arikastack

I enjoyed it, so I'd say yes. Though, I wouldn't rent it unless you absolutely have to. It's on Netflix, and Youtube has a 360p version as well.

I've thought about chiming in on the discussion above, but figured it was smarter to stay out of it. I don't work on avatar components, and mainly just create objects, as making and mapping raw mesh is my absolute strongest point as a developer, but I don't have the patience to kick back with my tablet and texture anything worthwhile without dozing off, or checking the SL forums. With that being said, I've used a plethora of shortcuts to make an old texture work with a reworked UV map, because I lack patience. It's not perfect, but it works, and it's also why I try to work with a target resolution of about 3-5 times that of the final texture. I don't know. I got a new GPU. Maybe I can push that a little more. Concerning what may be brought to the game, I'm almost positive they'll integrate DX12 support. That doesn't mean much, but it does mean that lighting will be alot more natural, so there's that. However, there are a few things I'd like to see. The scripting language in game, surprisingly, is fine. I don't see alot of room for improvement, though, with the technology we have today, and the extent of the scripts presently out there, I'm completely neutral on whether or not they'll go with an object oriented approach or not. I don't see any negatives. If they don't however, the in game editor needs a facelift. Honestly, that's the only change I can suggest, that I don't feel they would hit already.

It's probably healthier, I'll say that. 40 dollars. On dances. I hate myself so much right now.

Anya Ristow wrote: now you have to know where to go to find live people. This is so true, and so sad about SL today. I do believe that how seriously the community can take things does lead to this, as I feel that, if there were one thing that potentially could make me quit, it would be that. I really wish I was there during the great rush. Unfortunately, I think I was like, 11 or so when the game launched. The good news, however, is that, for every runin I have with someone who has a stick lodged so far where the sun don't shine, or a moderator who's bad (baderator doesn't have the same catch), and is on a serious power trip, I meet at least two more people who are awesome. There are still good people in this game. If I can meet them, anyone can. There was a time (as I'm told), where people built things to be creative, to express themselves, and to make the world a better place. There was a time where it wasn't about who had the best idea to make lindens. There was a time where it wasn't about 'what sells', and more about 'what looks cool'. While that time sounds great, and I'd do some pretty low and pitiful things to live there, I still see shimmers of that time here and there, where people build the spaceship they want to build because it's a freakin' spaceship, not a paycheck, or where people actually engage in a conversation with you, instead of just messaging you to tell you how much you suck for not being part of their clique. People can still be constructive. It just sucks that you have to actually look for those people now. To be honest, I'm not even talking about griefers. Griefers don't ignore you and call you a noob because your AO's turned off. They shoot you with a tumbleweed pusher regardless of who you are.

I'm pretty sure this type of thread has been done before, but I checked back a few pages, didn't see it, and didn't feel like bumping anything past that. It's a pretty straightforward question. I've been here for 2 years now, and while that's not alot, I've noticed that alot of people have opinions on what SL does great, and what needs improvement. Moreover, however, I'm interested to know why you play/what keeps you playing, or what does the opposite, if you're on the other end of the spectrum. Personally, I like, well, alot, but if I had to choose a few key things, and compile some sort of list, the first thing on that list would probably be the community, specifically the fact that the age demographic is so mixed. It's a nice change of pace. When I was 12, I played games with much older, and much more diverse demographics, and for the most part, people are more level-headed, and at least don't follow such a hive mind. There are more than just 2 opinions on any given subject, and most people convey them well. I also like the fact that SL isn't classified as a game, but as a whole different type of VR. I've personally used SL to escape life, and, while I dislike the term in this context, roleplay as a character I created when I was 15. I don't feel as though many people RP as themselves in SL anyway, but for me, the character is, I guess someone whose life I want to live, or at least seen lived. I mean, who wouldn't want to be someone who's infinitely powerful and has more free time and than a NEET could ever dream of. I don't dislike much about SL, but, I guess I should follow the rules of my own thread here. The technology of SL, while is being updated from time to time, does need an overhaul. I know it's not easy/possible to do while keeping the current framework, but if they manage to fix that one issue, the game will instantly grow again in popularity. It saddens me when people won't give this game a chance because sim crossings are a thing, or how a 'hacker' on a 'supercomputer' only gets 20fps (like, yeah, no, call Nvidia, and they'll hook you up with a cloud based computing solution, mr. Hacker). Community related, I guess I dislike how detatched everyone has become, but that's less of a SL issue, and more of a 'oh look, FB gives the the convenience to not interact with other people online or offline except to like or share something irrelevant', issue. Moreover, I'm probably more guilty of this than most people, as I'm incredibly introverted and probably just hang out at the wrong places, but still, the world just feels... cold. I can't feel a pulse, even in populated sims.

For a while there, I joined the aviation community. I don't RP for... reasons, and I've spent countless hours in Flight Simulator 2004 Multiplayer on my step dad's computer as a kid, so I figured, why not. I can be cool. And fly planes. And stuff. Except, literally, everyone else can, too. So much for being cool. Recently, however, I mostly spend my time either exploring destinations, editing my character's appearance, shopping, and alt tabbed out, either working on a model to upload, or, posting on the forums, I guess. I feel so boring typing that, but it's pretty much how I spend my time in SL. I have no (second) life, and thus, I derp around, trying to subdivision model a railgun (the defined shapes and more engineered design of what a 'railgun' looks like should tell you why that's a bad idea), or whatever else I don't see in the store that I think would be cool to have.

From what I can conclude, this is largely dependant on where you live. I live next to the Blake Sea, but not on it (and my property's surrounded by ban lines anyway. Literally. Every square of my parcel is next to property that's been bought out by a L&P Properties. It's annoying, and it's another rant, for another time). The Blake Sea has possibly the most traffic of any open area in SL. This is sort of an issue. I will say, that before the situation described above, it wasn't uncommon to see random people flying about, checking things out. Occasionally, you'd have someone creep on you, and stare into your window (I keep my doors locked), and, I'm not gonna lie, since I'm usually tabbed when home, I'd just alt+f4 the game faster than a 12 year old whose mom just walked in on him browsing lewd sites. So, yeah, in your private home, a Land Security Orb is totally justifyable. You usually don't want people there anyway. I think privacy is important. I've never had qualms with people using orbs, though, it does make it a little difficult to fly through the world if the timers aren't generous, especially next to sim borders. I wish there was a better way, honestly. Because of orbs, ban lines, privacy, and the fact people don't respect the last one without the first two, the world seems much more closed off, and dead in some areas. It's a shame, because scenic neighborhoods in SL are a rarity now, and the social, open world aspect of the game takes a huge hit. That's fine, I guess. There are plenty of other reasons to play SL. All I'm saying is that, it's wierd how the game feels like a ghost town, more often than not, even though I know the community's healthy and well.

Fair enough. If you can pull it off well, then you can pull it off well.

Let me rephrase my post. I consider it poor design to put a public area, and a private area next to eachother, with no indication between which is which. Most of the better sims I've seen have any potentially blocked off areas up in a skybox, which, in my opinion, is the right way to do things. What's petty is putting that said area in the middle of the sim, because that's exactly like blocking off part of a dance floor on a club, and expecting people not to be salty when they wander to it and get thrown out. Thus, if the landowner either cares so much about protecting the privacy of a place you can easily cam to with a draw distance of above 50, they're either bad at design, or not very mature. To me, it detracts from the design, and I have to fully admit, I do get butthurt when I see that popup. I don't view myself as anyone special, or as a person with an innate right to judge your sim, but it does tell me that whoever does own the sim doesn't really care about people going there. That's fine. I can understand that. There are plenty of awesome, public sims, that are almost entirely community funded. There are also alot of private islands out there that are entirely funded by the owner.

I personally use a Land Security Orb in my own house, if only because I've had issues with people (okay, fine, just one person) snooping around and doing downright creepy things while I was alt tabbed/afk. With that being said, I have a huge problem with these orbs in otherwise public places, and disagree with ban-lines almost completely (anyone in the Aviation community will know why). It's just... it's like a big 'F you' when I walk into a place that's been advertised as a destination, and, while exploring it, I accidently tread upon the secret 'gm hall' or whatever, and get that dreaded popup (or not, some orbs just eject). I'm a good donator. If I see a place I like, I'll usually toss a couple hundred L$ as a tip. Seeing a Land Security Orb in a public place, though, to me, is like a huge DO NOT TIP sign. I mean, the least they could do is use a skybox for their 'headquarters'. I sincerely hope some parcel/sim owners read this, especially if they have any intention at all, at making thier place an attraction. It really is annoying.

I figured I'd post my two cents on this subject, though, this really is going to be a short post. The way I see it is this: a good model can absolutely sell a crappy product, and a bad model can absolutely sell a good product. That is pretty basic, we all know that, and while I don't feel it drives my points to say it, it needs to be stated. I've had my avatar for 2 years now. Over those two years, I've made small tweak after tweak to my avatar's appearance. I'm still confident I'll find something wrong with it, and have to 'fix' it, but that's besides the point. Two. Years. I'm not a professional avatar shape creator. I won't claim to instantly know how to make an avatar look good, and I won't claim my avatar's the best looking. I will say this, however, with absolute certainty. Making a good looking avatar is hard, and can be very, very expensive, depending on how many outfits it takes you to find out what 'works'. It's this most time consuming thing I've done in SL, and it's definitely worth 800L to not have to create the 'perfect' avatar for your newest outfit if you're a designer.