Family ties

 

I’m a vampire.

This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who regularly reads my blog or knows me inworld, even though I been very lax in not having posted anything since, oh my god, November last year! So, this will be my first blog of 2024, and it’s already June!

I’m a vampire, I’ve said that already, but, spoiler-alert, I’m only one in Second Life (SL) and not for real. Although I might be, I wouldn’t admit it though because people tend to get weird and run away if you do, or start whittling stakes. I’ve been one since soon after joining SL in February 2008. I hadn’t planned it when I entered this world, didn’t even know about it, but after a mere few months suddenly I was, almost by accident, I’d been embraced into Bloodlines.

Bloodlines, or BL for short, for those who don’t know, is an SL inworld roleplaying game that has thousands and thousands of players. Players, among other things, are defined as ‘active’, or not. I’ll explain this the best I can soon. Most players are a member of a ‘Family’, the umbrella term for clans, hordes, covens, guilds, etc. Of those who don’t have an allegiance to any family are regarded as ‘clanless’, the Bloodline’s term for it being in ‘Curse’. This can be by choice or circumstance.

I’ve worked out that there are currently 5,692 Families in the game, all pretty much being a mix of races, such as vampire, lycan, angel, demon, or a hybrid of any of these, i.e. a vampire/lycan is called a ‘vaewolf’. One other race is humans, and as with all other players are either in a ‘family’ or not. Families lead by humans are known as guilds.

5,692 is a lot, the largest family in sheer numbers to date have 78,522 members, while the smallest ones have only one. These are ranked according to the number of members who are defined as ‘active’. On saying earlier that I’d explain this, truth is I’m not entirely clear on what defines ‘active’ in Bloodlines terms, it may be those not ‘destroyed’, as in bloodless (or empty of your particular race’s vital life-source, of which we lose a little each day unless you regularly feed on others, or, you’re protected with a special amulet), or it might be how recent you’ve logged in to SL, or something else entirely. Perhaps someone can tell me.

I am the head, or leader, of my own family, or clan, called Veiled Fang. I founded it years ago after having spent a couple of years in other clans learning the ropes, finding my feet, or, my fangs, so to speak, then suddenly found I had my own clan. Out of curiosity, I did a few pointless sums on my BL family’s statistics to work out what percentage of our members are actually defined in BL-terms as ‘active’. So, out of our total 394 members, only 49 are shown as ‘active’. This is only 12.44%.

This sounds low but it’s not bad at all in comparison to many other clans. Some, especially those with huge numbers in the thousands, can have as few as anything between 1.5% and 9% active. I think though that this metric can’t be used as a reliable measure, because of those families with, say, only one or two or three members, many show all one, two or three members to be active, which is 100%, that’s hardly a fair comparison when working out how active a clan is or isn’t, or at leats its members.

Another interesting sum I did was that out of the total 5,692 Bloodlines families to date, a whopping 1,880 have only one member, that’s 32.92 % of the total number of families. If you include those families having only two, three or four members, that’s 3,831 families, equating to 67.30%. Phew!

This is what a few empty moments in the day can do to me, make my brain want to play with pointless things. Still, it gave me something to write about, even though it may not be of any interest to you at all, and may even have made your brain hurt.

© Anan Eebus

 

wherefore art thou

Where are they all?!

All those tens of thousands of people on SL inworld at any one time, where do they go? Frequently I’ll log on and see on the opening screen the numbers on how many avatars, or avis, are inworld right now which can be usually anything between 25,000 and 50,000 and sometimes even more, yet I barely see, meet, bump into a single one of them. Although, that’s an accidental lie, I do, a few, but literally only a few on my travels, in ones and twos, threes and fours here and there, sometimes tens of people, occasionally a few dozen at best, but that’s pretty unusual.

So, even if you add up these avis scattered across the plethora of sims that exist in SL there’s no way they can account for the tens of thousands, surely. It’s baffling, a conundrum, an enigma, a Mobius strip-shaped wrapped up in a Schrodinger’s cat sat a box wearing a hat.

But then, what I’m really wondering is, where are all the real people? Where are those who aren’t bots or zombies? I’m not talking actual zombies, by the way, that although being real people with real accounts, they don’t actually do anything other than stand or sit around, often just to camp for money or goods or whatever. I’m convinced their real-world owners are often not even at their computers, logging in only to go afk (away from keyboard).

Many of those I see around aren’t actually anyone at all but Bots, or SmartBots, but are nevertheless included in the numbers online because they are actual accounts. They are usually of one of two types of Personal Bot, ‘Standard Bots’ which function as such things as greeters, AI support, inviters, notice-senders; and then there are ‘Model Bots’ which are those used as mannequins, dance models, beautification, and usually moving in some way. These tend to do less than the Standard ones, but, in saying that with respect to both, they are actually real avis, it’s just that there’s no one behind the keyboard, no one at the wheel. Some can even be set to automatically log in and out like being on a timer. But, like I say, being actual accounts as such, they are included in the number inworld at any one time.

But these bots aren’t anyone you can have any meaningful interaction with, and that includes another relatively new thing I stumbled on the other day, another kind of bot in a way, “Smart-Mates”. There really is such a thing, I know, weird. They may sound a bit rude or naughty but nope, they aren’t, sorry to disappoint. They hang out with you, follow you, always want to be with you, which can be regarded either as welcome company, or, a bit creepy and clingy. Some have been lovingly called, ‘bodyguards’. Like the other kind of bots, they too are actual avatars with real SL accounts and also like them there’s no one at the wheel, so to speak, and you rent them as opposed to buying them. I think anyway, I am not totally clear on how it all works. How much control you have over them I’m not sure but might feel a bit like owning a blow-up doll.

Some days can really feel you’re wandering around an abandoned world where all the people have been stolen, kidnapped, abducted. So, where are they all? Or, have I got it wrong and in fact we the real people are actually outnumbered by the bots and zombies, and now, ‘smart-mates’?

© Anan Eebus

 

 

the rising dark (from the Vampiricalia)

 Bloodlines, Netherworld, Progeny, Vampire Mafia, Vitae, The Hunger, Eternal Conflict, Dark Embrace, Masquerade, Embraced, Immortal Legions, Empower Immortals, Night Blood………

     … they came, they went, precarious between the night and the day, the real and unreal, some still stalk while others have crumbled dust to dust and ashes to ashes, some burned brightly but briefly and others were left behind remaindered but still clinging on to dear undeath, starved of blood, bereft of souls become ghosts, phantoms, husks trapped in a never forever in defiant decay refusing to greet their already fateful fate, and as for the rest, may they rest in peace.

      Bloodlines still hangs on the dominant vampirical force in the Second Life (SL) landscapes and remains the most reliable despite not being cheap and far from affordable for everyone.  Like all games and roleplays in SL it is not what it used to be and has had to innovate to survive, nevertheless it’s still the prime-cut whatever your temptation, be it Vampire or Lycanthrope or extra-human as in a Bloodsoul, a Demon or Angel or combinations of any two: quite clever really.  It’s grid-wide and not confined to a single sim which confers it some advantages but could also, as has happened to many, just as easily be its downfall as in too big for its boots (or fangs or claws!) if not handled with the delicacy of a love bite. It’s HUDs frequently get updated and lands currently being revamped and added too which hopefully all the better for roleplay.

      Progeny is now likely the second most played vampire game inworld and continues to grow though not quite as exponentially as it did when it started, times which were rocky to say the least.  Recently progress has slowed to a statelier but near snails-pace of growth leaving many frustrated who years later are still waiting for things to happen that were promised and still haven’t materialized. It is definitely less democratic than Bloodlines and definitely more secretive and you still have to be invited to join but it is also less costly, at least at the basic level of play. Progeny can be a bit sluggish when it comes to new things even though it has lots of ideas but its sim doesn’t match Bloodlines for functionality or imagination yet and its website is still inaccessible and almost closely-guarded secret. Progeny’s almost one-hand juggling doesn’t do it any favours.

      The Hunger: first blood still lives and breathes, hanging in there, but only just. It still functions though for whatever reason interest has waned. Their website has been recently updated for the first time for ages which may mean a possible reanimation is on the cards. What future plans they have are still uncertain or at least kept under wraps, or underground! At least like Bloodlines and Progeny they do have a homeland of a kind and shop. Nevertheless, it still feels all a bit on-hold and languishing in a stasis waiting for a sunrise that may or may not come. Its main motivator was/ is battle, conflict and competition but with so few are active its relevance hangs somewhat limp . They do have a huge range of Races though to choose which could be seen as spreading things too thin and just too confusing, or, likely to hook a wider group of people. Regardless of any of this there are still vast numbers who at least own one of their HUDs. Like Bloodlines though it is still too costly for many to effectively take part, especially if you want to set up or acquire your own clan which is blood-curdlingly expensive.

      Eternal Conflict, subtitled ‘Angels and Demons’, is one on which to keep a beady eye as softly, softly, quietly, quietly behind the scenes appears to be growing in numbers and interest. In addition to those two Races it is planning to add to its canon with Vampires, Lycans and Thralls under the subtitle  ‘Afterlife’. Not exactly a new kid on the block but new enough to still be novel for anyone looking for a change from the older regimes and intriguing enough to attract shiny new converts. again though there is a cost element which is a continuing problem in SL, not everyone can fund their habits inworld so easily. It’s quite secretive and low-key and you do need to be sort of invited, as with Progeny, which means finding an active player to welcome you with open wings.

      Empower Immortals still lingers but only just and you’d be lucky if not total amazed to find any active player or clan now inworld. Mostly a world of Vampires, Lycan and Humans but does include other Races such as Fae, witches and Demons and there are similarities to Bloodlines, though not quite as close as Netherworld which it is obvious poached a lot of their ideas from it. In all fairness to Netherworld they were trying to make a more affordable version for those not with the deep pockets required for Bloodlines.  Bizarrely their products can still be bought on SL’s Marketplace so in one sense it clings on though likely its days are numbered if not already past their ‘best by’ date.

      Believe it or not that well-known online and real-world vampire game of Masquerade can still be found inworld. At best though it is merely in remnant form, though being the even more highly-secretive almost mason-like world it is one can never really be sure. Inworld it has no tools, weapons, HUDs, none of the bells and whistles found in the others, and is entirely confined to roleplay, character-development and suspension of belief.

      Vitae was for a time a brave attempt at establishing something new in the SL vampire community and while it lasted, which was actually several, was fairly successful and in many ways worked far better than all the others. It was certainly simpler and definitely cheaper, hence affordable to many and not over-complicated but had plenty of toys one could indulge and interact with.  Before its untimely death it did start to offer everything for free in an attempt to rescue its decline and encourage participation but in the end was defeated by the powers greater than itself, apathy and indifference.  It even had a sim for roleplay but its creator had a meltdown from being the sole doer of everything, which is no mean feat and basically impossible for any one person, even a vampire, to sustain the demands of these things.

      Vampire Mafia, Embraced and Night Blood and countless others which at the moment I can’t remember are buried beyond all hope of exhumation. Vampire Mafia was also a near copy-cat of Bloodlines, in fact started by disgruntled BL vamps, which probably in part lead to its downfall despite having its own impressive roleplay sim as well as being grid-wide. Embraced was based on a combat-model of roleplay, the KROS system known as ‘Kindred’, like The Hunger in a sense but distinct and had a clever range of tools, toys and fangs. It too faded away eventually, probably diminishing returns of revenue and interest as at first was quite costly but towards the end did what Vitae did and virtually give stuff away, but not even that saved it. As for Night Blood, this was designed by a band of unapologetic and disgruntled Hunger-players as essentially Vampire versus Lycan but barely bothered the competition before crumbling in a heap of in-fighting and bitterness.

      Vampires, what are they like!

      Then there was Dark Embrace, one of SL’s best-kept secrets for a while which of course meant it didn’t last but while it did functioned as probably the friendliest of vampire games, which sounds a bit strange for Vampires but worked regardless. It’s a simple vampire-only HUD-based system but different from any other and whose ethos was to keep it simple and affordable and most of all fun. It still exists, not in the form of a shop, or vendors or a dedicated sim but in me, being probably the sole-player of it now still wearing and fulfilling its objectives.  Lucky for me I had all of its bits and pieces bequeathed to me by the creator on leaving SL, though sadly not the scripts to change anything. It still works though and perhaps is closer to the true nature of vampire, loner, rogue, truly hiding in shadows but very much up close and personal to unwary necks.

      So there aren’t many now though there is no shortage or vampire-themed sims and lands some post-apocalyptic,  some based on literature such as Dracula, or Television á la Buffy, Vampire Diaries, Supernatural, or movies such as Twilight (cough!) or Underworld and some focused on some kind of mythology like the inworld lands of Transylvania, Nocturne or Convergence. None of these are grid-wide though but instead provide a kind of immersive roleplay through their sim-specific HUDs and combat systems. Needless to say SL is littered with various vampire clan lands so watch your step, and where you land, your fate could be just a bite away.

      So many roads of bones littered with unrest, abandon and corpses, regardless it’ll all come to an end in the end, eternal life be damned as it is anyway, one day proving immortality to be a just another contradiction, misinterpretation, an exercise in wishful thinking, an altered state in which only the sorely deluded are convinced they’ve evaded the epistemological silver bullet or stake that was there all along plain as a new moon night.

 © Anan Eebus

Note:  if anyone remembers any other SL grid-wide vampire roleplay systems  that I haven’t mentioned here get in touch and tell me as I know there have been more, leave a message, email, IM inworld, whatever. Thanks for reading.

https://slbloodlines.com/
https://www.progeny-vampire.com/
http://thehungerfirstblood.com 
https://ad.eternal-conflict.com/
https://immortals.empowermagick.com/
https://secondlife.com/destinations/roleplay/vampire#