poll: why don't you visit the city sims?

IS it lag, or lack of anything to do, or too slow on the client, or what?

Just wondering. The city sims are quite dead, considering they should be an urban hotbed of shenanigans.

LF

Au contraire, LF. I regularly see a steady stream of people at Tiger's (free) apartment complex across from my land in Miramare. When I hang out at my place for an extended time, a few of them stop by occasionally to visit, ask questions, bounce me with scripts (not that often, fortunately), etc.

Give'em a reason to visit you in Grignano and people will; hold events, offer building classes, give away stuff, organize some sort of gathering place like a shopping area or impromptu sandbox, or whatever.

If you want "shenanigans," don't stand around and bemoan the fact that nobody is performing them, execute some yourself.

LF: its has a lot to do with client side FPS. I dont like going there for the simple fact it takes forever for everything to rez (network related), and my fps drops to 2-3fps clientside, which makes it all very pointless.

Also, there is no true attraction to the city - the biggest thing I remember there was the level(?) of jays I think - however the complete lack of framerate turned me away.

It is the lag...im sure...

LF we had a thread going for a while, and i know Salazar, Pendari, and Marcos were also interested in helping (maybe others but those are who i recall). I forget who, but we did have someone plot out the owners of all the plots as well. We need to make an effort to cut down on clientside lag. I have been starting with my own build...trying to reduce texture count and prim count, as well as scripted items. Still not done, and i would really like it if someone could help me with autorezzing objects. I have a couple effects but dont want them on all the time...just for parties. Anyone interested in assisting with the script work will be compensated

Yes Chage, the LeveL did bring some traffic, although some of our neighboring owners didn't like the regular issues with not being able to get in the sim, which i can understand. On the flipside - the city needs traffic to be a city. I will be having some events soon, just not frequently. If it isn't my club, I would still think that several of our creative owners in the sims could also have some events/attractions to get more people in.

Pendari hasn't had an orignal's only for a while, those were always a success. There is quite a bit of shopping in the area, and Luna borders the city, perhaps the retailers could organize a shopping day with some incentives.

Let's coordinate and do this...i am still interested in assisting in any way i can and will make time for this.

I have to admit, I'm not at my apartment all the time but I am here almost every day at some point. My husband and I are on the first floor of the Brownstone West building in Grignano.

Almost every time I arrive I find my front and back doors wide open, as if someone had just popped in to look around and then left. I always close them before I leave and wouldn't you know it... they are almost always open when i return.

I work occasionally in the cafe on the ground floor and will sometimes have a couple or a group of friends stop by to sit and chat with each other. Every few days I meet a new resident who is exploring the city and has questions about where to go and what to do.

So there are people here. Perhaps just not a whole bunch all the time. It is much quieter than it used to be. I don't know about the other areas of Nova Albion as much (Sistiana, Barcola & Miramare), but Grignano isn't a real hot spot. I recall reading about a club in Barcola that was quite a popular place. Unfortunately the limits of the Linden's technology seemed to contribute to poor performance in that area of the city when many were gathered there.

There have been some boutique shops and a few casinos in Grignano since the city was rebuilt. Just recently I have noticed a few new stores in The Brownstone East and a new Christmas store next to Park Avenue Designs.

The city used to be much more vibrant. Before The Erase, there used to be thousands of people living and working in Nova Albion. Back then, I worked at the city paper as a photo journalist and did some freelancing on the side. People would go shoping, enjoy a nice meal out and then take in a show or concert. There were museums and art galleries with wonderful exhibits to explore. And the traffic... why you could't cross the street without almost getting run over! I very rarely see a car on the road now. I remember sitting out on summer evenings and listening to bands play in the park... so much fun... so long ago.

I hope it will be that way again someday. We have been trying to get the museum rebuilt on the corner next to the Brownstones. It is difficult as there is almost nothing that has survived. I have a few photos with it in the background and some memories of being inside, but that's it.

This world is a different place now. The Lindens have done an admirable job opening up some of the old areas for us to live and work in but, as i said, there is a limit to what they can do. And the work they have done is not always the most stable. I worry about having to rely on so much technology to live here. But this is my home and I wouldn't want to have to leave it again.

Hey Chage, are you the maker of the beloved YIPMEN FROM MARS? I IMed you about it a little while ago. I really enjoy them and have been trying to find out who made them since I saw them let loose in the Morris Sandbox.

As for city sims... I really like the notion of a crowded virtual city, because while roaming islands and stuff is pretty much bog-standard in the whole MMORPGsphere, the technical challenges involved with a bustling metropolis makes things all the more harder.

For example, I like visiting Gibson -- as a futuristic cyberpunk city -- but where's everywhere else? I like my solitude, but there are times when I'd like to travel and meet other people. (This is the metaverse, the matrix, etc... where do all the cyberpunks hang out?)

Also, I take frame rate into account too... when things drop into the lower single digits because of high prim count, then that makes things unpleasantly. Especially when one is trying to scoot around the road system on an automobile of some sort, it does get quite frustrating and jarring. Not exactly an ideal way to "see the sights" unless parts of the grid could be "locked" from editing (albeit temporarily) so they didn't have to be dynamically compiled on the fly, and thus, loaded quicker. Or some sort of more effective preloading system. I don't know how the works works, but like the sage advice of Popeye the Sailor Man, "I yam what I yam", and similarly "It is what it is".

LF for me it is mostly a lack of things to do there. I have been kinda busy lately and that has also contributed.
I miss The Level, and going to the events that Silent Lament had, and Grace hasn't added anything new for awhile... kinda sad thinking about all of it.

It IS pretty quiet in the city sims which is too bad since I think they are really neat. Most of the people who have land there have done a great job with their builds. I love going to them and getting ideas and wishing I had land there...even though it takes about 7 years for everything to rez.

You are posing the wrong question, Lordfly. You are asking me why not, well, I ask you why. Why should I visit the city sims, as opposed to, say, everywhere else? I normally move for one of two reasons, attending to my customers or paying my friends a visit. They are both about people, not builds.
If I happen to feel like visiting someone who is at the city, I will. I will visit that person, and not the city specifically. At the end of the day, its just another giant mishmash of prims.
I understand that not everyone is like me, but since I am not a mind reader, I present you with my personal point of view

It's that damn refinery.Polluting the waterfront like that, I say it must end!

Curmudgeon that I am, here's my two cents worth.

I don't go because it offers me nothing of interest.. no events, no attractions, no things once seen that are going to draw me cak. I don't go because they are dead areas.. and if not dead in terms of lack of av's in the at the times I visit(ed), then there were either issues of lag or a perception on my part of cliquishness by those I saw and/or met. So, I had no reason or little reason to return.

That probably sounds nastier than it is meant.. Guess what,,, it;s pretty straight-forward. That's all. I return to places with something to offer me - if the same thing is offered without change, over time, I will eventually cease to return. The city sims have offered exactly the same lack of interesting things for me since I joined. My interest was never peaked and it has waned over the few times I have visited. Now I visit them as measures of last resort....

Doesn't mean it/I can't or won't change.

If anyone wants the nickel tour of my place in Miramare, just send me an IM. Sometimes I can be found up at 500m working on something.

LF,

Going into my 2nd month in-world and this is the first time I hear about the 'city sims'.

Maybe nobody outside of the vets knows about them? The world is getting too big to fly into something by accident. There has to be an event or a reason to get people there for the first time.

I took note of Miramare and Grignano. I'll go take a look.

Thanks for the tip. Always good to find new places.

-tito

I have a small house in Grignano. For some reason, the door is always open when I visit it. Urban squatters?

I know 'Siggy Hulk' goes around the city every now and then.. thats only because it's fun to jump from building to building across the sim..

If the buildings were higher then I would go there to base jump... as it is I never get up to max 'thrillseeker' speed before it's time to open my parachute.

Long ago I ran my jeep up the side of all the bigger buildings in the city..

dunno, theres not much 'grab' for me there - I used to go check out the Red Light District.. watch to see if the firemen set any more buildings on fire... lots of fun..

I guess theres nothing happening there at the moment that piques my interest.

Siggy.

Thanks for bringing this up for discussion again, Lordfly. I would definitely love to see the city become a much more valuable destination for folks and a place that people would want to call home.

Three things jump out at me after reading the posts so far in this thread.

1) People need to be aware that Nova Albion and it's associated city neighborhoods exist. Inworld Marketing.

2) There needs to be compelling reasons for people to come to the city and to return in the future. Engaging Content.

3) There needs to be a concerted effort on the part of all city dwellers to make the neighborhoods as easy on the Lindens' technological infrastructure as possible. Efficient use of scripts, textures, prims, etc.

I love what Eggy had to say:


People are the most compelling reason to do anything.

One of the first things we, as city parcel owners, can do to make this a popular place is to spend more time here ourselves. There's nothing better then walking into a store or building and encountering the owner or residents there. Make some connections. Give people a good experience and a reason to return.

The refinery must be causing some of this unpleasantness as I'm sure the smell is a bit much for most people to take.

Marcos' ARMORD Laboratory is a must see. As a matter of fact I will be dropping off an old map for him to analyze for me. The map belonged to my great grandfather and includes some faint writing that I have not been able to decipher. Hopefully his equipment can help me make more sense out of it.

Mom has been a big help at the cafe (Cafe Jack in Grignano). She is usually there in the afternoons on Saturday and sometimes during the week in the evenings. She is a great person to talk to if you want to know more about the city before The Great Erase.

Jay, Lordfly and other interested parties, I'll try to hook up with y'all soon and get a discussion going about where to go from here. Perhaps a meeting of city parcel owners to get acquainted? Which neighborhood has the highest server FPS at the moment? That may make it a bit easier to meet.

I have been neglecting my 3D city model and will make an effort to update it and make it more useful. Currently it's at Grignano (71, 126). My plan has been to place a few copies at key high traffic places inworld to help draw attention to the city. Lumiere Noir has agreed to place one at the Ivory Tower Library of Prims. (At least I think he did. I better ask him again to make sure!)

The museum we are trying to restore is the Nova Albion Museum of History and Antiquity on the corner by the bridge from Grignano to Sistiana. This museum will be showcasing the history of the city specifically and, to a certain extent, the areas outside the city before The Great Erase. As Mom said, there is not a lot that has remained from that era. So it's not an easy task. I did find a photo that Beryl Greenacre had posted a while back that showed some of the ruins found in the city when it was rediscovered by Magellan Linden. I am hoping to get the Lindens to give us some of those ruins for a future museum exhibit (featuring the past!).

Oz Spade and crew are doing an excellent job of chronicling the history of this place after the Lindens reestablished contact here with their Second Life technology (Second Life Museum in Phobos). So we won't be focusing so much on that aspect in the Nova Albion Museum. If anyone has any leads on pre-Erase objects, places or information, please contact me. I'd love to review them and see if they would be appropriate for the museum.

Thanks!

That's really well said, and y'know, I'd like to live out part of my Second Life in a YUGE, Trumpian hotel room that's busy and non-laggy, hanging out with other guests and going to the banquet hall and conventions held in said hotel and stuff, and just mingling around whenever and maybe even grabbing a virtual cup o' joe and a newspaper to read and sitting upside-down. Maybe even playing the grand piano in the atrium, or whatever that place is called. I'd like to go to the virtual washrooms just to see all the marble and gold ornaments-n-furnishings, and say "Excuse me!" politely to a fellow guest-slash-resident as I walk on by out the door. I'd like that.

I really do crave that atmosphere. I wonder if an entire building like that could take up an entire, or almost an entire sim... with newsstands (saw a nice one at Midnight City I think!), hotdog marketers, and maybe even endtime preachers strolling the blocks. Watching cars go by and observe traffic lights, observe the porta-stockbrokers on their benches calling out "BUY!" and "SELL!" and "I NEED LUNCH! A POWER LUNCH!" alternatively, and just taking in the city sights while looking beyond the buildings. Something futuristic like an oblique New Rose Hotel yet retaining the charm of "the old world".

That would be so ace.

This is actually very close to how my own reaction was -- exactly the reason I clicked to read this thread in the first place.

Perhaps there is also a glut in the "land to people ratio" right now so, overall, people are spread out more than they used to be. This probably helps lag, but it would also reduce large gatherings without an event to bring people. I rarely see more than a few people in a sim. Some have 10-20 at times. Maybe I'm just not looking around at the right time.

There's also so much more to explore that people will spend time roaming about and not idling in one area.

It all makes for some interesting studies in community behavior. Large cities have died off and spread out to sprawl areas in many communities with big box strip malls. That's not too different than what's happening in SL.

LF - Same Here, I've been in SL for 4 months now - the TP has been pretty hosed, and flying around has been painful too for some reason. I seem to get stuck between sims and have to log off and back on so many times I say the heck with it and stay home & make plants.

But as Tito said, I have noted Miramare and Grignano and I'll go by and look.

Rose

Upon noticing this thread, my initial reaction, like some, was "city sims? *scratch head*" I'll swing over and check 'em out. thanks for letting me know they're there

Something else I've noticed is that the land around the teleport spots seems to have turned into small cities.

They don't usually have much residential area, though. Maybe they're just strip malls, in the end. A full service city could certainly grow around them, though.

i would like to apologize. i had/have plans for three different structures in the city and have had these plans for.. umm.. months?

i got wrapped up in side projects for awhile.. then RL through me into a tizzy, seeing my time spent almost exclusively away from my comp (which also explains my absence from the forums).

i'll be back in full-swing, well maybe half-swing, very shortly. i have recently acquired a comp for my other place of residence and should be set up within the next couple of days.


in case anyone is wondering, my plans include:

. Erga Obinex - headquarters
. Erga Arcinex - headquarters
. (unnamed) - coffeeshop/gallery/store

Hurry up already.

LOL Marcos...btw i love your ARMORD facility changes as of late...spent a while looking around...love your work!

You stay on your neighbor Cybin and once again i will remind two of mine...well at least put in another page to them...

Silent Lament...any updates as to your status these days?
You and I briefly discussed a possible sale and id be more then willing to develop them into city themed builds that could be attractive. Lemme know bud

Paging Taessa Weaver...has anyone seen her??? She has more crap in her airspcae above her cathedral/pixeldolls locale in Barcola that has been accidently left, including airplanes, a scanner, and a few other misc items that appear to be above her land, although perhaps it could be Linden Land. Just cleaning it up would be great, and if she ever wants to abandon it...I'd love ot make her an offer as it would actually allow me to rebuild Knox Tower, into the original thought, Knox Tower(s) with taller building, skybridges, and much more detail with space for a few of the interior options ( and of course id let her have vendor space for PD displays free of charge...i jsut want active owners around

and finally...

Linden Labs...can you please set all your Governor Linden land in the city to at least autoreturn after a specific duration of time. I have seen qutie a bit of litter lately, sometimes objects with changing textures, scritps, and spam. Would love to see a city wideclceanup effort. Once of my initial draws was back when the owners were around, it stayed fairly debris free. ITs looking like a ghost town/sandbox these days.