There is never too much gimp-ish gear out there! There is quite a few so-called “isolation hoods”, but only a few of them deserve the name. Unfortunately those that deliver in the features often lack attractive look and vice versa. That is why I have decided to create yet another one, this time a hood that would be presentable both as nice and strict. Something.. new, good-looking, and still, worthy of the name.

After several months of careful development and testing, the hood is finally live! I have released it just last night before collapsing to my bed. Yay! It took quite some time and effort, but the result is worth every minute spent on it. Which also means it’s really worth every linden – that’s for those who didn’t get the gentle hint. :)

The Isolation Hood is built to fit the bill of one of the most restrictive and secure accessories in SL. Not only it is one of the few hoods equipped with a perfectly silencing gag, not only it is one of the very few devices that need no HUD to keep their wearer blinded and helpless.

First of all, it is a piece of art, from the shape itself, through the various material textures, right down to the scripting. The ideas behind this hood were not just mindless carbon copies of already existing restraints. The primary goal was to create an innovative and unique toy that would be intriguing and scary at the same time. But it doesn’t stop there.

Additional features were requested from testers during the development, and they made it to the final version – such as a timelock for nice and tight self-bondage.

CORE FEATURES

• Custom, unique sculpted shape to fit your avatar.
• Unique selectable heavy rubber, reinforced leather, or silvery metal looks
• Fully menu-driven, low-lag scripting.
• Colored LED indicators for each of the hood’s features.
• Reset-proof against common reset techniques.
• Resetable from hood’s menu when not in RLV

RESTRICTIVE FEATURES

• 4 levels of gag (muffler, 2 levels of garble, and silence)
• Blockable IMs
• Silence gag prevenst wearer from using emotes
• 3 levels of blindfold (visor tint, blurred vision, complete darkness)
• fully blindfolded wearer is prevented from recognizing names
• 2 levels of earmuffs (earplugs, white noise)
• Blockable IMs
• Adjustable Leashing
• The hood dispenses its own leash holder and leashing post

SPECIAL FEATURES

• Public Mode is great for selfbondage. Lock yourself out with a single click!
• With Timelock activated, the hood locks you out of the controls until time’s up!
• By activating the Hardcore Mode, you give up the chance to reset the hood ever.
• The hood’s restrictions cannot be escaped with any kind of “safety attachment”.
• The hood is keyed per avatar. No escaping your fate even through different copies.

Updates to the hood will be provided on a “as they’re ready” basis, with improvements to existing features being a priority before adding new features. Custom work available, other variants of the hood are being worked on.

You can purchase the SLiCK! Isolation Hood via SL Marketplace, or by visiting my vendors at Latexia Mall.

There is a whole story of updates and development behind this hood.. if you’re interested, read on…

Update (November 1st)

There is some significant progress to report, finally. Besides all the necessary restrictions working, the hood contains Public mode that can be switched on by the keyholder, it also supports Hardcore mode, and I am currently working on an innovative system of leashing.

Restrictions

Well, it’s a hood, so a gag and blindfold is to be expected. However, the Isolation Hood has three levels of gag (muffler and two levels of garbling), and total silence gag. The blindfold can be applied in three various levels of severity: darkened visor which limits the vision, blurred sight (which still lets you recognize your surroundings somewhat), and total darkness. On top of that, the hood contains earplugs that can cut off your hearing, and “white noise generator” that prevents you from reading emoticons (/me emotes). Both the gag and earplugs can also affect your IMs so if the keyholder wishes, s/he can isolate you from the world quite effectively, with just a few clicks.

Normal Mode

While in the softcore mode, the hood can be reset easily. You don’t need to use manual reset (i.e. picking “edit” and resetting the scripts from Tools menu). In fact, that wouldn’t help you at all, because the hood’s restrictions are stored outside of SL and are recovered everytime the hood resets or is rezzed.

All you need to do is to relog with your normal viewer (without RLV), open the hood’s menu, and select “Advanced > Reset”, if you are the keyholder, or click “Reset” on the initial dialog if you’re not the keyholder.

Hardcore Mode

This one makes the hood a really evil toy. You voluntarily give up the option to ever reset the hood again. Once you have activated the Hardcore mode, the “Reset” option is gone from your menu, and only the keyholder can reset your hood’s settings. Also, you are now unable to switch the hood back to softcore mode – only the keyholder can do that.

Update (December 5th)

SLiCK! Isolation Hood (Coming Soon)

Wow, it has been some time, since I last posted an update. The hood is nearly ready to be released, me and my friends are just going throug final testing phase and I keep fixing bugs they find. Honestly, and just between us, I’d much rather have some real fun, but this needs to be done. I’ve spent so much time on building the hood that it would be a shame to just let it hang – not mentioning what a disappointment it would be to all the people out there waiting for it.

Known Issues:

1. Timelock clears the RLV restrictions but doesn’t clear out the menu, which leads to confusion.
   Fixed. The timelock routine calls proper full reset function, cleaning out all the config and reapplying “factory defaults”.
2. ERT forced unlock leaves some of the LED lights in “active” state.
3. Leash doesn’t apply any force when hand-held by an avatar.
   Fixed. Needed to rebuild the leash holder a bit…
4. Leashing system still sends some debug messages to the keyholder.
   Fixed. The debug messages were removed.

Emergency Rescue Tool (ERT)

Well, that’s a product in itself, though it doesn’t do much alone. ERT is a simple cube that can override any and all locks in SLiCK! toys, and force a reset. Yes, even if the things are locked in Hardcore mode. I’ve created this tool after contemplating various choices. Given how often people just lock you up and vanish, how often they’re gone for days or weeks.. sometimes never returning.. it would be a shame if anyone would have to spend their days locked up.. or, without an option to reset the hood, never able to use it again.

A single copy of ERT will be included in the Isolation Hood package. If you get into serious trouble, just rezz or wear the ERT unit and click it (or have someone else click it). It displays a list of nearby avatars. Pick the one you wish to set free. The ERT will ask their confirmation (yes, they can refuse help).  Once they accept, the ERT will issue a hidden command that forces a full reset on the hood, clearing all restrictions, removing any keyholders, and finally unlocking the hood.

When that is done, the ERT autodestructs. But don’t worry, you will be able to obtain a new one from any SLiCK! vendor out there.