Major suggestions please read carefully

I'm not angry, where did I say angry? Go back and read both my posts. I don't think there's a personal insult one. I was just saying what I thought, which appears to be OK for some people and not for others? Hrm . . . .well then.

Zana

Wow. I don't post that often on these boards because I spend most of my time actually in game building things, but I do actively read the posts and take part in the game world itself. I have to say, reading this thread, I am appalled and ashamed at how some "veterans" of this game have acted. No offense, but lighten the f*ck up people.

Deeds is a new player, and posts like his are common from new players. Second Life is overwhelming, and shockingly, also does have some shortcomings.

Some comments on what he wrote, without all the "SL is perfect, There sucks, move on you stupid newbie" hyperbole.

1) Previewing clothes - he does have a valid point on one level. I don't think an offline viewer is necessary - but we should be able to upload temporary textures while testing a design that we don't have to pay for. I am perfectly capable of using Photoshop to create clothing, but sometimes until you get a texture onto the actual body, you may not see small anomalies in the alpha channel (the halo effect on edges that is so common in some transparent textures in SL) or the way it wraps on a body. In designing a shirt, I uploaded no less than 10 copies of it with small modifications until I was satisfied. Yes, each upload is only $10 - but it starts to add up if you are not one of the players with a 6 figure (more like 4 figure) income in SL. Being able to upload staging textures for testing would help out a lot, and is not an unreasonable feature. Also, for the record, There's more recent preview utility, Stylemaker, is actually a pretty sophisticated piece of software and eased the creation of custom skins a lot - you could set the basic options and then bring the created skin into Photoshop for further painting, with everything already lined up correctly.

2. Interactions - in a post TSO world, this question gets asked a lot. TSO was the king on the inter-avatar interactions, and some of them were very well done (barking in bed aside). I for one would love to see hugging, kissing, and other inter-avatar interactions. What is the most commonly requested group of interactions? Adult ones. Given the mature nature of SL, they are a perfect fit and his suggestions are not unreasonable. I noticed someone said "Will you be able to customize animations in There?". No, and that was not the point of his question/suggestion. Lose the SL is so much better than There attitude. We are here in SL, yes? Enough said.

3. Vehicles - yes, SL has such an interesting array of vehicles already, but they do suffer from the flying lego effect at this point, and no one can argue that. This is one area that There does very well - the vehicle support is impressive and fun. Hoverboarding, hoverbiking, flying on a pack or driving a buggy is far smoother in There and is actually quite fun, and not the lag fest/flying lego block phenomenon we have in SL. Future versions of SL will address this, but as it stands now, SL is a bit weak in this department. I know all the vehicle creators will get up in arms about this, but from an objective standpoint, 'tis true that SL needs some work in truly supporting vehicles. I for one cannot wait for that, as it would be a joy to explore SL in a car or on a hoverbike. The whole gas/engine thing is a cute idea, and an interesting income idea, but we are already beholden to the oil companies in RL - perhaps we should skip them in SL.

4. Control - again, he is on target here. He was wrong in pointng out Flash as part of the argument in his point, as Flash is used for the UI, not the graphics/physics engine in There. There does have a smoothness and "realism" to walking that SL lacks. We still walk in SL like drunken idiots with an inner ear infection. My avatar tends to lean to one side and swing his arms like a goon. Yes, 1.1 addresses this a little bit, but honestly not much. They still do not look "natural", for lack of a better term, even standing still. The avatars in SL are beyond reproach in terms of creativity, but they can use some improvement in making them more fluid and lifelike. The jerkiness of the way avatars walk, and the unusually large footsteps they take cause me to constantly walk off of edges, fall into the water, etc. When you combine this with lag and framerate issues, it is a great source of frustation and very noticeable when moving between the two game environments. BTW, I am curious what Havok actually is - I have heard reference to it, but not details -so throwing that out as an argument to him seems a little silly when I doubt he knows what it is either.

The rest of his post I will leave alone. A little time and experience in SL will clear up some of that.

Deeds, my suggestion to you is to break this out point by point a little better - perhaps even individual posts about some of the points. More importantly, don't let this thread give you the impression that SL players are all so defensive and unwelcoming. Nothing you suggested was off the wall - as you can see, I agree with them point by point.


Finally, as for not mentioning There in these forums, you know what? Get over it. The funny thing is that SL borrowed heavily from There in 1.1 in two areas - chat groups and summoning, and it would not surprise me to see this trend continue as SL adds polish to their interface and environment. There does not "suck" (what a lame thing to say anyway). It is a very different environment from SL, and one I have had a lot of fun in. I prefer SL, but for recreation and socializing, I have to admit, There is a lot of fun. Voice chat, streaming music, and some other features of that enviroment are compelling to me, and certainly do not SUCK. Don't get me wrong, There has its own host of problems, namely the reliance on real money to create its "economy", aka Thereinc's income. I hope the trend of borrow ideas continues, as I would like to see all of those features integrated into SL - especially voice chat and streaming music (the 10 second music lag machines have got to go).

And for the record, I am not a new player - I started beta testing SL in January, and have played very actively almost daily since May. Given the posts I have already seen in this thread, I am sure I will get equally harsh responses, but I don't care. There is no excuse to treat anyone on a message board this way, so bring it on - I can handle it and expect it, based on what I have already seen.

For the record, nothing on this thread came anywhere near appalling nor ashaming me.

However, I did spend some uncomfortable moments musing over a mad world in which people use insults like "MICHIGAN BOY" so freely, with no concern for those they might hurt.

Please get a move on is hardly friendly, and you didn't add anything with this post, except to take a dig at There, when this is a thread about improvements to SL.

This is exactly the kind of stuff I am talking about - it serves no point except to make the original poster feel stupid and unwelcomed for expressing his opinion.

Listen,

I didn't post here to offend anyone. I didn't even post out a sense of anger. Nor did I post because I wanted to "shame" Mr. Greenacre. I posted because I took the tone of his post as being a negative comparison and I happened to disagree. Yet again, let me repeat myself, I don't think what I was disagreeing with was a bad idea. I was just saying -- hey, I've used this and I didn't find it to be all that. (Yes including stylemaker and the previewer). That's just me, my opinion, go ahead and disagree with me if you want, that's your right. If I ticked anyone off, well for god's sake let me say I'm sorry. If you want to think I'm being negative because I disagree, go ahead and think that. But I have poured through both those posts and I don't find one thing I said that was "you suck Greenacre." Because, well, I don't happen to think that's true.

I agree fully that personal attacks are wrong in forums. But disagreeing should be ok. At least, my understanding of how a forum works this thusly: feel free to say what you want so long as it doesn't include ad populum attacks.

But seriously, if I have to be concerned about saying what I think on the forums because what I say here is going to somehow negatively impact me in SL because someone decides to report me for disagreeing with them, well then, what's the point of the forum?

Yet again, I've used all these programs. I know what they are like. And IMHO (note humble please), I just don't happen to agree.

Sorry if I pissed off someone for disagreeing. But that doesn't make me the bad guy. Or does it?

Zana

'Please get a move on' was directed to the Lindens. Tongue firmly in cheek. Plus, I said 'Thank you!', which is pure social lubricant.

I freely admit to being a wiseass. And I maintain that the submission of some (questionable) humor to threads that take themselves very seriously does add something; slight amusement for the occasional relaxed reader.

You can't make an omelet without breaking a few heads. No! I meant eggs. Not heads.

"No one in the world ever gets what they want, and that is beautiful. Everybody dies frustrated and sad, and that is beautiful." -- TMBG

Never before have I seen the words pure social lubricant strung together. /clap good job!

Now then, in the intrest of public safety, I'm going to declare that anyone that posts after this post is OFFICIALLY 'teh suck'. Thats right! I hate to take these drastic measure but, well no I don't actaully... its kinda fun.

Don't be teh suck! Let the thread die!

Final word,

I would like to thank Cristiano Midnight for making everyone here understand my post. I hope everyone understands that I wasn't trying to attack SL (a game I play around the clock). I just wanted to voice my suggestions to the Devs because lindens told me they read the suggestion forum frequently. I didn't expect members of the message board to reply to my suggestions because your not the one developing the game. So a developers reply would have been better. Of course you are entitled to speak freely on a message board, but not given rights to judge a persons post.

Message board 101 -

1. What is really a suggestion forum?
   I am experienced as an admin on my message board that currently has 298 members with over 5,000 posts, and chatting on boards for many years now. When an admin of a message board creates a forum called "Suggestions" he/she is actually trying to target the members to give ideas for either their message board or the web site or product. They are not asking the members of the board to reply to topics because your not experienced at what they do or work in their company. So suggestions are legit and should not be taken as offensive as you people have taken it. You may discuss issues with members, but not battle a debate on what members think and feel for that product, board, or web site.
   
   
2. How do you read someones tone of voice?
   YOU DONT! You can't really tell if a person is happy, sad, or mad. They could be happy and full of life (me) and post a topic that some (you) might think it's hostility towards the game. It's always good to use smilies when posting on message boards because they reveal your feelings. Why I didn't use smilies? Because it wasn't appropriate for me to use since I was directing my message to the developers of SL.
   
   
3. Who has authority?
   Admins! Not you, not me, not the veterans of SL but the Admins and moderators. They say what they want to say, and they are always right. You do not have the right to trash someone for his comments that wasn't meant as an attack. If you go to a message board where hell has broken loose, then you know the admins are not doing their job.
   [/list=a]
   
   Now about the "Michigan Boy" thing. Am I sorry for saying that? No. Lordfly is a rude kid with no respect towards his SL residents. Everyone has read my topic and all they have told me is to ignore and enjoy the game. Well, this is what I have to say to newbies who get attacked as I did.
   
   "Ignore those who try to corrupt our game and ruin your day by being rude and annoying. 99% of the SL population greet you with arms open wide. It's that 1% that needs a dark island with bars to keep them isolated from the rest of us."
   
   Just be happy and enjoy the game. Tomorrow a new game might come out twice as better as SL and THERE and then what are you going to do? You're going to tell me that if it's the hottest game on the planet that you wouldn't play it?
   
   I'm out, don't expect me to post on the forums ever again after this post. Party inside SL, what are you doing out here?