Cry Invalid, and the Heart Brother

I did not think anyone read these posts, especially now. But I found out at least one person does, and so I plod on with my usual eclectic reflections. I like to write here.

Invalid

SL Gor is not all it appears to be from the outside. It is a challenge to make any user-moderated competitive rp work, and when you add rp combat to the mix, and egos, it's harder still. Sims have to have "mods" who function like referees; if I think a rule is broken, I call the mod to settle it on site.

Considering none of this has anything to do with money, it is surprising how often the rp goes awry and one or both sides just call it quits. "Let's ban their group" and "invalid" are the two most common phrases in my experience. I think both are grossly overused. A couple of examples:

Near the end of my time in Fina, when most had left already, we had one guy who said he was a Torvaldslander, but was not very good at knowing what that was. He attacked one of the Red, or Warriors on duty, right in front of our gate. My man just managed to crawl inside the portcullis before I dropped it, at the edge of consciousness. Naturally, once I realized it was not a full raid but just one guy, I gave chase. Bryan joined me and one other, and we capped him not far into the Wood (capped means we hit him with arrows until he fell "unconsious" in his meter; you stay there for 5 minutes before you begin to wake up; usually, by then, you have been bound; that is capped and the meter does all of it).

We dragged him back and put him in a cell while I listened to him whine. Bryan had to log, so it was me and another guy, without an authority source, trying to figure out what to do. I went to interview one of the Free Women whom he might have attacked; she identified him as having tried, but was not injured. And then, a group standing around, the talk begins: he was here yesteday, we should ban his rp, he is griefing, etc.

I don't think attacking a man in front of a City is griefing or even bad rp; it's stupid, but it is actual rp. While all these ooc (out of character) issues were being discussed, I had Tas bring him out and tie him to a tree and I killed him with a dagger sacred to Odin. He rp'd that pretty well.

Death, by the way, in Gor rp is uncommon, even rare. For most, it means 24 RL hours of no Gorean rp. Some sims require you to prove a good reason for killing anyone to a mod. We did not have that rule, and I was sick of his whining. Likely, he went home and reset his meter and kept rolling.

But I think before we "ban anyone's rp" we should first find a way to take them out in the game (hah, I said game) and if necessary kill them. Make them not want to come back. Burn their town, etc.

Second example:

Two days ago I was upstairs in my small house in Zamora arranging furniture. I was in Edit Mode, moving things, when someone, a lone female pirate (I do give her credit for guts) snuck up behind me and capped me before I had time to get out of Edit and draw. Had I thought faster and not been so caught off guard, I might have beat her. As it was, I went down without hitting her once. I could have easily cried invalid, said I was in Edit, but since I had not set my meter to ooc or afk, which I can do, I figured it was my fault.

She was a funny little thing. She bound me, dragged me to a ship at our docks, and tp'd me to her pirate haven (though the wrong ship, the one around the corner from our official tp point: you can't just take a captive out of a sim anyplace, that would not be fair at all; all sims have official entry and exit points for raiders; she tried, got close, but was off by a bit).

Once I got there, it was actually fun. I have limits in my Picks as most do, and nobody was violating those (or me). I kept making fun of the First Mate's pirate hat; I mean, he was wearing a 3 corner hat and everyone was calling him First Mate..."I left a note, First Mate..." ; I thought that was hilarious in a Gorean sim. Since they had left a note, I IM'd on the Zamora chat and Jake himself showed up to get me. My abductor wanted to trade. Not anything real, of course, no lidens are ever allowed (well, we could trade an actual Linden, I suppose, but not the currency).

Then things went to shit. Jake and the First Mate guy got into some escalating insults, not helped by the fact that I was praying to Odin and threatening to burn the city to the ground with all my friends...the Mate like this idea so much he stuffed a map into my mouth so I could find my way back (if Jake did not want to go back, the raid would already be). So the Mate draws, Jake draws, and Jake would have had him with sword alone but the Mate draws his bow, one or two others are firing too, and Jake goes down.

The insults continue, quite normal one would think for the situation; it's amazing how many people want meek prisoners (I was long gagged by now, and going "mmmm....mmmm...mmm.....mmmm" all the time). Then, just when some twisted torture freak showed up to inject Jake with something (and oh they wanted to kill him in some awful way) the First Mate decides to kick us out. Forget their whiny asses, whatever he said I forget. Just go home; it's over, etc. How lame is that? Jake was insulting him for using a bow in a fight that began with swords and hiding behind the bow of his woman, all seemed pretty fair insults to me. But 3 corner Matie called it invalid an sent us home saying he's ban our whole group! hah! He did say I could come back to settle my personal score, but truthfully, nothing was done to me that was out of normal rp; I am not angry, except for the fact they kicked us out just when it was rolling.

What if they had not? What if they had killed Jake? It would have been up to him, but I tell you this: we are formally allied with Rovere and Teletus, and those pirate docks would have first run red and then burned to the sea. First Mate thought this was funny when I told him it would be. I am sure the pirates who abducted Julius Ceasar for ransom thought he was funny till he came back, after ransom, and crucified every one.

***

Now, for something completely diferent. I can only hope my gentle reader has gotten this far, navigating his or her way through reflections on Gor life. I don't think anyone I know in Gor reads this blog; I don't put it in my profile. I know it could be found in google (how many Telemachus Dean's are there) but I imagine my audience to be a handful of old Caledon friends, and I write here for them.

The Heart Brother

I often laugh when I am sitting at my keyboard, my avatar in world. Loud, and often. But the story I am about to tell is the funniest thing that has ever happened to me in world, or a top contender.

I do not mix rl and sl. Meaning, very, very few people in the grid know who I really am. Part of this is my job. I teach college, and, well, you get the idea. I would never want colleagues to know I fight in Gor, nor would I want students to set up avs and get in there and rp with me unawares. So, in all my time in sl, I have brought in only two rl friends, one a colleague, and finally, one a male student I trust from a lit. class; he is older, a good guy, and was having trouble navigating the grid as a noob, so I said I'd help.

I met him, first, on the bridge at Skye. I forgot how bad noobs can look. He could have been the dictionary noob, poster noob, made the list of worst dressed noobs. He looked horrible. I told him about skins and ao's and hair, but what he really wanted to do was learn to fight.

So I took him to a weapons store (he bought a pike which must have been twelve feet, running in the field, it would be like a giant flag to bowmen...shoot here) and we sparred for a while. He did fine, it is always a joy to teach new people weapons (or any people) and finally it got too late for me and I had to log. Tired as I was, I thought of the advice Nighteagle gave me when I was a noob to both Gor and sl; I still admire it: " use that Sword at your side, and guard your Heart."

When NE said that I was like, guard my heart from what? I thought he was crazy. And he said from the women, the bondmaids and the free women, the girls in here. I thought he was even more crazy. I'm married, bro, I told him.

I have honored my wife, I believe, my entire time in world. But NE was right. Feelings can run strong in the grid, of all kinds, and pass quickly through one in the rp; it's like electronic or cartoon method acting. So, trying to be a good mentor to my new in world friend, I wrote something like this:

"use that sword at your side, and guard your heart brother"

and he said

"what is that term, is it gorean?"

And I just could not figure this out. What term? What was he talking about?

So, being late at night for me, I cut to the chase

"for many, sl can be a very romantic place"

pause

"even a very sexual place"

long pause, longer

Then

"oh, oh, I get it, a comma thing: you meant guard your heart, brother"

My new in world friend, my male student from last semester, thought I was telling him to guard his heart brother, as in heart-brother. As if that were me. Then, when I began telling him sl could be a romantic place, even a sexual place, as he put it

"I thought, oohhh, shit!"

He thought I was hitting on him.

Now, that, to me, is awfully awfully funny, especially considering he had recently been my student. We sorted it out, I think, and I invited him back to Zamora anytime, but I have not seen him in world since, hah! He took my class with his wife to make it even more funny.

Love to all. Hope that last story brightened someone's day :)