* Community - I have tinkered with a few other online games as I have been intrigued by the "virtual world" concept - the SL community is really great. Helpful and intelligent . Probably because not everyone on here is running around trying to slay orcs or something.
* Creativity - probably the greatest strength as it seems SL is almost entirely based on this. My suggestion/thought here is that it may be nice to have a few areas where certain types of architecture, for example are allowed exclusively- I know there are some examples of Venice, Italy and I believe Las Vegas but, they are closely neighbored by all sorts of other non-related buildings, billboards, etc. - I was thinking that a interesting community project or "marketing" tool for press and public relations use for this game/vritual world could be to take a famous small city - Florence, Italy, for example and recreate it in a highly accurate way - perhaps vote on a committee of local government and all works built, i.e. "Ponte Vecchio" bridge would have to good enough to be utilized - if not, then the builder(s) either have to re-work it or it gets entirely rejected. I do understand that governing is not something that is liked on here and I'm not necessarily wanting that, but, from a personal aesthetic standpoint, I do see some great and creative houses, buildings, etc and then a giant lollypop or something next to it and it SOMETIMES kills the ambience for me.
* Graphics - I have a P4 1.7mhz machine with a 64MB GEForce3 card - not cutting edge anymore but certainly not the worst. I find the graphics on here to be overall a 7.5 out of a 10. The recent patch definitely has made the land much more realistic. I hope, as time goes on that some of the newer technologies being utilized in other online games will be looked at for terrain and water...especially water....when I see the water on here, it reminds me of 3-4 generations past in terms what is done. Another game coming out in the 1st quarter which I have been following is a game called "Pirates of the Burning Sea" - it has some similar aspects to SL in that you must have broadband to play it and the bulk of content will be delivered only via online - also, it won't be available via retail stores - stricly online - I believe they are using Steam technology for the distribution. I don't know if this will appear but I will try and paste a picture of their water:
* Building - very intuitive and smart - it takes some getting used to and I'm no expert, but, the built in tools are well thought out.
That's my .02 for now - thanks to everyone I've met and the assistance - I look forward to a long and fulfilling SL experience.
regards,
Steven Tigereye
