Reader Submitted: The Cloud Move

By Kἶէმƈεlἶმ Lմἶղƈօɾἶმlօէε Kεlνმɾl (Kitacelia Resident)

The first thing I have noticed, is much slower rezzing sometimes taking as much as 20 minutes to rezz an area and some items still not rezzing no matter how long you wait or leave or relog that weren't blocked or blacklisted.

The next thing I have noticed is that DJ streams seem to hiccup or skip quite often now, regardless of their internet, PCs, DJing program or location. I notice this because I host quite often so listening to DJ streams is  a large part of that. I hate to imagine what a DJ goes through trying to run a DJ  program and Second Life with all the current SL issues.

I have also experienced increased logging in times, as much as two to three times longer at times.  I have experienced increased lag and crashing as well.  I have major cable company high speed internet and while my PC isn't top of the line it is fairly decent and relatively newish.

Another issue, while I am uncertain it is related, is that I had once experience several months ago where all the scripted objects on land I rent broke, and had to be reset. Some permanently broke, and had to be replaced or were gone forever.  Several other times the same land my avi wouldn't rezz and nothing could be rezzed.

Several items that were scripted seem to have broken in some fashion due to updates and often it was up to the creators to fix them or not as LL apparently did little to nothing to deal with the script issues on certain items caused by these updates.

I have also noticed more bugs, and it taking longer for them to fix them. One especially annoying one that apparently took two weeks to fix was the recent timestamp issue on group notices where they looked like they were all sent the exact min, second, hour, day etc you looked back at the notices.  There were also issues with flickr and other things that came up and didn't seem to be resolved in a particularly timely manner.  

Increased scheduled and unscheduled maintenance has also been happening, which makes it difficult to do much in Second Life, much of it during prime time hours for the US and/or Europe. Also, it seems the servers either have a very small limit or aren't good at keeping track of blacklisted items.

While they have introduced some really cool new projects in the last few years, I hope they will reconsider this cloud move as it seems to be not only hindering the application of the cool new additions to a degree but also making more traditional applications/objects difficult as well to a point Second Life is sometimes barely playable and possibly not playable at all for some.   I have been in SL almost daily for nearly eight years. So while I am not one of the first or close to it, I am not even remotely close to new, recent, or a casual user.

I think Second Life has the population they have kept going mainly because they have had no real competition. If these issues persist or worsen I wonder how many will remain here post Covid-19.

Kitacelia

Reader Submitted: Codename: L.E.A.P.F.R.O.G.

By Eric Mouse

I have recently come up with this idea following a dream I had the morning of Sunday the 11th of September, which is right after the day trouble had struck the Surf's Up Beach Club on Sunny Beach from a location outside of it. The dream I got this idea from was about me being a vinyl frog or stuck in a vinyl frog suit while seemingly trapped somewhere unfamiliar and forced to do stuff for someone. It didn't appear that I was actually trapped there since I was able to leave the unfamiliar place I was in while taking something valuable with me.

After I woke up in bed the following morning, I started thinking about this and other things in response to Saturday's issues and the difficulties I had in trying to fix things. I ended up doing some creative thinking as well and came up with Codename: L.E.A.P.F.R.O.G. for a plan name with the ideas I have been thinking about (Loss Emergency And Planning For Relaxation Overtakes Gathering). Even though it is based from being a vinyl frog in the dream I had, the title of the plan is put in a format that is similar to the show called Codename: Kids Next Door that is about a kid run organization named KND.

The reason behind this, is because I have not only thinking about the need for relaxation at the last event gathering at the Surf's Up Beach Club, but also to work on resolving the issues that happened back on Saturday (the 10th of September) which first started with a number of people having problems TPing to the club. All I know is the sim was not at full capacity at the time and it was unknown to me as to what the cause was. Sometime later, I find out the next DJ was having music stream issues with the DJ Board and couldn't seem to figure out what's wrong. The only thing I could find out is someone *may* have forgotten to switch the music stream over to the other DJ.

Around that time, I also had stuff going on in RL on my end which I needed to tend to and needed to step away for a it. By the time I came back to check on things, I found everyone had already left as me, Lilly, and Elfin were the only ones left. At that time, I also noticed the contest board had never gotten switched over to allow voting for who the winning is going to be as it was still open for people to enter the contest. I and realized something else had gone wrong. Upon trying to find out what had happened to the DJ, I learned they have had several emergencies and couldn't do their job at the Surf's Up Beach Club.

All I could find out is they (had problems) in real-life as well as sim (trouble) happening elsewhere back on Purrfection which had nothing to do with the club or Sunny Beach in general. ... It seems I may have made things worse when I tried to investigate what the cause of this was and that the DJ in question might not come back. The only suggestion I have gotten at this point from a couple others, is to send out a group notice for the possible need for another DJ the next time there is going to be an event at the Surf's Up Beach Club.

To make sure something like this doesn't happen, I may need to have at least one backup DJ available to takeover at a moment's notice. I have also been thinking about the other things Mythica Woodland in Sunny Beach has as well that probably haven't been seen by many let alone talked about. Things such as is the cuddle and relaxation area by the fire and lake, the areas where you can sail around with a sailboat, the surfing wave on the northern end, the hilltop cannons that you can shoot cannonballs from, the possibility of a fishing area coming in, the under development mystical forest of light that could be for exploration and getting to see the moogles that are there.

What I feel, is I feel there is the need to begin incorporating the other ideas here into the weekly gatherings at the Surf's Up Beach Club by exploring the different areas that are available including any new ideas that may come up. Even though I'm not sure where exactly to begin with this, the wild west adventure I had with Becky got me thinking about role play ideas. This probably wouldn't be a problem with me as I have written a role play layout before, but yet properly show it to the public.

Erik Mouse

Marketplace Problems

By Theonlyjohnny Resident

    I, like most people in Second Life, see the marketplace as a useful tool, which can be used by all. However, there are a few problems that I wish to discuss. These problems clutter the marketplace, and make it hard to find what people want.

    The first problem is the overwhelming number of Demos. Demos were originally used for trying before you buy. They were great, however now there are way too many demos in the marketplace. In fact, typing the word Demo in the marketplace search will result in 105,878 items that either are demos, or have demos. This means that just searching demo will result in approximately 52,939. Of course, this number isn't the actual number of demos, which is a much higher number, however, it does show how demos have practically taken over the marketplace. Also, some of the demos are not specified as demos, but they are demo versions of items in the sellers store.

    The next problem is of greed. Not just in outrageous prices, but also in the sale of items that should be free. Upon searching for various objects in the marketplace, I have discovered many items being sold for prices that they do not deserve. One such item, a pair of boots (which I will not give the name of), that have nothing special about them, no texture change hud, no color change hud, they are one prim each, and yet their price is a staggering L$ 5000. This price is well out of most people's price range, and those that can afford them, wouldn't buy them because they aren't even full perm, nor do they have a cool design. Another thing I have noticed, is that people are actually selling their demos for linden. Demos were meant to be Try before you Buy, and it has angered quite a few people, since they don't want to spend linden on something that isn't even the full product.

    The third problem is that of lies and half-truths. A lot of people have many products, without pictures, but the product isn't what the seller said it was. I have experienced this when I bought what I had thought was a couch, however, it turned out to be a notecard mocking me. This is against the TOS, however it is still being done, and a lot of people have made quick bucks doing this, cheating people out of lindens.

    These problems, and many more, make the marketplace a place where people need to be cautious of what they buy. My suggestion is that you always read the review, and if an object doesn't have a review, make sure it has a pic, if there are no pics, or reviews, but it is free, then it is safe to buy. Otherwise, don't buy it. If the seller doesn't have the time to put up a pic, you shouldn't waste your time, as it could be too good to be true.

Theonlyjohnny Resident