Tuesday, August 25, 2009

My bad sionChicken experience

A few days ago, I had read of the plight of Second Life's most infamous resident, Prokofy Neva, in her quest to raise a group of sionChickens on a farm. I had read about sionChickens before, as they seem to be the latest craze in SL. As I was reading Prok's post, I started to get curious about getting into the chicken craziness. At the end of her post was a SLurl that went directly to her farm. I decided I would go there, observe the chickens in action, and perhaps even ask Prok why chicken farming in SL is worth it. In hindsight, that was the most stupid and naive decision I've ever made in SL.

What happened? Well, I got to the farm, and it had most of the staples of a chicken farm: a chicken coop, a hen house and a chicken range. I had even seen Prok's favorite chick "Hope". Adorable little things, for sure, as they moved around on their own, pecked around and did stuff just like RL chickens. I was careful to keep a distance though, because I had read that it's very easy to kill a sionChicken(too easy, IMO).

So I observed the chickens for about two minutes, and then guess who teleports in? Yup, it's Prok. What happened next?
[20:54] Antonius Misfit: Halllooooo
[20:54] Prokofy Neva ejected and banned you from this land.
[20:54] Antonius Misfit: figures

I simply say "Hi", and I get banned for it? Later on I figure that she believed I was going to kill her chickens, because in her eyes "open source=criminal griefer". A day or two later, she reveals that Hope had gotten killed by a griefer called "Soviet Admiral". I thought about her entire ordeal, and I realized that the griefings and chicken killings could have been avoided if she had made a few simple checkbox clicks in the land management tab. A parcel lockdown would have given her peace of mind. I posed that as a question both on Twitter and her blog comments.

What did I get as a response? A silent comment deletion on her blog(not entirely unexpected, but again... being naive struck me again), and these two little doozies on Twitter(she's protected her individual tweets, but still visible via her Twitter home page):
@antoniusmisfit oh, shut the fuck up. We aren't required to live in parcel lockdown just to keep you assholes away. Grow up.

@antoniusmisfit What a spectacle, violent griefing assholes philosophizing abt how victims didn't lock down. Seriously, go fuck yourself.

Wow. If there were anything such as a baptism by fire, I just received a taste of it. I'm a "philosophizing violent griefer asshole" now, according to her. Yet, she has the balls to harass a Linden with an alt account(ironically named "Dear Leader", Prok must have a crush on Kim Jeong Il), get that account banned, and actually post all the details of it on her blog? Compare that to what I did, and decide for yourself who is the griefer.

In a way I should thank her, though. Just after she had banned me from Belarus, I had read in the Herald that the EULA for sionChickens is actually illegal. So between that and Prok's ban-and-flame routine, I'm now of the opinion that sionChickens are cute but devious little scams. They induce lag, die too easily, upgrades are mandatory per EULA(and not free or discounted either), and if Sion or his employees believe you are criticizing their products(even if you aren't but think you are), you are irrevocably blacklisted.

So I decided to offer an alternative to sionChickens. It won't die, won't force you to buy expensive accessories or food, and can be totally modified to make it uniquely your own. It is technically a parody item, but just like the RL Pet Rock craze, it offers something that no other pet does - a stress-free experience, and for some people that makes all the difference :)

What's your opinion? Is Prok right, or has she gone off the deep end(yet again)? Am I right about sionChickens, or are they just misunderstood? Comments are open(unlike on Prok's blog).

8 comments:

Zauber Paracelsus said...

I doubt that Prok recognizes herself as a griefer even though she deliberately griefed with an alt. Somehow, I get the feeling that she's incapable of telling when she is doing something wrong, or refuses to admit that she can do wrong. Personally though, I'd like to see that blog post of hers.

Mrs. Z said...

I'm not going to address the other stuff going on - but I did want to say I adore the pet rock idea. I've been busy with work and kids and the back to school flail, so I've not been in SL since last week. Are you really selling pet rocks? Can I make a request for one? I'd like one that tells me that it loves me. *nods violently* Or makes kissy noises. Is that too much to ask? Of course, then I'd need a purse to carry my pet rock in, yesh? And a hat for it so it wouldn't get cold.... xoxo Bunnyfoofoo

Tony Agudo said...

@Mrs. Z: Yes, I'm selling pet rocks in SL. I don't have any "kissy noises", but it's very trivial to make one that says "I <3 U". Your purse and hat ideas would make great accessories. Contact me in-world and we'll talk about how want the purse and hat to look like :)

My pet rock item:
https://www.xstreetsl.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=1716133

Anonymous said...

I'm choosing to be anonymous her for obvious reasons. LOL

Prok is a TWITer and a half. Why that clown isn't totally banned on all levels by Linden Lab for creating an intentional griefer account is beyond my understanding. IMO, LL are idiots for not getting rid of Prok a long time ago. Prok is a highly abusive person who respects no one.

Sion Chickens are a joke. Seriously... chickens that can die because some griefer kicks them? What a scam.

I understand the fun of growing your own chicken farm. That's fine. But the only purpose Sion chickens serve is to line the Sion people's pockets.

I thought it was hilarious when I heard a group of raiders invaded Sion's chicken area itself and killed (how many?... lots) of chickens. LOL LOL LOL.

I can handle the chickens dying on their own. That's part of the fun. But kickable chickens? LOL. Where's my boots?...

Zauber Paracelsus said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Zauber Paracelsus said...

You know, after reading a few of Prokofy Neva's blog posts, it occurs to me that she has almost the exact same personality as Miko Miyazaki, the most hated character in Order of the Stick, despite being one of the good guys. Though, I seriously doubt that Prokofy Neva is a fanatical bloodthirsty executioner like Miko is.

EDIT: Okay, just realized something. Instead of killing people like Miko does, Prokofy breaks out into Ad Hominem attacks.

Tony Agudo said...

After grabbing a bite to eat and some thought, I think it may be best for me to start closing the book when it comes to Prokofy. I've stated my feelings there well enough. I will, however, continue to monitor the sionChicken craze closely.

I'll keep the comments open, but I'm going to start work on my next entry, which is decidedly more positive and constructive.

Unknown said...

Your ignorance knows no bounds -- you are likely not a landholder and therefore don't grasp how the land tools work.

I have free and open rentals which is why my groups are open to join any time.

When you have group land with an open group, you cannot "lock down" parcels because while you could check off the boxes to prevent non-group scripts, object creation, and object insertion, at any time any one could join the OPEN group and then use the group functions to grief. Duh???

Besides, many chicken killers can kill chickens without any abilities on the land whatsoever, not even having to use guns for this purpose. They can just push and shove the chickens off world by physically pushing them, they are physics-enabled. So putting them in cages doesn't do any good.

Because of griefer-enables and justifiers like you, thinking absence of lockdown is the problem, not bad criminal behaviour, I've been forced to close the group for that particular homestead with those tenants. It's a huge annoyance and goes against my principles. It's something I'll do only for a time while I have it as a rental sim, but eventually it will have to be opened up for projects. For a time, I even had to completely close the group as I had so many "chicken killer tourists" like you disrupting the regular activities of the sim.

That's not freedom, that's tyranny. And that's what griefers bring: absence of choice, and tyranny.

I do not do anything wrong, nor do I "grief on alts". My alts are all well-known holding my groups. If I have some non-group alt, it's not associated with any griefing. Joining your beloved Rodney Linden fan club and asking hard questions about Rodney's little friends who deliberately grief me isn't griefing. My alt "Dear Leader" is an obvious alt, and is a satirical alt with that name, although I suppose literature and irony are things that escape you as a narrow-minded hacker coder.

"Where's my boots"? That's the problem. It is what Orwell predicted, a jackboot coming down on a face forever and ever.

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