Adjusting to 1.2

How are people adjusting to the new restriciton (prim limit) and newly lifted restrictions (height, luminosity, and volume)? Have any of these factors prompted anyone to make massive changes in builds, or is it pretty much business as usual?

Some of you know I have some possibly crackpot predictions about upcoming changes in SL architecture due to the 1.2 changes, but how's everyone else feel the landscape is gonna change? (If at all.)

Additionally, does anyone have any convictions about people who participate in auctions with RL cash? Some people I know anticipate some social stigma between SL purists and people who use their RL wallets in SL, and some people I know don't care either way. What do other people think? Is this a class struggle waiting to happen or a minor detail to be ignored? Will anyone act differently around someone who is known to have purchased a full sim with RL cash?

I plan to do a lot of watching to see how people react to 1.2 in their builds and relationships... and I don't expect all my predictions to be full on accurate or as extreme as I imagine. Still, I'd like to know what others expect to see out of these changes!

my 2c worth.

I was a little surprised to find that I was over my prim allocation. I thought I was pretty conservative with my current build. And I hadnt even finished it yet. Guess I'll be even more conservative, and scale it back somewhat.

New interface: some good things, some bad things. Popups are bad things. Frankly I would prefer to have the option to put notifications back in the chat.

Chat is too small even at large font size at the resolution I use.

And there is no way I will ever buy land in an auction. I'll just scratch around for whatever is available at the standard price. After all; land is editable. There isn't really all that much difference between one piece and another.

In summary; I guess it didn't affect me as much as it could have. But IMHO the Lindens have some work to do on a case by case basis to 'fix' what they have done to some people.

edit: oh yeah. and my inventory size about doubled with all the crap that got returned to me from all over the world.

SL's growth and success requires lowering the frustrations of newbies. Getting rid of the tax on rezzed prims allows them to play with that new car or gun they just bought with their last $200 Linden. And when a newbie gets around to buying a little land only to find that they can't even build a cube to sit on ... well you get the idea - 1.2 makes sure newbies get a fair and fun start.

Now the tough part:

I am not going to sugar-coat this.
Lifetime - Beta Members just got screwed.

For beta testers and Lifers, SL was a dream because there was no limit to how much land or prims we could own, as long as we could afford the taxes we could keep growing. Now in version 1.2 we have a finite land allotment and prim limit, unless, of course, we want to send Phillip more money each month.

I am hopeful that Linden Labs will create programs that allow other means of growth for us "Beta-Lifers" than our checkbooks. Respect Vets!

NEWBIES - I welcome you all and hope you stay and help make SL great. The changes that have taken place in 1.2 are probably in your best interest, and possibly mine, in the long haul.

Still, there may be a lesson here - a word of warning?
Don't get too wrapped up in what you think you have here...
Second Life is but a dream, just like your First.
What you have today can be gone tomorrow.
Enjoy the moment and above all, be nice.

Sinatra

Well, as a newbie I came in, bought a small plot of land on de Haro and put up the cabin that was already in my inventory. Since then I have enjoyed modifying and furnishing it.

However, as I discover now that my prim count is over 7 times as much as I'm now allowed, all that is going to change. Fortunately as I'm a lifer I will be able to up my prim allowance when I can find some land to buy, but for most newbies the situation will be much worse than the one I experienced.

I honestly don't see how that is in anybody's best interest.

Some of the new changes are great, the prim counts on land seem to be somewhat buggy and not wholy reliable. The new interface is good for new people and a step in the right direction for skinning and whatnot. The new framerate is good, always a good thing. I dont care much one way or the other if people pay with rl dollars, if thats what they have let them use it. 1.2 benefits a great majority which is a good thing, but now on to the second point.

1.2 is great for a good majority of people but 1% of us got shafted without warning or provacation and most of us with less than a kiss for thanks. I have to agree with Sinatra, the lifers and vets got the real short end of the stick, and as these are the people who obviously stuck around for a while (relatively speaking) this is the user base more likely to stick around, I sincerely hope the lindens make up in some way, or at least give us a kiss.

-Neil

P.s. forgot to add this earlier.

The lindens have done a good job of listening to user requests and we recieved a great deal of things with 1.2 that we had requested in the past, all in all, 1.2 is a great update and sl is still sl and thats what matters.

I'm a little screwed over by the prim limits... I had built my house almost wholey below ground and had a lovely park above my place. I thought it was nice cause I had my living space and also a public place with trees and flowers above... Now It looks like the park has to go so I can still have my couch and artwork on the walls.

Oh well.

Not the first time a park was demolished for progress.

Phoenix,

And of course it was your park, and all the other wonderful things that people have built, which make SL such a great experience for the users.

I really don't understand how diminishing that experience can do anything but harm.

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If I could have afforded a lifetime membership, I would have jumped at it in a heartbeat, alas I just cannot afford to plop down a large sum of money like that. Especially not around this time of the year. So I'm a lifer at heart, even though I pay monthly (and soon to be quarterly).

I was affected a great deal by 1.2. I had worked really hard to build the finances up to create a new community service project and bought the land in Olive to do it. Not only did I end up having to sell my land in Olive, but I also have to cut back a great deal on prims in my main place.

Thankfully, many friends have stepped forward and are going to allow me to do my comminuty project on their land. So I'll just be taking the show on the road. And thanks to the wonderful scriptors out there that I know, I can scale back the items in my Gallery and Boutique into vendor boxes. A splash of textures, a few nice plants, and I'll be back in business!

So yes, the changes affected me. But I feel that I can work around them. Doesn't mean I have to like everything about it though. Like I still feel the L$ cost for land is absurd, but I'll have to see how that plays out.

All in all, I am very excited about 1.2 because I *do* see the great things it is/will bring to SL. I put my faith in the Lindens that they will continue to work with us players just as they always have. As a collective community, I feel we can accomplish anything (within reason of course). So once the dust has settled, and we are a little more aware of just how 1.2 works, I have a feeling our arguments for certain changes will have more weight. I look forward to continuing to play SL for a long time to come!

Maxx,

You, and me, and everyone in here, are 'reality nesters' as you like to put it.

IMO it's those 'non-essential' items that make SL the great place it is.

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"'Reality Nesting' is something I coined to describe things I see in-world that are not art, they aren't what you'd call building architecture (though you may stretch it and possibly call it interior design...) they are just items copied from examples in the real world to continue a 'ship-in-the-bottle' existence in secondlife. " - Maxx Monde
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Thanks Maxx, for teaching us what is art, and what is not!
If you click on this link you will find an example of one of those "Reality Nesters"

http://www.uwrf.edu/history/prints/art212/andy-warhol.html

Second Life Reality Nester.
Sinatra Cartier

p.s. If anyone has ever enjoyed a ride in the spookhouse that used to be in the now defunct LindenWorld (replaced by a shopping mall, now that is art in progress) you may feel that perhaps a teeny weeny bit of artistry went into the creation of it ... even though spookhouse rides exist in the real world.

I know what Maxx is getting at. First though: everyone should be able to build whatever they want and call it whatever they want. But, I agree that just by copying the real world, we aren't really creating anything original. I'm guilty of it. I have some tables and chairs that I built. But, that got old quick for me. I would like to see more imaginative and non-reality bounded architecture. Or maybe just SL enhanced versions at least. * ramble ramble ramble * I guess what I'm saying is - don't limit your builds to your RL limitations.

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All, I know is I have to eliminate 1200 prims. If I hadnt received a lifetime membership at the last minute as a Xmas Present, I would have cancelled my account yesterday. Not sure what I am going to do in game now, sigh.

I feel for everyone who is undergoing prim surgery. Please don't think I don't! But, overall, I am still very pleased with the impact of v1.2.

Yes, in order to keep the Gallery and have prims to work with, I had to make some sacrifices. (In my case, it wasn't in world... I cancelled my NetFlix subscription to offset the cost of some additional land.) And, yes, I've already identified two projects I had hoped to do that I simply can't any more.

BUT I no longer have limits placed on me by the actions of others - only by my own actions. I am free to plan my builds around a reliable resource, rather than having projects come crashing down because of someone else's prim usage choices. I am free from having to worry if my new doo-dad is keeping someone else from building something better. To me, this benefit far outweighs the costs.

I realize this isn't true for all, and am sorry to those who are feeling real pain as their hard work comes to nothing and they have to rebuild. But I think in three months, once the pain has dulled a bit, we'll all see this as good for SL as a whole.

B

Maxx,

Well, the term 'reality nesters' has to me a slightly disparaging ring to it, and I'm not sure it's really justified. The person who paints a wonderful canvas and the person who builds a scale model of the Eiffel Tower out of used toothpicks are both children of the same muse. The only difference lies in the boundaries they set for themselves. I have been delighted by items in this virtual world and others, which have been based on RL items.

It is great if items in SL can transcend the first one, and become something truly new, but in my view this doesn't make the artful imitations of real items any less valuable.

Well said, Selador! Art is what we find beautiful - and often also disturbing, pedantic, confusing, or silly - and shouldn't ever be limited to one aesthetic vision.

** deleted **

Trying to tell anyone else what is art and what isn't is kind of futile. All the same, I agree with the sentiment about "reality nesters" It's not a matter of whether it's art or not, IMO everything we do here qualifies as art on one level or another. It's a matter of efficiency in creating the effect you are after. Can a home be just as homey with a 15 prim dining set as opposed to one that has 200 prims? Absolutely! This just forces people to reconsider how to use the resources available so that they achieve the maximum effect.

** deleted **

To me, it sounds like the overall feeling is that...

* Its a step in the right direction - because you can't charge a flat rate for something which isn't consumed at a flat rate.

* But the prim-per-square-meter ratio is way too low.

So basically, if the lindens managed to double, triple, quadruple, whatever, the amount of prims a sim or viewer could handle (perhaps with the next physics engine, or simply as time goes by as computers get faster), things will improve drastically.

Remember - computing power doubles roughly every 9 months or so!

The prim-per-square-meter ratio can only increase from here. I bet it will.

The land to prim ratio is just plain to low. Some of the Sims unless drastically changed will never allow users to get the prims that they should based on thier account. We are now being forced into doing things that we might not have done otherwise. The appeal that SL had before was freedom and that has been removed. And this is for the multitude of the people who for some reason believe that it's a waste of Sim resource to build homes...To me there is no difference between any build that has no real function other then looks.
I will not mention the huge list of things I have seen as a newbie that don't work or are mearly copies of things seen in RL that don't "do" anything. De Haro, Green, Brown, and Boardman we designed by LL to be residental areas. If you don't like houses take it up with them. But the sad part is those areas don't offer useless snips of land to buy in order to even build the dwellings that we made by the Lindens themselves.

If someone bought a whole sim and shared it, the way that Evie's group so admirably and graciously did with her island, I can't see why anyone should hold any negative opinions of them. They would be helping all of us, really. I guess if someone wanted a private sim, all to themselves, we really wouldn't much notice them, but it would be really wierd to see hermits in online communities, when they can skulk about in their own homes much more cheaply.

Really!?? Wow! I thought it was doomed... So awesome if it gets to stick around!