The Ocean

The Ocean

by catalina Gearbox

To all it may concern, no wait that’s not how I should start this. Umm ok, I suppose I should start by saying hello and if your reading this, well you must be bored out of your mind. I’m writing this so that well… I guess someone should know, so let’s get started. the first time I saw second life its was a fun little program, you could build, makes friends and lots of other things I won’t get into

It was fun making your AV or avatar for those of you that don’t know and you could have it however you liked. This of course was in the days before all the improvements, I laugh when I think of how basic its was and god the glitches were horrible, one in particular always plagued me the most.

The glitch is called the ocean, you will hear this from old timers that have been in SL for 6 or more years. The ocean, well first I should explain that in Sl there is land we call sims and when you move from sim to sim your AV’s data is moving from server to server and the ocean is when you AV’s data doesn’t fully connect to the server you are trying to go to, leaving you in a space of all water or the ocean. A simple fix for this is to simply relog, but sometimes you will need tech support to leave this in between

That’s where my AV would mostly end up, because it was still kind of new and the owners took a long time to fix anything. Now I didn’t really mind ending up here, it was a minor annoyance if you didn’t need tech support. Anddddddd one night that’s exactly what I needed. I loged on, talked to some friends and got stuck and after several relogs and a few days I decided to get tech support

Tech support: what seems to be the problem today

Me: I’m stuck between sims

Tech support: Ahh the ocean

Me: yeah

Tech support: so are you loged in world?

Me: yes

Tech support: ok what is you avatar’s name

Me: my name is **********

Tech support: ok I see that you are online and your AV is reading that your on your home sim

Me: no that’s not right

Tech support: oh That’s where you are, your client is just receiving the wrong data. so what do you see?

I looked around for a while

Tech support: Sir?

Me: oh! yes I don’t see anything but an empty sim in the distance

Tech support: Ok that’s good, I will reset your account, and you should reinstall second life

Me: Ok thanks

Tech support: Thank you for calling and have a nice day After that I hung up the phone and reinstalled second life I could log in again. But something bothered me, all the other times I was stuck in the ocean I had never seen the sim before but since it was a glitch I shrugged it off. and went to talk to my friends and finish up some stuff I was making, it was a fairly rough build and I had just started building. after a few aggravating hours trying to get something just right I loged off. when I did I noticed the land disappeared. like in the ocean. I didn’t put much thought into it and went to bed

The next morning I logged on and to my dismay I was in the ocean again. Just as was about to relog I noticed that sim was closer than it was before *huh that’s different* I thought as I reloged thinking the glitch was doing something different *oh well* I said pressing the X. The game let me relog fine and I went along with my day until the thing I was working on disappeared, needless to say I was pissed. I had been working on that for a month and had lost all my progress that day *sigh that’s just second life I guess* I took a break, when I came back things turned even worse. the build I was working on was in my inventory (that’s in-game inventory), it had been there when I left. so relog and I’m sure you can guess what happened, the ocean *this is getting to be silly* I said starting to log out again! when I noticed the sims a was different now it looked like it had small hills and something I couldn’t make out (keep in mind that his was when I was still a noob and I had no Idea that I could move my camera free from my av)

After reloging I gave a huge sigh of relief, my build was back *That was a close one, I had better make a back up*. I quit what i wa working on for the day and went to hangout with some of my online friends. They were kind of assholes but online everyone is an asshole to some extent. they had given me the name sailor because all the time I had spent in the ocean

Dave: Hay sailor, I see you made it across the ocean

Me: shut up Dave, I’m not in the mood

Dave: Aww whats, is your sailor arms tired from all the rowing

Me: it’s this fucking game, I almost lost the project I was working on

Dave: lol that thing, if I where you I would be worrying about deleting that pile of junk

Me: yeah right after you delete that crappy AV

I laughed not wanting to give him more ammo for another insult

Dave: whatever, I bet you couldn’t even get a first day noob to buy that piece of crap

Of course we were joking but i was still pissed about the events of the day.

Me: yeah right(I said sarcastically), let’s go shoot some things

Dave: now you’re talking, I call the shotgun

The rest of the day went without a problem, but my mind was going back to the ocean and that strange sim, it was a curious thing, Prims or Object didn’t exist in the ocean, they couldn’t its was just communicated data, when I tried to tell my friends about it they told me it was just a glitchy program

Dave: Yeah man, all sorts of weird glitches happen in sl. just the other day I loged in with everything attached to my ass

Me: yeah but this was different somehow

Dave: look if it bothering you that much just cam over to it

Me: cam?

Dave: yeah man you can move your camera, don’t tell me you skipped that part of the tutorial

I instantly slapped my forehead, thinking of how much time that could have saved me Me: Oh my god, it would have been nice to when I started building a month ago

Dave laughed

Dave: I guess some people have to learn the hard way on hearing my friends laughter I got so pissed at that I instantly loged out, I got a bite to eat went to bed, still angry from the days events I laid in bed, before I went into a deep sleep my mind raced back to the ocean, I got exited to think I could now see what was on that sim.

The next day, after having cooled down a bit from the night before I decided to log into SL before work thinking I might see what was on that sim, after the loading screen was finished I found I was in luck, there was the sim but when I tried to cam over to it, the whole thing disappeared *dam, I guess it is just a glitch*. I logged out then went on with my day, work was very boring that day, nothing happened and time seemed to roll as fast a glacier.

I was relieved when I got home, opening a beer then starting up the computer. I couldn’t wait to get on second life. I loged and without fail I was in the ocean, it was so common place I would have closed it out without thinking except for *my build!!*

There it was the project I had worked so hard on and almost forgot about, it was just hanging there just for a second or two and then it was gone. my stomach felt into my lap. I knew it was just a glitch but something gave me a bad feeling. I reloged, impatiently waiting to see if it was safe. the loading screen seemed like an eternity before I loged in. I opened my inventory, annoyed it was taking time to load. grumble *COME ON!!*

Once my inventory loaded I looked everywhere to find it, *ii..its gone!!*. I couldn’t believe it. the project I had spent so much time on was just gone, even the back up. I was so careful how could this happen. This fucking game just ate my work!!

After that I don’t need to tell you I turned off the computer and started watching movies to cool off, the past couple days having been enough to drive me in to a bit of a depression.

After a couple hours I decided to log back in, to see if second life was just messing with me or if anything could be salvaged. The black loading screen gave a dim glow as I watched the progress bar in anticipation. when I loged in, I gave a sigh being stuck in the ocean again I turned around to see if the world was still loading. Shock filled my face as I saw what was behind me, IT WAS THAT SIM!! and this time it was right next to me *but that’s impossible!!* after a moment I found I could move, another impossible thing considering where I was. Then I noticed something it was hard to make out and forgetting I could cam, I walked over to it. As I did something impossible happened, it got easier to see, something that shouldn’t be possible considering the graphic’s showed everything clear as day

I walked over the small hilly landscape finally getting to the center of the sim there it was. It was a small bump made of an ooze like material. I wanted to get a closer look but found myself afraid to, then I remembered I could cam almost slapping my forehead again. on closer inspection I saw that the ooze wasn’t ooze at all, *numbers?* I said to myself. Then I saw that it wasn’t just numbers there were words as well, things like fuck and shit. sometimes whole sentences saying awful things that I can’t bring myself to repeat

* This thing is awesome!!* I said to myself but when I went to right-click it, there was no menu. *No menu?* as I sat there trying to get something to work I found that nothing worked at all, no map, no inventory, I couldn’t even get the edit window to open. *What is this place?* I asked to my self standing there in confusion.

It was then that the ground started moving, not like it was being edited but like it was alive. It’s at that moment that the ooze that the to move. it shifted and rose above the ground, parts of it falling off, until it took a shape. It stood like a man but giant size and its arms were thick still running with the black ooze all over its form it let out a loud cry. The cry was awful, it sound like someone had recorded a 1000 hideous recording of the most fowl words and played them all at once

I almost fell back from my chair at the sound of…. this thing!! then it did something that shook me to the core. It smiled at me. I was frozen to me seat as I watched it hold out its hand and made my project appear. I was ecstatic!!! it was back but had I known what was about to happen I would not have been. it smiles at me again as I tried to get closer, It moved again as I watch my project disintegrate before my eyes

For a split second I was….mind numbingly angry until it reached out a picked up my avatar. *that’s impossible!!* I thought as I watched it cover my AV with its black ooze before dissolved my AV. At this point i was in shock with my fingers still on the key board as I sit there in the dark frozen. then I noticed I couldn’t move

* WHATS GOING ON!!* I said as the creature stood there smiling. I saw in the dark something moving through the keys of my keyboard, first on the tips of my fingers then over my hands and up my arms. I could felt it as it worked its way over my body. it smelled…it smelled as if someone puked the foulest thing you could imagine and them sent electricity through it

The ooze continued over my body as I sat there frantically to move, NOTHING MOVED!!! MY HAND DIDN’T MOVE!!! MY ARM DIDN’T MOVE!!! EVEN THE KEYBOARD!! IT ALL DIDN’T MOVE!!! I sat there helpless as I watched the creature just grinning at me, the fowl ooze about to totally cover my face with it still grinning and then BLACKNESS!!!

The power went out. I stood up from my chair and smashed the computer then I gathered all of it, took it outside and burned it. It must have been quite a site for the neighbors to see. The next day I canceled my Internet and power, I even paid extra to get them to turn if off that day. I found out later that a drunk driver hit a telephone pole causing the blackout. I thought about finding him to say thanks but he would only think I was crazy

I still think about it, how horrible it was and how I can never go back to second life….but maybe to warn them. if you ever see a sim in the ocean….run!!!