Open Forum: What Do You Think of SL5B So Far?

Open question for an open forum: praise, complaints, reports, recommendations, questions, broader thoughts, all of the above, around Second Life's fifth anniversary.  And remember, by "SL5B", I mean the official Linden-sanctioned events and the "fringe" celebrations that have sprouted up around it.

Comments

[Ann Otoole]

There is a serious problem with the SL5B sims that is going to skew this poll in the negative direction if people that had my experience with SL5B respond. Textures simply will not rez. When there are more than 10 avatars in a sim, regardless of arc, the lag is unbearable. Thus I cannot give an opinion at this time because it was impossible to see much of anything except what looked like the usual gray mess on the mainland. (I have a really good system and do not get this lag on islands)

[CyFishy Traveler]

My friends at Quantum Tribe Laboratories had a spot there, so I went to at least check that out and from there I wandered to see what else there was to see. I didn't get very far, but was amused to see that the Muslim section and the Pagan section were right next to one another. The Pagan stuff was a little 'meh' but I was very VERY impressed with the Muslim display. Gorgeously built and quite informative.

[Uccello Poultry]

As an exhibitor (The Isle of Lesbos at http://slurl.com/secondlife/SL5B%20Physical/228/17/24) I'm rather pleased with SL5B. It has given us a broad forum for folks to learn about lesbian culture both in and out of Second Life. This exposure has increased traffic to our usual little corner of the Second Life™ world.

As a visitor I've found some great builds and some not-so great builds, but everywhere I went I found interesting and helpful people. The Event Staff has been great and I hope they come back for SL6B.

[Laetizia Coronet]

After two minutes on SL5B I entered the Gorean build and found that the Lindens had already decided that a picture with one virtual boob was not allowed.
I left and I will not be coming back. I am thoroughly sick of that nonsense.

[csven]

After all the initial controversy and what sounded like an over-reaction by LL, I've opted to ignore it. I did download the keynote after trying to view/listen via browser (massive fail there), but haven't yet bothered to listen and not sure I'll bother.

I'd rather attend community events that aren't Linden Lab PR/promo's. Right now, that's all this seems to be, afaic.

[Teal Etzel]

Like Ann I too can not offer an opinion as I have not been able to move 50 paces without crashing. It happened 3 nights in a row so i decided to stay clear.

[Yak]

After all the bad publicity about LL's bigot attitudes, my desire to check the event out sank down to ZERO.

[Anonymus-Not]

It's like visiting the mainland. Chaotic (try to find your way around). Cheesy. Newbie-fest. Self-advertisement. Lacking information.

There are exceptions, but most builds are low quality and/or pointless and/or shameless spam.

Kids advertising themselves as 'solution providers' and 'consultants'.

The big concerts are ok, you just need to sit down, because they use the old build-the-site-at the junction of 4 sims technique, so if you wander up and down you'll get simcross-iness.

On average it's slightly below the Garden of NPIRL Delights, maybe a bit more newbie stuff here, but at least the road hasn't an awful glow with texture flicker.

[polysilox Apogee]

Unfortunatly, the sims are all overloaded with temp on rezzers , poor scripting and shameless hucksterism and everyone seems to have used more prims than their land allotement allows, so what we get?.....A mess...., did Mall of Americas buy LL when I wasn't looking? I bet all the sims are on one rack too....one rack ...probably one server... they have no problem issusing edicts if there is some kind of percieved corporate liability, but controlling a mediocre trade fair seems beyond their abilities. I think we keep forgetting that SL's strength lies in the internal culture, and not some old tired paradigm from our previous iterations.

[Viajero Pugilist]

The midnight melee at the Toxia build was kinda cool to watch, if laggy. Those RP'ers sure know how to dress up and fight. The DCS combat exhibit is intriguing to me -- 800 sims now use that system, apparently. The Asian Culture Infohub is elegant. and little builds like the Isle of Lesbos space were informative. Lots of good freebies are to be had all over for those interested.

No crashes for me even with my old machine, but it's best to visit everything in off-peak hours to avoid lag. What can be done to decrease lag at big events like this -- water sims as buffers?

Searching for SL5B events in the client doesn't work well at all, and that should have been a planning priority if you really want to draw some people. There seems to be no good orientation/event notecard system on the sims, and that makes it hard for most people, esp. new residents, to access event information easily (despite the Linden blog post pointing toward the Zoho Calendar for events and the Google Calendar for speeches and panels). Many (most) people are not very willing to open an external browser to get a list of events -- if they even know to do so.

There's quite a bit of work and creativity on display on each one of the 20 sims -- many worthwhile introductions to (some of) the diversity of what's going on in SL. It does feel like a big exhibition hall (even a mall at times -- some builds are simply advertisements), with no map and no schedule. But still fun for what it is, with real gems along the way.

After Linden Lab overreacted and forced PG ratings on every corner of every sim (in effect treating us all like children), it feels a bit less representative of the people of SL, and a bit more sterile than what it could be. Still well worth exploration, though.

[Bil]

I lagged. then I "lost" part of my hair.

[Marianne McCann]

Hamlet,

Having been a central figure in the "controversy" clearly colors my views of both the event and Linden Lab. I had felt we were all on the right track, but an overexaggeration coupled with what seems like a general distrust or dislike of child avatars on the part of one LL staffmember -- on top of the annual "Linden Lab takeover" of a resident event -- have made for the perfect environment for the "Chinese curse" version of "interesting." For what it's worth, some of what happened at this event, especially some of the more "behind the scenes" parts of it all could end up having ramifications rivaling the Jesse War in relevance. We'll see.

As to the event itself: It's okay. Layout-wise is probably a bit more in line with the third birthday versus the fourth, but seems to lack an overall flow. You can sense a certain level of "rushing" in order to get it all together, IMO. NOt bad, but still present. It is hard to find specific things -- and while some items do end up in logical groupings -- the kids are mostly in Move, the arts in Flexi and Sulputy, etc. -- there are plenty of examples that break those boundaries. Trying to track down places spotted in passing can be a very frustrating experience.

I did notice a lot of locations there that felt more like storefronts versus birthday presentations. I know there havbe been issues with vendors on a few plots, and others looks imply like stores with the vendors disabled, or "satellite" locations designed to feed SL5B visitors to plotholder's stores. A particular shoe seller's area brought this immediately to mind. Perhaps the issue of selling at these events needs to be revisited, and clear guidelines *that get followed* should be considered.

Unlike others, I've not seen major issues with heavy lag at the event, though I have "walked in molasses" a number of times. I am running a largely new computer with a very nice router coupled with the current release client. I'm sure the event is impossible for people with older (even less than a year older!) systems. Perhaps SL5B is inadvertantly a sign of the growing SL technology divide?

Must sees? Loki Eliot's Childhood Dreams for the Second Life Children group. No matter how you feel about virtual kids, this is a must see. Gore Suntzu's Mantis Religiousa. Trough the Looking Hole, based on the Alice stories. Robin Sojourner's simple yet powerful piece on creation. Greenies, Raglan Shire, and the history of Japanese Tinies, all three next to each other.

As to "fringe" events. The Kids5B event is brilliant. Initially disenfranchised from SL5B, the kid community put together their own event, showing the grid what their really all about. It's a great presentation spanning two sims. It's more cohesive than SL5B, things are somewhat more logically organized (like any such event, there aare some things shoehorned in where they'll fit), and it is far less laggy. I would *highly* recommend stopping in Remedy II and taking a good look around both regions. There is more there than can reasonaly be taken in within an averasge Second Life session, but it is worth at least some time to look around. The Transmogrifier is the "must visit" of this event.

Oh, and a bit of a "wag of my finger." NWN missed out on this story. There's a lot that could have, should have been said. After reading "The History of Second Life," I realize the importance of tellign these stories for the future. Right now, the record of these actions is destined to be lost, as a certain replicant might say, like tears in the rain.

[Rightasrain]

about as random/laggy as we expected...is like mainland (and why do we need more mainland?)...I find it again very annoying/objectionable/irratating that LL can use the log-in screen to promote their agenda (SL5B, Burning Man, CSI) and NEVER give that same impact to the "amazingly creative people that make SL so incredible"...oh, unless you pay a ton of cash for a classified? I don't think the future is about SL being able to play both sides of the game--the platform and their view on the content agenda. For me, happy Birthday and congrats on some of the acheivements, but the party is over.

[Adia Clary /Balthasar Bookmite]

Personally as a exhibitor, I was fairly impressed with the fact that it was easy to put up things and deal with the sim advisor. When I learned that we were stuck with PG only I was kinda pissed and felt like I had to a super-prude. I also felt that the staff knew what it was doing.

After the setup stuff was over and the celebration began, I was quite pissed. The lag is shameful. I think since this is a Linden/Resident event there should be the priority to have better running sims. Also the lag has made me not want to check out the other events around the sims. I also feel like it is too big. They should have really thought about making the event smaller or perhaps on different estates, so that way it is smaller bites to see and process.

Also I felt like the keynote speech should have better prepared, as in a script. Also I kind of felt left out. I wanted to see it, but as a night owl, mornings are not good for me and I had to end up watching the vid.

The PG thing, besides me having to be a prude, is a bit exclusionary. If the celebration is about showcasing the cultures in SL then they missed the mark. There is a thriving Gore, BDSM, what have you culture and if they can't show who they truly are, then they aren't properly showcasing their culture and this is just talk by LL. Also about the kid thing, I think that was rude of LL and to Stephen Venkmen, who was barred from showing pictures of his family. Although, I can see where they were going with that decision.

One last thing, I think there should be more resident run, with hardly any, if any LL involvement, events. Kind of like the fringe b-days that are going on around the grid. I think that would showcase the residents that really make this world what it is.

Just my fifty cents,
Adia Clary/Balthasar Bookmite

[Erazokistiask]

Good Morning

Today turn PC and look that my Miranda client not available, It is very bad. :(
When I connected always received message from contact ONE with Notification
* * * * * * ** * * * *
1:
=============================
System Message
=============================
ICQ version 5.1 is no longer supported. Download a free authorized ICQ version from ICQ's official website.

Who have this problem?

Please inform I can't send message to my Son :(

[numnStubjem]

check this adult search http://www.6eez.net/search.html [URL="http://www.6eez.net/search.html" - sex search[/URL -

[buselayepsy]

check this , <a href=http://adult-arab.com/%D9%85%D9%86%D8%AA%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AA/>منتديات</a> http://adult-arab.com/%D9%85%D9%86%D8%AA%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AA/ best guys