Cleaning up the Marktplatz

As the responsible member of the Guild, I wanted to let citizens know that the Marktplatz is getting a bit cluttered. We have kegs, beer, a giant stein, and a vendor on one end and two quest objects, a kiosk, and a teleporter on the other end.

I'd like to eliminate some of these items and try and combine others. I'm going to eliminate the giant stein and see if I can find a new place for the beer kegs and beer. I'll move the vendor into the Kaufhaus this weekend after I finish a new store-front window for it. I was thinking that the quest items should be moved into the casino or to the edge of the square. Finally, I was thinking that the kiosk could be redesigned and modified to become a larger and permanent structure at the top of the platz.

This is just an idea. How would you like to see the platz organized and what would you like on it?

~Ulrika~

I agree.

I agree. The kegs and beer could be sold as Neualtenburg items. I don't know if this is possible but, can the quest objects be redesigned?

A neater and more organized "Platz" would be a great improvement, although probably not entirely in keeping with the real life history of such places. They probably grew in a very chaotic/organic fashion. But the suggestions you make are great.

If you make the website "kiosk" larger and more substantial, why not incorporate into it other functions, such as the schedule board, and perhaps an "announcements" board? As it is now, it's simply a "prim-link" to the site. Something larger really begs for a multi-purpose function.

And, since we're "cleaning up" the Platz, let's consider the commerce-policy which we'd like to have there. We've talked about vendors set up on the Platz. We should probably establish some sort of grid or map, like they do at commercial expo's (and even street fairs and farmers' markets), for the "booths". Then sellers interested in having a booth on the Platz would arrange for a specific location on the grid.

The financial arrangements for booths on the Platz is a whole 'nother matter. Why not make the arrangements for their presence there; let sellers use the spaces for the upcoming expo, and then figure out afterwards what a good and fair charge would be for sellers in the future.


Sudane

The beers have always been free for those who don't want to purchase mugs during parties. I can colocate them with the steins in the little corner shop though.

You know, I thought that you were the one who designed the quest game. Now that I see that you're asking if they can be redesigned, it dawned on me that the fellow who made them is no longer an active member. Also, I recall that I returned one of the objects when I removed the old senate building, thinking it would be put back up but it never was.

I think we're safe to delete them as we find them then.

~Ulrika~

I'm taking my queue from Rothenburg which has a pretty bare central square. I don't know if I'd like ours to be that bare though.

Hmm. We could always combine the functionality of our teleporter (Gywn's device), Eugene's display, the link to the site, and the Linden teleporter into a single hub. I'm not sure I want a big structure in the platz though, as it will interefere with the views of the structures.

Maybe it would be better to combine Gwyn's teleporter with the Maibaum (more on the changes coming to that later), leave the Linden teleporter where it is, and create a common area for city information. So we'd keep the kiosk as is and colocate it with Eugene's display. Hmm.

What ideas do you have?

~Ulrika~

After looking at pictures of a few marktplatz, i noticied that they often have fountains, flowers, statues, or market stalls. Here are some attached images . I also like Sudane's idea, the marktplatz is a good commercial area.

Great point.

Should we commission an elaborate fountain for the Marktplatz?

I'm also all for bringing vendors to the Marktplatz (market place), provided it is event based and attended. That is, I don't want lots of unmanned carts and vendors lying about all the time rather I'd love it if every Saturday or Sunday morning we had an small farmer's market where folks brought out their carts and sold goods for a few hours.

Sudane also brought up the idea of a cafe on the platz. I think that's an idea we should reconsider, provided we can find the right structure and architect for the job. Because it's on the platz it needs to be of the highest quality.

~Ulrika~

As for the cluttering in the Marktplatz, I agree that something should be done about it, despite "historical reasons" for having it a bit less organized

I like the idea of a "centralized" information system! One problem with the billboard is that it's incredibly laggy - not only it has a timer for rotating textures too fast, I wonder if it has open listening channels for voice commands as well. Both are terribly laggy.

I also wonder if it can be centrally updated or if it's a manual affair. A central system which then redistributes all textures inside would be much more practical. Of course, in about a month or so, we'll be able to click on the billboards to get a web page in-world, so things may be fine that way

A more practical solution would be to incorporate all "information devices" on a single one - besided teleporter, notecard dispensor, and billboard, I think that both Eugene and Sudane have "calendars" with agendas for events - class events in the case of Sudane, all sorts of events in the case of Eugene.

I was thinking a bit how you could manage to incorporate all functionality on a single device, and still keep the active scripts to zero. It seems challenging, but not impossible:

- you could do a 5-prim device: frame, central display, previous and next buttons, mode button
- by clicking on the "mode" button you could have: advertising mode (default), calendar/agenda mode, teleporter mode, information mode
- when on advertising mode, the prev/next buttons would scroll through available ads
- when on calendar/agenda mode, the prev/next buttons would show, via hover text, what the available events are (display texture would be blank). "Sitting" on the display would make you teleport to the event
- the teleporter button would show images of the landmarks, scrollable by clicking on the prev/next buttons, and by sitting on the display, you would teleport to it
- the information mode would have a texture for the type of information (say, generic info about Neualtenburg, a default deed, a link to the web page). By touching on the display, you'd get either a notecard or a link to a web page (or even both)

In order to make textures rez in faster, they should be pre-rezzed. This is a standard trick that works the following way: as soon as one of the modes is selected, all 6 faces of the "display" get pre-loaded, but only one is shown (the rest are "hidden". The prev-next buttons do the cycling of the textures. This is a standard approach to ultra-fast image rezzing used, for instance, on the books at the Book Expo for Cory Doctorow's SL launch of his latest novel.

To make the information device easily updatable, you could have a central "server object", but sadly in-world inter-object communication only exists by sending emails, limited XML-RPC, or shouting commands (laggy!). This would be amazing to script. I only wish I had a few days with nothing else to do but that But I think I could do a non-centralized device over the weekend or so. The design will be utterly unconvincing since I'm really a terrible builder, but I could start with something very primitive. It will be an interesting challenge.

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As for the fountain, I like the idea a lot

I'd also like to have a flashy sign for the casino, please. Nobody knows that the casino is there except by chance.

As for the Marktplatz booths, hmm, well, let's discuss it a bit further. I'd prefer to have a "clean" Marktplatz except for some events, of course, and have the surrounding houses as shops.

These are all wonderful ideas! Ulrika's idea of a weekly "market" appeals to me especially, where most of the time the place is neat and quiet. But I wonder if the SL community at large will relate to, or understand, vendors that are a a certain location on only certain days of the week.

But what has prompted a reflection here is the function of the signs/posters/schedule boards, and how they should be displayed.

Although in RL I'm not directly involved in the display/print field, I am in a related media field, and somewhat conscious of the thought processes that go into displaying information.

A poster/billboard, like the one on the side of the General Store, takes up a certain volume of visual space and conveys its content. We may not read it, but we visually absorb its presence, usually as simple color and pattern. If the image persists, at some point we acquire a few key words which connect us to the message. From that point on, a simple awareness of that color/pattern reminds us of the message. This is, at core, the philosophy behind "image advertising".

The image needs to persist, so that the consumer becomes familiar with it. (Not forever, of course, but for as long as the ad campaign lasts). The billboard on the side of the General Store has a faily long period of cycle, so that seeing it, you grow accustomed to that color/pattern being there, and so you are reminded of the message. That's the next best thing to a static image; the benefit obviously being that you get multiple ads in the same visual real estate.

The problem I sense with Eugene's billbords, which I feel we should address as we develop a new solution, is that there is no persistence. As a Neualtenburg resident, and therefore someone who frequently sees the boards, I am beginning to absorb the content of the billboards. But, its a bit like having a TV going where you only see a bit of it as you come and go. Eugene's billboards really "want" you to stand in front of them and watch, and I feel that's not so effective.

To go further, I'm worried a bit about Gwyn's idea of "selecting" a sequence of posters, or schedule, or whichever information you want. That's OK, a bit like consulting the "yellow pages" phone directory. But as effective "public advertising", it may not be so great.

For general display information; "image advertising", I suggest that the fairly static, or low frequency cycling poster images are the way to go.

PS. Obviously need to be thoughfully placed. Eugene has done a fairly good job of that, I feel. Perhaps a few tweaks here and there.


Sudane

I have an idea for a fountain. I'll develop a proposal and present it here, after I can talk with the contributors.

Sudane

I'd like to throw my hat in the ring for this one as well
Perhaps I could put up the hippodrome again as well?

I uploaded a picture of the hippodrome to show it off in world tonight (also attached here). It's one of my favorite builds that you put together for the city -- it's so perfect and professional, although, your pretzels, barrels, and gypsy cart are also quite amazing.

The booths that Eugene has for the expo look like they might be too big for the hippodrome tent (however it might be worth a try, to capture that true German festival feel). We should experiment.


Note in the picture that the fellow in the purple coat with a keyboard is Torley before she became the dressed-in-watermelon-colors character that we all knew her as. Also, look at how primitive the city was! The only structure I recognize is Urusula's restaurant, a piece of the city wall, and the Marktplatz.

~Ulrika~