New World Maps

The latest and greatest maps of the world are now up on the Resident Life page. Take a look at the terrain, find the most popular places, and check out what's new. The current maps include the mainland, as well as Evie's Island in the West and the three isles of Prelude in the East. Click here to see various views of Second Life.

That's an enlightening map. Apparently there are three separate welcome islands out in the eastern ocean. That explains why there's no land bridge in that direction. Also, apparently Evie's island is the same basic shape as the welcome island(s)!

It also confirms something I was afraid of: things are pretty quiet in most of the theme communities (except Gray!).

This will probably get some people angry, but I'm not surprised Ananda. Sure, some of the themes LOOK great, and I go over them to look/vote every time I go flying around, but in many there's just not a lot to do.

By that I mean there doesn't seem to be any draw, any reason to find a seat and sit for an hour.

This is scary, but I;m going to do it anyway and use Americana as an EXAMPLE ONLY!!!! Why Americana? I was flying through there just last night thinking about this very topic.

Americana looks wonderful (except for one building over in the southeast who's owner STILL has 'closed due to tax burdens' on it, jeez guy, get over it already, it's no longer a statement, it's an eyesore) but it's empty! The restaurant is nice, but there's no reason to sit there, the baseball stadiums great, but it's just as great, and empty, as the first time I say it. Eggy's MGM Grand looks beautiful .. and empty. If it's a disco, where is the music? Dancefloor? Lights? Parties? Events? Same with the Chinese Theater, wonderful recreation, take it from someone who grew up in Hollywood. Be a nice place for a Movie Star look-alike contest at least.

I guess my point is, to me, it's not enough to build a nice looking build, there has to be a draw. A reason more than "Nice looking Place" to spend my time there. There has to be something to let people feel welcome and entertained.

I stand ready to be flamed.

I already knew they were there... if you track the lindens you will sometimes see them on prelude, or even way outside the map on hidden sims.

I totally agree! Interactivity is key, I think. Give the person a reason to be at your build!

>This will probably get some people angry
No shit sherlock. Quoth the Linden:
"Flaming, Spamming, Trolling
(...)In short, if you think that your post might be over-reactive, or that it might fall into one of these definitions, it probably is. "

>Eggy's MGM Grand looks beautiful ..
Thank you.

> and empty.
Allow me to disagree. The new popular places map clearly shows a little white spot at my disco.

> If it's a disco, where is the music?
There's a mixmaster there, play it.
Bring your own. Music that is both good and legal to upload is hard to find - While I am certanly not against unauthorized copying I can't officially have illegal music at the disco. I can't prevent you from taking some with you to your parties but I wont place any there myself.

>Dancefloor? Lights? Parties? Events?
Who holds the events at Stage 4?
You do.
Who can hold events at the disco?
Anyone. Literally anyone. You dont even need my permission. Since it is a Linden sponsored building it is free for everyone to use, just like Stage 4, or the Atlas Casino. I've been saying that for months, actively recruiting people, offering them thousands of dollars and the reaction is always the same. People say they will help, but never do. Everyone wants to do their own project instead of collaborating with others. Since the Lindens are so nice to you tax whiners, the economy has gotten so inflated that there is no real scarcity and so no one needs a job, which makes it hard to be a MANAGER which is someone who is supposed to HIRE people. I built the whole thing myself, got a dozen casino games and several shops there to attract people, enlisted 4 or 5 "official" event planners of which only one has already decided on an event to host.
I wrote a play and built some props. I tried to get two different clothes makers to make my costumes with no luck so far. I tried to get three different musicians to make my sound effects and not a single one has been made yet.
It took three weeks of endless nagging to get a friend of mine to put a copy of his elevator at my place which took 5 minutes.

>There has to be something to let people feel welcome and entertained.

My approach to this game is the same as the Linden's. You are not here to be fed prefab entertainment like in other games. You are here to create your own and that of others. The Lindens supplied me with the tools to build a disco and now I supply you with a disco to hold your events.
So Jellin, now that you have thrown your flames at me and Americana, what do you suggest, and what are you willing to do to help? What have you done for this game? You want this place to have more entertainment help create it.
Leave your music at the disco or your casino games at the casino below. IM me with suggestions. Do you live in the northern continent? Hold your events there instead of Stage 4. Throw me a donation. Even if its only $20 it will make me feel motivated. Come hang out with me while I build. Do something constructive instead of dissing the hard work of others.

I think these new maps are cool.
Its kinda funny though, my place in mocha is about at the center of the sim, and according to the map its really popular to hang out to the southeast or northwest corner of my build, but thats where I have been standing while building of late, so I guess thats just me, lol.

I'm not really concerned with how many visitors we get in Gray (or the other theme communities). What gets to be a problem is the failure to maintain group participation. Kazenojin has been lucky in that department, I think - there are always new people looking to fly planes and things. Plus we've continued to adapt, and increase the number of interactive features - currently we are also hosting the beginnings of the SLU campus.

I'd have to repeat what Eggy said about things to do - it's you who decides whether or not to join in the fun, host an event, etc. Like the disco, the airfield and the campus green are available for hosting events. But also like the disco, getting others to do so hasn't been all that successful.

Hopefully there will eventually be the long-promised air races and midair ship battles, and hopefully Gray will serve as a successful home for all sorts of university classes. But don't wait around for others to do it, step up and do it yourself!

I would delete it but the person who created it and placed it there hasnt been online since the revolution ..........so as soon as i can i will delete it

I'm curious as to when the world map in game will be updated. I know of at least one sim, Chartreus I believe it is, is not on the map. are there any others?

Jeez and I was just about to say "tee hee looks like nexus prime in bonifacio has quite a bit of spread out popularity" but it seems like there's some long antiquated conversation going on

Wow, Eggy, you act like my post was all a personal attack at you. It wasn't, I was using americana as an example like I made very clear. As far as the over-reactive part, that doesn't apply to me, but maybe to you since my post neither trolling, spamming or flamming. Nor was it directed toward any one person.

I think we have to agree to disagree on one point though; if I build or work on a build meant to attract people, then I can't, in my mind, simply build it and let other people make the attractions.

As far as "What have I done for this game" type argument meant to not only demean my post but also make me justify my existance in game and on this board, like I said, I already work with some others at our own build, you'll find me there every night, welcoming people, laughing, playing music, welcoming visitors, and doing my best to make our place a good one to spend time at. In between shopping that is.

And the constructive part Eggy? It's called "constructive criticism", it's meant to helpfully, and with good intentions, point out what may be flaws that the viewer sees in an attempt to help and improve. I'm sorry you can't see the difference Eggy, because I'm not the kind of person who disses others.

Now, let's be all mature like here, I haven't attacked you, and I'm thinking you didn't mean to insult me. ok?

Eggy, you're right. It's up to the individual to find something to do or make something to do in SL. In the themed areas, people should hold events.

To that end, can someone compile a list of venues, along with their capacity and location? That would be a real help when planning events on the Event Calendar page. When I try to think of venues its.. . "Hmm... stage 4 and ... uh... what was that other place?"

There are a billion places to hold events, but not one is listed.

Er... unless there IS a list, but I haven't seen it. In which case, I'll just go sit in the corner and feel silly.

Looks like Chartreuse made it onto the map but not the new Luna and Coney sims. Speaking of which, who else thinks that bridge into the amusement park would make an excellent drag racing strip?

and where?

LOL

This is what I love about hanging around the forums at work! Did the amusement park sims get turned off again? In any case, earlier this weekend, they were there, just west of Dore and Bonifacio, and there's a long bridge with a castle gate at one end. The bridge is a divided highway for most of its length, but then it suddenly narrows to pass through the gate.

Of course, I could be imagining the whole thing. The way these potential sims seem to pop up for a quick tease, then disappear again leads to that feeling. I imagine there is a whole mountainous peninsula extending east from Chartreuse way out into the eastern ocean. David Cartier imagines there is a whole continent of mythological-named sims south of Gibson. These have been seen for just minutes, before they vanished again, and who knows if they will return? "Here there be dragons!"

Here's a list of the imaginary sims that have been spotted out there in the mists:


Argent,
Bisque,
Crimson,
Indigo,
Magenta,
Maroon,
Periwinkle,
Purple,
Umber,
Griffon,
Fama,
Cordova,
Bethel,
Apollo,
Callao,
Byron,
Evelyne,
Euphemia.

Has anyone spotted any others?


I'd like to add a few comments about the new map:

This map is an excellent statistical tool for people who are already playing the game, but it doesn't really seem to do the job as a promotion tool on the website. It would be better if at the least, it had the sim names on it like before, and also current Linden-recognized landmarks (hopefully relatively current). Ideally you could hyperlink on it, to pictures of some of the best spots, maybe with dates so people are not surprised if they don't find that exact feature when they go looking. My L$.02.

Haha. We actually did that Sunday afternoon after the Daily Avater contest, five of us had a footrace along one of the roads in the empty sim, then did jumping and trying on different sizes to see if we could go faster, or vary our speeds at least. They basically came down to who reacted to the word 'go' first. (Loki Pico!)

Based on the white-spotted popularity map, does this mean dwell is already in place? Or is it some server-database workaround to get composite av positions?

Definetly need names on that there map! But other than that, it looks very awesome. I never knew how big SL was! Like one of the Linden's said (forgot which), "It's no Mayfeild..."

Mayberry. Even little Opie knows the name of his hometown.

Mayfield is "Leave it to Beaver"