A scene begins

I’ve a tale to tell and it’s quite long.  It’s going to be a few parts in the telling, I don’t know how many yet.

A few weeks ago I was in one of my usual haunts and spotted a likely prey, let’s call her Jill.  There wasn’t much to go on in her profile but what was there spoke of some intelligence, so in to the Shug mobile I hopped and set out to nab her.

It’s not often prey eludes me, this was one of those times.  Beaten to it by an, at the time, acquaintance who we’ll call Jack.   Ah well, such is life.  Being nosey I lingered within earshot and the tale unfolded.  Jack had been hunting Jill, the bet was that if Jack could capture Jill in seven days, then Jill would spend a week in RLV.  Intriguing.

More discussion followed and Jack decided that a Kinky Things Iso-Helmet was to be the RLV restraint of choice.  This alarmed me as I know how evil those things can be if not used correctly, so I put forward my services to help set it up.  Jack cheerfully accepted and all was looking good.

During the set up I OOC’d with Jill in IM, getting a handle on how much experience she has with RLV, it soon became apparent her experience was minimal, patchy and for the most part, bad.  My concerns grew however she was determined and it wasn’t my place to dissuade her; I was there to help facilitate not to direct.  I did impress on her the usual blocked IM protocols which seem to have developed as something of a standard; for those not in the know one is yes, two is no, three is I have a non-urgent problem and five is I need help right now.

So a non-rlv user spending a week in RLV and in a helmet that’s set up to something close to the conditions one endures during banishment (I left a couple of the meaner things disabled) for seven days.  Concerned?  You betcha.

Caution with @permissive required, not optional

RLV 1.21 brought along a new command, @permissive. From the Wiki:

• Allow/deny permissive exceptions : "@permissive=<y/n>"

Implemented in v1.21 When denied, all restrictions turn into their "secure" counterparts (if any). This means an exception to a restriction will be ignored if it is not issued by the same object that issued the restriction. Using non-secure restrictions (the original ones, like @sendim, @recvim etc) and not using @permissive allow the avatar to benefit from exceptions issued by different objects.

 

Friends of mine expressed concerns about this new command, friends who have exceptions to their dominants, submissives and hell just every day friends built in to other attachments.  They feared that this restriction would become commonplace and as their dominants collectively do not permit having their IMs cut off, quite legitimately I might add, that they would no longer be able to freely play in RLV playgrounds.

At the time I acknowledged the concern but didn’t give it much credence.  The restriction is, in my eyes, a strong one that should not be entered in to without consent.  That is why Marine put exceptions in to IM blocking in the first place, it’s not a glitch, it’s a feature.

I was further comforted by the rather obvious warning.

Warning : Using this command (or any secure version of the original commands) may silently discard exceptions issued by different objects (it is even its primary purpose), hence some products may appear to cease working while this restriction is in effect. For example, a product that allows the avatar to always be able to send IMs a particular friend will not be able to overcome a @sendim_sec or a @permissive command sent by another object, and will look like it is broken. Therefore, use with caution and make the user aware of how secure your own product is !

I mean that’s pretty clear isn’t it?  I mean it’s the only restriction that has a warning not about the technical nature of it, but about the use of it.  Surely the toy makers of SL will take heed.

Alas I’m wrong.  The other day a friend of mine was trapped by, of all things, a lamppost.  Leaving aside the fact that a lamppost has no business cutting off IM when it’s in automated trap mode, it most certainly doesn’t have any business over-riding exceptions to that restriction!

Understand this, playground architects and toy builders.  Indiscriminate use of the permissive command will ruin the RLV experience of many subs.  Put a bit of thought in to the toys you deploy and follow the golden rule of RLV; if it’s more likely to detract from the scene, don’t do it!

Back from banishment

I’ve been back from banishment for a couple of weeks now, other matters have commanded my attention so this blog’s been neglected somewhat.

Twenty-eight hours, hardly a marathon but long enough. My primary goal was to evaluate Alter Tech against KTech. They’re different interpretations and I have a firm opinion which one is the truer to the story. One is much harder than the other for the right reasons, the other is more irritating than one for the wrong reasons. I’ll not express that opinion here, however if you are curious I welcome your inquiries.

Niki asked me not to return home before she got online, yes that’s right kept out my own home by my sub :p, however the wait was well worth it as waiting for me when I got home was this:

 

Yay! Not a bane no more!

 

 

Sweet, huh? So what’s been keeping me busy? RL has been coming to the fore a little, which is a good thing in the main but it is eating in to my SL time a bit. I’ve spent a bit of time at Enslaved and my past life in Quake has been serving me quite well there; that or they all want to get caught…apart from one gentleman, we’ll see where that goes *grins*

I’ll talk to you, not your owner…

…or mistress or queen or whatever title they go by.  What, you think you’re going to avoid my ire just because you’re submissive to someone else?  Uh-uh, you cause me offense, you’ll be hearing about it directly from me.

One of a catalog of my many bug bears is reading something like this in a profile:

Any complaints or compliments are to be addressed to my owner, Miss Twoshoes

I have a few problems with this.  For one, it goes against my philosophy on BDSM.  I don’t have relationships with dominants, submissives, I have relationships with people.  If there’s a BDSM element to any of those relationships, they’ll develop over a period of time. So if someone offends me, there’s no BDSM element to that, it’s an interpersonal conflict which is of no business to anyone else.

Another problem I have with it is that I myself have rather unusual quirks.  There are characteristics in my submissives which I value and may well not to conform to other people’s ideas of what BDSM is.  Well that’s tough tooty.  They submit to me to please me (and themselves), not to please you and it would be utter hypocrisy for me to contact a dominant because their submissive didn’t conform to my ideals.

Rarely it is necessary to contact the dominant, usually to haul him or her over the coals.  One particular occasion springs to mind; a lady refused to address me as anything other than sis or miss.  Regular readers will know my position on that, if you don’t then here’s what I’ve written about such nonsense.  This lady was adamant that to call me anything else would be against her instructions, so on that occasion I did contact her mistress and reamed her for non-consensually involving me in their BDSM  That is not on.

Other than that though, I talk to people directly and you know what?  That pays dividends I reckon.  I see some really nice work on a set of shackles (you know who you are) I have no hesitation in opening up an IM and going “ooooooh, love what you’ve done with your cuffs,” and I don’t think that’s unreasonable.

What’s even worse though is something like this:

Any complaints or compliments about my girls must be brought to me.

Huh?  Who are you to tell me what to do?  If I’ve a problem with one of your living in submission hasn’t got a mouth for herself girls, I’m gonna be taking it up with her, not you.  If you really want to micro-manage their existence, have them report all complaints or compliments to you, leave me out of it.  If, after that, you find you need to speak to me, be my guest but you’re gonna be the one initiating the exchange, not me.  I’m quite approachable really and I’m always up for a good discussion

From Shuggi’s pet peeves of SL and BDSM department.

Banished

I was processed as a bane last night, and that’s what I am now.  Sixty hours.  I think people are enjoying a quiet Shuggi for a change.

Due to a slight administrative error, the sentence is twenty four hours….initially…

A word about no names

Anyone who’s heard me rant about this will be rolling their eyes right about now.  There are very few occasions where deny names makes sense.  I recall when the restriction first came out, people were doing it to each other like some sort of game.  One choice quote I remember quite clearly, “oh, like I’m not going to know what my wife’s *censored* tastes like, nor be able to recognize her moans, her smell or what she looks like.”  At the time, this lady was on her knees with no blindfold, no earmuffs or anything like that in front of her wife…and she was under no names.

Dumb dumb dumb.  I’ll freely admit to having a problem with this restriction when used incorrectly, it’s a logic bomb that goes off in my head and irritates the living crap out of me.  I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve greeted a friend and there are other people around and the friend’s said, “who’s talking?”  It’s a great restriction when used appropriately, when it’s abused though I just wanna log quite frankly.

Think very carefully about what you’re doing before using no names.  Reasons to use no names:

• Sensory deprivation: deaf/blind – how you going to know who’s around?
• Mind control: if the RP is that your personality’s been over-ridden then yes no names can be very good here
• Kidnapping: It’s entirely feasible that you will not be able to identify your captor(s) in a kidnapping

Banishment is NOT a reason!  The banes had not trouble recognizing their former fellow citizens, they just couldn’t communicate with them.

There are probably others, sinking in a pit of quicksand maybe.  If there is any doubt at all, it’s better not to use it.

Changes

I’m somewhat flattered that I’ve been invited as a contributing author to Subbie Union.  Aside from the obvious ego stoking, I’ll try not to let it go to my head, it’s prompted me to make some changes to what this blog is about.

Technical and informative posts will from this point on be published over at Subbie Union, for example shared folders, RLV, aftercare etc.

I intend to take this blog in a more personal direction, although I’ll try not to become too self aggrandizing.

I’m quite excited about this development, now I just need to bully myself in to blogging more frequently.

Aftercare

You are forgiven if you don’t know what that is, it seems that few people in SL do.  That has to change, starting now.

If you read this and you blog, blog about aftercare.  If you have input in to any BDSM play space or group, make information on aftercare available.  Please.

 

So what is aftercare?  Simply put it is the most important part of a scene.  It is validation for all participants, it’s the group hug.

It’s what helps someone come back to earth after euphoria or lift her up from the depths of despair, because sometimes things to go bad.  Even when everything goes brilliantly, feelings of euphoria can quickly turn to feelings of shame.

This applies to tops and bottoms!  Tops have emotions and feelings too.

Plagiarising from The BDSM Site

Aftercare is especially important following:

• Scenes that are demanding and intense
• Scenes that involve new partners or new techniques
• Scenes that involve punishment, humiliation or intimations of nonconsensuality
• Scenes that result in tears, screams, orgasm or emotional release.
• Scenes that have been interrupted by an accident, injury, fainting or unseemly act of God.
• Scenes that have "gone bad" resulting in anger, or upset, or ending on a safeword (both top and bottom may well need/appreciate some reassurance if this happens)

Another worthwhile read from the Island of Pain (why have I never been here before?): Excellent post on The Importance of Aftercare.

Tops, well it’s a bit more complicated for you.  Generally speaking, you’ll need to go to friends, platonic ones.  We all have our doubts, most of the time it’s better to thrash those doubts out with a trusted friend so that you’ve thrashed out your own internal issues before bringing anything up with the bottom.  I’ve a few people I can go to and I do; sometimes they come to me too.

How many of you can put your hand on your heart and say that you’ve diligently practiced aftercare in SL?  I know I haven’t, and I know better.

BDSM is wonderful, it can also be terrible.  Let’s all do our bit to make it wonderful.

Practice aftercare.

Talk to people, not `roles’

No names, no pack drill.

One person made a complete goose of herself and had a wee bit of a tanty, that wasn’t good. The mistake was realized and that person tried to make good with the two people the person offended.

Things seemed to be going okay until one of the offended parties, a resident, initiated an IM. Now the offended party had every right to be upset but even so the resident made some fundamental errors.

Firstly the resident kept referring to the person as a sub and characterizing the person’s transgressions against the person’s submissiveness.

That was a mistake. As I’ve covered earlier submission describes a relationship dynamic, it’s not who you are and it does not impose a defined standard of behavior.

Secondly the resident put conditions on the apology, saying that as the person was a good friend of the citizen, that’s the only reason the resident is accepting the apology.

That was a mistake. You either accept an apology, draw a line under it and move on, or you don’t. Saying that you’re only accepting the apology because of someone else means you’re not really accepting the apology.

When you’re talking to people you don’t have a relationship with, talk to the person, not the supposed role you think that person may have. It can save a lot of grief.

Finally to all of you who love slapping no names on in RLV, confusing, isn’t it?

Neko dominants

I was in Free BDSM the other night when a lady caught my eye, we got to chatting and she said, oh I’ve never met a neko domme before.

That pulled me up short and I had to have a think. Offhand I can think of only a handful of neko dominants, the majority are in submissive relationships or switches.

I mentioned it to Niki who divulged a friend of hers reacted with surprise on learning I’m neko. I’m guessing one of two things.

One, the type of person who is drawn to neko has submissive tendancies or two, neko are not that numerous so perhaps the dominants just stand out more than amongst hoomans.

Not that it matters, I am who I am.