Tinies Protest at Governor Linden's Mansion

By Bixyl Shuftan

While some people have a distrust of certain others who don't look or act like them in Second Life, the "tinies" of Raglan Shire are usually greeted with smiles by all. With their cartoony appearance and whimsical way of talking, their reputation is that of a happy and friendly folk. So what would get them mad and angry? Not much it seems. But on Friday January 11, many went to protest at Governor Linden's Mansion in Clementina.

The reason for the anger, a bug in anupdate to Second Life in late November. Jira "BUG-225893" filed by Chaser Zaks described the issue.

Ever since 18.10.25.521081, Me and various other people have noticed that avatars that are full mesh and not normal sized (EG: BentBox Imp) are floating 0.2 to 0.3 meters off the ground. This was not the case a few days ago where the avatar would be much lower to the ground.
This is not a viewer issue because it happened overnight on various viewers, including the official viewer. No viewer updates were involved.
Did something get changed on the asset server, or did the physics shape server side get modified?

While hover height can be used to correct this, it shouldn't be needed. Expected behaviour of an asset being changed like this is a big deal.

The Lab didn't fix the issue. So preparations were made by the tinies to have their voices heard.

The tiny avatars of Raglan Shire along with Dinkies and Titchys around the grid will be marching in protest on Friday at 2pm, seeking a fast resolution for our inability to keep our feet on the ground!  The protest will take place at Governor Linden's mansion.

So on Friday January 11 at 2PM SL time, dozens of protesters headed over to Governor Linden's Mansion. The sim's 45 avatar limit was quickly reached, and those who couldn't get in headed to a smaller protest in the shore of the Taber sim to the north. Just to the west was Natoma where the Ivory Tower is, and a number of sims further west was Luskwood and Bay City. But that day, the Mansion was the focus of the news with dozens of avatars with protest signs and a few pitchforks.


     ??  What do we  want??   ??
 ??  TO GET BACK ON THE GROUND!  ??
 ??  When so we want it??   ??
  ???? ?? ??  ?? MEOW!!??  ????????

Many of the tinies were indeed hovering off the ground. Some stood on stilts so they wouldn't appear to float. They carried signs such as "I wanna come down man," "We want our paws back on the ground!", "don't wanna be High any more," "Let petites walk in Second Life like me" (carried by a prim tiny), "My body my hover height," "Let us Riverdance on the ground," "Lower Dinkies back to earth!", "Hover is over," and more.

Not all involved in the protest were tinies. Also there were normal human avatars, as well as ferals, a petite, and a Colossus avatar

"A hover bug that been going on since last year of November!" Nerxual Oh shouted, "This affects everyone, and we have to constantly change our over heights every switch we make! Second Life is fifteen years old, focus on us small people that make your dream a reality!" Linn Darkwatch yelled, "We can't even use hover height adjustment to fixt it because then we are messed up if we sit or lie down!" Bloodsong Termagant yelled, "New avatar makers can't make avatar rigs and animations properly!" "We opened tickets to LL, and we had no answer!" Mia Rose grumbled, "We want one!!!"

Governor Linden's Mansion was built by Stellar Sunshine, Second Life's first resident in the Grid's alpha days in 2002, and given to the Lindens before Second Life went to it's beta version. There were a few events here in the early days of the virtual world, including ironically enough protests on the issue of stipends.

On the issue of the hover bug, I was asked to talk to Etheria Parrott. She told me she had talked to one of the Lindens who told her it was a high priority issue and they were still working on it. She then showed me a group announcement, "Anchor Linden has found the root cause for the issue, buried in the Bake Service. He has a fix for the problem, and it will be going out as soon as possible after it has been through testing and QA."  Etheria went on, "Whirly Fizzle had hinted to me that it might have been that new bakes on mesh code since it contains both hover and shape information."

The protest would go on for about two hours before the numbers in the sim began to dwindle. There were still people left before I headed out just before 4PM. I never saw any Lindens there, though it's a sure bet they heard about the protest.




Nitwacket would make a video of the event. It would also be covered in the blog "Second Sighting."

How much longer the "Hover bug" will last is unclear.

Source: Second Life Wiki

Addition: shortly after this article was published, Linden Lab announced there would be an update the next day to correct "avatars experiencing issues with hover height."

Bixyl Shuftan

Halloweentown and Creation's Halloween Festival

By Gemma Cleanslate

Landing and finding myself surrounded by bones at Halloweentown was a little disconcerting, and then to have little pumpkin spiders crawling  around did not help! This sim is mostly great fall scenes and Halloween decor that will fit any venue.I recommend it for shopping for sights and scenes for your autumn and scary sims.

I took a delightful carriage ride around the woody sim and saw lots of fun things along the way.At the top of the hill I jumped out to tour a Mystery Mansion. A walk through was an experience.  Who did what to whom here was my thought all the way along and no one there was able to tell me. Walking back through the misty woods was frightening since strange creatures were all along the way. I passed a witches cove filled with potions .

My last stop there was at spooky carnival populated by eerie clowns. If you need decor for your sims make a stop here.

Lots to see and buy! For those who like gachas too. 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Blood%20Stone/106/206/33

 

After Halloweentown I went shopping.

Creations Park is all about Parkinson’s disease and the Fox Foundation as you know. Right now there is a huge Season's Festival  going on  with a 10L pumpkin hunt in the shops. Visiting this pleasant sim is always fun. This time after I took a TP over to the shopping area from the well marked teleport map I went on up the the magnificent castle on the hill. 

The grounds are deceptively beautiful because inside it is a nightmare. Wisps of ghosts floating and skeletons occupy the many rooms you visit.

Each room has its own personality with or without occupants. Watch carefully for entrances to secret places as you go .

Also keep an eye for the 13 black cats in rooms . They contain a prize. At the roof sits a dragon waiting to take you on a ride! He has ulterior motives! When you have time visit the other wonderful sights on this delightful sim.Near the teleport map there is a group invite board and the calendar if you would like to know more about the region and its events and its ongoing mission.

  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Creations%20Park/92/165/36

Gemma Cleanslate

Addition: the wrong SURL was given for Halloweentown, it's been corrected.