Ethos Erlanger

I would like to request a new feature, or change to the way that SL works. Where do I communicate this to LL? The topic is the control of avatar motion in SL and how to improve the user experience with some functions that may be included in scripts.

To: Rodvik Linden Subject: What's New in Second Life 10-3-2011 -- The State of Motion in SL Greetings, Under the heading of Shiny New Things, You state: “Because worlds feel most vibrant when they are full of life, our next project for Second Life is the ability to make “life” within it. …<snip>… – however, our creation tools have not made it particularly easy for the content creators to build high-quality entities.” If any AI will enhance the simulation of life, it should also enhance the simulation of self control. By this I mean the control over our avatar’s own actions. To date, residents have not been given any really useful control over avatar rotation or my pet project avatar velocity. In 2010 I had written and predicted that nothing would change in the next two years to improve avatar movement. My prediction will have come true as February 2012 is fast approaching. For you to use AI for obstacle collision avoidance, I am asking that you also include the ability to control avatar speed in SL. Artificial Life that is as frenetic as worker bees is not applicable to the simulation of the lazy life of a Great Pyrenees or the slow curious gate of an Arctic Penguin. The proper caution of a guide dog cannot be seen as a good simulation when both its owner and it must travel at a fixed speed of 7 MPH. Please read below my detailed commentary of February 12, 2010 It’s Not About the Viewer – The State of Motion in Virtual Worlds Posted by Ethos Erlanger on February 12, 2010 Time for a short rant. A new viewer will never make virtual worlds any better than they are. What we need are better motion controls. Does this sound like a broken record? It is. All my searching has been in vain. There seems to be no way to truly exert the proper motion control over an avatar that adequately simulates walking up stairs or the side of a hill. There seems to be no way to simulate the grip of your hand if you were climbing a mountain. The granularity of all of the various virtual worlds is still extremely “course”. Based on the apparent lack of interest in true simulation of body mechanics, my prediction is that 2 or more years will pass and I will still be in search of a “slow walk”. A walking speed suitable for a leisurely stroll through a park or museum. I am looking for an avatar speed slow enough to feel like the underwater simulations of swimming with the ocean marine life is slow enough to be believed; Or, the altered physics and slow motion of a moon walk as we saw it on television 40 years ago. Have you seen the speed of the old person in a walker? Or an octogenarian with a cane? It is not captured properly in virtual worlds. See you in two years and we can catch up on the status of the State of Motion in Virtual Worlds. (unless I reprise this topic sooner) Enjoy your Virtual Life, Ethos Erlanger