It may not exactly be breaking news but, in my negligence, I had failed to notice that Mr. Blinky's forcefield had been removed several months ago. As you can imagine, this came as quite a shock to me, being good friends with ol' Blinky. Justin and I set out across beautiful Kansas to locate him.
During our flight, we had time to ponder the following questions: Who would want to do such a horrible thing to a poor defenseless avatar like Blinky? Why would they want to strip him of his last protective barrier against griefers, who make a living out of such things, and Vashists, who just can't stand to see any other icon held in favor over their own? I can think of a few possible methods for accomplishing such a devious feat, but the biggest question here remains:
Why?
Poor old Blinky, he'd never hurt a fly! Sure, he might make you blink in and out of existence every now and again, but it was all in good fun. He never meant anything by it! And you always walked away completely unscathed. Well, sure, okay, maybe a few avatars over the years have reported one or two missing pixels, but generally such side effects are mild, extremely uncommon, and almost always worth the risk. Besides, what's a few pixels between good friends, right?
But now, without his forcefield, is poor old Mister Blinky facing the same fate as the original Credit Cube? Is he doomed to spend an eternity being bounced around the islands with his face skidding in the mud like some kind of old, rejected rag doll? Is that how we treat our icons in this world? Is that how we treat our
friends in this world?
At least a few good men--and women--have banded together to protect Mister Blinky from just such a fate. Now, we all know what it's like to fall victim to one of those nasty bubble traps; nobody enjoys being caged up that way. Putting myself in Blinky's shoes, I fear their solution is far from ideal but, considering the alternative, it may be necessary. Either they were to protect him, or let him fall victim to every griefer's bumper from here to Egypt and back until he was lost forever at sea.
Having chosen the lesser of the two evils, poor Blinky was rounded up, placed in a protected neighborhood lot, and shielded from stray paintballs, drunken buggy drivers, flying boards which have misplaced their owner, spilled Flaming Bananas, and the like. I spoke with Seg_Vio and his friends, those responsible for Blinky's protection, and found that they are doing everything possible to ensure Blinky's complete comfort during his stay in protective custody. He has been provided with a laptop and a highspeed connection to There so he can entertain himself, an endless supply of coffee for all those late nights riding around in his Groovy Buggy, and a comfortable desk to sit at. And, although he is completely enclosed within a protective, paintball-resistant, UV-filtering, lag-dampening, polycarbonate box, Seg_Vio ensures me that he has adequate ventilation in there.
Justin and I spent a good deal of time with Blinky making sure all his needs were being met. Seg_Vio even promised he'd see what he could do about improving the view from within the protective polycarbonate box. Justin read Blinky a bedtime story to cheer him up, left him a bag of chips and a few bandages for all his bumps and bruises, I left him another bottle of SPF-10,000 just in case, and we each said our goodnights in turn.
Goodnight, Mister Blinky. Keep your chin up! We'll find a better solution soon enough. And watch out for that dog, he looks nasty.
Edit: This entry has been updated. Please see
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