Game Review: "Love & Sex : Second Base"

 

While computer games are often thought of as kid stuff, not all are okay for kids. There's been a number with blood and guts since "Doom" (and before). And some offer adult situations, nudity, and sex. But considering how the expression "porn movie plot" has come to mean hardly any, one can be forgiven for thinking none of the latter have much of one, and most don't. Nydia Tungsten however heard about one adult game that was supposedly an exception: "Love & Sex : Second Base" by Andrealphus Games. Giving it a try, she found the game offers comedy, drama, and suspense. So how well did it all come together?

Read Nydia's review in Other Grids, MMOs, and Games.
 

"Stay At Home Club" To Close, Sept 25

A group offering free gifts to it's members will soon be no more. On it's webpage, the "Stay At Home Club" announced it was closing on Friday September 25.

On it's webpage, the group was described as, "a group of designers based on the City of Neon Dreams at the HILTED region. During one of the harder times in everyone's real lives, we came up with the idea to gather a set of gifts to offer to people for free. Together we stay strong and in times like these we need each other. Originally the City of Neon Dreams team wanted to create a collection of gifts to offer to people, but we decided that it would be a good idea to involve other designers. The more the merrier! We started talking to a few friends and shared our ideas with them, that resulted in so many positive vibes and reactions that we decided to start The Stay at Home Club." 

On September 5, the club would announce it was closing:

We have decided to close the Club for multiple reasons and we want to be open about this difficult decision. Firstly, we have dealt with over 1000 of incredible, generous, and outgoing designers. Many of which have gone above and beyond to help and provide gifts, some of which regularly updated and added more to help support us all. As of today, the in-world group has hit nearly 16,000 people, the Discord has over 900 members, the Facebook page has 2,600 likes, and the website has well over 2 Million page views! With this comes a lot of maintenance, the team has sunk much of their personal time and money into the Club to keep things running smoothly and up to date. Although we have worked with many incredible people, we have also experienced negativity.

We have sadly had to deal with abusive designers and residents, copyright infringement, hate speech, and even personal attacks in-world, on Discord, and on Facebook. This was not what the Club stands for, we wanted to bring a bit of light to a dark time by helping to provide gifts, support, and a place for people to not worry about ongoing real life situations. That being said, it was the minority causing those issues, but they did greatly affect us as we were also going through the same real life issues that many of you were also facing. We feel at this stage, the Club has served its purpose and has been an incredible experience for many of us involved, but now is the right time for us to say goodbye. Thank everyone involved and wish you all the best for the future. Times may be difficult, but stay strong, we will get through it!

While "multiple reasons" are listed for the closing, it seems "the attitude of a few hundred people" was the main one. Although they had banned the worst of the troublemakers, "the continuous attacks we received throughout multiple channels cannot be stopped." The webpage would state that some members reacted badly to the announcement, and reminded people that abusive behavior would be reported to Linden Lab. 

The announcement stated that no new members were being accepted, and on Friday September 25, both the inworld group and the Discord server would be taken down. On the Facebook page, there were a number of statements expressing support, and sadness that the group was going, "It's sad to see you go, but you guys did amazing work. Sorry you had to deal with such negativity over such a positive helpful thing during a pandemic." "Thank you for the great work. Sad sl is full of bullies." "We really thank all yours for the hard work all this time and truly sad for all this happens. Just the hope and best wishes for future projects knowing always will have the fans supports with all yours. Sadly the haters are in every place but helpful people too and they are the only who really matters." "Thank you so much for all the gifts, the time that has taken to the creator to make all of them and for this project that bring a moment of happiness to our life. But, it's so sad that you have to deal with negative and toxic people's and you have to close the project."

"Once again, we thank you all for joining us on this adventure and we hope it brought a little bit of happiness to your day. Stay safe and stay strong!"

Hat Tip: Ceejay Writer

Bixyl Shuftan

Cartoon of the Day: Drama-Free Zone

Taken at the Happy Vixen. 

By Bixyl Shuftan

SLife And Times: Two Sides of Banned For Being Furry

You go about Second Life in a type of avatar that you're quite proud of and helps define you, at least in the virtual world. One day, you get an invitation to a place you haven't heard about. You have time, as well as some nice clothes to wear, so you figure you might as well give it a try. But once there, you're told to change who you are, or leave. This is the situation one of our readers faced. So how should one respond? While the Newser has written about the subject before, this time we got in touch with someone from the venue in question. As it turned out, the other side did express some sympathy, but naturally the two people had quite different viewpoints.

Read the article in People.

Looking Back at Emeraldgate

Yesterday, Team Firestorm celebrated it's eighth anniversary party. All were happy with the celebration. But eight years ago, the team was rapidly formed in the middle of a scandal that was sinking the team behind the most popular viewer at the time: Emerald. Known as "Emeraldgate," it started in August 2010 when a key member of the development team took advantage of a weakness in the viewer code to launch a Denial of Service attack on the website of someone he didn't like. The aftermath was a drama in which one woman brought people together to lead a new team, while others ended up banned by Linden Lab.

Read the story in Events.

Commentary: So, You Want To Be A Club Owner

Maybe you've been in a shiny club with lots of bright lights and lots of people and thinking to yourself how nice it would be for you to have something like this. Or maybe the club your community has had for as long as you've known has suddenly closed down and the owner gone from Second Life, and you're the only one with the time and the money who's willing to try to make another. So just what lies before you? How hard can it be? Actually, it can be much harder than you think.

Read the article in People.

SL Video: "In the Darkness"

(Click here if the video fails to play)

By Art Furry Studio on July 2016 , "The main character after work returned home and falls into a terrible accident, after which she falls into a coma and is in clinical death. To wake up, she must correct the mistake she made before the accident, but she is haunted by a mysterious ghost. Will she be able to fulfill her destiny and be saved?"

Scriptwriter: Eduard QuantWolf Babichev
Composer and Sound: Mikhail Miikhail Kulikov

Update on the Politcal Locations

So with the appearance of a new Hillary Clinton HQ in Second Life, what have the Trump and Sanders supporters been doing, and have the Clinton supporters been doing anything else? As one might expect, the "Trumpers" have not taken the appearance of supporters of another of their candidate's opponents lying down. So just what happened in the latest chapter of the 2016 US Presidential election's reflection in the virtual world?

Read the story in Extra.

Commentary: Military Combat News Feed

Jamie has been on the scene of the SLMC, a group of thirteen groups of combateers (separate from the New Bastogne WW2 combat RP which the Newser also reports occasionally about). While doing their share of fighting, there's also been some bickering and accusations among them. Jamie gives his opinion on what's been going on.

Read Jamie's article in People.

SL Video: "The Drax Files - World Makers [Episode 24: MadameThespian Underhill] "

(Click here if the video fails to play)

" 'Second Life levels the playing field when we interact with each other,' says actress MadameThespian Underhill who directs the virtual reality theatre troupe Artist Repertory Theatre in SL. A.R.T has been performing live theatre in the virtual world since 2008 with a cast that spans all generations and [physical] location. Professional TV and stage actors mingle with dedicated hobbyists and community theatre buffs to dress up their colorful avatars in homemade sets to produce drama, comedy, musical and improvisational theatre for a global avatar audience.

"In addition to the creative possibilities that a digital universe such as Second Life holds, MadameThespian is enthusiastic about its social aspects as well: 'The value for older people' she says, 'is wonderful because of the ability to interact with other people from all over the world of other ages. You are being judged by what you say - the pure essence of who you are!' And so you can often see the likes of Thinkerer Melville, 85, well-known benefactor of the arts in Second Life enjoying inter-generational dialogue with Madame and Mike Denneny, who at 22 years old is already a veteran in the virtual realm, having started as an entrepreneur on the Teen Grid in 2005. The theatre a place to express a deeper kind of truth about the human condition? Certainly a tradition in physical 'reality' but increasingly one that has impacted virtual reality just as much!"

*********

"Special thanks to Marianne McCann for a fabulous set building to frame this story. All other sets shown made by members and contractors from A.R.T.

"Thanks to Mike Denneny and Thinkerer Melville and all the fabulous extras: KennyLuck Luckless, Remi Maggs, Jenkel, Vick Forcella, Dove, Pygar Bu, Kris Spade, Not, Molly Montale, Avariel Falcon, SCarlett Luv, Drew, Adasyd Nino, Sven Homewood, Cayenne Republic, Fenn McMoragh, GoSpeed, ZevLuv, Wolfrum Windstorm, BeCreative Wildeheart, Wizardoz

"The A.R.T. ensemble consists of MadameThespian Underhill, Caledonia Skytower, Ada Radius, Corwyn Allen, Joff Fassnaught, Rowan Shamroy, Kayden O'Connell, AvaJean Westland, Sodovan Torok, Breyda Adored

"Montana Shakespeare production of "Romeo & Juliet" [2013] featuring MT Underhill as "nurse" was directed by Kim DeLong and filmed by Bill Otto. The excerpt from the rehearsal of "Much Ado About Nothing" [ 2014] was also directed by Kim DeLong."

Ask DrFran: Dancing Queens Drama

DrFran's column "Ask DrFran" is back. Her latest letter deals with a girl asking her advice concerning a new friend. She had been happily accepted by her group of friends. But lately, there's been some trouble. What exactly was the issue, and what solution was there? DrFran had a little advice on the matter.

Read DrFran's column in People.

News And Commentary: MTV's "Catfish" Looking For Second Life Couples

By Bixyl Shuftan

It was several weeks ago when the term "Catfish," meaning to create a fake Internet identity and trick someone into believing the identity is real, made the national news when a rising football star was exposed as being in an Internet relationship with a pretender. While many felt sympathy for the athlete, others expressed confusion, or ridicule. Of the latter, some posted pictures online of themselves sitting next to an empty seat at an event, or sitting at a diner table and raising a glass to an empty chair, saying they were on a date with their Internet friend.

With this only recently having faded from national headlines, I was surprised to come across the following announcement in the Linden blog.


MTV's "Catfish: The TV Show" brings together couples that have online relationships to meet online for the first time, often with surprising results as the differences between online personas and offline lives are revealed.

MTV is now casting the show's second season, and they're interested in hearing from Second Life users who have fallen in love inworld, and would now like to meet their love in person. If you're interested in being on the show, you can apply online here.

I couldn't help but wonder just what Linden Lab was thinking with this "Catfish." I hadn't seen the show, but I could certainly imagine it. And what I thought was something worthy of the worst of canned reality TV. I felt given how Second Life is often portrayed in real life media, I imagined producers with zero interest in the well-being of hopeful couples, and more interested in getting carwrecks for ratings, and smearing the Grid in the process.

In the Linden And SL Universe forums, there were threads on the matter. Most expressed skepticism, "I wouldn't touch these guys with a ten foot barge pole. … stations like MTV: they are not interested in proper reporting. They look for the seedy icky stuff … if necessary, they will invent and script stories to pad out the show." Blogger Botgirl Questi took it upon herself to actually see episodes of the first season before making a conclusion, and what she saw was different than expected.

I expected it to be an exploitive Jerry Springerish freak show. What I found was a thoughtful series with a well-intentioned host who helps messmate positive resolution for both parties. The show takes situations that conform outwardly to the sensationalized stories we hate, and respectfully reveals the underlying humanity.

With this kind of review, perhaps the Lab wasn't being as dumb as I initially thought.

Something not unlike this happened a couple years ago when Oprah Winfrey's OWN Network did a documentary on Second Life, Life 2.0, which included an inworld couple who decided to meet in real life. Most expected a positive review, though Oprah's good reputation may have helped in creating higher expectations. Many were satisfied with the results, though some were less than happy with what they saw. But the show didn't result in much change in people signing in, nor did other mainstream media pay any more attention than before either.

So perhaps "Catfish's" interest in Second Life isn't worth so much of our worry. Then again, I can't help but wonder if one episode that shows a freak show will once again result in the kinds of mockery displayed by those poking fun at Manti Te'o, only this time aimed at the residents of Second Life.

Hopefully nothing goes wrong, but I'm not holding my breath.

Bixyl Shuftan

Two Pony Fans Speak Out

Over a year ago, a new type of avatar joined the ranks of the furries, tinies, dragons, and humans: the ponies. Although a community of "Brony" fans, as they're also called, experienced a crisis when its sims were taken down, the four-footed residents bounced back and continued to be seen in and out of their new Pony sims, as well as others using the cartoonish avatar on occasion at parties. Recently, a writer for the Newser asked if there was some trouble between the ponies and furries. One pony fan after reading the article contacted SL Newser, and asked for a chance to talk, saying while there was some trouble, it wasn't between the fans of these avatars.

Read the interview in People.

Of Ponies and Furries

Today marks the debut of our latest writer, Zyker Finesmith. What was on his mind was certain rumors of trouble between some "Furry" fans and some of the more diehard of the pony/MLP fans or "bronies." In this article, he gives his two cents on the issue.

Read more in People.