After much discussion over the past few months with the community and admins, I’m excited to announce the release of the next evolution of the armed system.

Who is eligible?

For over a decade, we have had a system that worked “good enough” -- it limited the number of people who could use firearms in their scenes quite a bit and was loosely regulated through manual and automated invites through our inworld groups.

As we discussed the next evolution and taking in as many perspectives as possible, we looked at the data and came up with the following requirements to made it a little more accessible to players who we could trust to know CD well enough from their experience understanding RP etiquette, having a well-rounded character, and a system that was self-governing.

• Minimum of 7 chapters
• Your recent activity, or street cred, should display 25% or more
• Story HUD required

How do I earn chapters?

With the release of the next HUD, now available as a beta in the welcome lobby, it will better track interactions between players to boost your street cred and ultimately your chapter count. The more you write with other players, interact with the various aspects of Hathian,or engage in the community on the forums, your overall character story and personal development increases.

How do I boost my street cred?

Keep the new Story HUD attached on any CD sim for better accuracy. Presence at jobs and on sim, RP scenes with other players, and interactions with the police and hospital all count towards recent activity.

There’s now a minimize feature to hide away most of the HUD!

How are firearms regulated?

Most notable objective of this evolution was to be able to better regulate permits. The in-world Armed Citizens group will soon be disbanded and armed status will now be regulated through the Character Card attachment that can be deployed and customized through the new Story HUD.

Characters who have a trending habit of their guns being confiscated by the police will have their permit temporarily suspended.

Want to know if someone could potentially be armed? Just look at their card which highlights recent activity and custom attributes.

What happens to my current status of being an Armed Citizen already?

Just head to the pawn shop and interact with the gun cabinet display there. It will give you the option of instantly transferring your permit from the old to the new system.

Be sure to wear your Story HUD and Character Card which will then give you the ability to use the appropriate titler and give other players the ability to validate your armed status through the card.

What about the Police?

Police characters, if ranked above Rookie, will automatically be provisioned the police armed status and then promptly deactivated if they are no longer active with the force. Again, the Story HUD and Character Card is required to validate this.

Final Thoughts

This system wasn’t meant to be perfect; it’s designed to encourage and reliably reward the ability to be armed to more citizens in the community. This privilege will continue to be strictly regulated, accessible to more players, and won’t be so heavily reliant on going down the criminal path.

I’ve also been shocked at how unreliable Second Life in-world functions like groups, invitations, and role modifications still are. Terribly shocked. This is why I am eliminating the dependency on these things and incorporating them into a HUD, including notifications.

Grab the latest HUD (2.10) from the welcome lobby, play around with the new features I’ve introduced, and don’t be shy starting scenes with other players. The Scene Finder feature is something I’m excited to evolve, as well! Test it out and give me your thoughts.

I am still in the tweaking phase of the HUD so the more of you that are wearing it in the beta phase will earn a little more than the final launched version coming in a week or so.