[SL isn't the same any more]

On 5/10/2017 at 11:36 AM, Caitlin Tobias said:

Maybe for you and lots of others.

For me, and lots of others, it wasn't and still isn't.

SL was, and is, for many a place to meet people, have fun, be social. The user-created content is nice and very much appreciated, but not 'what SL was about' to begin with.

Don't get me wrong, I loved it in 2007 - the content - and I still love it. Be it made inworld or not, for me that makes no difference to my SL Experience as a whole.

I think that really hits on the simple fact that SL is whatever the user wants it to be. That's the beauty of it while also perhaps a RL example of why Utopia is impossible: everyone has their own unique ideal of perfection and when they demand it be implemented cookie-cutter style on everyone else, it gets weird. What's great about SL is that if you like the pre-mesh styles and customs, if you will, then you can totally decorate your home and even create a community based on that. I see countless communities just like that; whether by design or not, they've remained old school, which is great for them). Also, the many OpenSim grids while possessing mesh capabilities are for lack of an economy still pre-mesh outside of pirated and copybotted things stolen from SL. So for the truly nostalgic, that is another option to look into maybe. I find SL and the other grids interesting to explore in their own apples and oranges way. 

The consumer side is perhaps a growing demographic aspect of SL but one that arguably helps to pay the bills to keep LL afloat. I sell a lot of mesh clothing items in my store that I retextured, which is what many 2nd or 3rd tier stores like mine do, and I have an okay business that requires creativity in the specific area where I apply it. That creative outlet would not be available were it not for those who create the mesh. 

I don't believe mesh creation itself requires a degree from MIT; just dedication at first. I have friends who are mesh creators and brilliant people; I've known some not so bright people also who create mesh. It's just about sitting down and spending the time to learn it (which I need to do but readily admit I don't really want to invest in right now).

 

 

[Suppoert gets better and better...NOT]

They are human beings - they have to go home and eat and sleep sometime. They could always outsource it all, and with it your privacy and the ability to understand anyone on the other end of the phone. But unlike so many tech companies today, LL keeps it in hometown USA. The other option is to increase the price of the premium package, which no doubt would receive gripes from more people since most never need the phone support feature. I was a premium member for three years and only reached out to support twice (it was excellent, btw.). Being open 10 hours a day is pretty good and a sweatshop compared to bankers' hours.

[Privacy -information security]

I know this is like a four year old thread but it still looks open, so I'll share some thoughts and see if they post.

I found an interesting article a while back on the topic of stenography and other tools used in virtual environments like SL for the purpose of, among other things, allowing dissidents to communicate without as much fear or harassment or persecution by their governments (e.g., Iran, Communist China, Russia, Venezuela), or for espionage, terrorism or other nefarious activity. Like all tools, it can be used for good or evil. Anyway, the article (from the US Defense Technical Information Center) is a bit dated (2008) but covers some interesting issues. Page 13 discusses stenography specifically.  http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a488794.pdf

Programs like Adobe Fireworks (no longer available) used to the .png file format to layer images, which made it a popular stenography tool because many people would assume those images were flat. The thing with pngs uploaded to SL, however, is that they do actually get flattened, so hidden layers become cast in stone, as anyone who's uploaded a texture for a piece of clothing and then tried to share it with a friend to edit would find. 

[First dress]

On 5/29/2017 at 7:24 PM, Ivanova Shostakovich said:

This wasn't at the very beginning of my SL. But It was one of the first dresses I ever had, and I hadn't changed much by this point. This was however my very first real project in SL, and one I never really completed to my satisfaction.

I bet that gown has a nice train. =p

[Help: can‘t see my avatar]

On 5/29/2017 at 10:48 AM, LittleMe Jewell said:

Wow, you've got one hell of an inventory there.  Most of us here thought @Skell Dagger had a huge inventory at roughly 150k

Hahaha, it seemed to add up quickly between a shopping addiction and building on the sim I had early on. Although I'm sure if we all purged the junk notecards and textures we get it would cut our inventories in half =D

[Help: can‘t see my avatar]

Even though it doesn't sound like the cause in this case, here's something that might be good to know for the future: 

If you clear your cache or have a clean installation of the viewer, it may take a while for your avatar to appear when you relog, depending on the size of your inventory. You can check by opening up your inventory window and looking at the bottom left (see pic) to see if the number is changing upwards as if counting. So that can be another cause of invisible avatar syndrome or IAS. 

[First dress]

This was taken about week two into my SL experience. Early April 2013. No idea what is up with the wolf puppeh. Fun times lol

[Why is everything so big in SL?]

A lot of houses in SL like those from Domineaux Effect are realistically proportioned, as is much of the furniture from Scarlet Creative. If you shop around, you will find furniture and buildings that don't look as if they were modeled from toys for kindergarteners; unfortunately, in addition to SL's perhaps lacking some foresight in setting scale standards, there are many creators even today for whom this is either not a strength or a personal preference of theirs (to each their own). But take heart: there are many of us who also enjoy making SL a more realistic experience and something that truly can be called Second Life rather than Second Cartoon  (not that cartoons are bad - those who prefer the latter are cool, too. The beauty of SL is everyone can make of it what they want). 

There was an earlier note above about camera issues in more life-sized dwellings. This can be a real issue, but much of it can be mitigated by changing your default camera positions (also great for really taking in the scenery). I placed my cam almost directly behind me at about eye-level. Here are my settings if you want to tweak yours:

Go to your debug settings in your advanced menu (Firestorm; idk about other viewers):

Type or paste this to change the offset:

Viewer 3+: "CameraOffsetRearView".
1.x viewers: "CameraOffsetDefault".

X: -2.800
Y: 0.000
Z: 0.100

Type or paste this to change the focus:

Viewer 3: "FocusOffsetRearView".
1.x viewers: "FocusOffsetDefault".

X: 3.000
Y: 0.000
Z: 0.200

Try those out and tweak them to suit. You can also change the front and side camera offsets. I find this cam setting to be much more immersive than the default "out of body experience" view setting. My avatar is 5'4". It would be great if more creators even if they prefer to make things larger than scale, made them mod or script-resizable, although a great many of them already do. So even if something seems too big at first, check to see if you can resize it.