lucagrabacr

I thought about suggesting a similar thing as a perk for premium members, not on abandoned lands though but on protected lands, but I guess that'll take too much coding and might seem unfair. Maybe allowing temp rez (by simply changing the return time) for 1 minute on all protected lands? Might increase the value of most roadside properties, or it might not because I guess a lot of people value the certainty of not having griefer rez things next to their land compared to people who value rez zones (like I do which is why my places are almost always besides a rez zone) so I guess the current balance of protected lands with some rez zones is ok, because those who prefer safety will get a land next to a protected land without rez, and those who prefer having a rez zone will try to get a land next to one.

Many viewers like the SL official viewer and Firestorm put a lot of the load on the CPU, I'd say get a computer with at least 8GB of RAM if you're on a tight budget, and 16GB if you can pay the extra cost, for the GPU or graphics card get at least a 1060 or something with an equivalent performance (like the newer cards but with equivalent performance), and for CPU you'd want something with the most per-core-performance that fits your budget, which you can check on https://cpu.userbenchmark.com and make sure the computer has an SSD and install your viewer on the SSD. I've also made a video about SL PC building recently and what you should consider;

This is so cool! Can't wait to see the rest c=

That's what I thought and mentioned in the video too! That you guys / LL aren't using the GPU more and put more of the load on CPU because most SL users are people without a good discrete graphics card or none at all c=

The Firestorm version I was using in the video is the newest one, and I tried my best to make sure the settings and factors are similar on both viewers during the testing (sliders, draw distance, amount of non-impostor avatars, etc except that Alchemy's draw distance is at 128m and Firestorm at 120m) which is why I had the radar open as well to show how many people are around me during the testing, and I tried not to go to too many places before recording, I only tp'd between the town and my place. The shadow on Alchemy does look kinda different but I didn't mess with shadow quality setting on both viewer and left them at their default parameters. The improvement seems to not be an isolated occurrence just for me so far, other than my friend I mentioned in the video and her other friend, another friend of mine and some commenters on YT / Facebook have reported an increase in performance as well, some said they actually got better performance from Firestorm though.

The Alchemy viewer

I just tested a viewer that apparently utilizes or put the load on the GPU more and it gave me about 2X performance increase, and if it's really because of the GPU being used more, apparently the reason why LL / most TPVs don't do it is because most people who use SL are not the gamer type who have strong GPU and not because it's not possible, I'm not sure though, I posted it in the machinima section. Just thought it would be relevant here since it would slightly negate the, "Second Life's engine is inherently very unoptimized" bit and kinda show a better outlook in term of optimization or performance.

So apparently the Alchemy viewer actually utilizes the GPU (Graphics Card) more than other viewers and might give you extra performance (it doubles my performance) if you have good GPU. Statistics bar is on in the video so you guys can see the FPS difference. Not sure if the increase in performance is really because it utilizes the GPU more or not, but hey it's there. Graphics settings are similar on viewers tested.

It would certainly take more time and manpower to deal with reports of inappropriate items, but banning keywords or words won't eliminate all inappropriate items as people do find ways to circumvent keywords, and all it might do is removing legitimate items and possibly making SL seem more off-putting to people who don't like censorship (even Google allow these words when used in non-derogatory way)

The use of the items - for example people might list a model of a book or piece of clothing with these words in them, but they are not always used with bad intentions. And if we start banning keywords or words from the MP instead of doing it on per-item basis, that alone can be seen as overly censorious by some people, not to mention the precedence it might set. For example, a certain book by Randall Kennedy (it has the bad racial slur word in the cover, but it's used to emphasize how wrong and ultimately shallow it is)

While I agree with the removal of contents that are without any doubt incendiary in nature from the marketplace, I disagree with the banning of keywords or words. The meaning of words depend on how they are used, even ones that are originally meant to be derogatory. Sometimes they're used for educational purposes, furthermore, these words can, and have been effectively used to counter the hateful arguments or positions by nullifying their original meanings and intentions depending on how you use it and in what context. I can sympathize with the OP and their friends, and I'm sure their intention is good, but censorship of words is more often than not counter-productive to the cause of eliminating prejudice itself, because they impede open debates of divisive, prejudiced notions. When someone argue with me in support of these prejudiced notions, it's more effective for me to disprove it and prove them wrong in an open, uncensored discussion and exchange of ideas where everyone can see and hear it, and know my position in earnest, which I know to be true as I've been called names just because of what I am more than once myself. Having top-down enforcement of what can and can't be said only reinforce the divisiveness, and pull more people into the extremes as the censorship can, and has been used as an excuse or "proof" that they're right. I'm not arguing against any decision taken or will be taken by LL regarding the marketplace situation as I'm sure they'll do what they think is best for the platform, in regard to that I just think it's important to show that there are people who might not see the situation the same way, and we don't want SL or LL to be seen as overly censorious by the people who might not agree with the censorship of words.

Invited my friend Nodoka to discuss whether or not big brands should return to modern day Second Life, whether or not they might negatively impact small SL businesses / econ and if they should be regulated if that happens

Hey! Virtual Existence Society is offering free rooms for new Residents who want to taste how having their own place on SL is like, but are still not sure whether or not they want to invest their money or time to get one. If you're at least 2 days old and no older than 7 days old, then you're eligible! You can occupy a room for a week in our Foxboro roadside Grand Lodge. Please note that VES is a non-profit organization and we do not rent out rooms or lands, this is not a commercial promotional campaign. after a week your furniture that you rezzed out will be returned to you and you will be released from the land group. We currently have 2 rooms available, contact me inworld through IM or notecard if you're interested c= We also have a rez zone in front of the lodge for you to rez your vehicles and explore SL's mainland from (or to rez heavy-prim / land impact objects)! Cheers!

The behavior you described only occurs during a bad region crossing, it either happens because the region you're crossing into is lagging or the boat has too high of a server cost (you can check by right click > edit / build > more info)

Second Life's premise and world structure are already the right ones - an interconnected open world that is run and maintained mostly like a physical world state, where anyone can create, do and become whatever they want, with options for private islands. There's a good reason why states or nations work the way they do, because they work, and the fact that SL is still the most successful and profitable virtual world is a proof of that. There are arguments that Fortnite is how a virtual world should be, because of its success. But we gotta remember Fortnite at its core is a Battle Royale game, and the only reason it became a successful "virtual world" (it's not), is because it already got a giant existing userbase of Battle Royale players before it released its party mode, which in itself is nothing compared to SL in regard to user freedom and truly being a world. It's like saying a golf club should hold baseball matches and make baseball courses because baseball makes more money - at which point it won't be a golf club anymore. Just feel like I need to say this because there are people out there who are seriously arguing this.

My friend helped me by narrating this video. But yeah, made this video to show people out there that Second Life is truly a world unlike so many other platforms and show it to people who keepstalking bad things about Second Life! c=

I like the new logo, it looks modern while staying true to the old and known design c=

I didn't realize it existed, thanks! I just tried it earlier and it seemed weird, so I guessed that's why not that many people use it, but after actually reading the thread it seems like it used to work just fine, so let's hope it gets fixed soon c=

It looks just fine c= lots of quirky-looking people inworld and they're wonderful

Last night's livestream of Bay City's 12th Anniversary Parade / Events on Second Life c= https://youtu.be/sgbAabNcsC8 it was a lot of fun and had Marianne McCann as my parade group leader! (parade started at about half an hour into the stream)

The values and philosophy of SL are the very things that make Second Life what it is, because every decision and direction taken and are being taken by LL in regard to SL's development derive from those set of values or premise which cater to the specific niche of audience who subscribe to those values or products / services derived from them (us). Of course, those are not the sort of things that appeal to the majority of the population, but what Second Life is, is what brought and keep us here to begin with, so they do matter very much.

Yeah, Firestorm has it too as the destinations guide. But there are much more to SL than just that and showing curated destinations, and blog posts alone doesn't really convey that there's more to SL or living in SL than just what there seem to be, and if these things which can communicate to the new users a sense or the idea that there are great things that they can achieve or do in Second Life, are focused on the new-user areas or experiences, it won't be too intrusive either to the long-time Residents who might already know about these things

Been reading the replies over the week, thanks for chiming in you guys, whether you agreed with my assessment or not. I was going to make another thread, but when writing it I thought it would be more fitting to be posted as an addition here (not to mention someone mentioned Fortnite's Party Royale in the thread, which I included in what I was writing, so); Forbes recently published an article titled, "‘Fortnite’ Party Royale Will Become ‘Second Life’ On Its Way To Being The Metaverse" Now as most of us probably already know, this is just one of many nonsensical articles throughout the years where people slapped Second Life in the title just for the sake of making fun of it without really understanding it, nothing worthy of writing about and post here in the forums. This one is a little bit different however in that, even industry veterans and insiders (who are probably tired waiting for SL or an SL-esque virtual world to go mainstream) are kinda starting to lean on the notion that, "If it's more successful, then that must be how one makes a virtual world the RIGHT way". Of course there's nothing wrong with success, making more money or profit. But the danger is that if success alone, not foundational values or structure of a virtual world, became the prominent determining factor in what makes a "virtual world" or a "metaverse", then we'll have people and companies who have the talents and means of building such a world, veering further away from the original concept and spirit of the virtual world. The virtual world as we know it here as Second Life Residents is that it's not just a place right, but a world with its own set of rules based on certain values and philosophy that are built on the spirit that people can go to this place, connect with other people and express themselves however they want without any limitation, and truly build a world, or community of their own, or whatever they want. And possibly make a living out of it if they have the necessary talent. And I think that's even more reason why SL or LL must show even more pride of itself, show a certain vigor, EXCITEMENT, THE FUTURE, don't be so timid. Act like there's a whole bunch of opportunities and possibilities out there for the taking and people will believe it so long as it's genuine.

It's a paradox because the notion is that there are so many stars and planets, so it seems illogical for space to not be littered by advanced lifeforms. Not a really strong paradox like the usual logical paradoxes so I share your view, but it was coined that way nevertheless. A lot of futurists and scientists have came up with possible explanations since.