Ganelon Darkfold

I first heard of Second Life from an article on some website or other about "virtual worlds", and it just sounded really interesting. I went to the website, downloaded the viewer of the time and dove in. I've always been interested in the idea of virtual worlds, so it was a no-brainer to hit Second Life shortly after I heard about it. I'd have to check how long ago it was, but long enough that last names were still the norm, at least 8 yrs probably. What do I love most about being a resident? Seeing all the amazing areas people build, all the ideas and creativity that go into the products, homes, environments. Sure, I learned to build and code a bit for myself (doesn't everyone?), but I love seeing the creativity and ingenuity of others. I'm a "hobo" in current times. I don't spend enough time in SL in an average week these days to feel the need for a permanent home. In years past, I have rented apartments, and for a while rented a "skybox" big enough to have a small mountain, a lagoon, some beach and woods, and an old industrial building with a loft apartment. That was back when I was working inworld as a content writer and so was "rich" enough to buy any toys or etc I found interesting. So I sailed the seas of SL in my little sailboat, flew the skies with everything including a cardboard box or a bicycle dirigible, and crossed the continents on a little green moped. For deluxe space travel, my fave is my old Hippie Bowman ship or for shorter hops, the Galactic Trade Union SpaceBug that I customized to my liking. Over the years, I've tried to get "First Life" friends interested, but none stay interested for long, it seems. I haven't had relationships in SL or long-term old friends, since I wander a lot when I'm in SL and sometimes disappear from SL for months at a time, when "the regular world" needs my focus.

Not all microphones are made equal. Computer mics can be pretty bad sounding. If actually sounding decent is important to you, then it's a good idea to have a friend make a recording of how you sound inworld so you can hear it outside of SL Maybe try at least a few different microphones or headsets and pick the one that sounds best. Even if you went with pro or semi-pro sound gear, it's still not going to sound great, though. SL's voice channel is just not that good for quality. With a good mic, some equalization, and maybe a speech compressor, you can get it to perhaps "pretty good" at best. It just won't compare well with a DJ or performer who is using good gear and an actual dedicated stream, where decent sound quality definitely *is* possible. But voice certainly can have it's uses. For example, if you're explaining to someone how to edit or build, then it's a lot easier to use voice so you don't have to keep alternating between the menus and the text chat window. I've never been in a place or situation where voice was actually *required*. But it doesn't surprise me to hear that it happens sometimes. This is SL, and if a weird rule is possible, you can pretty much count on somebody somewhere considering it essential. LOL

I see what you're saying Randall, but I do kind of prefer RL books in some cases for the aesthetic appeal. On the other hand, how many books printed with the poor quality paper and cheap binding practices of the past few decades will survive to be around in a century? Probably none, while via copying into digital those words and ideas need not be lost. Yes, things need to be backed up and stored in more than one place to have a good chance for survival in digital form, but then that chance at least exists. If in 100 yrs or more, it is the only way that a written work or whatever survived, then the digital is also too valuable to just disregard. Janelle, I suppose it depends on what you like, but I've found the autoharp to be great fun to play. Yes, mouseclicks or tapping notes on a computer keyboard just aren't the same as real instruments. But if they are all someone has, I'd say it'd be better than not playing. Part of the problem also is that musical instruments in SL mostly are either props or toys. It would not be impossible for SL to be able to handle at least something like interfacing with a midi keyboard to drive some samples, but it's really just not *there*. At least not yet. Maybe someday. There's the potential, though, and one can dream of new instruments with new sounds in SL that might be unique enough to make actually creating music on pixel instruments maybe at least some fun. Back to the "value" topic, though. The very first time i ever put cash money from my pocket into SL was to be able to afford a piano I liked. To get it with full perms ran me something like 800L$, but I wanted full perms so I could put a script in it to play at least a brief bit of music I wrote in RL. As an idea, that was valuable enough to me to warrant buying some L$. I felt it was beyond my capability at the time to make it myself (at least with a decent prim count), so it was worth it. Even with the somewhat painful process of resampling down to a sound quality that SL can handle and cutting it into 10 second bits so it could be uploaded and put into the SL instrument with some scripting, I still feel it was money well spent. Beyond the money, there was risking a piece of music I wrote in a digital place where I don't really know how secure it is and etc. But it was only a short piece, so I take that risk. In real life, though, I can't afford a nice grand piano, and wouldn't have space for one if I could. The music itself was written with a midi keyboard driving a gigasample grand piano. I don't feel I *could* have played it with mouseclicks or trying to tap the notes on a typing keyboard. But getting the piece into SL so I could show it off to a few friends was worth spending a few SL dollars to get a prop instrument I coukld feel good about putting it into. I also became more aware of the limitations of SL instruments for doing much of anything like actual music on, though. LOL So now I don't bother with scripts or uploading the music, I just use the voice/speak channel for it and the SL instrument only needs to be a prop. The sound quality leaves a good bit to be desired, but with a reasonable studio mic and a mixer and some signal processing gear, it's at least ok for when a friend or two is over. Most of the pixel instruments I have don't mean a lot to me. They're just a symbol for someone to see when I play. The one I made and ones I worked on at least a bit myself are a bit more important to me, but I agree that I'm not nearly as attached to them as my RL instruments.

Brain? You just buy one and install it, like pretty much any fashion accessory or trendy "must-have". I put one in my avatar a while back. But he doesn't use it any more than anyone in SL does. LOL Makes about as much sense as people who wear watches in SL. But back to the OP and teeth, there's also things you can buy to make your avie look like their lips are parted slightly so the teeth show a little bit and there's special teeth like fangs and etc in shops and the marketplace, if that's maybe what you're looking for. There are also smile animations you can get, if you want to show your avie's teeth more (like a lot).

Janelle Darkstone wrote: Of course, if you had a virtual vase, and took a screenshot, and printed it out, and framed it and hung it on the wall? That's a step in the right . Ok, but try this idea on for size... My wife got me a vintage 1960s autoharp for xmas. I certainly enjoy that instrument in RL, of course. Now with my guitars, harp, oud, etc.. it was fairly easy to find something at least close in SL. But I couldn't find an autoharp on the marketplace. So I took a digital photo of the RL instrument and used it as a guide for building the basic shape out of prims and then spent some time with art software making a texture (since the actual pic didn't look all that good as a texture) and used that to skin it with. Then I taught myself how to use qavimator enough to make an animation for holding it and playing it. I didn't put scripted music in it because I wanted it to use as a prop for when I play the real instrument live for friends or my own enjoyment. But since that's kind of backwards of the process you described, does that make it a step in the wrong direction? :matte-motes-wink: Not that I disagree with your point. Not at all. I made myself the SL item because the RL item is important to me, and I wanted to have some form of it in SL. The pixel version is a symbol that allows the RL instrument to be with me in SL, sorta. It would upset me more if something bad happened to the RL instrument than the SL version of it. So I'd have to agree with Janelle on the RL objects being the more important. But the SL instrument is important to me in it's way, and seeing it or playing it reminds me of the things I learned in order to be able to have it. That's a harder quality to evaluate. So re-routing to the OP's question.. At least for me, some items in SL are sort of an extension of RL objects so I have them when I'm in SL. But then there's also items like spaceships, sailing ships and airplanes where I don't have anything like them in RL, and I'm only likely to ever own them in SL. I think of those as "mine" too, in a different sense. When a virtual object is all you have of something, then it's perhaps a bit more important. But the pixel versions and objects are a lot more replaceable, even though they maybe have more risk of getting lost to a computer glitch or whatever. I'd say though that it's at least hypothettically possible that someone might find some virtual objects as valuable as some physical objects in the world.

There isn't really an answer anyone on the forum can give to the OP, but I wouldn't rule out the possibility that LL might not try making such cards available at some point. They're a business, and if there's sufficient demand for it as a payment option and sufficient growth for it to look like a possible way to increase revenue by offering more payment options, then it's likely to happen. If the amounts offered are kept in fairly low increments, as is common with other somewhat similar services' (like game sites) cards, I doubt money laundering would be much of a concern. Buying a hundred or so 25$ (USD) cards a month would attract the sort of attention that I'd think a money laundering operation would want to avoid. Besides, someone cashing in that many would almost certainly raise some flags at LL so they'd take a closr look at the situation. So at a guess, I'd say it's more likely that they haven't been made available yet because it doesn't look like there'd be enough demand for them to justify the expense of having the cards made and getting them stocked in game stores or whatever. I don't think it likely they'd be allowed for "premium" service, though. Actually "owning property" in SL has some liability issues involved and etc, so they'd want a bit more info on people and more accountability. Sure, they could start accepting some other forms of identity verification, but since the current system works for a lot of people at present, where would LL see the demand? Without demand and growth or at least the potential for growth, you don't get new stuff. Doesn't hurt to ask for it, though, since that's one of the ways they may eventually decide that there is sufficient demand to try some new things in payment and verification options.

SOPA does nothing to protect the rights of individual creators, the only thing it is intended for is to protect the profits of corporations that are using an outmoded business model. Copyright laws need to change, because the world has changed since they were originally written. PIPA and SOPA aren't what's needed though. What is needed is something that fairly protects creators at all levels from unfair/illegal use of their ideas. It would have to work by due process of law, and be structured so that it can change with changing times and tchnology better than the original copyright laws. SOPA isn't even a band-aid fix. It's a free license for censorship and for large companies to more effectively crush out small entrepeneurs and individual creators who aren't "signed with a big label". Nobody really thinks that a single creator complaining about a theft of intellectual property will get the sort of action that larger companies complaining will get from SOPA, do they?? I'm kind of surprised SL isn't supporting the blackout, considering how much of the economy of SL is made up of independent creative efforts. Pretty much everything in an SL shop or the marketplace is intellectual property. Most products and services in SL are the work of individuals or small independent teams, which are the very people that won't benefit from SOPA's alleged "protection". More tools for large concerns to use to oppress and suppress are not what the world needs. If it passes, SOPA will affect a large chunk of the world, not just the US, and the effect will not be a beneficial one.

I'll start off by saying that I am not an SL vendor, but I am a customer/consumer. I think that part of the problem you're talking about (or perhaps "difference from rl business" would be a better way to say it) is that in SL there are no costs for raw materials or labour. In rl, those factors result in a cost which would make giving away items for free or very low prices prohibitive. It would just be too expensive for most people to be that generous. That being said, people who create an item can sell it for whatever they like in SL. Logically, the price will reflect the ingenuity, time and effort they put into it. But if they feel they want to sell it for a bargain price, for whatever reason they might have, isn't that their decision to make? I don't sell on the marketplace or have a shop, but I've sometimes sold copies of items I've made myself if a visitor asked to buy them. I've usually sold them for little or given them for nothing, since I don't have much interest in business in SL. I can understand where some people are trying to make an income, but I am not, and so I don't even check to see what the item might be going for on the marketplace. Some people are here for business and some just like making stuff. If the marketplace forbid 0L$ items, then they'd end up becoming 1L$ items. Bar the 1L$ items and they'd become 2L$ items. It would take a lot of little steps like that before the problem as you explain it would be "fixed". And what about the many things that are minor items that are very reasonable to sell for 1L$ or so? Trying to eliminate first freebies and dollarbies and then "2dollarbies" and then "3dollarbies" and so on isn't likely to actually solve the problem you're seeing. It would cut out an awful lot of the marketplace before it adequately "protected" say, 500L$ items that someone might actually make a relaible rl income from. But the discerning shopper is still going to be willing to pay a reasonable price for quality goods. So long as quality goods aren't something the average "hobby level" builder can put together, they'll still command the better price. But if an 800L$ items isn't better than a 1L$ item, then it's going to fail with shoppers, and that's kind of unavoidable. I'd seriously question whether that principle should be "fixed".

I only see the marketplace from the buyer point of view. But my wishlist for it would start with a "no demos" button. Particularly when shopping in the budget conscious price ranges, you can end up sometimes having to wade through pages of demos before actually seeing full items for sale. Demos are cool, I often find it useful to visit the inworld shop or get a demo, but I'd prefer to not have them showing up in the search. A "Demo version available" or "Come and see it at our inworld shop" link when a demo is available would be more useful for making purchasing decisions. How about marketplace giftcards? Most online shopping places have them. Yeah, sure, you can just "pay" the person some L$, but that's not quite the same. It could be fun, and give an extra gifting option in SL. Consistent packaging. Sometimes items from the marketplace are in a box, sometimes not. When they're in a box, it may contain a bunch of other stuff like landmarks, group invites and so on. I realize that it's an attempt by the vendor to drum up more business from the sale, but often it's about as welcome as junk mail. So if this consistent "from the marketplace" packaging could include a consistent notecard with any such information on it, that could be more useful. Another possibility for this standard marketplace box would be maybe when you go to delete the box it could ask you to rate the item. Logically, you just recieved it and looked at it or tried it right around the time you'd be getting ready to delete the box it came in. Nothing complex, just one to five stars, and the person could still go onto the marketplace to write a review if they really loved or hated the item. Maybe it could get more ratings for people to use for their purchasing decisions without being *too* obtrusive that way. Closing thought on the marketplace: It would be nice if there was a button or link to use to flag items where the permissions of the item delivered are different from how they were advertised. Most sellers are very good about that, but sometimes you decie to buy a specific item because you see you can modify it to fit your color tastes or maybe because you intend to give it as a gift, and then when it's delivered you find you can't. The "buy as a gift" option just isn't the same as handing the item to the person inworld.

Not exactly, but at least similar to when I was a bit younger. I went to some pains to find eyes and hair that are close. I didn't feel I did a very good job trying to adjust sliders "from scratch" (well, on a default skin) so eventually I had someone who knows me in RL shop for a shape and skin. There's always that difference between how we see ourselves and how others see us. I did, however, "de-idealize" the shape slightly to proportions I felt were more reasonable. I have versions saved that are "SL average" height and also at my RL height (which is pretty average for RL). Clothing, well, it's mostly either stuff I do wear in RL, have owned and wore at some point in time or *would* wear if I had it. That's not so much "trying to match RL" as that it's just what I happen to like. I wear glasses less often in SL than in RL, but my avatar does have glasses. I frequently switch to a ponytail version of my hair if I'm going to be working on something or running around a lot, same as RL, since it just feels natural to do so. Could someone that knows me in RL pick my avatar out of a lineup of say 10 other human male avatars from SL? Quite likely. So the SL me is more similar to than different from the RL me. I don't feel it's so much a matter of trying to imitate RL as it is that if I wanted to look different, I would have changed my RL appearance in the first place. Different people will want different things in SL, but I'm more comfortable with an avatar that at least resembles RL enough that it doesn't look like a total stranger to me.

We all die sooner or later. I don't care for funerals, since I consider the odd sort of taxidermy involved to be beyond bizarre and the customs and their related costs aren't something I'd care to burden survivors with. The body wasn't the person any more than an avatar was. What made the person a person has gone. But funerals and memorials are more for those who remain than for those who have gone. In RL, I've made my wishes known to family and friends, so they wouldn't have to guess what I may have wanted in that regard. I hope they remember the good times and move on, because one thing I would *never* want is for them to be any sadder then they have to be. In SL, I doubt anyone would notice. But that's better than sadness, if it was anyone I liked. On the other hand, if I chance to leave a restless ghost, I'll make it a point to haunt SL, and nobody would ever know I'd been gone. Though it would be tempting to have a gravestone someplace that said simply: brb :matte-motes-wink:

With some vehicles, the camera angle is pretty bad. Even worse, in my opinion, are the ones where they sort of whip you from side to side when you turn. I'm sure some people think it's a neat effect, but I personally find it an immersion-breaker. I like the mouselook perspective, but all too often it's also mouse-steer. It's nice to be able to glance to starboard while turning to port sometimes?

Well, I don't think one will ever get actual agreement, since what people like varies quite a bit. Whether someone plays WoW with the graphics quality way up and a home theatre type surround sound system or prefers text-only rp on a plain terminal screen can be a matter of choice. Yes, it can also be a matter of what toys a person can afford, but I know people with high level systems that still prefer text. Smell will probably eventually be something with commonplace peripherals available. The nasty part of that is the technology will take time to evolve, and it would likely start out as the smell equivalent of old 8 bit graphics. LOL It wouldn't be smelling say, a banana. It would be smelling artificial banana, which is (to my nose) only maybe slightly reminiscent of an actual fruit scent. So the early versions would likely be more like cheap air freshener than a walk in the outdoors. But the potential for a market is there, I think. Entertainment, novelty, advertising. Eventually, like video images, it could evolve to be more capable of imitating complex and subtle things, and might eventually become as commonplace as a reasonably nice monitor and graphics card. I think, though, that imagination would still remain the primary keystone of pereption. Even in RL, what we imagine a gesture or tone of voice means, or what we think a garment or accessory implies has a profound effect on how we perceive another person and their intentions. I mean, one might think of that little smile that crinkles the nose a little as cute and engaging, when it actually means your cologne is really obnoxious and the other person is trying hard to not sneeze. But how you percieve that expression and react to it will have a lot to do with how the situation ends up playing out, and that's pretty much always a matter of imagination and interpretation. Not everyone is good with words, and I feel some of that is a matter of natural talent and not "laziness". I think that if a person's talents lie more in images or sounds, then it's maybe not reasonable to expect them not to show or play something for you as a means of communicating what might take considerable artistry to render well in words. Back to the OP and the idea of smell over the internet, though.. Well.. It'll probably happen eventually, but it's def not currently on my "I want" list. LOL But I do like my widescreen monitor and a reasonable sound system so I can feel a bit of the thump when I land from a jump or the sort of mild pressure from the sound of a waterfall nearby, the vibration of the motor of a vehicle I'm in, or the throb of loud music in a club. That's enough for me for immersion. Back in the day of "beep-boop" sound and old-school graphics, it took more imagination to get into games and etc. I can see where some people might be keen on having smell or etc, though. If some game or app came out where smell was an important part of it and it became popular enough, I can imagine the technology catching on quickly.

Well, some places require a certain size because they built the area for a certain size. That's not unreasonable. If you want to wander or hang out there, you save a shape and clothes adjusted to that size. If somebody went to some bother to make a place to a certain scale, I don't think it unreasonable for them to want people who come there to adjust scale. If you don't like it, you don't go there. My usual avatar is a "realistic size", I guess, and is proportionate. I have a couple of body shapes adjusted to a little shorter for places like the Doomed Station where they ask for a certain height for the sake of scale. My usual was already an ok height for 1920's Berlin. If I wanted to go someplace that asked for a height of 8 ft 2 inches, I'd take a few minutes with the sliders and maybe even save the adjusted shape if I enjoyed the place enough that I felt I was likely to go back there again. Why not? It's an adventure. Some people I end up standing next to do indeed seem rather amazingly tall and small-headed. I think a lot of that is camera angle though. The behind-and-above camera angle maybe makes heads seem a bit large to some folks due to foreshortening from the perspective used and so they perhaps adjust it to look more normal from the default POV? But yes, I had noticed that 15 ft door thing lately, since I rented my first apartment recently. LOL I kind of noticed that the door handle was at about head height, so I took some measurements. 5 meter tall door, and the "small" apartment was 20 meters long. I think it's great! Extra value in that extra space. Yeah, I also noticed my feet didn't touch the floor with the first kitchen chair I bought. No big deal. Right click and edit items to fit. I don't usually buy anything I can't mod, anyway. My wife also thought it amusing when she looked over my shoulder when I was trying some different decor in the SL apartment. "Why is the door so big?" I explained that actually my avatar was shorter than average in SL, since it's about the same height as I am in RL but most people apparently like to fantasize themselves a bit taller. "Well, now you see what that's like!" (She's only a little over 5 ft tall and has complained more than once over the years about everything in the world being made for taller people.) It was a good laugh. I've never had anyone mistake my avatar for a child. Facial hair, build, manner, tattoos...just not very child-like. But I can see where it might be less obvious for female avatars. Now, you want something to gripe about, how about all the animations that are right handed? Some of us people are lefties in RL, y'know! Ok, I'm closer to ambidextrous in RL, from living left handed in a right handed world. I can drink a cup of coffee with either hand, but my poor avatar doesn't seem to be able to. LOL

Actually, signs are cool. They're great. If you see a sign that says "No Trespassing" or "Private Dock" or something, you know you aren't wanted around there and you can steer clear of the place. That's clear communication and you can see it from a distance. Now, if the security system's range was just about where the sign was, then it would make more sense. The 10 seconds thing does seem somewhat too short a time to allow a well-meaning person to get out of a place they aren't wanted. I'd bet that anyone actually up to anything malicious could do any damage they had planned in 10 seconds and be out before the orb or whatever kicked them. But the time and the somewhat agressive wording aren't SL so much as the people who write the code for the item. Considering that most of them seem to be identical, I'd guess that most property owners don't actually write the message, it's just what came with the security system they bought. Now that could maybe change, if people started asking the shops that they buy security stuff from for "firm but polite" versions, or for the time to be adjustable by the purchaser.

Ayrea wrote: By the way, if you pay for television you are being a hypocrite, since you are essentially paying for pixel entertainment. Even if they don't pay for watching television, it is still being paid for by sponsors/advertisers who feel it is more likely that you'll choose their product if you see the advert for it. So that isn't really "free" either.

I haven't tried any magical work in SL. Some places here and there feel like they may have something to them, but I haven't gone looking for energies or spirits. I ran across a little chapel/shrine once in SL where lights had been set for various people and needs, and it felt like there was something to that. So far as what kind of spirits might be attracted, well SL has been around for something like 8 yrs I think? I'd say that at the very least, the spirits of people who lived and played here and have died would be a definite possibility. So far as how they might manifest, well, you could try checking for EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena)? Maybe you could go someplace quiet that feels like there might be something present and use your voice chat to ask a question or invite them to speak to you, then turn your own mic off and record directly off the computer's output with a digital or tape recorder or use the computer itself it you are familiar enough with that sort of thing. Try listening back to it very carefully or take it into your fave sound editing program as a file and use the noise redux and high amplification method. There's quite a few "paranormal" sites on the internet that have a bit of info on how to check recordings for EVP, if you haven't ever done it. It might at least be a place to start looking. Kind of an intriguing thought, that haunting SL might be an afterlife option. So far as objects and etc in SL being just a program, well a sigil is just a few symbolic lines and yet they seem to work well enough? I don't see why it shouldn't be possible that something might not be constructed in SL that could house a spirit or some sort of a magical virtue. It might take some thought and experimentation to come up with, but I'd say it's at least possible. So far as manfestation in the usual sense though, I personally don't find close proximity to computers to be the best for it. But psychic impressions via the "link" felt from a chat program are common enough. Myself, I prefer to step away from the machine and set a light in the physical world, though. Anyway, it's an interesting idea. I'm sure some folks will have great entertainment making fun of all the ideas involved, but I hope you get at least a reasonable number of serious replies.

It doesn't need a lot of rez time. A couple minutes is plenty, unless maybe the scenery or setting are especially good, in which case a little longer might be nice to allow for setting up and taking some "on location" pics of one's favorite vehicles. If the rez area will be near your shop, make sure there's an obvious entry or doorway. A few times when I've been riding around, I stopped because a place looked interesting to maybe do a little shopping at, but I couldn't find any actual way in. Some sort of a sign or marker so one knows it is a rez point is always good. An item or sign where one can obtain a landmark is nice. Sure, it's easy enough to add a landmark from the viewer menu, but an item or small sign is a good reminder so one doesn't get 15 min down the road and then think "I should have landmarked that place.." I fly (or boat) more often than I drive. In RL, the rule for airplanes (in the US) is no less than 1000 ft above the tallest nearby item over populated areas like cities or towns. So 300+ meters is close enough to that minimum. Over "less congested" areas, it's 500 ft (call it maybe 150 meters), and one is only supposed to go lower over unpopulated regions or open water. Now, that's for safety reasons in RL, but I personally feel it's also a good rule of thumb in Sl to keep it looking and feeling somewhat realistic as well as to try and avoid annoying people. Helicopters and hang gliders and etc are allowed to go lower, but they're kind of made for it. I land on the ground, but floating plaforms could be nifty to land on, so long as one has some way of knowing that it's actually allowed. So I usually try to stay 300-500 meters up in airplanes (or spaceships) unless over open water or coming in for a landing at an airport. I also usually try to stay well away from any skyboxes or high floating items, since I usually figure people put them way up in the air because they want privacy. So I wouldn't usually even get close enough to see it was a landing platform, and even if I did, I'd usually assume it's private.

So far as the OP... If the person's appearance was a deal-breaker for you, then that's pretty much it. Everybody has what they're looking for and if the other person is not it, then they're just not it. I think you would have done better to just be up-front about it though. Sure, you knew that she'd "been going through a difficult time", but being dodgey and playing games in hopes of her breaking up with you probably didn't help. If she was worth some time before you saw the pic, then surely she was worth some honesty as to why you were calling it quits. As you said, though, it was a panic reaction. At least you both found out enough about each other to figure out that neither of you was what the other wanted. Could have maybe been handled better, but certainly could have gone worse

Ishtara Rothschild wrote: Imagine an ideal world where all diseases have been reliminated, lost limbs can easily be replaced, and genes can be spliced and altered without limitations. How would you feel if somebody in this perfect world were to inflict third-degree burns on himself as a fashion statement? I don't feel I can agree that I'd view all that as ideal. Particularly the bit about genes being spliced and altered without limitations. I'd find that a cause for alarm, since I would worry that we would lose the essence of what nature is. A city park or a person's garden is planned. It can be pretty, even beautiful in it's way. But it's isn't the forest. I don't think that having infinite control over such things will give us a world of beauty, so much as one of uniformity and sameness. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, of course, but I don't personally feel that uniformity is the ultimate in beauty. It has no wildness. SL approximates wildness in a way because it incorporates so many people's ideas. But how far would it be to go from saying "no ugly" allowed to "no disturbingly unusual" and then "no unusual" and finally to "no different"? Even with scenery, there are some places in SL where someone has meticulously detailed trash and dirty streets or buildings that are decayed and sometimes in stages of collapse. Should that not be allowed because it might disturb someone who comes to SL to see only perfectly manicured lawns and shiny new buildings? In RL, I have some scars. One does happen to be from a third degree burn. Many years ago, when my oldest children were still small, I was cooking and had a pan with some hot grease in it. I turned and found out one of my faughters was right behind me. I was off balance and the grease spilled out. I managed to move so that I got the burn rather than her. I'm not ashamed of it, it is one of those things that reminds me who and what I am. A father. I have considered working on my avatar's skin a bit to add it. It may be hard for some people to understand, but in an odd sort of way I'm proud of it and sort of miss it when I'm in SL. The other scars are significant in their own ways, marking accidents and folly and I won't bore with the details. But like my tattoos, they mark times and events in life and remind me of things. If that's a bad indicator for mental health, ok fine. I don't recall sanity being listed as a requirement here and I've seen quite a few places and things in SL that seem to indicate sanity is purely optional. LOL My avatar in SL is no "pretty boy". It is an approximation of how I look in RL. Or rather how I looked at a couple points in my life, since I managed to get somewhat close to that with a reasonable amount of fussing with settings and decided it was close enough. I don't think it's anything that would send small children running, mind you. But like I am in RL, it is what I'd consider rather typical and unexceptional. I've never worried much about looking any other way in RL, and I view my avatar as an extension of me wandering in the interesting world of SL. Not to say that there's anything wrong with having an unusually tall and amazingly well-built avatar with a perfect tan or a pure fantasy creation, if that is what you want. It's just not everyone's choice. Definitely not mine at this time. I have two sets of body/skin hair at the moment. One is similar to how I looked in my early 20s, one is more how I looked in my mid 30s. Getting a reasonable looking 50 has so far eluded my efforts, but I'll probably manage it eventually. I'm just not comfortable at this time looking or acting much different than I would in RL. Ok, back to the OP, I'll admit that what I'm talking about is a bit of a far cry from a pile of feces or something dripping gore. I could see those sorts of things for maybe a halloween party or something, but it's kind of an odd statement otherwise and I'd have to wonder as to the person's reasons for such a choice. Should property owners be allowed to forbid and/or ban such things? Well, yeah, I guess so. I mean, far less controversial things are considered justifiable grounds for a ban from what I can tell. Apply the same logic as the "why would anyone in this perfect world" statement to oh, flying (meaning avatars flying around without any sort of e vehicle). If we can all fly, why would anyone want to do anything as deplotably RL as driving, sailing or (gasp horror) walking? But I've seen places where flying was disabled and by the rules of the place it apparently would earn someone a ban. I don't presume to understand it, but it's someone's property and if you go on someone else's property then you follow their rules. Your place, your rules, and if they don't like them, then they can stay out, right? On the other hand, piles of walking feces aside, theres that line from "Hey Jude" by the Beatles.. "For well you know that it's a fool who plays it cool By making his world a little colder"

Oh, I haven't given up on it yet, Persephone Emerald. Sorry if I sounded overly negative, it was just the mindset after thinking about how few people I know personally who have the machine and the patience for maybe getting into SL. It's probably somewhat different for the "people persons" who spend a lot of time in clubs or something similar. It might take a little bit for everything to rez, but once it's in the viewer cache it wouldn't be constantly rezzing new terrain as happens when travelling. So maybe the machine requirements for things to run fairly smooth have more to do with what sort of activities one does than I'd been considering. I travel a lot, so new scenery is constantly rezzing and I imagine that puts more demands on my machine's resources than if I stayed in a popular area, even a fairly busy one. There's a lot of really neat underwater sims. Recently I ran across the labyrinth under the Sea of Fables. I'd just recently gotten and started using scuba gear, so that kept me busy for an hour or so, finding my way through it. I've seen shipwrecks, tentacled monsters (ok, maybe not plural, since I've only ever actually seen one), sometimes ruins, even treasure chests. Some people really put a lot of time and work into the undersea areas, and while it was pretty sailing over them, I spend some time now looking to see if there's anything cool under the surface too. Today I got Aley Arai's version of the Nautilus, and spent a couple hours just getting cool pics of it travelling along underwater for my ever-growing collection of screenshots. LOL So I do have fun here, and didn't mean to imply otherwise. I probably wouldn't be the best person tro recommend SL anyway, since I spent barely half an hour (if even that long) in the beginner areas before striking out on my own. So I started with only the barest ideas of how to do things and get around or where I might go or what I could do. Which was my own darn fault (there, I said it before any of the people who work hard helping beginners in the welcome areas said it.). But at least when I first started, I never met any helpers and had no clue they existed. I read a few billboards, and as soon as I got to one that listed places of interest, I was gone. LOL it was just too much noise and confusion and people trying to talk to me while I was trying to read instructions and etc, so I was out of there as soon as I could find out how to teleport anywhere else. That's apparently not the easiest or best way of starting. But how are beginners supposed to know that? Maybe if there was some sort of kindergarten/grade-school/high-school education that took people into progressively more challenging and interesting areas? I don't know. I think a lot of people would just skip it anyway. The interface could be more intuitive, though. Once you're familiar with the icons and have fumbled through enough menus, it's ok, but at first at may as well be and alien language. Maybe if there was an option for more verbose mouseovers to explain things a bit that could be turned off once one gets used to it? I understand that there are other options for the interface, but you don't know that when you've just downloaded the cerrent version from the main website and wandered into SL. That one is the one most beginners will start with and logically it should be the eaisest one to run (in a perfect world).

No, I don't recommend it to friends. Of the few family and friends that I know that have tried it, they found SL either confusing or boring and didn't stay long. To be honest, I didn't stay long, either. When I first started, I had a rather old computer and SL was pretty awful. Everything was jerky and glitchy and took forever for scenery to rez. I gave it a few days and then left. After I put together a considerably better computer, I tried it again. Still pretty awful, but better. Then I got an ok graphics card because I needed ti for best performance on flight sims and spaceship sims I like to spend time with, and it's much better. So this time I've done more looking around and exploring, and it's at least kinda neat. With even the oldest machine I tried, SL always at least looked interesting. The main difference was how long it took scenery to rez and how many crashes one undures. All of the machines were at least "minumum specs" according to the SL site at the time. LOL SL is more than a bit of a resource hog, and I couldn't recommend it to anyone with a worse machine than mine. That's a lot of the people I know, right there. Do there's an equipment barrier for a lot of people. Not everybody has a new computer and a machine can do pretty much anything most people do on the net like play games or watch videos just fine and still not be squat for SL. The interface is also not particularly intuitive, which gives SL a rather steep learning curve before anyone trying it is likely to find much of anything interesting. Simple things like just adjusting your avatar so it doesn't look too much like something from a bad horror cartoon can take quite a bit of time looking up tutorials and fussing with it. Many objects/items have little or nothing in the way of documentation or operating instructions, and that is not really a plus with the vehicles, to make one example. Ok, so with all that, why am I here anyway? Well, I've always been interested in "virtual worlds" as a concept, and SL was supposed to be a big one. In years gone by I was a builder in some minor MUs, so I can at least appreciate some of the effort and thought that goes into it on different levels. Mostly, though, I wandered into the forum to look something up and ran across Pussycat Catnap's article on sailing in SL. She made it sound interesting and fun, so I tried it. And it is, even with running into unexpected banlines and etc now and then. Then I saw Hippie Bowman was giving away a spaceship. I hadn't even known there were flyable spaceships in SL. My thanks goes out to both of them, since those are certainly some of the things I find enjoyable in SL. The past few days I've been doing "The Gold Hunt" thing. That's kinda fun, like an easter egg hunt when we were kids or something, but I figure I'll get bored with it soon enough. For now it's neat since it leads to places I haven't seen before and didn't know about. Almost everyone I know in RL does something online, some game or activity. With my family, what's going on in our assorted online games or communities is pretty common supper table convo. So we're not talking about tech-shy people here. There's not a lot of interest in SL among them, though. Add in the rather heavy learning curve and the equipment barriers that some would have and it's going to be even less attractive. I'm still not sure if I'll be around in SL in another week or two, so I really wouldn't recommend it to many of my friends of family, and most of them where I think they *might* like it.. Well, they've already tried it before and found it either too confusing or too boring for their tastes or simply haven't seen any point to it and left in a day or two.

Well, I couldn't name even one serious music critic, since I don't listen to them at all. LOL As to whether Lady Gaga would make the top 500? Eh, I'm sure I'm too lazy to think through at least 499 other acts to know if she does or not. However, I own several hundred albums and CDs and none of them are her. So based on the "wallet vote", I'd have to say I agree with you, Mayalily. I've never bought any Madonna albums either, though. I'm definitely not a fan of either, personally. If you like knowing about musical rip-offs, this very short list of 5 might be interesting: http://www.cracked.com/article_18500_the-5-most-famous-musicians-who-are-thieving-bastards.html (strong language warning for that site, if you aren't familiar with it) Particularly the bits about Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Andrew Lloyd Webber. All of which would still probably at least make my personal top 500.

Well, I guess you could say I'm into music. I have a small degree in music, and have played and composed for most of my adult life. But I personally wouldn't dare to say what is "quality" and what is not. The broader your horizons, the more music you can appreciate. The Beatles certainly do make my own personal top ten list, but even though Lady Gaga would still have a long way to go to make that list, she still has some good moments. I don't like to speak against what music another person might enjoy. It's all good, if you can find the ear for it. That being said, for classical redone with a beat one can dance to, I like Vanessa Mae. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQ798THmR5Y For what I often listen to when wandering SL, I like the current composer, Roger Subirana (who publishes his works under a Creative Commons license).  But in the course of a day/night, I may end up listening to and enjoying almost any sort of music. "Quality" in regards to music is a very subjective thing.

Gadget Portal wrote: ...Or, alternatively, "Hey. I should make something to wander the mainland and advertise that I script, too! But wait... Isn't advertising on LL land against the rules? How come these people get away with it?" Hmm. Maybe someone could code up some birds (pigeons, seagulls, etc) that relieve themselves only on unmanned vehicles?