Is it possible ?

Lag seems to be a universal problem.

A lag of 0.1s is realy only going to spoil a fight.. 1s will have you bumping into things, and if you lock regularly for 5+s it's time to log out.

If a server could detect and log " lag lockups" of 0.1s, 1s, and 5+ seconds duration, then at least the Lindens would be able to see if ( and whare ) there where problems..

The next stage would be to have a " reserve " so any server with a lag problem would be able to call on a server from the reserve to give it a hand with it's load.

I realise this sort of arangement would be very difficult to implement. Is it impossible ?

Are the Lindens already hard at work on some better lag control system than the one I am suggesting here ?

Regards Jonathan

Jonathan, you're right, even a little added latency can throw off someone's timing--and it comes expected from console games or even some PC ones that are guaranteed to run 30 FPS constantly. Sounds like what you're referring to is server-side lag (see: Lee on Lag); it also sounds like what you're referring to is a Star Trek-like technology, akin to "lag compensators" of some kind.

While I don't think that's technically practical, especially in light of how much emergent, unpredictable behavior there is in SL--it simply isn't a airtight, controlled environment--greater gains for FPS both client- and server-side are being worked on. Occlusion culling was one of the major recent steps for the client, and a region can actually support a higher typical load in terms of # of avatars than when I started.

Most non-void mainland regions have an avatar limit of 40--we're also evaluating this to possibly boost it, in light of future gains; so on the whole, we detest "lag" as much as you and many Residents do, and hope to ameliorate things for a smoother overall experience.