Thursday, April 12, 2007

Keep Your Friends Close And Your Enemies Closer

I wrote up my one experience with the Alliance Navy in a previous post, where I ended up asking a number of the sailors I encountered, "Who is your enemy?" No one could answer that question. They had guns, they were told to guard the base, but they didn't know who to guard against. They ended up not being able to keep out a bored escort, I didn't think they would be successful against a determined enemy, especially if the enemy showed up in camoflage mini-skirts.

Recently the Second Life Herald posted that the Alliance Navy is in a war! Finally, my question was answered.

As reported earlier, attempts by Herald correspondent Urizenus Sklar to mediate peace talks failed recently and the Alliance Navy, one of the oldest military organizations in SL, and the Merczateers, a former ally of the Alliance Navy, began open warfare for the oldest causes of war in human history; land and pride.

A few months ago, the Alliance Navy and the Merczateers were allies. As with any organizations that compete in the same arena, there was a certain amount of competition between the two but in general they shared the same goals and operated as well as any alliance can.

So, the answer is that they fight with their erstwhile allies! The drama demonstrated in the comments to that article, is amusing. The guys, who are supposedly the stable, non-emotional and logical ones, are having a cat fight over hurt feelings and who stole who's knife. Evidently the admirals and generals are having a hissy-cow over some minor thing and started a war over it. And people say I can be moody and vindictive.

If you substitute 'curling iron' or 'boyfriend' into this, you could have any old drama I'm used to seeing. The difference is that when someone steals my boyfriend, I do passive aggressive things like destroying their reputation by spreading the rumor that they are a slut. The guys, not to be out-done, do overtly aggressive things like launching a war and destroying property. Isn't there such a thing as "proportional response"?

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

ha ha ha ha !!

You know, I think I read that article over there the other day before people had a chance to post comments - it's SO MUCH better to read, now!! hehe

Thanks for the update, Tiessa! Too funny. :-)

Anonymous said...

P.S. - - Did you see that an official AN representative had replied to your original post about your experiences during your investigative report?? Wow, you ARE famous - fantastic!! :-)

Tiessa said...

I didn't see that until you commented. I don't like how Blogger makes it hard to find out what posts have been recently commented on.

Did you read chapter4?

Anonymous said...

I have indeed read Chapter 4 - and I'm officially hooked! Still craving new chapters each day! *g*

I am afraid to comment on them because they are works of art all by themselves and I don't want to draw any attention from that storyline!!

Although I will say, second day in SL and already at the Xcite store?? LOL!! I love it! I think I'm still afraid to stop by there. :-(

But I will admit that I'm still rolling in laughter over the part:
"I'm blushing heavily in retrospect for many months of cluelessnes."

Man, I love your writing style!! And your adventures! hehe

tiana meriman said...

this war makes me laugh, it seems once again boys are having a "who can piss the furthest" competition.

although i did like that idea of an army in miniskirt hehe

Tiessa said...

Just checking that you are still reading them and enjoying them, because all of a sudden I received no comments.

One more chapter will finish off day two and I will be into a faster "flow" of events. Day two was a big day for me in Second Life.

Anonymous said...

Well, please do not feel the need to leave out any parts of that full second day in Second Life! There's lots of good material from that day so far, we would hate to miss any of it! Even if it means we just need to be patient. ;-)

And I think instead of comments, more and more people have started posting the link to each new chapter on their blogs - which is probably an even better showing of appreciation for your work. :-)

Tiessa said...

Don't worry, I won't leave out a bit :)

And thank you for the links on your blogs - which is very nice.

Anonymous said...

Actually, the war began due to tension between the groups, which had been mounting for some time.

I won't go into the details, suffice to say it had more to do than a simple 'knife' incident -- however as long as you mention it, permit me the chance to explain.

In SL, builders create objects, those objects have intrinsic value, both the builder as well as those who would part with Lindens to purchase said objects. The creators tend to work very hard, often putting in long hours to make sure every detail is considered -- much like any piece of art on e might find in a gallery. The value is determined by the demand, which itself is governed by the complexity; this translates directly into man-hours of labor.

When an item is prim copied or outright stolen, you effectively negate those hours spent crafting said object. In the world of SL, as our hosts have stepped back to punt, this involves the concept of 'intellectual property rights' and the DMCA. So yes, while it may seem silly that some folks would get so perturbed about a simple pixel knife, understand that represents more than the sum of its pixels.

The conflict arose more from the dogmatic approach by members of the other organization, none of which was rooted in fact. The fact remained that they had permitted griefers to account for their ranks, but thieves as well.

The systematic methods we use in SL combat, are merely a training tool for our members to understand and follow prescribed actions; both for aggressive confrontation and self discipline. These skills enable the individual to work under coordinated command quite handily, and certainly will be of use to more commercial enterprises.

The vitriol which tends to spew forth under these circumstances is not always people at their best. Again, understand that we take our roles seriously ... not merely for fiduciary gain under commercial enterprises but more often than not, pride.

The AN has at times, patrolled sandboxes to protect the innocent n00b from griefers, and offered valuable aid as consultants for sim security. We have given back to the community as a whole (Operation Peartree and continued to offer support for the Annual Satellite Exhibition.

However, and while to the casual onlooker this may seem a bit like 'boys with toys', Military Operations in SL are carried out with near RL precision, or as best as one may muster. The catalyst for such activity is rarely what is seen from the outside looking in.

I still intend to offer you that incentive ride, just as soon as I am able to break away from my responsibilities.

By the by, your analogy of the 'hissy fit' and replacing the word 'boyfriend' with 'knife' only applies if you have created said boyfriend from mutated prims over the span of several weeks, and then had this imaginary boyfriend stolen upon reaching some zenith of production value. ;)

Cheers,

Lt. Col. Judge Hocho, AN AD Commander

Anonymous said...

LMAO! Thanks Tiessa -- and thank you Judge Hocho; whether you realize it or not, you only make it funnier.

Anonymous said...

Frankly Alex, you and Wrath are doing a fine enough job of that on your own, without my assistance.

I have to say, I am a bit disappointed that you respond so positively to the sycophantic fawning Tiessa -- I had not pegged you as the type who tolerates such. ;)

To the matter at hand, I am having my a/c designer modify our latest engineering marvel into a two-seater version for your check ride. It will make for a more exhilarating ride than the transport carrier.

Cheers,

Judge Hocho, Lt. Col., AN AD Wing Commander