Connect the Continents

[Geneer Gynoid]

This is the official forum thread for the SL Connect the Continents interest group.

This group was created to grow momentum, popularity and plans to create a sim channel to connect the major continents in SecondLife; starting with a connection from Satori to Sansara, as well as a channel from Sansara to Jeogeot. Sailing, aviation,  passenger and freight fans alike would benefit from a long traverse-able connection between the larger closer continents. Please join in world if you support this idea, and our list/forum will serve as a petition/interest gathering.

We already have many members and are quickly gaining support from users, sim owners, airport owners, marina owners as well as basic SL craft enthusiasts.

This thread is the official thread where we will compile ideas, concerns, support, etc for this landmark proposal. Please feel free to contribute, but need I say, let's please keep this constructive.

Julia Raymond

[AnukManeewong1260]

We should Strongly Encourage LL to do the region adding from the Heterocera. as well with Azure Islands,Fairchang. to connect from Sansara to Satori or Heteocera to Satori. to support aircraft flights and large ship to the ferry port/marina.

[ShereeHoneyflower]

As an avid explorer and a destination blogger(Virtually Sheree), I have thought for a long time that if anything would help encourage more exploring and group participation, joining up mainland continents would be a positive with tracks of passage sea and air which could have info points and activity areas along the way.

SL Airliners have already started to express their support by flying between continents.

[Anna Nova]

Maybe they should make them Toll Connections and charge a few lindens per passage...

New sources of income usually get people thinking.

(Puts on tin hat, and bullet proof knickers)

[Fionalein]

welcome to the next person same idea game...

 

[Trista Banx]

if LL used OS sims, which can be low cost and many hosted on fewer servers, the potential to connect the continents even with a 1 sim wide channel could be very profitable for them by also being able to connect to large privately owned sim communities via 1 or 2 homestead water sim connections from the channel. Only so many people are allowed to build sim communities attached to the Blake area, so this would open the door for other people willing to make the investment, to add more multi sim communities that have the attraction and advantage to have access to and from the larger mainland part of the grid. Great idea for all types of travel or exploring enthusiasts as well as Real Estate investors that know that all land on the grid will be more valuable if it's more accessible without teleporting there. It's been officially said that the 1 thing that causes the most lag in SL is teleporting. I'll dig up the link to that information if someone cares to ask for it. But connecting the continents is something I've personally been wishing for as a aviator and sailor for years.

The only feasible reason I can think of, that would stop LL from doing this would be Blake Sea and surrounding area land owners (big time land owners, not just 1 parcel or sim) - they might worry that their "prime real estate" will go down a little in value due to the additional "physical" access to that area from further away, and those rich people might pressure LL to avoid the project. I own some land on and near the Blake though, and I support the idea 100%, so maybe larger land owners will too.

Edited June 9, 2018 by Trista Banx

[ChinRey]

2 hours ago, Geneer Gynoid said:

starting with a connection from Satori to Sansara

Assuming you mean connecting the waterways around Sansara to the Sattori/Nautilus/Corsica/Blake Sea waters, the shortest route would be a Northest Passage from Bevel to Atanua. That would require about 90 sims. They could probably be done as Open Space regions since there shouldn't be many boats/planes in each at any given time. There are shorter routes further south but they are not that much shorter and they all end up at locations blocked from access to the main sailing areas on both sides by ban lines and private parcels.

 

33 minutes ago, Trista Banx said:

if LL used OS sims, which can be low cost

There is no reason why individual sims should cost LL more than OS sims do. LL's extra costs must mainly be developement and maintenance of the grid as a whole.

 

33 minutes ago, Trista Banx said:

Only so many people are allowed to build sim communities attached to the Blake area, so this would open the door for other people willing to make the investment, to add more multi sim communities that have the attraction and advantage to have access to and from the larger mainland part of the grid.

Yes but before you get too excited, read the Community Land Partnership Program info. That's gonna be a hard sell these days, especially the 500-or-more USD non refundable application fee. If LL really wants private etstaes connected to mainland, they need to sweeten the deal a lot.

Edited June 9, 2018 by ChinRey

[nitro2012pl]

Will there be a petition to sign? for example on change.org , or something...

[Michaelatv Destiny]

I joined this, to make a difference, even though my time in SL is gradually coming to an end because of age related health issues. Not only am I supporter of this, As a an old ATC officer, I would also like to see LL turning up the heat on technology to make seamless oceans with no lag to, not 99.7  I measured the other day, especially in the Cove areas of Blake's Seas. If companies  can make AI sex dolls in real life and LL allows AFK sex dolls in second life, (which I don't actually think they should be allowed to use female avatars which demeans woman even more)   then LL should be working on improving the way we travel around areas of aviation and marine environments. 

With the continuing  development of GTFO and Passenger timetables and pre - planned flights, LL must turn away from the smut which is over saturated,  and dying out,  as the days of making several hundred L$ a week from dancing on poles like I used to do pre land price hike days has long gone. On the flip side, there a few good parcels and half sims in Blakes that become more affordable, mainly due to the landlord group allowing renting of large land plots instead of trying to impossibly sell a 2 million L$ sim.

I was very lucky indeed to find an open ocean sim not far from Acknefar, 16,500 size for just 8,500 L$ a week, (courtesy of "Destiny Estates") for my last project, an interactive rp, living, staffed, Drilling rig "The Deep Water Horizon" already loved by the SLCG for training purposes. it goes online soon after 5 months construction, and staff will be needed. medics, security officer, all paid by the new Smartbot banking module. so while I enjoy this last project I am likely to do, I would support anything that improves our experiences in this field. MY GTFO Rig Tender ship aptly named as the Damon  Bankster will be put into service soon, so I need staff to use it in group perms and helicopter pilots to deliver  staff to the DWHP from the Bristows D-139 executive helicopter pads in "Storms Calm", 12 sims away.  (Staff openings can be seen soon on many aviation and related groups and also at the office in SLNO.)

Good luck with your endeavour  

(Im an oldie bought up on Analogue,  the digital age and its complications are far harder for the likes of our age group to understand.So  I would like to thank three vendors who have kindly helped to make mesh models of  realistic Rig Lifeboats for me, (not available on market place), a modifiable  small crane, and lastly the owner of "Basic Elements"who is modding me a Mud 35 meter high blow out fountain. 

Have a lovely weekend

[IceCold Skytower]

LL puts multiple sims on one server core, even if they use homestead, they could easily put around 25 of them on one core, so a single server machine could run 100 sims easily, and the surge of new mainland residents would make up for it. Lucrative business move, with some risks involved. Why are they not doing it? They can afford risks i think.

Also, I actually dreamed of this continent connection since many years, my home base is on Heterocera, and I feel like all the party is over at east, with Corsia/Blake/Nautilus/Satori landmass, I'd be a frequent user of such connection, so i wouldnt need to TP over during RPs, or pretend a boat ride by going to a specific spot then teleporting to another specific spot.

I see no down sides to this business move except for the maintenance price of the extra regions.

[Alwin Alcott]

40 minutes ago, IceCold Skytower said:

 and the surge of new mainland residents would make up for it.

wow... good idea... all 5 new residents that really come for this wonderfull idea are going to pay for all hundreds of sims that are needed to make this plan complete!....

good luck with that, because what all these threads about waterways, blocked waterways, blocked airspace, open airspace... and what more, showed, is that its the group that wants this has none or minor economical tribute for realising it.

[IceCold Skytower]

Yes well, and the landbarons that could afford it could care less because everything is perfectly fine, everyone is making money, lets not have nice things, in fact landbarons so badly dont care that they walk around in 2007 noob avatars and only login to milk money. They wont care, the actual users care, and actual users are usually not rich people, because rich people have better things to do than sit on Second Life.

So in the end it's up for LL what they want with their world. Sure they can boast usermade world concept all they want, this project wont happen without their help, this is why this topic exists.

Or unless someone wants to bite the bullet and buy 1 full sim, and 99 homesteads.

Oh could also just put rentable islands together with a covenant about what it is for, and have residents pay for it that way

[foneco Zuzu]

Hope LL will read and bring some ideas for this topic as well.

[Phorumities]

Before they do that they need to restore sailing channels all around the edge of the continents. Its annoying to sail several sims along the edge of a continent in public LL water, then hit a corner that was sold at some point in time, blocking further passage. We don't even need full sized sim passages, just  narrow channels that don't deadend at someone private parcel with a security orb.

[Geneer Gynoid]

10 hours ago, Alwin Alcott said:

wow... good idea... all 5 new residents that really come for this wonderfull idea are going to pay for all hundreds of sims that are needed to make this plan complete!....

good luck with that, because what all these threads about waterways, blocked waterways, blocked airspace, open airspace... and what more, showed, is that its the group that wants this has none or minor economical tribute for realising it.

Yes, that is why this forum was started, for constructive ideas to achieve this goal.

As for contributions to a community generated content platform, I myself, have spent real world money on a monthly basis in SL and not just for years of a tier, and I am sure I am not alone. These ARE ideas from paying customers. No-one supporting this idea expects anything for free, and there are several existing methods that can keep this expansion self sustaining, just as any sim in SL is.

We are WELL aware of the drawbacks form a financial standpoint that if its not a cash windfall for LL, this idea very well may just wither away. As stated in the first post, this forum is for the constructive compilation of ideas from MANY SL craft enthusiasts to make a workable expansion/connection to the craft-able sims happen.

Julia

Edited June 10, 2018 by Geneer Gynoid
Name

[Geneer Gynoid]

Couple quick thoughts.....

- Anna mentioned above a Toll, eh, I thought about that for a split second the other day myself, but figured that would work at first with the newness in it, but would wither and then flatten. I think a more stable source would be better... Keeping it free for passage would be used by the populous, and a toll would make people just TP and thus were back to where we began. Thoughts?

- Perhaps an atoll of sims in the middle somewhere that has tier based parcels, tropical theme on one, Aleutian Islands type of theme on perhaps another...

- Tier based lands on islands throughout the channels to also help offset sim existence costs. More sporadically placed than the group sections in the atoll.

- a half sim width access for the movement past island parcels, so no squeezing through sliver LL access ways. These sims should be mostly open for travel

These are things that were discussed in the chatroom that I thought I would put in the forum... More to come as I read them and remember then hehehe.

Thoughts?

 

Julia

Edited June 10, 2018 by Geneer Gynoid
Name

[Trista Banx]

18 hours ago, Michaelatv Destiny said:

I joined this, to make a difference

Not only am I supporter of this, As a an old ATC officer, I would also like to see LL turning up the heat on technology to make seamless oceans with no lag

Good luck with your endeavour  

Have a lovely weekend

With all due respect to everything else you said in your post, these 4 lines are the only relevant statements to the topic and purpose of this forum. The point of the forum is to have an open dialog about connecting the mainland continents, and to hopefully persuade LL to make it a priority, so anything spoken off the main topic should be avoided, since it will serve to be anti-productive towards the goal here.

[Trista Banx]

16 hours ago, IceCold Skytower said:

actual users are usually not rich people

in the end it's up for LL what they want with their world. Sure they can boast usermade world concept all they want, this project wont happen without their help, this is why this topic exists.

Or unless someone wants to bite the bullet and buy 1 full sim, and 99 homesteads.

good point. And to put that into perspective, biting that bullet would cost 500 for setup, 295 a month for the full sim, then 225 for setup, and 125 a month for EACH additional homestead. So even 1 full sim and 20 homesteads, would cost a person $5,000 USD just to get started, and a monthly tier cost of $420 USD. You would need to actually be rich to afford a 99 homestead sim community as a hobby or even to afford the tier until it's all rented out. So I doubt that the channel(s) being bought and paid for by residents is likely scenario, and then there's the problem of people abusing the themed rules and possibly blocking passage by using security orbs that extend beyond the allowed distance. I think Open Space Sims is the best way to go here, and LL can afford the maintenance on that easily. 

Also another perspective on the financial aspect, is that if you combine the income LL generates from all the average non-rich users including marketplace taxes, L purchase fees, and land tiers, and compare it to the tier income from all the land barons that spend little to no money on anything but land tier (hence the reason they all look like newbs), I would bet money that the average users FAR outweigh the land barons. AND .... a lot of the tier cost for the land barons, is paid for by average residents that rent from them, so the barons aren't even paying most of their own tier to begin with. Point being that the everyday average consumers and tenants that actually spend time with activities in world, should have more of a say as to what happens with their SL grid

Edited June 10, 2018 by Trista Banx

[Trista Banx]

21 hours ago, ChinRey said:

There are shorter routes further south but they are not that much shorter and they all end up at locations blocked from access to the main sailing areas on both sides by ban lines and private parcels.

There is no reason why individual sims should cost LL more than OS sims do. LL's extra costs must mainly be developement and maintenance of the grid as a whole.

The shorter routes can be easily used since private sims in the way can be easily relocated without substantial consequence to the sim owners, which they really don't own. LL does and can allocate priority to a project like this, for the benefit of many more users than a few sim owners.

On your 2nd point, OS sims 'are' individual sims. If you mean homesteads or private regions, the difference is that they can run many more OS sims on a single server than the other 2 types of sims, and server cost and maintenance would be a consideration for LL. The less servers needed to host the channels, the cheaper it will be for LL to maintain them. As for the ban lines and private estates, that's where LL could circumvent them with a bend in the road. If they decide to use 80 to 100 sims to build a channel, then redirecting the channel with a few extra shouldn't be a big issue for them

Edited June 10, 2018 by Trista Banx

[animats]

I'm encouraged to see new users pushing for changes. SL has a lot of old-time users who accept SL's problems. It also has a huge number of new users who leave very fast. (10,000 new signups a week, but few stay long.)

I've seen a "Connect the Continents" T-shirt in-world. Where do you get that?

Connecting the continents in another way may be possible - experience teleports and trains. You get on a train, you go into a tunnel, and you come out somewhere else. (Passengers would be teleported to a duplicate train at the other end and put in the same seat. The train itself wouldn't make the trip. Done in a tunnel with the right visual effects, it could be convincing. It's a possibility for the steampunk sims which already have trams.)

[Geneer Gynoid]

13 minutes ago, animats said:

I've seen a "Connect the Continents" T-shirt in-world. Where do you get that?

Neat.... if you DO find it, please let us know....

If there isn't one, Ill probably make one of those, but most full perm shirts have a TOS that requires I sell them instead of give them to the group, and I would feel bad making money on this...

Julia

[Trista Banx]

@animats  .... well the idea you have is clever, but the point of the long channels is to enhance the travel experience for sailors, aviation enthusiasts, and to stimulate land ownership on other continents because of greater connectivity "without" teleporting.

[kitten Mills]

I think this initiative is very good and I think it would be great to finally be able to sail around the continents. Much is blocked with ban lines, orbs and other things. So you do not come to the south cap in Satori. Why ban lines on official waterways and mainland roads? Why Orbs under 1000m? No one really needs something like that.

[animats]

4 minutes ago, Geneer Gynoid said:

Neat.... if you DO find it, please let us know....

If there isn't one, Ill probably make one of those, but most full perm shirts have a TOS that requires I sell them instead of give them to the group, and I would feel bad making money on this...

Julia

For a quick job, take the "Boy Next Door" basic T-shirt from your inventory Library. It has full perms. Replace the texture.

 

[Axil OwO]

Hi. I had an idea for something, but it would require a bit of work on LL's end to make it happen.

Region portals. In plain terms, this is simply a region crossing that will send you directly to another continent. There are no giant ocean-bridges to worry about, and no land to move.

In my "expertly-crafted" examples, here's what I mean:

 

This is the coast of Satori. We need to get to Heterocera. So, we have a portal right over here marked by this purple arrow.

You simply sail or fly through this normal region crossing and you're there!

This could be done in a lot of locations to allow access.

 

PROS:
- No need to move land
- Faster than a water bridge (doesn't use up any regions either)
- Works like a normal region crossing
CONS:
- LL would have to actually program this into the game and I have no clue how difficult something like this is to do on a technical scale.

And that's pretty much my proposal.