It seems like, every time there's a camp.. at least every time that I've been going, there's a few people who take to a marginally popular, anonymous, public venue to air their personal grievances and conspiracy accusations against the organizers of the camp.
Based on the highly successful internet sensation "Post Secret", where people struggling with depression and difficult life situations could anonymously mail in their 'secrets' to share and air to someone.. without having to air it in their own lives. Post Secret was a huge success in terms of turning many people away from drugs and suicide, able to finally share secrets like "I'm married, but I'm gay, and no one knows".
The Second Life version is perhaps the polar opposite. Where Post Secret freed people from the shackles of isolation and depression, the SL version only ever seems to serve as a platform for anonymous smearing, targeted bullying, and wild, often unsubstantiated accusations.
This will be my third camp... and yes, I did get in.
Camp Registration at camp Hardknock is a zoo. They set up a sim with a handful of registration kiosks, then they send out a group message that tells where the sim is. From that moment on, there is a massive race, where hundreds of SL kids, their friends, and family members all bombard the teleport system in a mad dash to get into the sim.
For about 120 slots.
Competition is fierce, to the point that we very often run up against SL's internal teleport throttle that detects we're 'spamming' their servers, and puts us in a tp time out.
There are usually about 100 slots available for girls, and only 20 slots available for the boys. This is due in part to the number of applicants vying for space (there are vastly more girls in SL than boys)... and partly due to the camp organizer's desire to not allow mixed gender cabins. Meaning if there's not statistically 33% boys applying and jumping on the waiting list.. then there's not enough to justify making a second boy's cabin and dumping one of the girls' cabins.
Personally, I'm in favour of a mixed gender cabin, and as a girl, would be willing to be placed in one, but that's an issue for another time.
The thing about registration tho.. is that ANY AVATAR that can get in, can register one person... and it doesn't have to be them. So if one kid had 10 family members trying to get in and register them.. then that one kid would have an advantage over someone like me.. who just has themselves trying to get them in.
It's not fair.
But that's life.
Many kids will use an alt with an empty inventory.. allowing them to teleport faster than their 8 year old account with a 120,000 item inventory. It's an advantage, the same as an olympic swimmer shaving all their body hair, or wearing a super slick swimsuit in every effort to try and reduce water resistance.
But in a world where accounts are free and unlimited.. if people who got in were only allowed to register themselves.. then the kids who were willing to have friends and family log in using 20 anonymous alts could take whichever one got in, and log into that account for camp.
Random selection from a list, also, would favour the alt cheaters.. whoever can put the most alt names on the list gets the most chances in the random lottery.
There seems to be no system, sadly, that is 100% fair.
But what is fair, is that everyone has a chance with the current system. If you hammer the system, if you prepare for it, keep your chat to a minimum, and keep trying.. if you can get into the sim before the slots fill up.. you have an opportunity to sign up.
And beyond that, there's a waiting list. Every time.. every single camp.. someone decides they don't want to go because their friend or sister or whatever didn't get in.. they find themselves scheduled for more hours at work than planned, can't get the days off they hoped for.. RL plans that can't be changed.. something.
This year, they started using a randomizer to pick from the waiting list.. soas to give people who "missed registration time" an even chance of getting in as the people who were trying at the last minute.
But with that mad rush of friends and family, it's actually quite easy to sit there in the morning, becrying the fact that you can't get into camp because you won't be home/online in time for the big rush.. only to find out several hours later that a family member got in for you, and signed you up.
I know that when my friends apply for camp, we all rush in as ourselves.. and as soon as we get in, if we do, we turn around and log into alts and keep trying to get in.. to try to get the others in too.
--
Camp costs money.. quite a bit by average standards. 2000L$ per child, for 8 days of RP camp.
That's $8.07 USD. Less than a cup of coffee per day.
Yes, there are auctions, and donation appeals, and there's merchandising too. People can buy their inworld camp-branded goodies.. and even real-world ones as well through Cafepress.
And yes, they do take in a bunch of money.
Money that gets used to do things like pay for 2-3 regions for the month. Money that gets spent on decorations.. buildings, vehicles, equipment, clothing developer's kits, texture uploads.. and yes, some of that money does go to compensate the staff for their expenses.
How much? It doesn't matter.
No seriously. The cost out of pocket per camper is $1.01 per day. What experience.. real or virtual, can you seriously have for 8 bucks that compares to this?
If you're sitting there right now, listing things off.. you should be doing those things. Seriously.
When I go to camp in SL.. I take off the whole week. I put in about 12 hours a day online.. each day. Let's call that 96 hours. So that means I'm paying about 8 cents per hour... for fishing, boating, snowball fights, exploring, playing games..
If the organizers of the camp have managed to make a profit by doing this, they've earned my money.. because I for one, give it quite eagerly (and even paid for another camper to attend too).
--
But as I said, every camp, we get the same crying voices from the anonymous detractors, decrying how the system is unfair, gender biased, run for profit, etc.. with accusations flying of nepotism, and any other scandal that these people hope will stick.
The thing is.. after a year and a half of watching this play out.. it's ceased to be interesting. The complainers have bypassed "obvious troll is obvious" and have gone deep into the realm of "Troll Fail".. to the point that the endless complaints from the anons have begun to meld together into so much unintelligible noise that it brings to mind the following.
Frankly, it's starting to look like a small handful of people with an axe to grind.. trying to smear Camp Hardknock. A group who will never be satisfied, because they've made it their mission to be professionally unsatisfied.
It's reached the point where we need to stop reacting.. stop answering their accusations.. and just ignore it. Responding only feeds their agenda, which is to cast aspersions, and ruin people's fun.
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Saturday, November 23, 2013
"Happy Rezday to Me"
Dear Diary,
It's my rezday.
It's been one year exactly since I created this account in SL.
In that year, I've seen a lot. I've had a family in SL, seen it fall apart, had people vanish entirely from my life without a word, been to camp not once, but twice, made new friends, and gotten closer to old ones. I've had an awesome time, but it came at a cost.
I have another avatar, and she's an adult, playing in SL's adult areas. She has a business, which is my actual sole source of income. Over the last few years, that business has been suffering as I tried to adapt to both market and technology changes in SL. The last year has been the worst, as I knew there was work to be done to fix my store, but so often I'd spend countless hours logged into Anwenn, trying to build a low prim closet shelf, or something.
The last few months (since the end of summer camp) I've worked on my main av almost exclusively.. trying to make new products to sell, trying to hone skills, and react more fluidly to what people seem to want these days. It's still very uphill work, and honestly, I'm still at the bottom of that hill.
I haven't found the balance I need between the two avatars. When Rae (Anwenn's Mom) came back to SL, things (as Mari warned) weren't the same. And with the business in tatters, it was easy to bury myself in those business issues, rather than try and untangle the emotional mess that Rae's return had yanked back up.
The result is that neither avatar has gotten the time and attention, and most importantly presence that they both deserve. Simultaneously, I can't simply give up on one or the other.
So no, to answer a question no one has asked, I'm not quitting SL, and I'm not giving up on Anwenn. It's just that right now, it's more important that I 'work'.. to a degree, Anwenn will 'keep'.
Of course that means that opportunities are, and have, slipped her by. I can't sign up for OSE, because aside from my own sleep disorder issues making it difficult to make plans more than a week in advance, I simply don't have 'the time' that I have had. I'll still be trying my heart out to attend camp.. and I'll take the time to go there 100% too... but it's 1 or 2 weeks a year.
That's not really enough for me, emotionally. I have wants and desires too.. and yes, I'd love to be on Anwenn all the time, or at least regularly.. I'd love to be doing the "School" thing, or be in a family again, or just having sleepovers or whatever.. but right now I'm having to put aside what I want.
Anwenn's house is still sitting unfinished, and unfurnished. And knowing that makes me sad... but that's how it has to be for now.
I just hope it won't take me another year to find that balance.
It's my rezday.
It's been one year exactly since I created this account in SL.
In that year, I've seen a lot. I've had a family in SL, seen it fall apart, had people vanish entirely from my life without a word, been to camp not once, but twice, made new friends, and gotten closer to old ones. I've had an awesome time, but it came at a cost.
I have another avatar, and she's an adult, playing in SL's adult areas. She has a business, which is my actual sole source of income. Over the last few years, that business has been suffering as I tried to adapt to both market and technology changes in SL. The last year has been the worst, as I knew there was work to be done to fix my store, but so often I'd spend countless hours logged into Anwenn, trying to build a low prim closet shelf, or something.
The last few months (since the end of summer camp) I've worked on my main av almost exclusively.. trying to make new products to sell, trying to hone skills, and react more fluidly to what people seem to want these days. It's still very uphill work, and honestly, I'm still at the bottom of that hill.
I haven't found the balance I need between the two avatars. When Rae (Anwenn's Mom) came back to SL, things (as Mari warned) weren't the same. And with the business in tatters, it was easy to bury myself in those business issues, rather than try and untangle the emotional mess that Rae's return had yanked back up.
The result is that neither avatar has gotten the time and attention, and most importantly presence that they both deserve. Simultaneously, I can't simply give up on one or the other.
So no, to answer a question no one has asked, I'm not quitting SL, and I'm not giving up on Anwenn. It's just that right now, it's more important that I 'work'.. to a degree, Anwenn will 'keep'.
Of course that means that opportunities are, and have, slipped her by. I can't sign up for OSE, because aside from my own sleep disorder issues making it difficult to make plans more than a week in advance, I simply don't have 'the time' that I have had. I'll still be trying my heart out to attend camp.. and I'll take the time to go there 100% too... but it's 1 or 2 weeks a year.
That's not really enough for me, emotionally. I have wants and desires too.. and yes, I'd love to be on Anwenn all the time, or at least regularly.. I'd love to be doing the "School" thing, or be in a family again, or just having sleepovers or whatever.. but right now I'm having to put aside what I want.
Anwenn's house is still sitting unfinished, and unfurnished. And knowing that makes me sad... but that's how it has to be for now.
I just hope it won't take me another year to find that balance.
Sunday, July 14, 2013
"Coming Home"
Dear Diary,
When I left, this house was just a base, and a project. Something to build and work on, but really only a ’safe place’ to log in and out from. Home was someplace that didn’t exactly exist. It was someplace between Momma’s house and mine, something we hadn’t yet built, or rebuilt. It was a memory and a wish.
But after all that went on this week, this house is all the home I’ve got.
Momma decided to IM me at this time, and kind of picked all the wrong words, basically making me feel worse about the fact that I was indeed coming home to an empty house, alone. I finally just had to tell her that she was making it worse for me.. But I somehow doubt it got through to her.
Ed came online, and we chatted via skype. Ed ran around my yard for a while and we joked around a bit. Sesen was online, and she came over for a nice little visit as well. We talked about Sesen’s impending trip to Las Vegas, and Ed’s old and frail cat who seems to be in his last days. Mari too came over for a little while, and we talked about everything and nothing.
I decided to order a pizza in RL, and Ed decided to buy me a pizza in SL that we shared. Coolest silly thing ever. One more great idea to add to my movie nights, if I can ever get anyone interested in that.
I worked on my mailbox a little bit, and mentioned to Ed that I wanted to get the Harry Potter movies to get myself out of “trivia avoidance hell”. We made loose plans to maybe get together tomorrow to go do that.
And then Ed was off to bed, and so I went and picked up the copyable version of the Ukulele, and then I decided to log off for bed myself.
When I left, this house was just a base, and a project. Something to build and work on, but really only a ’safe place’ to log in and out from. Home was someplace that didn’t exactly exist. It was someplace between Momma’s house and mine, something we hadn’t yet built, or rebuilt. It was a memory and a wish.
But after all that went on this week, this house is all the home I’ve got.
Momma decided to IM me at this time, and kind of picked all the wrong words, basically making me feel worse about the fact that I was indeed coming home to an empty house, alone. I finally just had to tell her that she was making it worse for me.. But I somehow doubt it got through to her.
Ed came online, and we chatted via skype. Ed ran around my yard for a while and we joked around a bit. Sesen was online, and she came over for a nice little visit as well. We talked about Sesen’s impending trip to Las Vegas, and Ed’s old and frail cat who seems to be in his last days. Mari too came over for a little while, and we talked about everything and nothing.
I decided to order a pizza in RL, and Ed decided to buy me a pizza in SL that we shared. Coolest silly thing ever. One more great idea to add to my movie nights, if I can ever get anyone interested in that.
I worked on my mailbox a little bit, and mentioned to Ed that I wanted to get the Harry Potter movies to get myself out of “trivia avoidance hell”. We made loose plans to maybe get together tomorrow to go do that.
And then Ed was off to bed, and so I went and picked up the copyable version of the Ukulele, and then I decided to log off for bed myself.
Camp Day 9 - "The End"
Dear Diary,
The last day of camp, and so different from all the others.
I woke up a bit earlier than I’d planned, and found myself still with most of the campgrounds to myself. I picked my outfit for the day, and then headed up to the events board, to see what was still planned for the day. Not much.
While I was up there, an impromptu “group photo” of the Purple Tears group started. Of course, it was originally specified as “all campers”.. so I got in, only later to find it becoming a RFL thing.
Whatever.
After the group photo, I headed over to my cabin, to start thinking about taking my bunk apart, and picking up the few no-copy items I had rezzed out. I found Mari in there, doing a little “packing up to go home” picture, and it seemed like a good way to punctuate the photo series. When she logged off for RL for a bit, I decided to do one of my own.
I really did have a lot of things rezzed!
After the pic was done, I looked around and saw all the ‘gifts’ people were offering, rezzing “buy me” boxes in and around the various cabins for the campers in that cabin to pick up and take home with them. I’d had this idea of framing the camp “map” from the HUD, and decided to bash together a quick frame for just that purpose. It came out ok. I set copies of them in the various cabin colors, for sale (for free) on each of the porches of the cabins.
Finally, we got called in for the “Talent Show” which is basically just where various campers put on skits, or dance routines. Mari and Pygar did their “Flying Rosebuds” comedy routine, which was as corny as last time.
It was another ‘big’ event, which meant lots of lagging, and crashing, and avatar loading issues. But it was still fun to be there.
From there, the gathering switched to the big “Awards” ceremony, where the camp gives out various trophies for things we voted on.. “camper most likely to be a counselor next year” or “best bunk” or “most creative” etc. I didn’t win anything, but I don’t really care. The Trophies are primmy, and I wouldn’t have been able to rez them at home.
Our cabin hadn’t taken a “Cabin Photo” with all the kids in it who were in our cabin, so we asked Miss Jill (the camp director) if we could have a little time after the awards ceremony, to take a pic before they deleted the camp.
They were so tired from the RFL they decided not to delete the camp at all until Monday.
So we set up some pictures of those of us left from Cabin 1, and got photobombed by Miss Jill.
I’d had an idea halfway through the awards ceremony, that it would be nice to get a picture of me, Mari, Isley, Pygar, and Johnny sitting on the beach, watching the sun set. One last pic. Unfortunately that didn’t work into everyone’s plans. Johnny had to go, and Pygar and Mari both desperately needed a break from the computer.
They said they’d be back tho, so I used the time to stage a funny pic of me offering Isley a ride home from camp.. in my packed up boat. Mari showed up just as we were ready to take the pics, so now she’s in them too!
Then all too soon, it was time for serious pics. We gathered around the hot air balloon on the beach, and did our “getting on the balloon for home” pic.
We were a bit rushed for time, as Robin (Mari and Pygar’s Sister) had gotten online for their “welcome home” time, but Robin was feeling unwell. So we pushed the pics as fast as we could, and then they poofed away.
As I cleaned up my stuff, it was just me, Isley, “Tatty” (Wateru), and BobKitty still hanging out on the beach. I noticed there were four rezzed sun-chairs nearby, and we headed over to them and sat for a little while. Chatting about nothing and everything that had happened. And I watched the clock.
I knew I would drag out leaving til the very last moment.. And if left to my own devices, I’d stay til they deleted the camp the next day. But I also knew that it would hurt me to see that, as it hurt me last camp. I wanted to leave while camp was still ’a place’ in my memory, and not just a collection of rezzed things that could be deleted.
I manually set the sky to sunset, and decided that I’d stay just 15 minutes more. And I poked the time setting for the sun, so that every couple of minutes, the sun got lower and lower.
We chatted for a while, and then said our goodbyes. And then, it was simply ’time to go’, and I went.
The last day of camp, and so different from all the others.
I woke up a bit earlier than I’d planned, and found myself still with most of the campgrounds to myself. I picked my outfit for the day, and then headed up to the events board, to see what was still planned for the day. Not much.
While I was up there, an impromptu “group photo” of the Purple Tears group started. Of course, it was originally specified as “all campers”.. so I got in, only later to find it becoming a RFL thing.
Whatever.
After the group photo, I headed over to my cabin, to start thinking about taking my bunk apart, and picking up the few no-copy items I had rezzed out. I found Mari in there, doing a little “packing up to go home” picture, and it seemed like a good way to punctuate the photo series. When she logged off for RL for a bit, I decided to do one of my own.
I really did have a lot of things rezzed!
After the pic was done, I looked around and saw all the ‘gifts’ people were offering, rezzing “buy me” boxes in and around the various cabins for the campers in that cabin to pick up and take home with them. I’d had this idea of framing the camp “map” from the HUD, and decided to bash together a quick frame for just that purpose. It came out ok. I set copies of them in the various cabin colors, for sale (for free) on each of the porches of the cabins.
Finally, we got called in for the “Talent Show” which is basically just where various campers put on skits, or dance routines. Mari and Pygar did their “Flying Rosebuds” comedy routine, which was as corny as last time.
It was another ‘big’ event, which meant lots of lagging, and crashing, and avatar loading issues. But it was still fun to be there.
From there, the gathering switched to the big “Awards” ceremony, where the camp gives out various trophies for things we voted on.. “camper most likely to be a counselor next year” or “best bunk” or “most creative” etc. I didn’t win anything, but I don’t really care. The Trophies are primmy, and I wouldn’t have been able to rez them at home.
Our cabin hadn’t taken a “Cabin Photo” with all the kids in it who were in our cabin, so we asked Miss Jill (the camp director) if we could have a little time after the awards ceremony, to take a pic before they deleted the camp.
They were so tired from the RFL they decided not to delete the camp at all until Monday.
So we set up some pictures of those of us left from Cabin 1, and got photobombed by Miss Jill.
I’d had an idea halfway through the awards ceremony, that it would be nice to get a picture of me, Mari, Isley, Pygar, and Johnny sitting on the beach, watching the sun set. One last pic. Unfortunately that didn’t work into everyone’s plans. Johnny had to go, and Pygar and Mari both desperately needed a break from the computer.
They said they’d be back tho, so I used the time to stage a funny pic of me offering Isley a ride home from camp.. in my packed up boat. Mari showed up just as we were ready to take the pics, so now she’s in them too!
Then all too soon, it was time for serious pics. We gathered around the hot air balloon on the beach, and did our “getting on the balloon for home” pic.
We were a bit rushed for time, as Robin (Mari and Pygar’s Sister) had gotten online for their “welcome home” time, but Robin was feeling unwell. So we pushed the pics as fast as we could, and then they poofed away.
As I cleaned up my stuff, it was just me, Isley, “Tatty” (Wateru), and BobKitty still hanging out on the beach. I noticed there were four rezzed sun-chairs nearby, and we headed over to them and sat for a little while. Chatting about nothing and everything that had happened. And I watched the clock.
I knew I would drag out leaving til the very last moment.. And if left to my own devices, I’d stay til they deleted the camp the next day. But I also knew that it would hurt me to see that, as it hurt me last camp. I wanted to leave while camp was still ’a place’ in my memory, and not just a collection of rezzed things that could be deleted.
I manually set the sky to sunset, and decided that I’d stay just 15 minutes more. And I poked the time setting for the sun, so that every couple of minutes, the sun got lower and lower.
We chatted for a while, and then said our goodbyes. And then, it was simply ’time to go’, and I went.
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Camp Day 8 - "Sadder Day"
Dear Diary,
I’m not a big one for Relay for Life.. Frankly I’m frustrated about some aspects of how much (or how little) of the donated money makes it to the actual cause. I’m also not a fan of being ‘guilted’ into donating, and they certainly do pour on the guilt at RFL.
So I spent most of the day around camp. I put in a few appearances at the RFL, to wave a flag and show my friends I cared about them. I certainly do that.
But mostly I spent the day bumming around camp. Took some pictures with Mari and Isley, more RFL, hung out with Mari and Pygar, more RFL.
The evening was spent mostly hanging out with Mari and/or Isley. I found a hang glider and made a mess of trying to fly over to Isley, rezzed a giant duck in the lake, then Mari, Isley and I started playing “Swan Boat Roulette” trying to get the princess crowns. Then once we found them, Mari drove the swan onto the land, and up the highest hill to the mess hall.
From there, Isley and I raided the kicten for every clickable food item we could find.
TWEENKY - hehe.
Then it was off to prank some more. One of the boys from cabin 3 started putting a Mohawk on the giant duck, and having an otter threaten him with a giant light saber. I was able to convince him towards something a touch more civilized.
Then I added moustaches to all the giant otters he had rezzed around camp.
Then, for-sale signs in front of all the cabins.
I’m not a big one for Relay for Life.. Frankly I’m frustrated about some aspects of how much (or how little) of the donated money makes it to the actual cause. I’m also not a fan of being ‘guilted’ into donating, and they certainly do pour on the guilt at RFL.
So I spent most of the day around camp. I put in a few appearances at the RFL, to wave a flag and show my friends I cared about them. I certainly do that.
But mostly I spent the day bumming around camp. Took some pictures with Mari and Isley, more RFL, hung out with Mari and Pygar, more RFL.
The evening was spent mostly hanging out with Mari and/or Isley. I found a hang glider and made a mess of trying to fly over to Isley, rezzed a giant duck in the lake, then Mari, Isley and I started playing “Swan Boat Roulette” trying to get the princess crowns. Then once we found them, Mari drove the swan onto the land, and up the highest hill to the mess hall.
From there, Isley and I raided the kicten for every clickable food item we could find.
TWEENKY - hehe.
Then it was off to prank some more. One of the boys from cabin 3 started putting a Mohawk on the giant duck, and having an otter threaten him with a giant light saber. I was able to convince him towards something a touch more civilized.
Then I added moustaches to all the giant otters he had rezzed around camp.
Then, for-sale signs in front of all the cabins.
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