Hi everyone, I'm new here and have a question.

[MishaC25]

Good morning, everyone. Nice to meet you. I found Second Life a week ago, and I'm already addicted to it. My question is yesterday I was on an island, one of the social islands, and this male avatar came out of nowhere and attacked my avatar. He started pushing my avatar all around the island and then pushed me off a ledge. Another male avatar, who I am grateful to, jumped in and beat the bully avatar up, but then immediately after that ended, the bully came back and did the same thing to me all over again! What would cause someone to do that? Don't get me wrong, I'm not fearful or anything like that, I'm asking out of curiosity if this is a typical behavior? Thanks in advance for answering my question.

Edited November 17, 2018 by MishaC25

[Garnet Psaltery]

Hello, and welcome to Second Life.  I'm afraid there are bullies and idiots here as well as in RL.  They push people because they know you are new and don't know how to escape. 

[Ren Toxx]

It is typical in populated but unmoderated areas like the social islands; elsewhere, owners or local staff would intervene to warn and eventually ban the griefer, as well as possibly instruct the victim how to defend himself from such attacks. Therefore the griefers tend to gravitate towards places where they’ll be able to attack people unmolested.

[MishaC25]

Thank you both for responding. I appreciate it. When the attack happened I was shocked, because I had just teleported there moments before, and I had no idea at first what was going on. It was also a little (a lot) embarrassing while it was happening. It's nice though that somebody jumped in on my behalf.

 

 

[Talligurl]

My SL son delights in pushing me, especially when he can push me off a ledge. If you sit on something, you can't be pushed.

[Claireschen Hesten]

From what i have heard that's typical behaviour for the social islands. if you wish to prevent those types of griefer attack sit on an object or try to sit on the ground you won't move

[Scylla Rhiadra]

4 hours ago, MishaC25 said:

Thank you both for responding. I appreciate it. When the attack happened I was shocked, because I had just teleported there moments before, and I had no idea at first what was going on. It was also a little (a lot) embarrassing while it was happening. It's nice though that somebody jumped in on my behalf.

 

 

I'm so sorry this happened to you! Unfortunately, it's not an entirely uncommon thing at the areas that new people often congregate or start, but you'll find it's much less prevalent once you get out and start exploring elsewhere in SL.  The suggestion above, that you just sit on the ground or on an object (right click and choose sit) works, and once you do it, the griefer will quickly get bored and move on.

I have a question for others, that's just occurred to me. If you derender an avatar, can it still push you? I've never tried this, so I don't really know.

[LittleMe Jewell]

11 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

I have a question for others, that's just occurred to me. If you derender an avatar, can it still push you? I've never tried this, so I don't really know.

Yes they can.  All you have done is derender them from your view, but they can still see you and act upon you.

[Madelaine McMasters]

Welcome to Second Life, Misha!

I don't have anything to add to the advice others have given. This is a generally wonderful place, hang in there!

Though I don't push people over ledges purposefully, I delight in doing so accidentally. It's right up there with drowning them in quicksand (which I keep in my purse) or...

...sets you on fire.

 

Edited November 17, 2018 by Madelaine McMasters
I should know better than to type before putting in my root beer eye drops.

[Talligurl]

As I mentioned my SL son loves to push me off things, once after he pushed me off a fairly high spot, I hit the fly button and started going straight up till I went as high as possible. When he asked me what I was doing I told him that he killed me and I was going to Heaven.

[Madelaine McMasters]

12 minutes ago, Talligurl said:

As I mentioned my SL son loves to push me off things, once after he pushed me off a fairly high spot, I hit the fly button and started going straight up till I went as high as possible. When he asked me what I was doing I told him that he killed me and I was going to Heaven.

I highly recommend Curio Obscura's "Crash Into The Ground" attachment. Once your son sees the result of pushing you off a ledge while wearing it, you won't be able to stop him.

[BelindaN]

I got pushed into the sea in similar circumstances to the OP when I was new. I'd barely rezzed and I saw an Avi come fast at me from the side . Next thing I'm underwater. But then without doing anything I sprang back onto the jetty.

It was just a surprise, it didn't bother me, and that's the only time (so far). How do they do that? Do they need a HUD or something? 

I know in the top menu there's a push/shove option to report such morons...............It's hard to imagine an adult doing that, so I guess it's a misfit juvenile.

 

Edited November 17, 2018 by BelindaN
Spelling

[Talligurl]

7 minutes ago, BelindaN said:

How do they do that? Do they need a HUD or something? 

All you need to do is walk you avi into someone else's space and they move. 

[Dillon Levenque]

13 minutes ago, BelindaN said:

I got pushed into the sea in similar circumstances to the OP when I was new. I'd barely rezzed and I saw an Avi come fast at me from the side . Next thing I'm underwater. But then without doing anything I sprang back onto the jetty.

It was just a surprise, it didn't bother me, and that's the only time (so far). How do they do that? Do they need a HUD or something? 

I know in the top menu there's a push/shove option to report such morons...............It's hard to imaging an adult doing that, so I guess it's a misfit juvenile.

 

I think what you're seeing at the top of the screen is probably an icon meaning "No Pushing"; the landowner has set Pushing disabled on the parcel. Almost everyone does this. It's what prevents you from scattering dancers like billiard balls when you lag-walk through a crowded club on arrival :-).
 

 

 

 

0

[Madelaine McMasters]

2 hours ago, Dillon Levenque said:

scattering dancers like billiard balls when you lag-walk through a crowded club on arrival :-).

...swoons.

[Callum Meriman]

2 hours ago, Dillon Levenque said:

It's what prevents you from scattering dancers like billiard balls when you lag-walk through a crowded club on arrival ?

Yes, not so good to scatter dancers - but people standing at events rez zone are fair game

 

Welcome to SL Misha. 

[DemeraraGirl]

Welcome to SL, @MishaC25

If you use Firestorm viewer, you can press CTRL+ALT+P to enabled Movelock, preventing your avatar from being moved or pushed.

Do not forget to disable it before you walk again. To turn it off, just press CTRL+ALT+P again.

[Lindal Kidd]

Hi, @MishaC25!  Welcome to Second Life.  I'm sorry your initial experience was upsetting...as others have said, the jerks are a minority in SL, but they do tend to congregate around newcomer areas.

I teach a class on Avatar Safety on Sundays, at Caledon Oxbridge University, at 10 am SL time (that's California time).  We cover this and many other topics, from the merely annoying to the truly dangerous.  It's free to attend...maybe I'll see you there!

[Deann3]

You will also get idiot newb's who have no idea how to control their avatar's just barging around as if they're privileged. Unfortunately, that's part of SL. Always has been to my knowledge. Of course, the newb's who do barge around cannot speak a word of english.... so complaining to them gets you nowhere. Honestly, if it happens again in the future, just tell the so-and-so off - very loud and very vehemently!!!!!

[MrsSeren]

4 hours ago, DemeraraGirl said:

Welcome to SL, @MishaC25

If you use Firestorm viewer, you can press CTRL+ALT+P to enabled Movelock, preventing your avatar from being moved or pushed.

Do not forget to disable it before you walk again. To turn it off, just press CTRL+ALT+P again.

 

Yes, I learned that one hard way as I once accidentally enabled before hosting and was 3 months old - was like like why can't I move and my friend worked it out and told me solution luckily!!

[Scylla Rhiadra]

57 minutes ago, Deann3 said:

Of course, the newb's who do barge around cannot speak a word of english

This is both unnecessary, and utterly untrue.

SL has large and enormously vibrant communities full of extremely accomplished, and very courteous, international residents who speak a really diverse range of languages. Please don't leave the impression that these people are a problem.

Xenophobia is not a good look on you, or us.

[animats]

Suggestions:

• Take Lindal Kidd's class. Second Life has ways to deal with such annoyances, from sitting down (which makes you immovable) to complaining to Governance (which is for bigger problems than this). Pushing experienced users gets those jerks nowhere, so they have to go to a new user entry point to find prey.
• When posting on forums, a title more informative than "Hi everyone, I'm new here and have a question" helps.
• Second Life gets a lot better once you get away from the landing points. There's a big world out there. Start exploring and have fun!

[Callum Meriman]

3 hours ago, Deann3 said:

 Honestly, if it happens again in the future, just tell the so-and-so off - very loud and very vehemently!!!!!

I'd advise against it Misha. The griefers at the info centres, the one's who push, are seeking a reaction from someone. If you bite back they get what they want. From that point they will harrass you more and more.

Stay silent and pretend they don't exist, they quickly move on to other poeple.

[Syo Emerald]

9 hours ago, Deann3 said:

Of course, the newb's who do barge around cannot speak a word of english.... so complaining to them gets you nowhere. Honestly, if it happens again in the future, just tell the so-and-so off - very loud and very vehemently!!!!! 

First you say they don't speak English (I'm now not commenting on the mindset behind that...), but then you advice her to tell them off? Okay...

But aside from the language barrier she would run into, thats a terrible advice and will make things 1000% worse. The people at those places aren't clueless newbies who don't know any better. They are trolls, preying for clueless people to play around with them. They get joy from annoying people. Giving a response feeds the trolls and makes everything worse.

My advice for the entire situation is to leave those places. They aren't worth staying, even without the griefers and trolls.

[MishaC25]

Thanks everyone for responding to my question. It's great to get so many ideas and opinions. I read all of them. First off, Animats, I apologize that my title wasn't more informative, I'll definitely keep that in mind the next time that I post. Deann3, I am unfortunately one of the idiot newbs who has bumped into people while walking. I am getting better but I still feel so awkward. Last night I accidentally walked right up to a couple laying by the beach. I quickly turned around and even though it's vr, I still felt really embarrassed.

LindalKidd, If I can, I'll attend your avatar safety class today. Thank you for offering that to me. Oh and I am sitting down every chance I get now. lol

You're a very welcoming community here, thank you for everything.