Oh… yeah… right…

Got this in my email today:

Second Life: Notice of Disciplinary Action  

Dear Onder Skall,

Linden Lab individually investigates the circumstances of every Abuse
Report we receive. Following a careful review of our server records and
logs, we have determined that your recent actions violated the Second Life
Community Standards or Terms of Service. The violation in question occurred
on September 11, 2007 in the region of Patagonia.

Violation: Terms of Service:  Gambling

Residents of Second Life may not operate games which accept
wagers, rely on chance or the outcome of real-life sports
events to determine winners, and provide winnings in either
Linden Dollars or any real-world currency or things of
value.

We have returned one or more objects which are part of a
prohibited game to your inventory.

Repeated or continued violations will result in suspension
and/or termination. Please see the official Linden Blog
post regarding gambling policy at
http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/08/09/anti-gambling-policy-update-faq/

Wager game (Dungeon Quest) in arcade

The rules of conduct are interpreted with the broadest meaning possible.

Discipline

No additional action is being taken at this time.

Recourse

If you believe that this notice has been sent in error, or that the
details of this incident have not been adequately examined, please address
your concerns in an email to abuse-manager@lindenlab.com

We will not disclose the identity of Residents who file Abuse Reports.

Sincerely,

Linden Lab

Oop, forgot all about that. I guess I got away with it because it was my “first offence”. 🙂

Seriously though, I kinda hated being threatened with “discipline” from some company somewhere. Guys, I’m a customer, not an employee. I’ll discipline YOU if YOU step out of line, not the other way around.

*sigh* I know, I know, it’s more complicated than that… ah the power of MMOs to blur the lines…

Onder’s Game – Take It Or Leave It

Name: Take It or Leave It
Genre: Gameshow
Creator(s): Artemis Cain
Estimated Number of Players: One player at a time, and as many audience members as can cram into the sim.
Gameplay: Drama and tension as one lucky contestant gets a chance at big cash prizes
Top Qualities: Really packs a room. Tweaked to create as little lag as possible. A rare opportunity for large groups of avatars to shout without it being considered rude.
Current Shortcomings: Needs a really good host in order to be enjoyable. No one-player version possible. No models holding the cases.
Where to Play/Buy: Play at Under the Boardwalk, purchase on SLX

When “Deal or No Deal” hit the airwaves I asked myself how long it would be until somebody made an SL version. Apparently the answer is 2 seconds. “Take It or Leave It” started popping up around Second Life in October of last year.

I found a copy of “Take It or Leave It” running at Under the Boardwalk over in Caeshu. The contestant picks a case valued anywhere between L$1 to L$10000. Next, they choose from several other possible cases, whose values are revealed and removed from the board. The host answers a phone call from “the banker” with an offer of slightly less than the average value of the remaining cases. The contestant is then faced with a choice: do they take the deal, or do they eliminate more values from the board and get a new offer from the banker?

The trick with a game like this one is that audience participation is critical. You need a crowd interested in being an audience, and who won’t all leave as soon as they find out that they aren’t tonight’s lucky contestant. Drama and excitement are critical so the host is the key.

Stuart Warf, the host at Under the Boardwalk, was charming and helped to get the crowd whipped into a frenzy. Apparently he gets to know the contestant a bit and works personal details into the back-and-forth between player and host. Whenever the whole crowd started yelling “leave it! Leave it!” Stuart would step in and help the contestant weigh the options, walking them through why they just might want to “take it” and end the game. Stuart was a maestro at creating tension, which made the entire experience that much more exciting for everybody.

If you’re looking for a great way to get some dwell, hire yourself a charismatic host (I hear Stuart takes bookings!), pick up a copy of “Take It or Leave It” and prepare yourself for a great show.

Raiden Gold Casino

Onder Skall reports from Raiden Gold Casino, Raiden Gold (165, 93, 29)

I had a big scare the other day: I had too much L$! We all go through this now and again, but usually we can count on Tier fees to bring us back to a happy state of bankruptcy. Unfortunately that wasn’t going to cover it and I was going to end up with a spare few hundred L$. What was I going to do?

Now, I could just go and buy some stuff from native builders or designers and then delete the items from my inventory and my troubles would be over. Unfortunately I would then be burdening these innocent people with spare L$ of their own and the cycle would just continue. No, if I really was going to obliterate this cash completely, I had to find a pit of despair from which no L$ would ever return.

A quick search of the Classifieds later and I had my answer. Raiden Gold Casino was dumping hundreds of thousands of L$ every single month into advertising. You couldn’t avoid their ads even if you tried (believe me, I’ve tried…). They must be a L$ eating machine. Perfect!

When I arrived at the casino I knew right away I was in the right place. I think we’re all tired of stumbling across brilliantly intricate and gorgeous builds. Thank goodness we have none of that nonsense here. The exterior was completely devoid of any artistic touch. Factories have more character. Its bland facade screamed: “shut up and get in here so we can take your money.” My God, they were efficient!

It gets better…