The desperate need for self regulation of users in Second Life

Since I've joined SL, I've started a successful and responsible business and have been for the most part, a strong proponent of a lot of LL's decisions. Unfortunately this isn't one that I wholly agree with, and feel all options are not being explored nor are addressed properly.

The issue with Open Space sims is that yes, the majority of them are being sublet and overused. The issue of simulator load is not limited to the issue of the number of active scripts in the regions, but moreso, the amount of load that individual avatars themselves place on sims.

It has been requested many times, but Second Life has been in dire need of a way for Estate owners and end users to monitor the amount of load they have on a simulator. When an avatar with 1000 attached prims and 70 active scripts attached to their avatar (this is not unique) enters a sim, the region's time dilation takes a big hit. This is exacerbated in Open Space simulators.

There are currently no ways for avatars to effectively monitor and self regulate the load they place on the grid, other than guesstimates from the Statistics window. The Statistics window is in no way intuitive for even many seasoned SL users to understand. The only way a simulator owner can monitor how much load an avatar is placing on a sim is in a roundabout way, by having them sit on a prim with a New script placed inside, so that the avatar links themselves to the prim, and they show up on the Top Scripts Estate Tool, something only the sim owner can see.

There are many possible solutions to the Open Space issue, but also many new issues that arise with enforcement of them. Increasing tier costs does not address the issue of avatars overloading a sim.

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS:
Limit the number of agents allowed in an open space simulator.

Issue: One avatar that is overloaded with scripted objects (huds, shields, AOs, etc) or prims can easily overload a sim, whereas 5 responsible avatars could have a smaller impact than that one avatar. This is not unlike the 'problem' of Open space simulator use-- it is a select group of users taking advantage of available resources, on a micro level.

Workaround: Allow avatars to monitor the script and prim load they place on a server, by adding functions that allow users to see how much of the sim's resources they are hogging.

Limit agents in simulators based on their individual script load.

Issue: Content creators have no way of accurately monitoring the script load their scripted objects create, short of being very savvy users who know how to properly test and benchmark using the Statistics window, and/or being an Estate owner who knows how to properly use Estate Tools. Again this is an issue of users having little to no options for self regulation.

Workaround: Allow users to monitor the performance of scripted objects that they create/own.

Monitor simulator load in Open Spaces and raise tier only on those who exceed a publicized load average.

Issue: Simulator load is largely based on the load the avatars place on it. A malicious end user could sabotage a simulator and raise their tier fees by loading it down with high lag avatars and bots. While these kinds of malicious users can be banned, not everyone has the time for such a high level of micro management.

Workaround: The SL client already collects simulator load data for the performance and reliability metrics that are published monthly by LL. Providing this average time dilation metric to estate owners through the client can help bring their sims into conformity with some kind of Open Space sim standard. Allowing sim owners to filter users in the sim based on their individual script load can help with this, but again, can only be considered fair and justifiable when end users and content creators have the tools necessary for self regulation.

Only allow Open Spaces to be adjoined to regular sims

Issue: The majority of Open Space simulators in the grid are placed in these OS rental groupings that have them placed two spaces apart from each other to cover the most ground. While I feel that this is abuse of the system, changing this would force a lot of people out of their homes, end users who are renting from these estate owners cannot be expected to stay active in SL if they are forced out of their homes.

Workaround: Freeze the policy for existing open spaces so that current end users and renters are not affected and do not allow new Open Spaces to simply be placed anywhere on the grid. This will require a retooling of the Land Store (again).




I am sure there are plenty others, but clearly, the main factor in the problem facing Open Space sims is the fault of Linden Labs not properly providing end users with the tools for self regulation. Without the ability for self regulation on the micro level, it is affecting everything on up. Raising tier prices in no way changes the ongoing problem of avatars not being able to self regulate, it only frustrates responsible users, causes many to leave SL and is not addressing the real problem. Improve Estate Tools and allow self regulation, for a better, more efficient grid!

I wholeheartedly agree. The options listed are worth exploring into!

Mifune, please consider posting this into the discussion on one of the existing JIRA issues on this topic, like SVC-3337.
https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/SVC-3337

will do, was thinking it might be more of a "Feature Request", but worried about the visibility it will get or be sorted as DUPLICATE since people have been asking for better Estate Tools and regulation for...years now

A JIRA that addresses the core issue behind LL's proposed tier increases can be vote on here:

http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/MISC-1781

The idea sounds good.....BUT....is LL really interested in the idea or are they executing their "hidden agenda". I assume that LL hired well educated professionals to develop and maintain the grid. This idea should be introduced by LL back in March before they started to sell OS sims as stand alones. But they didn't.......I am asking myself why? Lack of quality staff or part of their "plan".

I have a feeling the OS Announcement was more or less an upper level management decision, made with minimal understanding of the core issues that SL faces on a day to day basis.

The laissez faire approach to avatars worked for SL for a while, but it is currently destroying the grid. I have a friend who is very well educated and started working for Linden Labs recently in the QA team and I've even considered a job there...they definitely are not lacking the talent, but managements priorities might be focusing their attention elsewhere.

The mighty dollar conquers all, but progress can still be made by voting for relevant and related issues in JIRA.