In-Forum Guild Meeting - 14 Sep 2005

At the request of Kendra, who is currently quite busy, I've been asked to organize a hybrid in-forum and in-world Guild meeting. Issues which are not resolved in the forum will be carried over to an in-world meeting for further discussion and vote. The goal of an in-forum meeting is to build upon our existing ability to problem solve in the forums, while introducing as little administrative overhead as possible. For example, in the Neualtenburg Bond thread, after an excellent technical discussion, we have essentially come to an agreement. The goal of an in-forum meeting is to make these useful discussions part of the official problem-solving process.

Added benefits are:

1. Forum-based discussions maximize transparency (unlike behind-the-scenes emails).
   
2. All citizens are able and encouraged to join the discussion (difficult for in-world meetings).
   
3. The meeting creates its own forum transcript (no recorders needed).
   
4. Time zones are not an issue (no coordination needed).

First we'll negotiate an agenda in this thread. Once the agenda is set, we'll work through each issue one at a time in separate threads similar to the N-Bond thread.

Let me know if you have any questions. Tomorrow I'll post a partial agenda.

~Ulrika~

Thank you, Ulrika

Two very important issues, I'd like to address.

I. Markplatz lag and Guild work needed to minimize the problem.
The Marktplatz is the town center, the heart that pumps the blood of this city. Currently it is lagtastic due to several key problems that need to be addressed.

• The Casino scripts are incredibly lag inducing. I believe the Casino needs to be rebuilt, and the scripts in the machines troubleshooted.
• The location of the Tiny village (while fun), and the many scripts being used by non-citizen vendors is causing enormous lag problems. Should we re-locate the Tiny village to outside the City walls? I have in mind a Gingerbread village for the TINYS which would be a very nice Weinachten happening.
• The Church. The texture count and waste of valuable prims makes the church a fairly big lag inducer at the moment.

This is a vital to the status of the Neualtenburg economic health issue. Visitors will simply not stay (or return) to an area that is so troubled with low FPS. Further, the success of other needed builds on the platz --such as a new Rathaus requires us to solve this problem.

II. Outside Neualtenburg Guild activity.
Let's face it. We are not simply a third branch of government, we are a potential economic and creative force in SL at large. The RA often talks these days about bringing outside privatized interests into the city. I suggest we do the opposite, and in addition to work on Neualtenburg offer our creative services to the SL world outside. We're a very talented group -- and our combined efforts could wind up raising much needed capital for the Guild.

• Let's form a Guild Corporation and Contractor's service.
• The success of the "Bedazzled" team makes this an almost mandatory projekt for us.



~ From the desk of The Gildemeister

I agree on every count. I don't know if I'd want to get RID of the Church (it makes a useful meeting area!) but surely it can be remade more efficently.

The Casino scripts I can't speak for, but if they're retro-vintage, then I can believe the scripts aren't optimized.

I'm pretty lukewarm about the tiny village. Certainly, it's fun and it's neat, but aside from the land name confusion (the central Marktplaz showing as "Secret Tinies City" and lag issues, I'm curious if it's still generating a lot of interest and traffic on its own now that the initial tiny craze has waned a bit.



I would say any such endeavor should be done as a seperate but related group, in order to keep the governmental functions of the Guild seperate from these business functions. At least, make it clear that membership in the Guild for Neualtenburg government reasons does not require one to pitch in on any outside projects, though obviously one would have to work in said projects to get any pay.

I doubt you were suggesting otherwise, but I'm ensuring someone states it explicitly. I'm actually quite interested in such efforts since I've made some starting jabs at doing build work for money, and there's much to be said for banding together.

Yes...Yes...Yes...

I say we tear down the Casino completely. Build the new Rathaus in it's place. Move the casino over to the Biergarten, and drink all our beer in the old section of town. Although I also think moving the Casino far far away from the square is probably an even better idea.

I hate the tiny village in Neualt... there I said it Away with it, or put it on a platform in the sky. The Sky Tini Village maybe

I'm also all for the delagification of the Church. It does add a nice charm to the city, but lets get fancy and efficient with textures and prims.



Conflict of interest for me as I am already on a RL consulting team that uses SL.

However I'm all for the talented Guild members to band together and join this space. I'm also willing to work on any projects brought to us by SL groups. My consulting generally deals with outside business' looking to use SL or otherwise make games.

Thanks for clarifying Of course you are quite correct about what I meant

I was speaking more about an inworld business.

Offering Guild services to non-citizens of Neualtenburg for money.

I'm fine with an In-Forum Guild meeting!

Issue 1: Markplatz lag and Guild work needed to minimize the problem.

I agree with this. I spent the other day walking around Neualt with "Show Updates" turned on (Satch was doing this also). We were able to find a casino machine that was just going nuts! hehe.. Satch returned it for repairs I believe. And I found some candles in the church that were left by a visitor. They were certainly a nightmare drain on system updates. I returned them.

I also noticed in main shop on the platz. The vendor that Ulrika has in place is fine until you click to go forward or back for viewing. When you do this, the udates are Red as fire and so when in use, this machine is very much a drain on the sim. Not sure what kind of updates could be made to the script though as I'm not a scriptor.

Outside the show updates, I know a lot of the lag is caused by a variety of different textures. Perhaps some were not uploaded at a size that helps with this issue. And of course we have some prim heavy builds that could stand to be revamped.

So I'm perfectly happy to start helping "clean up" lag issues as much as I am able.


Issue 2: Outside Neualtenburg Guild activity.


I actually like this idea as well. But here would be my thoughts on how to handle the group. Make it a subgroup of the guild (perhaps stricter requirements to be in it - Meister status should be something I would think would need to be required). And make this group represent the artisen meister workers of Neualtenburg (of some such) when out building for others. If group tags are worn while building, it will be a way for our artisen group to leave their name on the creations, as well as promote Neualt in the process.

I think of this much like the fact in the US we have landmark buildings or artwork that were built for us by other countries. I see this group from Neualtenburg being a great source of income for our guild, as well as bringing recognition to our artists and city.



Clarification on Issue: The RA often talks these days about bringing outside privatized interests into the city.

Just to clarify, the RA does promote this idea, but the general basis is that any "needed" city builds, we would of course go to the guild for, and if it is a build that needs managing, most likely we would offer the guild the first shot at trying to manage the build if desired (Much how we submitted the proposal for the MoCA). Anything not deemed "needed" by the city, I cannot see how anyone would object to a citizen of Neualt, or even the guild itself building and running various "attractions" etc. in Neualtenburg.

Excellent! I've assembled everyone's agenda and created the list below. It's organized based on zones and ordered according to perceived priority.

I'll now spawn each topic as a separate thread where we can discuss potential solutions and concerns. As I spawn new threads, I'll post the link in this thread and then edit it to include the decision once it's reached.

Marktplatz
Issues:

1. Excessive lag
   
2. Replace Casino with Rathaus

Discussion:

1. Raze or relocate the Secret Tiny City
   
2. Rewrite vendor and Casino scripts
   
3. Move the Casino and replace with Rathaus
   
4. Reduce the resolution of textures

Finances
Issues:

1. Inflation leading to loss of revenue
   
2. Bonds need definition
   
3. Privacy versus transparency discussion

Discussion:

1. Convert base currency to US$
   
2. Discuss nature of N-Bond
   
3. Publish a register
   
4. Discuss privacy versus transparency issues

Casino
Issues:

1. Possible lag from scripts
   
2. Move casino

Discussion:

1. Rewrite scripts
   
2. Relocate or raze casino

Church
Issues:

1. Excessive prim usage

Discussion:

1. Preservation versus reconstruction
   
2. Gwyn as protector
   
3. Permissible changes

Valley
Issues:

1. Adherence to covenant
   
2. City authority to build or modify covenant
   
3. Valley streets

Discussion:

1. Are structure in violation of covenant?
   
2. Teraforming in valley possibly a violation
   
3. Improving the street with fences, walls, and markers

Guild
Issues:

1. Work for others

Discussion:

1. Government versus business role
   
2. How can noncitizens participate?

~Ulrika~

The Marktplatz Lag issue is now closed.

Marktplatz
Issues:

1. Excessive lag
   
2. Replace Casino with Rathaus

Discussion:

1. Raze or relocate the Secret Tiny City
   
2. Rewrite vendor and Casino scripts
   
3. Move the Casino and replace with Rathaus
   
4. Reduce the resolution of textures

The discussion can be found here.

Results

1. We're returning all items in the Tinies city.
   
2. We're removing the games from the casino to make room for the new Rathaus.
   
3. We're shrinking the size of textures on the Marktplatz.
   
4. We'll submit a bill to the RA to add an addendum to the city-wide covenant making the largest texture 512x512.

~Ulrika~

The bond issue is now closed.
The privacy versus transparency issue currently active.

Finances
Issues:

1. Inflation leading to loss of revenue
   
2. Bonds need definition
   
3. Privacy versus transparency discussion

Discussion:

1. Convert base currency to US$
   
2. Discuss nature of N-Bond
   
3. Publish a register
   
4. Discuss privacy versus transparency issues

We'll start with a discussion of the bonds and then spawn separate threads to discuss the issue of the privacy versus transparency. The bond discussion can be found here.

The discussion on inflation and transparency versus privacy can be found here.

Results
This recommendations in the bond thread have been sent to RA for a vote.

~Ulrika~

The Casino issue is now closed.

Casino
Issues:

1. Possible lag from scripts
   
2. Move casino

Discussion:

1. Rewrite scripts
   
2. Relocate or raze casino

The Casino discussion can be found here.

Conclusion:
The RA has voted to get out of the casino business. The casino may or may not be pursued privately by citizens. The spot occupied by the casino will be replaced with the new Rathaus if the Rathaus is approved.

~Ulrika~

The Church renovation issue is currently active.

Church Renovation
Issues:

1. Excessive prim usage

Discussion:

1. Preservation versus reconstruction
   
2. Gwyn as protector
   
3. Permissible changes

The discussion about the church renovation can be found here.

~Ulrika~

The Valley covenant issue is currently active.

Valley
Issues:

1. Adherence to covenant
   
2. City authority to build or modify covenant
   
3. Valley streets

Discussion:

1. Are structure in violation of covenant?
   
2. Terraforming in valley possibly a violation
   
3. Improving the street with fences, walls, and markers

The discussion about valley beautification can be found here.

~Ulrika~