Administrating Gor

Second life Gor.

Its a huge beast, you might compare it to turning a thalarion around, compared to a urt, or even a kaiila.  You can not change its direction easily, its a huge behemoth that just keeps going and runs over anyone who decides its direction is not right, that something needs to be changed.

So much so that some beautiful builds of Second Life Gor,  From Ar, to the more recent Thermae, to other builds such as incarnations of Cos, Tyros, Treve, even my old home Verr Fjord where I administered on behalf of Lyndal Homewood, they get cut down before their time.  They end up a distant memory until someone tries again, or tries something new.

Each and every one of us, who visit, or choose to live in a town, paid for by the generousity of others, need to pause, and take stock of our own contributions.  The least each and everyone of us can do, is determine to give the best possible role play that we can find within ourselves.

While I write this, the Jarl of Thermae has released notices to his group, about the sims closure, I stand here talking to him about the difficulties he has experienced, and to be honest, I know something about some of these, as I myself administrated Verr Fjord for nearly two years.

There will always be troubles from an administrative angle, you will always have at least a couple who make a circus out of how things are handled, or tended to, there will always be one, or two who will take exception to some act, large, or small by another, just for the sake of creating drama, and creating hardship for someone else.  You would think, that if its just one, or two difficult citizens, or visitors, the administration of a town, or camp should not be such a huge issue, it should not take alot of time out of the administrators hands, you would think that they would be able to be out, and about, enjoying their sim, taking part in roleplay, instead of 'putting out fires' or dealing with drama.

I was relatively lucky I guess, back when I administered Verr Fjord, I had a sim owner, who simply handed me the town reigns and said 'go with it'.  Of course, my name itself might have had a large part to play in that decision,  he wanted to fade to the background, and enjoy himself, he needed time away, which we all get from time to time, where second life events, storylines, drama can just get to much for each of us.  The story can just as easily be a polar opposite for another.  Especially if the sim owner himself administers the town.

When I come to Gor, I come to roleplay, yes, those who know me, know that I push lines, lines blur, and yes, I do bring a huge part of who I am in real life, to the role I take on within the Second Life grid we use to reconstruct John Normans Gor.  I take pride in knowing what I know from the books, a knowledge that while its far from perfect, is well earned, and hard LEARNED.

I also do something else when I come into Gor, and that applies every time I open a second life group, every time I open a IM, every time I step on a sim to roleplay.  I do a fact check on myself, every interaction, every word I say, its carefully measured against ONE standard.  That standard is the collection of John Normans Gor novels.

I suspend the truth we all know, that exists on earth, in how I was raised, to some extent, I align myself in the heritage of what is found in the culture, and ramblings of John Norman's Gor.  

Settlements like Thermae, like Tyros, like, well, each and every sim anyone has ever tried to build, have to survive not only financial burden, and the burdens that real life puts on us.  The time we spend in secondlife, should be enjoyable, should allow us to escape the pressures of our first lives, and explore, escape into something while fictional, and recreational, but perhaps even much more enjoyable.

The largest problem, it seems, that most of these sims, these settlements have to battle however, is something far different from financial.  Its far far worse.

Drama

Thats right, Drama, and its not even the good kind, that is roleplayed, and allows everyone to play off of each other for their own enjoyment.

I have seen this in person, however I was relatively lucky with the people that frequented Verr Fjord.  Turn that around however after I left, and in another settlement, another sim, different people, and suddenly I can see a bit more clearly why a city can be the best build in Second Life, it can be low lag, it can be perfect, and yet, when you add people, when you add the very life of a town to it, you risk destroying the hopes and dreams of what could have been.

In the end all it takes is one, one person, one role player, to destroy it.  Do you know your role?  Do you know how your character, played, would react? would grow?  would evolve?  Do you take what would be natural, as per the books, and integrate that into who you are when you put on your character inside Gor?  if you don't you would probly do alot of people, a huge favour by either not staying long, or staying out entirely.  Don't get me wrong, you'll most likely be welcomed.  You will likely be invited, you will get some roleplay, they will try to guide you, as long as you can be guided, and helped.

However.

What truely destroys these sims, these cities, is the fact that the drama queens, and kings of second life, they come in, they integrate themselves into a sim, to be part of it, either on an occassional basis, or as a key role basis, and then they take exception to an event, or a small bit of roleplay, or they toss a hard worked storyline in the garbage because they cant give up the least bit of control over their roleplay.  Every person who enters these chat areas, these roleplay areas, and it goes the same for second life, irc, or any other environment used to replicate, reproduce what we desire to roleplay in, needs to know how much damage they risk imparting on the community as a whole when they suddenly break from story, from culture, from what their role would be.

The problem is in Second life the financial strain is higher, and so when it comes down to a decision, a sim ends up being lost.

I can not stress how badly, its needed for each and everyone of us to throw down, and be what we came here, Gor, albeit Second Life Gor, to be.  Don't get hung up on the legalities, dont get hung up on the technicals, do not get hung up on every small detail, the books are varied for a reason, the books stretch over a huge mass of time, and across vast distances, so unless there is something in the books, that says something is 'unlikely' or 'did not happen', dont restrict your roleplay by it.

Remember, the strength of the sword shall set your limits; It also would not hurt, to let your sim owner, or sim administrator know, how much you appreciate them, and lend them your loyalty, they might have earned it.  Just a little.

Wind and Steel.