Questions about prim limits in Olive

How will prim use be controlled? Self-policing? Oversight by Lindens? The way the sim is coded?
How about the possibility of trading or selling prim rights? If someone didn't need or want as many prims as they're entitled to, could they pass those rights to a neighbor? Does prim trading interest any Olive residents (at least in theory)?

The number of prims you are allowed to use is limited by the proportional amount of land you own. This will be monitered by Lindens.

Check the orginal announcement here for more details.

I for one think this is great. I would use a better word than great but I don't have my thesaurus handy.

I am liking the idea of it myself. If for no other reason it makes me really want to experiment with seeing how few prims I can use to make a desired object. And that skill will help me no matter which Sim I build in.

I would LOVE to see more Sims with the Olive prim limit model! It was because of this that I purchased land for the Bhodi Tree Artists' Colony in Olive - by keeping the number of permanent prims at a minimum (max of 25 for a stage and an information kiosk) I can always assure that the artists working there will have a prim allowance.

I have bought land before in Sims that quickly filled up with private houses taking up FAR more than their fair share of prims. In some sims, such as Slate, the residents quickly got together and voluntarily solved the problem by deleting purely ornamental, high-prim objects. In other sims (I won't mention any names - if it ain't positive, best to keep it anonymous) residents hoarded prims intentionally. (I once found a 140 prim object comprised of tiny little cubes... I asked the owner what it was... (s)he said it was a prim cache JUST IN CASE she wanted to build something later... last I checked, it is still there, although the player no longer logs in to SL...)

I'd like to see a variety of new Sims that adopt the Olive model. I'd also like to see some of them be "prospecting" sims - in which plots are small and owners can buy no more than one - to leave some land open to newcomers.

And, as a final thought - we should all look at our builds for "prim bloat" if we're in sims that are filling up fast. Do you really NEED that 50 prim chair with all it's fine detail? Remember, the joy of SL is in creating - and if we keep newcomers from being able to create, we'll grow stale fast!

Bhodi

Rawk on! Prim bloat will always be an issue, but we can always check for more. Although having a 50 prim chair is definitely a tad excessive, it's a delicate balancing act between making things look awesome, and not take an exhoritant amount of prims to pull off.

I agree that should the Olive prim usage model be repeated elsewhere, everyone would be given an equal chance to build. Right now there is land that is in 100% prim usage sims, so this model would definitely alieviate that pain.

Sure, we'd lose some of the massively detailed houses/objects in the game, but the tradeoff for easing new users into land/home ownership is a much better payoff.

I, for one, welcome our new prim-usage overlords!

<whine>
how about the lindens just get better servers to handle more prims? why should we be limited to 10,000 per server?
</whine>

I'm worried that I may have used too many prims, anyone know a way to check how many prims I used on the land?

This is just a guess, but if each sim were a 3 rack beowulf cluster (that is, really big machine) there would still be the problem of getting all those prims down to your - and 300 other people's - desktops through the soda straw that we call the Internet. Frankly, I'm amazed that I can pull 500kbps across the country on a sustained basis. Increase the prim limit by 10 times and I don't think you'd like the result.

Yeah, we would have to wait for OC's being pumped into our houses before that would be possible. Although, I like the idea for the beowulf cluster. Could make some really nice scripts with that.

A very good point, Malachi.

Hehe Mal, you should try across the atlantic!
One soon gets used to a ping of 250+...I wouldnt want to get any slower than that lol.

I think the prim limit in olive is a great idea - hmm... hope I still feel that way in a weeks time

I have mixed feelings about prim limits. [Full disclosure: I'm a resident in Olive, Clementina (full up on prims now), and Taber (getting fuller).]

On the one hand, I understand people's desire to get their fair share, and am enjoying the lack of pressure to build before it's too late in Olive. The limit also adds an interesting challenge to building.

On the other hand, I would not want to see limits imposed worldwide. I would hate to see creativity stifled in that way -- everyone brought down to the same level of density. I love seeing beautiful, highly detailed work in the world, and would hate to lose that. Also, I would hate for the creators of such wonderful work to be "shut down."

I'm just saying that a mix of restricted and unrestricted sims would be ideal. I'm not trying to have my Olive cake and eat it too.


Ok, one last thing...the question at the tail end of my original post....prim rights trading? Thoughts, anyone? No? Oh, that's ok then.

I see it as a creative challenge to do more with less and build more efficiently. It's also a form of philanthropy, whether you're artificially limited or not, to conserve community resources.

Artemis: Try going into edit mode and dragging a selection box over everything on your land. The general tab should then show the total price. Divide by 10 and that's how many prims you have used.

You're one of those immigrants from Slashdot, aren't you?

Lets all chip in and raise $5 mill for Linden Labs to buy 1,101 Powermac G5's. Then the world will be huge and it will be the third fastest super computer in the world. (The current 3rd fastest supercomputer has 1,100 Powermac G5s.)

And the mac client would still probably be in testing.

Yeah... Let us know how that goes, Tiger.

I agree with you, Julian. I'm not advocating careless and unnecessary use of prims.

Different builders may have different styles. Some may want to build simple, elegant, low-prim-density structures. Others may want to build detailed, intricate structures. I'd prefer to maintain the freedom that allows a diversity of styles. I think SL would be a blander world if everyone were FORCED to conform to the same restrictions. While conserving community resources is admirable, it's also in the community spirit to give the talented detail-oriented builders their freedom. Prim abusers are worth the price for that freedom, in my opinion.

That's why, if worldwide restrictions WERE implemented (and I doubt they will be), I would want to see a system that allows transfer of prim rights or something comparable.

I know this topic is being batted about in several threads right now. Things are tough all over and it's worth discussing. (If anyone's keeping a tally, put me down on the "more freedom = better" side.) My guess is that when new sims are brought online and when Havok 2 is put in place, this will become less of an issue, if not a non-issue. At least for a little while.

I think I'll compile a 'Top 10 Worst Builds' of Secondlife. The focus will be on - Bad primitive alignment (causing z-depth strobing), Awful texture use, and sprawling monstrosities. Obviously the builds that coincide in all categories will rate 'higher' in awfulness than others.

Should be illuminating.

You mean "illuminating" as in the phrase "forum flamewars are illuminating"? You are a brave AV, Maxx.

I know, it sounds inflammatory - but really, I think the general consensus will lean my way.

This thought occured to me while flying around - when I hit what I can only describe as the 'Massive Temple of Plywood'.

I was aghast.

I'm sure there are more out there, so the idea was born.

I fully support Maxx's idea! Every industry has inside critics. I would love to see a detailed critique of builds.

Maxx, you could be "Maxx Monde, Architecture Critic".

I'm of course NOT saying I build better than anyone else, I just have certain minimal standards. Like say, not making your entire structure out of the default plywood texture. Or moving primitives in such a slipshod way that they continually 'jitter' as you change your position relative to the building.

I don't think that new people or just someone trying to make a small shack are horrible - only the large, sprawling resource-hogs that I see occasionally.

I'm only trying to raise awareness of how NOT to build something, is all.

Of course, I completely realize that people may feel I build like crap and my opinion is similarly flawed, but I'm willing to live with that to expose what I see as parasitic jumbles of primitives.

Maxx, maybe your critiques could teach something about better building habits. I've been using a lot of transparency and curvy twisty shapes because I like the look, but I do tend to give the renderer a hard time. I wouldn't make your 10 worst list but if you have constructive thoughts, I'm happy to volunteer to be your first victim!