Opinion Page
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Although I positively adore my esteemed and lovely Sister Voo, I have to disagree with her and a couple of the others regarding the parking issue. First and most importantly, I am a paying member of this service. I pay for access to the server to do as I wish, 24/7, within the scope of the TOS. Parking does not (and never has) violated any form of the TOS. I've been a member for quite some time (with a break of a year or so) and in all that time I've been ghosted a total of ONCE by a Caretaker cause I was in someone's way. Parking ghosted is an option, yeah, but that doesn't allow the same interaction because people don't know I'm there. Because I am parked, doesn't mean I'm always unavailable. Logically, I don't park in gaming locales.... I don't park in front of the Magic Shop (lest the Darksiders have me for lunch ;o).... I don't park in a place where I think I'll be a bother. And yeah, I am by the turf teleporter thingy most of the time, but I very rarely cause a problem there. If it gets crowded and I notice, I ghost myself. Peeps know this is where I can be found. Since turning ones back is a pretty universal signal in ALL the worlds that someone is AFK or busy with something else, I cannot understand why on earth anyone would take it as an insult. For goodness sakes, it's pixels people. Also - if you are here during different hours of the day, you will find at certain, early hours of the morning (at least EST) you will find there are ONLY parkers on the street despite a 100+ count inworld!! You would rather a newbie come to visit and find there are NO other avies around while they're exploring?? This could cause much more of a bad impression than parkers, IMO. Policy for the Acolytes/CareTakers has always been "if they're not in the way, let them be - if they are, let us know and we'll ghost them" even while they discouraging certain areas for parking for obvious, logical reasons. Parking in one's turf is NOT a rule. It is NOT required and it often causes problems (see references to hacking/poofing/etc. in previous articles). And it does not allow those of us parked for one reason or another the option of seeing everyone else come & go and interact. I enjoy this part of parking. To be honest, I don't sleep well or often. Many nights I will park and lie in my bed, unable to drift off, watching the avies come & go near the teleporter. Some friends stop to huggs or smooch me regular-like, which I enjoy immensely, even if I don't haul my butt out of bed to respond. Those that know me know I am watching 98% of the time ;o) People park for many, many reasons and who gives any other avie the right to say it's wrong or impolite or should be a punishable offense? People park when the boss is looking (a big one for me, personally), when they're working in another window, when they're reading the forums, when they're hitting the litter box, when they're using the other avie for one thing or another, when they're on the phone, when they're romancing others via ESP, when they're using a paint program to develop the next contest-winning color, when they're cooking dinner, when they're playing Mama, when they just don't want to talk to you, while they're writing an article for the VP, some when they want to eavesdrop on those talking around them.* Why should it matter to the rest of us? It doesn't in any way detract from OUR ability to enjoy being inworld. And it's really none of our business! Some of us come to chat with friends, some come to play the games, some come to enjoy the experience of buying/selling & making a profit, some just to annoy others, some to decorate, some to enjoy the contests & quests, some to do the event things. We all have our reasons for loving this place. Personally, I can't afford to collect the things I enjoy most without parking and earning every token I can. I can't afford to just buy a million tokens when I want something. So if my machine is up & running, I'm parked while doing the Mom thing and at work too. I can earn 1200 a day between the two avies IF I'm in here 20 hours a day, even when I'm busy with another something or other. And I pay for that option! I love DS. I love the social aspect it affords me the creative aspect of the contests and gaming. I love decorating and I love collecting. Why I love it is personal. Why someone in particular is parked is also personal. Who is any one avie to say it's wrong, if it doesn't violate any rules or cause anyone undue grief? Just because YOU find my little, adorable avie back offensive, does not mean the majority of others feel that way. Frankly, I think everyone is getting way carried away with fretting over the parking thing. There are so very many other issues to deal with IW; so many questions and things to be concerned about. It's possible our world won't be around much longer. Would this issue really be so controversial if we knew our world would die in 2 weeks for sure? Of course not. I'm hurting no one. As long as this is true, I expect people to respect MY right to spend my paid-for time in world ANY way I wish. And that includes parking if I desire. Live and let live, my friends. I may not always agree with what you have to say nor with the things you choose to do, but I will adamantly defend your right to do so, provided you are a paying member and are causing no harm to anyone else. Respectfully (and with a <<smooch>> to Voo ;o), ~ MizJule ~ |
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