Ever wear a box on your head?

Right now "packed" and "unpacked" Objects in Inventory look alike: a yellow cube.

So, sometimes I attach a bracelet, for example, and I get a bracelet on my wrist. Other times, I attach a bracelet, and I'm wearing a box on my head!

It would be great if Inventory Objects that were packed vs. unpacked were differentiated by a slightly different symbol. Perhaps making the Object cube two different colors would be enough.

Unfortunately, nothing in the asset system is capable of distiguising between boxed objects and not (or any other type of objects for that matter, ever rez a house on your head?)

im sorry but having it show 1 freacken different icon for items that contain content is nothing impossible intro, Lindens just dont get the simple stuff and make a game user friendly and keep people playing. 5% of 1,000 total accounts that play daily is nothing to brag about

The dance bracelet also contains inventory. That solution won't work under the current inventory structure.
Bitch at the creators for not giving the packaging a different name from the item.

This is one of those ideas that, on the surface sounds good, but when you think about it, it simply won't work without a major rewrite of the system.

Think of this like filetypes in Windows. All filetypes have an icon associated with them, which is assigned by the operating system (EXEs and shortcuts are the exception). You can change the icon in the operating system, but that change applies to all files of the same type.

In SL, each asset type has an assigned icon. Textures, snapshots, clothes, etc. Those icons could be changed by LL, but it would apply to all assets of the same type.

In the case of boxed vs. unboxed objects, there is no distinction made between them in the system. A boxed object is literally an object with an object inside. For comparison to the earlier analogy, it'd be like a regular Word file vs. a Word file with an image embedded. There's no difference in the system, since the distinction is entirely user-created.

In order to implement a distinction between boxed and unboxed objects, LL would have to invent a new object type, we'll call it "container". Say Mr. Content Creator wants to sell a boxed object, he'd create the box, check the "Container" option in the Edit box, and fill it with the items for sale. The problem with this is that it wouldn't be applied to items you've already bought, or items already for sale. Other types of checks could be implemented, in theory, but they would either be inaccurate, or far too difficult to make.

So, given the current lengthy list of Stuff To Fix for the Lindens, this should probably be left off entirely, or pushed low on the priorities. For now, perhaps you can make a folder to keep boxes in, and put the actual items elsewhere? Or just delete the box once you've emptied it? It doesn't usually take long for a new user to figure out how not to get a box stuck on their heads, it's one of those things that we all had to deal with, regardless of avatar age

Objects contain tons of hidden state including the last attachment point. Objects that are containers will have 'null' for a lot of this hidden state. This state could be made apparent to the users to hint that the object is a container and not the actual piece of jewelry, etc. Perhaps if an inventory item has never been worn before then the menu entry for attaching could say 'Attach 1st time' instead of 'Attach'. Or objects that have previously been attached will have an object icon that indicates that it is an attachment.

This approach has the problem that when you accidentally attach something (despite having this hint) it becomes contaminated with hidden attachment state that is meaningless and misleading. Perhaps there could be an 'Attach to nowhere' attachment option that leaves the object where it is and clears the hidden attachment state.

That works if we're only talking about avatar attachments. I've seen all sorts of things sold as boxed items, including furniture, vehicles, clothing, textures, and assortments of miscellaneous stuff. And, if the person is going by that as the criteria for what's a box, what happens in the case of a vehicle or furniture?

On the other hand, it would be immensely useful in other ways to have that data available, as well an option to clear attachment data. This, of course, begs the question "Why can't we adjust attachment points without actually attaching something?"

BamBam, would you mind making a new thread in this forum with this idea? It's an excellent suggestion, and should have its own discussion without getting caught up in this one.

I am no expert on the matter, but I have found a few business people who will use the term "Boxed" in their item description. Such as "Boxed Suit," etc.

I wish *everyone* would do this with their wares. Box Head is embarassing, lol!

Maybe a checkbox to indicate that an item is a box?

[points to his first post in the thread]

Yes, I was commenting on it!

Oh, man, I would love to be able to read (and set) this kind of thing.

Putting a box on your head is kind of a rite of passage in the game, I would be sad to see it go.

lol. i actually agree with Armandi here. I'd sad to see it go. But I like the container idea also...actually, i think it's something in LL queues already, isn't it? I've heard they're implementing it somewhere...

I quite like the idea of "purpose" metadata generally. I mean, clearly it has to be set by the creator, but "container", "vehicle", "weapon", "HUD gadget", "hat", "penguin", all with their own icons... it would be pretty, wouldn't it?

How about showing the "description" field as a hovertip in the inventory?

Being new top the game I personally would prefer it if containers were a separate class of object. Buy something in a box, right click on box in your inventory and pick 'unpack'. (There could be a hook to fire an 'on unpack' script.)

Walking around with a box on my head and being forced to the forums to find out how I get the objects I have purchased is not good.