Medhue Simoni

Mirika Drasilova wrote: The new VR does interest me however i do not have the finacial resources to create and run a region in both, woul dhave to check out the pricing schema when it emerges, the new VR might be totally different in its intentions, interactions and what you can offer. I'm mildly interested in it. I do think it is overhyped. There will definitely be a niche market for it, but I don't see the millions they talk about. Even, I think HF, is a bit out there for the public, especially the tech, which only coders will even think to be a part of. I think LL has it right. Do something like SL, with all new techniques, and go from there. Facial expression directly from a kinect camers should actually be easy. That would be a cool feature for the New World. LL could easily make a system for creators to make morphs on the avatar's faces to match the expressions for the system. Most people do own a kinect, and the set up is no different than plugging in your mic to use voice. The user might have to go thru a system to make faces so the system know what faces they are making.

Pamela Galli wrote: Well I have been thinking about that. Of course so will millions of others who will skip the actual creation part. At this point I have no idea what will happen to my little handmade 3d stuff business, other than that it will not be what it has been. I understand your concerns about those that try to cheat the process. I just see it as they are small potatoes. We run a business. We take care of our customers. We know exactly how to create the products, and the issues it may have. Those cheats do not do nor know all this. They are a blip on the screen. Besides, there are many more worlds coming, and who knows what those opportunities will bring. None of these cheats will get a $50k job supplying furniture to some virtual business or game. I'm still get work from on going games that are continuously evolving. They know they have access to an animator that knows platforms like Unity3D, and look for ways to give me more work, as they know it all makes the game better. LL has to put out a product that uses all the features out there. There is a basic standard in the industry now. Pretty much all the worlds that get created today are going to use that standard. The best part, is that we don't have to abandon SL at all, cause it is all easily convertible for us. The future looks bright for all of us, if we can keep it together.

Like many, my first real 3D products started in 2007, in SL. Before that tho, It was the original Far Cry game, which came with a CryEngine Editor, that really got me interested in 3D. I basically read the whole CryEngine manual and created a number of MODs, and a completely new game with it, with elaborate cut scenes. When I found SL, animation seemed the best fit for me. So, I started with most animation programs. I also got a copy of 3DS Max 8, and learned how to do some basic modeling and animation. I've tried just about every animation program out there. When SL started working on mesh, I knew it was time to learn all the ins and outs in Max. I had been watching Blender development for a very long time tho. 3 years ago, I started getting contracts to do work outside of SL, and I started selling products on many different platforms. I also wanted to learn more about 3D video production, as I saw the market opening up with Blender progressing the way it has. While doing many of the contract, 1 of the biggest issues that I saw working with all these people from around the world, is that we all used something different, for a number of reasons, but almost no1 used the latest version of anything. Maybe this is just how the freelance market is. 2 years ago, I had decided that I was either going to get Maya, or learn Blender. I got the trial version of Maya, and put my head down. I hated it, with a passion. Everything about it. Plus, you also need Motion Builder if you are going to do serious animation. So, Blender it was. I love Blender. It fricken ROCKS. In just about every way possible. Yes, it is different, but once you learn, it all become second nature. Almost everything is in 1 program, or you can easily find an addon. It can handle almost any work related to 3D, meaning game stuff, video stuff, special effects. No need to create any special effects in during video production, cause you can do it in the 3D scene and it will be more realistic. The animation system is awesome and everything is there. The customization of the UI makes it so you can have all the windows you need for any purpose. I really could go on and on about all the features like, cell fracturing, water and fire physics, and so on. The best part tho, that totally sells me on Blender, is that all the creators and developers on your team can all be using the exact same programs, and easily trade blend files and the content within them. It's almost ridiculous. A modeler can just had in a blend file that contain every asset, and every1 can pull what they need from it. The animators just hand in a blend file with all the animation in it, and every1 else can just pull out the animations they need and drop then into the scenes. It's almost nutty how easy it is. Blender is the ultimate 3D software in my opinions, and a vast amount of new 3D studios are popping up around the world because of Blender. I truly think Blender is the future of 3D, and will soon put a serious dent into the profits of Autodesk.

All I can say, is that I use Avastar. If you are going to make clothing it is worth every penny to get the addon for Blender.

Imagine this Pam. Imagine that you only need to make a product once, and that same product could be sold in the New World, Unity3d, Facebook's Oculus world, Yahoo's uncoming world, and SL with just a little converting of animations. This will save you time, and now that 1 product will be sold everywhere. This is what could be the result of creating for this New World.

Mirika Drasilova wrote: As a part owner of a region offering free transfer or free set up of a region to existing region owners in the new SL2 would be not only good PR but would help retain region owners in the old sl who want use the new version and carry on offering what they were to the new audience . I do not believe LL can make SL2. Whatever they do make, can't replace SL. By assuming that it will replace SL, you are diminishing the value of what you have done in SL. I don't think anyone can make anything that could replace SL. It's too complex. It covers far too many aspects. It is the REAL SL.

Ceka Cianci wrote: I'm curious,Is this actually a new SL or is it another virtual world/another product of linden lab's? Well, I just made a long and, I think, thought out scenerio of why SL can not be replicated. Not by LL, and certainly not by anyone else. If LL truely caters to creators, then I would never expect it to be anything like SL, and why would I want it to be? Don't get me wrong. I love SL really for what It is. I have met thousands and thousands of people doing anything you can imagine in SL. Is it really reasonably possible to satisfy all of them? They will be miserable, some of them. I want 2 worlds. And I want to be part of both of them. I want to see how both can flourish in their own way, in their own directions. You can't replace SL. Here is the long version: http://community.secondlife.com/t5/General-Discussion-Forum/Linden-Lab-is-building-a-NEW-virtual-world/m-p/2761982#M186562

arton Rotaru wrote: Certainly! It could be fun and profitable, and would be different in many ways than good old SL. And yes, we pretty much know what the answer of alot of the neat things we want will be: "It's on the list, but not in initial release. ":matte-motes-big-grin: Note to LL: Take a close look at how Unity3D does content. Don't copy, cause their interior tools are a bit of a mess to me, but they really opened up the FBX format, only things I can't seem to do is get animations with blend shape morphs animated too, but I can do that inside Unity.

arton Rotaru wrote: Yeah, putting the puzzle together piece by piece, it looks more like the new platform is what Rod Humble had in mind focusing more on game like experiences. This is where Desura comes into play as well. Instead of having indie developers making all their games as an individual platform, they could develop the games on one giant playground. I am not against that. It might be very fun, and profitable. Well, as long as I get the tools. We keep talking about them, but it's not really a debatable things. We either get all the universal tools that all games are using now, or we do not. I don't see how you can leave any out and say it is better. I'm speaking from the view of content/avatars.

Qie Niangao wrote: As an individual creator you may prefer that, and I see some value in the position, but it's up to LL what does and doesn't port over automatically, and frankly, they'd be fools to do anything but port everything they can, even the old laggy ugly stuff. There's a great deal of whining and moaning about how SL isn't as shiny as the Next New Video Game, but it doesn't matter: LL's one big competitive differentiator is a decade's worth of user generated content. That content, regardless of quality, will determine the fate of SL2. It's true that, animations, avatar system-texture fashion, and scripts are three areas where ported content is likely to be unsatisfactory at best. Then there's mesh, and if we make an honest assessment, the vast majority of SL mesh currently is simply junk: ultra-high-vertex-count rips from games nobody ever cared about. And sculpts are (not always, but usually) very inefficient with their use of vertices, too. So, individually, any one piece of content or any one creator's content would probably be best left behind. But taken as a whole, we and LL will benefit from having as much as practical of it available right away when BetterWorld opens. I think, without it, the chances of BetterWorld ever making it out of beta are greatly reduced. (And that would not improve prospects of SL Classic surviving any longer.) Don't get me wrong, I understand why so many think that, porting as much over as possible, is good. IMHO, this is why SL will die, because people think/want Betterworld to be SL, when it will not be. The chances that the new world will be, even remotely, like current SL, I think is very much a HUGELY misguided perception. This is a testament to SL, not a put down. I personally think SL is far too complex for LL to even come close to replicating in any way. I think this Betterworld, will be completely and totally different. Of course, some things, depending on what is possible, will be very much like SL, especially since many of the same people will be there. I think it is almost sad that so many think it is even possible to replace SL. Maybe they do not value SL as much as I do. The day the REAL SL ends, will be a day I will be deeply hurt. IT CAN'T SIMPLY BE REPLACED! By demanding that SL content work in the new world, you are diminishing it's value in the REAL SL. As if anyworld will do, just give me my content. Every bit of talk that goes on and on about porting stuff over, is really a discussion about abandoning the REAL SL. I do not want to leave. I'm proud of what I've done here. There is no reason at all that SL need to decline in any way. LL said they will keep it open as long as it is viable, and they would be obviously dumb not to. So, it is here, as long as we want it to be. If your business model was viable 2 weeks ago, then it is still viable today. A new world doesn't really affect that, unless you want that to happen. It's about what you want. As a creator, I will always have to spend the most time creating for whatever platform is making me the most profits. I would be neglecting my responsibilities as a father, employer, and business owner to not run my business in the smartest way. That said, SL does have more universal 3D content now. This means that, no matter what I make for any other world that I ever create for, including HF, I can also bring it into SL. Why the F not? It's easy. Even animation. With the current tools today, conversion over for me is an afternoon. Maybe a whole day to convert, and then assemble in SL, and I'm talking about animation sets that cover every movement for a character. 100s of animation in the set. SL will very much still go on, and that says alot that it has come this far, and be compatible with the external tools being used today. Allow me to briefly put forth a scenario that I see happening. LL announces beta for new world, open only to creators. Those creators go in, and if they are worth anything, they will pretty much say LL did it all wrong, lol. Seriously tho, it will have major issues that only creators will find. LL realises that they will never meet their release goal, and they pull back. 1 year later, new world is still in mid beta, and still lacking anything even close to seeming like the REAL SL. We all see the potential tho, and keep banging our heads against it. What comes out in the end, will likely be a creators paradise, or I very much hope so. What it will not be, is the real SL. And many real, actual, users, and lovers, of the REAL SL, will realise what I am saying here. The REAL SL, gets a much wanted/needed tier reduction, because LL is profitable in both worlds. SL grows and flourishes because of this. SL changes, thanks too the new world. Now, SL is more centered around community, groups, events, who knows how it will change, as it will be the people here that changes it. It will become what they want it to be. The people in the new world will make it what they want it to be. Creators, will be active it what ever worlds they can add value to, or the 1's they just simply prefer. EVERYONE WINS!

LaskyaClaren wrote: Medhue Simoni wrote: There is a big difference between a willing and unwilling slave. Ok, maybe we should stop right here. A "willing" vs. an "unwillilng" slave? For real? slave, n.1 (and adj.) Pronunciation: /sleɪv/ 1.a. One who is the property of, and entirely subject to, another person, whether by capture, purchase, or birth; a servant completely divested of freedom and personal rights. In what part of that definition (from the OED) do you see any suggestion of "will" on the part of the slave? However, in the interest of staying on topic, we'll pass over your will-ful distortion of the English language without further comment. ;-) Medhue Simoni wrote: Actually, how it should work is that content creators that mistakenly thinks something can be ported over, should iladvisedly tells their customers, something they don't know will be true. Every1 else, that is more wise about the whole subject, should not say a thing until they know for sure. From my standpoint, all of this talk is ridiculous. Why? Because I know that without a crapload of work, nothing in SL can be ported over. Mesh is the best bet that can be ported over easily. Beyond that, it doesn't make any sense at all. That being the case, LL shouldn't even port over meshes, as we can all do that ourselves. It's more than likely that we'll want to change some aspect of that mesh to better fit the new world. As for customers that have purchased full perm content, most lisenses are only for that platform, and any new content, will not be the same content as what was sold in SL. The merchant has no obligation to transfer that license to the new SL. That being said, there might be cases where the creator decides it is favorable to extend the license. This is completely up to the creator. As a creator, I do not want, nor do I need any content to be ported over from the old SL. It just won't hold water in the new world. I would prefer that LL not spend even 1 minute considering porting anything over, as this will hamper development of the new grid. I would prefer that we have 2 worlds, not 1 world with 2 grids. That is the only way that both world can stably function. I would rather both world compete against each other, and let the best plaform win. Otherwise, it may surprise you to hear that I agree pretty much fully with everything you say here. :-) By adding a word, like willing, it changes the meaning, hence why we use words. Yes, to be fair, I implied the willing part, but I thought that was a reasonable assumption. My annoyance has to do with speculating about things that can not be assumed, and then advising creators on those false assumptions. The worst thing a creator could do, at this point, is to tell customers something they do not know to be true. That could actually be very unethical, not the other way around.

LaskyaClaren wrote: Qie Niangao wrote: Medhue Simoni wrote: LaskyaClaren wrote: But I agree completely with Qie that anyone who is selling content that could be ported over to the new VW and isn't informing their customers that they don't plan to permit that happening is, at the very least, being deeply unethical. Consumers (and this includes other creators buying components for their own creations) deserve full transparency on this issue; anything else would represent underhanded behaviour on the part of the seller, to put it mildly. Excuse me! Unethical! Are creators in SL somehow slaves to the public? We have no say in the matter? Or we are Unethical? Maybe, just maybe, we are the only 1's actually thinking here. We don't even know what will be compatible, for sure. Just because LL creates a new world, creators are now obligated to sell there? Again, or we are Unethical? We know almost nothing about this new world, yet creators are being expected to take a stand 1 way or the other. It's nonsense. Despite the fact that SL is going nowhere, irrational people are going to try and make creators feel guilty if they don't waste their time in a new world. The creators no longer have any choices now? We are all now slaves to the public, because we made the mistake of trying to create good products in the original SL? I think people thinking this way might want to check their own ethics before they go demonizing others. The point I was trying to make was a bit more subtle than that. It was all about a particular subclass of creators who, by virtue of geographic accident, might be able to renege on their original TOS commitments and deny customers use of what they bought, whereas all other creators would still be bound by the licenses they granted by agreeing to the ToS. Somewhere in one of these many threads, I mentioned that I actually see how some creators might reasonably want to replace content in SL2, taking advantage of the new platform's technical advantages (and preserving their reputations, competitive standing, etc). So I'm not sure that all creators content should be forcibly ported to the new platform. I am quite sure, however, that creators from certain particular nations should not get a special exemption from terms to which they agreed and under which their content was licensed to customers. Yep, just so. I should have been clearer that I don't mean to suggest that creators should be forced to permit their creations to be ported over. I actually don't think they should. But they do need to be upfront about their intentions in this regard -- at least, once we are clearer on what actually will be transferable from one VW to the other. There is a big difference between a willing and unwilling slave. Actually, how it should work is that content creators that mistakenly thinks something can be ported over, should iladvisedly tells their customers, something they don't know will be true. Every1 else, that is more wise about the whole subject, should not say a thing until they know for sure. From my standpoint, all of this talk is ridiculous. Why? Because I know that without a crapload of work, nothing in SL can be ported over. Mesh is the best bet that can be ported over easily. Beyond that, it doesn't make any sense at all. That being the case, LL shouldn't even port over meshes, as we can all do that ourselves. It's more than likely that we'll want to change some aspect of that mesh to better fit the new world. As for customers that have purchased full perm content, most lisenses are only for that platform, and any new content, will not be the same content as what was sold in SL. The merchant has no obligation to transfer that license to the new SL. That being said, there might be cases where the creator decides it is favorable to extend the license. This is completely up to the creator. As a creator, I do not want, nor do I need any content to be ported over from the old SL. It just won't hold water in the new world. I would prefer that LL not spend even 1 minute considering porting anything over, as this will hamper development of the new grid. I would prefer that we have 2 worlds, not 1 world with 2 grids. That is the only way that both worlds can stably function. I would rather both worlds compete against each other, and let the best plaform win. Even better, for both LL an residents, is for both platforms to win, and go on for many more years.

Zena Zemlja wrote: Gavin Hird wrote: Zena Zemlja wrote: I have to agree with you on this. Not everyone has the last new high tech computer. Making a new high tech world will not make them buy one. They simply will not be able to afford it. This is not about developing high tech, but moving into the mobile space where all the action and big revenue are these days. Whatever you call it, the point is that not everyone now using sl will have a computer compatible to go there. This is a completely false assumption. It would actually be more accurate to say that every1 that can run SL right now, will also be able to run the new SL. There is nothing at all about any new SL that would push any1 to not be able to use it. If anything, the new SL should be less taxing on your PC. Of course, there will be a few exceptions. Heck, I have 2 main pcs, and I don't even use my beast PC to work in SL, I just use my old PC. That same PC also runs Watch Dogs, at Ultra, on a Nvidia 650 TI card. I keep my beast PC open from much more complex tasks.

LaskyaClaren wrote: But I agree completely with Qie that anyone who is selling content that could be ported over to the new VW and isn't informing their customers that they don't plan to permit that happening is, at the very least, being deeply unethical. Consumers (and this includes other creators buying components for their own creations) deserve full transparency on this issue; anything else would represent underhanded behaviour on the part of the seller, to put it mildly. Excuse me! Unethical! Are creators in SL somehow slaves to the public? We have no say in the matter? Or we are Unethical? Maybe, just maybe, we are the only 1's actually thinking here. We don't even know what will be compatible, for sure. Just because LL creates a new world, creators are now obligated to sell there? Again, or we are Unethical? We know almost nothing about this new world, yet creators are being expected to take a stand 1 way or the other. It's nonsense. Despite the fact that SL is going nowhere, irrational people are going to try and make creators feel guilty if they don't waste their time in a new world. The creators no longer have any choices now? We are all now slaves to the public, because we made the mistake of trying to create good products in the original SL? I think people thinking this way might want to check their own ethics before they go demonizing others.

Ebbe Linden wrote: Teager wrote: Ebbe, I believe all that I, and several other creators in this thread, want to convey to you and the SL2 dev team is that we need as much backwards compatibility as we can possibly get between the two grids... because, for us, not switching is not an option. If we don't move forward to the new grid, we divide our income in half. Even when we do switch, we as creators will be slowed by having to format our products for two different worlds. We won't be able to put out items as quickly as we could. My avatar projects require a detailed rigged mesh, dozens of textures, 100+ animations, sounds, scripts, HUD designs, addons, accessories, and third-party creator tools to be made, as well as extensive bug testing. Each of my avatars takes me an average of 10 months to complete (working full time, because SL is my full time job). By the time I complete my next avatar, SL2 will be in beta. By the time I've finished the one after that, SL2 may be approaching its launch date. Will those 20 months of work still be worthwhile when SL2 launches? Thanks. That's definitely our goal and we'll make it easier than competitors will. We also don't want to compromise on how good it can be because of it. Balancing act. After some deep thinking about what compatibility will actually mean, in reality, I started to think that backward compatibility might be completely convoluted. Please, take a long look at what the reality of asking for this means. First, it can't actually happen, without converting EVERYTHING over. That means scripts too. If creator thinks they can just rewrite their code and just put out the product again, I would assume right away that they are wasting time coding something to work the old way, when there could be infinitely better ways to do it. Is the animation system going to work exactly like it does in SL? I seriously doubt it, and maybe it should not. We also need morphs, which also need to sync or be a part of the animation system. Using what we have in SL is not going to keep s creator competitive at all compared to what is possible. With skeletons, why use the old SL skeleton, which a creator likely contorted it to almost work right, when they could have fingers, wings, a tail, or whatever the heck you want, all animated perfectly. I make avatars also, although most of my sales come from animations. I don't see, even if someone did work on their avatar for 10 months, how that avatar is going to compete with what is possible, with animated faces and all. Heck, I have a Bruce Lee like avatar in mind that I plan on weighting his nunchakus to a floating set of bones. He'll be able to whip those chucks around, switch hands, and all kinds of tricks that could never be done without a custome skeleton. I can't wait to record the mocaps. I'll also point out, that I'll be able to sell that same exact avatar to the Unity3D game developers, so LL is saving me time if they do this right. My point is, IMHO, all this energy spent on backward campatibility is energy misspent, for both LL coders, and SL creators. That energy could be much better concentrated on making the best world possible. As a full time creator and merchant, I want as many worlds as possible to sell in. BRING THEM ALL ON!!!! Don't hold back, AT ALL!! Give me more! I'll choose the best 1's to create in. I would much rather have SL live on for another 10 years, and sell in LL's new world with all new and different products. The way I look at it, the 2 worlds being different, even if mainly in content, ensures that both worlds move forward on their own merit. I already sell products across 5 platforms. A few more, especially all brand new and shiny, only makes my mouth water more. Embrace change! Don't let fear keep true change from happening!

Vivienne Schell wrote: "Well, it has already been pointed out why 100% backward compatibility is not possible at all" I cannot see the word "impossible" in any of the official Linden postings. All they said so far is that they will not restrict themselves by thoughts on backwards compatibility at THIS POINT. And the number was not "impossible", but "not 100 %". They should waste no further time and move the numbers to a point of customer acceptance now, my suggestion is 97 percent, or better 96.9 (Sells better). Their talent for self-creating cutting crisis is as astonishing as their talent for managing the crisis. Exciting to watch! They have already stated that script will be completely different. Considering that, easily, more than half the products on the marketplace have scripts, none of which will work. What reason would there be to port over things that don't work? Imagine being a merchant in this new world and the opening day you get thousands of emails saying everything doesn't work. I've dealt with different migrations before, and usually it is more time to correct the problems than to just redo it. If some1 doesn't understand 3D creation, then they won't understand how bad it would be to make things backward compatible. You are basically asking LL to write the code twice, and the likely results will not be innovation, but an even bigger mess than what we have right now. You are asking LL to not work on making a better world, with better tools, but instead to spend their time making sure that technology from a decade ago still works. What's the point of making this new world if they can't give us all the tools? Do you even understand what creators need? The complexity is vast, yet you want it even more complex, ensuring that we get crap in the end.

Drake1 Nightfire wrote: ENOUGH!!! You both have different opinions, we get it. Stop arguing about it. and change the damn title of your posts so it matches the OPs. I get confused seeing different titles pop for the same thread in my Emails. Sorry, I was the 1 who dropped in a different title. I was hoping that if some1 didn't want to read about that topic then they could skip posts under that title. This thread has covered quite a bit.

Vivienne Schell wrote: Medhue, there is only one valid idea to keep SL 1 going until SL2 is up without a major loss of customers and content, and that´s 100 percent backwards compatibility of customer assets. As long as this is not announced, SL1 is a lame duck and SL2 will be DOA due to a substantial lack of instantly available content. Another way would be to withdraw all the "greater" "better", "new" propaganda by announcing just another tablet/smartphone app without any potential to replace SL1. Anything else is doomed to fail. It´s as if your beloved Blender heinis would announce Blender 3 tomorrow, where you could not even use a simple Blender 2.7 cube. Hilarious. Well, it has already been pointed out why 100% backward compatibility is not possible at all. Techinically and financially, it would not be smart at all. Legally, it also is not possible, or I should say that LL will have problems legally if they try it. They would have to only port over products from merchants that agreed to their TOS. What you are stating is your opinion, and I have no idea what experience you have that could give you even the slightest amount of credibility. I would argue, from my own experience, that the exact opposite is true. Having 2, distinctly different worlds, saves the value of each world independently, and ensures that both survive on the merits. As a creator, If I want a similar product in the new world, then I will make it. I don't need LL to do anything at all, but build and run the world. Personally, I think people are giving LL far too much trust that SL2 will even succeed at all. I'd be willing to bet every single dollar that I have saved that LL will completely screw up SL2, and almost nobody will like it. So, to me, all this BS about LL killing SL is a pure emotional response that doesn't take history, or reason into account at all. That said, as a 3D creator that knows every aspect of 3D creation, I drool over what is possible. I personally would love to really show my customers what I can do with the right tools. So, my heart wants, and very much hopes that LL succeeds.

irihapeti wrote: in terms of your philosphical position which seems to be that money is the measure of a mans worth/value Locke would argue that you are limiting the philosophical position to narrowly. I'll just say that I was making a point, not neccessarily to what you were saying, but what is commonly the view of many people that somehow profits are evil. There a vast amount of reasons why profits, in a free market, are beneficial to all. Of course, if I understand your knowledge of the matter, I likely would not have responded as I did. I was obviously assuming when I had no reason to.

Dresden Ceriano wrote: Medhue Simoni wrote: No offense to either, but both Phillip and Gwyneth have ideologies that are riddled with contradictions. What gives you the idea that Gwyneth's ideology coincides with Phil's? All she stated on her blog is that Phil has a clear business model for HF, described it and gave reasons why it might succeed or fail. Never did she state that she agreed with the ideology of what he was trying to do. ...Dres I don't think I was implying that their ideologies coincide, just that both of them are riddled with contradictions.

SLAddict Allen wrote: A Linden Pet? The Linden Home fiasco came to mind right off the bat. Linden Lab needs to stop giving away things that content creators are trying to sell. Seriously, if people can't compete with what LL gives out for free, then they should probably rethink their business plan. I owned a Linden Home, of course, but I literally gave it up, as it was just annoying to be there when I own a whole sim. The vast majority of people that have a LH, just use it as their home base, as you can't really do much there. Even the community areas are no script. Plus, a free product is a bit different than free land, which is not free cause they pay for it with their premium membership. Another important point that I'll make is that the Default avatar was given to the community for free. What that did was establish a standard for creators to build off of. These pets could do exactly the same thing. Maybe a creator is good at mesh, but not an animator. So, they use the pets animation, and then code in their own behavior. As I stated, the Linden pet has a specific purpose, which is not competing with any business in SL, unless their whole business is teaching people how to use SL. If that is the case, I doubt they will be upset by free pets. Imagine you are a coder, but you can't animate or model. The coder could write in their own behavior and sell that. So, it actually encourages competition, which ultimate favors the consumer. I seriously doubt that any successful breedable company in SL will be in the least bit worried. They would likely love the idea because it will bring more functionality to their own products. So, what is your idea for LL?

Senobia Xenga wrote: Stop working for free and let LL figure out how to retain users for themselves. BTW - if I had a 'pet' attached to me in SL all the time, I wouldn't bother logging in. I think I can decide properly how best to spend my time. I never charge for my thoughts or ideas. Notice, I never said attach. My proposal is an actual NPC, not an attachment. I also said right in my post how it would be easy to send the pet away. Maybe you just put them in your inventory, or just rightclick delete. I never implied, at all, that your pet is somehow with you for your whole virtual life.

irihapeti wrote: Philip wants to change humanity. Is his calling. He hoped to get that when he envision SL. He never got change. We just brought our same old humanity (developed over 1000s and 1000s and 1000s of years) into SL with us and never changed at all I like Gwyneth. She is a humanity changer as well. Not all the time but she thinks and writes a lot about the greater things. She writes really interesting stuff from that perspective. And I quite like that she can express those thoughts and ideas very well. So I think about them also Ebbe (and Rodvik before him tbf) just want to make some good software for us to express ourselfs in and with. And make some money for the LL company if I have to choose between changing humanity or letting humanity change itself then I prefer to let humanity find its own path and I settle for a game/world that dont crash please. And a spaceship. I want a sim spaceship please that can fly to the stars. So i can leave humanity behind. At least for an hour or two (: No offense to either, but both Phillip and Gwyneth have ideologies that are riddled with contradictions. This is good, in a sense, as it means that they don't accept what it handed to them. The problems are the contradictions, which can lead to decades of traveling in the wrong direction. The contradictions, IMHO, are because of the propaganda that we are all fed from the time we are born. I fight daily to correct the false rhetoric that tries to pull at my emotions, rather that appealing to my intellect. If you don't see it tho, then you'll actively pursue things that are selfdestructive. I don't agree with you on Ebbe, and Rodvik, but I also see profit much differently than most. The first responsibility that every business has, is to be profitable. It means that you are actually producing value to the world. Without profits as a measure, the producer has no way to know if they are doing something productive with their life. By productive, I mean helping humanity. The more profitable something is, the more value it added to people's lives, or they would not have purchase it. The people that are changing the world, are those that are the most profitable, as long as they do not use public money to do it. It's not the Preachers that change the world, it is the Producers.

The Drax files show got me thinking about user retention. I've thought about this before, and mentioned it, but I wasn't sure how feasable it would be. With a new SL in the works, what is truly possible is far more wide open. That said, it might be good to talk about this now, as it might be something that needs to be designed into this new SL. I'll give my "big" idea, but I also hope others might come up with their own versions, or totally different ideas on how to retain more users. Please post your ideas, even if they are not totally flushed out, as this is the perfect place to flush it out. Ok, so this is my "big" idea. It's obvious that SL is complex. It's also obvious that user's need to have some kind of guidance and instructions. The question is, how do you do this in an engaging and fun way? How can we get the average person to connect with this world early on, so that they eventually see parts of SL that we all love? How can we get them to emotionally connect with SL? Do we know of any highly successful businesses that took off in SL, and gave users a solid emotional connection? Well, we do, and this is the breedables and pets in SL. This is where the light bulb clicked on for me, when I thought about the retention problem. In RL, everyone loves their pets. Besides pictures of kids, pets are probably the second most posted images on Facebook. In any good MMO, you get pets that do all kinds of things, including riding them. So, my idea is for LL to give users in this new SL a LINDEN PET. This pet will give them all the information they need to get around in the new SL. It would also follow them everywhere they went, being right there to help, when needed. It could have some functions for playing around, and basic tricks, but their main purpose would be to help the owner. These pets would be fully functioning NPCs, with their own skeletons and all. Like I said, they would also follow them everywhere, until told not to. This means that LL would have to design that into the new SL, NPCs being able to teleport with you. This would also be a huge boom for the pet and breedable communities, plus give them functionalities that would improve all pets, like being able to ride them. I would also suggest that every single Linden pet be unique in some way, or seemingly. LL could also allow users to take the code for the Linden Pets, and make their own. Like maybe, as a merchant, I take that code and change it to give information about my store. My pet could stay online in my store, while I'm away, and give information to customers that need it. So, now, my pet is actually working for me and earning his own keep, lol. To me, a Pet is exactly the solution to retention. Who can't resist a cute little fuzzy animal?

DesperadoReprise wrote: It's late and you're tired, Ebbe, and it's making you forget which half-truths you have posted in response to which irrelevant questions. Go to bed. But call Peter first and tell him he should be ready with plausible denials in the morning. "ain't it hard when you're all alone" Dude, how sad does your life have to be to post nonsense over and over, for days? Seriously, I want to know. It will be much more productive than what you are currently doing. Go ahead, tell us about you. Tell us about your childhood. Maybe we can help you. Why hide? Let it all out. We won't judge you.