Monorail

You know... I watch the Simpsons on syndication (three times a day, though I don't WATCH, it's always ON in the background) and wouldn't you know it... today had the monorail episode. Really makes you think.

If there is ever a retail-boxed version of SL, that must go on the box.

Of course, remember what happens when Lisa travels to Shelbyville, to find out what happened to *their* monorail-- it turns out the town's been ruined. They couldn't afford to keep it running, and the townspeople are all spitting mad at the guy who sold it to them.

Not that anything like that will happen to James, of course. Though I do wonder how people will think of the monorail, as SL gets more and more crowded with buildings, while the rail will still dominate the landscape. (New railway systems or freeways can devastate whole neighorhoods, or create whole new ones, IRL.)

What do you think Lifers will think of James' monorail, in say a year or so?

Actually it was Marge and not Shelbyville.
But it's an interesting question. I was asked by someone as I was talking about various attempts to make vehicles in SL as to why you'd need any in a world where you can fly around and teleport at will.
Because they're fun. Train rides, cars, boats... it's all about enjoying yourself. A system of teleportation booths might be a better answer for transportation, but I don't see a reason for the monorail to ever become a problem. In real life, moving from place to place can, take up much of your life but in SL you're free to just enjoy the ride.
Besides, we can always take the technology and make it into a theme park ride.

"Because they're fun."

Well i suppose some people may have fun scripting vehicles and moving objects, and some who have fun building them, and those who do both, but I can tell you from my experiences that, besides the aforementioned acts, i have never used one that i would call 'fun'.
You could say i'm overcritical, or could be using my time to help improve the circumstances rather than complain about it, but i though it had to be said. I other words, lets take elevators for example...Will they always be so kinda, funny? All that i've used seem to stop about a linen-foot short of the floor they're supposed to be going to. Like a sight gag in a film featuring lame elevators. It's either that or it's comming down on your head because you didn't realize it wasn't where it was supposed to be.

I don't see your point. So it's not working quite right yet. So what? A lot of people enjoy boats and trains and cars and aircraft and find them fun to use. The implementations may not be quite at that point, but the question was, "Why should anyone want to make it?" and the answer is "Because they're fun."

Ok, i was talking from the observer point of view rather than the creator. The monorail project/s that are going on, i assume are created more or less for public consumption. So their attention (the public) to it would become paramount to it's sucess. My point is if the application of the monorail is incapable of doing what it's designed to do (whatever that may be) if at the least being fun, which most vehicle scripts i've witnessed so far aren't, then no one is going to bother with it. I'm not saying don't put time into it if it make you happy.

I still don't see your point. My point was not from the creator's side, but from the consumer's. Again, while vehicles right now are pretty rough around the edges, I still think the demand for them (not JUST creating them, but using them as well) is high enough that we should continue to work on them. We're laying down the groundwork here. At some day, that monorail may become a roller coaster. We may have racetracks and... who knows what else? I think it's worth working towards.