Extrude Ragu

I don't think the existing mainland has high abandonment due to a lack of players, just a lack of necessary modernization work or attempt to meet the expectations of a new generation of SL users. Whilst I agree with you that it's true that condensing the mainland would likely result in higher occupancy, the effect I think would be temporary as the people who are willing to put up with the Mainland today are oldbies who have standards and expectations of yesteryear vs a new generation of SL players who are coming in from more modern gaming experience. Oldbies won't be around forever, people don't live forever and people move on. My sentiment on the matter is to avoid managed decline, but also don't just throw away the old mainland for new either. We just need to piece by piece improve the existing mainland. Yeah it's going to take some work on LL's part, but nothing worth doing was ever easy.

Are you sure that it's their golf ball rezzing the marker? Could it be that your own ball/hud is hearing other people? Eg. Inside any listens, you're checking that llGetOwnerKey(id) == llGetOwner() Try something like this as a debugging measure to check who the script really has permissions for, and who is really the objects owner at relevant portions of the script. key whosDoIHavePermsFor = llGetPermissionsKey(); key whoOwnsMe = llGetOwner(); llSay(0, "who I have perms for: " + llGetDisplayName(whoDoIHavePermsFor) + "\nwho owns me: " + llGetDisplayName(whoOwnsMe));

The trouble is that not bringing the mainland up to modern standards is also very expensive as it is costing us an entire generation of new players who will seek the greener pastures available to them on newer platforms.

I see too-low skyboxes as another issue that has arisen from a lack of design. SL needs to move on. It's not the wild west anymore where we are discovering what works and what doesn't, we've had 20 years to identify the problem. People want to see skies clear of skyboxes from ground level, and want to fly their planes. LL need to design their game to enable that. That means preventing people building in public right of way in the sky. It also means telling the viewer not to render objects that are too high up relative to the camera so that we can have long draw distances without also getting the skyboxes. Yes I recognise there are probably some landmarks on the mainland that are very tall. Exceptions for those should be made on a case by case basis.

I am in an internal discord group that is shared between some creators on SL and also some of the LL developers who are working on the PBR project. There is a viewer in the works that supports PBR terrain. It is a lot prettier than the terrain we have in SL today, a whole lot less flat looking and they've bumped the resolution up. Ive had a play with a development version of this viewer and it looks very pretty

So, I see this from a different angle - Game design. I think everyone has subconsciously accepted that security orbs are just 'how secondlife works' - But think about it - How consistent and predictable is the security orb experience? Some orbs kick you after 3 seconds, whilst others wait 30 Some orbs dialog you, whilst others send you text in local chat Some orbs teleport you home, whilst others send you to a nearby parcel In all cases this is a really inconsistent experience for weary travelers and often leads to grief. Nobody who was designing a game would design a system to be so inconsistent. What I think we need is a better mechanic for parcel boundaries that both gives home owners privacy, whilst also not griefing travellers be they on foot or in a vehicle. Here are some questions I would start asking myself "If we were designing SecondLife, knowing what we know today about how people use the mainland, how would we design the behaviour that occurs for parcel incursions?" "How would the behaviour differ depending on if the resident is in a vehicle, vs on foot?" "Should a resident who enters a parcel immediately be able to see the people on that parcel?" "Should the parcel owner immediately see the resident who made the parcel incursion?" And then instead of relying on scripters, who will make 100 different solutions that are all clunky and unpredictable, we'd go to LL, this is what we want to happen. Can you design SL so that this happens this way on the mainland, Thank you.

To agree on how to improve the mainland, we first have to identify its intended use, what makes land ownership on the mainland special vs. renting in a private sim, and what our success metrics are. The following are just my opinions: Why should a Resident want to own a slice of Mainland instead of a private Sim? Unlike private sims, where the appeal is ultimate privacy, the appeal of land on the mainland should be to be to be connected to something bigger. Exploration: Residents should prefer to rent on the mainland if they want to be able to leave their home or business and explore. Neighbors: Residents should prefer to rent on the mainland if they like that they can bump into neighbors outside their home or whilst out exploring. Recreation: Residents should prefer to rent on the mainland if they like to be able to walk from their home and find recreational activities such as Parks, Museums, Clubs, and other activities. Great Views: Residents want to feel happy in their homes. Shopping: Residents want to be able to walk out of their home and go on a shopping spree, or just window shop and see what's new. What makes a successful parcel of Mainland? Given the above, any single parcel of Mainland to be successful should therefor in my mind have Access to public right of way and connected travel infrastructure Without access to public rights of way, there is literally no benefit to renting on the mainland vs renting on a private sim as it negates all of the positives the mainland might be able to provide. At minimum, every single parcel of mainland should be accessible via footpath. Access to recreational activities within the sim. Walking is the default mode of locomotion in SecondLife. Whilst purchasing a vehicle will let a resident explore further, A resident shouldn't need a vehicle to enjoy the mainland. There should always be access to a park or something fun to do close to any residents home on the mainland. A Guaranteed quality of living Where possible, Covenants should be updated to guarantee a level of enjoyment for residents free from intentional blight created by land scalpers. We don't expect perfection, but expectations of virtual worlds are higher today than they were in the past. SecondLife is trying to attract a new generation of players who are used to high quality 3D worlds, and blight items intentionally created by scalpers should be seen as against SecondLife's long term business interests and dealt with as such. Every single parcel on the mainland should be measured against these success metrics, and if they do not meet them, a plan should be made to meet them. This might sound brutal, but it's the only way I can see the mainland ever being appealing to a new generation of SecondLife users. These are just some initial thoughts.

I happen to be in LL's discord so I do see discussions between some of the better connected residents and also often the Lindens themselves. Whilst I don't claim to speak on behalf of any of them, there has been a growing sentiment that the mainland as it is today is a problem. It is commonly nicknamed 'the madlands'. There are residents who think it's a lost cause, whilst others are trying to organize to fix it. Thoughts on how to deal with the mainland and issues of blight are mixed, but it is recognized as a problem. It wouldn't surprise me if a significant number of residents expressed a desire change to the mainland policy, if LL listened. LL were trying to get ordinary residents into buying mainland with Premium Plus, but were not as successful as hoped due to blight concerns dissuading residents from their product.

I don't think it's wise to laugh off the concerns of residents at large. Any good business owner knows it's unwise to make too many enemies. If you make enough enemies, it won't matter whether you operate in the rules or not, the rules will change to deal with you, because ultimately LL too is a business and an unhappy customer base is bad for business. There is precedent for this happening, and it happened recently - Just look at what happened to that infamous bot operator.

I'm going to be kind enough to give OP benefit of the doubt and assume she's not intentionally trying to make SL unpleasant or engaging in nefarious business practices. However, I would suggest that even if it were the case that OP was trying to bully people into buying microparcels, I would argue it's actually not a very sustainable business practice in the long run and very short sighted. I mean think about it, most of SL's audience is aging and moving on with their life, and the young audience aren't going to be interested in 2009 SL, or dealing with land baron issues when they can just play VRChat. In order to sustain a customer base in the long term, the mainland needs to be enticing and modern, and the people who are selling land to them need to appear to be with the times. Sure you could bully a few people with the threat of ugliness outside their door today, but really all you'd be doing as a land business owner is shooting your businesses chance at a long term future. Personally once upon a time I had considered buying close to half a sim in parcels at one time about 5 years ago, but due to nearby blight I had decided against it, and opted to rent with a private sim instead. Whilst this might be OK for someone like me who is kept entertained by creating, for a typical resident, ultimately to have less neighbors and interesting things around them keeping them on SL, which means they're less likely to keep playing, and less likely to keep renting, and the pool of customers shrinks.

there was talk on the sl discord from one of the developers who was thinking of implementing something along these lines, but it sounded kinda different like he wanted the viewer to generate a special uv/ao map for the whole object and have it be unique to that object rather than be part of the material asset

Ah, OK, yes. I can see now why it would cause upset. Well I mean listen I don't mean to have a go at OP, but why not just spend some time to make the adboards a bit more palletable? Maybe graphics design and visual harmony is not OP's passion - But that is really not a good look for a 'property management' company if every property you touch ends up looking like blight and it seems like most of the thread agrees. If not willing to put in the time yourself, why not consult with someone who can make things a bit more pretty for you? Some suggestions:- Improve the land you advertise on, by decorating your parcels with things that compliment the surroundings. Make some nice mesh flower planters, etc. Come on, you're a 'property management' company. Who's going to want their property managed by someone who actively makes property uglier? Get a graphics designer to make your advertisements, seriously, it's hardly legible, the aspect ratio is all wrong, the color contrast and font choice is a visual trainwreck. Use a nice mesh sign, and I don't mean a huge billboard either, make something pleasant looking and people will zoom into it out of curiosity. Make something unpleasant like this and people will instinctively zoom out, no matter how big you make it. Put something nice on the property that people will appreciate having around the neighborhood, like one of those bike rezzers or something, a park bench. Generally just make the place look nicer than how you found it. It doesn't take that much effort, you can still make lots of money and you'll actually be appreciated for what you do.

What does the offending adboard look like? Out of genuine curiosity

mfw write a wall of text and no TLDR at the bottom

I think some nuance is advisable here so we don't shoot ourselves in the foot. Specifically, I think you are thinking about bots that roam the grid, invading peoples privacy/harvesting data/gaming traffic - Which I agree I think should be banned. Indeed, it seems like the majority of bots on the grid are like this. Still there are also bots that do provide a useful function on SL, so I would be against an outright ban personally. For example, Caspervend redelivery bots, Bots that display clothes for us in stores so you can preview the clothes before you buy them. NPC bots in game sims. Just to name a few use-cases.

Question on adding exceptions - If a bot belongs to an 'allowed group' in the region access tab, will the bot be able to enter the region?

I made a feature request to LL in the past about this https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/BUG-232854 They closed that particular request, but in recent discussions they have been more open to ideas of this nature Probably best to express interest in it in Simulator meetings (https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=c_kphtklo9degke40dpk7nr6cclc@group.calendar.google.com) squeaky wheel gets the grease and all that

It's a multi billion dollar industry

I would argue the term 'yellowface' could be considered the most racist thing in OP's post, as in general I think its fair to say that most from Asia would not like to have their race reduced to 'yellow' -

Stupid question - Have you joined your Experience?

Is it a generational thing or something? being completely unable to handle cognitive dissonance/discomfort/uncertainty or anything that might not be 100% comfortable. I don't understand how someone can even survive life like that, let alone thrive. Most stuff that goes on in these forums is pretty tame all things considered, sure people butt heads sometimes but it's nothing adults shouldn't be able to handle you know what I mean?

If the plane is 2 dimensional cast ray will fail for the same reason rezzing on a 2d plane fails. The raycast looks for when it is 'inside' the object, which it can never be unless the object has some depth.

Another thing, I don't know if it's just me, but is it just me or when one of my the people on my friends list changes their appearance/name/profile drastically, it feels awkward because I'm not sure if the 'new them' still likes me, or if they are even still the same person I know? Like I know the same person is behind the computer, but when people drastically reinvent themselves it feels like they are trying to distance themselves from their 'past life'

Yep, I have a whole bunch of them, each with their own looks and personalities. I do treat them like characters, more than anything I create alts instead of outfits just so the name over my head is theirs. Although I must admit after a while they have come to feel like different parts of me and have their own sentimental value. Another thing is that I've noticed that people in my sim sometimes get attached to my avatars appearance. It might be because I rarely change. Once when I created a new look after a couple years, some people in my sim held a funeral for the 'old me'. I guess I prefer to create a new rather than kill the existing

The new viewers have performance improvement code. The performance bottleneck has moved from your CPU to your GPU. It's not a bad thing - It means that SL runs so fast on your CPU that it delivers data to your GPU faster than it can process it. If you are worried about your GPU working too hard, you can cap limit the framerate in Firestorm by going to Avatar -> Preferences -> Graphics -> Rendering and Checking 'Limit Framerate' - Set this to around 60fps.