Long Time Gone

 I left Littlefield a long time ago, yet another community where I did not fit.  As it turns out, I am an outlier.  I can conform to the shape of a container only so long no matter how comfortable the container.

Leaving Littlefield was hard because I so believed in this mission and actually still do.  I wish them well.

I have a sim on another digital world but live mostly in Second Life these days.  My partner, Max and I are building a space station.  

Amy of 100 days

I worked for OSgrid, Inc. for exactly 100 days.  I started the day I landed on the grid.  Well, that's not true.  I started on day 3.  So, I lasted 97 days.  I was a greeter, a writer, and a member of the Board of Directors.  I designed.  I planned.  I worked with volunteers.   I begged for donations.  It was the best job I ever had.

I resigned yesterday for personal reasons.  I remain committed to OSgrid, its administrators and to OpenSim.  I believe that Hiro Protagonist, who was my boss and mentor, has the right vision for OSgrid.  I respect and have deep affection for Dan Banner and Key Gruin, the other members of the team.  I am grateful for Nebadon's help, humor and knowledge.

I want to thank my friends, the people who helped me in my work, Walter, Trex, Toy, Jalen, Boxster, Ashton, Allen, Reba, Fearghus, and Dirk. I also than Loru, Cam and Ada for jumping in with incredibly generous donations when we had to redo all the Welcome Station Avatars.   I will miss talking over problems with my friend and confidant Allen.  I can't remember the name of the man who gave me a little mesh ghost avatar for the OSgrid Welcome station.  I remember our conversation, but not his name.  That's the trouble with writing this.  There have been so many kind people, I received so much help that I can't remember all the names.  I will miss working with the people of OSgrid most of all.

I apologize for the things I left unfinished and for the times when I didn't give it complete effort.

I am not leaving OSgrid.  I won't be around much for a few weeks.  I will be hanging out on other grids and getting used to being unemployed.   It's really, really boring.   I am trying to follow the advice I give newcomers.  I am trying to slow down.  I am trying to find a new way to be useful.  I am learning to make clothes.  I am trying to make a new place for myself.

If you need to reach me, you can reach me on G+ as Amy Storm or on LFgrid, also as Amy Storm and on In Worldz as Amelia Graves.

My Friend Walter

This blog represents the personal opinions of Amy Storm (J. D. Celko).   It in no way should be construed to represent the opinions, policies or position of OSgrid, Incorporated or it's management.

Walter Balazic has asked me to correct an error in this post.  Littlefield is not a BDSM community.  It's an Adults Only Community.   The post is based on my perceptions at the time I met him, and I think the perceptions of many others.

This is about my friend, Walter,  Walter Balazic.  If you hang around Open Sims or read the blogs or G+ and twitter posts about virtual reality, you have likely heard of him.  Walter runs Littlefield, the infamous BDSM community that, to hear people tell it, is contaminating the metaverse.  He is also outspoken, a passionate advocate for what he believes and fierce in protecting his family.  He has made enemies.  He has been vilified.  He is one of my closest friends.

I had been on OSgrid three days when I met Walter.  I had been sent to him by a friend to rent a region.  I don't remember if  my friend told me that Littlefield was a BDSM community or if I had picked  up the information   by osmosis.  It didn't matter since my region would be outside of Littlefield and not connected to it, but I was a little apprehensive.  I knew what BDSM was, right.  Of course, I didn't know what all the initials stood for, but I knew it was bad.  I was fundamentally opposed and uncomfortable even though I barely understood it, but I also knew that Walter's rentals were reasonably priced and the customer service and stability were exceptional.  So, I would rent my region and keep my moral outrage to myself.  I am practical or shallow depending on how you look at it.

I was a little disappointed that Walter's office was just like any other office.  There were no whips and chains, no black leather capes, no tied up naked girls pleading for rescue, nothing out of the ordinary.  There were Escher prints on the wall.  How normal is that?

Walter, and his associate, the incredibly handsome Ashton Noblis, answered my questions, rented me my region, and ushered me out.  Another disappointment.  Aren't I cute enough to menace?  Don't I at least get to run screaming with a great story to tell my friends.  Sighs.

I consoled myself by shopping in the Littlefield shopping district.   There were no whips and chains there either, but there were great stores.  I picked up a pair of free boots at Ada Wong's.  Killer boots.  I did not know it then, but all of the content available in Littlefield stores is legal.  If it is not made by the store owner, a license has been purchased from the original creator.  Walter and his family and friends have spent real money to bring this content to OSgrid, and then they give it away.   At the time though, I just thought that I had gotten great free shoes and a great rental.  Definitely keeping my mouth shut.

Later when a friend took me to Walter's ranch, it was also pretty ordinary place.  People sat around and talked.   The conversation was sharp and funny.  I was welcomed by a warm, caring family.  They seemed as normal as the Cleavers.  No one propositioned me.  No one even teased me when I made a particularly naive comment.

I have now known Walter for two months.  We have heated arguments in instant message.  He says that they are not arguments.  He is implacable and that I argue.  I will tell you that they are arguments.   We disagree on many things, and still, he remains a kind and supportive friend.  He's the first person I told when my dog was hit by a car.  It's amazing that we have gone through so much in only 62 days.

There was a rumor when I first started that I was a Littlefield Admin and Walter's puppet.  “Really?”  “Because I buy shoes there?”  So does every other  woman with style in OSgrid.  I am not connected to Littlefield in any way except that I am proud to be a friend of Walter and his family.

Looking back at my attitude toward Walter when I first met him, I have realized that it was based solely on my uneducated beliefs about his lifestyle.  I judged him based on what he might or might not do in his relationships and what he might or might not do in the bedroom.  Simply put, I was a bigot.  I am ashamed of it.

I hope that if you happen to read this, you will argue with Walter based on his ideas and not take cheap shots at his lifestyle or family.  If you want to judge his lifestyle, remember that he is devoted to his family, kind to his friends, and a generous supporter of  the community.

Walter asked me not to write about him.  He said that I would get hate mail and make people angry at me.   I honestly don't care.  We live in virtual reality and are helping to create an experimental society every time we login.  We can do things differently.  We can live as we please.  It's really time to stop worrying what consenting adults do in private.  We can do so much better and have so many more important things to do with our time.

THE CLOTHES OFF MY BACK

This blog represents the personal opinions of Amy Storm (J. D. Celko).   It in no way should be construed to represent the opinions, policies or position of OSgrid, Incorporated or it's management.

Missives from the Content Wars

I want you to know that I loved Linda Kellie. I had never met her, but I had read her blog, and I loved her.  This is why I loved her:

Licensing information from Linda Kellie's website dated December 22, 2012: Link

I don’t really care what you do with my creations or how you do it. I will never file a DMCA on anything I have ever made. I really just want people to have the freedom of having something with no rules, no TOS, and no fears.

Like Linda, I believed that the mass of licensing schemes, complex EULA's and lengthy Terms of Service agreements were making it really hard for the average person. Who can keep track of the separate, different licensing agreements on 20,000 inventory items. I wanted to stop worrying that I had broken the law every time I ran a script, slapped a texture on a prim or even used an item.



I joined OSgrid 62 days ago because I wanted to upload Linda's OARS and IARs for use on my home world InWorldz. Since you can't upload this type of file directly to InWorldz, I needed a Standalone world on my home computer that I could use to download the files. My plan was to export the content from the Standalone in formats that InWorldz would allow.



The Osgridians pretty much laughed at me and tried to explain that I didn't really need Linda's content. But I was determined. I hung around LBSA Plaza, an OSgrid social gathering place where some of the tech gods congregate, trying to learn enough to set up a Standalone region so I could escape back to civilization.



By my fourth day, I was hooked. I had lost interest in the Linda project and was busy helping newcomers get started. I helped new residents get their first avatar, handed out landmarks and reassurances, and mostly tried to be friendly and welcoming. In the process, I learned that this forbidding, frontier world was home to a community of hard working, brilliant, funny people who were also incredibly kind and generous.



As I settled into life on OSgrid, I continued to admire Linda Kellie. Her content was everywhere. Most of it had passed through so many hands that it was no longer possible to tell it's provenance unless you were familiar with her work. I thought that this was how it should be. I made a pilgrimage to New World and two to Metro in hopes of meeting her.



So when I was setting up the OSgrid Welcome Station, it didn't occur to me to worry when I discovered that Jamie Wright's great avatars had a lot of Linda Kellie content. I dressed the additional avatars I was making for the station in clothing from Linda Kellie even though I was warned not to. I was shocked at the response to our use of this clothing after an article on the Welcome Station was published in http://www.hypergridbusiness.com/2013/03/osgrid-has-new-legal-status-welcome-region/ in Hypergrid Business. Then someone told me to look at Linda's website. 


I found it incredibly discouraging and disheartening. It was clear Linda didn't want her content on our grid even though she would honor her basically public domain license. She felt she could no longer support OSgrid or apparently it's residents.   It was a pretty angry statement.  Since I wrote this piece, but berfore I posted it, Linda has softened the wording and the dropped the wholesale condemnation of OSgrid, but her original statement was pretty vehement and directed.  Her current statement makes this all a little anti-climatic, but I am going to go with my original post because I feel this an important issue.  Here is the link to her current statement: Link

Had I been acting for myself, I would have ignored her red-lettered diatribe, but I didn't feel that it was right for OSgrid, as a company, to use content so grudgingly offered that people were accusing us of having stolen it especially when I had been told not to use it. I began to remake all 14 of our avatars with locally sourced components. I am still not finished. It takes time to put together quality avatars, photograph them, box them and test them. I would rather have spent this time helping people or working on tutorials. I might even taken some time for myself since despite one new resident's adamant assertion, I am not a bot.



I do not believe that free content should be used as a weapon or as a tool to manipulate others. People in Open Sim worlds and even the the for-profit grids depend on this content. It makes it possible for many of us to participate.



Some of us come to virtual worlds to relax, learn to script, or understand 3D content. But it's more than a game for many of us. I met a former homeless woman who survived being homeless by building mansions on a friend's computer. Virtual reality gave her hope. There are people confined to wheelchairs, people with terminal illnesses, people who can only log in for an hour occasionally because they are caring for an elderly parent or small children, and me, who didn't know how much she needed a place to belong until she found it. OSgrid gave me more than a virtual life; it gave me my real life back. We aren't playing here. Real people live on these worlds. Content creators help us build our lives one piece at a time. Their work makes our virtual lives possible.



I do not believe Linda Kellie's stance regarding her content serves any of us well. I am embarrassed for her, but to her credit, she does admit that legally we can use the content; she just hopes we won't. There are other creators who do not even reach this level of reasonableness.



This is part of a growing trend I call “take-my-marbles-and-go-home syndrome.” Alicia Stone made a long, confusing attack on Open Sim Creations  in which she insisted they take down items that she had placed in the public domain or had released with Creative Commons Licenses. She didn't have a legal right to retroactively reclaim her content, but she apparently caused such an uproar that it was removed. It is no longer on the site. Link



Commercial content providers are not immune from this syndrome. They may change licensing terms after you purchase an item. I don't know if this is legal, but the for-profit grids are supporting the creators. For this reason, I no longer purchase content in world.*



We depend on creators to honor their terms of service and licenses. We especially depend on those creators who release their products into the public domain or license them using BSD or Creative Commons to just let go, to let us use the content in the spirit you originally intended. Don't make me have to give you back my shiny new boots or the roof over my head.



Someone asked Nebadon Izumi, former president of OSgrid, if he minded that his content was being used on other worlds, and he responded that he wanted the things he built used and torn up and rebuilt into something better and used again. This should be the model. Let it go; let us, as Ms. Kellie so eloquently put it, use what you create “without fear.”

* Most content is free on OSgrid and on many OpenSim grids.  I still go on field trips to commercial grids and do my best to resist the shoe sales.

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