Alternative to Sponsored Picks on eBay?

Okee, Phil, you asked:

Make an interactive map of the SL world. Make it zoomable, searchable by any number of fields.

Since each sim is the base unit of subdivision for our world, treat them as neighborhoods. Allow people to zoom in to neighborhood level, and see "what's going on" in this neighborhood.

"Wikify" the world-map, and tie each neighborhood in with a blog, and a way of listing attractions. Let the residents describe what's cool and what's not in their own neighborhoods. Give them an easy way of metatagging their attractions/builds/whatever with common categories, like "entertainment venue" or "retail establishment", along with sub-categories, i.e., "Clothing, vehicles, textures, art".

Only people who currently own a minimal amount of land in a sim (say, 512 m) may list attractions for there, or post to the blog. People's posts in the blog are permanent, even if they later "move" to a different sim, but their ability to post new content is tied in with their SL account, so if they stop owning land in Gray, for example, they may no longer post new content to Gray's neighborhood page.

Some neighborhood pages will become a journal of what's going on. Some will become a fantasy story, if it's residents are role-playing their SL existence. Each might have a unique flavor, depending on what the locals want to say about themselves and their neighborhood.

Make it possible to browse through the world-map, and easily add things to the "I want to see" list. Your shopping list is sent to you in-world, and functions as a sort of viewer widget; when you select it, it marks the map with pip-marks on the spots you want to visit.

Really, the only way to make a Top Picks feature infinitely scaleable is to make the tools for it, then let the residents build it up; much like everything else in Second Life. Don't make this feature into something at-auction, which will encourage survival only of the most economically viable (clubs, virtual merchants, etc). Instead, make it something that will have a nominal fee (upload costs for photos and such), but be available to all. Yes, some of the neighborhood blog pages will remain empty, if no one in that sim feels like contributing. The space should still be there for them.

One example:

I am looking for female av clothing. I go to the map, and narrow down my searches for Merchant/Clothing. I take a look at the example photos of things that present themselves, and mark 5 shops for me to visit in-world. The system remembers this, and when I next go inworld, the list is there for me.

Another:

I'm just sort of interested in exploring. I can browse through the neighborhoods, and just read people's descriptions of themselves, their builds, their locality. If something especially looks interesting, I mark it out for a later visit, and a week later, when I'm bored, I can call up my List in-world.

I like the sound of this VERY much, Unhygienix.

This is probably one of the most well-articulated ideas I have seen posted in these forums.

I love this idea!

that sounds very very cool. i like that idea allot.

with a system like that you could incorporate many of the find functions into the map directly (im not saying get rid of find, just add some of its functions to the map), not just search for say helicopters, but see where they are being sold then select them off the map for more info instead of a list.


jester

Not sure I'm on the same wavelength as you guys - but a thought occurred to me on how you might implement this:

I think a "Wiki" sort of model is a very good idea! Perhaps give each Sim a small file-size allowance to post a Wiki-like webpage. Make these viewable like notecards from within the map or some similar device.

You could limit the permissions so that only land-owners in the Sim have the ability to edit the page(s). You might still have intra-Sim squabbles; and some areas might break down into mindless advertising of shops, so this isn't a perfect solution... But I like the direction this suggestion is headed! (Quick Follow-up Idea: maybe provide "X" lines of text / attachments for each land-owner, with "X" being some formula related to the size of the land-plot they own?)

If its no too much hassle for LL in upkeep, or too much of a tech headache to implement it, then it would certainly help groups of land-owners provide a sense of unity & culture for their Sim - make it feel more like a "neighborhood", hopefully - as well as informing people about "hot spots" to check out.

Just when I've gotten tired of the crazy bickering on the forums, someone comes along with a cool idea... awesome!

Take care,

I'd like to throw my support behind this idea as well.

I'm uh... I've already started on a new thing. To help ... find stuffs.

It's hmm... secret for now. Details to come in a couple weeks as I get a prototype.

ENDORSED!

Excellent idea, that would sooooo useful.

Sounds cool, I would like to see something like this implemented.

Let me throw one more thing into the pot:

Let said concept map also be accessible via script.

Who edits these neighborhood blogs? Or, since I own a prop in a particular sim can I clutter up the blog with whatever I want without fear of reprisal (short of slander). If I can't, who is going to tell me I can't and who is going to edit my remarks. A lord blogger for each sim?

I think that an idea like this has potential but the problem is that there are a core group of inmates here who will take every good idea and turn it into how Times Square looked 15 years ago -- a cluster fuck. If the answer is committees or any type of self-rule then the idea is not worth pursuing. If that means the Lindens will take care of it, one only needs to look at the inconsistent moderation of these forums to know that won't work.

Sorry to be a wet blanket but the reality of implementing such a thing, great as it really does sound, is not a promising one.

Short of slander, you'd be able to post whatever you like, but I would put limits in place to prevent spam.

Not that LL is planning on adopting this idea, but I'd make it so that each resident of a sim must own at least 512 m sq in the sim in order to be eligible to post at all, and be limited to one post per day and 2 photos per day.

Yes, this would mean that a real-estate developer could advertise once per day, every day, for their land-for-sale in that sim.

Yes, it might mean that infighting and gripes about neighbors would make it to the blog.

Yes, it might put HAMLET out of a JOB! (GASP!!!) Well, ok, maybe not quite.

If each sim has a filesize allowance, you could make the amount each landowner can contribute proportional to how much land they own, if you wanted to, though that could cut down on collaboration between groups sharing a themed sim. I'm more optimistic than Bruno, though (regarding just about everything, as far as I can tell). I think it would work pretty well as originally proposed by Unhygenix, with the "scriptable" addendum suggested by Jeffrey.

In any case, I think better listing/searching tools in-world are needed, possibly with the eBay/Slashdot-ish customer rating system suggested elsewhere. There is overlap between the two ideas (wiki and rating), but I think both are good. They complement each other.

And I think it would be worthwhile to be able to list and search for services as well as goods.

neko