, would help to stop DC from turning into the boring, cheat-friendly city that is now Alphaville, Blazing Falls, Jolly Pines, and the rest of the Simland.

Anyone can help. You can visit lots and keep an eye on the Sims there. Do they go more than 15 minutes without moving or timing out? Do their movement patterns follow that of a Sim controlled by a bot program? Report them.

One of the best ways to help is to post your own ideas for catching scammers, and to spread the word to your fellow Sims about the Task Squad.

For information: http://dragonscove.00game.com or
Contact: spartacus007@gmail.com

###

Stuttgarter Zeitung examines Alphaville mafias

S? Iwersen, of the Stuttgarter Zeitung has just published part one of a two part article on Alphaville -- this part dedicated to the golden age of Alphaville when JC Soprano of the Sim Mafia squared off agains the SSG. Lots of discussion of Piers and Jen and JC. I only have the article in PDF format, but it's hereif you wanna look.

Chad Thomas found innocent.

A lot happened in the week I was offline, so again apologies for being slow to report all this. One of the bigger stories of the past week has to be the trial of Chad Thomas in the AVG election-fixing saga. Chad was found innocent, which is just as well IMHO -- he was just a fall guy for the real guilty part: Mr-President. IMHO.

Judge Carmella's summary of the trial follows. It's a very good read, so I strongly recommend everyone check it out.

City of Alphaville V Chad Thomas

Results of the trial [judge Carmella's report]

The trial began short 2 jurors but both attorneys agreed that this was an acceptable jury. Mr. Pierce started the proceedings with an opening statement. Elegantly spoken Mr Pierce outlined the charges against Chad Thomas. Robert the man stepped to the podium next to defend his client. While Robert the man's opening argument was short it was powerful, getting right to the point.
Mr. Pierce began presenting evidence, referencing to the transcripts that was posted to The Alphaville Herald and The Alphavlle Gazette. After 30 minutes of laying the groundwork for his case the defense attorney objected to the material. Robert the man stated that all the evidence was heresay. His claim was that since Jason Sim was unable to testify then most of this evidence could not be used. While I had to ruled in favor of the defense because Jason Sim was not present it was with great anquish. After a slight uprising from the jury panel we broke for a needed greening session.

The trial resumed with Mr. Pierce calling Chad Thomas to the stand. When questioned Mr Thomas admitted in a round about way that he did manipulate the voting through proxy. When asked what 'proxy' meant Mr. Thomas began a long drawn out process of explanation. The jury began to lose interest and get fidgety with each passing question that Mr. Pierce asked Mr. Thomas. The defendant's answers remained lenghty. The courtroom proceeding were halted and a time frame of 5 minutes were given to the Plaintiff's attorney, much to Mr. Pierce's unhappiness.

Robert the man began his cross-examination with Mr. Thomas after another brief recess. But the surprise came in the case when Robert the man call Mr. Pierce to the stand. Eyebrows were raised as David approached the witness stand. Robert began with brief quick questions, such as "Did the rules say that there could only be one vote?" forcing Mr Pierce to answer "No" in response. After several more questions concerning the illegality of multiple voting Robert dismissed his opponent and began his powerful closing argument to the jury.
Mr. Pierce began his closer in a more somber state and closed with this statement, "All I know is that I tried to make this game have morals and ethics. That is all I ever wanted. I guess that is too much to ask. Good night.
A sigh of relief came from the juror's box. The jury was informed there would not be a hung jury on this, a decision would be made tonight, and that majority would win. Only the 6 jurors that had arrived on time would be allowed to decide this case. Once sequestered the deliberations began. After five minutes it became clear how this jury would decide. They all but one that that since no rule was in existence at the time of the election he could not be found guilty of any illegal activity. The charges that Mr. Pierce and the City of Alphaville brought against Chad Thomas stated that he had illegally changed the outcome of the election and while he did change the outcome he did so legally. The lone juror finally conceded and one final vote was taken and recorded.
NOT GUILTY

As long as I was involved in this case I remained neutral. Potential jurors were selected at random with the final decision for each juror that was seated in the jury box made by both David Pierce and Robert the man. I was a little surprise by some of their selections but again, I remained neutral. I wanted the trial to be as unbiased as possible in order to put to rest the entire "Rigging / Extra Voting" saga. But one day after the decision was made and I see that this issue will never be laid to rest.

I also would like to clear the air concerning my involvement in AVG. I have never accepted any simoleans from any government or it's agencies. I am a founder as well as a beta tester and have earned my money the hard way, thru a lot of skilling and building gnomes. I do not necessarily care for all of the things that have been done in the name of AVG but I do think that it was started with good intentions. And there are plenty of sims that are still in AVG with good intentions. If this government is to prosper in the future there will need to be changes. And changes are not always a bad thing. It can bring new life to an old entity.

Tigger Leaving EA/Stratics

Sorry for the delay in reporting this, but both I and our main board ho, The Phantom, have been offline for a week. The news is that Tigger, basically the only EA rep that ever communicates with the 40,000 some odd TSO players is leaving EA on August 20. Among the questions this raises, of course, is whether this is more evidence that EA is pulling the plug on TSO (as it did with Motor City Online and Earth and Beyond). As one might expect, there is much discussion of this on Stratics.

Former AVP Veep Marcus Forlourne Speaks Out: Mr-President Should Resign!

In this interview, former AVG member and subsequent President of the Calvin?s Creek Government Seth Galloway, talks to Marcus Forlourne, formerly the Attorney General and then the Vice President of the Alphaville Government. Although very close to Mr-President, Mr. Forlourne is concerned that the election supervisor was ?coerced? into resigning, and Forlourne now believes that Mr-P was behind the election rigging and should either resign or face a recall election.

Marcus Forlourne: Hey, thanks for having me, Seth. :-)
Seth Galloway: Thank you for taking your time, Mr. Forlourne for this interview.
Marcus Forlourne: It is my pleasure.
Seth Galloway: Alright, Tell me a little about your sim life in AV.
Marcus Forlourne: Well, my sim life was very active. I was married, I had three wonderful children, and of course I had my job in the Alphaville Government.
Seth Galloway: Tell me about your Alphaville Government job.
Marcus Forlourne: Well, I had quite a few.
Marcus Forlourne: After spending a few days upon my arrival in Alphaville as an attorney at a court, I was given the job of Attorney General by Mr-Preisdent.
Seth Galloway: Ahhhmm.
Marcus Forlourne: I was later promoted to the Director of the Peace Program and the Ambassador of Peace and Goodwill.
Marcus Forlourne: Later, I was promoted to Vice President of the AVG.
Marcus Forlourne: I also served as Acting President many times while Mr-President was not on.
Seth Galloway: Ok..
Seth Galloway: So what happened during the time of your Vice Presidency.
Marcus Forlourne: Oh, many things.
Marcus Forlourne: I was in meetings with other government members, I met with people in SSG and other governments, I made a run for the presidency and later for the vice presidency in a second term, as you know.
Marcus Forlourne: It was a very good job and I enjoyed it very much.
Seth Galloway: How was Mr-President, Behind the scenes?
Marcus Forlourne: He was nice, yet very inactive. When he was on, which from what I saw was not too terribly often, he did not make decisions very often.
Marcus Forlourne: He was mainly an overseer.
Marcus Forlourne: While I did the work a president should do, and supervised everyone else?s work.
Seth Galloway: So you did most of the work?
Marcus Forlourne: I was president more than he was, as Acting President.
Marcus Forlourne: Well, most of the presidential business, I would say. I'll put it this way. . .
Marcus Forlourne: Mr-President, while very nice, was more of the image or face of the AVG, while the people who do the work are the people below him like me.
Seth Galloway: Ahh..
Seth Galloway: So to the Elections..
Seth Galloway: You ran with him as Vice President, Correct? For a short time anyway.
Marcus Forlourne: Yes. We made an agreement after I announced my candidacy that if I won, he would be my VP and vice versa. After a while, he chose Paul Tully to be his VP running mate, leaving me with no running mate. At the same time, I was struggling in the polls and my campaign was rather weak. So, I joined you, Seth. :-)
Seth Galloway: So Mr-President, Ditched you?
Seth Galloway: As a VP if he won.
Marcus Forlourne: That's a good way to put it, yes. LOL
Seth Galloway: If you won, Would you have made him VP, Even though he had Paul Tully?
Marcus Forlourne: No, because I like doing things to people if they would do the same to me. If I won, I would probably have made you VP, quite honestly.
Marcus Forlourne: If he didn't chose Paul Tully, I would have chosen him.
Seth Galloway: Thanks. :-)
Marcus Forlourne: But he broke the deal.
Marcus Forlourne: My honor :-)
Seth Galloway: So, Mr-President broke the deal.
Marcus Forlourne: Yes.
Seth Galloway: How much longer did you run as a single candidate?
Marcus Forlourne: Maybe a week, perhaps a little more or a little less.
Seth Galloway: Ok.. So then you joined, My (Seths) campaign.. Correct?
Marcus Forlourne: Yes, I did.
Seth Galloway: How did that work out?
Marcus Forlourne: It was going great, until the scandal.
Seth Galloway: Scandal? :-)
Marcus Forlourne: Well, I come to my new home to find it destroyed.
Marcus Forlourne: My son and wife's accounts have been hacked.
Marcus Forlourne: I thought my wife was gone forever.
Marcus Forlourne: I was in somewhat of shock.
Marcus Forlourne: And I went to my friend's house, her name is Caprica.
Marcus Forlourne: We ended up kissing and she claimed I seduced her.
Marcus Forlourne: I told my wife, thinking it would be the right thing to do.
Marcus Forlourne: She forgave me for being honest, but it was hard on my kids.
Marcus Forlourne: Caprica's claim of my seducing her led to the scandal breaking.
Marcus Forlourne: And it was too much pressure on the campaign, so you dropped me.
Seth Galloway: So you left the game?
Marcus Forlourne: After a few days.
Seth Galloway: Oh.. Alright.
Seth Galloway: Ok, To the Alphaville Election Scandal.
Seth Galloway: Did you ever know anything about this?
Marcus Forlourne: I did.
Marcus Forlourne: There was talk of it in some meetings.
Marcus Forlourne: I ran an investigation.
Marcus Forlourne: I spoke to the Attorney General, Solicitor General, and the Director of the FBI about this.
Marcus Forlourne: We [found no smoking gun].
Marcus Forlourne: Mr-Presidnet said he was "troubled" by it.
Marcus Forlourne: And the Elections Supervisor, who I hired to keep the election fair, quit saying that someone told him too.
Seth Galloway: So, In the meeting it was You, Mr-President, Who else?
Marcus Forlourne: It was me, Mr-P, Fans, and a few other government workers. . .I can't remember exactly who.
Seth Galloway: Oh..
Marcus Forlourne: Sean Kendricks appeared a few times.
Marcus Forlourne: Jason Sim.
Marcus Forlourne: A few others.
Seth Galloway: So, Who was the person you hired to be the Supervisor?
Marcus Forlourne: I think his name was Sean Quinn.
Seth Galloway: Alright, So someone told Sean he needed to quit?
Marcus Forlourne: Yes, they coerced him into it, I think.
Seth Galloway: So, Did he tell you that he had to quit?
Marcus Forlourne: Yes.
Seth Galloway: What was your reaction?
Marcus Forlourne: Well, he sent it in an e-mail to me so I never got the chance to respond. He thanked me for it. My reaction was one of shock.
Marcus Forlourne: I was so surprised that he was coerced into this.
Seth Galloway: Who dont know who did it, Correct?
Marcus Forlourne: Correct.
Seth Galloway: Did you ever think of getting someone else, To supervise?
Marcus Forlourne: I did, but Mr-P said he was running the elections.
Marcus Forlourne: I believe he was behind it.
Seth Galloway: Sounds like it..
Seth Galloway: So when the elections happened, and You came a hair away from winning the first one, Did you think of anything suspicious?
Marcus Forlourne: That is not correct.
Marcus Forlourne: I dropped out before the first primary.
Seth Galloway: I am talking about with you and Seth (Myself).
Seth Galloway: When you all came with in 3 of winning the first Primary.
Marcus Forlourne: I didn't think anything of it, for I was out of the game when the primary was done.
Seth Galloway: Ahh..
Seth Galloway: Alright, Did you keep up with the Final election, Via website or anything?
Marcus Forlourne: I checked in a couple times.
Marcus Forlourne: I voted.
Marcus Forlourne: I voted in the primaries and in the final election.
Seth Galloway: Did you support, Mr-President, Although he betrayed you?
Marcus Forlourne: That is not the only reason why I didn't support him. . . I believe he was behind the rigging and that he was not a good leader.
Seth Galloway: So, When Mr-President "Won" did you think of anything weird?
Marcus Forlourne: Yes.
Marcus Forlourne: Somehow I knew.
Marcus Forlourne: In the back of my head.
Marcus Forlourne: I believe that Ashley Richardson was the one who won.
Seth Galloway: When the election scandal finally came out, Where you surprised it did?
Marcus Forlourne: Not at all. ;-)
Seth Galloway: So in your heart, You believe Mr-President cheated to stay in office?
Marcus Forlourne: Yes, I do.
Seth Galloway: One last question.
Marcus Forlourne: Okay.
Seth Galloway: Do you think Mr-President should resign?
Seth Galloway: Your own opinion.
Marcus Forlourne: Yes, I do. Or there could be a recall election like the one conducted in California last year, New elections.
Marcus Forlourne: Let the people decide.
Marcus Forlourne: Thank you very much for having me :D
Marcus Forlourne: :-)
Seth Galloway: Alright, Thanks for talking.
Marcus Forlourne: My pleasure.
Seth Galloway: Have a good night. :-)
Marcus Forlourne: Good night. :-)

Rumors of our Death are Greatly Exaggerated. Interview with Acting SSG Overlord Greg-

When the history of Alphaville is written, the Simulated Shadow Government (SSG) will figure prominently. In recent months, most of the original officers of the SSG (Mia Wallace, Snow White, etc) have moved on to other MMORPGs (SWG, City of Heroes, etc.) and the SSG has become a kind of ?Uberguild? that operates across games and platforms. It is fair to say that the TSO diaspora has weakened the SSG significantly in Alphaville, but in this interview the current acting Overloard, Greg-, insists that they are still operational and quite healthy, thank you.

urizenus_sklar: OK soldier: name, rank, and serial number please.
Greg-: Greg-, Second in Command, and no serial number... yet
urizenus_sklar: And you are Second in Command of the SSG?
Greg-: Thats me, recently promoted
urizenus_sklar: Is Storme still Overlord?
Greg-: Well, that?s hard to say at the time being, she hasn?t been around alot and we are considering a replacement
urizenus_sklar: Are you a possible replacement?
Greg-: Its a possibility, while she is gone or until we get a new overlord, i'm the acting overlord
urizenus_sklar: What other jobs do you have in the SSG for alphaville
Greg-: My current jobs include: Master Cheif of Intelligence, Ambassador of Goodwill, Head Executive Advisor, and Four Star General
urizenus_sklar: That's a lot of portfolios to carry. Why so many?
Greg-: Two reasons, while storme was assigning duties when she first became overlord, she saw me as her most trusted... also we were in a crunch for executives at the time so we had to give multiple jobs to all the executives
urizenus_sklar: How many executives are active now?
Greg-: Currently we only have 4-5, focusing on getting a larger base of lower ranks
Greg-: From there we will see who is executive material
urizenus_sklar: ok, two questions: 1) how many members do you have (i.e. on your spam list) and (2) how many *active* members do you have (an hour a day online or more)
Greg-: Both those questions are hard for me, I just returned from vacation so my spam list isn't up to date, I would say 40-50 members, with a large majority of them active
urizenus_sklar: Do you still hold the shadowland neighborhood?
Greg-: Yes we do, We still have Shadow Land currently, but we no longer have Shadow Lake
urizenus_sklar: Well, a lot of people in the game thing that the SSG is now defunct in Alphaville (although very active in SWG). How do you respond to these people.
Greg-: I respond to them with our name oddly enough, Simulated Shadow Government, If we want to disappear and stay out of the public eye we can, unlike some of the other groups out there. We are here I assure you, just cant see us.
urizenus_sklar: Well, that has *always* been the name, but it used to be very visible, and is in fact currently very visible on SWG. Accordingly, some might say that the SSG has become a shadow of its former self.
Greg-: Yes, we were in the public eye, we often are. But no one can deny that we still are rebuilding SSG in TSO after some blo