It was a quiet Saturday morning, as most Second Life residents were at work, or just waking up. Baba Yamamoto had something to celebrate, though. It was his 22nd birthday. He casually mentioned this to a trusted friend, whom shall remain nameless for protection reasons. This friend then passed him an object and advised him that it was a birthday gift, but not to rez it.What do you do when you're told not to do something? You do it, of course! Baba rezzed the object called "lolcube." As an aside, I own several lolcubes that do nothing but sit still and change colors. This lolcube, however, rapidly multiplied, while making kissing sounds. He quietly waited, hoping that after 15 seconds had passed, that it would stop. Maybe it was just a prank meant to scare him, he thought.
This was no joke, though. He quickly sought the assistance of Live Help, but being that it was only 7AM PST, no one was around. As previous reports indicate, it only reached a small amount of sims before being contained, but that did little to reassure Baba. He was logged out shortly thereafter. That is where our adventure begins ...
The person that gave him the lolcube felt extremely guilty. He spent a great deal of time in Live Help seeking answers on what he could do to correct the situation. When speaking with him, it came out that he'd received the object over the summer. It had been given to him by a known griefer. What was meant to be a simple transaction of passing Baba something that he was to own and not use ended up going horribly wrong. Looking back, he realized that he should not have done it, but that does little to help Baba now.As of this writing, Baba's account is still under review. A phone call to Linden Lab came to a dead end, as a Linden who would not identify himself advised him to email the abuse team, a known black hole for resolving matters. Baba himself is not sure as to whether this is merely a suspension, or if it will turn into a ban. Having been a resident for nearly four years, his record is fairly spotless, receiving only a one hour suspension for wearing a Philip face mask on his buttocks.
While considered odd, Baba is a loved charter member of the Second Life community. Known for his silly avatars, including a tiny girl, a robot variation of the girl, and a diaper-clad Japanese boy band member doing the Yatta, he could usually be found around Hooper, working with libsecondlife. He also frequented the Preview Grid. Most recently, however, he is known for being part of the CopyBot scandal that sent content creators scrambling for cover. For more information, you can check out his page on the SL History Wiki.
What would you do if someone you trusted gave you a dangerous object? Should Baba Yamamoto be allowed back?
1. the little I know about baba was his joking little girl apearance a while back when I was hainging wiht some friends, he(she?) rezzed a huge brachiosaurus or similar prehistoric beast over us, and some of my friends got a boit upset by the gag, but me personlally just chuckled at it
other than that I'v only heard about baba when people were talking about the CopyBot genesis and stuff, and the narrative soudned a bit like it could be being missinterpreted agaisnt Baba...
do the Lindens really think Baba is any more guilty than the milin oother peopel that rez somthing expecting to be amused or at least have their curiosity satisfied and end up crashing the grid?
Posted at 3:25PM on Feb 21st 2007 by TigroSpottystripes Katsu