Lancewae Barrowstone

I think it could somehow be assumed that a giant sandbox, open world, like SL, will house all ranges of human interactions, since regions are privately owned and developed, just as out in the real world. I'm thinking your thesis idea might, at least on some level, lean toward the concept that perhaps our virtual worlds can be influenced (you use the word "structured" which suggests influence) in order to help teach, guide, mold (my words) to some degrees (larger or smaller) those human interactions, and thus aid, in fact contribute toward creating a better real world outside these virtual worlds by working slightly within them. I do not take exception to this thought at all. It's laudable in the broader sense, if indeed I'm not totally off the mark. I say, good luck with your work. It's interesting.

You should actually make it an alternative that excludes the aforementioned site entirely.

You throw up a roadblock on the first page of your survey. Research should not roadblock respondents, it only adds an inadvertent bias. Your roadblock is the requirement that one must hold hands with the largest spy ring on the planet to proceed further down your garden path. Most all of my associates banned Google from their online existence a decade ago.

No, no, no, the answer you are looking for is a splitter. [No, not a spitter! Not that guy! ] This is contingent on your having external peripheral desktop speakers, say Logitech or whatever. It's those speakers you will capture and route through your headset input jack. Cool eh? You get a 3.5 mm splitter anywhere, then unplug your headset from your comp, plug in the male jack of your new splitter into its place. Now, you have TWO inputs where before you had only one. Now, you plug your external speakers into one of those two new input jacks, and plug your headphones into the other. Say Ampersand Campesino! ~ and.... maybe it will work. Worked on my mackbook once. But that was back when. Splitter's only a few bucks.

Waid-a minute. Goats in SL!? Holy Bejeebers.... My ULTIMATE goal (..hic!...) is NO MORE discussions about goats in SL, like this! (... hic!.... crash.. zzzzzzz.. snorts...)

There are lots of slender male bodies, like in the anime/manga world, and the transgender world too. Slender bodies with no female breasts. Forget where I saw that. As for a mesh head, heck get one of the freebie female mesh heads, they are ugly enough to be male right off the bat. ~.... just my opinion!... nobody shoot.

There are many. When inworld open Search and under Places type Safe Hub. I see 4 there right now, high traffic like, over 34,600 at Nelsonia. Consider them a variety of lost souls, newbies redirected from failed logins, bored people showing off some cool avies, street corner inciters spouting new exotic unbearable "wisdoms," and some of the wild kids of SL who liked to hang out behind the school cafeteria. That's how it used to be. You go find out what it is now. Good luck, space cadet.

Yeah, it's group-think, a very common human trait found in idolatry, religions, and modern politics. It's fed by common malnourishment of knowledge. Today it's exacerbated by a phenomenon of too much knowledge that is easily available, incomplete, skewed by biases, and even maliciously malformed to create markets, political spin, clickbait, and raise platform memberships, subscriptions, etc. There's good money in it. Even glamorously rich professions. Yeah, humanity is as malnourished now as it's ever been, and actually worse than it once was. I'm waiting to be picked up by space aliens again. I hope that's alright?

Go to the Safe Hubs. Be careful (you must be safe at the "Safe Hubs") and find the chatty ones and listen. Try your questions there.

No, actually the social distancing is working. It's demonstrable statistically: And oddly, you'll notice the progression line in the graphs below are very close to the real data tracking shown in my post above. Let's hope this holds. I love to see good data prevail. https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/fj4bhn/oc_infection_growth_rate_due_to_random_movement/

The medical advisors to the White House, Drs. Birx and Fauci, admit the IMHE data projections they have been using to advise the President are eering hugely on the high side of expectated hospital & equipmernt demands, as compared to actual data coming in now from all the states. They used those projections in order to be most aggressive in meeting the COVID19 threat here in the U.S.. You can't blame them; the responsibility was placed on their shoulders for advise, and they do not plan to fail it. Here is an example, for everyone's information, of the differences when comparing those IMHE projections to the current daily data so far (seen in the green line): I was referred over to a Mark Levin Podcast from last Friday (4/02/20) that laid out a comparison (done by Sean Davis and John Solomon) of those IMHE projections, with some actual random state data available now. The model predicted that in the U.S. over 121,000 people would be hospitalized by that day (4/02/20), when the actual number was 31,142. So, the researchers decided to look at some state data to learn more. The model predicted that by that day in Texas 1716 would be hospitalized, when the final number was 196, in Georgia 2777 would be hospitalized when it was 962, in Virginia 670 would be hospitalized when the final number was 305, and in NY 50,962 were projected to be hospitalized by COVID-19 when the actual number was 18,368. These data are compiled and found here >> https://covid19.healthdata.org/projections Hyperbole aside, politics aside, broad characterizations of people you don't really know aside.., let's hope this trend continues at FAR below expectations. ~ Cheers

Thank you, Madelaine. And yes, I fully expect the USA to pull some magic rabbits right outa the hat, because unlike China, we are an open, intellectual society and many such irons are IN THE FIRE right now. Better treatments are about to be spawned as well as preventatives. I expect we will be proud of this nation in this year. Sure, I could be wrong, but I'm just reading the tea leaves. Let fate bring on the rest.

You are not the only one. It's great to be intellectually free, isn't it? We get to observe, think, decide, for ourselves. I suppose we are standing outside the congregation, smelling the Spring flowers and observing the sun warming the bees, while all those loud voices rise inside where the commonly decided text is recited through great hymns to the rafters. Excuse me, I'll move a little further away over here...

Whoa.. the political haymakers are flying in here! And lots of media-fed "experts" seem at large. You might rather ask yourself, when the first Corona virus case hit a state in the USA, did the governor of that state consider a lock down of the major city where it popped up, in order to protect the citizens of the state at large? We might never know, but we do know that such a thing will include a myriad layering of complicated overlying contexts. And at that early stage you would have seen riots in the streets, people faced with jobs shut down, commerce coming to a halt, grocery buying panic, local economies collapsing, school kids stuck home, etc. All the things that happened later. Everyone wants the easy answer, but it ain't there, and certainly not just because mainstream media, or one oppositional party, says it is. Did you know that Alabama only just NOW has finally declared a state emergency and called for staying at home? Where they been, you might ask? Well, we are a nation of sovereign individual states (a UNITED states). Those are our government! The Federal branch has a few overarching limited and stated powers to regulate interstate affairs toward openness and fairness according to Constitutional principles and national peace. The Federal government is not your saviour, that's your local community, your town, your state! A Cleveland newspaper asked just yesterday, why Michigan's coronavirues cases have soared 4 times higher than their neighboring state of Ohio. It makes an interesting question and with many answers. Michigan (with 10 million people) has 5 times more corona deaths now than Ohio (with 11.7 million). All the national media attention on the federal government is just the same old political football game that actually just keeps Americans comfortably ignorant and easily misled. Michigan's answer to the question is to say it's because they are testing more, and that boosts the numbers. But as Cleveland.com reports, Michigan's response: "'I guarantee you the Detroit positives will continue to grow because we are doing far more tests than anybody else.' But data doesn't bear out this argument. As of Thursday, more tests have been processed in Ohio than in Michigan according to COVID19tracking.com, which aggregates testing data." But you didn't know any of this, did you? And you may remember just a few weeks back that progressive icon of the country, Austin, Texas, claimed there was no reason NOT to hold their annual SxSW festival in spite of the COVID-19 fears, and so all the world was invited to come party again this year. This was so internationally embarrassing for a supposedly intellectual leader, that within 2 days that city did an abrupt about-face and slammed the city gates dis-inviting the original invite. I'm sure everyone in Austin, Texas however, is talking about how everything is Trump's fault too. That's just the easy narrative for a sheep herd fed a the common trough. I gotta tell you, that says more about you than you realize.

At this point, scores of newbies just flee. Just go back to IMVU or Sims and be a simple cut-out. Beats the brain damage of trying to COMPREHEND what's going on at SL. An intrepid newbie might try to keep at it and decide to experiment, thinking well, if shape makes me one way and skin makes me another way, maybe I should just buy this whole avatar I see here that comes with both skin and shape, and just hope that it will make me look just like that advertisement! But it can cost $900L and with no demo! Sooo, sooner or later another newbie tries, and another newbie buys, puts on that new avatar skin and shape. Then, stares at it a long stunned moment; then logs out and never comes back. Something very simple, clear, methodical, and step by step, with examples and COMPREHENSIVE bottoms-up approach seems to be missing in the informational link between SL and the new arrival who wants to enter our "world." I can't create that informational Youtube but someone else should and maybe an SL blogger would try. I know, there are scores of various Youtubes from over the last decade all with a bit of info here, and a bit of different info over there... and almost all are incomplete and leave a new arrival who knows nothing with more questions than answers, again! And so still, the brand new Second Life arrival remains confused. What a failing.

This is a long standing problem. People want to know how to change their face. Everyone wants to do that. And in the marketplace what you find are "shapes" and "skins." Certainly, everyone who is new has asked the question: which one changes my face? How many new people have purchased a "skin" for hundreds of lindens in order to look like the picture advertising it, only to put it on and look nothing like the advertisement. And too, later on, you try buying a "shape" to look like an advertisement and you put that on and it changes your face! So you panic and try to get back to what you were looking like before that waste of effort, and you never open that shape again, it goes into limbo of forgotten crap in your inventory, like the skin you bought and feel you've wasted your lindens on both of them. NOW, is this new thing called, "mesh heads." What a nightmare. Surely, this OP is asking about her face. Why is it that never seems to be adequately addressed or explained for new people? [ I'm sure it has been, and hordes of us probably missed it ]

Edit2: Yes, I know the argument that they can just buy Premium and the world of SL opens up to them. That's obvious, and SL needs that income to exist. My approach in this thread is that SL also needs vigor, and that comes from people. Most newbies start without paying for Premium because they want to understand the game, and may then (like the rest of us) decide that YES, it’s worth investing here, worth pulling out the credit card and BUYING some lindens to do what I now want to do. That’s just an additional avenue to get to the same point, right? And it’s one worth not losing.

...and too, who are we to judge the personal lives of others, based on a news report. I totally suspect there are positive things within it. I wouldn't be surprised if next year she will have converted herself into that curvy girl in SL. These things happen. Cheers, I say!

I saw a new arrival standing in one spot when I landed at a shop. I went back next day and she was still there and I walked over, she was AFK and earning some meager $L standing by a prim on the ground that I clicked. I sent her a week's worth of Linden, explaining that I saw her there so she would understand. My suggestion to SL going forward: Fix that! New players shouldn't have to stand in one spot for hours (no knowing any better) to try to earn some meager in-game currency in order to hope to fit here, to try to DO something here, to try to BE something here. Yes, there are all sorts of answers, yes I know, help is everywhere, mentors are avaiable, explanations abound, Forums are here. Yet, there they are, intrepid at the Fishing spots. Or standing alone at a small out-of-the-way shopping spot. As untidy as this suggestion is, $L helps newbies. Their common question is, how do I get a job? Standing AFK, as a job for newbies, is simply not acceptable.

Walelu, ignore the negativities popping up here. There are real an practical things you can do without having to leave us, and they were mentioned above, but I can tell you I've seen that they work, and you will feel they are worth it. And for other such players reading this who have faced this stuff, let me reiterate what those actions are: 1) copy the chat log of the interaction and send it to the club owner or parcel owner(s) as suggested. They don't want that activity. And if they do, then they are no longer a place for you or any of use. Maybe we need a "Name and Shame" Forum. I know it's a pain to have to stop and copy sections of the chat log and create that notecard with your explanation and then find an owner our manager to send it to. But just take the attitude that you are doing them a favor, because they will want to know. They don't want that crap. It's easy for them to eject and block the creeps and they do it all the time. You are calmly helping them with that, and when it happens to you again you've already gained credence and just send over the name and boom... creep-b-poofed!... and again... boom! dissolve-0-creep!. You'll be Super Girl. 2) make sure your snippet of chat log is fair, meaning you show the WHOLE interaction, when they showed up and what was said by all, including you, and then send it off. Owners want to know the truth and can act more easily when they feel they are getting it. Then you just bpersonally block and ignore the clowns and go on with your life. It might actually be fun for you to play a little Whac-a-Creep! When you do this and work against them, they always lose in the end.

...the candles in the picture..

Oh, the candles of adoration! Flix his bic! ...I'm only lighting the candle! Shut up over there....

Wow, that was good advice from Cheetah. I was going to say, not to take it personally when people show up then leave. Many arriving at a club may be coming on a whim, not knowing you, or even that you were DJ'ing there. They might be checking the crowd to see if it's fun, and you are peripheral to that point. Just a notch above radio, until they decide to stay awhile and then they can key into what you're doing. Or, if it's not to their tastes, they scram. Nothing personal in all that. And I think a lot of people don't key-in to any DJ. Music is a brain slot. Not everyone's got one. And, SL players are way too random for you to expect to make predictions about. Just play your sets, do your best, but really, just have fun, since every set will be different and unpredictable. Your own fun is your payback. I suspect many of us have favorite DJs but that doesn't mean we make all their events. The key is the crowd, and the fun, and who we're with The DJ is not the key. But sometimes you might be. And those are your good nights. That's my take on it.

Wow, some rather drastic negative sh**t said in this thread. Just sayin...

Sets down my tea cup. Well now, it was a long way to finally get to say that Scylla's inspiration positively makes me want a little extra sugar. -- I endeavor to set the little porcelain thing on a tray without chipping it in some way, and too while trying to take my glance away, yet again from that hemline where she sits, beaming with her delicious imaginings, and too, that slight frame how it wiggles a bit with every flight of a hand serving to substantiate what comes from her glossed lips. Oh, that lovely hemline, how it does so lightly rise by the millimeter. -- Mmm hmmm… O, yes yes, I do agree Scylla! Whatev... err... uh.. ideas I mean.. yes, you've got it, I do believe, dear. -- Was I bit too reluctant to raise my eyes from the edge of those thighs, and now to that wondering blink in her eyes? I'll just lean back with a laconic Cheshire smile and pretend pondering the pedantry of long forgotten scholars. She'll think I'm confident that she can bend LL to her fashion. And perhaps she can. Hmmm, is that dress buttoned, snapped or zipped, I wonder.