Do we have an "SL-Killer"?

I'm in. I hope I get chosen for beta!

Thanks so much, Briana, for all your posts on this.

You know, the more I think about it I suspect that it won't take long to get a lot of content into BM starting out. If you go to http://renderosity.com/ (and there are oodles like this) it becomes obvious that there are a LOT of high-end hobbyists out there using real 3d programs to create some pretty amazing stuff. I would say that SL was just too basic for them to bother with but in Blue Mars they will be able to use their skills. There are a kazillion models out there already that could be imported into BM.

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I would be interested in a viable alternative given the way SL is going.

For a start - we're not allowed to be adults. A minority of people had a problem, so the majority will be treated like lepers and herded off to their own continent. And opposition to this has basically been ignored.

We're not allowed to gamble. In itself not a bad thing, but when sitting in a camping chair for 1L every 15 mins comes in to 'gaming' you have to question what is going on.

I get the feeling this is the tip of the iceberg, and that more and more things will be restricted in SL, and we will have to stop and think about our actions more and more (Will I be accused of gaming if I invite friends over to sit in my house? It will bump up the traffic even though I'm not interested)

SL is indeed the current market leader, and unfortunately like most, they fail to listen to what the majority of people want. The changes we don't yet know about are the ones that worry me, but not listening to what people want will only one thing - themselves!

I for one, would be very insterested in a World that allows you to do what you want on the land you pay for (within reason), that allows adults to be 'adults', that bans child avs (I'm sure most of these are used for innocent purposes - but in a adult world it just doesn't seem right and is open to abuse), that allows you to gamble your money if you want to - the list goes on.

I think SL is a great place to be, and for the most part I have no real problems, But I don't think we've seen the full extent of the changes that are being considered, and what concerns me most, is the inability to listen to what people want.

Don't expect to see much more freedom on any world hosted by a single company, especially one based in the US. They'll face the same pressures. Sure, different companies will deal with them in different ways, but the biggest difference will be for grids where there's no single point being held responsible for what goes on inworld: when the grid is more like the web than like a hosted MMORPG.

Unfortunately, I don't see how a non-centralized grid can protect content. I guess you can't have everything!

I think LL wants to move on beyond the fantasy and attract RL businesses and non-gamers who want to pay and make real money. It's the only way to grow. To do that it must polish up it's image. This means restricting adult SIMS for sure. Companies don't want their customers and employees visiting their worlds unless there are some limits to the distractions and 'silliness' for a lack of a better word.

This is good news for SL developers since the real money comes from businesses. And it will benefit the gamers too.

SL is a complicated product and I am amazed that one can do so much with so little. Also LL has a lot to worry about, even without competition. The users can just stop playing or being interested, the economy sucks, woke up with headaches. It's not a product that is a necessity (for most anyway), like say Microsoft Word is where you must own it and must use it (although the smart ones like me download openoffice )

Well Blue Mars has decided to exclude Mac users thus far. Brilliant, BM.

There are only two businesses, the business of entertainment, and the business of things. SL is in the business of entertainment. Eliminating the business of entertainment will not "make real money" for anyone.

Argent's right. LL is trying to attract the "business of things", but they don't put enough value on what we already have, the business of entertainment. SL has fundamental shortcomings as a business platform, but it's a terrific entertainment platform. LL keeps missing this key point of their own product.

That was actually a paraphrase of a Neal Stephenson quote from _The Diamond Age_.

Besides Maya and 3dsMax, Blender is one of the dropdown choices in the registration menu along with 'Other' and I'm sure someone on another thread mentioned they successfully used Google tools or some freeware like that to generate content for BM.


I'm sure that can't be right. Who would buy a product that might be deleted tomorrow? They must have some system whereby the original content file is maintained for the benefit of customers even if the Developer's account is closed.


But we can generate sculpties for free or next to nothing at least in SL? I don't understand why they should suck?

It seems it will be possible to model avs from scratch if I understand what they mean by 'character' files and if I can confirm that I will be there like a shot. My gut tells me that we won't be seeing a decent av mesh in SL for a long time to come.


This sort of control very much appeals to the illustrator in me so I have to have a look. Also, I think it's time I got to work on a project that gives a 'return' on RL. Familiarity with Maya or even Blender with its clumsy interface are skills that I can easily use elsewhere, which unfortunately is not the case with building in SL.

I think the only questions I have are about BM are the finances for land. I'm still not happy about having to go into business although I think that will be inevitable. Nevertheless I suspect it will be easier to generate quality products for that environment.

E. Drechsler
pp Ephraim Kappler

Note It's interesting that I can't post under Ephraim's account any longer. He has complained about the Forum system working like sh!t warmed up on a rusty pan recently but I don't think it has ever been quite as bad as this.

Could it possibly be something he said, I wonder?

Give them a chance Clarissa, they are only just begining, and have said that native Mac support will be added later, once the bugs are sorted out in the Windows software first. SL did not start out with Mac or Linux support from the off either.

Of course, BM CAN be run on a Mac, and I am sure you know how.

Rock

I disagree that LL is in the business of entertainment. They are in the business of delivering a virtual world where the residents can create worlds of their own accord. Being creative extends beyond entertainment and LL has recognized this and are projecting it into their growth plans. It is a known fact that they will be supplying SL as an appliance to customers. Allows customers to control the SIMs, guarrantee up time and access, bandwidth, etc.

If they dont do it someone else will.

darn, I thought this thread was going to be about a real serial killer like the Craig's List killer

*disappointed*

You mean like someone stalking the streets of San Francisco at night, knocking off the Lindens, one by one?

oh this is kind of interesting? when did this start to happen?

So do they, but the fact is that SL is poorly designed for business meetings and training compared to systems like Project Wonderland or Croquet. Obviously Linden Labs agrees with you, but that won't be the first time a company has been confused about the market they're in.

It's an ASSUMPTION that they will be delivering SL as an appliance. What's known of their actions doesn't really support that: they're still trying to sell SL as a *service*, rather than independent sims. They don't need to do any actual development to sell independent sims, they had that technology in 2005... so what they're developing is some kind of hybrid.

Because we can't create and edit them in-world. They break the creativity-as-a-social-activity that's a key part of the "worldness" of SL.

There.com killed it's self because of poor business model and terrible TOS policy. Having SL to migrate to and SL doing a lot more stuff right had a lot to do with There's demise. If we had no place to go to we might still be playing in There.

I have no reason to leave SL for more than a few months at a time due to RL. If however BM does more stuff right than SL....who knows?

That is so true. I actually left "There" in end of 2005 with an invitation to SL. I never came back to There and didnt miss it.

At first I did miss "There's" UI and SL seemed clunky to "There's" Flash driven smoothness. It didn't take long to adjust.

I actually posted to say "Summon me."

Amen, SL is anything but oppressive.

Handy

Other than the frustration of existing sex clubs and stores having to move I don't know why the "adult continent" bothers anyone.

So the adult stuff is moving to its own location. So what? Its still there, you're still free to partake of any kink your heart desires and aren't limited in the least.

I really don't understand all the fuss.

Handy

From the looks of it the new rating is actually freeing people to display their kinks in public on the new grid. Sounds like LL is taking away oppression (real or imagined) to me.

You mean like they can currently do (and in fact frequently do) in Mature regions RIGHT NOW?