What Works Really Well in SL?

[Prokofy Neva]

4 minutes ago, Jules Catlyn said:

I always wonder why people stay in SL if they feel it is such a bad and borked place to be in. We are here by choice, not because we have to be.

Because we don't wait on the Lindens or depend on them other than for the basic world itself, and make our own world and our own fun. 

When it gets especially bad, I go to The Endless Forest. Or FreeSO, the re-engineered The Sims Online which is great. They have their charms.

I can also clean my kitchen and work on my bookshelves in RL. 

What I always wonder is why people can't concede that SL is bad, and is borked, especially the search now, and that it's ok to say so. You wouldn't sit still if Google was broken or even your local 311 number. You'd complain and taken action. But in SL you are supposed to be a paralyzed unicorn in the headlights all the time.

[animats]

9 hours ago, Lindal Kidd said:

Things LL Got Right, In No Particular Order...

Agree.

I've been looking at all the new "metaverses". They're all worse than SL so far. Notes on the competition:

• PBR and lighting make mediocre builds look a lot better. About 80% of the SL user base has the hardware for that, but LL is reluctant to leave people behind.
• Nobody else does governance well at all. SL is way ahead in the way land ownership and permissions add up to a reasonably workable world. Everybody else is thinking either dictatorship or anarchy. Part of what makes SL work is that SL is big, and space keeps everything from being in the same place. Annoyances are local. SL is the size of Greater London, and griefers can seldom annoy beyond 200  meters or so. This really matters and nobody else quite gets it.
• Roblox is working on the really hard technical problems, with lots of money and a big dev staff. I'm impressed with what they've accomplished. Such as solving the mesh clothing fit problem. Unfortunately, their average user age is 13 and they have 4000 censors plus an AI waiting to pounce on anyone who says a bad word. Holding hands is a no-no in Roblox.
• The NFT worlds get a lot of press but have tiny user counts. Most NFT art is total crap. Stuff that sells on OpenSea for US$10,000 would not sell on SL marketplace at L$100.

But they get the attention? Why? The lure of Make Money Fast.

 

Edited November 24, 2021 by animats

[Persephone Emerald]

I love SL because it can be *and I can be* whatever I want.
If I want to just stand on a platform and look at how cute my avatar is, I can do that.
If I want to get into roleplay in pretty much any kind of scenario, I can do that.
I can landscape, decorate a house, explore thousands of amazing sims, and fill my unlimited wardrobe with cute and fun clothes for free or nearly free.
It's also a social platform for people who don't always feel like being social.

What Linden Lab got right is anonymity, being able to create and sell our creations, and being able to modify the Hell out of our avatars. Everything else is either what the users have created or are details such as Teleporting and Search that work ok, maybe not perfectly, but well enough.

Edited November 23, 2021 by Persephone Emerald

[Maryanne Solo]

Making dance videos to be mastered in external dedicated/specialist software for standalone watching on PC or the web in general.
You can't tell me that whomever pitched the "Abbatar" idea to Abba wasn't influenced by SL at some point. hmm ^^?... HMM^^?.. yeah.
I've been far too busy in RL to return to making said videos just atmo, but it's something I adore doing. ❤️
One single take & screencap (IN SL) with this one just for fun. No editing, FX or synching in external software.
(shocking vid & sound quality - ends abruptly - was not made for public consumption). 😄

 

Edited November 23, 2021 by Maryanne Solo

[Bree Giffen]

SL was able to break through the sexiness barrier without falling into pure smut. Many residents don't even partake in horizontal recreation but it's available without any weird corporate puritanism getting in the way. What's out there is also well made and can be enjoyed in complete privacy....so I've heard.

 

[victoravatar]

Lindens got everything right babe i don't see nothing wrong with SL

[Jules Catlyn]

1 hour ago, Prokofy Neva said:

What I always wonder is why people can't concede that SL is bad, and is borked, especially the search now, and that it's ok to say so. You wouldn't sit still if Google was broken or even your local 311 number. You'd complain and taken action. But in SL you are supposed to be a paralyzed unicorn in the headlights all the time.

There is a difference between being a "paralyzed unicorn" and always being negative even to the point of accusing Linden Lab of doing certain things on purpose to cause distress for certain players. I am very active in a number of communities in Second Life and yes, i see many things that could be improved but i failed to see them being as negative as portrayed by some and i haven't seen any evidence of deliberate actions by Linden Lab to make life more difficult for selected players.

[Prokofy Neva]

4 minutes ago, Jules Catlyn said:

There is a difference between being a "paralyzed unicorn" and always being negative even to the point of accusing Linden Lab of doing certain things on purpose to cause distress for certain players. I am very active in a number of communities in Second Life and yes, i see many things that could be improved but i failed to see them being as negative as portrayed by some and i haven't seen any evidence of deliberate actions by Linden Lab to make life more difficult for selected players.

Then you are wilfully disregarding what is right in front of us all, and not looking in the right places. 

[Jules Catlyn]

Just now, Prokofy Neva said:

Then you are wilfully disregarding what is right in front of us all, and not looking in the right places. 

That is your personal opinion. I think i have a pretty good grasp on what is going on in Second Life through my activities. If one keeps looking, one will always find "evidence" for any theory. No matter how ludicrous.

[sirhc DeSantis]

I was about to link to Animats as nailed a few points but not going to fight this - freebie forum (redacted)

The Lab (whatever the term we are meant to use) gave us, the great unwashed, a frame work to - use. And we have. Oh and we have.  I was not kidding on the other thread thing when I said that I logged in once and never more. Someone else logged in next and - here I am. It has been 'my world my imagination' parsed through various but is still. I make stuff here in ways I never thought I could - said the original sculptor turned pole dancer.

Done right? Opened me up to things. Not too bad over the years.

Oh forgot - the LSL wiki. I have never seen a better ref for any language designed so tightly for where it is used. 'We' (not me) did that. LL involved I know not of but - that is what the frame work involves.

Oh and - I take it on faith that there are no 13 year olds around. I avoid them in meatspace. Happy they are elsewhere

[animats]

1 hour ago, Bree Giffen said:

SL was able to break through the sexiness barrier without falling into pure smut.

That's a good observation. In the last 20 years entertainment has split strongly between XXX and PG. There's not much R any more. Nor much sexual innuendo. SL has a healthy attitude towards sex, which is refreshing. It's there if you want it and look for it.

SL got this right. But it's hard to explain, because it's out of step with parts of the mainstream.

[Coffee Pancake]

4 minutes ago, animats said:

That's a good observation. In the last 20 years entertainment has split strongly between XXX and PG. There's not much R any more. Nor much sexual innuendo. SL has a healthy attitude towards sex, which is refreshing. It's there if you want it and look for it.

SL got this right. But it's hard to explain, because it's out of step with parts of the mainstream.

I think it's the wide range of acceptable content, people aren't sectioned off into either G rated or explicit content, this opens up a huge grey area in the middle where most of the actual fun happens.

[Randall Ahren]

Those are some good suggestions, and yes I agree. The Lindens nailed the balance between a healthy interest in sex and a porn site. If the Lindens could make the slex better, SL would be bigger than Facebook.

Another thing the Lindens got right was sunrises and sunsets over the sea. They are truly beautiful. Sunsets, romance and sex. No other platform does it better.

[Rolig Loon]

I don't spend time wandering in other worlds, so I am not comparing what I see in SL with what some other platform might do better. I compare it against my own expectations: Is it intellectually challenging?  Do I have a fair amount of control over the things I want to do?  Are there always new places to explore and new experiences to discover? Yes to all three.

I came here recently retired from a long career in higher education. A friend had told me that SL was going to be the next great venue for education.  I doubted it, but came to see for myself. I was right; it isn't. On the other hand, it is a fine place for self-exploration and for developing new skills. I found that I could use my experience in the sciences to learn how to make things in SL move with scripts. LSL is a simple language with enough limitations to make it a real challenge for serious work, but LL has made dramatic improvements in it during the 15 years I have been working with it. It has become more flexible with the addition of functions for handling communications protocols, the advent of mesh and materials, the introduction of Experiences (and Key Value Parameters, which have greatly improved our ability to store and handle data). 

LSL still has its limitations but it's remarkably good for the environment it was created to control. As much as we scripters wish it could do even more, it is one of the big things that LL has done right and continues to give support to.  Working with LSL, finding new ways to create fun, exciting things, has also given me daily answers to the three questions I posed as my expectations above. I have known quite a number of creators in SL who would say the same.

Edited November 24, 2021 by Rolig Loon
typos. as always.

[Mollymews]

5 hours ago, Randall Ahren said:

Another thing the Lindens got right was sunrises and sunsets over the sea. They are truly beautiful

this. So much this. Sunset over the sea is my most fav view in all of SL

[rasterscan]

I hope the amazing, frustrating, satisfying, exasperating, glorious ole' 'game' lasts at least another 18 years.

[Nick0678]

Well wouldn't be so sure about the pixelsex part.. I do remember people used to f*ck giant spiders, horses, dogs and other sh*t in Second Life..

(but ok i get it "your world your imagination")

Edited November 24, 2021 by Nick0678

[Tama Suki]

Soul

[PixelBerry]

Second life has never been a flawless platform, but I think most of us has grown to get used to the flaws that it has, it is a part of what makes Second life in my eyes.

I can't come up with what they have done right that others haven't already mentioned but they created an amazing platform suited for all kinds of people, a platform where you can do anything and be anything, it is a platform that has grown and has been changed over the years, it's like watching a green plant bud turn into a flower, I love watching new additions to this platform and I always get surprised each time they do something new to it.

The flaws that is are livable for me, however for new people to be interested in Second life some flaws need to get fixed.

What they have done right is the possibilities that you have on here.

 

Edited November 24, 2021 by PixelBerry

[BelindaN]

It's about expectations. I didn't have any. I've never gamed, until SL my computer use was 90% work. I have no interest in gaming at all.

What I found here in SL was enough of a challenge to keep my interest. Three and a half years later, it still does.

So for me, it's good enough. Improvements are always welcome though.

[diamond Marchant]

For me, the things that work really well in Second life are (1) good social media, (2) creating stuff, and (3) buying stuff.

By good social media, I mean that we are free NOT to be our real life selves, we are free of intrusive ads, and we appear to be free from having our information (in all aspects) misappropriated and monetized. And we have real communities here and they are very valuable.

I love to create/build things and SL allows us to do this in the same environment in which we go about our second lives.

I love to shop and we have access to the best digital creators on the planet. Marketplace works. Shopping events work. Paying for things works.

Flipside, most of the issues I have SL are not technology... they are POLICY. Things like banlines, lack of connectivity in the grid, and Lindens doing things that residents can and should be doing (e.g. organizing the second life birthday)

[Scylla Rhiadra]

9 hours ago, Nick0678 said:

do remember people used to f*ck giant spiders, horses, dogs and other sh*t in Second Life.

"Used to"????

Oh Nick. Dear, sweet, naive Nick . . .

[Persephone Emerald]

11 hours ago, Nick0678 said:

Well wouldn't be so sure about the pixelsex part.. I do remember people used to f*ck giant spiders, horses, dogs and other sh*t in Second Life..

(but ok i get it "your world your imagination")

Used to?  Along with being able to customize one's avatar probably more than any other platform, Second Life also allows avatars to have pixelsex with probably more different kinds of creatures and objects than any other platform. There are alot of alien creatures and plants out on the grid that do more than just stand there and look weird.

[Nick0678]

30 minutes ago, Persephone Emerald said:

Used to?  Along with being able to customize one's avatar probably more than any other platform, Second Life also allows avatars to have pixelsex with probably more different kinds of creatures and objects than any other platform. There are alot of alien creatures and plants out on the grid that do more than just stand there and look weird.

2 hours ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

"Used to"????

Oh Nick. Dear, sweet, naive Nick . . .

Oh they still do such stuff? I remember those from my early days back in 2009 while exploring SL and there were no region ratings so you would search for a normal farm or whatever and end up in some weird sex place with avatars air humping random things/animals/avatars.  Anyway.. (your world.. your imagination)

Edited November 24, 2021 by Nick0678

[Scylla Rhiadra]

8 minutes ago, Nick0678 said:

Oh they still do such stuff? I remember those from my early days back in 2009 while exploring SL and there were no region ratings so you would search for a normal farm or whatever and end up in some weird sex place with avatars air humping random things/animals/avatars.  Anyway.. (your world.. your imagination)

Oh yes.

Honestly, tentacle sex or whatever? Meh, so what.

If it were the worst thing available here, I'd have no complaints.