Editorial: The Worst Article I’ve Ever Wrote

Author’s Note: I want to state that I do not normally do military related articles. I try to stay out of it due to my potential to hold bias. And I do not believe that I will be able to keep my bias or my personal experiences out of this report, due to the nature of it. This report was made off of various accusations from many groups. In order to quell the potential of adding hostilities for giving names, I am not going to release any full quotes or provide the names of those interviewed. I will also state that I wish I had more time to collect information and develop this story. I have been on it since Friday night, and I have only scratched the surface…

 

 

 

After the Novus Ordo Imperialis shut down, the SL Military world found itself reshaped. Crowds of ex-militants swarmed Tethys, attempting to lay siege to the primary enemy of the Ordo’s original title, the Alliance Navy II. Many of those involved were previously of the Alliance Navy. This included those that originally fought for the Alliance Navy against the Alliance Navy II, such as Sly Axon and Timmahy Widgets. Of course, the Alliance Navy II was also originally founded by those whom were in the Alliance Navy and decided to oppose it. This was my last ‘conflict’ experience as a reporter in the SL Military world, before I went on my three month hibernation.

 

I returned the night of a meeting. This meeting was about forming a treaty called ANSUCKS, or at least, that was how it was presented. It was formerly know as and is probably heading back to the name of MOSCOW. It’s point? Establish a common ground for militaries that promotes cooperation and fun between groups, provides general weaponry for all militaries that sign MOSCOW, and isolates groups that are unwilling to agree to basic standards that were to be discussed at the Friday night meeting and later meetings. Weapons would be supplied by a system called GunGrade, from whom the supplier is not yet decided. WGA and Titan Industries Inc (formerly the Novus Ordo Imperialis) are potential candidates. The downside to GunGrade? Upgrades would have to be bought, and it is unknown if the models provided would be custom orderable or how many different models of gear would be available for militaries. The quality of this gear is unknown, and the current discussion of MOSCOW is that ALL MEMBERS would be restricted to GunGrade weaponry.

 

 

Present at the meeting were the following military groups. Some of them are not allies, and some even consider others as enemies;

The Federation, Sparta, Imperia, Merczateers, Charleston Revolutionary Navy, The Soviet Red Military, The Second Life Sky Navy, and Corsair. More may have been present, but those were the ones still there by the time this reporter was granted permission to enter. The Alliance Navy, however, was not present. Why? There are several reasons, and several reasons were given. Because the Alliance Navy wasn’t considered to be ready by some of those involved. Because some felt that the Alliance Navy would try to take over the meeting or interrupt it. But, considering that the Merczateers were mediating the meeting, it’s not surprising. Because the Merczateers have been at war with the Alliance Navy since shortly after I left.

 

What started as a dispute over intellectual property turned into a shooting when Nanao Mahfouz went to the Mercateers headquarters. And this escalated into a conflict, of which the highlight was Operation Crucifix. Operation Crucifix was a powerful assault where the Alliance Navy attacked the Merczateers Command Base for a day and a half. By comparison, the Novus Ordo Imperialis’ largest concentrated attack lasted for only four hours.

This apparently has led to hatred, as one of the representatives for ANSUCKS stated to the Alliance Navy: “ANSUCKS wasn’t just about equalizing combat in SL and making it fun again. It was about forcing you all to open your eyes and see just how much you are in fact HATED by this community.”

 

Now, a few facts about SL Militaries…

SL Militaries are very expensive. Economically? Most large militaries own a decent part of a sim. That’s $100 a month. Some larger militaries own more than that. Take the AN, for Example. Tethys (most of it) and The Woofer are sims I know are under their control, and I have heard they have a third. That is $1000+ to buy The Woofer, I’d estimate over $600 for Tethys, and somewhere around, if not more than $400 a month to maintain it all? Keep in mind those are real life United States Dollars, Folks! Most United States citizens don’t make that in a week’s paycheck!

SL Militaries require a lot of scripting, counter scripting, and security to keep your scripts secure. After all, no one wants someone else achieving the same level of tech that one has. That gives the enemy the same capabilities that the current military has. And if you are okay with it, you at least want them to earn it themselves, or have a risk off of profiting off of your work rather than having it stolen. Or what’s worse? What if someone finds a bug in your equipment and exploits it to use gain an advantage?

The point of these facts? People get very serious about SL Militaries, and they have reason to do so.

 

Now, what are some people prepared to do about this and what should anyone getting into an SL Military be aware of?

SL Militaries use a wide range of tactics to take down their opponents. This can be from bombings and nukes, getting a spy in and erasing someone’s base, to stealing real life money, hacking a college campus to try to break into someone else’s account, trying to make IRL personal contact with someone to gain information or beat the crap out of them in real life… With the exception of the last one, I have seen all of these things happen. And I’ve had to talk a few people out of doing the last, while I have had some people in SL try to get personal contacts with me. The last was from the Novus Ordo Imperialis, for whom I was #1 and then #2 on their KOS list throughout their entire existence. SOME of the reasons can be found in this article here: http://sltimes.wordpress.com/2006/10/07/editorial-the-novus-ordo-imperialis/, the others are that I observed real life money theft of over $1000 USD from an former Ordo commander that the Ordo considered a traitor (the individual whom performed the theft was later promoted to guard of the Imperator, which is another name for Emporer, King, or the President or whatever governmental system you want to compare to.) as well as intentional sim crashings done by officers in their group.

 

 

Well, that was a nice break. So we are looking at people whom want to put a lot of time, money, and effort into a group with the purpose of taking on anything that comes their way. Considering things, do people have a reason to be paranoid? Yes. Is a 36 hour attack excessive? In my experience, no. I have eight years in clans, guilds, and online warfare. 36 hours in these situations is considered ‘dedicated and organized’. After all, how many of us haven’t stayed up all night gaming and gone on into the morning? Counterstrike, Runescape, World of Warcraft or Everquest – take your poison. 36 hours isn’t too many energy drinks beyond that.

 

 

 

So, several valid points were raised at the Friday Night Meeting. First of all, if the Alliance Navy wasn’t allowed to come, then how was it a treaty that represented all militaries and was for all militaries? How as it fair and equal to all? Second, what about GunGrade? What if people wanted to create their own custom gear? And more importantly, how come none of the problems I mentioned before were discussed?

 

After the meeting, I went to discuss it with several of those involved, and a staff of the Alliance Navy as well. These discussions lasted into Friday night, Into Saturday, through another meeting, and all the way into Sunday. The Saturday meeting was between the Alliance Navy, The Federation, the SLSN, the Anthro Military Coalition, Sparta, and Corsair. Others may have attended that were not listed.

 

What I discovered was a lot of predictable claims – the Alliance Navy had broken rules this way or that. Among the reports were;

 

An Alliance Navy Personnel that used stolen scripts produced by a manufacturer whom did not approve the scripts to be used, and supposedly complained. Whether he did so or not, and what happened to the individual is up for debate. But the account used with the theft scripts appears to be banned from Second Life, and the other account is currently inactive and the fact that it may be suspended by Linden Labs was not disputed by the Alliance Navy. Titan Industries reported that the same individual was blocked from joining the Novus Ordo Imperialis based on accusations that the individual had been caught impersonating higher ranking staff in the Alliance Navy. The quote I have of this is: “she likes bypassing others to get things if there is a process to get something he/she tries to bypass it either by befriending the person in charge or just cheating their way thru. i know this cause i was in a group that he/she was in and where i worked my way up the ladder she/he tried to bypass it entirely but was put at the bottom of the ladder and was in denile and wore the articles of higher position until yelled at”

 

The Alliance Navy was accused of breaking their own rules by using Gravpack Boots that change gravity and allows inversing gravity to create what could be virtually unlimited flight. I have not discussed the limits of the Gravpack Boots with the Alliance Navy so I state this loosely, but the opinion still stands to be that of other groups. In the SLSALT, it states ‘PROHIBITS the act of flying without a proper vehicle during combat.’

 

The Alliance Navy has the potential to drop many small bombs, as was said to be about forty small bombs in a matter of seconds, from a single craft. They claimed this was a way around Weapons of Mass Destruction, especially when the bombs were cluster bombs that were capable of leveling a decent sized area. In the SLSALT, it states: PROHIBITS the use of Weapons of Mass Destruction. WMDs shall be defined as “Any devastating or destructive device which has an effective lethal radius of greater than 32 meters from its central point of impact, excepting an allowance made below.” Where the allowance was: “ALLOWS the limited deployment of weapons which would be otherwise considered WMDs from equally limited-deployable resources with which to distribute them, including but not limited to capital ships or hardened, prepared missile silos, while recognizing that such systems would require a clear and logical need for posessing such firepower.”

 

In my own personal experience, I have had problems where the Alliance Navy has explicitly stated that it will defend allies whom have broken the SLSALT and have done other grievance griefer crimes, such as steal over $1000 USD. Since my confrontation with Admiral Herbst in that distinct matter, he has since refused direct dialogue with me. The last incident of dialogue I had with Mr. Herbst was one where he summoned a marine so that the he could speak to the marine and the marine could speak to me, so that the good Admiral would not have to. Ironically, within two weeks afterwards, the Alliance Navy had declared war against the Novus Ordo Imperialis, citing and confirming the same events had happened as I had complained about. The three way conversation didn’t occur until after Operation Pear Tree – in December, well after the Ordo had supposedly disbanded. Despite the Alliance Navy going to war for some of the same reasons that I had asked the Alliance Navy to not defend their ally, their head Admiral would need to take such measures as to not have to dirty himself by talking with me?

 

I won’t deny that the Alliance Navy and their leadership can do things that are meant to degrade others, or perform actions that break the rules, their own rules, or can be seen as otherwise heinous. A quote I found good while watching Andromeda on my hibernation was;

“Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Which is a problem.
If you’re powerless.”

–Drago Museveni, “Manifesto” CY 8433

When you are dealing with people whom are willing to do anything to get at you, are you not tempted to drop down to their level and knock their teeth out? For anyone whom’s been in a military or even in a serious argument, the answer is probably yes. It’s a human instinct, and while we don’t have to act on it, even the best of us have times where our safeguards just don’t kick in and we go off. We’re imperfect and corrupt. For instance, you might think I seem like a pretty decent person, or a complete gaming nerd whom has lost her mind after reading this far. You’re right on the gaming nerd part. But if you think I’m a decent person, you’re wrong. Against the Novus Ordo Imperialis, for example, I left many members notecards stating what I felt their leadership was doing. I stated that they were silencing whomever spoke against them, executing them and putting them on their hitlists. I stated that they had squads of personnel outside of the Ordo that would attack targets for the Ordo. I stated they attacked residential districts. I stated that they had stolen IRL money and promoted the individual to the Imperator’s Guard Position (Praetorian, if I recall correctly). Yet, despite the fact that I had observed all of these incidents, was it proper for me to send notecards to their members stating such things? I tried to tell myself that members should be responsible for looking around themselves and seeing if they were supporting griefing, troublemaking, and contributing to such crimes. I asked them to look into it themselves. But the answer is? No. Most people join SL Militaries to have fun, not to put up with politics. That’s what the officers are there for. So, the question is, to what extent should people do what is wrong to right a wrong? Where do the justifications end? And a point comes of this as well – not matter how good our intentions may be, or we believe them to be, we will always end up making a mistake.

 

 

The Alliance Navy has been around for over three years time now. They have been in existence for perhaps longer than any other military. And without the Novus Ordo Imperialis, which rivaled the Alliance Navy’s #1 spot in the Second Life Military Scene, there is no one military alone that appears can rival the Alliance Navy. Very few other militaries have been in existence for any more than about a year. And if Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely, then wouldn’t being number one at least mean that the Alliance Navy Admirals have had the chance to step over ‘normal’ boundries here and there and piss some people off? Yet, even if they have, is that reason enough to try to wipe them out of existence?

 

Now, whether or not the people whom are at war with the Alliance Navy have more reason to go after the Alliance Navy or not, I don’t know. I haven’t heard any examples of anything in my interviews so far, and I certainly haven’t been around to watch over everyone’s backs to see every little detail the Alliance Navy has done. But even some of the people whom consider the AN as the larger, stronger military to take down – even those people whom have complained about their bombs and gravpacks will and have stated that even if the Alliance Navy has not played fair and is breaking their own rules, creating a treaty like ANSUCKS and trying to force the Alliance Navy to die off through isolation rather than having them be able to talk on a treaty that is supposed to make all militaries have ‘equal rights’ is just plain wrong. And that’s right. Two wrongs don’t make a right, nor does allowing hatred to overpower sense and justice. They feel that the Alliance Navy is seen as a giant just because they have managed to make it out this long, and that militaries don’t like them because they feel that they are threatened – because like what was demonstrated in Operation Crucifix, what are you to do if you are a new Military that has been around to get 30 members and a base, and the Alliance Navy decides that it is your time?

 

 

 

The issue here that need addressed are that the Alliance Navy needs to take more responsibility for its members actions, whether they are on active duty or not. If an enemy militia personnel starts attacking you, are you going to care if he has his tag on or not? And who are you going to blame? Also, learning to say that you’re sorry instead of shrugging off any wrongdoings wouldn’t do anything to hurt your image at this point. After all, has the Alliance Navy EVER issued an official apology? I haven’t even seen an unofficial one except for a low ranked member walking up to me and apologizing that I had to put up with something.

And Lastly… The greatest issue is… IT ISN’T ONLY THE ALLIANCE NAVY THAT IS DOING IT! IT’S ABOUT EVERYONE! The Alliance Navy’s ‘crimes’ that I have seen since I have returned have been NOTHING compared to what I saw from the other side so far. You guys want to talk about going after griefers and protecting SL? Start figuring out a way that you can compare your strengths with one another without needing to stoop so low. Organize so that you don’t have to worry about responding to someone else’s cheap ‘political tricks’ and can take on griefer groups whom state the day before that they will be intentionally carrying out attacks against several targets on SL. Organize so that when a military stoops so low as to steal real life money, you don’t have to bicker with one another and worry about everyone crushing you because you took as stand against something that matters. Alliance Navy, as much as you pissed me off last fall, THANK YOU for taking a stand against a group that had supported such things. Thank you for looking into it.

 

 

 

And lastly, I know I’m going to get a lot of hate mail from this. Merczateers, I bashed your treaty. You’re welcome to go back to hating me because I’m a bad person like Fega Saito told you after the Ordo fell and she came over to your group, even if she’s gone again. Alliance Navy, I used you as an example, pointed out several things, and I bashed you guys pretty well. Go back to last fall and hate me if you want. Any other military or group or individual whom feels that I left out something that they told me, or wanted included, you have reason to be pissed at me too. But at the least… REALIZE WHAT YOU HAVE IN COMMON – What you put into all of this! You’re all going to make mistakes! Give each other a chance to do so, and give each other the chance to have fun!

 

–Areth Gall, back in SL, over and out.

 

Edit: One last point to be made. For those of you wondering how I got in contact with Titan Industries, when I can’t go near their sim without them trying to shoot me, orbit me, or run me over and knock me into a place where they can do one of the previous two when they can’t do either… It’s because not everyone in a group, even if certain figureheads appear to be bad, are. I’d also like to compliment the Alliance Navy on addressing this to their troops, which they did earlier today. But it’s something to dwell on, even with things seem so bad that there is no way to get out of hostilities without crushing your opponent or being crushed.