Inventory Overhaul: Landmarks

Warning: What you're about to read is LONG. Feel free to skim. I'm a loquacious person, and some of the tips are broken way down because I won't take for granted what people do and don't know. The only problem with so much detail is if it allows important stuff to get lost, so I've played around with the typeface to make those things easier to find or re-find.

Oh, and: Please approach my suggestions as you would a cookbook, not a user's manual. Improvisation is welcome. Alternative ingredients might be tasty. Enjoy!

Handling Landmarks

Reproductively speaking, landmarks are the bunnies of the inventory. You get them from friends, you get them when you land someplace, you get them in store packages, and you make them yourself. They multiply before you know it, in every folder of your inventory. You end up with duplicates of duplicates of quintuplicates from the same location, and because SL's landscape changes constantly, there's about a 50/50 chance that the one for the hair store you went to once a year ago will drop you in a vampire BDSM dungeon. Which might be cool if you're a kinky vampire, but you still haven't found the hair place.

Because they multiply so easily, LMs can bloat your inventory. I use the word "bloat" on purpose because it's unnecessary excess that you can lose pretty painlessly. Linden Lab considers an inventory of over 10,000 items to be "extremely large" and cautions that bulk can slow down performance.

I'll start with the radical proposition that for the most part, you don't need LMs at all. They don't do anything that you can't do by hand, using the grid map, if you know where you're going. Many (though not all) locations can be looked up via Search (in "All" or in "Places"). You can reach locations by using SLURLs on the web, in a notecard, or stored elsewhere on your computer. Don't worry -- I'm not advising a full-scale mega-mass deletion -- but LMs are not commodities or creations, they're infinitely replaceable shortcuts. This makes them the perfect place to start in your inventory overhaul not only because they make up so much bloat for so many inventories but because it will get you into the habit of deleting without guilt.

To put it another way, LMs have no intrinsic value, they have only use value. Those you don't use -- or might potentially use before they become extinct -- simply have no value. You can't use those you can't find, and you can't use two for the same place simultaneously. Let's get rid of this useless junk, shall we?

I. Quarantine

Consider resolving to quarantine all landmarks to your landmark folder. We'll get into subfolders a little later, but the important thing is to have them all in one place so that you can easily see if you're breeding LMs of the same location. Maybe you keep LMs along with purchased products so that they're easy to locate when you want to shop for something from the same place. If so, here are a couple of quick suggestions. If not, skip to the next paragraph.

• => Keeping one store LM with the products from that store is not going to lead to bloat. Keeping an LM in every folder from the same store absolutely will. I would strongly recommend organizing your inventory by store/designer if that is the case. Then you can have all of the product subfolders in one store folder along with one LM and get rid of the multiple copies.
• => Alternatively, get out of that habit. If you keep the LMs with the items because the items do not have useful names (e.g., a skin called "Lisa skin - tan"), and they cannot be renamed because they are set to no mod, then rename the folder to include the name of the store.
• => In either case, here's a quick tip for users of the Emerald viewer: you can filter your inventory by creator. Select Search >> By Creator in the Inventory menu, and type the creator name in the search field. Anything that the person was the sole creator of will appear in the window. Similarly, you can find out who an object's creator is (in any viewer) by opening that item's Properties or, if it is a prim object, rezzing or wearing it and opening the Edit window. Ultimately, there are several ways to match inventory items with their sources without stapling an LM to them.

If you're all set to move your LMs into your LM folder, here is the fastest way I know to do it. This is going to be a "For Dummies" version of the instructions. If you already know how to use these steps, I trust you know what to skim, but nearly all of these steps were tools I figured out over the past two years I've been in SL, including those that later made me slap my forehead for not realizing they were there this whole time.

• 1. Open your inventory and then create another inventory window by selecting File >> New Window from the Inventory Menu.

• 2. In one window, right-click on the Landmark folder and select "New Folder." Label it something like "Temp LM folder" or "LMs to sort." If you already have a large number of unsorted LMs in your Landmark folder, you might want to put them into that folder for starters.

• 3. In the other window, filter the LMs so that they are all visible and easy to find.
• 3a. Official viewer: Select File >> Show Filters in your inventory menu. Uncheck all of the boxes except for Landmarks (or click on "None" and recheck Landmarks).
• 3b. Emerald viewer: Simply use the drop-down menu in between the search field and the item tabs and select Landmarks.

Soon enough, all of the LMs in your inventory will be visible and accessible.

• 4. You might spot right away a lot of multiple LMs for the same location or single LMs that you already know are obsolete. Feel free to delete what you don't want at any time. If unwanted LMs aren't jumping out at you, then move into that new folder everything that isn't already someplace in the Landmarks system folder.

Whether you're moving or deleting, do it in bulk. As I said, these are the "For Dummies" instructions, so this is a part a lot of people can skip, but it actually took me a long time to figure out how to do this, so I won't embarrass anyone by assuming they already know.

• Selecting consecutive items: You can select a batch of items that are listed consecutively by left-clicking an item at one end and holding down the Shift key while left-clicking the item at the opposite end of the list. Everything in between the two items will be highlighted. Be careful of selecting items in different folders in this way; just because only the landmarks are filtered at this time, it doesn't mean only the landmarks will be moved or deleted if you select in this fashion.

• Selecting non-consecutive items: To choose more than one inventory item when they are not listed consecutively, left-click on one and then hold down the Control key on your keyboard while you left-click each of the items you want to move or delete together.

Here I've selected the LMs from the Invitation Only Hunt folders by holding Ctrl down as I click each one. They'll soon be moved into a temporary folder before getting sorted.

Once you have a number of items selected, you can left-click on any one of them and drag them to the temporary folder you made earlier (or right-click on one and select Delete, which will move all of them to the Trash). Although there is no maximum number of items you can select at once, larger numbers of items will take longer to move into the new folder once you've dropped them there.

You might not feel like quarantining is important for you, and it might not be. But if you move all those LMs into one place and get into the habit of either moving or deleting LMs as soon as they enter your inventory, then 1) you'll know where they are; 2) you'll more easily see when you're accumulating multiples of the same LM; 3) the inside of your other folders will have less distracting clutter... even if you're just moving them into one big, massive clusterfuck folder. If you do something with them once they're there, then that's even better.

The text is small here, but this is what the folders look like after I've moved them from individual folders (right) into one large folder (left). Duplicates become visible immediately and I'll be able to start making some major deletions.

Overall, I'd advise having at least one folder, or possibly one folder per system folder, designated for unsorted items so that even when you don't have time to be pristine, you can at least keep the mess from invading the parts of your inventory that you have already organized.

II. Chucking expired LMs

Once you've moved all of the LMs into one part of your inventory (and likely deleted a lot of them in the process), you can see more easily whether you've been breeding unnecessary ones. The "Temp LM folder" in these pictures contains almost 1200 LMs that I culled out of the general mass of inventory items. None of them came from the LM system folder. If I simply chose to delete them, I'd be reducing my item count by nearly 5%. And honestly, I'd probably never miss them. But while we have them available, let's see what else we can do with them.

As you can see, I've been to Fire Good a few times because it shows up in gridwide hunts a lot. I accumulated several of the same LM without realizing it because they were all hiding in their respective item folders. Just skimming through the list, sorted by name at the moment, I could find five in a row. Tossing "fire good" into the search field found me one more that was out of place because it had its hunt label (TTLG=Through the Looking Glass) taking it out of alphabetical order. I have one LM from this store already where it belongs, so now I can just delete the rest.

Take a look at what is in the name of the LM if you never have before. When you create an LM, it includes the name of the parcel, the name of the sim, and the x/y/z coordinates where the LM was created. Sometimes people change or delete parts because there is a character maximum, because it might look cleaner without the coordinates or sim name, or because there is a more specific name for the destination than the parcel.

In any case, the info is still there, and you can view it if necessary by right-clicking the LM in inventory and opening up the "About Landmark" window. So in the Fire Good example, I can make sure that the LM that does not have the sim included in the LM name is the same store location as all of the other duplicates. Since it is, there's no need to keep it, and it will get deleted with the rest.

Some other useful stuff you can check on by opening up an LM's About window concerns whether it still exists or not. This LM is for the Blackstar store on what used to be Ducknipple sim. But LMs don't follow stores, or even sims, when they move. They stick to the precise point on the grid they were created on, and changes take place around them. And although there is still currently a Ducknipple sim on the grid, it's not in the same place.

When you open the About window, you see the same Description that has been there since the LM was made, plus information that is updated by the server when the LM is opened. While the description might be out of date, the Name above the Description and the Location information at the bottom are current, and if we used this LM, we'd land at some guy Chrlie's place on a sim that is now called Sleeping Bear. And most likely get ejected. So I run Blackstar through my inventory search to make sure I don't have any duplicates of that outdated LM and delete any I find.

Sometimes you open the About window and find that the location doesn't exist anymore at all. Easy deletion there.

Above is an expired LM when I first open it up. The old location is still visible until the server has had a chance to send me the message that there is no longer a sim in that spot on the grid (below).

Opening them one by one is actually somewhat time-consuming -- it can sometimes take longer than just teleporting to the spot -- but it's an easy inventory maintenance task to do when you're otherwise occupied in SL, whereas you can't really zip around from place to place while multi-tasking. Many LMs you can simply delete on sight, of course, for whatever reasons you might have. Others you might know exactly where to put them immediately. I check the accuracy of old LMs in this way while standing around at trivia.

What you do with all this info is up to you; I'm just throwing it out there for those who never thought of paring down the stockpile in this way or even looking at their About windows for any reason. Even if these very detailed instructions would be of no use to you, it will hopefully make you think of practices that suit your needs.

III. Sorting

I bet at least a few people reading this piece thought that sorting would take up a large part of the article, but really, that's going to be the most personal part of the process, and though I can share a few tips, it's the most important aspect for you to develop on your own.

Here's the main level of subfolders in my Landmarks system folder. I have most of the subfolders in my entire inventory numbered so that they'll be in the order I want them to be in. Just because "Clubs" comes before "Trivia" in the alphabet doesn't mean it should come first in my inventory. Numbering is only one way to do it, but I do recommend ordering your subfolders in a way that makes sense to you. Trivia is at the top for me because those are, by far, the LMs I use the most. I probably use Stores more often than People's Houses, but when I need to find an LM to someone's home, I like it to be close at hand.

My trivia LMs are broken down by potential frequency of use, too. The top folder contains the trivia LMs I'm most likely to use. "Occasional" means irregular or unpredictable events. "Old Trivia" is for defunct games whose LMs I've held onto out of sheer hopefulness and/or nostalgia.

One other thing you might notice about my LMs is that I've changed their name format to be consistent down the line. As I mentioned above, sometimes between the time an LM is made and the time it reaches your inventory -- for stores and clubs and other establishments especially -- the name will be edited for various reasons. I'm just kind of anal about wanting my LMs to follow a consistent format. I know most people aren't going to go this far in their organizing, but I'll quickly explain why I do it in case it gives anyone ideas for themselves.

Most importantly, I slice off any kind of punctuation from the beginning of an LM because it screws with alphabetical order, and it's easier to do so than to memorize where brackets or tildes or spaces register in SL's version of the alphabet. There's no reason this store needs to have exclamation points at the beginning of its name... except to make it appear closer to the top of lists. I'll be able to find it more easily if it's located under "R." Second, I put the sim name back in because stores sometimes have multiple locations, and it's useful to know if you're collecting LMs of different spots or the same one. I include the xyz coordinates because I actually do use them, though I'd be surprised if that's common. As for the lower case, I just feel it makes the list look cleaner. Personal preference is all.

IV. Maintenance

Once you have your LMs' bloat somewhat reduced and your subfolders organized by frequency of use, the tricky part is keeping it that way. Other types of inventory items, be they objects, clothing, or body parts, will still exist if you forget they're there and then relocate them months or years later. But as I said at the beginning, LMs have no value except for if and when you actually use them. In addition, even their potential use value can disappear at any moment. It's thus worthwhile to be aware of what you have in there and to open up those About Landmark windows every so often to see if they're even there anymore.

Here are some things to consider doing in the name of LM maintenance:

• 1. For every LM that shows up in your inventory, either delete or file it immediately, even if you're just tossing it into a "sort this later" folder. At the very least, doing so will reduce the clutter in whatever folder you're moving it out of, and if you continue doing it, duplicate LMs will become more visible in that folder.

• 2. Change the LM names to whatever is most useful to you. One of the reasons why inventory contents in general -- not just LMs but everything -- are so hard to organize is that the labels attached to items before they reach you are all determined by the various creators' divergent preferences and priorities. They aren't going to line up unless you do it yourself. Even if you've never had a problem with the creators' LM descriptions before, renaming is a form of engagement that can help you remember what-all you've got in there.

• 3. Get into the habit of using SL down-time to peek at your LMs and see if they can use some pruning. By "down-time," I just mean when you're doing anything in SL that isn't so engaging that you can't open up your LM folder and give it a skim. If you maintain your subfolders according to frequency of use, you'll be able to see easily enough which LMs are up for review. If you see a location with a name you don't recognize or that you haven't been to in a very long time, just open it up real quick and see if the correct info appears. (Even if the LM is still usable, a location you no longer recall is probably a good candidate for trimming the stock.)

Okay, phew, I think I'm done. This was lengthy, in part, because a lot of my more general sorting strategies come into play in organizing LMs. You'll see them come up in future entries. Suggestions for future posts are welcome!

Introduction to the Inventory: Why Bother?

If you've been in Second Life for at least a couple of months, you've probably been involved in or witness to a frequently recurring topic of conversation: the inventory. Someone mentions how their inventory size is getting out of control, item numbers get compared, a few people moan about how much they need to spend time unloading junk, and sooner or later some really annoying person chimes in about how theirs is, on the contrary, rather well organized thankyouverymuch, and possibly even how they enjoy their daily routine of invving.

Often, that annoying person would be me. And once I come out as an inventory obsessive, someone usually asks jokingly if I'd do their inv for them, and as a matter of fact I'd be happy to hire out my services. But since that carries along with it all sorts of issues of passwords and trust and, oh, Terms of Service, I'll do the next best thing and blog about it.

Before getting to the nitty gritty, let's talk for a bit about why inventory seems to give people so much grief and lay down a game plan. Yeah, I know, structure already. Like it or hate it, order is an inherent part of the process, as determined by LL and the little default folders they gave us to inspire organization and all that.

Why a messy inv is a pain in the butt

The main reason a disorganized inventory can be frustrating is simply that you can't find anything in it quickly or easily. You watch the total item number grow and grow while the number of those same items you can remember having shrinks and shrinks. It also gets harder to find items even when you know what folder they're in if you need to scroll through long lists of unsorted objects. If you build and aren't in the habit of relabeling as you go, you also might have numerous objects simply titled "object," and there is nothing useful about that.

Where the problem came from

We let our inventories get this way for a lot of different reasons. Keeping the inv orderly is just a plain old time investment. I spend anywhere from 30 minutes to three hours on it a day and I still only make small dents each time. Why would most people start or end their SL day cleaning house when they could be shopping, building, exploring, or hitting events? There are some aspects of inventory organization that you can do at any time, but rezzing high-prim objects in the middle of a dance club or tai chi area is not generally one of them.

Another reason has to do with the natural progression of going from newbie to veteran in a world where accumulation comes more easily than you're used to. When you're a newbie and your inventory is a manageable size, you don't necessarily know which items you need or like the most or how they'll be easiest to find later on. A month and several thousand freebies later, you're more likely to have a clue. And by that time, the inv is somewhat less manageable and more daunting, and it's only going to get worse.

Injecting realism

However it gets that way, though, nearly everyone I know believes their inventory could be tidier. There's one important reason for this perpetual dissatisfaction that it's important to internalize if you haven't already: inventory management is ongoing. It's not something you spend one day on and then hope it stays neat. Such a statement might sound obvious, but the reason I mention it is that if you're a perfectionist or if you've put off starting to become organized because finishing seems such a long way off, well, it is... it's so far off, I'd venture to say it's unattainable. So get used to a new definition of success: when it comes to inventory, success isn't completion, it's continuous engagement.

That's actually the good news, believe it or not. If progress, rather than completion, is your goal, then success suddenly is attainable. Not only that, but the amount of attention you pay to organizing your inventory will fill in a lot of the gaps in your memory of what you have in there. You'll become able to find things that aren't organized into their proper subfolders because you'll have passed over them many times on the way to organizing or looking for something else. And if you can find what you're looking for, then getting the items into the right folders is a secondary concern.

Game plan

My recomendations are intended for people who aren't happy with the state of their inventories. They are emphatically not meant to criticize the means of organization that work for people who, like me, are comfortable with the way their inventories are laid out, or to suggest that mine is the only right way to manage possessions. There are as many ways of organizing as there are avatars (I myself have several different avatars, each with slightly different inventory needs), but some people haven't figured out what works for them yet. As is the case with many other activities -- cooking, RL housekeeping, learning a craft -- it's often helpful to see what works for those for whom something does. Similarly, if I make a suggestion that wouldn't be useful to you, it doesn't mean my suggestion is wrong. I welcome alternative recommendations in comments. I don't have the final say; I'm just the chick who decided to blog it (and I'm neither the first nor the last to do so).

So let's get started. My first and, I believe, most universally applicable tip for reducing excess inventory bulk has to do with landmarks. Stay tuned for a forthcoming post on how purging excess landmarks can be one of the quickest and easiest ways to begin streamlining your stash.

********

Japanese notecard in a stamp rally prize

Congratulations on the stamp rally conquest.

Thank you for getting the prize of ClioneCAFE ･A&S.

It copies and enjoy putting it in various places about Barcelona chair, please though the transformer cannot be done.

It is thought that it wants to open the shop holding out in the future in the future.

Please continue your favors toward A&S when meeting you moreover.

I hope IM even as for * ayap shuffle * when there are something an uncertain point etc.

I am Japanese.

Time falls behind the answer during the translation.

(I'm putting that last line in my profile.)

Lette n'est pas un pipe.

The following piece is a response to Lou Netizen's post about the use of alts in Second Life. I strongly recommend you read hers first.


I can't be angry at your post any more than I can be angry at my evangelical Christian cousins who were raised to believe that my lovestyle is wrong and sinful and who, at age 13, thought the idea of me roller skating hand-in-hand with a boy of another race was unthinkably ludicrous. Anger in that case is simply waste of energy, since my relatives' perspective is based on a set of beliefs they take as "true" that I see as mythology.

Your outlook is clearly based on a set of beliefs about what SL is or should be that is at odds with mine and, to be frank, with the Lindens', which wouldn't ordinarily be something I'd make a case of except that you spend much of your post assuming that the Linden position on alts is neutral and that they must simply be lazy for not having adopted all of the technological tweaks that you identify for preventing the use of alts.

Do you really suppose there are very many Lindens who don't have an alt account of their own for when they want to circulate in-world without being pigeon-holed by their last name? Most probably also have alts for technical purposes, like testing new developments. Talk about trust... there is already a serious lack of trust toward the Lindens. If they could have alts and we couldn't, there would be a serious fracture there. Alts are not simply a necessary evil of Second Life, and they're not even controversial in the eyes of the world's creators; they are part of what SL is.

Here is the first paragraph from SL's Alt Account FAQ: "Alternate accounts... multiple identities... We all have them in some way or another. Perhaps in real life you're an entrepreneur in the morning, soccer mom in the afternoon, and vegetarian chef in the evening. In Second Life, you get to externalize these roles in customized, uniquely identifiable personas -- otherwise known as alt accounts. How cool is that?"

If you search the SL Wiki, you can also find instances in which residents are instructed to create alt accounts in order to accomplish certain technical or administrative tasks. For instance: "When ordering a Teen Grid estate, you should create an alt account and place order with that account. This account will be the estate owner and will be transformed when background check is in."

Alts are not only part of SL's culture but also part of SL's ecosystem. They aren't the result of some people trying to gain an advantage in the system, even though some people use alts that way. If LL eradicated alts, as you seem to think they should (the basis of your argument being that it is technologically possible to do so), major aspects of the world's infrastructure would need to be completely rebuilt.

As you freely admit, your view on this topic is related to your tendency to want to duplicate RL within SL. And when I went to Japan at age 14, I was most comfortable eating at Pizza Hut and Carl's Jr. We cling to what is most familiar to us, especially when the alternatives seem strange and unusual. If I went back to Japan now, 19 years later, however, I would be branching out and being a bit more adventurous (and stuffing my face with sushi).

You point out accurately that "the vast majority of in-world building and content emulates real life." This is a psychological inevitability. It's about frame of reference. It is not possible to imagine or create things without them being somehow in reference to what one already knows, believes, or understands. Even something that seems to have no direct relation to RL is thought up because of its lack of relationship to RL and thus still exists in relation to it.

Frame of reference, however, is merely a basis; it's not a limitation. There's no way for SL not to resemble RL, but there's also no way for SL to duplicate RL, either. Strict adherence to an RL frame of reference within SL can be just as ridiculous and arbitrary as its opposite can be daunting: why do toilets and ovens exist in SL? There's no reason outside of whatever symbolic value their creators and owners apply to them.

Despite the virtual world being based on multiple RL frames of reference, everyone in SL embraces at least some of the elements that are NPIRL (not possible in RL, for the unfamiliar). This is a technological inevitability. I'm not even talking about obvious things like flying and teleporting, I'm talking about the basic makeup of the avatar. We aren't snails in RL, carrying our entire homes on our backs (and those who do certainly don't have 30,000 items in their knapsack), but in SL, all of our material and immaterial possessions are available at the click of a mouse. Changing our SL hair length or color is as easy as changing the part in our RL hair. Those like yourself who choose to replicate themselves in-world actually put more effort into doing so than those who seek out a new virtual self (or selves) because it is an unnatural use of the ecosystem's resources. It can be fun or interesting as a project, but when it begins to resemble a moral crusade, it reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of virtuality.

Or to quote my favorite artist, "Ceci n'est pas un pipe."

by Rene Magritte

This is not a pipe. It is a representation of a pipe. No matter how accurately drawn it is (which isn't the same as being well drawn), it will not be a pipe. Even if it were a photograph, it would still not be a pipe. In fact, if you laid a dozen representations of pipes side by side -- a surrealist drawing, a realist drawing, a photograph, a film of a person smoking the pipe -- no representation would be a "better" representation of the pipe than any other. Anyone who understands the referential symbol of "pipe" will recognize that it is being depicted in all of the representations. For that reason, it is unnecessary to bend over backward to make the most "real" looking pipe you can, when the mode of representation ends up communicating more information about the intent of the representation than does its subject.

Regardless of whether you recreate the scar behind your head, your nose ring, your bodily dimensions, and your hair at the precise length it happens to be in RL on a daily basis, Lou Netizen will never be RL Lou. It is a representation of RL Lou. Furthermore, the fact that you do attempt to attain a factual physical representation of yourself communicates far more about you than the finished aesthetic product.

I know you understand that on one level, but it's unclear whether you understand it on the terms provided by the virtual world. SL is a composite of referents from numerous real and imagined sources. The hybridity made up from the psychological and technological inevitabilities I've already mentioned is not incidental; it's specifically what constitutes the virtual.

And to bring it back to the central point of discussion, alts, I contend that your anger about alts is based on a misconception of what virtual identity means.

The baseline point of interaction within SL is not the user but the avatar. They are obviously connected, not dichotomous, but the degree of relevance to the connection between a user and his or her avatar varies and shifts and evolves. This dynamic is uncomfortable for some because it requires much more mental and social flexibility than we usually need to practice in RL.

The topic of trust is interesting to me because my approach is very different from yours. As long as I'm only dealing with a particular person/avatar on a superficial level, I take them at face value and base my trust on how I interact with them within the avatar-to-avatar context. An avatar is who he or she depicts him or herself to be. If I were to find out that the (completely hypothetical) scrawny male neko I stood next to at Sharon's in the morning were the same person as the flighty female rabbit I traded barbs with at Shiraz in the evening, it would matter to me not a smidge. If I were to learn he was actually the alt of a good friend of mine, it would matter, but not on the level of trust; it would matter on the level of, "Oh man, I can't believe I didn't recognize you."

When you start to know someone beyond the avatar level, trust becomes more of an issue. If that scrawny neko boy and I started conversing on a more personal level and he didn't eventually tell me that he was someone I knew quite well already, then it could become a problem. But the problem is not the alt; the problem is the use of the alt.

SL is a surveillance society as it is. We are endowed with cameras we can use to see as far as 512 meters away, through walls and landscaping. We can turn off rendering on volume and view the naked, squishy bodies of people who forgot to wear system clothing under their tiny avatars (or glitch pants under their kilts). We can set our voice chat preferences to pick up voice from our camera position so that we can listen in on conversations being held in public voice from much further away than we can "hear" text in local chat. We can highlight transparent and see if a male (or occasionally female) avatar is wearing an invisible cock. And none of this is in violation of the Terms of Service. It's built into the system, and we adapt to it, by both adjusting our habits to secure our privacy and adjusting our attitudes toward it (e.g., "Meh, I don't care who sees me getting groiny with my honey if they're going so far as to cam 200m to do it.") to preserve our sanity.

The awareness that at any time we might be conversing with someone we know by a different name is part of this adjustment. Failing to do so might cause social rifts, and it might get you banned from Marine Park for "putting down the park," but it's not a whole lot different from gossiping about someone who can hear you from inside a restroom stall. Trust, therefore, is really not that important when it comes to superficial interactions: all you need to do is Not Say Anything Stupid.

Virtual identity, therefore, is not constructed the same way that RL identity is constructed. The way we relate to one another in RL and the value that we place on social concepts like "trust" developed within a context dictated by a particular set of biological and environmental circumstances. Virtual technology is not designed for it to be the same. To try to extend the rules that confine us through our biology and physical environment into a domain where neither are identical and can't possibly be identical is only going to frustrate you.

Consider: Why do you need to trust people in the same way you do in RL? In what way does that affect your ability to have amiable conversations with them, to play and host trivia, to create builds, and even to talk in a limited way about your personal life? Unless you plan to meet any of us (and I get the sense that you don't), an equivalent level of trust is irrelevant.

The conclusion that using multiple avatars is a practice in "manipulating" identity is yet another instance of failing to see that this is what virtual identity is. You don't need to take advantage of it in order to live a virtual life, but becoming huffy about those who do is like being upset that a Canadian 16-year-old visiting Spain goes out drinking. Just because she has to (legally) wait until she's 19 at home doesn't mean she can't take advantage of the more lenient restrictions elsewhere. Your view is similarly based on a cultural fallacy.

To wind this up, I need to reiterate that I'm not angry that you believe alts suck, since your reasons make it apparent that you haven't accepted some of the fundamental elements of what Second Life is. Not what it's meant to be or what it can be -- I'm not talking about fulfilling your creative potential by becoming a vampire or building a tower to nowhere -- but what it actually is and what it was when you signed up for your adamantly single, solitary account. This doesn't mean you don't belong here; everyone uses this space differently, and you've gotten by perfectly fine (as do the many other people who have reservations about alts), even with those of us who have alts, and you have friends and we like you. But just realize that by reading the real not just as a frame of reference but as a frame of proper conduct -- and, moreover, building an ethical argument out of it -- you're only going to create more aggravation for yourself.

Lette n'est pas un pipe.

Please find a good job.

One of the best sources of humor in the world (at least for English speakers) is Japanese-to-English translations. All translations run the risk of unintentional comic effect ("Ich bin ein berliner") or public relations fail (the Chevy Nova/"no va"), but there is something about Japanese text when translated literally into English that has a particularly consistent amusement factor. I've played with the idea of having a "Japanese translation of the month" or something in my profile, but it's so trivial that this might be a better place for it. Just don't hold me to the "once a month" thing; I tend to come across translations during Bunny Hopper hunts more than at any other time.

So of course I stumbled upon this during the current Slice of Summer hunt: the notecard that I guess is supposed to explain the concept behind the Crayon Hunt taking place in mid-August. The first half is in Japanese, and here is the English translation:

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Hunt Story crayon
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

One day, I love drawing to a white rabbit.
I can not find absolutely favorite crayon.
Ill-tempered black rabbit came there, I did.
"You do love crayon that I concealed. If you want it back, The stylish looking! "
White Rabbit is a journey to find a crayon left in a hurry.

Please give everyone what they want to be important in the rabbit with a white crayon.
Good to help a child who is the treasure hidden in crayons as a reward.
Please find a good job.


Yeah. F'real. Just try to keep from giggling. I think the idea is that a black rabbit stole the white rabbit's favorite crayon, and you're supposed to help him find it. So go ahead and laugh: the evil black/good white thing is far more politically incorrect than a healthy guffaw will ever be anyway.

I imagine that English-to-Japanese translations must be just as hilarious, but we'd have to hear that from a Japanese speaker to know for sure. The languages are just so different that literal translation is simply impossible. Here is the homepage for the Crayon Hunt. Read it if you can, but I just put it through Google translator, and here's what it says we're looking at:

It did not notice on my blog a little cotton, FOTOKONTESUTO of air in this place in a shopping mall's forest planning and sound ^ ^

Planet of Datura in the fashion and fit to raise the SS Location of course Planet of Datura!

Thank you TEKUSU 512X512 size is in square Fill in the following sample application notes A note card and attach the texture FURUPA "Satoshi Inglewood" Please send

The applicant is only a one time
Is the use of props as well OK
Image processing is also OK

Conference Call for July 18 (Sat.) - Sunday, August 2
Popular vote August 8 (Sat) - Friday, August 21
Results Sunday, August 23

So if you're looking for a good fashion photo contest, look no further. I think.

But wait, there's more. There's fun with translation! Take some classic quotes from The Princess Bride:

- You fell victim to one of the classic blunders. The most famous is "Never get involved in a land war in Asia." But only slightly less well known is this: "Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line."

- Fezzik, are there rocks ahead?
- If there are, we'll all be dead.
- No more rhymes now, I mean it.
- Anybody want a peanut?


- Inconceivable!
- You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.


- Have fun storming the castle!
- Think it'll work?
- It would take a miracle.


- There is a shortage of perfect breasts in this world. 'Twould be a pity to damage yours.

Put the English through a translator into Japanese. Then copy the new translation and put it back through, from Japanese to English. Our results:


- One of the victims of the classic blunders. The most famous "land war in Asia never to be caught." However, for slightly less well known: "contrary to the line that never died in Sicily."


- Fezzik, the rock?
- If we are all dead.
- Song more than this, I mean it.
- Or peanuts?


- Imagination.
- You are using the word. And it means that I did not think it means.


- Have fun castle rush.
- I think that'll work.
- It takes a miracle.


- A shortage of perfect breasts in this world. You will damage it.

And those are PG quotes. Try it with smut some time.


Since I feel like most of the trivial stuff in this blog will end up going back to hunts, I thought I'd share one of my ensembles of stuff I've picked up from hunts. Everything is a hunt prize except for the shape.

skin - LionSkins (Peace on Earth Hunt)
hair & deely boppers - designs by katey (Passions Hunt - still in progress)
eyes - The Plastik (Slice of Summer Hunt - still in progress)
piercings - Seduction (Scarlet Letter Hunt... they're not too visible in the picture, but they're studs on the chin, upper lip, bridge of the nose, and eyebrows)
dress - Kerryth Tarantal Studio (Through the Looking Glass Hunt)
necklace - *ICED* (Through the Looking Glass Hunt)

Yeah, I'm doing the traditional type of picture and the traditional list now. :P I'm a blog whore!

********

Notes on Camp (not the kind you do for lindens)

As most people who know me are aware, I'm a big grid wide hunter. I've gone a bit overboard this month and need to cut back a bit, but I'll probably always have at least one hunt in progress as long as there's one taking place. I do use a lot of the stuff I find (I'm writing this now wearing a dress from the Bunny Hop, a necklace from Through the Looking Glass, and glasses I bought from a store I landed at on the Scarlet Letter hunt), I love the process of searching, and I even enjoy unpacking (and taking pictures of the results; click the link to my Flickr page at right). I also just like the chance to see a variety of places in SL and see the sorts of stuff the creative people here can put together.

Of course, not every store one lands at on a grid wide hunt is a fine example of virtual architecture or design. Some are dull, some are poorly textured and hard to look around in, and still others make you go, "wtf?" This post is about one of those. This one, to be specific:


This is a store that has shown up in several forms on several hunts I've done. This is just the latest. It's Riki Takaaki's Dreams Gallery (or something like that), which is a Christian store that thankfully gives out secular gifts in the hunts. But unlike other self-described Christian stores that participate in a lot of hunts, like AmberMyst Botanical Designs, Riki's Dreams sells Christian-themed merchandise and displays evangelical propaganda all over the grounds. I know a lot of other secular folks probably get annoyed that a place like this stands between the last hunt stop and the next hunt stop. I did, too, the first time I had to hunt there, but the prize was hard to find and the location at the time was laggy and I had a headache.

As of this last time through (for Through the Looking Glass and Fun in the Sun), however, I love the place and will look forward to when I get to hunt there in the future, and here's why: because Riki's Dreams has become one of the most wonderfully campy stores I've seen in SL. Jesus camp is one of my favorite kinds.

This appreciation for Jesus kitsch began years ago, when I went to my born-again Promise Keeper cousin's wedding. My father and most of his side of the family are Christians of various sorts, so I've been to my share of churches: Catholic, Presbyterian, Congregationalist, "Non-Denominational," and so on. But at this one -- Pentecostal, I think -- the decor was so over-the-top that I had trouble believing it was actually an aesthetic the church members took seriously. Huge, gaudy curtains and tapestries, looming images of Christ, colorful and ostentatious signs shouting bible verses at us.... And apparently they do take it seriously; there was nothing ironic about it. However, I knew this as a potentially campy aesthetic when I saw it. I decided momentarily that even though I'm a heathen, I wanted to become a collector of tacky Jesus art (or "art").

It really was only a momentary decision, though. I was a college student and a hoarder, and between being poor and already having too much stuff to move around, plus the fact that most people wouldn't get the irony, I decided not to do it. Besides, as much as I love camp, there's a problem inherent in it, which is that it's condescending. It's a parody. The use of camp, almost by definition, denigrates some group by satirization. It can be a gentle ribbing or a total slam or someplace in between (or a combination), and it can even be done by a group making light of themselves (think drag queens), but you're basically poking fun by viewing as ironic a symbol that is taken totally seriously in another context.


I hasten to add that I've never failed to take another person's religion seriously; this isn't about making fun of Riki's beliefs but about her taste, and not because she as an individual is a poor judge of appearance but precisely because within the context she's designing from, she probably isn't a poor judge at all. There is an entire aesthetic that emerges from this visually noisy attempt to work the Word of God into pretty much everything. Just visit a few stores listed on this page and you'll get the picture. Some simply sell Bibles and others, sappy, inspirational posters that are neither more nor less cheesy than their secular equivalents, but there are some gems in there, like Heavenly Images, which "creates custom memorial photos for loved ones and pets with Jesus in the picture," and Jesus Laughing, which "features Ralph Kozak's print of Jesus Laughing on witness wear, postcards, and framed prints," the same picture on every single item. Oh, and if you missed it, there's an additional example of Jesus kitsch right there: "witness wear."

The imagery attached to this particular set of denominations of Christianity, I'm sorry, is just begging to be seen as camp. I'm not the only one who thinks so, as the author of the article 20 Tacky Religious Products Guaranteed to Anger God would probably attest. Not all Christian stores give off this camp aesthetic, I should add. The Bedtime Treasures hunt brought me to AngelZ Christian Art just today, and though it was brimming with sap, it was tasteful sap. Christian imagery does not automatically equal tacky, so I'd be interested to understand why so much of it just is and whether purveyors of the tacky stuff are aware that they have no taste or whether they're like collectors of velvet Elvises, who are completely cognizant and enjoy their possessions all the more for their over-the-top-ness.

I am also entertained by the fact that the tacky Jesus art is replicated in SL. I'm not surprised by it; there's plenty of tackiness here, and a lot of it -- like bling and clicking shoes -- even permeates SL's mainstream. But entertained I am and will continue to be, every time a hunt sends me in the direction of Riki's Dreams.

New blog setup... please click "Trivia" tab for trivia posts

So... sorry to throw you all a curve ball so soon, but a friend who is also a professional blogger recommended using a trivia-specific URL for the trivia stuff and using the self-titled page for, well, the trivial stuff. Seemed to make sense to me. So now http://sltrivia.blogspot.com and http://letteponnier.blogspot.com are separated by a thin line. You can access each through the other; just click the tab above to switch over. If you come to the Lette site, though, expect to find most content on the trivia side of things. I'll get all trivial and stuff soon enough. For now, please head over and add your voice to our first discussion topic: Googling in trivia. Thanks for reading!