I couldn’t agree more, and did:
http://secondthoughts.typepad.com/second_thoughts/2008/06/torley-is-a-lia.html?cid=118866582#comment-118866582

Imagine, I’m paying $2500 US tier as an SL business, and I’m forced to dumb down my computer I bought six months ago because I can’t sustain Windlight, and struggle around in laggy crashy fox while I wait on people. It’s absolutely insane. Windlight should be optional, not forced on everyone.

Not everyone can buy parts and build their own computers, or find the $100 graphic cards that Torley claims are there for the shopping, and then install them. The regular off-the-shelf computer does not sustain any of this, and it’s THE main reason why so many people drop out of SL. The Lindens need to get a grip on this, fast. They are killing themselves with geek religious doctrine that has no grounding in the real world.

I agree with you! I’m sure it was an oversight on Rezzable’s part and I will certainly share your comment with them. It’s always a good idea to leave a comment there, too! You have to give them credit for trying, though. The sheer volume of work behind putting on this effort… I cannot begin to tell you.

The Garden was made possible at great expense on Rezzable’s part, and they haven’t made one cent from it. Not just the tier for four sims for two months, but several Rezzable staffers worked tirelessly for weeks. Granted, many NPIRLers gave freely of their time and work, too, and dozens and dozens of content creators came together for this, for which I am so very grateful.

Just a couple of FYI’s:
- You can also read about the Garden of NPIRL Delights here: http://npirl.blogspot.com/2008/05/virtual-art-show-that-would-not-be.html
- The Garden of Earthly Delights image is in the public domain… (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:GardenED.jpg), one of the reasons why it was possible to create a build festival so close to that theme.

Thank you for writing about the Garden. Imaginative content in virtual worlds needs ALL the support it can get.

<3

I find it doubly regrettable that LL has lumped the kids community - in my experience, one of the nicest, smartest and *least* sexual communities within SL - together with gor and bdsm. Not that I have any objection to the latter - or for that matter, anything else between consenting adults. To paraphrase Voltaire, “I may not like what you roleplay, but I will defend to the death your right to roleplay it.”

I simply resent the insinuation that the kid community is centered around sex, because that is just false. Furthermore, we are not child molesters. In fact, virtually everyone I know in the kid community really cares deeply about real kids (just look at our fundraising for real kid charities) and has zero tolerance for anyone who would hurt a RL kid. Nor do we abound in real kids hiding behind the kid avis. Our community is probably tougher than most of SL about reporting any real kids who sneak in.

Most of us just want to be young and happy again, to release our inner child, to re-experience our youth with the good stuff - and without the bad stuff, which for some of us was really bad. Particularly for gay people, our school years were usually somewhere between lonely and nightmarish. Is it anything to be ashamed of that we want to re-experience them in the way that we wish they had been? Does LL really feel they have to sweep this under the rug? Aren’t emotional needs (not to mention civil liberties) like these one of the business premises of “Second Life”?

Perhaps LL thinks they can make piles of money turning SL into a corporate virtual networking platform. If so, good luck. I guess you don’t need us. But right now, the kid community represents a fairly large base of loyal users who pay significant real money into SL. It is a shame that LL doesn’t have the backbone or vision to see that publicly advocating “roleplay rights” (i.e. virtual or fictional activities between consenting adults) is in their business interests.

Thank you very much for posting this. The Cat’s Meat Shop and the Old Bailey Online are brilliant. I look forward to exploring them further.

Eva