Frankly, LL, we don't give a damn?

If they had held it in Little Rock, Arkansas, I might have gone, if nothing more out of sheer curiosity. But then that's also a trip my hubby makes during the work week, so one day or more wouldn't hurt.

But pretty much anywhere else? Not going to remotely be able to afford it.

Current rumor has it that SLCC 2009 will be in Boston. That makes sense, as it's one of the large office locations for LL. It would be interesting to see a geographic distribution of SL users and see what would qualify as a "central" location for an event like that.

LL has far less participation in SLCC than you would imagine. It is a community-driven and volunteer-run event. LL was a "sponsor" but so were Eros (Stroker Serpentine's company), Metanomics, and a variety of other companies.



Over half of the sessions at SLCC this year were actually SLEDcc, which is focused on education in Second Life. You know all those colleges and other schools who are going work and teaching classes in SL? There is a large community of educators behind them who were interested in getting together and talking about their common issues and how to make that they do work better inworld.

Two years ago maybe.

I think a few of these options are true, plus as time goes on and you get more and more jaded with the lack of actual interest in player base ...

Plus, as my partner just remarked, people have realised they can't make money any more.

I actually don't want to meet LL these days, I'd have a rant and a half and I don't think I can even be bothered.

For me...

Cost
I went to the SLCC in SF in 2006. It was very expensive and, had it not been in my neck of the woods, I could not have afforded it. Cost of event + hotel + air fare would put it well out of reach. more so in this case, given it would be a cross-country trek.

Interest
While I would like to meet with others, the event seemed more geared to seminars and lectures versus meet and greet *except* for the fetish-y ball event which, IMO, would be a good place for th' kid to not be at.

Experience
When I went to SLCC 2006, I found it to not really be to my liking, for a lot of the stuff above in "interest." It really *wasn't* so much a convention to me as it was a seminar. I had a hard time seeing the value of the event then.

Furthermore
We exist in a virtual world, yet we go to "real life" events in order to get the inside scoop, to learn, to time bind? Isn't this fundamentally wrong, and doesn't this fly in the face of one's involvement with a virtual world?

Likewise, when you talk to me in world or even here, you get the person I wish to present to you, the being that best fits the person I want you to know in Second Life. Knowing the RL me may, in some ways, be an impediment to knowing the SL me.

Mari

Mitch and Co. are working on that.

QFT!

This is the first year I've missed an SLCC. I didn't attend this year partially because of work, partially because of travel costs, and partially due to a general lack of interest. If we had a Shelter convention, I'd probably have attended that instead

Location was it for me. I would have gone if it were someplace more interesting and closer to the West Coast. I think moving the event away from larger cities was a mistake.

New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, or Las Vegas really should be the prime destinations considered. Yes, the smaller cities are cheaper, but fewer people are interested in spending the money to go there just to drink a lot and hang out. Put the event back into a major city and you'll see attendance go back up.

Didn't know about it, couldn't afford it, and option 7 as mentioned above.

Also, #6 is wrong.

6 is not pie. Pie is three-and-a-bit. 6 is almost two pies.

I think that is what it was at the beginning, but this year's looked to me like most of it was about real-world-connected education or open source.

Not really much to do with the average resident. Course there was breakfast with M and breakfast with Philip, plus there was a non-official party that a lot of people liked.

But basically, the discussion panels don't seem to be relevant to me, as just a regular person with a little virtual business in SL.

I think that's the main problem. It's gotten too high-falutin'!

The cost of travel doesn't help.

coco

Yeah thats what I was thinking.

Some people are just too judgmental.

That would put SLCC on the same coast twice in a row, which was something organizers said they wanted to not do. It really is time for it to bounce back West.

You get Hurricanes in AK???




Ditto.

Dear GOD WOMAN!! You have never been to Pittsburgh!!!

Ok, we have lots of bars & clubs. But if you leave here hungry its not our fault!!

Besides- without the drinking, where's the fun???

Because America is after all the only country which might have people who would attend ...

/me shakes my head.

Fine. Make the next one in Brighton.

It's the economy, stupid. Individuals are struggling with the housing crash, the credit crunch, and rising unemployment. Rising fuel prices has made travel a lot more expensive, and Florida probably isn't close to as many residents as Chicago was so people faced longer drives. (On the other hand, flying to Florida tends to be cheap, and the hotel rates aren't as high as in Chicago.) Businesses aren't making large investments in virtual worlds right now.

A lesser factor; the prospect of traveling to Florida in the middle of hurricane season might have put some people off going. In fact, Hanna DID hit Florida right around the start of SLCC; it wasn't that big a storm and it went well away from Tampa so the impact was minimal, though I'm sure a few flights got delayed.

Dude, I spent a Winter in Pittsburgh doing television audio for the Penguins in 1990-91. Not. Going. Back. Ever.

How about Central Europe as i believe the Europeans make up the bigger chunk of the membership base and its cheap to travel here even for the UK crowd

yup.. Lord Sullivan.. and if they had had one in Tokyo or Kyoto i might have gone .. and a good few more of the asian invasion

SL not just in Kansas anymore Dorothy .. so i gonna hafta answer sushi.

LOL they should rotate it every year and not just rotate it in the good ole US of A the biggest player base is now outside the States

AR.. And when I was in AK (Alaska), we got the Pacific hurricanes. At least on the island chain my family was stationed at.

And it is true that by the time it reached Arkansas, it had downgraded to a tropical storm, but it was still named

Edit: I love screwing with telemarketers about the AR vs AK thing. They ask me, "AK?" I'm like, "Sure." It really is confusing.

I'm sorry - I didn't pick up on when LL prohibited any Europeans from grabbing some sponsors and organizing a European-based convention. Perhaps a residential based university with an interest in virtual world education or mixed media presentations as a co-sponsor with the students in those departments providing some of the RL organizing horsepower.

Having been involved in large bicycling and professional events (and two large professional bicycling events, but mostly as a gofer), I pretty much view complaining about someone not handing you an event as self-explanatory or self-fulfilling, depending on your disposition. Just speaking as usually either one of those 5% volunteers or the 15% that do gofer work, the other 80% complaining never impressed me much. Like bike racers complaining that there aren't enough officials, but they don't want to be one themselves, or complaining that the organizers never put a race in [fill in the blank], but never worked as an organizer...

A mix of 1, 2 and 3, I think.

I don't think many are interested in the stuff "behind the scenes" any more. They just want to be in-world.

Many also really don't care to meet the "real" people - it would shatter the illusion.

So it just becomes a low priority for most and with travel costs being so high, I think the general interest would be down.

All that having been said, I do know someone who attended this year.

LMAO I was making a comment, tongue in cheek, not complaining at no time did i complain, that was just your perception but thanks for making me smile. Personally and for the record I wouldn't attend even if they held the convention next door to me

Mind Cael doesn't tell you off for that comment like he did me and nah Brighton nudist beach is to stoney lol

I think the first three reasons are all likely, but that #3 and #2, in that order, were the biggest parts.

Travel is just too expensive in this tight economy, and who in their right mind would fly into the path of a hurricane? I'm not travelling to see my own relatives this year, let alone a bunch of strangers and casual acquaintances.

I also do think the concurrency numbers are sheer bull - heavily inflated by bots. And bots don't attend conventions.

Personally, I probably wouldn't attend an SLCC unless it was right in my own home town - and even then I would have to check my schedule to see if something more important was conflictig with it. Events like SLCC just don't rate that high with me in the first place.