Second Life Viewer Usage Survey: Fullscreen or Windowed?

Online Surveys & Market Research

When you run Second Life, do you display it in fullscreen mode, so the experience takes over your whole computer, or do you run it in windowed mode (or the Mac equivalent), so you can access other programs while still logged into SL? Choose the answer that fits your usage pattern best, and encourage your friends to take this survey too! Results posted next week!

Comments

[LittleLostLinden]

I usually use Windowed mode.

That way, I can set up one window for camping at the best camp site in SL. In fact, the Lindens don't know about it. Great payout and always an empty chair. I make upwards of $300L per day there.

Don't tell anyone though. It would be a shame if it were shut down by the lindens:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Germania%20Liberty/189/17/502

Anyway, I leave one window open for the above amazing camp site, then I use another Window on a different display for my regular avatar. It works great that way. I'm just glad they haven't passed a camping law yet.

[TheShadow99]

I've tried Full Screen before... It wasn't faster and I couldn't do anything except be in SL... So I'm not sure why I'd want to run Full Screen...

[Kimberly Rufer-Bach]

I'd rather run SL fullscreen, especially when building things or having a meeting. But sometimes I need to have multiple windows open so I can see the offline IMs in my email client, or the backed-up scripts saved as text files, while I'm digging through the JIRA or the wiki and pasting info back and forth, etc.

[Galatea Gynoid]

Technically I run windowed mode, but the window is maximized to take the full screen. The difference between that and actual full screen is it doesn't make my computer crash and burn if I tab over to the web for a moment and then back...

[Adeon Writer]

Fullscreen gets me better FPS as it's currently the only way SecondLife supports Nvidia SLI, which is useful for machinima. Otherwise, secondary graphics cards will sit there untouched. For anything else though, I run in windowed mode.

Also of note is that Viewer 2.0 does not currently support Fullscreen.

[Peter Stindberg]

My SL experience would be incomplete without the addition of email, Plurk, GTalk, Google Reader and Google Docs. They are all an integrated part of the "Peter Stindberg experience". So Windowed mode is the only one for me.

[Patchouli Woollahra]

LittleLostLinden: You're doing it wrong there now... *facepalms*

Seriously there though, I tend to keep the SL window in fullscreen when building, or enjoying a SL-only experience, though I need to run in windowed when I need web resources or to check XStreetSL.

[Hitomi Tiponi]

I'm usually in fullscreen - it helps me to get immersed in the world without distractions.

[Jovin]

Odd time to ask this question when fullscreen in viewer 2.0 is an unusable mess right now. It's one of the reasons I'm avoiding using 2.0, having no fullscreen option makes it a waste of time for me.

[Uriel Wheeler]

I have dual monitors, so I run SL as a windowed app... but covering the entirety of my main monitor.

[Lalo Telling]

What Uriel said...

[Gianna Borgnine]

I use SL mostly windowed, except for when I am filming machinima, then I use it full screen.

[CyFishy Traveler]

Windowed, mostly so I can interact with Beginning easily.

[Winter Seale]

I always use windowed mode so I can tab out to other windows, most importantly Eclipse with LSLPlus, but also my IM client and web browsers.

I do wish SL supported a "maximized" mode like World of Warcraft, where it takes over the entire screen when it has focus but doesn't actually go to full screen mode (eg, tabbing still works without any delay, other windows can float above it, etc).

[Milton Broome]

I always use fullscreen. It gets me a major FPS boost on NVidea video cards. It's easy to Alt-Tab across to other applications if needed. Used to use SLI (2 x cards together) and this was a good option. I was very disappointed with SL viewer 2 and now the latest version has got rid of full screen altogether I'll be avoiding it completely. I now use Emerald viewer or Second Life viewer 1.23.5 in fullscreen. Avatar: Milton Broome