BloodLines

In an excellent piece recently published here, DeMerick Creely wrote of the early days of Second Life, when “age play” with child avatars was a common occurrence, and identified this and other real-world “crossovers” related to the Second Life experience. He recounted the experience of an adult in a child avvie being inundated in IM’s by offers of sexual dalliances, which, if proffered in the real world, would land someone behind bars.

Recently, I had occasion to brush up against a new, and equally repulsive, (at least to me) form of “game” or “RP”, and one which is enjoying massive success across the SL grid.

This new “game”, which is exploitative and disgusting to many, is promulgated under the name “BloodLines”, and consists of purchasing game HUDs and fangs, then setting out to achieve “status” or “advancement” within the Bloodlines’ collective “clans”, by biting people virtually, sucking their “blood”, and absconding with their “soul”.

To some of us, this is not only sick, depraved, and repulsive, but it represents a real danger, in that we do not disguise our real world identities in Second Life, and the BloodLines product is storing and doling out information about their victims’ avatar names, (which represent one’s Second Life account), in their databases, along with such disturbing bits of information as to one’s “percentage of remaining humanity”, one’s status as the “minion” of another SL user, and ownership of a SL user’s “soul”. The religious connotations of this tripe are bad enough, but not a concern, in my case, thankfully, though my Pagan devotion to things of light and energy and positives really cannot embrace the dark and depressive nature of vampirism.

On an idle Sunday afternoon, not too long back, I let an acquaintance, who is not even on my “friends” list, induce me to allow one of these “bites”. Subsequently, I was asked to accompany him to his new build, a castle, and then to avail myself of some cool fangs and other gear from a vending prim. In my mind, I was thinking a pair of nice fangs might fit well with my Neko outfits, and in a weak moment elected to purchase the “vampire gear”. Understand, dear reader, I don’t completely exonerate myself here, I participated in this process, to be sure… but I was not adequately informed, nor was I aware of the outcome, which is that my avatar name now resides in a database, listed as my “soul” being owned by this other individual, and listing me as his “minion”, and as having only 82% humanity remaining, and as being a member of his “clan”. Note the meaning of the term, “minion”, from Merriam Webster: min•ion - 1 : a servile dependent, follower, or underling 2 : one highly favored 3 : a subordinate or petty official. Meaning number 2 is not so bad, but it’s definition number 1 that’s perceived by most “players” of BloodLines, I’m afraid.

Gorean and other “dark” roleplay have always been somewhat repulsive to me, and don’t get me wrong; I profess no moral “high ground” or “Christian ethic” here. I just don’t care for role play that objectifies any sex, gender, or even animal, nor do I take well to relinquishing control of myself or my “fantasy” SL persona to another avatar and the accompanying “player” behind the keyboard. Additionally, I am HIV positive, and the very idea of “drinking blood” in order to “stay alive” in a roleplay game is exceedingly repulsive to me, for obvious reasons. It took me quite awhile to convince my local blood bank to stop calling me for donations, and remove me from their calling lists, a hurtful and emotionally disruptive thing, as I’d enjoyed donating blood to save lives for many years, prior to contracting this horrible virus.

Recently, I lost my beloved partner in SL, because he would not give up this disgusting game, and I could not, and would not participate, and felt I had to force him to choose between me, and my companionship, or his “clan” of bloodsucking exploiters, who even boasted of how easy it was to grab “noobs”, (new and ignorant SL residents), and victimize them in this way. Some of my friends thought me “silly”, and advised me that it was all just pixels, and of no consequence, but tell that to someone who’s just been diagnosed with HIV, and is looking for a reliable source of information, companionship, or empathy within Second Life. Somehow, I don’t think a vampire is gonna be their first choice. I know, I know, Braham Stoker and Anne Rice, and all that… excellent literature and movies, and the “horror” genre is quite popular, with some. With thos of us who choose to focus on things that uplift, enhance, or contribute to humanity, as opposed to degrade, objectify, and focus upon death, damnation, and the macabre, do we not have our choices, too? And why, pray tell, should we endure offers of vampirism, any more than a religious group be entitled to go about Second Life offering “baptism” to every idle avatar they encounter?

Needless to say, I’m not happy about a Second Life “vendor” who makes profits from these toys, storing ANY information about me in a database, without informed consent and authorization on my part. It is my feeling that such role play should rightfully be confined to SIMS that are dedicated for the purpose, and that those who wish to spend their Second Life hours hanging out in dank, castle basements “feeding” from barrels of virtual blood should have every opportunity to do so, but not in public, open areas of Second Life, and certainly should be restrained from approaching new residents in Second Life and victimizing them to “collect souls” and advance their standings in their disgusting pastime. I have been approached, and presented with that annoying “Yes/No” menu many, many times in my daily Second Life, receiving requests to be “bitten” by these RP freaks, and I’m sick of it, and my responses are becoming increasingly impolite and intolerant, as my annoyance increases. I intend to contact the purveyors of this “game” soon, and request that any information they’ve stored about my SL account name be expunged from their databases, along with any information linking me in any way to another account, or to a “clan”, or to the concept of vampirism, which I find repulsive, as is my right to do.

What to do you think? Harmless game, of no consequence to anyone? Minor annoyance and interruption of your day? Should it be confined to RP sims, away from the general populace of SL? Are you a “clan member” and participant, and do you think twice, and read someone’s profile, and practice a bit of sensitivity, before triggering your “bite” offers? And most of all, are you comfortable with your account name being stored in a database, by someone accountable to nobody, and listing you as the “servile and dependent follower” of some other SL resident?