Press "Enter" to skip to content

Alts and Keeping Track of Who is Who

Within New Babbage, some people have more than one av, or play several characters with a single base av. It seems to give the oportunity to play quite complex and rather fun rps, mainly because the communication between avs for seamless rp is much better than when played by different people!

I must admit though, that I find it almost impossible to keep track of which av is which, even when I have been told. It’s my failing, in both ability and memory, for which I beg your forgiveness. It does mean that if you are running several avs, I will probably treat them all as individuals, with individuals behind the keyboard, because despite trying, I can’t keep track!

If you run several characters from one av, it is easier for me, though it may take me a short while to pick up the individual character, I hope my lack of speed in such things is not too much of an anoyance.

From my point of view, as typist and Tepic, it doesn’t worry me that I do not always know, the rps seem to go well, so it doesn’t spoil my enjoyment. I am not sure how others see this though, so I though I would raise the issue. If you play several avs, is it a pain when I don’t realise which is you? If you play several characters in one av, is the delay in recognising who you are a problem, or can it be easily smoothed over in conversation?

In interest.

Tepic

Spread the love

117 Comments

  1. Mr Tenk Mr Tenk October 12, 2011

    I used to keep track of things like this, but gave up long ago as more and more people came out to me. Now I take them as they come, but still enjoy the guessing game.

    I’ve noticed people respond to alts better than people who switch personas within the same account — and now that some people can’t see what you think your name is, it’s even more confusing. having to stall to explain who you are today can be a real flow damper.

    There are a few ‘red shirt’ alts running around that get recycled and renamed frequently for use as walk on characters and corpses. i think everyone in babbage that tells stories has one of those, those i really don’t keep track of.

    There is one more category i would like to mention that doesn’t really fit here, but i think it should be said out loud. These are characters who don’t know who they are. I can’t interact with you when you’re reinventing yourself or switching major components of your personality twice a week, and i’m prolly going to back off, ignore, or watch from a real safe distance until find something that works for you. Why? You’re burning up my online time with having to sort that out every time i meet you. People don’t like that. You’ll also notice a stunning shortage of teenagers in babbage . Kids know who they are, adults know who they are, teenagers don’t. Babbage does not seem to be the sort of place for the introspective “half formed packs of personalities searching for identity” that seems to make up 97% of most anime plots. The rp blogs that come out of those characters are nigh unreadable. Our streets are not kind. You better know who you are if you want play.

    • Mr. Arnold Mr. Arnold October 12, 2011

      (While I was learning the ropes, which in many ways I still am at
      times, I followed Satu’s lead and opted for switchable persona’s
      figuring it was normal.  I can vouch that it is confusing for everyone
      involved and takes some explaining at first.  I’ve tried to help this by
      keeping it to a giant snake, a black cat, a white mouse, and a tiny
      purple micro so that size and color would make the differences obvious
      and easier to identify but there’s always those awkward moments.  I had
      considered creating an account for each one seperately after my first
      few months, but some of the stuff they have is expensive and
      non-transferable.  The micro fox av especially makes me reluctant to do
      this as it’s 700L for something I already purchased in my first month on
      SL.

      As for the identity crisis part, all I’ll say is that before
      the end of Emersons trip Arnold’s own crisis of identity will have
      reached it’s resolution.  *winks*)

      • Petharic Petharic October 12, 2011

        Having been acquainted with Emerson Lighthouse for a number of years, I’m not sure his ‘trip’ will ever end… so you may be waiting a very long time Mr. Arnold.

        • Mr. Arnold Mr. Arnold October 12, 2011

          (Good point, but I suspect that the moment of clarity of which I am anticipating will happen right around the next time he gets a chance to speak with Mr. Emerson in person or through one of his letters.  *laughs*)

      • Mr Tenk Mr Tenk October 12, 2011

        i agree that ‘to alt or not to alt’ is a fork in the road that comes along early in your avatar career. most people take the alt road, despite the time and money considerations (time being worse than money, in my opinion). i suppose the road you take depends on who your examples are. alting was probably more popular in the old naming system, where a surname would come along that caught your fancy and you’d go grab it then put it in cold storage until you needed it.

      • Jedburgh30 Dagger Jedburgh30 Dagger October 12, 2011

        Name tags or a flip titler would help cure your issues with the ‘Who is he now?’ issue

        • Yang Moreau Yang Moreau October 12, 2011

          lol People still stumble on it, but it does help. I tried a hovertext titler before and people never noticed it. It was Scottie that suggested I use a group tag. A lot of people just ignore it or now with settings have group tags turned off (I haven’t the faintest idea why people do that)

          • Jedburgh30 Dagger Jedburgh30 Dagger October 12, 2011

            I turn tags off if I go to a mass event like a BreezyBall just for the ability to see the scenery through the bubbles.  Plus it does speed up things a touch…

          • Junie Ginsburg Junie Ginsburg October 12, 2011

            I use the SL viewer, and group tags were turned off by default.  It wasn’t until you said that your group tag had your character name in it that I went and figured out what the problem was.

            So I imagine that others must have the same problem sometimes.

        • Mr. Arnold Mr. Arnold October 12, 2011

          I recently began using group name tags, but it is not always effective.  What exactly is a flip titler and how would I use it?

          • Jedburgh30 Dagger Jedburgh30 Dagger October 12, 2011

            It’s a widget you wear on your avi that puts a phrase above your head.  Some combat sims use them for non-combatants.  You can set it to display your name, and it isn’t dependant on viewer type.

      • Mr Tenk Mr Tenk October 13, 2011

        i recall when mr. underby first developed his first alternate character with the switch techinique. i recommended he go to alts, and lord knows he followed that advice well. i do enjoy trying to spot him!

    • M. Canergak M. Canergak October 12, 2011

      I happen to be someone’s alt, but if the city were to truly discriminate against everyone who had a second account for any reason we would have a much smaller population with much fewer characters which would limit the amount of stories that could be written.  The Dark Aether storyline for example would positively be impacted negatively and be smaller in scope and reach if being involved meant using only one or your original main account.

      • Mr Tenk Mr Tenk October 12, 2011

        I think you are misinterpreting me. It is well known that I use alts.

        • M. Canergak M. Canergak October 12, 2011

          There were several errors when I originally posted, and in truth my statement was meant to reply to the thread, not to you in particular.  Appologies for the misunderstanding.

          /goes back to in character on a ship heading for Armada.

    • Yang Moreau Yang Moreau October 12, 2011

      Actually, on the point of teenagers, Hono’s meant to be in his late teens, but he’s always been pretty sure of himself from the beginning. Sort of a roguish character who either knows where he’s going in life and is fine with it or couldn’t care less what happens as long as he enjoys the road there. He was still in his mid teens when he set out from home to make his life as a performer and mercenary and his best friend/boyfriend did so even younger than he did.

      • Jedburgh30 Dagger Jedburgh30 Dagger October 12, 2011

        I think you’re missing the bigger point there.  Hono is pretty well defined as a character.  You haven’t seen him in a whole gothboi avi, with appropriate story, then show up 3 days later in a full French Field Marshall uniform, etc etc.

        I think he meant teenager as one of our previous residents who had a new full avi setup and backstory that changed every 5 days or so depending on what manga was open…

  2. Petharic Petharic October 12, 2011

    I don’t mind alts… in fact I think some of my best friends may be alts. If your profile says you are two days old and you have great hair and perfect skin despite having no payment info on file, who am I to argue. Just don’t insist you are *really* new to the grid while offering me unsolicited advice on how to reconfigure my roof so as to better improve my prim-count… that’s just mean.

  3. Junie Ginsburg Junie Ginsburg October 12, 2011

    Alts can definitely be abused, but for RP purposes I think they’re great.  For my own part, I like the idea of keeping RP alts transparent, as in an “open secret.”  I’m not walking around in an alt to trick anyone, only to continue developing the character and interact in different ways.  It wouldn’t be fun to go around as someone else and say, “Hey, everybody, I’m Junie” because then they would interact with Junie instead of the character I’m wanting to develop.  But I’m okay if people know it’s me pulling the strings.

    It’s like Sesame Street.  You don’t talk to the puppeteer, you talk to the puppet.  But you always know it’s a puppet.

    • Orpheus Angkarn Orpheus Angkarn October 13, 2011

      They’re puppets??? ;-)

  4. Professor Parx Professor Parx October 12, 2011

    Alts? Bah! Hang the lot of them!

    No! Hanging’s to good for them! Scientific experimentation for them all!

  5. Avariel Falcon Avariel Falcon October 12, 2011

    Alts are great for story telling, I have no problem with people having alts. I also agree that story telling with alts is better than using ‘paper bag’ characters, although display names have negated this advantage a lot.

    My alts? I have one, but they never come to New-Babbage, they sit on the mainland and look after land group stuff. Occasionally I use them as a 3rd party perspective when I’m working on avatars, but they are otherwise rather boring.

    I note Mr Tenk’s comments on unstable characters, hopefully I don’t fall into that box as my character has had some rather dramatic changes of late. I think generally Avariel is the same as always, but being forced to live in a large clunky armoured body after years of being a small agile bunny thingy has to have some effect on personality.

    I think Avariel is more muscular now, more willing to step into the line of fire, after all that is what the battle body was for. But otherwise still the generally good but occasionally dangerous mad-engineer clockwork.

    One thing I do like about the new form is that Avariel can’t solve everything herself anymore. Before it was Avariel Falcon and the background clockwork, but now the clockwork come into the foreground as they are now Avariel’s hands.

    To bring this full circle, maybe I should make alts for some of them? ^_^  

  6. Mr Underby Mr Underby October 12, 2011

    Are we outing alts here? 

    I’m not sure there is space enough for my brood…

  7. Maddox Sinclaire Maddox Sinclaire October 12, 2011

    I have one alt account. I made it four years ago when I started playing SL for the first time. I think I have the opposite problem that Mr Petharic does. People automatically assume I don’t know absolute jack about SL. I do know some things, although not as much as anyone else, depending on the issue. My other alt was going to visit, but I think she’d be too much for Babbage, so I left her where she was. Elsewhere. If I do decide to make an alt, the decision will be well thought out and I’ll at least try to make sure they’re nothing like Maddie. And therefore reaching the whole point of an alt. :-)

  8. Father Pizzaro Father Pizzaro October 12, 2011

    The Church of the Builder offers a 12 Step recovery and support group every Tuesday afternoon, at the Frederich Abel Parabola Group Home for Discarded and Abandoned Alternate Peronas, located on Tangent Alley in the Canals District. 

  9. Ceejay Writer Ceejay Writer October 12, 2011

    Thank you Junie.  “It’s like Sesame Street.  You don’t talk to the puppeteer, you talk to the puppet.  But you always know it’s a puppet.”  — that’s how I cope too.  

    I come from a background of journal-based roleplay (livejournal is full of such communities) and I will freely admit that roleplay in Second Life is the most damned confusing thing EVER to me.  There’s not just alts, there’s avatars who are different personalities depending on what sim they’re in, and let’s toss in the ability to log in as a child and log out as an adult, and THEN toss in the group chats – City of New Babbage chat is a mishmosh of stuff about the town and about any random thing on earth, all chattered up by people that I’m never sure if they are in character or not.  I regularly hear OOC talk in IC accents, or wonder if the husband someone is wishing dead is a physical spouse or a character.  I simply cannot keep it all clear and don’t have the time or energy or inclination to do so.

    So I’ve just accepted that if you say something to me I’ll try to take it at face value and I don’t worry too much about if I might know you as another avatar.  If you say “I want your recipe for venison”, I’ll probably give it to you. If you say “I want to put a deer head on your pillow” I’ll try to react appropriately too or run away.  And people wonder why Ceejay drinks.  :)

     

     

     

    • Yang Moreau Yang Moreau October 12, 2011

      Well put, Junie! And Tepic, I think it would be unrealistic for anyone to expect others to keep up with who their alts are, even with my case of three drastically different characters on one screen name, Scald, Hono and Yang. I have no problems with reminding someone OOC if they call me Satu or Yang that I’m actually playing Hono. Especially if they’re getting to know them for the first time. I can see the major troubles I may cause others mentally for having three characters on one screen name, that’s why I try to simplify it a bit more with having a group tag that tells their name above my real screen name.

      As Arnold said, I already have this big arsenal of stuff I’ve already paid for on my main account and can’t always afford alts. Not to mention sometimes I dual screen it, so if I can consolidate a few characters who would never really have any reason for being in the same place at the same time (Yang doesn’t even know Hono, Scald and Hono are distant cousins, but drastically different in attitude and a bit of age and so would have nothing in common save their far spaced relation), then for me it’s a money saver, plus I’m on Satu almost all the time and it gives me less trouble on my computer if I can have a couple characters I feel like playing on the account I already need open for business and answering calls for rental places I help out at.

      Brain brain brain, where was my train of thought going? There was something else…

      Aha! Additionally, I come from an rp environment in the AOL chat rooms, which often had people playing multiple characters on one screen name. In the old days it was simply a jumble, then when AOL introduced colored fonts, it came to be you had to learn what font color and italics or bold represented what character for each individual. It was an environment of a Simon game kind of memory challenge coupled with friendly OOC reminders “Nope! Wrong character, sorry, that’s so and so, not such and such.” “Oh! Sorry, okay, got it!” So I guess coming from that kind of environment, this isn’t such a worry to me, even if I run into someone with multiple characters on one like I think Arnold is the only other one in town that does that, then I know if I stumble and mess up by calling someone the wrong name, they’ll remind me. Besides, a slip of the tongue in a name IC can always be passed off with an OOC correction or just played in.

      To me, part of the fun in having alts is seeing how long it takes someone to guess it’s you behind it. To see if you really can be someone so totally different from yourself and original compared to your other characters that you stump someone for a while. XD Especially someone so good at guessing people as Tenk.

      Okay, I think I’ve flooded this enough for now. I’m sure there were other thoughts, but I’m too scatter brained to recall them. Aside from considering I’ve cut down massively on characters since coming to New Babbage even with about 9 alts. I used to literally have around 50 characters and not enough different readable font colors available.

      • Tepic Harlequin Tepic Harlequin October 12, 2011

        scatter brained? scatter brained! you could juggle 50 characters, split screens, multiple personalities and call your self scatter brained! geezzz…. i get lost with more than two IMs and general chat going! hehehe I have no idea how you manage it, but all of you doing more than one character do so beautifully, just wish I knew how :-)

  10. Ceejay Writer Ceejay Writer October 12, 2011

    Well THAT wasn’t intended at all.  If anyone can delete all the extra copies of that reply please feel free.  Sorry kids!

    • Bookworm Hienrichs Bookworm Hienrichs October 12, 2011

      *thinks Ceejay shouldn’t be allowed to use the BAR without a keeper*

      *wink*

      • Ceejay Writer Ceejay Writer October 12, 2011

        You know me.  I can’t pass a bar without pausing to indulge… again, and again, and again.

         

         

      • Ceejay Writer Ceejay Writer October 12, 2011

        Stargirl is as talented as she is lovely! Thank you.  Oh and to make this reply more meaningful, sometimes you might see Java Jetcity in city chat, and she might jump into conversations.  She is Ceejays alt, and quite open about it.  In case that helps anyone to know!  She does not roleplay, she’s a creator with a shop in another sim. 

  11. Sky Melnik Sky Melnik October 12, 2011

    Alts don’t bother me in and of themselves, I play with all of them. I completely see their utility in storytelling. And let’s admit it, they’re fun to make and play.

    As far as figuring out alts I’m hit and miss, perhaps more hits than I let on. I used to be more concerned with figuring them out than I am now. Taking characters at face value is usually far more simple.

    That said, I view the following as an abuse of alts: When alts are used concurrently and one ends up standing and simply taking up space/spying for large periods of time. That really breaks my “world” a bit and I have often felt people have wasted my time in this manner.

    My goal is to always respect those I’m around inworld, be it IC or OOC. I expect the same courtesy. Yeah yeah, I know I’m an optimist. :-)

  12. Bookworm Hienrichs Bookworm Hienrichs October 12, 2011

    *Looks at the proximity in time of this blog post to hers, and has a suspicion*

    To answer your original questions, Tepic, no, it doesn’t bother me a bit.  I don’t make a concerted effort to figure out who are alts, and who they belong to–I just interact with each as they come–so I certainly don’t expect people to do that with mine.

    Though, on the other hand, I never really tried to *hide* that they were alts.  Mariah started out as a one-mention character in one of Bookworm’s posts.  But she started showing up in more posts…and finally demanded that I create her, if for no other reason than that she can do something Bookworm won’t–go into bars and drink. *grin*

    Felisa is a product partly of thinking it’d be neat to bring a Tad Williams-type cat character in for some fun, and partly an attempt to create a character that is more overtly a product of steampunking, so to speak.  Bookworm, in terms of dress, manner, and ability (or lack thereof), is much more straight Victorian than Steampunk.  Felisa’s situation is, I think, rather more related to Steampunkish tropes.

    And Tenk, I have to disagree with you some.  Felisa is a cat brain in a human body–if ever there was someone who doesn’t know who she is, it’s her.  And even Bookworm is having to cope with redefinitions of herself.  I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having a character *evolve,* even from a starting point of not knowing who one is–so long as one is patient and does it at a reasonable pace.  But an abrupt, wholesale *redefinition* of one’s character…yeah, I’m more with you.  It’s best avoided–or, at least, have one heck of a compelling reason for it.

     

    …And here I go turning my comment into an epic posting.  I’d best shut up now. *wry grin*

    • Mr Tenk Mr Tenk October 12, 2011

      Felisa’s transformation isn’t something she’s likely to go through again, and while she does indeed need to come to grips with new identity, she’s hardly an angst ridden teenager. she’s a cat brain traumatically transplanted into a human body. you can say it in one easy sentence that requires no further explaination. i’d call that well defined.

    • Junie Ginsburg Junie Ginsburg October 12, 2011

      This brings another facet of this topic to mind.  Significant character development with a primary identity seems potentially problematic.  For example: Junie, as a primary identity, is very much an extension of her typist, and as such, has a lot of quirks to be explored.  However, she is for the most part consistent.  It seems like more drastic departures from that “character” are better expressed through alts rather than through a primary identity, as this would lead to less confusion.

      Also, if I suddenly feel that my primary identity has gone down a path that is more or less irreversible, and I don’t like it, I can either lose my primary or have to do some serious retconning.  Neither seems particularly attractive.

      Just some thoughts to throw in the pot…not necessarily a question to be addressed. :-)

      • Edward Pearse Edward Pearse October 13, 2011

        Edward was intended to be far more the scoundrel than he is (although he was once a partner in a bordello). I blame having a good wife to keep me on the straight and narrow :-) For the most part he’s a Scottish version of me with better manners.

        My main alt Mr. Gears, did take off for a while on his own in Toxia but has come back to his valet role and seems to be content in that.

        The others despite being several years old are still developing. Rarely anything major, but I suppose good characters develop the same way people do. I try to be consciously change my vocabulary with them, even using American spelling when I remember. Not that I don’t mind if people know we’re connected, just to try and make them “not Edward”.

      • Mr Tenk Mr Tenk October 13, 2011

        while we are digressing into irrelevance, my #1 alt and i are/were symbiotic. we switched with the semesters, myself going into dormancy when the semester was ‘on’ as i held the math part. i consider myself broken since the elections.

    • Jedburgh30 Dagger Jedburgh30 Dagger October 12, 2011

      Book, hon…it took 2 years to see your legs.  I think you got the gradual bit down :P

      • Bookworm Hienrichs Bookworm Hienrichs October 12, 2011

        *snerk*

        I did say she was much more Victorian than Steampunk. *grin*

    • Edward Pearse Edward Pearse October 13, 2011

      Heh. I’d always assumed, given the cat affinities and red hair, that Felisia was one of Star’s offspring.

      :-)

      • Emerson Lighthouse Emerson Lighthouse October 13, 2011

        I have to admit I was also guessing in completely the wrong direction. My compliments to Ms. Hienrichs on both an excellent story and an exciting character.

      • Stargirl Macbain Stargirl Macbain October 13, 2011

        I am legion, it’s true, but no, obviously, Felisia is the one person in town who isn’t me. 

        :D

  13. Mr Tenk Mr Tenk October 13, 2011

    sorry about hijacking Tepic, but this has been a very interesting conversation!

    • Tepic Harlequin Tepic Harlequin October 13, 2011

      It has been, hasn’t it? I’ve found all the comments and ideas interesting, never thought it would cause so much enthusiasm. Several people have said who their alts are recently, always to my surprise as I have never been able to guess and usually don’t realise :-)

      I am reassured that I am not giving offence by not being able to keep track, though like Gadget, I sometimes get paranoid that everyone is Loki! hehehe

  14. Gadget Starsider Gadget Starsider October 13, 2011

    I am totally with you on this Tepic, I forget who my own alts are let alone other peoples!

    Babbage for relative newcomers like me is a continuous journey of learning about who is who and what they do/have done. When a mystery gets revealed or an alt unmasked its just part of that fun, especially if they have played it out with depth in an entirely new persona. 

    I prefer using my main 99% of the time (not just in Babbage) and tend to only use alts as ‘extras’ to develop an RP idea. I like to play with so many possibilities I worry more that my reluctance to use alts when perhaps I should has Gadget stretching beleivability for his RP age and background, but I hope that some core continuity and attention to story detail prevents confusion and the fact that the unusual seems usual in Babbage allows for this.  

    • Nat Merit Nat Merit October 13, 2011

      And while I’m accidentally double posting, I guess I’ll quickly say…

      I also just try to take characters as they are and don’t really think much about who is an alt of who (except in fits of Triky-inspired paranoia where I wonder if everyone on the grid is secretly Loki!).

      I have to say that I find interacting with people who switch personas on the same account uncannily like interacting with multiple systems in person, regardless of how different their personas look and act. On some level I think I subconciously treat characters on the same account as being related and sharing something in a way I don’t with alts, even when I’m fully aware that they’re alts of a particular typist.

      So is it better to have people accidentally treat you as separate typists or treat all your characters as the same person? I think one or the other is going to happen to some degree… (From an immersionist point of view, separation seems the preferred approach).

  15. Jimmy Branagh Jimmy Branagh October 13, 2011

    ((I take characters as they present themselves.  Don’t really care who’s typing.  I have one alt – some know who it is and others do not.  Doesn’t seem to affect RP either way.))

  16. Breezy Carver Breezy Carver October 13, 2011

    Alts ?   We have ALts ?  :p

    • Primary Gears Primary Gears October 13, 2011

      Of course not Miss Breezy.

      We are all individuals!

  17. Breezy Carver Breezy Carver October 13, 2011

    OH nods nods  Thank You Mr. Gears …

    ** Psst Years ago I just thought October that certain wonderful  time of year , when every other  alt is thought to be Loki . * Big Smile*

    ***Point .. for the most part not to insult  egos of daily role players  .. most don’t really care who alts are whom .  One would think they care about having fun with a twist plot thanks to the use of them .

    Hence  a Good Well Played Character  Alt with short Quick ,intereactive, structured *fun*  thoughts for all  !!

    I do applaud a character when well done !!

    • Primary Gears Primary Gears October 13, 2011

      There’s only 5 people in Babbage I’m sure. Everyone else is an Alt.

      Let me see:

      Skusting is Dickens’ alt

      Jed is Doc O’s Alt.

      Loki is Avarial’s Alt

      Wiggy is Underby’s Alt

      Tenk is Jimmy’s Alt

      Jimmy is Tepic’s Alt

      Tepic is Maggie’s Alt

      Victor is secretly Star

      Junie is Stormy’s Alt

      Book is secretly Phaedra’s Alt

      Breezy and Bianca are both alts of Kandace

      And the Melniks are each other’s alts.

      That leaves…

      Edward, Satu, Emporer Crumb, Father Pizzaro and Pocket as the only people not alts.

       

      How am I doing so far? :-)

      • Mr Tenk Mr Tenk October 13, 2011

        Ah, but which Emperor Ezra Crumb? He sees double so often that there are two of them.

         

        • Mr Underby Mr Underby October 13, 2011

          I’ve often wondered how many people have noticed that…

          • Sky Melnik Sky Melnik October 13, 2011

            *raises hand and grins* Though both are always adequately drunk.

          • Yang Moreau Yang Moreau October 19, 2011

            Either I haven’t noticed or I’ve only run into one.

          • Ceejay Writer Ceejay Writer October 13, 2011

            Yes. :) Well sorta.

            Ceejay Writer and Java Jetcity are dual mains nowdays as far as I’m concerned. They share a quiet worker-alt who does the heavy lifting in undisturbed space.  She’s not super secret, she simply doesn’t have friends, on purpose.

            Now if I can figure how to get such an alt in RL… WAIT! Those are called Minions.  *goes to get a few*

             

             

      • Jedburgh30 Dagger Jedburgh30 Dagger October 13, 2011

        Edward is Christine’s alt, and Christine is really Desmond Shang’s alt.

        We have the video tapes.

         

        …and I am really an AI that runs on a DARPA server in the basement of the NSA building in Greenbelt MD.

        • Junie Ginsburg Junie Ginsburg October 13, 2011

          Would you like to play a game?

          • Jedburgh30 Dagger Jedburgh30 Dagger October 13, 2011

            Hello Doctor Falken.  How about a nice game of chess?

        • Christine McAllister Pearse Christine McAllister Pearse October 13, 2011

          Actually, I am Edward’s alt.  Everyone knows that ;-)

  18. Serafina Puchkina Serafina Puchkina October 13, 2011

    And me. I am not an alt. Quiet in chat, but definitely me.  

    It’s good this discussion is going again. From the length of this thread, it appears the topic resonates with most of us. 

    I used to get twitchy, wondering if A was really B who angered everyone as C, but I finally concluded that it’s really none of my business. 

    Have as many alts as you please, but don’t hurt people. Don’t mess with their heads.

     

  19. Jonathon Spires Jonathon Spires October 13, 2011

    I have one alt but I dont even have the attention span to use him often. Make a nice refreshing break for rp when your main is out of gas, so to speak.

  20. Breezy Carver Breezy Carver October 13, 2011

    “Have as many alts as you please, but don’t hurt people. Don’t mess with their heads.”

    Well Said Miss Sera …<3

    …….Emperor Ezra Crumb Brilliantly played character :)  makes me smile !

  21. Breezy Carver Breezy Carver October 13, 2011

    Come to think about it ..  Aren’t Alts pretty much ..  like Fight Club ???

    • Sky Melnik Sky Melnik October 13, 2011

      We don’t talk about that, Breezy. ;-)

      • Junie Ginsburg Junie Ginsburg October 13, 2011

        I am Jack’s character flaws.

  22. Sheryl Skytower Sheryl Skytower October 13, 2011

    I iz… me.

    ’nuff said.

    :)

  23. Mr Tenk Mr Tenk October 13, 2011

    I’m actually a gorilla in a language research lab near Boston.

  24. Elleon Bergamasco Elleon Bergamasco October 16, 2011

    Tho admittedly not often in the BAR, I actually read most of this posting, very interesting Tepic. I do have the one alt, easily recognized as her first name is Elleon spelled backwards and she’s rather… large and loud… And also Victor is VERY fond of her *snicker*

    Personally I am much like Mr Spires; I don’t have the attention span for an alt, and barely have the time due to RL for my main lately. I also have a memory like a leaky seive, so I know some have told me who they are alts of, which I promptly seem to forget (I’ve a recollection of once meeting Jimmy’s alt, but couldn’t pick him out in a crowd today). I used to make use of the “notes” function in profiles, but often now I get pulled afk before I can remember to make the note, so again-seekrit identities are safe with me.

    I WAS surprised to find that Book had an alt, but I know it is very very likely because I rarely get the luxury of reading the BAR to know all the delicious stories that are going on. I would like to add something tho, I have heard from several people that they feel a sense of alienation/paranoia in Babbage that everyone is an alt of someone else and they need a playbook to keep things straight and not step wrong. I say, get some brain bleach and don’t care who is who, blindly trusting that everyone is here to have fun and, as Miss Sera said, don’t screw with anyone’s minds.

    Pardon the horrific grammar and stream of consciousness style, just had a week with visiting relatives and feel lobotomized.. but didn’t want to forget this.

  25. Leia Rossini Leia Rossini October 17, 2011

    An interesting thread Tepic.  I don’t use an alts because of limited play time, and believe they add spice and help move stories along, when that’s how they are used.   Besides, Leia has the full wardrobe.

    With an RP optional sim–and I’m not suggesting this needs to change–it’s hard to tell who’s IC and who isn’t.  I find myself being more OOC than IC so that I can hang out in some of the more seedy places with colorful characters that my own character would not normally socialize with.   And I’ve given up on figuring out alts unless the person expressly tells me…or it’s so obvious I just ask them to confirm.

    Leia dressed head-to-toe in black widow-wear = IC  

    • Sky Melnik Sky Melnik October 17, 2011

      Good points, Leia. :-)

      For the record, Scottie and I tend to be IC until someone else shifts the conversation OOC. We’ll accept being fluid most of the time.

      It’s rare we walk on sim and expect to be completely OOC. On those rare occasions we do make a point to wear modern clothing.

    • Jedburgh30 Dagger Jedburgh30 Dagger October 17, 2011

      What I notice with trying to stay hard in a strict IC stand is the “Williamsburg Effect”.  I have in my meatspace life volunteered at several ‘living history’ type museums, and a part of that is being a costumed 1st person interpreter.  Part of the joy in talking with school groups is dealing with the one kid who wants to play trip up the person in the funny clothes.  I have found that it is far more tedious to try to stay in 1st person to the point of it being pretty ridiculous.

      That said, Jed is semi-IC all the time.  The joke I make is that she knows she’s an avi in a simulated world…Yes, I won’t cuss if you forget to put your last update on *insert fandom* in double quotes for OOC.  I also reserve the right to make jokes about your blingy shoes and your coinslot jeans if you’re in town.

      • Cadmus Lupindo Cadmus Lupindo October 17, 2011

        I tend to be the same way. Even in OOC I tend to answer in a Cadmus-esque way.

  26. Blackberry Harvey Blackberry Harvey October 17, 2011

    I always start out IC and then feel out the conversation. Especially Gil, Helio, Kane, and Fulton are almost always IC and I find it harder to talk OOC through their voices, so I often switch back to BB if the conversation goes OOC for a while.

  27. Mr Underby Mr Underby October 17, 2011

    Underby used to be all IC all the time.  In the last year I have started to drift into OOC conversations, due largely to some vile female influences in the town… but enough said about that.

    Though, even when OOC, I tend to be OOC from Underby’s point of view… if that makes any sense whatsoever.  Close to what Jed said I guess, though in my mind its more like Babbage is a stage and these people play versions of themselves.  Whereas Underby IC is a bit of a bastard, Underby OOC is an alright guy.  I think.  I just rambled for two paragraphs in front of the whole town.  It must be Monday.

    • Sky Melnik Sky Melnik October 17, 2011

      *grins at Underby* Made sense to me. Jed and I were just saying that we need to come up with a word for that…

      • Bianca Namori Bianca Namori October 18, 2011

        Jekyll and Hydeing?

        Two “different” personas but yet one in the same person…

        • Stargirl Macbain Stargirl Macbain October 18, 2011

          I like the term “Jekyll and Hydeing.”

          But I have to object to the quotes around ‘different.’ For many there is a distinct difference between how their characters treat people vs. how they themselves treat people.

          Admittedly there ARE those in town who have no difference between IC & OOC, but those, in my experience, are relatively few and far between. 

          But I think what both Underby and Jed are saying is absolutely true. Let’s face it, when you’ve been interacting with some people a specific way for a few hours, weeks, days, months it does color your OOC conversation. There’s a reason why sometimes the conversations that happen in Steampunks cause quiet grumbling: Because it is so at odds with what we have been doing. We’ve fallen into a groove that’s hard to shake. 

          • Professor Parx Professor Parx October 18, 2011

            ((This is the drawback of playing the villain or someone with a specific anti-social bent. Parx is specifically against non-humans. His typist however, couldn’t care how you want to represent yourself. If people take his “racist” (speciesist?) views as those of his typist that would be bad. I hope though that he’s enough of a pantomime that people see the characteristics for what they are – acting.))

            • Bianca Namori Bianca Namori October 18, 2011

              I think that comes with at least getting to know the person a touch OOC. Reason being for that I feel you can then realize that all actions of the character are not personal attacks against your person. However, it’s a vicious cycle and with Babbage being so mixed, it does leave that area for the confusion and possibility of things being misconstrude more than they need to be, should be, or want to be in the first place. 

              I refuse to sit here and say that what and how Bianca has felt or does feel about some things and ways isn’t in some part a reflection of the typist. However, what has helped is getting to at least talk to a few friends on a non “character” basis so I at least know that this person isn’t just out to be an evil troll behind a computer wrecking peoples worlds and stories because they have nothing better to do.

              It’s like Star has mentioned, there are some Great Walls in Babbage that people have thrown up for whatever reason and people are comfortable and feel “safe” behind those walls with who they want in there or who they have given the password too. It’s getting the idea to spread like a plague that not everyone that IS a bad guy onscreen is doing it to be on a seek and destroy mission or has said something to try and drive a spear into your typists heart or mind, it’s just their character.

            • Phaedra Underby Phaedra Underby October 18, 2011

              There are a number of difficulties in playing a villain and you’ve hit on one of them, Professor…

              Actually, now that i’m thinking about it. This would make a very interesting topic all on its own. 

  28. Breezy Carver Breezy Carver October 17, 2011

    Grins each time Breezy logs on she is .. a character .. with an extra kind heart.. at the very ..least,  till she is treated poorly ..  :)

    Truth be told, In an other world …..  I don’t think many of us would know one and other , first hand on an empty path in broad day light ..  Do you ?? 

    • Avariel Falcon Avariel Falcon October 17, 2011

      I went beyond confused, and had to resort to befuddlement.

  29. Maddox Sinclaire Maddox Sinclaire October 17, 2011

    Completely OOC Message from Maddox’s Typist:

    Personally, I like to ask sometimes when I see someone I want to talk to. I’ll IM them and ask them if we should be OOC or IC. Because, as Mr Underby stated, there are some people that Maddie shouldn’t speak to IC. She’d be less than a lady. *chuckle* But I pretty much talk to anyone. I like to socialize with people who make me smile, and that’s somewhat reflected in Maddox. But she and I are two really different people. She’ll make different decisions than I will.

    With that said, I usually leave IMs as OOC. Makes it easier if I have to ask an RP related question to someone I’m interacting with. With some characters, I don’t. Just depends on who I’m talking to at the time. ^^

  30. Bianca Namori Bianca Namori October 18, 2011

    I still am looking to see with some people who can crash a sim first with their alts logged in at once…

    • Cadmus Lupindo Cadmus Lupindo October 18, 2011

      I don’t think I ever crashed a sim, but my personal record is 5 avatars at the same time.

    • Edward Pearse Edward Pearse October 18, 2011

      I’ve crashed sims on occasion but that was usually due to the number of people at a party. My first three major events as a DJ crashed the sim each time. It became a bit of a running joke from there. :-)

      I have managed to have 4 AVs all logged in at once, but it was for a picture so none of them were moving.

    • Orchid McMillan Orchid McMillan October 18, 2011

      Well, I’m sure if anyone could do it, it would be me. My personal best is 8 logged in at once, and I only stopped because I wasn’t seeing any degradation in performance and got bored. :)

      • Bianca Namori Bianca Namori October 18, 2011

        It’s a true story. (You show off…)

  31. Gadget Starsider Gadget Starsider October 18, 2011

    Ok it was a good attempt to trick me, but I still know you are ALL Loki, except Loki who is Loki’s mum! (and Mr Tenk is Governor Linden).

  32. Zaida Gearbox Zaida Gearbox October 18, 2011

    I’m convinced there are only 6 people with 12 alts each in Babbage.

    How do you mugs log in multiple accounts at one time without screwing up your computers?  If I log in both of my accounts for longer than about five minutes – besides getting confused – my computer freezes up.  I have 8 GB o f RAM and recently installed a better video card, and my computer still freaks out on me if I log both in. 

    So, I mostly only log in my grow’d up to pay tier and when I don’t feel like being little and cute.

     

     

    • Jedburgh30 Dagger Jedburgh30 Dagger October 18, 2011

      Sorry to break your bubble, but I am mostly real and I don’t have 6 alts.

  33. Cadmus Lupindo Cadmus Lupindo October 18, 2011

    We are all just a dream Shaunathan is having.

  34. Elleon Bergamasco Elleon Bergamasco October 20, 2011

    We are all really the bored imaginations of a bunch of people who are stuck in Gor RP’s they can’t seem to extricate themselves from…

  35. Dante Bandit Dante Bandit October 23, 2011

    For the record…. Wiggy is MY alt!  Not the other way around!

  36. Zaida Gearbox Zaida Gearbox October 27, 2011

    I’m still waiting to hear how you log in more than one account at the same time without your computer freaking out on you. 

    I’m building an adult avatar whose first name will also be Zaida and is meant to look more or less like I imagine Zaida would look as an adult living in the 21st century instead of the late 19th century.  She will have dreads, wear baggy pants, and t-shirts.  I had forgotten how expensive it can be to outfit a new avatar.  It doesn’t help that SL *improved* their starter avatars again, and the adult Zaida couldn’t be born with the same starter avatar.   I tried to mod the skin and eyes, but it looks awful, so I’m going to have to buy skin and eyes for her.  :-(  I’m already up to 1000L.  She’s only got two outfits, and I haven’t found suitable skin yet.  o.O

    • Kaylee Frye Kaylee Frye October 27, 2011

      You do it by having a powerful enough computer to handle 2 instances of SL running at once.  Thats pretty much all there is to it.

    • Stargirl Macbain Stargirl Macbain October 27, 2011

      What kaylee said. My computer isn’t fantastic, but it IS quite good. I can get three running if I turn the graphics all the way down. Two run well on middle-of-the-road graphics. Some people have two or three computers in the house that they can run accounts on separately as well. 

      • Jedburgh30 Dagger Jedburgh30 Dagger October 27, 2011

        My 4 year old Dell can manage 2 at the same time rather nicely with moderated graphics settings.  As long as you have a good bit of RAM and a properly set cache, it should work properly.  If you have a minimum specification machine or one that is very old, or a subpar internet connection, then it might be a fruitless endeavor.

        • Zaida Gearbox Zaida Gearbox October 28, 2011

          I think it might be because I’m on a wireless connection.  But if I want to plug in I have to move my computer upstairs.  I have 6 GB RAM, a decent processor, and a decent graphics card.

          Though, I did have both the Zaidas logged in last night with my graphics turned all the way down and it wasn’t too bad.  I just don’t like turning my graphics down all the way.  SL is less bright and shiney like that. 

           

  37. Mr Tenk Mr Tenk October 28, 2011

    tmi, z. learn how to turn it down.

  38. Zaida Gearbox Zaida Gearbox October 28, 2011

    And while outting our own alts seems to be an unofficial passtime in Babbage, I just found out last night that outting someone else’s alt is a ARable offense.  I looked it up under Community Standards, and it’s 100% true:

    Disclosure

    Residents are entitled to a reasonable level of privacy with regard to their Second Life experience. Sharing personal information about your fellow Residents without their consent — including gender, religion, age, marital status, race, sexual preference, alternate account names, and real-world location beyond what is provided by them in their Resident profile — is not allowed. Remotely monitoring conversations in Second Life, posting conversation logs, or sharing conversation logs without the participants’ consent are all prohibited.

    So, think hard before outting someone’s alt.

    • Stargirl Macbain Stargirl Macbain October 28, 2011

      I’ve never met anyone who openly outs someone’s alt. In fact, I know a number of people whose alts I do know who prefer I act as though I don’t know that at all. And I do, because whoever your avatars name is, that’s who you are. So far as I’m concerned.

      I hardly mind if people figure my alts out. Most of the time if I concider someone to be a close friend I let them know who I am anyway or, sometimes, just assume they’ve already figured it out.  

      There’s only one alt I keep genuinely secret and that is for all the obvious reasons. 

  39. Mr Underby Mr Underby October 28, 2011

    That didn’t go without saying for you, Zaida?  I sort of assumed that without having to read it.  Why would someone knowingly out someone else’s alt unless they were deliberately trying to be a bag of douche?

    Where did this come from?

    • Zaida Gearbox Zaida Gearbox October 28, 2011

      Just a random point of interest.  While I’ve always thought it was a sleezy thing to do it never crossed my mind it was a ARable offense.

       

    • Stargirl Macbain Stargirl Macbain October 28, 2011

      It’s one of the standing Linden Labs policies. 

       

Leave a Reply