Opposition To Vampire Systems

A vampire system is a system of wearable objects (usually a HUD and some accessories), created for a vampire roleplay game. This includes, but is not limited to Bloodlines. For more information and a list of existing vampire systems, see Vampire Systems.

## Reason to study

Demography is a part of Geography that studies populations (residents for Second Life): structure (based on ethnic, age, gender, religion or other criteria), density (for a specified area) and fluctuation (for a specified period of time). Since the creation of Bloodlines, a big segment of population has joined vampire systems, so much that they are a large sector of grid population.

## Overall

After the creation of vampire systems, a lot of problems occurred over Second Life multiverse. The most important of all is massive spam. Many residents are complaining about endless bite requests. A second problem is soul controversial. Since the vampire systems are creating a lot of problems all over the grid, it was expected that many people will take action.

On the entire problem, Linden Lab, the owner of Second Life, seems to tolerate, even to encourage the existence of vampire systems, providing residents with many free vampire avatars.

## Organizations

There have been a lot of activism, both inworld and on the forums, fighting against existence of vampire systems.

### Forums and sites

Many residents argued on many different positions about the vampire problem. The vast majority pointed against the spam that vampire players create around them. Others argued that many of these players are desperate to gather ratings, more souls and more wealth (blood from their victims). A third group argued that vampire systems are a way of milking fools out of money. A 4th group tried to offer guidelines for new residents about the vampire problem.

Because we don't want to discriminate, no links are placed here. Just type *second life vampire spam* on Google search and you will get as many links as you want.

### Marketplace

The presence of products on marketplace, created to stress vampires, is a prove that many people tried to find a way to stop vampire spam.

### Land warning

In many places, there are warning signs against vampire systems (mainly against Bloodlines, since they are the largest). Advertising signs might be on walls (wallpapers), on parcel name, on notecards or on welcome chat, when an avatar enters the land. In some estate, there have been created devices that eject people who wear vampire systems.

### Anti Vampire Groups

There are many anti vampire groups. Other groups existed in past, but vanished. Also, other vampire systems existed but vanished in time.

#### ABS

Main article - ABS team

From all organizations, **Anti Bloodlines Spam & Harassment** (or simply, **ABS**) is the largest group existing today. This group grew exponentially. It reached 1000 members in an year and passed 10 000 members in over two years.

ABS is known as a very active organization. They fight against spammers, not only from Bloodlines Vampire System and other vampire systems, but also against other aggressive people.

ABS has a large database that includes all griefers and spammers they encountered in all their activity.

ABS have fired many support tickets and abuse reports towards the Linden officials. They tend to be a protective organization and fight to protect abused and attacked residents from aggression and vampire systems.

Their headquarters have been the *Zebrasil Infohub* for a long time. In 2015, they created their own hub (Valerian <91, 216, 27>). There, everybody can run from vampire aggressors A lot of educational materials exist at their base and all can be downloaded for free.

Still, there are residents that accuse ABS of spam and unfair reports.

Fighting against Bloodlines Vampire System, against various spammers and against unfair aspects of Second Life multiverse, ABS sometimes gathered many enemies. This has resulted into conflicts, in many cases reaching up to the Linden authorities. In many cases, also the Lindens have been accused of corruption or unfair decisions. This has sometimes ended with punishment on ABS leaders. But, no matter what is happening, they always return and take back their jobs.

ABS has a strong support from many residents. In July 12th 2015, they had 11084 members. Having so many members in two years is amazing, it is higher then the rate at which new vampires are made. And also, as an indirect result, compared between 2013 and 2015, the number of random bite requests in public places has decreased significantly.

## Demography

ABS has 11 000 members. Now, if we add other groups and all what is going on forums and blogs, it is clear that a vast group from all residents is against vampire systems. Estimations made by SLGI team show these interesting facts:

1. About 30% of the population has a disgrace to vampire systems.
2. About 60% of population is in disgrace about bite requests.
3. About 25% is not interested about the subject.
4. About 10% don't agree with vampire systems for religious reasons.
5. Very important: Over half of vampires are against bite requests.

Talking about Bloodlines, 16.9% of Second Life residents wear the garlic necklace, to stay away from bite requests 1.

These data are showing us that a lot of people is against vampire systems. Since Demography is linked to Demography, it is the job of a Geograph to study what is going on. So, we will show all trouble that vampire systems have created:

## What is wrong with vampire systems

So, why is so much people upset against vampire systems?

### Bite requests

Vampires require food, in order to feed themselves and be alive. Well, this all depends on what kind of food you need.

* Bloodlines Vampire System: Vampires need to feed, they lose vital fluids. They can bite non-registered players, who will lose their souls to limbo. Once a soul got to limbo, no extra blood can be obtained until the victim joins Bloodlines. In order to do so, the victim must accept to be bitten. If not, nothing will happen, but the attacker might repeat its attacks over and over. Residents under 14c days cannot be bitten.
* Empower Immortals Vampire System: It is not completely studied, but it looks like their vampires cannot feed on others then their own kind.
* Hunger (First Blood) Vampire System: Vampires feed on non-registered players, without making them know. Each vampire can drain some *strength* from any non-registered resident. Next day, the victim will have its strength regenerated. This comes with no bite requests, no animations and no lost soul. Also, Hunger takes spam very seriously. Punishments can go up to total account suspension.
* Netherworld Vampire System: It works identical with Bloodlines. No major difference.
* Progeny Vampire System: Vampires feed on non-registered players, without making them know and without any chat messages.

### Soul Controversial

For Bloodlines and Netherworld (who is a copy of Bloodlines), this is a big problem. See Bloodlines Vampire System (soul controversial) for more details. In fact, this is the biggest problem of all. Spam comes and goes, but a possessed soul or a soul in limbo, will remain there forever if nothing is to be done. Yes, it is a virtual soul, but still the soul of an avatar. SLGI team has proposed that a soul thrown in limbo should return to its owner if the owner does not join Bloodlines in a month.

The soul controversial is the reason why vampire systems are so disgraced by Muslim communities and also by religious Christian groups.

### Money Consumption

Main article: Bloodlines Vampire System (financial data)

Many vampires say that the game is ruining their budget, so they prefer to spam, in order to feed. However, as shown in Bloodlines Vampire System (Demographic research), feeding only by spamming is not possible. And this is not a good reason. In real life, smoking can ruin your budget, but still this is no excuse for you to steal cigarettes or money from others' pockets.

### High Lag

Vampire systems require connection to an external server. This is always high-lag. Lag measurements done by SLGI team show that a Bloodlines vampire system is between 3 to 10 times more high-lag then a train or a car, when not used, but when used, the same device can create 7 to 12 times more lag.

### Solutions

Many people tried to find solutions to vampire problem. Solutions vary from radical to moderate. Unfortunately, the Linden officials seem not to care about anything.

1. If a vampire gets 5 refused bite requests, biting should be blocked for the whole day.
2. Limit bite requests only to other vampires.
3. Punish bite requests with 3 days suspension.
4. Block vampires' access in specified areas.
5. Disable high lag generating scripts in certain areas.

SLGI team has suggested that souls in limbo should be sent back to their owners, if they don't join Bloodlines within a month.

## Position From Inside Vampire Systems

It is very interesting to see what creators and users of vampire systems think about the problems their gadgets are creating.

### Creators Of Vampire Systems

Bloodlines Vampire System has an interesting position. Their rating policy is Meritocracy, a system in which each player increases in rank based on new achievements. These achievements are based on new earned souls (with other words, new members). On the other hand, their official policy is to be against the spammers and their work.

There have been recorded cases when Bloodlines accounts have been terminated due to excessive spam.

There have been a lot of speculations of corruption between the Linden officials and Liquid Designs, creator of Bloodlines. However, a very deep research made by SLGI team proven that the monthly income from Liquid Designs is only about 10 000 US $, that is only 2% compared to the money the Lindens are earning from land tier [1]. So, a scenario that involves corruption is less plausible.

Hunger (First Blood) Vampire System made spam strictly forbidden. They include heavy punishment for spam, including many days account suspension and even account termination. Hunger is in fact more a combat HUD then a vampire system.

Progeny Vampire System makes spam almost impossible. You cannot become a Progeny vampire unless you are invited from the inside. Also, since it is free, the creator has no intention to sell its staff.

Data for Empower Immortals Vampire System and Netherworld Vampire System is not available.

### Users Of Vampire Systems

Users of **Hunger** vampire system are strongly against the spam. In fact, it really is impossible to spam with their HUD.

Among the **Bloodlines** vampires, situation is more different.

1. Some groups have a *code of silence*, meaning that their members are strictly forbidden to show non-vampires that they are vampires. They created an interesting roleplay, hiding their real identity.
2. There are vampire groups where biting requests are strictly forbidden. In some cases, vampires are obliged to have an Amulet as a prove that they don't need to feed.
3. A third category is made of large-scale groups. They act like sects, trying to please new residents to join their group. However, once you joined and lost your soul, their attitude will change soon. Since these groups are large, there is no complete control between the top leaders and toe bottom foot-soldiers.
4. Another group is made by small family clans. They are made of only a few residents and usually are compact structures, where newcomers are not welcome.
5. Still, a large part of vampire population is part of the *Curse Clan* (that is, they joined no clan and have no leader). They act by their own will.
6. Many Bloodlines players got tired of the game and abandoned it. They no longer pay attention to it.
7. Who are the vampire spammers? Based on data from the **ABS** team and own research done by SLGI team, it have been proven that these people are a small part of the population and that in many cases they have brain problems. They keep on sending endless bite requests until in the end they get an account suspension from the Linden officials and a terminated account from Liquid Labs, if they don't calm down at some point. It have been proven that it is almost impossible for a vampire to sustain itself with blood earned from accepted random bite requests.

From other vampire systems, data is not completely available.

### Fake Vampires

SLGI team has proven that not all bite requests are really done by vampire tools. Many residents have witnessed a message like this one: *XXX resident is giving you the power of a lycan warrior. Say YES to accept* or *You have been chosen to be the chosen one. Say YES to accept joining the greatest vampire embrace*.

There are many marketplace devices that can do this, some of them able to spend massive spam around. And also, residents that know a bit of scripting, are able to create devices to animate others, to send messages to others and to stress nearby residents.

## Important Notes

1. Not all spam is created by vampire systems. There are also many HUD devices (this is often the case of a combat HUD), able to animate others, to spam and stress nearby residents. This is not the work of a vampire system.
2. Do not accuse Bloodlines for all. There are also other vampire systems.
3. Please note that there are many vampire clans that don't tolerate bite requests. Many vampires are against bite requests. A study made by SLGI team showed that vampire spammers are most often people with some brain problems and they represent less then 1% of total vampire population.

## See Also

* Second Life Geography
* Vampire Systems
	+ Bloodlines Vampire System
		- Bloodlines Vampire System (basics)
		- Bloodlines Vampire System (costs)
		- Bloodlines Vampire System (Demographic research)
		- Bloodlines Vampire System (soul controversial)
	+ Empower Immortals Vampire System
	+ Hunger (First Blood) Vampire System
	+ Netherworld Vampire System
	+ Progeny Vampire Syste**xfcfre**m