Raspberry Crystal

January 22

Those who look at the map.
Those who never do.

January 22

Amazon seem to have a very unfixed idea of where they are actually located, depending on local tax laws and other inconveniences, so they might very well buy up one of those soon to be underwater island nations, and build a stilt office.
In any case, large parts of sl have already decamped and gone down the decentralised self-hosting route, it just isn't officially acknowledged.
I imagine the situation would become even more fluid still, should SL need to ban pixel jiggling in earnest.

January 21

I think it is a luxury, and a nice one to have.
Netflix, starbucks, restaurant meals, theatre trips and all those other comparisons don't really work for me as I wouldn't consider purchasing them in any case. I know how much we spend on groceries per week, and that is my usual yard-stick.

January 20

1 hour ago, Nika Talaj said:

So, the latest addition to the Mediterranean subcontinent has been fully populated with homes, and kind of hangs off the main land mass on the right (east). There is a 2-region gap between it and the main land mass. Very odd!

Looking a bit closer, you can see that the regions opposite each other across the gap are not clones, BUT ... they each have a single road facing the gap in the middle of the region (halfway down each region from the north). These roads line up perfectly.

Space for one or two community regions? I'm harboring a hope that the river you see on the right of the pic (the one that goes up through Sesame) will continue into a community area here

I notice they made a Raspberry Ridge!!

January 19

It seems likely there would be a new home style presented that could then be named by the winning bid? Otherwise there could be a mis-match between the name and style.
So it seems possible there is a new style to be released after this event. A new 2048 maybe, they have been very popular?

January 18

This was a good moment to revive! My new driving skills have really made me appreciate the mole's work on a whole new level.

My inspiration yesterday though, was sending some warm thoughts towards @Abnor Mole for his very particular naming of the log region's rez points using the word 'pictogram' because it makes it so much easy to do an area search for these amongst a thicket of resident's objects which also use the 'rez' word.

January 17

On 1/16/2024 at 2:44 AM, MoiraKathleen said:

Thank heavens for micro climates... while a bit chilly in my parcel once the day starts to fade, at least I don't have the snowfall that is occuring in the region directly behind me.

What a lovely outfit, it looks so comfortable!

January 17

House hunting (hopping) in Belli usually takes just a few minutes, and the five choices per day run out quite quickly, so I thought I would add to the realism by driving / boating / walking to each new possibility thrown up by the web-page.
As I was following the @Sid Nagy method, of swapping house styles each time I thought this would be an interesting challenge, a good way to get a sense of the neighbourhood of each home, and create a chance to see and appreciate more of the Mole's wonderful work on the way.
I started in the morning, and by mid-afternoon I had viewed two homes, got lost multiple times, had to swim to a lighthouse island when my boat sank and ran out of fuel for my car, causing me to walk some distance until I worked out how to disable the warning.
When the web-site kicked up choice number three right in the centre of the log home continent I wavered in my quest. Those dirt tracks with multiple switchbacks, the cunningly hidden rez zones, the ever present map confusion where roads and trackways are only vaguely represented, all of these felt overwhelming. So I bought a cheap helicopter, as you do, and spent as much time plummeting as I did flying but it did speed things up a bit.
Eventualy, around tea-time, after much circling around the area, I finally found my house, staggered through the door, and decided never to move again (at least this week!).

It would obviously be utterly frustrating to never use the teleport system, or to ban my avatar from flying, but this experience has made me wonder if all my previous flitting about has insulated me from some of the fun that SL has to offer, and 'making things more realistic' is just one of the ways to achieve this.

January 10

1 hour ago, Sid Nagy said:

For my business I switched a hundred times or more between themes and houses.
In all themes I had houses over time that I would never have given up if I wanted to live there. Except the Newbrooke type. They only seem to be situated in average and boring places, sim after sim.

I never had the same location so far, not even once.
Isn't this subject a bit of "I want it all, I want it now" too?

I don't think so Sid, I'm not sure where you got that from.
How long ago did you do your mega-hopping and what kinds of intervals did you leave between your search days?

January 10

1 hour ago, Matthieu Quander said:

That would certainly work, but I don't see the need for all that extra effort. Simply using AllAvailableHomes, and sorting it by the oldest abandoned date meets the need. It ensures house hunters get 5 unique homes (assuming the count of AllAvailableHomes >/= 5), and that all homes in the list eventually rotate up to the top of the list. List shuffling will occur naturally through variations in house retention lengths.

I think that might need a tweak to allow for those occasions when available homes have never been claimed.

January 10

11 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

"Officer, that lamp post jumped out of nowhere and hit me!"

"No, I won't take a sobriety test! Let's see YOU a walk straight line!"

...and since you are already here officer, I wish to report some trees for recklessly wandering in front of my vehicle!!

January 10

8 hours ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Perhaps if lamp posts are "magnetic" for you, then you are a moth?

Now I have found the proper button for my lusch car speed limiter I am a behemoth of driving, and very nearly on the road most of the time. In your face lamp posts!

January 10

6 hours ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Pro tip: If you have hair knuckles, consider shaving them.

No!! Add plaits and ribbons, where is your fashion sense?

January 9

2 hours ago, elleevelyn said:

there is the list of AllHomes and there is the list of AvailableHomes, not necessarily the same thing as some homes can be broken and marked as NotAvailable, and some whole regions also marked as NotAvailable

the likely explanation (from everyone's experience) is that the AvailableHomes list is relatively quite small. Topped up on a needs-must basis with some recently abandoned Homes and some from the not recently abandoned AllHomes list

it could be that the re-population is triggered when the claimed level reaches some predetermined point. Same as how caches work

say the AvailablelHomes list was 100. And say at 80% claimed then re-populate. with 80 new selections added to the 20 remaining. Problem is that can get stuck on 21. A catatonic state. Everyone playing is abandoning the same 21 Homes over and over. it could be triggered at 60 rather than 80. It could be 50. Dunno. But it can get stuck, go catatonic, when everybody is abandoning within the same period. the abandons already on the Available list staying on the list

we could think maybe set the trigger to quite low. Like at 20%. Problem is that if we don't flush the whole cache then we got people playing for the same 80% of undesirables, and when ire-populate, only 20 new additions are added. Can end up with 100% undesirables, which only changes when 21 people give up and keep the undesirable Home they don't want

having a short AvailableHomes cache list is not a issue in itself. The issue is how and when iit is re-populated - full fllush on trigger is better than top-up. Still left with how to fill the cache from the AllHomes list excluding the NotAvailables. Most efficient way is feistel network or knuth shuffle if the widest range of cache selection is the goal

ps add. I not be surprised at all if it uses a cache. Webservers like caches. From all of the experiences that residents have had, then Somebody Linden coded it up as a top-up cache rather than a full flush cache. Because top-up is typically how caches work. Like our SL viewer cache. when it gets full then remove some from the top to make room for new stuff

I found that post easier to understand, thank you! The idea of a cache sounds very plausible, and it does seem as if the process gets stuck with less favoured homes churning around the pool. Now that there are so many styles to choose from there will be less motivation for people to choose a location they are not keen on, as they can switch over to a better performing cache of homes in an alternate home style.
I wonder if the system is manually 'reset' from time to time? ie 'given a hard flush'!

January 9

13 hours ago, Prokofy Neva said:

The Lindens put "randomizing" in various things -- not just Linden Homes. They used to randomize the infohubs on the Mainland to which newbies would be set.

There is a techie fascination with randomizing in the belief that it is "more fair" and "more democratic." But the obvious problem with it as I'm sure you know is that if you have a very finite set of elements to randomize -- and everything about Second Life is very finite -- it is not the Internet at large, it is not Google -- then you will randomly get the same items again and again, sometimes many times in a row, because it's random. That's what random does. It can randomly give you the same things again and again.

That's why I believe serial selection would be better for SL than random selection when it comes to these kinds of offering of available choices.

There are currently 2550 Chalet home available. There is another recent thread where a frustrated potential home owner had been given the same small selection of chalet homes repeatedly. Whilst that *could* happen randomly it seems very unlikely.

We already know that recently abandoned homes seem to jump to the top of the list. Again, unless this is from a very small pool of free homes, this does not seem to be a random event. My recently abandoned chalet home was taken up by one of the people who had been struggling to get a real choice in that style.

In a situation of slow turnover, it seems possible for five 'meh' homes to get stuck on the choosing shelf being continually rejected.

@elleevelyn I'm sorry, I am sure you are making some very good points in your post but I can only skim the surface so I hope I have grasped the essential meaning, my summary is 'it is quite possible to get a proper random selection, why aren't they doing it?'
My answer would be, that if something is basically functioning, even if not in a particularly efficient way, then there is a huge disincentive to change anything, because of the risk of something going horribly wrong, which would take weeks, if not months to sort out, and the only person who could fix it is locked in a room, guarded by a dyspeptic dragon, and that person is already fully occupied sorting out the last three hundred problems caused by some utterly random event that hasn't even been identified yet.

January 8

Thank you everyone for your input and recollections.
I guess i had better make my mind up what to do from the currently available options, as hoping LL are ready to change their terms is not a short term solution.
Also it's getting pretty nippy out here!

January 8

I love seeing these new connections going in, thank you everyone for your thoughts and updates!
It may amuse you to know that for a few minutes there I was convinced I had seen a new sea connection to Sansara on the SL web map, but it turned out to be a very convincing row of faulty pixels on my notebook screen.

January 8

3 hours ago, MoiraKathleen said:

This makes sense to me. Basically, the Plus makes it so one can buy mainland, because otherwise only premium and premium plus accounts can buy mainland at all. Plus accounts aren't limited to only owning 512 sqm - like all the premium account types, additional mainland above the free tier amount can be purchased as long as the additional tier is paid. I imagine there are people who want to own mainland rather than renting, aren't enamored with Linden Homes (or the restrictions that come with them), don't want to pay the full regular premium amount, don't want to rent from an estate and aren't able to (or don't want to) own an estate full region. I see the Plus account level as expanding the pool of possible mainland buyers.

Editted to add: Also, being as there were already 512 LH parcels before the Plus account level was created, if the Plus level was able to own a 512 sqm LH, I could see a number of those in the 512 LH's deciding to downgrade from regular Premium level to the new Plus level.

I was so focused on the Linden homes that I forgot about not being able to buy mainland without a subscription account. This does make sense.

I wonder about the potential downgrades. Currently I have downgraded from premium to basic. If there had been another 'rung on the ladder', a 512 linden home package,. I would have been there instead. I am actually happy in a 512 home in Belli, but not on the mainland. The outlook is so much better with the pretty and consistent surrounding decor.
My decorating stamina runs out half way through a 1024 home in any case
The chances are I would have then bought currency as a top up, but at a time of my choosing.
So LL would probably have the same income from me, but instead of me spending it on a too large house I would be frittering it away on a new boat or car, or some new clothing.

I still think that there's room for a 512 Linden home account.

January 7

7 minutes ago, diamond Marchant said:

It always works because a buck is a buck regardless of what you spend it on. I typically spend stipend on boats and clothes but I could let it accumulate and convert it back to dollars... then the next time LL charges me for tier or membership, they would take those dollars prior to charging my credit card (or I could cash it out). When determining how much land costs you, it is accurate to not count money refunded to you as stipend. Note that to be more accurate, one must also consider the fees they charge for conversions. (Stipends are nice because if your intent is to buy stuff, you are getting Lindens delivered without fees.)

I think you need to also consider initial outlay when thinking about virtual currency, and how many people would go the trouble of cashing in, especially for small amounts.
Anyone on a tight budget is going to see £5.99, $11.99 & $29.99 per month as the options, with the pre-paid stipend being included as a built in commitment. So you are buying the 'rental' and you are buying the currency in one package. SL is definitely more fun with money to spend so it isn't a bad idea at all, but actual money is changing hands and that is how much people pay if they don't want to commit to a longer subscription, not that amount 'minus stipend'.

16 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

I vaguely remember someone saying that the Plus was based on some comments LL received about people that wanted nothing to do with Linden Homes, but wanted a small amount of Mainland for a shop and wanted some additional groups along with a small bit of L$.

That's sounds like a very believable scenario, it is very much the kind of thing that people say. I bet they are all premium plus members now and keeping quiet about it

January 7

37 minutes ago, diamond Marchant said:

^ This

As far as land goes, the Premium account is an incredibly good value... less than $1US per week if you pay annual (net stipend). The Plus account delivers much less revenue to Linden Lab... $6 vs $12 monthly or $66 vs $99 annual. Therefore it seems reasonable that LL does not incur the liability of providing a Linden Home for that amount.

For comparison, I pay more for a single Amazon Prime movie ($3.99) than I do for a month of Premium.

I'm confused, Premium is $8.25 per month ($1.90 per week) if you pay annually, or $11.99 if you pay one month at a time.
Did you mean the plus account? This is $1.27 per week for the cheapest option (paying annually).
Oh wait I understand, you mean if you take out the stipend. This does work if you know you definitely would have spent that money on currency with or without subscribing to premium.

1 hour ago, Persephone Emerald said:

I thought the 512 m Bellissera homes were introduced to lure people away from their old 512 m Linden Homes. The campers were a novel idea for those who might have mainland or had donated tier to a group, but who also wanted a little place to get away to in a woodsy environment.

The account level between Basic and Premium seems to have been created primarily to encourage people to buy mainland. Being marked as a Premium account is necessary to get a Linden Home, but LL wants each Premium account to only have one Linden Home. If people want multiple homes, they have to either buy mainland or pay for another account, which would mean more money for Linden Lab either way.

I do remember it now you mention it, something about wanting to tempt people away from the older Linden homes, and those people may already have the rest of their premium tier commited elsewhere, which does make sense.

January 7

2 hours ago, BilliJo Aldrin said:

I checked and yes you are right only premium and premium plus memberships give you a free LL home. It would seem that since Plus members get 512 sqm free tier, they should be eligible for a 512 sqm home.

Maybe they figure that since they have you for plus, you'll be tempted to spend that little extra and go premium to get a free home.

I doubt it was an oversight, but instead part of a marketing plan.

Maybe I am not their intended audience for this, because I do like to swap and change around homes, and buying a mainland 512 land plot doesn't really encourage this because of the purchase cost upfront, and then either losing that investment or hanging on unpredictably for a buyer.
I know you can get cheap plots, but they tend to be inland and surrounded by other residents who are using the land as a sandbox and so don't feel residential.

January 7

I'm sorry if I missed this discussion before, but was it ever revealed what the thought process was behind this?
I'm puzzled because there are plenty of spare 512 new phase Linden homes available at the moment, and having a lower cost option would seem like a good introduction for those who felt unsure whether they would enjoy Bellisseria, or a longer stay for those on a tighter budget, or who just like smaller homes.
I can see that the 2048 plots are really popular, and it is obvious why, seeing those lovely decor pictures that people are sharing!
Maybe more of a range is what is needed? Currently the 512 homes don't make sense unless you want to also own a plot in mainland or have a group to donate land to.

January 5

34 minutes ago, Nika Talaj said:

But I am also in total agreement, some sort of queue-shuffling or random selection needs to be added. In the past, I saw dedicated GOH players with a large number of alts claim and hold a number of homes, just to help others get to regions that were buried in the queues. I think the Chalet queues have sometimes been clogged with a number of less perfect homes, and that has stalled the Chalet uptake more than once.

I strongly believe that if LL ever closes the old LH regions, this phenomenon of getting the same unwanted home over and over will discourage a number of users from retaining their Premium memberships.

Yes, it wouldn't take long for anyone to get discouraged, especially if they can see prime property which is not being offered.
Maybe the Moles could go in and claim and abandon a raft of unclaimed chalet properties just to reset the queue? It would be a less risky strategy than messing with the coding.

...and then it occurs to me, maybe they already do this sometimes?

January 5

13 hours ago, animats said:

Yes, the switches and signals need work.

In practice, everybody uses phantom trains that pass through each other. Solid trains do work, but they are rare.

There's no good way to detect train presence for an entire block. Either you need active responses from all trains (the automatic trains on Heterocera do this, and there's a control center with a map in the tower at Cretopia Station), or you need detectors in each section of track, reporting to a trackside controller at the interlockings at both ends.

To make it work realistically, each siding would give you a green signal for exit only when the track was empty all the way to the next siding, and one branch at the next siding was empty. Then you could drive solid trains without conflicts. Sometimes, though, you'd be stuck "in the hole" waiting for someone else to free up the track section ahead.

For a real world view, see "Rail Cow Girl" on Youtube. Long cab videos from a train driver in Norway. Norway's rail system is almost all single track with occasional passing sidings, and you can see how a real railroad like that works. Opposing trains meet at sidings; the first one goes on the side track, the other one goes past, and the side-tracked train comes out.

It's do-able, and would appeal to the tiny number of people who read Model Railroader.

For now, I'd settle for someone making a track inspection vehicle that finds places where the guides are out of spec or switches are broken, so you could reliably drive phantom trains without derailments at broken switches.

This reminds me of playing with OpenTTD, quite an old game now but the signals really work and it is ever so easy to wind up in a complete jam with trains stuck in sidings.
With the ghost trains passing through each other, does this work for the passengers as well?

January 5

4 hours ago, SarahKB7 Koskinen said:

More bridges, tunnels and railways please.

Land vehicles should not be limited or trapped to driving in pointless boring circles around Belli, they should be able to drive outwards from Belli onto Mainland and vice-versa. They should be connected to the existing Linden Route road network.

I have been wondering about this, if there is a grand plan for more connectivity (subject to there being enough demand for the extra homes in Belli to fill the gap).
My mind could easily accept a car ferry if necessary.

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