They filled mainland roads .. and roadside parcels. They sped along the highways, cars, tanks, Taxis, Ice Cream trucks, motorised vehicles but it seems that they’ve now crashed permanently. I’m talking about the infamous AnnMarie OToole (not to be confused with Ann OToole) automated vehicles which have apparently disappeared from the Second Life highways.<\/p>\n
In her profile, AnnMarie says:<\/p>\n
“Yes I am the notorious AnnMarie who invented the drunken vehicles on the SL Roads but the Lindens have shut it down.<\/em><\/p>\n Remenber you live in a dictatorship, not a democracy. No charges, no arrest, no hearing, no representation, no appeal. Don’t forget to give copies of all your creations to an alternate account and never keep Linden $$, convert to US$ or risk losing everything.<\/em><\/p>\n 5 years with over 110,000 visitors taking over 325,000 rides. All gone.<\/em>”<\/p>\n Now these vehicles were not universally popular, this may be an understatement. A thread over at SLUniverse entitled\u00a0Guess who’s at it again…Exploiting Mainland<\/a> cites many reasons for their unpopularity. Allegations about exploiting exploits, crashing, using Linden rez zones, polluting the highways etc.<\/p>\n AnnMarie herself actually pops into that thread<\/a> to explain a few things, to try and dismiss a few misconceptions and most intriguingly to me, to explain about the problems with an Ice Cream Truck:<\/p>\n “There was a conflict with the Ice Cream Truck, it used to vend ice creams when clicked but people wanted to ride them so the click was changed to RIDING instead of VENDING. Despite 10 fancy Italian flavors they all tasted the same . IM me if you would like a free ice cream.<\/em>”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n AnnMarie pops in and out of the SLUniverse thread, discussing the woes of getting vehicles to work in Second Life and listening to advice, she also gets a bit personal and reveals that at 74 she’s probably the oldest nerd in SL. I’m not sure that’s true but it’s good to see a diverse range of age groups using Second Life.<\/p>\n Despite the complaints though, some people liked these vehicles, some people felt they brought life and character to the mainland roads and on the official Second Life forums there were a couple of posts asking where the vehicles had gone:<\/p>\n What Happened To The AnnMarie OToole Cars?<\/a><\/p>\n That post leads to a bigger discussion:<\/p>\n