joy!

Angels

She stepped into the hall of mirrors
Where she discovered a reflection of herself

Sometimes she saw her real face
And sometimes a stranger at her place

Stargazing me

In a tumbling sea

Up in the galaxy

Staring down on me

Stargazer reach out to touch

With your mind that frees you so much

Stargazer kissing your kismet

With bright jewel encrusted scars

Stargazing me

In tranquillity

Up in the galaxy

Staring down on me


Fiery the angels fell; deep thunder rolled around their shores; burning with the fires of Orc.

I've watched Gas explosion glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate, Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.

All those ... moments will be lost in time, like tears...in rain.

The cAcKliNg rAt…

some say it should be called the „cackling Urt“, but have not taverns always have had fantasy names? What does “The honest Polititian” or the “Jolly Taxpayer” in Portsmouth, or the “Swan With Two Necks” refer to? So it is the cAcKlinG rAt!

What does it do?...yes, the effect is as expected. Tavern keepers are a powerful guild on Gor…usually roleplayers are trained to not battle there: But located right at the docks, greeting visitors and inviting them is so NEW to Gor!!

Everyone expects to not be welcome on a gorean sim, to be greeted with insults or futile threats, with arrows or –if a roleplayer is lucky- with ignorance or an instant ban, however absolutely no one is welcome on a gorean sim. At least as far as women on gor are concerned.

Sim Owners pay 295 US$ a month to release a set of rules that explain all the conditions for bans of their fellow goreans. Gorean sims are opened up to tell people there is better roleplay elsewhere.

At best, most sets of rules could be titled: “Leave, its no fun, go play elsewhere!” The sim Owners, yes it US, WE are the enemy of Gor, we keep saying there are too many sims on gor, we ignore the massive traffic in the Gor Hub, not understanding why so many roleplayers go there. There are not too many sims on Gor, we just try to make it as unwelcoming as possible. There are not too many sims, we fail in attracting people. Sim Owners send out notes advertising their sims, but when you go there, their rules are saying: “If you want fun, leave instantly!”

I still do not know more than five sims of Gor, because I do not ignore the sim rules. I read them. If they declare I m not welcome there I leave. They invariably do.

Saphronicus for example publishes:

“(i) The docks is no longer safe after 10 mins. Great thing,isn t it? Safe? Ok, I m already leaving.
All griefers will be banned. Goreans who break our rules and principles will be ejected and if 4 Council Members agree, a ban will be enforced on Goreans.

3) BANNED WEAPONS
(i) Banned weapons are in the attached list.

4. Any Free Woman found to be carrying or brandishing illegal weapons shall be subject to imprisonment and/or enslavement, or both.

7. A Free Woman may sell herself into slavery, but once the transaction is completed, it is too late for her to revoke it

11. A Free Man who saves the life of a Free Woman and is not her Free Companion, or Protector, gains the right to enslave her or receive compensation in the amount of her fair market value as a slave.”

would anyone sane really enter a city like that? Or are we all brain washed?

Where is the warm welcome of a fellow gorean? There is none. These rules are effectively saying that this sim welcomes no one.

Now you understand what the cAcKliNg rAt is for. Goreans are actually STUNNED when someone says: Welcome! I am happy that you are interested and brave enough to still explore Gor, despite not being welcome anywhere.

I witness that effect every day. People come on the sim, they are TENSE, bows drawn, set to battle, barely able to see what is there due to mouselook setting and switched off alpha channel, bow held up front. Approach your fellow gorean! Are you not happy to find another gorean in this synthetic Earth- world??

You should. Be grateful. Welcome your fellow gorean. Some people invest heavily in beautiful dresses, they invest into roleplay to make our gor a wonderful place. Listen to your fellow gorean and acknowledge that he or she is there to make it the wonderful place it deserves to be.
The channels are full of discussions about others doing wrong, about ones own ways being the only true ways. Why is that? The worst enemy every gorean sees is his or her fellow gorean.

Gor became a sad world, destined to fail.

It will never succeed if we do not change our ways. It will never succeed if we don t stop accusing our fellow goreans, whose only wrongdoing is being themselves, who only try to enjoy gor.

Discussions about profiles saying “No rape”? Is THAT your Gor? are you a happy rapist? Go to the ugly free bdsm sims, or even better, stay away from your comp: Gor should NOT be a gathering of the mentally ill, a gathering of the sickos that DO exist on earth. If THAT is Gor, then we are only lucky it does not exist, and we are lucky if it will never have success, for sim rules that TELL: This is a place meant for recruiting patients for psychopathology.

Where is the Gor of mentally healthy people who are only themselves, where is the Gor of nature loving people where is the Hero who battles for justice, where is the competent woman with a straight back who stands up and TELLS what is wrong here?

Gor is punished day by day by people who fail to mark it as the wonderful place it is meant to be. Gor as a copied system is the most outstanding case of mass mismanagement.

Withered Vanities

Oh treachery that you should so despise
my fair and bonny mien with scant disguise.
Nature that erstwhile did bear me quarter
hath turned to spite and doth love me shorter,
adopting now a cold and distant air,
my heart replete with darkness and despair.
How beauty fair and youthful personage,
mere vanities, do wither so with age.
Mine eyes must close as doth my weary heart
to guard 'gainst winter's chiding frigid art,
and rest upon the hearth and hope of spring
for all the vibrant joys that it may bring.

Gypsy Sparrowhawk

Raids

I m in my jungles…and enjoy nature, enjoy friends. Now and then people I ve never met come and see me. That’s sweet…I m happy to have company!!!!

“Welcome wanderer in the jungles of Gor, whose feet carried you out into a scarcely populated wilderness…what can I do for you?”

Some say they are exploring…”you are welcome to explore. We have no hidden gadgets here, you are welcome to walk around and enjoy the beauty of the flowers that grow…and once your feet are tired from exploring join me at the fireplace and tell me what you liked most”

Some say they are looking for someone: “you are welcome to look for someone. I m alone in these jungles, they are my home. If I meet the one you are looking for I ll leave word that there is you out there, seeking their company…smiles..”

Some say they want to capture a girl:” you are welcome to walk Gor capturing girls, but it is so futile, tired wanderer of Gor: why don t you go into any city of Gor where MASSES of girls kneel and long for someone to allow them to serve with their heart and soul and their bodies? Life is so easy on gor…if you seek a girl, all you need to do is to select one of the multitude of kneeling ones and allow her to serve you. So many who wait and hope, such a waste of beauty and desire…be an angel and accept the love that is offered?”

Some say they want to battle: “you are welcome to battle here. Have some vulo soup, I help you waiting for someone to battle and keep you company…are you sure you do not want to go to a place where people live who love to battle?”

Some say they come to hunt: “Welcome to your hunt, we are plagued by monkeys in the trees all around camp, pick as many as you want, and when you are tired you can sit with me and tell me of your success”

I m doing that since a long time and I found out that people on gor are SO open for a welcome, because no one ever does. Do we not fail our fellow goreans? Should we not invite them and offer them bread and salt? We are of ONE mind, after all? should we not talk about our gor and compare our experiences?

Gor is a good world. Lets live our Gor like it should be: A world of nature, a world of honesty with ourselves!

Metered combat cheats???

Weapons:

Bows and blades are tested, tested, tested and tested….

the whole matter is an epic failure:

1. the damage is SHOWN to every player..no different damage is possible. If an arrow hit shows “arrow” damage, its arrow damage, nothing else.
2. the speed of an arrow…can be an issue…higher speed guarantees that a player needs less correction for running avatars…so easy to test an arrow for speed
3. the delay time…is easily tested…a shorter delay is noticed in battle
4. multiple bows…now what a delay will result of THAT? lol

speed and delay in between hits would be easy to gauge by the meter but it can be a separate gadget as well…

there is not much cheating possible with a bow but ONE thing: a guided arrow! THAT is possible by a lil tool, run in parallel to second life and impossible to find out.

Meters:

there are cheatermeters as well, people using homemade meters. Now THAT is an effective tool to win every battle!!! They can be found out.

there are no cheater shields…shields can be seen.

Computers:

There is however one cheat with a MASSIVE influence on your battle result: An ultra fast internet connection and a comp that works with that speed. Why so? because a high frame rate is a guarantee that every arrow hits. If in battle your frame rate is as low as 2 you can never win, because you don t know where your opponent is and shoot blindly.

Therefore, if someone tells me they win, I know how fast their comp is.It’s a cheat! Because it is a massive advantage that is independent on skill.

Independent on skill?...now, seeing an avatar and pressing a fire button is not really a “skill”, is it? Yes, there are newb failures, I do not talk THEM. I do talk equally knowledgeable gamers who consider the usual. They press the fire- button at the right spot. However one of them does not see the other changed direction, because the comp was too slow. Who will win?

Summarized, cheating to win saves money for a comp. That’s all. A new comp with a fast connection technically does not qualify as a cheat, but that does not make battle fairer. Its still a method of winning or loosing that is independent on skills other than the skill to spend money. All the thorough research on “cheats” is therefore a massive waste of time. Roleplay comes by agreement, not by combat skills. But those are not needed: Gor matured and no one will waste time by roleplaying with an unwilling party.

Therefore, Fabiens Hub is the best invention since establishing gorean sims. A place to socialize: That’s all we come to gor for.

Isolated

So I am a proud Gorean. I have my own island, I enjoy the beauty of Gor, I enjoy the company of my Sisters, I enjoy the people who come and visit me.

A world of beauty. I should be content.

There is something like 600 sims of Gor in Second Life’s 16000 sims. I don t know them. I know about 5 gorean sims, including the Gor Hub.

So I walk. Want to see more. I walk and go to another place…weeeeee it’s beautiful here by the looks of it? So I leave the docks and am met by a shooting runner. Ok, I m not wanted here. I leave.

I visit another dock…read the rules…as soon as I enter roleplay the safety of the docks is gone?...”Tal Panther” the man with the blade in his hand says. I leave without a word.
The next sim…Kurii…Kurii???...They eat humans right? I don t even go down. The next is a city. I will not wear a veil.

Isolated.

Our sim rules sound like a threat, not like rules. You can be captured, mutilated, whatever…I read my own sim rules. I think I should rewrite my sim rules, my sim rules are as forbidding as all of them.

“Welcome on an island of beauty! It is here for you to enjoy with me! Join the fun, experience life on a planet without pollution, be One with Nature, One with yourself and see the beauty of our gorean lands!”

But not now. I took a job in a club, they have great music and DJ s, people are happy. I host, I welcome people...I love it! I am my inviting self again, my welcoming self and try to make everyone happy! So much me, I am not responsible here, and I can help and support, its me, it's a great club! I prefer to not be responsible. It sets me free. In my rl I’m a lone mom ALWAYS responsible, weeeeeeeeeeeee I DANCE I whirl I laugh and smile!

On coming back home, I ponder. I once fled to Gor to be myself?! What is missing here? I need my sim, on no other place of gor I would be welcome: 598 sims wasted (598 just in case: I made an exception for YOURS, goreans LOVE to argue!)

Gor is not welcoming. Goreans like to attack, to FORCE you to do something you never came for. Instead of a greeting you meet hisses and snarls if you are lucky. If not you meet arrows, risk being entangled in some roleplay you never aimed for, and don t DARE to try n be yourself, we have RULES, we are not DISNEY or anything? and here s your ban! Thank you.

I found out that Disney is my Personality. Call me Daisy, please.

I have 135 members in my tribe. Do I? I think I have 5 Members in my tribe, the rest left Gor to whatever places. Why was I unable to keep them interested? Was I not welcoming enough, not helpful enough? Or was my sim not gorean enough? No, that is not the case. They left Gor.

Gor. It shuts us out. No need for 598 sims that don’t welcome anyone anyways. Try different places, try places of beauty where you are welcomed and where someone is happy that you join in.

Gor has massive problems: Sims suffer for not having enough traffic, some say we have too many sims: Is that not a declaration of bankruptcy? We have too many sims? We do not. We FAIL in making people welcome on Gor!

Remember the Gor Hub. That place with the map of Gor. It became a hangout. One of the RARE places on Gor that welcomes people!!! Fabien, YOU understood what Gor does so wrong!! And you are rewarded with MASSIVE traffic! People feel good in your Hub, they talk, they socialize. Happy Gor! Go to Fabiens Hub, forget the Rest.

People build vast fortresses. A fortress can look good, but what I see is fortresses with locked doors. Why? Are you afraid? Afraid of what? A fortress with locked doors is stupid. A scripted item that removes anyone who is not on the access list is easier. It will guarantee that you do not have unwelcome people with you. A fortress with locked doors…symbol of shutting people out. It’s the reason why gor will never succeed. Open them! Open your doors, unroll a red carpet that leads into the sim!

The model of Gor is not being given a chance ever with the way it is mismanaged. Its not your fault, roleplayer. It’s the summary of mass management failures. Failing to welcome people. There is Thassa…ok, 597 sims remain that don t welcome anyone.

Sim Owners send out notes, seeking for roleplayers to populate their sims. On reading the rules you become aware they don t. We are a BtB sim. BtB? Does that translate into me not being allowed to be myself? To play a set role? Great if it pays as a job for an actress, I apply. To my disappointment they don t pay actors well.

Isolated. People act BtB roles.

Once upon a time, online Gor was meant to liberate you from the restrictions of our modern times world. Our Online Gor mutated into the most unwelcoming places in Second Life. Don t DARE to bring in your personality! It may not be by the books if you feel mercy! Remember, Gor MUST be a harsh place!! Must it be?

Oh the books are so vastly misinterpretated! Do you really think the Vikings were battling all the time? They would soon be extinct.

A Kajira may want to be Kajira in Online Gor. Its nice to be cared for. A lot of them forget that CARE is not a one way road. And when their Owner walks away and leaves them at home it serves her right. Kajirae are a sim Owners Kajirae. THEY have the capacity to welcome people, to keep people on the sim.

They most often don’t. Instead they greet politely and kneel and are silent. Waiting for orders.

Dolls

We have good schools for kajirae in many places. We teach them to serve, to dance, to greet, to dress properly. And then? Hey you are taught? Now be ACTIVE??...they don t. they kneel. Its what they learnt. A kajira has EVERY means in her hands to seduce. And the result? pussies and breasts flashing from every girl. How boring. Gor is full of naked bodies, who cares for another pussy. No one wants to drag a doll on a chain behind? I grew up, I did not have a toy on a leash since I’m 4.

Isolated.

In more than one sense. Sometimes its better to dream than to try it out and let the dream be ruined.

I should write new sim rules. Tomorrow. Or the day after. Maybe.

1 sim of 600. 0.2% of Gor. In terms of Traffic a lot less. Gor, is it really needed that I conform? No one forces my hand! I have my own sim, I set the rules myself?!
I will WELCOME people, and try to make everyone to feel good! Tear down walls and stupid rules. Check everything and test it if it is truly needed.

You call yourself ‘Master’? Enjoy your kink, have a seat, like some vulo soup? You want to kneel and call yourself kajira? Enjoy your kink, have a seat, like some vulo soup? I’m ok if you flash your nakedness at me, I can look into my bathroom mirror and see the real thing, nothing really exotic for me to see on you.

You are a panther shooting panthers? Great, tell me of your adventures! Did you find love?

You are a slaver, hunting for prey? I m sure thousands would kiss your feet if they knew. Go and look for those. You are invited to a vulo soup. Tell me what you are on Gor for.

Gor is a themed roleplay world. There are different roles to enjoy. But Gor welcomes no one. Wherever you go, you meet enmity. Roleplayers who try to take your fun, Sim Admins who administrate badly composed rules that invariably lead to drama, Sim Owners who don t have a philosophy but paste and copy rules.

I want to be myself. That’s what I once upon a time came to Gor for. Its my choice to make it better. Its my choice to create my roleplay world to my content. I will. If you enjoy my sim, be welcome. How stupid I am that I did not start earlier.

© Larah Oh