Griefing Aces? Yes, It's GridWide...

Last night when I wrote 'Smokin Aces - SecondLife Style', I assumed what I would think to be the sensible thing - that the bounty hunting would be limited to one simulator. Bad assumption.

Tateru Nino and myself compared some notes via IM, and some people aren't liking people bounty hunting in their areas. Ban lists are apparently going up. While I was writing this - and going into the den of Smokin Aces, the Nomad Hotel - I got shot at a few times. However, I'm not playing so it does me no harm. It is awfully amusing that they wanted to shoot this penguin, saying, "nobody, Ur a real small target". Why yes. Yes, I am. Of course, I was in the den, and I knew what I was getting into - and I also knew that the weapons couldn't harm me. After all, I'm not playing the game. $4,000 isn't worth it to me. Come on, its NBC Universal. They expect to create mayhem over $4K? I suppose so, and unsurprisingly... its working.

The only 'safe zones' in this grid-wide game are within the Nomad Hotel itself. That this will cause some disruption to SecondLife goes without saying. I'm not sure that NBC Universal and the Electric Sheep Company (and perhaps even Linden Lab) really thought this through. On one hand, yes - it is an engaging way to do marketing for a movie (with only $3,750 US in prizes? Cheap!). Yet it also sends mixed signals about griefing¹ - that running around and using weapons across the grid is considered 'ok'. A license to grief? To disrupt other people's enjoyment of a virtual world?

Taken to another level... is having a grid wide bounty hunt for money which involves people attacking each other griefing? Disrupting others enjoyment of SecondLife? Myself, I'm ambivalent - but I do lean toward a higher cash prize for me to disrupt other people's experience. Not $4000. Maybe $40,000. Definitely $4,000,000.

Grid-wide? What crack pipe were they smoking? If they had kept it to one sim, or even a few... that would make sense to me. But until January 26th, 2007... expect people having firefights in clubs, stores and sandboxes - with the apparent blessing of NBC Universal, Electric Sheep Company, and implicitly - Linden Lab.

Do I care that much about this? No. But I'm not the only one in SecondLife, and others not enjoying their experience is pretty important. This is a perspective that some companies could afford to have. Respect gets respect.

Why didn't they have this in World of Warcraft? Was it too violent there, and they needed a more peaceful setting to disrupt?

Expect land owners to ban players... it's already started.

'Nuff Said.

¹ Oh look! Wikipedia has griefing up for deletion. Whatever will they delete next? Meet the new boss, same as the old boss...