[second life ps4 work in progress]

Agreed cheesecurd. I assumed immediately that SL would not translate to mobile; the load would be far too intense for most devices. The few handheld devices that could handle the load are gaming devices, so we're back to scrub and rebuild. 

We've enjoyed SL for sixteen years, and I'm hoping that the pc industry allows us to continue to do so for another sixteen. Makes me wonder what the #SL20B, #SL25B, and #SL30B events will look like, and on what devices we will experience them.

[second life ps4 work in progress]

On 2/16/2016 at 11:10 AM, Bree Giffen said:

If only this would be one of LL's official projects. It's a shame but I think SL's content would keep it from ever being officially put on the PlayStation network.

I recognize that this is a genuine obstacle. It wasn't as big a problem in 2003, but if you were to take the sexual content out of SL now you'd wipe away a huge chunk of the user base too. Sony is strict about sexual content, so PlayStation's parental controls may not be enough to convince them to allow it. Several options... SL could allow only General, or General and Moderate content to port across to a PS platform (but if SL vendors assign those keywords, then they would have the power to bring down SL on PS). Or... SL could create new continents, on new servers, with strictly General material, for PS, porting over just a few hundred carefully selected sims to make the first experiences interesting. That's likely the way to go.

[second life ps4 work in progress]

Hey Cheesecurd, thanks for the reminder of the word "necrobump." :-) I bring this up because - unless we're already gamers - SL is more demanding of our pcs than most other tasks. This is especially true as pc sales decline while people use mobile devices for usual distractions like texting, browsing, music streaming, and email. What it boils down to is that how people interact with tech has evolved in the RL, pc sales are declining, but SL is still focused only on desktop software even as pc sales slide. This isn't new, it's been happening for years, and it's death knocking at the door. I love SL, want it to thrive, and even as an outsider recognize that to ensure its survival SL has to make itself available in new ways to an evolving audience.  Harsh reality? Unpopular opinion?

[second life ps4 work in progress]

I'll reply to this old topic too. I'd LOVE to see a PlayStation version of SL. A PS has enormous processing power compared to most home computers, so paired with an ethernet connection would mean less - maybe even zero - SL lag time, even with quality set highest. Everything could render quickly. Parties, dances, and other crowded events would no longer crash your pc. The photos you could take in SL would be amazing. From a builder perspective, imagine the objects and environments you could create for PS knowing that lag isn't a factor for those residents.

Although PS has internet connectivity, it controls what programs can be downloaded (similarly to iPhone and the app store). This means that until Second Life viewer, Firestorm, Kokua, or your viewer of choice appear in the PS store they cannot be downloaded onto a PS4. An external keyboard can be plugged in for search, shopping, etc - so much cheaper and easier than a controller. And yeah, it would open up SL to an enormous worldwide market of tens of millions. The alternative of course is that I could spend several thousand dollars on a gaming pc. But why do that, when for $399 I can get a PS4 with 8-core processor and 1.84 TFLOPS GPU.

My suspicion is that Linden Labs is a highly dedicated team but a very small one. They have enough to deal with already just building homes, and little time for crazy ideas like this. But yeah, I'd love to see an SL client on PS too. Who knows? Maybe that'll be a surprise on the PS5 this time next year. Fingers crossed...

[Gachas, Inworld and Marketplace]

Aloha. One more thing to add: I have learned that when gachas are bought inworld from a vending machine that it is not possible to right-click > take as mentioned above. When purchasing from a vending machine, the item *should* appear in your inventory.

So much to learn about these things! 🙂

[Gachas, Inworld and Marketplace]

Thanks for your wise words everybody. I understand now that after purchase, gachas are not delivered to the buyer like other objects. Instead they must be right-clicked and taken. Also, that if this step is missed, the gacha should later appear in the buyer's lost and found (similarly to items left at a sandbox), but only after logging out and back in.

The seller in this case did reply to my IM overnight, was very friendly, and even provided a free identical item. She added that I should return the original item should it be found, thus displaying a nice level of trust.

This process has reassured me somewhat about buying gachas; after all, the problem in this case was my own lack of knowledge. But enough potential abuses remain that I'll have to be very tempted by a gacha before purchasing one again.

Here I am with my first gacha hanging in my home :-)

[Gachas, Inworld and Marketplace]

Gachas seem to be popular items, but I see a lot of sellers on Marketplace marking gachas with huge, sometimes surly disclaimers. Most are along the lines of "buy at your own risk, zero refunds, zero redeliveries." That doesn't sound legit, and I avoided gachas... until tonight. I was in a friendly sim, saw an interesting gacha item for just L30, and took a gamble.

Nothing was delivered. I wasn't surprised.

I sent a friendly IM to the seller (there were numerous copies of this item available) and asked when delivery would be fixed. Before a reply came, SL sent an automated message:

"Your object has been returned to your inventory Lost and Found folder by <sim> due to parcel auto return."

Strange, I had never received the item so could not have lost it. This made me wonder - when buying a gacha inworld should I right-click > take it? Maybe so.

In any case, I opened Inventory, went to my Lost And Found, and the gacha item was... not there. I sent back to the sim where I purchased the gacha, right-clicked on each identical item in the seller's collection, but none indicated "take."

Maybe the system returned it to a different folder, or the object was titled something unusual. So I searched my inventory for keywords, parts of the object's name, and other "close" words. No match. I then re-sorted my inventory by "Most Recent," but still no luck.

The object in question was a Japanese fan with an floral design to hang on the wall, so wouldn't have been blocked by a G/M/A content filter along the way.

Maybe the SL Lost And Found process copies the item, deletes what was found, and sends the copy to the owner. If so, maybe this "copy and paste" process wouldn't work for gachas (nor for any other "no copy" items.

Long story short, this made me sympathize with residents who have complained of not receiving gachas. I also had to sympathize with the gacha sellers, because the system itself did not send the item to my Lost And Found folder as it had indicated. I understand that gachas may be a big part of SL economy, but if these items continue to cause problems for residents, sellers, and likely for SL then that part of the economy is making SL sick. I'm glad that some people have a good time with gachas, but given how many feel ripped off by them I'm surprised that SL allows the problem to continue.

Maybe there's no need to get rid of gachas, just to change them. Could the permissions be modified by the original gacha builder so that they are sold with C/M/T options? This or other alterations might interfere with the resale trade, which it seems is the root of the problem - not the gacha, but some of the many hands they pass through as they are sold and resold. Too many dealers taking a cut, until finally the buyer gets nothing...

Lesson learned: no more gachas for me. And because gachas in Marketplace aren't always labeled as such, from now on I'll be buying only items with "copy" permission.

Mahalo / thanks for listening to me vent.

 

[How to stream music?]

Thanks for the wonderfully clear direction KarenMichelle! I've finally been able to add new stations this way, but am unable to remove broken or unwanted ones... for some reason the "-" button doesn't remove them. That's a minor worry though, and maybe this functionality has been fixed in the newer homes (I'm in a Meadowbrook).

[New Premium, New Home]

Saw the new homes at the SL16B celebration. The build quality looked good, but the styles didn't feel like home. It's all up to everyone's individual taste, and I'm glad Lindens and moles are making something for everyone, but I had to go old skool for now and will wait for something better to come along. 

[Differences between the old and new linden home areas]

I love the Japanese style homes in Shareta Osumai and opted for one there today. I like it a lot, but will say that the neighborhood feels post-apocalyptic. Where are all the humans? In some ways that's wonderful, but it does feel cold.

[New Premium, New Home]

Mahalo everyone. I upgraded, clicked "reload" on house selection for a few minutes, then as several have suggested I settled on an older style knowing I can redecorate and change the style whenever I like. I have my new home decorated only with freebies so I can abandon at a moment's notice. Looks like I'm in the same boat as everyone else now :-)

[New Premium, New Home]

Thank you!

[New Premium, New Home]

Aloha,

I was about to click "upgrade membership" tonight but saw that the only homes available are styles I have no interest in: traditional, houseboat, or camper. Sounds like none of the Japanese style ones are left, and there's no way to choose a beachfront parcel. Then some posts I saw said that no new homes at all are available, all are sold out. It sounds like upgrading membership now will result in waiting for an unknown period of time until more new homes, of an unknown style, on an unknown parcel, become available. It's something like waiting for a property developer to complete a new neighborhood during a housing crisis, because there's no resale market, only a rental market. Am I reading this right? Without the availability of a brand new home I want, is there any reason to upgrade membership? Or should I wait until what looks like an SL housing crisis ends and there is better availability and better choice? I'm at a loss - maybe I'm making too many comparisons to buying a home in RL. 

Mahalo (thanks) for any advice.

/\ protect MaunaKea