ThorinII

I saw it too when I was Newbie Helper back then in '08 - but you know what? I've always been saying Good riddance whenever such willfully ignorant persons quit! If they were actually interested in SL, they would stop, listen and read the info given to them.

I rather think that nobody is responsible for the words and deeds of an a**hole except for that a**hole himself. And when person "X" (of either gender) dresses nicely - even sexy - to feel good about themselves, they're not responsible for anything another person "Y" does or says. The responsibility is solely at that other person "Y" who says or does things that hurt "X" one way or the other. As I said before, I've seen workers wolf-whistling even after Muslim women who were fully dressed in their usual all-covering "modest" clothes, including headscarf. Such kind of people don't mind what a woman wears, she will be seen by them as an object of their desire, an object to have and use, simply because she is a woman. They have absolutely no respect. And how they react when they see that someone, who they first thought to be a woman, is in fact male or TG - so much vitriol and hatred is in them, you would think they were raised in hell. Also, when I see my Turkish neighbor: he has no respect towards women at all, not even towards his wife. I made him respect me, after he attempted a physical attack during a heated discussion. He doesn't attempt that anymore. But that does not mean that he gives a flying f*** about what I say to him, especially when I tell him to treat his wife in a civilized manner. *shrugs* Once an a**hole, always an a**hole.

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Third_Party_Viewer_Directory/Black_Dragon

When I am angry about something, I leave the keyboard, go smoke a cigarette on my balcony and try to calm down. And only when I calmed down and sorted my thoughts a bit, I sit down at my desk again

So... Well, I think I've read the entire thread now. And as someone prone to "open mouth,insert foot" occasionally, I will only say this: It happens way too often that men (it's mostly men) do not only view women as objects of desire, they're also treating them that way. No matter what the women wear: I even heard building workers wolf-whistling after some Muslim women - who were really fully (modestly?) dressed, including headscarf. And of course I yelled at these idiots to stop that. Also when I still worked, I often heard bosses tell their secretaries off: "you're here to be pretty, not to be smart, so stfu" 🤬 Same thing here in SL: Some people treat any female avatar, and ESPECIALLY those with a visible collar, like ready and available objects to be had (or used) at whim. Also, I've often seen that female avatars have been treated as less competent than male avatars. Example: Several years ago, I witnessed that a newbie first asked a female newbie helper a question, ogled her, complimented her necklace (which happened to be a collar) and then went to a male newbie helper with exactly the same question, only to get exactly the same answer as before. So, from my point of view, respect to the person you see or speak to is not only NOT judging someone by their choice of clothing andeven worse, victim-blaming them, but rather to greet and treat them like someone of your own peer group. To help them when in need rather than abusing their vulnerability. And a lot more.

"Value Added Tax" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value-added_tax

I for one would always say "Oh, that dress costs L$ 250" -- and yes I do use "US-$" or USD and Euro (or, €) when talking about the RealLife currencies, too For me, "Lindens" are those with the Lastname Linden.

I saw that way too often back then when I was a newbie helper at a German Newbie Area... 😣

Sometimes. But in most cases of gamer-newbies, it doesn't.

To be honest, I also hate gachas. I don't even buy gacha items on the marketplace - not even when it's an item I'd like to have. But that's my own preference. There's a lot of people who love that gambling and reselling, and have made good business doing so. And yes, I also call it gambling, even though the Lindens say nothing against those gacha machines.

I just think SL has a lot more to offer than some stupid games or even stupider quests. If people don't know what to do in their spare time, then they're wrong in this virtual world anyway. With my first account, I was a newbie helper, and you won't believe how many uttered these stupid questions "What shall I do next?", "Where do I have to go now?", or even "What is there to do to gain other levels?" (No, I'm not kidding!😡) Some even treated us newbie helpers like some sort of NPC. That's why I think that this kind of people is absolutely wrong in-world and that it's no loss whenever one of them leaves and returns to their stupid and over-prized computer games. 😈

if *I* had a say at Linden Lab, ... the viewer UI would become similar to the "Phoenix Mode" on Firestorm. Similar enough to V1.x to please the oldbies, and modern enough to please the newbies, that UI skin is a genius solution by the FS devs. And as a side effect, the learning experience would be much easier than with the current UI of the official viewer. The JIRA would get the level of "user demand" rather than "possible suggestions" -- I mean, there would be an entire team only responsible for evaluating the JIRA and working to fix all issues that have been waiting on there for years. Any and all so-called "skill games" would be re-evaluated whether or not they'd rather fit into the "gambling game" category. Example: Slot machines, Greedy, even Gacha machines. No more "gamifying" of the UI or the virtual world in general. The money-pit Sansar would be dropped entirely, any and all staff and budget currently involved there would be redirected to fix and improve LL's main product, Second Life. There would be enough people employed to grant 24/7 live chat and support. Mirrors would be introduced. After it once (some years ago I think?) was shown that it was possible to create real-time mirrors in-world at one point, this should and would be introduced as a new - and welcome feature. An in-world tool to create an optimized mesh item out of a prim object would be developed and introduced. SL would be advertised as an outlet for creative people, as a family meeting place, as a place to learn and study. Back to "Your World, Your Imagination". It would be back to a list of Last Names as a necessary part at the creation of an account - not as an extra Premium perk to pay for, but as part of the account creation. Some of you might remember: There was a list of last names, then you could freely type your first name, (or the other way around), then you could sign in. That said: For all those with the placeholder "Resident", there would be a one-time possibility to choose a last name from another, longer list. Also, a special Teen Grid would be created and re-introduced, with the Main Grid rated 18+ -- and with the necessity to certify one's age in order to get access to Adult-rated regions. any new Viewer UI or functionality development would be assessed by people who actually spend much time in-world, who use the viewer on a daily base. The Mentor program would be introduced, just better than before. And there would be discounts for Community Gateways and educational regions again. Landlords would get less discounts than they get now. In my opinion, any person who can afford to buy and keep 20+ regions, can afford them at full price too, they don't need any quantity discount at all The possibility to pay directly from the bank account via cash transfer or debit, instead of being forced to use Paypal, Skrill or a credit card would be re-introduced. More possibilities to buy L$ = more revenue.

To question #1, the answer is simple: SL is an open virtual world, created by its residents. But, given the endless possibilities which SL has as a user-generated virtual world, the question about marketing is not as easily answered as the first one. Though I think it's not as difficult as LL thinks: They should just market SL so that they reach all the creative people in the world: folks with Blender or Maya expertise, folks who like to create and/or play roleplay games, singers and other entertainers, authors, theater folks, people who like to fiddle with Prims and stuff, who like to create textures or try to script; they also should market it so that they reach families whose members live all over the world (as "The Place" to meet everyone), and also that they reach universities, colleges, and high schools, NGO's and other non-profit organizations -- not companies or other for-profit institutions -- then the desired clientele should be quite covered. 😎 And about retaining new users: The learning curve (when using a viewer with a V1.x-like UI ) is by far not as steep as some here think. In my opinion, the most crucial part of learning the ins and outs of the viewer is the current, cluttering and counterintuitive UI of the current viewer. But sorry, those who come inworld and expect some sort of game, some quest or some levels to achieve, or anyone telling them what to do next - these people can, in my opinion, leave at once and uninstall the viewer, and install some of their games instead. Their leave is no loss.

To be honest, I'm glad there are not so many actual games in-world. And not so many quests. If you want to play MMO's or quests, install one of the million actual *games* on your computer and play there, but don't use SL for it. I'd even ban gambling games like the various slot machines, like Greedy, and other so-called "skill games" if *I* had a say -- which would result in even fewer games in-world.

Actually, I prefer walking by using the arrow keys. That's much, much more intuitive than WASD (or any other key combination) anyway. Letters are for writing, not for moving. That's why I think it's a good thing to keep the arrows as default, and that counter-intuitive WASD system as an option hidden somewhere in the prefs. Maybe that was the reason for the fiasco with the V2.xUI: Obviously, LL hired GAME devs to create this abomination, instead of people who have actually been inworld for hours in a row on a daily base, people who knew their ways through SL. In my opinion, LL doesn't need to "mimic more modern games", as SL is *not* a game per se, and thus, doesn't have to compete with games UI-wise. That's why any backlash they would get while making SL look more game-like would be more than justified.

I don't know... When I started SL with my first account in '08, I had no experience with 3D computer games at all - and I got the gist of the viewer within 10, 15 minutes. But that was with viewer 1.x; plus there was a more fun and in-depth learning experience on that starter island back then in early '08. However: Since the introduction of Viewer V2.x (and its successors until now which have had UI's just as ugly and cluttering), I've always prefered a viewer with the V1.x UI (for example the Singularity Viewer, the Cool VL Viewer, or the Phoenix Viewer back then when it still existed). Even on Firestorm, I use the "Phoenix Mode" (aka "Legacy") because it resembles the UI of V1.x somewhat. Also, the LL Viewer does not only have a UI which I just can't stand, it also lacks features I learned to love in other viewers: RLV(a) as the main thing I don't want to miss, at all; then the legacy profiles, the avatar UUID and online status showing in the profile, saving login credentials of multiple accounts the inventory features, the search for viewer prefs, and so on.

On my Linux machine, I run Catznip and others via PlayOnLinux (which uses WINE iirc).

I don't know... since I switched to SuSE Linux 7.1 in July 2001, I've only used Windows to stay up-to-date with this OS. But I've never said to others: "Remove Windows from your computer and install Linux instead", or preached Linux otherwise. That said, I have shown friends some programs that I knew from Linux. Software like GIMP or OpenOffice (later LibreOffice), Blender or the educational software GCompris. Those who tried these programs were excited and soon preferred them over the more costly Windows alternatives.

I know that most people here have Windows on their machine. However, I want to see what other OS you're running most of the time. I, for example, run mostly Linux: I have Kubuntu 19.04 and OpenSUSE Tumbleweed (and Windows 10) on multiboot, running OpenSUSE -- on KDE -- most of the time. The window design is called SteamPunk, and that nifty clock in the middle of the screen is called TimeKeeper. 😎

There still is supposed to be the (text-only) client MetaChat AppStore link: Metachat

Since I decided to live out my submissive side yesterday and submitted to a person I fully trust, I've been locked into a CC Drone Suit, just like my own subs: (I'm the Drone in black & red)

I have absolutely no experience with the SpaceNavigator or other kinds of 3D input devices. But, as a writer, I often have wrist issues, to the point that I have to take painkillers every once in a while -- even though I've been using a Vertical Mouse for quite a few years now. But, that comes with daily computer usage of more than 8hrs a day in total, every day throughout each year. It's called "writer's disease" for a reason. However, after using a background app called RSIBreak for some months a dozen years ago (on Windows, there's RSIGuard and others, with similar functions) I got used to taking a short break from the keyboard about every 45 to 50 minutes, in which I roll my wrists, flex my hands, do some practice. Every 3 breaks or so, I go offline entirely to just lay down a bit, then do chores, run errands, go out for a walk, or do other offline-stuff. 😎 Also, I bought wrist bandages recently which I regularly wear, so my wrists get some relief while I'm at the keyboard.

https://status.secondlifegrid.net/

The only site you ought to download the Cool VL Viewer is the official website of the Cool VL Viewer. Likewise, you ought to download *any* viewer only from the official websites and sources their creators have set up.