Exavor Diesel

Reduced to L$45.000 for quick sale. Neighbours parcel now also available if you need to combine the two to creare a larger parcel. http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Whanganui/208/38/26

Reduced to L$4,999 for quick sale. Grab a bargain! http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Duggan/100/80/65

ROAD SIDE - 8192M For Sale with Sea View! (Moderate) Only L$14,999!! http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Duggan/100/80/65

Hi, I have a nice sized south facing PROTECTED WATERFRONT for Sale! - 8160sqm http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Whanganui/208/38/26 Any questions, let me know Ex

Hi, I'm looking into possibility purchasing a private region again though not interested in renting from anyone except LL which I appreciate limits me somewhat. What I'd still like though is access to an expanse of water for sailing, a single private region doesn't really provide this without purchasing openspaces. Are there any estates on SL which allow you to adjoin a private region to theirs as to create one large estate with large expanse of water? Perhaps with rules, e.g. each sim owner must dedicate X a of space as an open sailing space, or something similar. If no, would anyone be interested in starting a syndicate of this nature? Cheers Ex

I don't know the details of that but I am guessing it pre-dates my time on SL. If so, then it's quite possible they were trying to embrace something before technology was ready for it. Today, people generally have faster internet connections capable of streaming such content. Also, technology capable of rendering server-side graphics is also superior to what it was a decade ago. It does of course come at a cost.

LL need to do something, sure. The day I joined SL, I was a little overwhelmed by the UI. - so much going on and so much to learn. That was in the late noughties as an IT student. I imagine people of today who are so accustomed to the simplicity of apps etc will be even more overwhelmed and by contrast, underwhelmed by the dated look and feel. Heck, even the Marketplace looks ancient and overhauling that would be relatively easy in the grand scheme of things. It makes me wonder, why the neglect? I don't think the name Second Life has done SL any favours. Often times when I try to recommend it to RL friends or people who I think might enjoy it, I will hear something along the lines of "Hah, isn't that for people with no life?! Why do I need a second life?!" I don't agree with it but I can understand the misconception. Truth is, to get decent graphics & performance on SL, you need to be using a gaming PC or laptop and let's be honest, they're not common place in the modern household. (sadly) Even basic laptops are becoming less prevalent in the consumer market. This has been a problem for years now and isn't one LL has addressed and as a result it is becoming less relevant to consumers. At the very least LL should develop a browser version of SL that has graphics rendered by their servers and not by their end-user's own hardware. This means users could run SL on any device, even a low powered computer, TV, tablet or even a foldable smart phone and still get good graphics and performance. It would give SL a new lease of life. Microsoft have proved this is possible with their Xbox Cloud Gaming service, so we know it can be done. (Sure, let the Firestorm project et al. continue for those who have suitable hardware.) It seems LL is milking what they have for as long as possible but if they don't revitalise their product, it will become stale and obsolete sooner or later.

Um, seems to be up for sale now for L$99,500?!

What is a reasonable price for a waterfront parcel on or near Blake Sea? (in L$ per m² obviously) I'm aware some people list their parcels for sale for a long period at an extortionate amount in the hope that they get lucky. This makes it somewhat difficult to tell what is a reasonable price. By reasonable, I mean a price for a parcel that wouldn't be too difficult to resell and at least break-even in the not too distant future. Appreciate it is subjective to some degree and obviously they're worth whatever people are willing to pay but it would be good to get some kind of perspective into what people would actually pay. For example, there is one parcel near Blake Sea that is not even a full sized sim, yet being advertised at more than $8000US!! When I asked the seller what price he was willing to drop down to, he was quite blunt and rude, so I never bothered replying to him! Surely not worth $8000 USD?! For reference, this is the parcel in question: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Meddledown/105/164/25 Cheers Ex

SL is too deep rooted to reinvent itself especially now we're in an age where people expect to be able to consume content on a mobile app. The PC market continues to decline and even laptops are becoming less common in the consumer market. Yet for me, SL doesn't run very well on a year old laptop designed for gaming. I think the next best thing (and most practical) would be for SL to be web browser based and do much of the rendering on their servers. They could then stream content to users to their device(s) via a web browser. (whether it be their PC, laptop, TV, tablet or even their foldable smart phone) Given most people have faster internet connections capable of streaming, this is technically feasible and is something Microsoft is now doing with their Xbox Cloud Gaming service. This essentially means you can play games even on hardware not designed for gaming while still getting decent graphics and performance. While this approach certainly wouldn't reinvent SL, I think it would give it a new lease of life by making it more accessible to new and existing users. - As long as you have a half decent internet connection. Let's face it, you still need that for SL even now. Of course, that's not to say they couldn't also keep it open to those who want to continue to use an installed viewer and thus make use of their own hardware. LL need to realise that most of their target audience are not buying gaming specced PCs or laptops and with this in mind they really need to think about how they're going to cater for these people. This idea would certainly help do just that.

Thanks, I didn't know that. The reason why waterfront parcels in Blake Sea are priced so high is because they are accessible by water and not just any old water, but a whole expanse of navigable seas. If this were true for all mainland waterfront parcels, surely the additional supply would reduce the cost and thus make it more accessible to people? (Wherever it may be) Sure, renting is a good and affordable option to many but that means you're answerable to someone. Perhaps not an issue for many, but not my cup of tea.

Yep, I get it. It's a shame though and probably why this will never amount to more than an idea. The problem with parcels on waterfront properties on mainland (At least near Blake Sea) is that they are often priced out of reach. To put it into perspective, I could buy a boat in RL (albeit a small one) for the price of some of these parcels on SL. I know this because I have done it.

Can't disagree with any of the other points as they all make sense, so maybe this would be better for mainland regions. I appreciate some are interconnected, but not all. I do work quite a lot with AWS in my day job. We provide migration solutions to companies like LL who move their application(s) from on-prem servers to the "cloud". Asset data would likely be stored in S3 spaces, so storage is not a major factor. Yes, you would need more compute (EC2) but you could potentially have a limited number of powerful instances to cover a much larger area. In fairness, it would still probably require major design changes to SL itself though I do not know enough about SL's own architecture to make anything more than a guess on that. True, it would still cost LL more and would not directly generate any income but may increase overall appeal in Second Life by broadening the possibilities. I think this is why this idea will probably never come to fruition, but it would be great if it did.

Valid concern I guess but equally if LL ever did something like this, you would still be able to maintain privacy using existing functionality, e.g. by setting access permissions and also making it so people cannot see anyone on the sim unless they have access rights. I forgot what this feature is called but I know it can be done. Personally never been a fan of ban lines but appreciate why people use them.

One thing I don't like so much about SL is the very idea of there being a void. In the real world, we often say the sky is the limit. In SL? No, the void is the limit. Only chance of getting beyond the void is to teleport, which is at least some consolation... What if LL were to fill the void and make every void crossable? It would create a new dimension in terms of creating new possibilities for travel and exploration in SL, whether it be by air or sea. Obviously this would mean infilling the voids with sims/servers to make this possible, but now SL is hosted on AWS where scalability is easier, perhaps this idea is more feasible than it once was. Even if this idea is too ambitious, perhaps doing this around mainland continents would be a great compromise. Cheers Ex

Exactly. I don't know why they don't place priority on this as it's an easy way to increase sales and thus increase revenue. I don't spend much time on the Marketplace because I don't like navigating it. It's not enjoyable and as such I make fewer purchases than I otherwise would. I'm sure this is a common theme.

I think the Marketplace needs a design overhaul. If memory serves me correctly it was last updated significantly back in 2011. Given that it is the gateway for SL e-commerce for many, I think it's deserving of an update. As present the GUI is starting to look dated, not optimised for mobile devices and in all honesty is quite uninviting. With more modern screen resolutions, there's also a lot of wasted space at the sides, which could be put to better use. In real life, shops are designed to be as inviting as possible as to encourage people to stay there longer and thus spend more money. Updating the interface will likely attract more sales which would be a win win for everyone. Appreciate that some may be against the idea of potentially detracting from in-world sales, but I'm not sure it would. Often on the MP merchants link to their in-world store and as such the MP acts as a gateway to them. With many merchants offering an incentive/discount for subsequently purchasing in-world.

More the concept. Most games provide the ability to customise graphical settings to suit computer hardware. I don't buy the argument that SL should sit dead in the water just to accommodate people who have outdated hardware when it's possible to address this issue while still implementing improvements.

Yes but that's why presets (below) exist so that people can find a balance to suit their hardware specification. My gripe is that the water quality (even on the highest setting) leaves a lot to be desired.

Well there's a saying that you can't have your cake and eat it. Although many people don't see SL as a game, (incl. myself) your computer certainly does see it as a game! The reason your new laptop probably outperforms your old one is because the CPU and GPU (even if integrated) is probably better than what you had before, hence you see an improvement. I have my settings nearly maxed out with draw distance realistically set to 192m and SL is only consuming 2GB of RAM. As such, having all the RAM in the world isn't going to help if things aren't using it. It's the graphics cards that take the biggest hit. I don't think he/she intended to be. - It's true.

I don't either but that's not the point I'm making. SL is in many ways more akin to The Sims than it is Facebook, or at least in terms of technology. What I mean by this is that SL makes use of computer hardware just like games do. To get the most out of it in terms of 3D rendering etc etc you ideally need a computer designed or at least capable of running games. No point running it on a integrated GPU etc although I am sure many do. Anyway I'm digressing.

While this holds true it is no reason not to improve the graphics on SL. - People can always tone down the settings as you allude to and if they don't know how to then frankly that is their problem. - Thankfully there's people to help them like people in the FS group you mention. There's a lot of people who are avid gamers and have suitably specced hardware and imo LL should also cater for these people as well. Technology is always evolving, no point standing still.

I remember when I first joined in SL, I didn't hang around because the water textures looked like a swimming pool. A year or two later it was completely overhauled and looked stunning. Now 10+ years later it looks more or less the same as it did then and is starting to look a little dated. I also play Sea of Thieves (pirate game, nothing like SL) but the water textures/animations on that are amazing in comparison to SL. I think it's about time SL looks to adopt something similar!

Yes but that argument works both ways. I’m sure if LL were to absorb the VAT, the revenue incurred from the increase in region sales will offset the cost of absorbing VAT. I could be wrong and I trust someone at LL has run the numbers recently. If that’s not possible then some kind of incentive would be better, such as LL absorbing VAT if a region is paid for on a quarterly basis. Or make it so people can purchase a homestead without owning a full region with the same VAT discount if paid quarterly. Basically any options to make region ownership more accessible and fairer to those liable for VAT would be welcome. That aside, the requirement for US companies to pay VAT for purchases made from within the EU is a EU directive and NOT a UK one. As such it is still questionable as to whether or not **LL** is still obliged to pay VAT for transactions originating from the UK. Nobody has given a definitive answer to this although I appreciate we now know LL’s stance on the matter.

Thanks for the reply but I think you’re shooting yourself in the foot as a business. Evidently people don’t know about the VAT relief on annual premium memberships. LL should really make this more well known and you will no doubt increase the number of subscriptions with little effort from your marketing teams. The continuation of VAT on private regions is disappointing though. For me they’re not viable because the extra 20% means I cannot compete against sim owners based in the USA if I were to resell the land in full or in part, I’m not alone. In comparison and to put the issue into perspective, people could pay a mortgage on a small apartment in real life for the price of a full region and make a profit. I know which I’d rather do. Full regions are just too expensive moreso for those who pay VAT. It would be great if LL could find a compromise in such a way that benefits everyone because the current pricing just seems a little unfair.