General News

#SL Region Lag

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Some improvements in Second Life have unintended consequences. The Destination Guide and What’s Hot are both nice additions to Second Life. But, there are some unintended consequences from them. One of the negative consequences is over loading regions.

Loki's Game in Destination Guide

I’ve seen lots of improvements in Second Life this year. Region crossings and region lag have been improved. But, those sailing and flying vehicles through crossings are still unhappy. Also, we all have probably had recent problems with region crossings. But, in general things have gotten better. But, the destination guide offers some new opportunities to concentrate more people in a region.

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#SL Large Groups Won’t Load

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It seems there are some long term problems with large groups. Seems a large group is 12,500 members… yeah that’s a large group. Some people have pointed out in JIRA SVC-4968 that some much smaller groups run into similar problems.

One user, Point Luminos, suggests that computer resources are the problem, not the viewer. Point has a rather modest computer, Duo Core2 E7500 with 4gb ram. Point tells us that he/she is editing a 36,000+ member list each day without a problem.

However, users with more computer and smaller groups are running into the problem. That is more as in newer CPU and more ram. So, it probably is not just a computer resource problem.

The comments are arguing about whether it is a resource problem on the client or a bug in the SL system. Since some can edit large lists and some can’t edit some not so large lists it suggests another problem than just a size limit or computer hardware.

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#SL Last Names Coming Back

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I saw Danial Voyager’s post about a comment in LL’s CEO’s Feed. Rod wrote that last names are coming back in 2012.

You may have been following the JIRA Feature Request to being last names back. See SVC-7125 – Bring Back Last Name Options!

This JIRA had 2,139 votes and 696 watches. That is probably some sort of record. It certainly shows that the most residents do not know the importance of clicking Watch.

There is a stream of new comments added to the JIRA item just about every day.

Racism?

The lack of last names seems to have created a form of racism. New SL users with the last name Resident are claiming discrimination. The only way to know is create a new Alt and walk a mile in their shoes.

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Metareality Podcast

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If you have not listened to one of Metarealities podcasts, check one out. The podcasts are a panel discussion among three regular members and various guests. Charlar Linden and Karl Stiefavater have been recent guests. The topics covered are current Second Life and virtual world events. They can range from whether Phillip Rosedale, SL founder, really diss’d Second Life and means to exploit third world labor or not to Ashton Kutcher’s explosive gaff tweet.

Metareality Podcasts

The host Gianna is a bubbly person with an empathic nature and a seemingly tolerant world view and willingness to look for broader context and understanding. Draxtor and Reed seem more locked into their meta worlds views with clear opinions and less questioning of their personal opinions and perceptions. The combination makes for interesting discussions.

The recent podcast (11/18) titled, The Perception of Failure and Success, came to my attention because they linked to one of my blog articles, Where is Torley Linden? I had to know what they said about it… OK, me. Nothing. But, they did link and that is good.

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#SL Direct Delivery in Testing

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We don’t hear much from the Linden Commerce Team. But this week the new Direct Deliver system made it to the Release Channel in the main grid. We know because the Server team told us. It is currently testing in Le Tigre regions. That means there is a chance it will move to the main grid this coming Tuesday, if things go well. 

As best I can tell the new features are not enabled. Visiting Le Tigre sandboxes I see none of the new folders needed for Direct Delivery in my inventory. Presumably this is a code compatibility test. They are checking to see if adding the code breaks anything else.

Also there are the other inventory services using HTTP Inventory. Those services are to make Inventory load faster and more reliably. I think new API’s are part of the deal too.  So, new viewers should see a speed up in inventory while in Le Tigre channel regions.

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Halloween in Second Life 2011

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In Second Life we have traditional events that the Lab has put on to show off content. One of the spontaneous events that residents build for is Halloween, which is a big and growing holiday in America. Residents create hunts with hundreds of search locations. Some places create hunts within a single region. It is way big fun.

Halloween Fun via Farthington Whetmore's Portal

Finding all those participating with spooky Halloween builds and hunts has never been easier. The Destination Guide and What’s Hot Now are both helping expose fun places to residents. Plus Farthington Whetmore has created an in-world portal to Halloween builds. Contact him in world via IM or the new Send Message to add your location.

New Send Message

Also, there is a neat thread in the SL Forum. The Haunted Halloween season is just around the corner — how will you celebrate? There are shops and haunted houses listed in the thread. Everything from tattoos to bodies and funny to gruesome monsters are listed. As of now there are about 3 pages of stuff listed.