“Marine notecard”
It is with sadness that I have to announce the closing of the Banishment program. It has been a very interesting experience and was novelty in its time. It was also a good testing grounds for the RLV back in the day.
First, I want to apologize for not having updated the Banesuit like I should have. The reason for this is double.
Firstly, the whole program is not a business for me, it does not bring me any money (it costs me, in fact) since the 10% retained from a Bane’s payment goes to the Operator and to the Engineer equally. It was okay, of course, given that I earn money from my own business. The Banishment Program was a gift from me to the community.
Secondly, although the scripts are very old and I struggled to find a better approach, I didn’t find any. The Custodian part of the Banesuit does its job (bar some bugs that crept up over the years, because of some new SL quirks), while the Eudeamon part cannot be more than a stub, of course, since there was no question to create an AI. I’ve programmed my last AI engine about 14 years ago and it was not in LSL !
The Banishment Program started from one simple realization (after being inspired by the Eudeamon novel). In SL, like in RL, we quickly come to take for granted what we should be thankful for having : friends. So I made the Banesuit as restrictive and isolating as possible to cut the subject from their friends for a set period of time. Although cruel at first glance, the reviews I’ve got show that it was spot on. When a Bane gets out of their Banesuit, they are happy to have their friends back. They learn to enjoy what they used to take for granted.
To put it simply, it makes you realize that you don’t really know you love someone until you start missing them. That’s what it was all about.
Now, of course, Banishment is a little more than that. For some, it is a novel. For others, a unique experience. For others, a fetish dream. For me, it has been a privilege.
Some of you may know that Eudeamon, thanks to WinthorpeFoghorn Zinnemann, has been edited in Italy. That’s right, this very Banishment Program here, an SL group, sparked interest in printing the story in RL. Fancy that !
The Program has been created in 2008. There have been a few other groups as well, some more successful than others, but this one, our group, has been the first and the last. I am not closing it, it is there to stay. In fact, although I am closing the Program, I am not burying the idea at all. Let me explain.
Green Geary has been nagging me for a v2.0 Banesuit for years. Her idea makes perfect sense of course, and I had been researching for ways to make the Eudeamon part more important and enjoyable. Same for the Custodian part, which acted as an auto-Domme (I liked making it feel that way *grin*). It’s true, with the latest additions to the RLV, there were ways to improve the experience for the Bane (but still no way to make the view look sepia, I know, I’ve looked everywhere, even though the viewer can technically do it on snapshots, I didn’t find a way to do it in real time).
But to make a v2.0 requires to overhaul the whole process of recruiting, banishing and operating.
Additionally, the Banishment Program Lab is located in Zhora, which is a mainland sim that belongs to me and that I kept essentially for my partner Ollalla to use. But Ollalla has been seriously sick in RL and could not log on for over a year. And a sim is expensive and I am trying to make a living. So I have to sell it and that means the lab cannot stay.
All this led me to decide to close the Program for now. This may be temporary or definitive, I have no way to know. If I had it my way, here is what I’d do :
– I’d rewrite the Custodian script entirely… to do essentially the same things it is already doing. Plus probably a few more things, but it is mostly working as intended right now.
– I’d keep pulling my hair out to find out how to make a good Eudeamon emergence.
– I’d make the Banesuit more “fetishy”, more bondage oriented. More like living latex.
– I’d make a better-looking lab (this is historical, at first the lab was in a tiny parcel rent from Chorazin Allen, before I bought the whole sim).
– I’d make a better-looking helmet (it’s easy for me now).
– I’d make it use the latest RLV restrictions.
But :
– It takes time and I have more pressing projects (SL and RL alike).
– It takes money and I need to make a living.
I believe there are a couple Banes left to release, but I am not sure. All the Operators who still have a Bane under their responsibility, please send me an IM to tell me, thanks ! I’ll try to keep the maintenance area where it is or nearby, for a little longer.
My very special thanks go to Green Geary, whose unyielding dedication and helpfulness allowed the program to last for so long.
Thank you all for your interest, I hope you had fun !
Marine
Malbert Greenfield 