Best Practices

[EnCore Mayne]

i was browsing over at the Cosmopolitan Event minding my own business when a chat came up from someone's purchase.

[02:17:59] DEMO ******* Dress ***** Fat Pack: Thank you for your purchase
[02:17:59] DEMO ******* Dress ***** Fat Pack: Please join my group and receive promotions and free gifts! click here: ********************* [<< landmark link]
[02:17:59] DEMO ******* Dress ***** Fat Pack: click to unpack

notice, the unpacker HUD also posts into the chat! not only that, but i must have been 80meters from where the vendor was. i'm not sure where the buyer was.

is anyone else bothered by this designer's methods?

[Alwin Alcott]

5 minutes ago, EnCore Mayne said:

notice, the unpacker HUD also posts into the chat! not only that, but i must have been 80meters from where the vendor was. i'm not sure where the buyer was.

is anyone else bothered by this designer's methods?

if the unpacker did send it,, the distance to the vendor isn't really relevant, but the user that is wearing the unpacker, could have stand within the normal chat range of you.
Such things don't bother me a lot at the event themself, it's not my happy silent home   

[EnCore Mayne]

uhuh, i just realized that after i made a purchase of the item myself. the unpacker HUD's chat originated from the avatar. i'm guessing ALL the chat came from the moment one attaches the inventory object (unpacker).

[norajulian]

Perhaps message the creator with your concerns rather than the forums with your suggestion - it’s mostly just us crusty old folk here. 😅

You’ve sadly left us without the name of the item, so we are unable to prepare the mob and grab our pitchforks. 😥 But! Hopefully the creator would be willing to lend an ear, and we can go back to tossing hay to our SLcattle

Edited July 12, 2022 by norajulian

[Maitimo]

In a store or shopping event, it wouldnt bother me in the slightest. I've seen similar chat things on huds and unpacker boxes before.  It would annoy me if it was happenning in a club or at an entertainment event (please get your outfit sorted before you arrive).

And yes, the chat comes from the avatar wearing the object, not from the vendor itself.

[Arduenn Schwartzman]

Here's my best practice for unpackers

1. The pack has '(Add To Unpack)' at the end of the name.
2. The pack is an small invisible box that attaches to you in an obscure HUD attachment corner.
3. The pack offers you its contents immediately and automatically upon attaching (or immediately upon rezzing, if you decide to do that instead).
4. The unpacked folder no longer has '(Add To Unpack)' in it.
5. The pack immediately detaches itself after it's offered the inventory, automatically.
6. Bonus: the unpacker script is full-perm.

So this is all the customer has to do:

1. Add pack.
2. Click 'Accept'.

Here's what the customer doesn't have to suffer:

1. No waiting for big label textures to load.
2. No figuring out where to click on the unpacker HUD.
3. No obnoxious invitations.
4. No spamming in local chat.
5. No renaming of folders.
6. No detaching the unpacker.

(I'll have a booth at Cosmo in two weeks myself. Come check out the freebie demo then  )

[Arduenn Schwartzman]

In fact, here's the code:

// Unpacker Script by Arduenn Schwartzman
// This script is licenced as Creative Commons 0, Public Domain

uGiveContents(){
    string ItemName;
    list FolderContents;
    string ScriptName=llGetScriptName();
    string FolderName=llGetObjectName();
    integer Index=llSubStringIndex(FolderName," (Add To Unpack)");
    if(Index!=-1)FolderName=llGetSubString(FolderName,0,Index-1);
    integer ContentCount=llGetInventoryNumber(INVENTORY_ALL);
    for(Index=0;Index<ContentCount;Index++){
        ItemName=llGetInventoryName(INVENTORY_ALL,Index);
        if(ItemName!=ScriptName)FolderContents+=[ItemName];
    }
    llGiveInventoryList(llGetOwner(),FolderName,FolderContents);
}

default{
    on_rez(integer Param){
        uGiveContents();
        if(llGetAttached()!=0){
            llRequestPermissions(llGetOwner(),PERMISSION_ATTACH);
        }
    }
    run_time_permissions(integer Perm){
        if(Perm&PERMISSION_ATTACH){
            llDetachFromAvatar();
        }
    }
    touch_end(integer Total){
        if(llDetectedKey(0)==llGetOwner()){
            uGiveContents();
        }
    }
}

 

[Ceka Cianci]

Honestly, I can never bring myself to even try to unpack anything at events.. I just grab my demos and head home and do it all there..

After I've went through them, if there is anything worth going back for, I'll go back.. A lot of times there isn't though.. So time saved in having huds load and stuff rezzing in extreme laggy conditions..

Plus now some creators using these silly 5 minute timers on demos that hardly give you enough time is good conditions. Extreme lag + 5 minute demo = no sale  hehehehe

[Rowan Amore]

Chatty unpackers bother me far less than chatty body parts and unborn children.  

I do dislike when the put DEMOS into unpacking huds.  Got a demo the other day for an outfit with 3 pieces.  Each piece in a separate demo box.  Why?  Give me one folder with all pieces and sizes.  Pack the finished product for sale with an unpacking hud, allowing us to unpack the Body we need.  

[Ceka Cianci]

7 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said:

Chatty unpackers bother me far less than chatty body parts and unborn children.  

I do dislike when the put DEMOS into unpacking huds.  Got a demo the other day for an outfit with 3 pieces.  Each piece in a separate demo box.  Why?  Give me one folder with all pieces and sizes.  Pack the finished product for sale with an unpacking hud, allowing us to unpack the Body we need.  

Ya, those are fun, especially when it's a one try item..

Sorry, you will have to get another demo, you can only wear this item once..  They probably using someone else's full perm mesh they bought, so they could plop a color on it to sell anyways.

Honestly, I may just start looking at the full perm market myself and eliminate the middle man lol..

[Innula Zenovka]

People should never use llSay/llShout/llWhisper unless they really, really want everyone within 20/100/10 metres to hear the message.

Use llOwnerSay or llRegionSayTo(id, 0, message) instead folks, please!

Edited July 12, 2022 by Innula Zenovka

[Love Zhaoying]

2 minutes ago, Innula Zenovka said:

People should never use llSay/llShout/llWhisper unless they really, really want everyone within 20/100.10 metres to hear the message.

Use llOwnerSay or llRegionSayTo(id, 0, message) instead folk, please!

Interesting! I did not remember that llSay() had such a long range.

The only reason I can think of that you'd use llSay() in an unpacker, is if you want to help new users. That way, helpers can see what the user sees.

Otherwise, I'd use llOwnerSay() for everything intended for use by an owner / wearer.

[LittleMe Jewell]

1 hour ago, Arduenn Schwartzman said:

Here's my best practice for unpackers

1. The pack has '(Add To Unpack)' at the end of the name.
2. The pack is an small invisible box that attaches to you in an obscure HUD attachment corner.
3. The pack offers you its contents immediately and automatically upon attaching (or immediately upon rezzing, if you decide to do that instead).
4. The unpacked folder no longer has '(Add To Unpack)' in it.
5. The pack immediately detaches itself after it's offered the inventory, automatically.
6. Bonus: the unpacker script is full-perm.

So this is all the customer has to do:

1. Add pack.
2. Click 'Accept'.

Here's what the customer doesn't have to suffer:

1. No waiting for big label textures to load.
2. No figuring out where to click on the unpacker HUD.
3. No obnoxious invitations.
4. No spamming in local chat.
5. No renaming of folders.
6. No detaching the unpacker.

(I'll have a booth at Cosmo in two weeks myself. Come check out the freebie demo then  )

Most of the time I agree with this.  However, if it is a clothing item that is made for many bodies, then my preference would be to let me click the part of the HUD that gives me only my body.  That way I don't have to delete 75-90% of the resulting folder contents.  If the folder only has 1 item per body, not a major deal, but if it is an outfit of 4-5 pieces that was made for 6 bodies, then I have a lot of things to delete.  And usually, due to naming, the items I want to keep are not grouped together, so I have to be extra careful to ensure I delete only the other body stuff and not my body stuff -- or go rifling through trash to get pieces back.

[Blaise Glendevon]

4 hours ago, EnCore Mayne said:

is anyone else bothered by this designer's methods?

I don't see why I would be?

[Bree Giffen]

The best practice is not to use an unpacker FOR DEMOS. I don't mind unpackers for actual products. I can unpack my product and then store the unpacker in a 'purchased' folder so I can unpack a new version if necessary. But in the case of demos and gifts, the problem lies in the quantity of demos and gifts one must go through after a shopping event. For most you click to open a demo folder, double click to wear unpacker, click on unpacker, click on keep, right click and click on detach detach unpacker, right click and click to delete demo folder. That's up to 9 clicks for every demo.  18 clicks if the merchant decides to put the top and bottom in different unpackers.

As for the chat, I don't care much as I go home to open demos.

[Stephanie Misfit]

8 hours ago, EnCore Mayne said:

i was browsing over at the Cosmopolitan Event minding my own business when a chat came up from someone's purchase.

[02:17:59] DEMO ******* Dress ***** Fat Pack: Thank you for your purchase
[02:17:59] DEMO ******* Dress ***** Fat Pack: Please join my group and receive promotions and free gifts! click here: ********************* [<< landmark link]
[02:17:59] DEMO ******* Dress ***** Fat Pack: click to unpack

notice, the unpacker HUD also posts into the chat! not only that, but i must have been 80meters from where the vendor was. i'm not sure where the buyer was.

is anyone else bothered by this designer's methods?

I have seen this before too, and noticed it because someone was unpacking stuff in a club. It would certainly get annoying if every designer did it and lots of people were unpacking at events, and I can't think why the designer would choose to do that with their unpacker. Maybe they aren't even aware it is going to local.

[Lysistrata Szapira]

This would be ok, but I'd prefer that they eliminate forcing me to listen to uwu babygirls orgasming and/or being spanked and then orgasming first. 

Edited July 13, 2022 by Lysistrata Szapira
spelling

[EkaterinaStorm]

18 hours ago, Innula Zenovka said:

People should never use llSay/llShout/llWhisper unless they really, really want everyone within 20/100/10 metres to hear the message.

Use llOwnerSay or llRegionSayTo(id, 0, message) instead folks, please!

Thank you, dear, I asked the programmer to make this message visible only to the owner. We are waiting for you all at Cosmopolitan 😀

Tirana.

[skepwith]

23 hours ago, Arduenn Schwartzman said:

So this is all the customer has to do:

1. Add pack.
2. Click 'Accept'.

Oh, no. No no no. That won't do at all.

1. The unpacker should take up most if not all of my screen.
2. A progress bar should indicate that the unpacker is loading.
3. An animation should play, in which a guy who looks like a soundcloud rapper dances around and then shoots energy bolts out of his hands to fill a second progress bar indicating that my items are being unpacked. This is all very exciting.
4. The animation should include sound in which he enthusiastically tells me my items are on the way, along with some stolen music.
5. Once I have my items, I should be encouraged to "smash that subscribe button" or similar.
6. The unpacker should wait for me to detach it when I log back in after it crashes my viewer.

Nice try, though!

[Rowan Amore]

1 hour ago, skepwith said:

Oh, no. No no no. That won't do at all.

1. The unpacker should take up most if not all of my screen.
2. A progress bar should indicate that the unpacker is loading.
3. An animation should play, in which a guy who looks like a soundcloud rapper dances around and then shoots energy bolts out of his hands to fill a second progress bar indicating that my items are being unpacked. This is all very exciting.
4. The animation should include sound in which he enthusiastically tells me my items are on the way, along with some stolen music.
5. Once I have my items, I should be encouraged to "smash that subscribe button" or similar.
6. The unpacker should wait for me to detach it when I log back in after it crashes my viewer.

Nice try, though!

You forgot the part where it asks to animate your avatar then puts you into some embarrassing pose which then stalls your AO and you're left looking like a noob when you detach it.

[Jenna Huntsman]

Timed demos are the worst. The only thing they do is annoy your potential customers.

Do what most major creators do - add an additional prim to the linkset that has the word "DEMO" on it and then position it in a way that it's intrusive enough to make the demo unsuitable for daily use (for example, for clothing this usually involves putting the DEMO box around the avatar's head), but not covering the product. Some creators also watermark their textures with demo, which I think is fine, so long as I can still demo each colour an item is available in.

Demo items SHOULD BE FREE! Not this 1L$ crap. The reason why this is done is so that a demo is eligible for redelivery, but IT'S A DEMO - I can go to the store and get another one; which drives traffic to the store, which is what you want! (This isn't a valid reason for timed demos either, mainly if I bin a demo but then have second thoughts, or lose it in inventory, etc).

Unpackers: Only for purchased products, not demo items.

• Use a single script. Don't put about 3 scripts in your unpacker, to poke the user to subscribe to a mailing list or to join a group. If you want to include that stuff, fine, but do it all within the unpacker script itself. That way, we know that the annoying prompt isn't going to interfere with the functionality of the unpacker.
• Should not have any kind of "loading" or "progress" bar. There's no reason for them, and just waste resources.
• Should not give the folder with suffixes. This is because I see loads of folders which have suffixes like "(boxed) (unpacked)". Having a suffix to say something is boxed is fine, but when it's unpacked, get rid of it.
• Detect if added, or rezzed. This is so that we know to either use the script to send the folder (when added), or to set the appropriate touch action, rename the object and delete the script (if rezzed). SL already has a UI for unpacking boxed items, so use that!
• Use a single texture, no larger than 512px (Use a texture atlas!!). This is so the user isn't stuck waiting for the texture to load to see what is a "Join group" button or the actual "Unpack" button.
• Ideally, should give the folder to the user IMMEDIATELY upon attaching. Again, so we aren't stuck waiting for the texture to load.
• Sounds: If you want them, fine, but don't play the sound above about ~30% volume.

"Anti-Rezz" scripts are USELESS. Don't use them. They waste resources, don't "protect your content" and mostly serve to annoy users who might be trying to debug fitment issues.

That's about all I can think of right now, but I'm sure I'll think of more.

Edited July 13, 2022 by Jenna Huntsman

[LittleMe Jewell]

11 hours ago, Rowan Amore said:

You forgot the part where it asks to animate your avatar then puts you into some embarrassing pose which then stalls your AO and you're left looking like a noob when you detach it.

Better yet are the ones that don't ask and just pose you

[LittleMe Jewell]

11 hours ago, Jenna Huntsman said:

Timed demos are the worst. The only thing they do is annoy your potential customers.

Especially when they are only 5 FREAKIN MINUTES -- with a HUD to change the colors/patterns.

I mean, what the hell ?!?!?!!  Nobody can get anything with tons of options figured out in only 5 min.

[ChinRey]

On 7/12/2022 at 12:00 PM, EnCore Mayne said:

is anyone else bothered by this designer's methods?

So, whoever wrote the unpacking script used llSay(); where they should have used llOwnerSay();

If I were to rank all annoyances in SL on a scale from 0 to 10, this would be an 0.176 but it is poor scripting and something any mildly competent scripter would be aware of and know how to avoid.

[Love Zhaoying]

21 hours ago, Rowan Amore said:

You forgot the part where it asks to animate your avatar then puts you into some embarrassing pose which then stalls your AO and you're left looking like a noob when you detach it.

Advanced feature request: Ask if you want to wear the items now, then force you to remove all clothing and attachments, but then timeout instead of letting you wear something new.