News and Updates

We banned a handful of avatars from Bloodlines earlier this week, and we wanted to respond to questions about why. There were rumors that we banned the avatars for selling blood, and this is not the case. We banned the avatars for using an exploit to obtain blood for free. We have evidence in our server logs of the actions of these avatars. The records in our database could not have been created by avatars using our system in the way it was intended to be used. Among the avatars who were removed was a prominent blood merchant and many of his alts.

In our server logs, we had many instances of multiple containers being sent fill requests at exactly the same time from the same avatar. In order to do this, the offenders first figured out the channel that the container listens on from the dialog menu. Once you have this channel, you can create an item to chat the “1 L” message on that channel. You can click any number of tanks and give them the fill command, and then have your special prim chat the “1 L” message from a dialog on the channel that the containers are listening on. This gives them all the command at exactly the same time. Because the requests are coming in simultaneously, they all check your blood level simultaneously, and can fill 1L from your veins into multiple containers at once, giving them all 1 L at the same time. This is how you can turn 1L into as many liters as the number of tanks you gave the fill command. This is how many of the large blood banks have been operating. This exploit has now been closed.

We have nothing against selling blood as long as it is legally obtained. There are two legal ways to obtain blood: to drink it from an avatar who has paid for a HUD, and to buy it in a Liquid Designs store in the form of a filled blood container, a blood shot, or a blood bottle. We intend for blood to be sold and traded. That’s why we made the containers in the first place, because we thought it would be fun for people to collect blood and sell it, trade it for other things, or give it as gifts to friends. If we did not intend for blood to be sold or transferred, we wouldn’t just ban people for selling it, we would put in place a technical restriction to prevent it. However, we cannot tolerate blood being illegally obtained through an exploit and sold for personal financial gain.

Everyone should also be aware that we do not guarantee that any items that are not purchased directly from our stores will work. If you bought it from a reseller, that’s fine, but if you want a guarantee, you will have to seek it from the seller. I’ll say that one more time because it’s so important: we can only guarantee items if you buy them directly from Liquid Designs stores or from our official catalogue vendors. If you buy anything from another store or a reseller, we recommend making sure that they have a money-back guarantee on their products. If their products don’t work and you can’t get your money back, we can’t help you. On the other hand, if you buy a product from us, and it doesn’t get delivered or doesn’t work, we will either replace it or refund you. This is the case with the potions, which are soon to be replaced by new versions. If you buy them from us, and we have a valid purchase record for you, of course we guarantee our products and will make sure that you get the product you paid for. This means that if you have potions in inventory that cease to work, and you are the original purchaser, we will replace them with new versions. But if you bought it from another avatar, you will have to seek a refund or replacement from them.

I’d also like to emphasize that we do not ban people for personal or financial reasons. We ban people for violating our explicitly stated terms of service, or the terms of service of Second Life. It has been suggested that we have banned blood sellers for competing with us in blood sales. It’s easy to forget that all blood that is legally obtained is originally purchased from us, either in the form of a tank or a HUD, so it is not really possible for a blood merchant to compete with us without breaking the law. Merchants who operate honestly support and enhance the Bloodlines system. The recent bans are not an attack on blood merchants, it is quite the opposite: they are actually in defense of honest blood merchants.

So, here’s my advice for everyone: if you find an exploit, don’t use it, report it. If you find items being sold for impossibly low prices, don’t buy them, report it. If something seems too good to be true, it is.

To all of the honest players, all we can do is apologize for letting this exploit go for as long as we did. We haven’t been on vacation, we’ve been working on other projects that have demanded our attention. I’m also sorry that you haven’t seen anything new from us for a while. In the next few weeks, we have some very exciting additions to the system coming out, including 3 new War weapons, and 3 new exciting Bloodlines items. We also have a brand new social game unrelated to Bloodlines coming out later this summer that we think will be our most fun game yet. Stay tuned to this blog for updates. Thanks to everyone for your continued support!