Plea for the best idea, which I expect/suspect is already in the making,...?
I really expect the Second Life Operations team to come up with better ideas for the huge new contignent Belisseria ect. accessible via roads, water and air. You have to think big about such planning.
Namely, the solution regarding the connections by air, water and road - which are currently not there along the entire West Coast on Satori (which will not be solved with the proposals placed above) - must be tackled in a much more structural way and I think the SL Operations team can only solve this with a wide two water sims waterway and one or two huge bridges between the new and the old land: between the continents
One can connect this new waterway in the South with Buffalo Springs and Carmine Sky. Then all the way up to Tuulikki and Atanua: there the connection with the old land has to end and from there you can continue your trip by boat or plane on the existing waterway, because from those sims the route is wide enough.
Actually, I am sure The SL Operating Team wil know how to follow the route with watersims,... In the South a complete fill of the gap with water sims and depending on how they place more North other (water) sims and take a good look at how all this can be solved halfway through Satori. As noted, I'm assuming a waterway that is at least two watersims wide! A new large open sea would then arise. In my view, such a new sea is very justified, if you have housed such gigantic numbers of people in an enormous new contignent and do not place normal infrastructural connections against it.
Moreover, in addition to the fact that on the west coast of Satori it is now not possible to fly and sail (or drive). I would like to say, there are people as well in that part of Satori, who currently lack all connections, and find it necessary to have those. They also pay their bills neatly to LindenLabs every month, they also want to fly or sail to the Blake Sea.
Just imagine what a huge improvement that will be and what new possibilities will arise. Such as for example inter-continental sailing and flying races. The essential connection to the Blake Sea, but also to the entire other ancient land, cannot be completed via the 10 meter wide ditch on the sim Lamashtu.
- Petros Aabye, Klytyna, Marianne Little and 1 other
3
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ExpandPlea for the best idea, which I expect/suspect is already in the making,...?
I really expect the Second Life Operations team to come up with better ideas for the huge new contignent Belisseria ect. accessible via roads, water and air. You have to think big about such planning.
Namely, the solution regarding the connections by air, water and road - which are currently not there along the entire West Coast on Satori (which will not be solved with the proposals placed above) - must be tackled in a much more structural way and I think the SL Operations team can only solve this with a wide two water sims waterway and one or two huge bridges between the new and the old land: between the continents
One can connect this new waterway in the South with Buffalo Springs and Carmine Sky. Then all the way up to Tuulikki and Atanua: there the connection with the old land has to end and from there you can continue your trip by boat or plane on the existing waterway, because from those sims the route is wide enough.
Actually, I am sure The SL Operating Team wil know how to follow the route with watersims,... In the South a complete fill of the gap with water sims and depending on how they place more North other (water) sims and take a good look at how all this can be solved halfway through Satori. As noted, I'm assuming a waterway that is at least two watersims wide! A new large open sea would then arise. In my view, such a new sea is very justified, if you have housed such gigantic numbers of people in an enormous new contignent and do not place normal infrastructural connections against it.
Moreover, in addition to the fact that on the west coast of Satori it is now not possible to fly and sail (or drive). I would like to say, there are people as well in that part of Satori, who currently lack all connections, and find it necessary to have those. They also pay their bills neatly to LindenLabs every month, they also want to fly or sail to the Blake Sea.
Just imagine what a huge improvement that will be and what new possibilities will arise. Such as for example inter-continental sailing and flying races. The essential connection to the Blake Sea, but also to the entire other ancient land, cannot be completed via the 10 meter wide ditch on the sim Lamashtu.
Thoroughly agree with you there Mike. Would be interesting to know at least if there are any further long term plans for additional water. Sailing can't be treated like a Linden railway line, seeing boats feebly struggle to keep to a track or squeeze along a tiny channel carved at the edge os a region. LL know that the lure of the water is big otherwise the explosion / demand of houseboats & Stilts would not have happened, or the myriad of rivers in some of the new land. There creation of Blake's Sea many years ago after the approach by the sailing community brought a whole new life to SL that still thrives to this day. Developing new, wider areas of sea would also take the pressure off the coastal areas of Blake where group purchase of land with Protected Water access for rental concerns is rife. There is another complication as you touched on, which is the one of aviation. Due to banlines, insta blocks, the interior of mainland is a nightmare for flyers, therefore they prefer to fly along the Protected Waterways, understandably. However this also means airports are contructed along the coasts, generally between 50 & 100m high (so that owners can try to make some money with mooring rentals beneath). Unfortunately we don't know how much abandoned land there is in the interior but no doubt LL have land management maps they can easily refer to - but if there is a general glut of dormant land in there, could there be a case for LL creating 'Air Corridors' across continents, the land over which they cross be subject to a build covenant (height restrictions, less Li, No Ban Lines etc) but then offered for sale at a reduced Tier. Yes, less tier revenue on the face of it but increased because in the long run there would be less abandoned land. Aviation Groups would see the practicalities of cheaper land (most of it tarmac & concrete) joined by guaranteed air routes. This may at last see some of the coastline revealed once more instead of buried under massive airports. (Just fly along the north shore of Satori and see how many airports stand at 60m along there with no coastline to be seen). I know this may seem at fist glance to be off topic but the creation of new Linden Home Regions should be done with a global picture - which I'm sure it is........ by the way has anyone seen that Evergreen container ship blocking the Belli ship canal? 
I disagree. New water sims north of Stromberg are not needed.
I was able to sail HMS Dragon (10m wide and 120m long) from Atanua southwards through the narrow protected water channel in Chloris and Atira to the new pier in Chiffre. And it was easy.
All you need to do is ride along the outer border edge of these sims at a low speed. As long as the root/physics prim of your vessel stays in the water channel, it's quite an easy manoeuvre.
Also, the wider water which lays between Satori proper and these coastal parcels is also fully navigable, although one parcel has a 45 second timer that will kick you home.
Using your minimap Property Lines filter to show parcel boundaries helps with navigation too.
I really like virtual sailing and up-wind you just need the space. I hope the Lindens read my plea and I hope they take into account essential amenities appropriate to the size of the world (read: Bellisseria) they've created.
- diamond Marchant, Klytyna, Nika Talaj and 4 others
- 5
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I really like virtual sailing and up-wind you just need the space. I hope the Lindens read my plea and I hope they take into account essential amenities appropriate to the size of the world (read: Bellisseria) they've created.
Happy to have you aboard team "connect the continents". At present, most of us are looking for any connectivity of Linden protected waters and if that is a mere 10m channel on a region edge, so be it. We are but 6 regions from connecting Bellisseria to the Blake YaY! These things are coming in baby steps, but steps none the less.
by the way has anyone seen that Evergreen container ship blocking the Belli ship canal?
ha ha I checked... all is well
btw, PBS Nova made an episode about it... Why Ships Crash quick take... wind blew the Evergreen toward the bank. It speeded up to get more control but the hydrodynamics of increased speed and the shallow bank resulted in an effect of sucking the ship towards the bank. Ships that did not speed up did ok.
usual typos
Just to be very clear about Mike's point, you did not "sail" your Dragon through those channels. You BOATED under power through those channels.
If you are attempting to actually sail, a10m wide waterway can be a nightmare of continuous tacking and jibing, something Abnor at least knows well. But SL sailors who are not absolute purists have options:
1. Change the wind so you can run downwind for the entire channel.
2. Get a sailboat where you can drop sail and proceed under power if need be - I believe all the Bwind and Bandit boats can. For verisimilitude, SL sailboats under power often have slower top speeds than actual power boats.
Having a rez zone at both ends of a multiregion narrow channel could help the situation, too - you could change to a speedboat until open water is available.
If you are attempting to actually sail, a10m wide waterway can be a nightmare of continuous tacking and jibing, something Abnor at least knows well. But SL sailors who are not absolute purists have options:
Yes. In groups such as the Leeward Crusing Club, we actually enjoy venturing into channels. As you mention, we have the option of charting a course ahead of time, configuring navigation HUDs, and setting the wind so that using sails (rather than a motor) works. We also make it clear that sailors are free to use any wind speed/direction and/or a motor. Below is a sample chart.
ExpandI disagree. New water sims north of Stromberg are not needed.
I was able to sail HMS Dragon (10m wide and 120m long) from Atanua southwards through the narrow protected water channel in Chloris and Atira to the new pier in Chiffre. And it was easy.
All you need to do is ride along the outer border edge of these sims at a low speed. As long as the root/physics prim of your vessel stays in the water channel, it's quite an easy manoeuvre.
Also, the wider water which lays between Satori proper and these coastal parcels is also fully navigable, although one parcel has a 45 second timer that will kick you home.
Using your minimap Property Lines filter to show parcel boundaries helps with navigation too.
I do not call that sailing, as much as transportation from A to B.
Riding on a border edge is very restrictive, the boat is set on a track it can not move from. You can move away from the edge, but in reality you can't because it is no room over long distances.
That is how I am thinking. The point is to sail as long a distance as possible.
But SL sailors who are not absolute purists have options:
Thank you Nika,
With races a Race Director [RD] tells us how the wind blows and what the speed must be. And of course I never cheat.
My plea is for the complete West Coast of Satori, Inclusieve from Imelza up to Stromberg. Those shoreline sims there are currently among the slums of Second Life. While it is so easy to solve that right away.
Edited by Mike McGregor- Klytyna and Eirynne Sieyes
- 2
So you want a two region wide Satori coastal boat channel from Imelza up to Stromberg? This would be a total of 38 water sim regions.
Who pays for these 38 regions? They aren't "free" just because they're empty water spaces. They would need space on the AWS servers, all of which need to be paid for each day/week/month/year.
I also once had similar hopes for that same route, but "only" using 19 regions, which was ultimately rejected because I was told 19 new water regions would be too expensive.
And you want 38 of them, plus possibly an additional 11 more north of Stromberg too because you're too much of a "sailing purist" to ride along some sim border edges?! 🤣
Edited by SarahKB7 KoskinenI also once had similar hopes for that same route, but "only" using 19 regions, which was ultimately rejected because I was told 19 new water regions would be too expensive.
If I may ask, who told you that? Was that on this forum and when (where)?
Through my own and other people's various Feature Request JIRA proposals to LL.
Edited by SarahKB7 KoskinenThrough my own and other people's various Feature Request JIRA proposals to LL.
I think I would take your Jira response as a not now (back a year ago?) rather than a never type reply.
I will be over the moon with a Stromberg connection and will happily use it for cruise routes, but I think Atanua still something to hope for.
The 10m wide channel from Stromberg is very narrow and especially so on the corner. Reliably traversing the route depends on the goodwill of landowners especially on that corner. As a recent thread illustrated many would see no wrong buying that land up and effectively blocking it with security measures. No other intercontinental connection are so narrow. A one region wide line of regions up to Atanua is a relatively modest proposal compared to the two region wide connections elsewhere.
My plea is for the complete West Coast of Satori, Inclusieve from Imelza up to Stromberg.
That is not needed by sailors as we already have a north/south route to Satori via new regions in Bellisseria.
Thought experiment... if stacks of protected open water regions were constructed there... what would actually happen?
1) Sailors would have a second north/south route.
2) Linden Lab would have additional expenses.
3) Coastal landowners in the newly connected regions would experience windfall profits.
Should Linden Lab have some extra regions, I would prioritize connecting Bellisseria to the East River in Sansara.
In an ideal virtual world where south-west Satori had a wider coastline, I would hope to see the respective parcel owners in these numerous regions being a lot more cooperative with each other and organising communal water space areas in each sim, creating harbours and boat channels to allow boats to sail in (and out) from the wider grid.
Edited by SarahKB7 KoskinenThe 10m wide channel from Stromberg is very narrow and especially so on the corner.
Here is a slightly revised map of the protected water path from Stromberg to Atanua, showing channel widths. There is a 90 degree corner in the SW corner of Eostre and a 90 degree corner in the NW corner of Chuginadak. We do depend on governance to keep these channels free from overhangs.
Those shoreline sims there are currently among the slums of Second Life. While it is so easy to solve that right away.
The sailing community winning friends as usual ...
Those shoreline sims there are currently among the slums of Second Life. While it is so easy to solve that right away.
The sailing community winning friends as usual ...
Many of those properties are quite nice 
There are occasional challenges when flying over them
ExpandHere is a slightly revised map of the protected water path from Stromberg to Atanua, showing channel widths. There is a 90 degree corner in the SW corner of Eostre and a 90 degree corner in the NW corner of Chuginadak. We do depend on governance to keep these channels free from overhangs.
It doesn't take much of a slow handover in that Chuginodak corner to end up on someone's land. There are 3 parcels there fortunately currently in sympathetic land owner's hands... but depending on their goodwill for an intercontinental connection doesn't seem wise as a long-term plan.
on another topic:
Anyone have a clue as to what we can expect next from LL regarding the homes? Will there be any additional styles this calendar year? How about updates to the Traditionals?
In the real world projects on this scale are exposed in the open by the initiators and project developers. The users may then shoot or embrace it. Apparently things are different in Secondlife. In this world we have to wait and see what 'people' (I don't know them) have come up with for us. In itself this is remarkable and at the same time the source of all speculation. It would be so much better if LindenLabs were a little more transparant, clearer. I can handle that. And it's always nice to be surprised!
- You, diamond Marchant, Petros Aabye and 2 others
- 3
1- 1
The sailing community winning friends as usual ...
I've tried to smarten up and open up some of this area, showed Diamond a part last year.
Most of the water is open, with most neighbours leaving it that way for passage.
I will put an LCC Rez post & clubhouse in there if it was ever open to the sea. Currently the area is openly adevtised as a place for mermaid community to swim around. Fendhal & Absorbaloff.
- Nando Yip, Aethelwine, Nika Talaj and 5 others
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This plea was also posted by one of the land holders in Khan (where there is a small corner of protected water connecting to the strip at Blofeld and Klebb).
The region owners at Blofeld have it all accessible. Most of the water at Klebb is currently as well, though a large parcel of land and water there is for sale, so that could soon become blocked.
I think it's wonderful that Bellisseria is getting all this water to go boating on, but owners of mainland are paying for Premium subscriptions, so it would be nice if they could get a bit more sailable coastline too.
Edited by Persephone Emerald- You, Feorie Frimon, Aethelwine and 7 others
- 10
Now that's very interesting, I never realised until now that there are protected boat channels along the coasts of Blofeld and Klebb. I'll have to go looking for more!
EDIT: I've just finished looking around all the 19 sims south of Stromberg and have confirmed Blofeld, Klebb and a tiny southwest corner area of Khan are the only sims with protected coastlines.
Edited by SarahKB7 Koskinen- You, Petros Aabye, Eleanor Anderton and 5 others
- 8
Apparently things are different in Secondlife. In this world we have to wait and see what 'people' (I don't know them) have come up with for us. In itself this is remarkable
Is it remarkable? It might be better to compare SL to other "games", rather than the real world (tempting tho that may be because of SL's extensive continents). There are many MMOGs that allow users to create content, but are there any that give users a voice in defining new content that the game makers are developing?
[Honest question, I know very little about other MMOGs]
Is it remarkable? It might be better to compare SL to other "games", rather than the real world (tempting tho that may be because of SL's extensive continents).
You are absolutely right, of course it is more realistic to compare SL with other games and not with real life. But I don't know anything about other 'games', if you can call SL a game? The moment you yell 'Hi' in my IM, you are already in my real life. That's how I feel.
I'm someone who even thinks it's a good idea to create an electable civilian board in SL, hence. An electable participation committee would be a good start. This is just a wish! I am not telling others what to do, please. Sure hell, SL would become ungovernable,...
I do know that the residents in SL build the content (partly), but at the moment they have nothing to say about the infrastructure. That's a little 'shame', I won't change that, my contribution may even be undesirable if I read some of the comments here. I'm just trying to create a better and, above all, optimally usable world. No, I don't pay attention to the costs. A new sea strait between Bellisseria and the Blake Sea (the old land) is also just a wish, but probably the best idea.
Edited by Mike McGregorYou are absolutely right, of course it is more realistic to compare SL with other games and not with real life. But I don't know anything about other 'games', if you can call SL a game? The moment you yell 'Hi' in my IM, you are already in my real life. That's how I feel.
The moment you sit down to use a game or any other application on your computer, you're already in your real life, just like every other moment between your birth and death.
I'm someone who even thinks it's a good idea to create an electable civilian board in SL, hence. An electable participation committee would be a good start. This is just a wish! I am not telling others what to do, please. Sure hell, SL would become ungovernable,...
This thread will be FOUR years old on August 20. It has provided hours of entertainment for those of us who enjoy speculating about something we have no real knowledge about. The policy of Linden Labs has been to provide no details about the future... just vague statements about "new themes" or something might happen "soon". A good insight comes from @Abnor Mole, who has shared that "regions must pay for themselves".
Given the current state of affairs, I believe this policy of opaqueness is entirely justified. In the scheme of things, Second Life is super tiny. We have but 40,000 active users on a good day... we could all sit in Fenway Park and watch a Red Sox game (baseball). Additionally, we are not growing which is not a good look for any business. The best we can hope for is that Linden Labs is breaking even so that the decision to shut us down is not a no-brainer. They do not have the luxury of telling us what they are planning, much less allowing us to participate in any meaningful way.
ExpandThis thread will be FOUR years old on August 20. It has provided hours of entertainment for those of us who enjoy speculating about something we have no real knowledge about. The policy of Linden Labs has been to provide no details about the future... just vague statements about "new themes" or something might happen "soon". A good insight comes from @Abnor Mole, who has shared that "regions must pay for themselves".
Given the current state of affairs, I believe this policy of opaqueness is entirely justified. In the scheme of things, Second Life is super tiny. We have but 40,000 active users on a good day... we could all sit in Fenway Park and watch a Red Sox game (baseball). Additionally, we are not growing which is not a good look for any business. The best we can hope for is that Linden Labs is breaking even so that the decision to shut us down is not a no-brainer. They do not have the luxury of telling us what they are planning, much less allowing us to participate in any meaningful way.
This is so insightful and a sad reality about Second Life. They're not giving us actual metrics so we don't know the actual growth rate, but if it is growing at all, I would guess not by much. In some ways I think Linden Lab is not trying to please the current user base, they already have our money and attention. What they want is to attract younger crowds, the tiktok-ers, etc. What do THEY want? Linden Lab is spending a lot of time and money attracting them with music venues (Club Arcane), comic regions, games, etc.
This is so insightful and a sad reality about Second Life. They're not giving us actual metrics so we don't know the actual growth rate, but if it is growing at all, I would guess not by much. In some ways I think Linden Lab is not trying to please the current user base, they already have our money and attention. What they want is to attract younger crowds, the tiktok-ers, etc. What do THEY want? Linden Lab is spending a lot of time and money attracting them with music venues (Club Arcane), comic regions, games, etc.
I think it should be at least moderately encouraging that Bellisseria is growing so fast. Remember that LL doesn't want to build new regions if they don't think they'll pay off. Every one of these regions represent about 20 people paying for a Premium subscription. Of course some houses will be empty, but LL must have data to make them think there won't be too many empty ones.
I suspect some of this growth is in preparation for removing the old Linden Home regions, but those aren't that full. What is being added is far more than what will be necessary to absorb those Premium account holders.
Edited by Persephone EmeraldThe moment you sit down to use a game or any other application on your computer, you're already in your real life, just like every other moment between your birth and death.
Yes and no. I think it is important to remember that for a WHOLE LOT of people, gaming, particularly SL, is all about escapism. In SL you can easily escape to be a completely new persona, you can use SL as a scratch pad to develop new traits, you can escape limitations of your real life to be the person that you may always have imagined yourself to be ... a person whom those who see you daily in real life DO NOT KNOW.
A person whom those who you interact with daily (perhaps not positively) ... cannot reach.
The moment you sit down to use a game or any other application on your computer, you're already in your real life, just like every other moment between your birth and death.
Now we're getting philosophical,...
(Sometimes I meet people that like to separate there SL from there RL)
All is Real Life, I agree!! This means there are (yes/no) computer games, and (yes/no) virtual worlds, but indeed if you look at it that way. That, then, is the moment my father impregnated my mother,... That, me, when I was 15, and bought a computer, is an afterthought. It won't be long before I die, I'm so terribly old already. Kiss, smarty pants. I think I have said enough and move on.
I think this forum is perfect, I am just joking!
Edited by Mike McGregorI think this forum is perfect, I am just joking!
1
1Second Life is not actively trying to attract the under-25s, they can't because that age group is playing games like FFXIV, Genshin Impact, League of Legends, PUBG, Smite, Apex, Fortnite, even Overwatch. They want to build a house? They play Minecraft or Roblox.
SL's largest population is aging and happy with opening our wallets to pay for fake houses and bodies/faces. We are what is referred to in the gaming industry as "whales" (FFXIV even has a flying whale mount you can buy in an ironic meta humor reference). One of my gamer friends calls people like us "wallet warriors" since we pay to win - and winning in SL means more land, bigger houses, more clothes/accessories, etc.
People over the past few years have been whisper-screaming "metaverse!" and I think the Lab figured they might be able to capitalize on this trend. I just don't think they can make it happen, and I think the whole idea of a true metaverse is a fallacy anyway. When a company only gets a couple thousand views on their You-Tube videos about their product, Twitch has banned them because mass amounts of adult content could pop out at any time, and there's no real way to make TikTok vids within the game - Linden Lab has bigger problems than being a part of the "metaverse."
The fact that the Lab is investing money in expanding Bellisseria is proof that the wallet warriors are the true kings and queens of SL and the ones who pay their bills. They've never been 100% forthcoming with what their future plans are about anything in the game, but that is typical of all gaming companies. Bless their hearts, though, Linden Lab keeps trying to evolve even as they come up with Premium Plus to help keep the lights on, the moles paid and the servers running while they try (once again) to figure out how to be more socially relevant. I truly wish them luck, after all I've been kicking around this game for over 19 years myself.
I think the LDPW has made the channel at SSP Landho and SSP Josie Banks wider than it was originally. Looking at the channel on the north east end of what might be a water passage between the Newbrooks and Chalets, I wonder if they'll widen it on that end too?
Remarkable progress by the moles, this is how far north the new land now extends:
The new area is largish. I flew around its edges and did not see any sharply cut off land, but Abnor is still there creating it, so didn't take pics. On its east edge it extends straight up for 4 new regions from the current regions, is 3 regions wide at its top, and then on the west there are a couple of stairsteps making it broader until it rejoins the existing houseboat regions. If that whole area will be houseboats, when they're done they will have built a continent of houseboats larger than Sakura now is.
Also, in other news, I've never seen this before. Most of the tile buildout area up in SSP land are offline, except for specially named ones. The regions seem to still exist at this moment, tho who knows, perhaps on their way out ...
I wonder if they'll widen it on that end too?
Hmmm. Considering that would essentially involve moving and redoing everything on at least half the region... including terraforming, parcels, infrastructure, and every bit of content squeezed by the widening of the waterway... AND another full QA pass... If the question is "Are we going to take a region that is completed, done and ready for release to make a water channel a few meters wider?" Let me see...
ExpandHmmm. Since that would essentially involve moving everything on at least half the region... including terraforming, parcels, infrastructure, and every bit of content squeezed by the widening of the waterway... If the question is "Are we going to take a region that is completed, done and ready for release to make a water channel a few meters wider?" Let me see...
I was not expecting all that anyway. Maybe one house changed from a 1024 m to a 512 m parcel and then the sidewalk in front of it moved back? But given that the region is close to release, I didn't really expect that either.
Thanks for the reply, and it's better than "Reply hazy, ask again".
Edited by Persephone EmeraldFrom the official SL Map website... https://maps.secondlife.com/index.php?q=Stromberg
Stromberg: "I've been expecting you, Mr Bond!"
SSPTiedown Inlet: "Eh? Err, I'm not James Bond and how the hell did you find me?"
Stromberg: "By using my Super Secret Pointy-clicky (SSP) SL Map machine!"
SSPTiedown Inlet: "Oh okaaaaay.... err, nice to meet you?!"
Stromberg: "And I see you've brought fifteen other spies too!"
SSPTiedown Inlet: "Are you feeling quite alright, Mr Stromberg?! It can't be easy being stuck out here alone for so very long."
Stromberg: "But Mr Bond! I am not alone! *manic laughter* This continent is full of other SPECTRE Agent named sims!"
SSPTiedown Inlet: *blinks*
😜
Edited by SarahKB7 KoskinenExpandFrom the official SL Map website...
Stromberg: "Hello there! I've been expecting you for a very long time, Mr Bond!"
SSPTiedown Inlet: "Eh? Err, I'm not James Bond and how the hell did you find me?"
Stromberg: "From my Super Secret Pointy-clicky (SSP) SL Map machine!"
SSPTiedown Inlet: "Oh okaaaaay.... Anyway, nice to meet you, neighbour!"
Stromberg: "And I see you've brought fifteen other secret agents too!"
SSPTiedown Inlet: "Are you feeling quite alright, Mr Stromberg?!"
😜
Two more regions! Two more regions!
/me does a happy dance. 💃 😃
I found Stromberg is also the name of a German comedy series inspired by The Office.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0428167/
Edited by Persephone EmeraldThere's a replica of the James Bond villain Karl Stromberg's secret underwater lair (called Atlantis) hidden in SL. But unlike in the film, it's not underwater. It's inside a huge volcano found in the final level stage sim of the Linden Realms game regions!
Try not to steal Magellan's whisky if you find it....
Edited by SarahKB7 KoskinenSSP Shell Yeah has an interesting island with a flat green top.
SSP Tiedown Inlet has a deep channel facing Stromberg.
Bugs bunny views the new land area 😂
Not much here for rabbits.
copy that.... just a two region connector and OMG!!!! we at Stromberg. They added rows of 5, 4, 4, and 3... total of 12 regions, mixed Newbrookes and Houseboats. Appears to be THE END of northeasterly expansion as this block is surrounded by water channels on all nothern borders.
Is it remarkable? It might be better to compare SL to other "games", rather than the real world (tempting tho that may be because of SL's extensive continents). There are many MMOGs that allow users to create content, but are there any that give users a voice in defining new content that the game makers are developing?
[Honest question, I know very little about other MMOGs]
FreeSO, which is a reverse-engineered and updated version of the old EA.com The Sims Online, which has a small but avid core of devs and users, put in the commuty voting program for "mayors" which used to (sort of) function in the original TSO. And then there are options to chose which regions go in the community and their themes and activities. It's not exactly democracy, because you need an independent judiciary and free press and free civil society for democracy to function, and no virtual world ever has that.
I continue to think that the JIRA is the worst place for land requests, as it is supposed to be for software and is quite undemocratic and wonky to use.
I think the Features Voting System we once had should be returned, and collect a simple up-and-down yes/no vote on each proposal, and when a proposal reaches X minimal votes, it should get a Linden comment of "can't do" or "do," whereupon it can continue to collect votes, but with the understanding is that it will not be a priority.
Edited by Prokofy NevaI think the Features Voting System we once had should be returned, and collect a simple up-and-down yes/no vote on each proposal
Prok, read the room. We are all wetting our pants over the new regions that just dropped. No time atm for rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic (sorry for the worn out cliche).
ExpandYou are absolutely right, of course it is more realistic to compare SL with other games and not with real life. But I don't know anything about other 'games', if you can call SL a game? The moment you yell 'Hi' in my IM, you are already in my real life. That's how I feel.
I'm someone who even thinks it's a good idea to create an electable civilian board in SL, hence. An electable participation committee would be a good start. This is just a wish! I am not telling others what to do, please. Sure hell, SL would become ungovernable,...
I do know that the residents in SL build the content (partly), but at the moment they have nothing to say about the infrastructure. That's a little 'shame', I won't change that, my contribution may even be undesirable if I read some of the comments here. I'm just trying to create a better and, above all, optimally usable world. No, I don't pay attention to the costs. A new sea strait between Bellisseria and the Blake Sea (the old land) is also just a wish, but probably the best idea.
I don't know if you're aware of the fact that one group of residents who started an RP group for fun called "Bellisserian Bureaucratic Bureaucracy" in fact surprisingly (or not, if you know SL history) morphed into *the* resident "civilian board" that the Lindens now deal with on Bellisseria on a variety of issues, whether "exploration" with their stamp game or events on public lands or various schemes to encourage premium accounts and Mainland "nature".
So you could try to get into this group, which seems to have a very severe vetting process both on the Linden side and the resident side (it's a hybrid group really) -- good luck!
As for Mainland proper, or "Legacy Mainland" (the Lindens do not treat Bellisseria as "Mainland" and it is not part of Governor Linden's large Estate, which is all of the old Mainland) -- nothing can stop you from forming something like the Confederation of Democratic Simulators, which is on islands. You can start it, and see who shows up. You can try to get the Lindens to pay attention. Good luck!
In the old days, there were meaningful Town Halls, meaningful workshops (such as on reform of the Group Tools) and meaningful meetings with Philip Linden and other top Lindens on vital matters such as a code of conduct for LL, a policy to end Linden endorsement of resident businesses (since abandoned), deployment of telehubs, and the telehub land buyback plan. I think since those days, following the "Virtual World Winter" after the boom in 2006-2007, there hasn't been anything like this "Magna Carta" effort of sorts.
I find there is only one way to "vote" in SL: 1) pay tier or 2) abandon land. When enough people pay tier or buy premiums, the Lindens keep doing the thing (Bellisseria). When enough people abandon land (continents without roads and water), the Lindens don't keep doing a thing (maintenance, building).
The only real way to get something done on land is to buy it, alone or in groups, and put in what you want, like Corsica South Coast and other such Mainland communities.
Again, in the old days, when there were furious fights over resources on every level, three main political groupings were formed to lobby the Lindens, and their antics on the forums cause the Lindens to entirely shut down "General Discussion" to control them (I'm not counting the griefers' group which led to Philip banning about 50 accounts in the early days).
Roughtly speaking, these groups were:
1) Leftists, consisting of oldbies, scripters, designers, Linden friends or even past/future Lindens, who treated SL as a "platform" and were known as "platformistas";
2) Centrists, who wanted regulated commerce, rules for Mainland to encourage nice verisimilitude - they were "worlders".
3) Conservatives, mainly big land barons who wanted less regulated commerce or policies favourable to themselves like bulk discounts.
Thus groups like "Metaverse Justice Watch" was born and hotly contested by warring factions.
Today, most of the loudest voices in these old groups are gone completely from SL.
I do think it is time to have a more conscious Mainland lobbying group, which is why I started Mainland Appreciation Society, by I really don't have the capacity to lobby Lindens other than by those two methods I mentioned above: 1) pay tier 2) abandon land. Pro tip: MonCierge meetings are NOT a place to lobby Lindens, as these Lindens are among the most powerless, with the least amount of clout within management.
The real action is in the code-cave meetings like "Web Developer" or "Server" etc which are meetings largely populated by computer specialists but which could really use some attendance and sharp questioning from informed "norms". Follow all the YouTubes thoughtfully provided by Pantera on YouTube; read all of Inara Pey's summaries, and jump in with pointed requests.
It's shocking to compare and contrast the MonCierge and the code meetings. In the former, very nice and helpful Lindens listen to your woes, and try to suggest remedies, but are reduced mainly to telling you to file a ticket and then fill the silence by reading off the Linden blog which we already read.
By contrast, the code meetings often have more Lindens than residents, and powerful Lindens who actually run the code and decide on their own about the features from that code, without even "troika" input (and I'm not even sure which Lindens make up the troika these days). Firestorm developers laze along the decks of Linden offices, or skate around or jump with their shoulder pets while Lindens lavish them with praise for doing this or that code chore and ask how fast they need this or that little thing to be coded *and it is*. It's just SHOCKING.
Of course, the things they ask for and do sometimes seem obscure, like "fix avatar foot shadows" or "the rising moon is blue" or "jpegs of X size won't load under Y and Z odd circumstances". Yet occasionally, they casually announce that they're "going to get rid of the ability to comment on reviews on the MP" -- because some diva's feelings were hurt in these meetings and stamped her little foot until it was done.
Nota bene: when these very forums were recently nerfed, and there simply *had* to be some outlet for protest and Linden engagement, the Lindens steered those people who could break away during the work day to a Web meeting (coders) and wheeled out Kiera Linden to field questions. This at least created a pipeline in theory for complaints by emailing her (see how far that goes).
As I said it is SHOCKING. But it all cries out for engagement if you have the stamina. I go to one meeting a year. I may increase this to two. But I'm old and sick. You sound like a strong young fellow.
Edited by Prokofy NevaProk, read the room. We are all wetting our pants over the new regions that just dropped. No time atm for rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic (sorry for the worn out cliche).
I'm not answering the pants-wetters but the person who made the interesting comment, McGregor. The "room" that you imagine needs to be "read" consists only of the tiny percentage of people who can play "Game of Homes" with multiple accounts, not the bulk of even the Bellisserian residents.
The issue of how the continents connect up, and the issue of how waterways on Legacy Mainland function especially on the way to Bellisseria, remains BURNING. Read THAT room which isn't only in this thread. As a non-sailor (I just ride the railroads or my Megapuss on the roads), I don't have a stake in this issue, except to note that apparently major commercial/reputational forces seem to be at play, as it is a windfall for both the sailing communities and their commerce and those landowners fortunate enough to have bought land proximate to these areas where they can put rentals.
The Lindens still see the Mainland useful as a safari destination and a place to prospect for new premium accounts. I don't notice them turning away the large payments on the auctions for Blake Sea land and any sailing land on the way to/near Bellisseria.
Edited by Prokofy NevaThe "room" that you imagine needs to be "read"
This room is called "SSP?" and the topic is regions beginning with SSP.
This room is called "SSP?" and the topic is regions beginning with SSP.
I realize how you view SSP as a topic within your own business realm.
But SSP as a topic inspired two other residents, namely Mike MacGregor and Nija Talaj, to comment that there really is no mechanism for having a say in how the land is managed, or how/when/what styles are rolled out with Bellisseria, and how unlike RL this. And "how unlike RL this is" is the theme song of the entire Metaverse these days, and makes it or breaks it. So I replied to them as I think their concerns are valid.
And when a tasty-looking new region is rolled out, it always invokes all the usual mixed feelings of awe coupled with envy of those who can play "Game of Homes" avidly with hundreds of accounts and dollars, and the kind of sailing challenges that persist in and around those SSPs. SSPs are not in a vacuum.
You can always AR a post you find "off topic" and see if you can get the post removed.
Edited by Prokofy Neva
