Greed in Second Life: Part 1- The Viking RP

By Theonlyjohnny Resident

    There has been a huge spike in the amount of greed in Second Life. When I first started Second Life, I saw how most people, in Second Life, didn't care about lindens, they just wanted to have fun. However, now, most people only care about earning lindens, even at the expense of losing their own sims.

    It's not just gaming sims, either, it's also club sims, shopping sims, even roleplay sims. I have personally witnessed the downfall of quite a few sims, due to the owners' greed. In this article, I will tell you about an RP sim that went under.

    I used to roleplay at a Viking sim that is gone now, because no one would join. However, the reason no one would join, was due to the greed of the owners. It was a rule that anyone rping there, must wear the Spell fire (SF) meter. Of course, the SF meter will keep pestering the wearer, if their warmth is too low, which is determined not just by the sim, but also by the clothing worn by the wearer. At this sim you could only wear certain Viking clothes, and the only Viking clothes allowed were those purchased on the sim. This meant you had to pay to RP at the place.

    The greed of the sim owners went even further, when I learned that after I had bought the clothes, for L$ 120, even though the box said it would give warmth, the clothes did not provide even the slightest bit of warmth. Nor would the warmth they were supposed to give be sufficient enough to raise your warmth level. I then bought the next set of clothes for twice as much as the first, and learned that, again, they did not provide warmth. Not only that, I had paid twice as much, for the exact same set of clothes, I had bought previously.

    Of course, this sim didn't last long. The design of it may have been amazing, but the respect that the owners asked for, exceeded the amount of respect they gave to anyone. They asked for, no they demanded, my respect. Yet, how could I show respect towards anyone who has shown no respect towards anyone else?

     Their greed was fueled by a lie, which I found out when I had actually asked them why everything they sold, on the sim, was never below L$ 120. The owner was quoted saying "We have to pay a tier for this land, to Linden Labs. Our scripts, alone, cost us L$ 3000 weekly." At that time, I was fairly new to Second Life, and had to do a bit of research. While they did pay a tier to Linden Labs, they wrote most of their own scripts, and the SF meter scripts are free to use, I know this because I have been to the SF main store. You get the SF sim and region kit, for free, and you only pay for scripts, once, and that's to buy them.

    It is a sad thing to see, when an amazing place is shut down, due to the owners' greed. Let this be a testament to all RP Sim owners, out there, while its customary to have items, on your sim, that people can buy, you shouldn't get too carried away, with high prices. Nor should you lie, like these people did, just to get more lindens.

Theonlyjohnny Resident

Urban Zombie

Urban Zombie

    From the minute I first saw this place, I was amazed. I was amazed at how much work was put into the designing, and developing of this sim. Of course, there are several zombie sims in SL. However, this sim is different.

    This sim does not use a meter and does not use melee. However, what this sim does have, is the 5 unique areas, tons of zombies, and yes, guns. However, these guns are different from the guns that you can buy at any other gun store. These guns are scripted specifically for this sim.


    Of course most of the guns need to be bought from the gun shop on the sim. However, despite the size of the gun shop, it, like the rest of the sim, is different from other places. Most places have shooting areas for their gun shop. While Urban Zombie has a gun shop for its shooting areas.

    Like I mentioned before, there are 5 unique areas. These five areas are, in no set order, Urban, Military Base, Suburbia, Prision, and Gothica. All five areas are made for different things. If you are looking for lots of kills, and a challenge, then Gothica is what you're looking for. Prision offers a moderate amount of kills at any given moment, and high safety since you can shoot from the bridges between the guard towers. Military Base offers a rugged terrain, low safety, and a high number of kills at any given moment. Suburbia offers a moderate amount of kills at any given moment, lots of safe places to shoot from, and a moderate challenge. Urban is the landing point and the hangout, however it is surrounded by a zombie infested area that offers a moderate amount of kills at any given moment, a moderate amount of safety, and a moderate challenge.

    I cannot begin to name all the weapons allowed at the sim, since there are a lot of them. However, I can tell you what is not allowed on the sim. Redemptions, T3 Weapons, Iron Sights, Mini guns (with the exception of the Blue Works Studio UZ scripted BGF6 Hydra, purchased on sim), and explosives of any kind, are not allowed on sim. This is understandable since the use of these weapons would give the user an unfair advantage against all other players.

    Of course you can kill zombies safely without the threat of dying. In which case, you don’t wear the radar. The purpose of the radar is to make it so you can die, but it also allows your overhead kills number to function. You can wear the overhead kills without the radar, however then you won't be able to raise your kill number.

    I interviewed three people, this is what they told me, when I asked them questions:

Interview with Doc

1. How did you hear of Urban Zombie?
>A friend brought me here.

2. What is your favorite weapon?
>Depends on what I'm doing, how I chose to attack the zombies. But right now I use the VSG45 Vortex. A good all purpose weapon.

3. How long have you been at Urban Zombie?
>A little over a year.

4. What is your favorite thing about Urban Zombie?
>The comaraderie, we are more like family, stand around and talk as much as we shoot.

Interview with MistyHarbour
1. How did you hear of Urban Zombie?
>A friend brought me here.

2. What is your favorite weapon?
>Right now, the pdw90 blitz.

3. How long have you been at Urban Zombie?
>A year I think.

4. What is your favorite thing about Urban Zombie?
>All kinds of things .. I get (to) run, jump and shoot,
I set my own goals .. try pushing my limits .. improving
my skills.

Interview with Tex
1. How did you hear of Urban Zombie?
> Got invited by someone I met at a music event.

2. What is your favorite weapon?
>Right now the VSG 45, but I swap around a lot.

3. How long have you been at Urban Zombie?
>About a year.

4. What is your favorite thing about Urban Zombie?
>The community atmosphere.


    These are the true words of the people that I interviewed. These are just three people who love Urban Zombie, and think of it as a second home.

Haumea (93, 123, 242)

Theonlyjohnny Resident