SL, you worry me. Kick Dilbert's writer in the nuts!
In less exciting news, I've been redoing my main shop to account for the way the new Search functions. I'm thinking about leaving a path to a club-like area - I still adore the wild neon Blacklite colors.
30 October 2007
26 October 2007
24 October 2007
Time and Place
I've been playing a bit of WoW with some friends. WoW's world has a 24 hour day, so since we play in the evenings, I've been always seeing their world at sunset.
Part of a sense of place is how it changes over time. Days and nights, weather, seasons, the changing positions of the sun and moon. Growth, erosion, repairs and construction.
WoW's world has weather - rain, snow, sandstorms. Their time is tied to the real world; days last 24 hours, and a year is the same in either world. The moon is always full. The leaves never turn, and the snow never melts. There's an inn that's been being repaired for years, yet it never changes. There are annual holidays tied to the realworld calendar, and certain fish can be caught at different times of year. There's also a monthly fair that appears on the same date every month. Shadows are a strange mix; world objects have shadows that move in relation to the sun's position, while those of avatars and npcs are small circles directly underneath.
Time in SL moves at breakneck speed. Six days there to one in the real world. There's no seasons or weather or shadowing, although any particular area may have some if the current tenants wish it. If they're still there - neighborhoods change ownership and style in the blink of an eye. The wind changes force and direction. The moon is always full. There's a faint sense of year in the recurrence of Burning Life, The Relay for Life, and the track of the sun in the sky. You can also stop the movement of the sun in the sky in your own viewer, and even move the sun around in the sky. Island owners can stop the sun entirely - it is never noon in Midnight City.
For a quick visit or two, a place's cycles don't matter. A visitor won't notice them. The 2D/3D design, the usability flow, the sounds and colors are what they'll remember. But in the long term, those cycles are part of what defines a place. They're what we notice when we've come back after being away, they're part of how we mark time.
Part of a sense of place is how it changes over time. Days and nights, weather, seasons, the changing positions of the sun and moon. Growth, erosion, repairs and construction.
WoW's world has weather - rain, snow, sandstorms. Their time is tied to the real world; days last 24 hours, and a year is the same in either world. The moon is always full. The leaves never turn, and the snow never melts. There's an inn that's been being repaired for years, yet it never changes. There are annual holidays tied to the realworld calendar, and certain fish can be caught at different times of year. There's also a monthly fair that appears on the same date every month. Shadows are a strange mix; world objects have shadows that move in relation to the sun's position, while those of avatars and npcs are small circles directly underneath.
Time in SL moves at breakneck speed. Six days there to one in the real world. There's no seasons or weather or shadowing, although any particular area may have some if the current tenants wish it. If they're still there - neighborhoods change ownership and style in the blink of an eye. The wind changes force and direction. The moon is always full. There's a faint sense of year in the recurrence of Burning Life, The Relay for Life, and the track of the sun in the sky. You can also stop the movement of the sun in the sky in your own viewer, and even move the sun around in the sky. Island owners can stop the sun entirely - it is never noon in Midnight City.
For a quick visit or two, a place's cycles don't matter. A visitor won't notice them. The 2D/3D design, the usability flow, the sounds and colors are what they'll remember. But in the long term, those cycles are part of what defines a place. They're what we notice when we've come back after being away, they're part of how we mark time.
For Tourists of Gor
Looking for a fun themed Halloween costume set for you and your friends? Or just like wacky avatars?
Have you ever read Houseplants of Gor?
The avatars are now available for $10L each ($30 for the set) at SL Exchange and OnRez.
Have you ever read Houseplants of Gor?
The avatars are now available for $10L each ($30 for the set) at SL Exchange and OnRez.
22 October 2007
19 October 2007
Making a robot avatar
The SL Blogger group's party theme this time is robots. I roamed around SLX and OnRez but didn't find whatever it is I was looking for.
Then I found this on the web.
I don't want exactly that, but I like a lot of the design. I like the rounded squares, that most of the box shapes are tapered, and the color scheme. Sort of like a feminine MegaMan. To do it right, I'll have to whip out some sculpties. I made a prototype (sans sculpties or custom textures) last night. The chest area gave me a lot of trouble - I might redo the prototype there and add some invisiprims.
Then I found this on the web.
I don't want exactly that, but I like a lot of the design. I like the rounded squares, that most of the box shapes are tapered, and the color scheme. Sort of like a feminine MegaMan. To do it right, I'll have to whip out some sculpties. I made a prototype (sans sculpties or custom textures) last night. The chest area gave me a lot of trouble - I might redo the prototype there and add some invisiprims.
18 October 2007
Zombies and Freebies go well together
One of my rl friends decided to try out SL. I made an alt to travel with her, in the hopes we'd end up in the same orientation areas. The newbie experience is very different now than it was when I started. Done a lot of touring, I've gotten to see a lot of neat places.
As part of this new "game" I'm seeing what I can do entirely with freebies. There's tons of nice hair, skins, and toys. I've added Fabulously Free to my bloglist - she's found some gems, and I've got a much better list of places to shop for clothing than I used to.
I checked out the new I Am Legend sims the other day, and I like their zombie game. It's fun, and the gear is free. I'll have to take some pics.
As part of this new "game" I'm seeing what I can do entirely with freebies. There's tons of nice hair, skins, and toys. I've added Fabulously Free to my bloglist - she's found some gems, and I've got a much better list of places to shop for clothing than I used to.
I checked out the new I Am Legend sims the other day, and I like their zombie game. It's fun, and the gear is free. I'll have to take some pics.
17 October 2007
Rezzing conspiracy theories!
Sometimes, when I don't have enough to think about, I like to make up conspiracy theories. They're fun, they're stimulating, and I like to watch people pull them apart or add to them.
The mystery of Rezzable, their identities and business plan. Me musing about how bulk business needs larger advertising channels than are currently available in SL. Ansche is a major investor in SLX, owns one of the banking licenses in Entropia, a lot of the land in SL...
So... anyone wondering if maybe Ansche Chung is funding Rezzable?
The mystery of Rezzable, their identities and business plan. Me musing about how bulk business needs larger advertising channels than are currently available in SL. Ansche is a major investor in SLX, owns one of the banking licenses in Entropia, a lot of the land in SL...
So... anyone wondering if maybe Ansche Chung is funding Rezzable?
15 October 2007
*sigh*
Dear Fellow Grid Inhabitants,
Please understand that making your avatar completely invisible is in dubious taste. There also is no known way to consistently hide your name tag from another's view.
If you're doing it so that special someone doesn't know you're there, it is called stalking. Stalking is considered a form of griefing and is forbidden by the ToS.
Yes, I host a page about invisiprims. Yes, I offer some for free. Yes, I sell the Invisible Man Avatar - notice that he's outlined. No, I'm not going to make you entirely invisible.
Please understand that making your avatar completely invisible is in dubious taste. There also is no known way to consistently hide your name tag from another's view.
If you're doing it so that special someone doesn't know you're there, it is called stalking. Stalking is considered a form of griefing and is forbidden by the ToS.
Yes, I host a page about invisiprims. Yes, I offer some for free. Yes, I sell the Invisible Man Avatar - notice that he's outlined. No, I'm not going to make you entirely invisible.
Megaprims, we'll miss you.
The traditional path of the grid ban-hammer is an announcent that the Lab is "considering" something, a wait of roughly a month, then the something is no longer allowed on the grid. This seriously saddens me; I've seen a lot of lovely builds that use megaprims responsibly. They're part of the Caledon sims, they're core to the Greenies sim, several "desert" sims use them to remove the ocean view that's a default part of islands without neighboring sims...
http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/10/12/the-big-prim-problem/
http://forums.secondlife.com/showthread.php?t=216541
Anyway, here's what I commented.
You want to solve the megaprim problem?
- Let us make prims up to 256x256x256 in the editor.
They're common in large builds as walls and floors, and for large spheres the only other option available takes a lot of prims. Experiment with the physics to find out what sizes give the physics system trouble - I've seen no signs of sim problems with the common 20x20x0.5 prim.
- Allow island owners to "texture" the view off the side of their sims
This is the main use of megaprims over 256M^2. With WindLight in development, would this be a good time to consider adding this feature?
- Make prim parcel encroachment impossible.
I've had MANY more cases of this from the standard Linden trees than from megaprims or anything else. It is a common user complaint, and I suspect the Lindens who do inworld support would love for parcel encroachment to be impossible.
http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/10/12/the-big-prim-problem/
http://forums.secondlife.com/showthread.php?t=216541
Anyway, here's what I commented.
You want to solve the megaprim problem?
- Let us make prims up to 256x256x256 in the editor.
They're common in large builds as walls and floors, and for large spheres the only other option available takes a lot of prims. Experiment with the physics to find out what sizes give the physics system trouble - I've seen no signs of sim problems with the common 20x20x0.5 prim.
- Allow island owners to "texture" the view off the side of their sims
This is the main use of megaprims over 256M^2. With WindLight in development, would this be a good time to consider adding this feature?
- Make prim parcel encroachment impossible.
I've had MANY more cases of this from the standard Linden trees than from megaprims or anything else. It is a common user complaint, and I suspect the Lindens who do inworld support would love for parcel encroachment to be impossible.
11 October 2007
Wednesday Oct 24
The CSI television episode featuring SL is supposed to air Wednesday Oct 24. So (HEY STORM! PAY ATTENTION!) make sure that all your rents and such are payed up for a couple days, because the grid is likely to be overwhelmed and full of newbies.
10 October 2007
Skin
I've said before that I doubted I'd ever make a normal skin. There's thousands out there. But this tutorial tempts me.
07 October 2007
Professional help
Know some guy avatars who need a little help dressing themselves? I'm tempted to drop by and grab a landmark to share... ;)
02 October 2007
Hey bloggers!
I don't usually blog about blogging, but this thrills the geek in me!
You know those little things that have you type in a word to leave a comment? To cut down on automated spam? This one puts up words from books that are being digitized. What you type helps decipher a word that was not readable by the scanning computers.
http://recaptcha.net/
You know those little things that have you type in a word to leave a comment? To cut down on automated spam? This one puts up words from books that are being digitized. What you type helps decipher a word that was not readable by the scanning computers.
http://recaptcha.net/
hee!
Neat! neon Neko got a mention in a new freebie fashions blog. The description as sad surprised me, the skins have an air of feline indifference on most of my shapes. One of these days I'll have to make a pair of freebie shapes to go with the skins. Especially a male shape, a strongly square jaw does not look good with them. The female freebie skin does have very soft shadows around the belly - I didn't want it overly muscled and probably went too far the other way.
01 October 2007
Turf and the Neko Fair
Well, the Neko Fair was fun. I sold some stuff and talked to several people. I've learned to always put freebies in a very obvious place *grin*, and that there's a lot of people who need a cuddly tiger toy.
Meta Card needs to do some work on their business model - every single one of my sales there was cash.
Some land next to one of my properties is going cheap. I'm thinking about upping my tier and buying it. Haven't made up my mind yet. There's an ad farmer block in the center of two I'm looking at, and I'm wondering if they'll either sell cheap or consent to a trade for a square closer to the road. I guess it depends on whether they still log in, and how much of their business model is reasoned. I could always box the plot out where my build is.
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