Czari Zenovka

Pamela Galli wrote: Sounds a little bit too much like high school to me. Pretty much my opinion as well.

Coby Foden wrote: Aethelwine wrote: The lindens inability to manage the spam problems are pathetic. There surely would be a need for something like... ... but Linden Lab does not like it. They changed things so that it is extremely fast and easy to create a new account. They truly and firmly did believe that this would increase SL population and concurrency. Kind of like their bright idea of discontinuing surnames because it was discouraging people from joining SL. /facepalms

Tears Serf wrote: maybe you have a point, havent been in this forum since linden did there major changes 2007-2008. we lost allt then. Not sure if you're speaking of the old forums, but they weren't closed until February, 2010. ETA: As an afterthought, it's possible you were speaking of SL as a whole. I joined in May, 2007 during what was apparently one of the "boom years" due to the publicity of SL's first millionaire. Are you referring to LL allowing people to join for free? (I recall a lot of those debates back in the day.)

Anya Ristow wrote: As the creator of a popular megaprims collection, I often receive requests from people for things I did not build. They want to find something they see in world, or they've bought something and need help with it. Also, in the past, I've sold some fairly expensive scripted items. I'd like to provide lifetime support for those, for as long as LL doesn't do anything that breaks them. My choice now is to not allow these people to contact me, or to receive spam. No, your choice is just to use other methods for people to contact you instead such as in world IMs (that can be set to go to your email), note cards, an email address you set up specifically for your business clients/potential customers, comments on your blog (if you have one), etc. There *are* merchants who don't use the feeds and do quite well so that is not a "must have" method. Edit: Clarification

Suggestions: *You mentioned contacting the merchant. Did you check to see on their profile if they have a preferred method of being contacted? Some merchants specify IMs or note cards or some even have mailboxes in their stores to submit questions/problems. Mentioning this because some people do not turn on their IMs to email so if they don't come online for a few days and/or their IMs cap, they might not receive your message if you sent it via IM. *Some merchants also specify in their profiles what to do if you have a problem - I've seen some merchant profiles that advise going to their website where questions are answered or contacting someone on their staff. *The profile may also tell during what time span to expect a reply. On my business profile, for example, I advise if a customer has not received a reply from me within 48 hours to please resend using BOTH IM and note card as that means I didn't receive the first contact. LL will not refund your money since this is considered a resident to resident issue. Your best bet is to contact the merchant and do so in a polite manner. You said you hadn't received a reply "since days" - how many days is that? Depending on the merchant, several days isn't necessarily a long time, plus being in the holiday season some people may be busier RL and/or out of town - which is sometimes noted on the merchant's profile. If you have done all the above and don't receive a reply in a reasonable amount of time, you can leave a review (if you purchased the item on the MP) stating the issues.

I'm glad you found a Linden home...however wanted to follow up on this part: Aeriabella wrote: I have also looked around at what there is currently available for purchased land, and it isn't that great either, imho. Most land dealers seem more interested in renting and leasing land. I can't blame them, as that is where the Lindens are. Besides, you have to choose very carefully when purchasing. Not all 512 lots up for purchase appear to have the same prim value for some reason (still looking into that). Therefore, if you are building and aren't careful, your available prims can be used up on the built itself. You don't have to buy mainland through a land dealer; in over six years in SL I never have. Just open up the world map to most anywhere and all the yellow blocks you see are parcels for sale that can usually be purchased by just going to the parcel and opening the land information. (I double click the bar at the top of my viewer or click on the land itself for a pie chart to access the land menu. I use the Singularity viewer so the land menu may be accessed differently depending on the viewer used.) There are some very reputable land dealers but also some not so reputable ones. I was contacted by someone awhile back who had read one of my posts on the forums and asked if I would help her and her partner understand how buying land works. While I was at her house explaining the types of land, etc., she said, "Oh! My partner just IM'd and found some really cheap abandoned land...let's go." "Abandoned land" are parcels on the mainland that the previous owner/s abandoned, meaning they selected the "abandon land" option rather than setting the land for sale. This land automatically reverts to Linden Lab or "Governor Linden." There is currently abandoned land in abundance all over the mainland that generally is set for sale for 1L per sqm. Some people purchase abandoned land, especially if it is in a great location, and try to sell it for a bit of a profit. When I arrived at the "cheap abandoned land" that I had been tp'd to by this couple, a glance at the price for supposedly abandoned land seemed very expensive. I then noted that the land was *not* for sale by Governor Linden, but by another avatar who had apparently purchased the land at 1L per sqm and was trying to make a profit. No harm in that except he was a bit tricky in that he was still advertising the land as "abandoned" which gave the impression (at least to this couple) that they were getting a "deal." I cammed around the area which wasn't anything special, land-wise; in fact it was rocky and craggy with the parcels at all different levels and most of it was abandoned. I stepped over the land boundary to the adjoining parcel that was true abandoned land selling for 1L per sqm and brought this to the attention of the couple which turned into a learning moment on things to look out for when purchasing land. As for the prim differences on mainlaind - there are some mainland areas that have "double prim" parcels - Bay City and some of the first continent areas, such as Shermerville, etc. - have this and land in these places are generally a lot more expensive than mainland in general. If you saw 512 sq parcels with varying prim allotments and it wasn't in one of the double prim areas, then I would think it was land for rent on a private estate, not mainland. (Another thing that is confusing to new residents is that some estate land will be advertised as "Buy this land for xyzL and then pay xyz/month." One is not "buying" anything as the land belongs to the estate owner and is renting the land, but again, that can be confusing.)

I played EQ almost from its beginning until I began SL and, although I play EQ from time to time just for nostalgia, EQ Landmark doesn't interest me enough to try it. From what I can tell just by anecdotal evidence, it's only been relatively recently that more gamers have come to SL. In the past if I mentioned EQ to someone in SL the response I got was "I don't play PC games." If I mentioned SL to my EQ friends and/or in the forums I got, "What is SL?" There is a bit of overlap but hard-core gamers and those who enjoy virtual worlds are often two different camps. As for LL coming out with a new version of SL, they are off creating their new games under the leadership of Rodvik Linden (Rod Humble). ETA: Just thought of something else...was actually having a conversation about this with a friend earlier inworld: We (speaking of SL residents generically) often think that what we enjoy doing in SL is what *everyone* also enjoys. For example, I have a lot of friends who are builders/merchants and a good number of them come to SL for that 100% - they are not interested at all in the social aspect. OTOH, I know a good number of people who ONLY come to SL to dance...that's it - not explornig SL, even - strictly dancing. I'm sort of a "Jill of all Trades" in that I love to do a lot of different things in SL. How this applies to the OP - all the people in SL who are the social type really care very little about "how" things happen or are made in SL; just that they do and are. I was thinking the other day that I wished there was a group for people who enjoyed dancing in SL where one could say in group chat, "I'm looking for a partner to go to XYZ" and those who would enjoy that would respond - kind of a dancing-partner match up group. I was relating that to a friend and got as far as "I wish there was a group for people who enjoyed dancing in SL...." when the friend said, "That's pretty much everyone in SL." He seemed suprised when I said I know a ton of people in SL who rarely or never go dancing. Again, the point is that of all the people in SL, builders are a subset and of that group, only a small number (if any and imo) would be interested in abandoning SL for EQ Landmark.

Pussycat Catnap wrote: Its really better to just explore SL for a month, make friends, join groups, get involved in activities, and then decide on the whole land thing. Totally agree!!!

Blue Voix wrote: I don't know but I find linden homes, tiny and crammed together and you are not allowed to live up in the air, so I think now you can set it so people cant render your avatars on your land by camming in but if you don't do that there is zero privacy in linden homes. Agreed - and especially since the OP is looking for a lot of privacy, I personally wouldn't recommend Linden homes; just wanted to cover what was available if one decided to go the premium route.

Theresa Tennyson wrote: Czari Zenovka wrote: Jennifer Boyle wrote: Why is it necessary to remove them? I have shoes with invisiprims that are no mod, and I am adding alpha masks. This is probably a really stupid question but I am seriously interested...I have removed the invisiprims from all the mod shoes I have, but I do have a few favorite pairs that I love that are no mod. How do you add the alpha masks? Thank you to any answers on this. You can't really add the mask to the shoe itself, but you can wear the alpha from a different pair of shoes of a similar type. You can even use an alpha from a demo pair usually. It's easy to find a workable boot alpha, pumps aren't bad either. Open-heeled shoes are difficult but you can occasionally find an alpha that works - the demos at G Field and Shiny Things often have really good alphas. Ah, thanks Theresa. I was trying to figure out how exactly to "add" an alpha mask to no mod shoes, but I get "wearing" them. G. Field is one of my favorite shoe designers, too.

Jennifer Boyle wrote: Why is it necessary to remove them? I have shoes with invisiprims that are no mod, and I am adding alpha masks. This is probably a really stupid question but I am seriously interested...I have removed the invisiprims from all the mod shoes I have, but I do have a few favorite pairs that I love that are no mod. How do you add the alpha masks? Thank you to any answers on this.

Amie Kaestner wrote: Mesh is the way forward, mesh is progress. Luddites can go to Hell! How pleasant.

Dnkiwi wrote: Czari Zenovka i m starting to make sense of things up untill u mentioned tiers Which is one reason I recommended actually spending time in SL, talking to people at one of the new resident-friendly centers such as NCI (New Citizens Inc.), and getting a feel for what SL is like before looking for land/home. There is one school that regularly holds classes on the subject of land as well, which might be very helpful for you. (I believe it is by NCI, but not sure.) These classes can be found by looking on your SL website "dashboard" (the page you see when you go to www.secondlife.com - and log in with your name/passworrd); look at the bottom of this page under Events and use the drop-down menu to choose Education. Ok, back to tier...on this same dashboard page at the top left under your name you will see Land Manager. Click that and choose Land Use Fees. At the bottom will be a chart that shows how much money in USD it costs to own various amounts of land. This is my chart: For me, the zero amount is indicated because I live on mainland but I rent my parcel - a variant on "own mainland" vs "rent estate land." This chart is ONLY about owning what is called mainland parcels - land that you purchase directly from Linden Lab. To purchase mainlaind you need to have a premium account. This is another reason I recommend first spending some time in SL to see 1. if you like it and 2. if you would prefer to live in a Linden home, live on the mainland, or rent private estate land first because if you like the mainland route and want to purchase some mainland (or live in a Linden home) it is less expensive to purchase a premium account quarterly or yearly rather than monthly; although, of course if you want to give it a try, going monthly doesn't lock you into an entire year. See why I said there is a bit more to consider than just a flat answer? For someone who chooses to purchase a premium account then purchase a mainland parcel, this chart shows how much money per month in USD (called "tier") you would pay for that land to Linden Lab. Think of tier as property taxes. With a premium account, you get 512 sqm of land included *without* paying any tier. This can be in the form of living in one of the Linden homes located in specific neighborhoods or buying 512 sqm of land anywhere on the mainland (Linden owned) continents. Right now, most land (if it does not have a specific feature like being ocean-front land, snow land, on a Linden highway, etc.) is dirt cheap - you can find a LOT of land priced at 1L per sqm or 512L for this size parcel. However, if you own any land over the 512 sqm, it bumps you into the next tier category at $8.00 mo. at which point you can own up to 1,024 sqm of land. If you go over 1,024 sqm of land it then bumps you into the next tier category at $15.00/mo. and so on. To help calculate how much tier you would pay on a given parcel size, there is an interactive Land Use Fee calculator directly above the tier chart. As mentioned, I am currently renting a 1888 sqm. parcel on mainland but if I owned it, I would pay $15.00/mo. in tier: Again, all of this only applies to purchasing mainland. If you choose to rent land from someone who owns a private estate, none of this applies and you would then pay rent to the estate owner, the amount being whatever the owner sets. Not sure if this has been mentioned yet, but how many prims you have available to rez furniture, etc. on your land is very important and figures into how much tier or rent you pay. Generally speaking, there are 117 prims per 512 sqm. of land so 234 prims for 1,024 sqm of land, etc. With the introduction of mesh, sometimes you will see Land Impact or Li listed as well. Hopefully this helps a bit. The best advice I ever got when I began SL was from someone I met who had been in SL for several years; he said, "Give yourself 8 weeks to really feel comfortable in SL - comfortable with the viewer interface, how to smoothly move around, get dressed, rez items, etc." I am really glad he advised that. I had friends who joined SL about the same time I did, became frustrated on their first or second time in world and never returned. After heeding the advice of the person I met, I have now been in SL over 6 years, enjoy it, and still learn something new regularly. ETA: There have been some responses on houses/apartments that rent for very little lindens. Those are great, depending on what you are looking for. When checking on rentals see what is included (furnishings, any amenties like a group beach you can use, etc.) AND how many prims are included for your own use. This is a personal decision. Some people enjoy fully furnished apartments/houses with 10 prims for you to rez your own items. On the other hand, some people want unfurnished places so they can choose what furnishings they wish to rez. Still others want a LOT of prims available and prefer to just own land and purchase a house to place on it. What you mentioned in your OP was privacy. There are some rentals that are individual skyboxes that do provide a good amount of privacy, others that are more "neighborhood oriented" where you can easily cam into your neighbor's home, and vice versa although, as has been mentiond, there are viewer settings that prevent people from seeing your avatar when you are on your home parcel, although you will still show up on radar and you will be represented as a "green dot" on the viewer world or mini-maps. It really comes down to what is most important to you and then look for housing arrangements that fit your wants.

In clothing, I detest mesh (and yes I have now tried quite a variety of mesh clothing *and* from well-known designers), so I will continue purchasing system/sculpt/flexi made clothes. Clothing stores that sell mesh only will never get my business. Likewise prefab houses - I don't like how drastically mesh can increase in Li when resized - I'll stick with prims there as well. Furniture is the one place I do like mesh, if it is well done, but to date I have not purchased any mesh furnishings as I have a LOT of very nice prim furniture in inventory.

From what I understand IMVU is a lot different in many ways than SL. As I was reading the responses, which are all excellent advice/info, I was thinking about when I first began SL and how the whole land issue was such a mystery to me. At the time I was living on a role play sim and renting a small apartment there so looking for a place to live wasn't an issue at the time. Months later when I moved out to live with my SL partner, I recall having discussions with him about land in SL and the difference between "Estate" land and "Mainland" seemed confusing, even after having been actively participating in SL for months. (Linden Homes didn't exist back then.) Looking at the responses through a lens of someone who hasn't even been in SL yet (assuming you have not or at least have just spent a little time) I can see how some of the responses might sound confusing but really start "sinking in" once you're more familiar with SL. As someone else said, if you think of SL as the "real world" with everything you would find there, including neighborhoods, it will likely make more sense, especially re: how privacy issues work in SL. My suggestion would be to spend some time exploring in SL before you buy or rent any land, even before deciding if you want to purchase a Premium account which allows the choice between a Linden home or using the 512 sqm of tier-free land (tier is another whole discussion) to purchase a bit of mainland property. Explore various regions of SL, go to NCI (New Citizens Inc.), talk to people there and get a "feel" for SL first...then decide if you like it enough to stay and *then* what type of home you would like and if you like mainland or prefer Estate (privately owned land you rent from someone else). I know you want a home right away but it is possible to have fun in SL without a home (my alt manages quite well). I do really enjoy having my own place on my main account, my suggestion is just since SL is so new to you for you to experience it first before making a decision on land/home when you likely don't really grasp it all yet. On the other hand, unless you buy mainland, if you rent you can just pay the rent on a weekly basis at most places so you won't have lost much if you don't like it and move out. Above all, have fun!

Agree with Freya and would also ask OP (MistyMouse) if you use wireless internet? I've never done so but have read a LOT in the forums that wireless and SL often don't play well together. As far as crashing, even when I was using my 10-year-old PC I rarely crashed, and don't have crashing issues now on Singularity. A friend of mine was crashing a lot with Firestorm and what corrected that for him was lowering his bandwidth to 1000. There are a lot of issues that cause the problems you're having that don't have anything to do with the viewer. So recap: *If you're using wireless internet, try wired *Check internet speed *See what your viewer bandwidth is set at *Are your PC specs in a range to run SL well (I didn't say to *run* it - I could *run* SL on my old PC, I just couldn't have my draw distance more than 64m AND move) *Which reminds me - If you have your viewer graphics set to High or Ultra-High, try bringing them down to medium if the above all checks out And welcome back to SL

Syo Emerald wrote: If you just want to taste a space feeling, I once went to a sim, that had build up a huge set of space environment...but I sadly can't remember its name. Are you thinking of Inspire Space? @OP - I first visited Inspire Space a few times back in 2007 and just loved it. The music there is very relaxing and poses are available for you to meditate, hug (with a partner) and dance (with a partner) while floating in space. There are single dances as well on one of the planet surfaces. I recently returned and enjoyed it all over again. 2007 photo:

I have to hand it to you for making anything in mesh. I never got the hang of sculpties. :smileyvery-happy: If you haven't already, maybe check out the various building sub-forums for tips/info.

Zerkko wrote: but all the 86 is already with friends.. and i cant communicate with them. I do all the time...and where I went the majority of people were singles standing around; only about 10 couples were actually on the dance floor. Jazz dance clubs may not be your thing, but my point was - it depends where you go re: where people congregate. It can also depend on the time of day/night. As a new person to SL, you might want to check out NCI - it is usually quite busy and is meant as a place to welcome/orient new residents.

Depends on where you go - I went to a well-known jazz/ballroom dance club over the weekend and couldn't get into the sim for awhile due to 86 avatars being there.

FD Spark wrote: Not sure what even a Petite is. That image of my avatar from back when I made the orginal outfit on transparent cube. But I kept thinking about human figure 3d shape which is similar place I made few months back in photoshop and whether I could put that guy on a dae file maniplate him like a puppet in his doll house. I am still struggling figure out how to struggling how texture map dae, skins, and prims in ways I want with the budget I have. This is the first introduction I had to petite avatars: I've only seen petite avatars twice in SL thus far - a couple at a small dance venue (the DJ and his date) and one of my friends. Don't know how much they've caught on in SL but many places I shop for avatar items (hair, clothes, etc.) have petite sections, so there must be a market.

Is that a petite avatar? I saw petites for the first time in world a few weeks ago (a couple). Nice work on the outfit. And Happy Thanksgiving to you as well, FD.

FD Spark wrote: Thanks all for the help. It worked out now I am waiting for paypal part of it. P.S. Czari I am wearing the "mute the world" outfit now if I can figure out how to fix my collars I will send you new up to date version soon. AWww, that's sweet of you, FD I did see the 4-ear avatar photo and commented that I liked the human/elven mash going on there. *Grins*

Dillon Levenque wrote: While I do realize that by calling it "one of the funniest network TV mini-series ever" I was not exactly setting the bar high, 'Fresno' was really a lot of fun. Teri Garr (you doubled the r's in the wrong name) was fabulous as always but the whole thing was a hoot. Oooo, haven't heard of Teri Garr in years! LOVED her in "Tootsie." Was great to see her pop up again playing Phoebe's biological mother in several episodes of "Friends" (and the way Teri can play sometimes "flighty" women was *perfect* casting as Phoebe's mother).

If you read the thread that I just added to my previous post, some of the responses came from long time SL residents who are also great coders/scripters - their answers could speak better to your post. I feel for people who get hacked, but I doubt LL is going to get involved in this.