Let them stand up: Fixing vehicle auto-return

[Qie Niangao]

3 hours ago, Extrude Ragu said:

So given what Quartz Mole is saying, we know a vehicle always counts towards Region LI no matter what -But - driven vehicles don't count towards Parcel LI and are instead treated like a temp on rez object.

Please try it yourself. I'm not sure whether I understood what Quartz was saying, but I'm pretty sure LI doesn't currently behave the way you're interpreting it. But it genuinely would be better if there were more than just my testing.

3 hours ago, Extrude Ragu said:

a new opt-in park and explore feature that parcel owners can choose to turn on and set the distance an avatar can explore away from their last vehicle.

This would be a valid option for auto-return besides time since rezzing, regardless of how the vehicle's LI is apportioned. If the feature existed, I think I'd use it on my parcels. But I'm less sure "the juice is worth the squeeze": it would take some development, some share of landowners would use it, and some share of vehicle users would benefit some of the time. That seems a pretty narrow filter, but I could be wrong.

[Love Zhaoying]

This is a lot of trouble, just to be upstanding.

[Extrude Ragu]

39 minutes ago, Qie Niangao said:

But I'm less sure "the juice is worth the squeeze": it would take some development

I think it's always worth asking for features, even if you are uncertain of the workload involved. In the end LL knows better than any of us what it would take in terms of changes. The worst that can happen is they can say no, too much work at this time. Or say they're not interested.

As for how much 'juice' we would receive. Well, unfortunately none of us have a window into the future. But I think that there's a lot of potential. Consider that vehicles and driving are already quite a big thing in SecondLife. The 'Drivers of SecondLife' group is large enough that it received a position front and center in the opening of the SecondLife Community Exhibition at the new avatar welcome area. Everywhere you look on Linden Roads are gas stations and car related games. Airports are everywhere on the mainland. Sailing has a whole continent based around it.

Although the feature on its own might seem not that big, I think it's part of a much larger picture, with things like gamepad support already in the works, along with that new combat comittee LL is forming. I think vehicles have potential to grow even further as all of these pieces of the puzzle start to come together. Not to mention there is strong appetite from within LL to lower the download weight of objects, which will make LI less of a concern. Sometimes it's hard to see the forest you're helping to grow, when you only plant the first tree.

[PheebyKatz]

1 hour ago, Qie Niangao said:

This would be a valid option for auto-return besides time since rezzing, regardless of how the vehicle's LI is apportioned. If the feature existed, I think I'd use it on my parcels. But I'm less sure "the juice is worth the squeeze": it would take some development, some share of landowners would use it, and some share of vehicle users would benefit some of the time. That seems a pretty narrow filter, but I could be wrong.

That share of landowners using it could point out that they were doing so, and if any of them were business owners, it might inspire others (at least business owners) to do it too, just to keep up with the competition.

It might be a very niche thing, but a shopping area with "free parking while you shop" still sounds appealing in an advert, especially for people who are silly like me and would actually drive to a store. And anything that sounds good is going to make a difference, because in SL presentation is practically everything.

I might be fantasizing, but I can see the good in it if it was added.

[Zalificent Corvinus]

3 hours ago, Extrude Ragu said:

Consider that vehicles and driving are already quite a big thing in SecondLife

3 hours ago, Extrude Ragu said:

Everywhere you look on Linden Roads are gas stations and car related games. Airports are everywhere on the mainland. Sailing has a whole continent based around it.

But what you don't see are vast numbers of people USING those facilities.

5 & 1/2 hours touring Satori looking for vehicle users, I found TWO, both unregistered scripted agents parked on a taxi way of an airport as illegal traffic bots.

@Rowan Amore reported aa similar search in one thread, with a similar lack of vehicle users.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 4 by Zalificent Corvinus

[Gabriele Graves]

1 minute ago, Zalificent Corvinus said:

But what you don't see are vast numbers of people USING those facilities.

5 & 1/2 hours touring Satori looking for vehicle users, I found TWL, both unregistered scripted agents parked on a taxi way of an airport as illegal traffic bots.

@Rowan Amore reported aa similar search in one thread, with a similar lack of vehicle users.

 

 

 

 

I drove into one of those gas stations once, it said "Attendant service only".   I waited for over half an hour but nobody appeared.  The diner was empty as well and even the loo was locked.  Worst place ever!  I'm surprised they're still in business!

[Istelathis]

4 hours ago, Extrude Ragu said:

Although the feature on its own might seem not that big, I think it's part of a much larger picture, with things like gamepad support already in the works, along with that new combat comittee LL is forming.

I really hope they push the gamepad support through faster.  We need analog controls desperately in SL, while I do enjoy driving, constantly having to adjust my steering gets old real quick.  It is the same way in cyberpunk and GTA, when using the keyboard, always fiddling with my movement keys to get just where I want to be in the road then when I do finally hit that sweet spot, there is a turn and I have to do it all over again 😢With cyberpunk and GTA though, I keep my gamepad off to the side for when I do jump in the car and start driving, I would do the same for SL if analog were actually supported.  It make driving so much smoother and fun.

A lot of the GTFO locations have a board you can check, to get an idea of how much use those locations get.  If you click on them you will see some stats

I would like to see how much traffic most roads get, I've seen some road traffic counters on the marketplace but my own property on mainland is settled on a road that does not go very far.  I find I generally run across 1 to 2 people driving per hour while I am on the road, it is not very frequent.  Boating I usually see a lot more people though.

Most of the gas stations, airports, or clearly labeled GTFO locations I just use to rez my vehicle then scoot off so I don't really contribute to those numbers.  

[Qie Niangao]

3 hours ago, PheebyKatz said:

a shopping area with "free parking while you shop" still sounds appealing in an advert

You know… this would be pretty simple to do with a script. I mumbled earlier (somewhere) about unspecified throttling of the llReturnObjectsBy*() functions, so that's a hurdle, but the functions definitely exist and would do the job fine unless overwhelmed by a griefer attack. If it sounds appealing somebody should try it, and if it catches on that would add support for having the Lab develop a griefer-resilient version that builds on auto-return logic.

[PheebyKatz]

1 minute ago, Qie Niangao said:

You know… this would be pretty simple to do with a script. I mumbled earlier (somewhere) about unspecified throttling of the llReturnObjectsBy*() functions, so that's a hurdle, but the functions definitely exist and would do the job fine unless overwhelmed by a griefer attack. If it sounds appealing somebody should try it, and if it catches on that would add support for having the Lab develop a griefer-resilient version that builds on auto-return logic.

Maybe something similar to the grey goo warning if there's suddenly vehicles popping up more than one per second. I think anyone who was really determined could probably figure out how to make it work, if it's able to be done.

The sheer variety of what you can do with land tools and building tools and scripting is what makes it difficult to do a simple thing sometimes without having to go back and account for all of the things that could make it go wonky. It takes some stubborn.

I've learned a lot in this thread, I think it's one of the better ones lately.