Recent Comments:
Linden Lab cuts support for 1.18 viewers
Massively
Apr 5th 2008 1:38AM Although SL is having issues, the Nicholaz mac version is running pretty happily right now. I assume the Windows and Linux versions also work.
Not sure about the OnRez viewer. I tried to log in on that, but logins were disabled at the time.
Build objects outside Second Life, then import
Massively
Mar 12th 2008 1:26PM As I understand it AC3D is the only one that's a formal CAD programme rather than a modeling and rendering programme. There's at least one difference.
If you bother to read the article I've pointed out at least one other way to import things, but so far as I've seen with Maya etc. you can make sculpties (also specifically mentioned) but you can't import boxes and triangle system which this offers. Perhaps that's wrong, but I don't have the money to buy Maya and try it and I've never got Blender to run.
Nacon: Just because you have other options, we shouldn't mention new tools? When did you become our editor? When did you become empowered to decide what everyone already knows?
A not-so-niche market?
Massively
Mar 12th 2008 1:19PM It's called giving people information about options. It might not be something you want to do, but other people might think it's worth a look.
This isn't only news that interests you after all, but does reflect a different mechanism for the MMO industry and might be an indicator of future directions for some developers as well as some players.
Build objects outside Second Life, then import
Massively
Mar 11th 2008 12:53PM Given whenever I try to use it, it crashes, I can't comment on how it's different to blender, nor can I do more than suggest you follow the links and report back.
I will try to get one or more of the other writers here at massively.com to have a go at it.
Peering Inside: Linden lags, a failure to communicate
Massively
Mar 10th 2008 2:42PM If you live in the UK the lag meter almost always shows network lag. I'm guessing it works from ping times (at least in part) and thanks to more switches and longer cables, the ping times are always longer. I can accept that, and live with it, and don't expect the same performance as if I lived next to the co-lo, but it does make me wonder how useful the tool is if, just because I live in the UK I alway lag.
Given I'm on a 10MB down stream, and I can and go get the lag meter continuously in the orange with nothing else running and sitting in a box at 500m with nothing else around and minimum settings I don't believe there's much I can do - but I do believe their expectations might need adjusting.
That said, Tateru's article is a nice explanation of why - the question then becomes should LL change their processes? If there was an semi-automated reply that said "Thank you for your report, without x, y, z details we can't tell what is going on, if your problem persists please send them" then LL would get better "lag" reporting (hopefully) and then the separating of the wheat from the chaff might be simple enough to let LL respond. Result? Happier customers, probably happier employees, hopefully faster SL.
The Daily Grind: Quest designing
Massively
Mar 10th 2008 9:38AM I'll bite a bit:
Some amount of "kill x" is OK, at least in a combat orientated game, because that's part of what you'll be doing anyway. Systems where the mobs only drop quest items when you're on the quest though, gah. Why can I only collect that tooth, that ear etc. when I'm doing the relevant quest, surely they have them at other times?
Simple delivery quests are worse, as are quests where you have to walk across the room to talk to the next person.
What would be nice would be much more open-ended quests. Rather than "Go there, kill x of these, y of those" a quest that says "Explore there" and then rewards you for actually exploring, and gives you, if appropriate a bonus reward for what you kill.
Add to that more "Lore" quests. Things that teach you about the world, your racial history, whatever. Don't leave them as stale as they all too often are "Person Y drones at you" but make them interesting, engaging. Add quizzes at the end to get your bonus xp, whatever it takes.
In addition, more quests that can be solved a number of ways. It's hard to work around a "kill x monsters" quest, except in the tactics you use. An "explore" type quest could reward the scout-types and ranger-types that sneak in and stealthily look around, whilst a tank-type charges in and kills everything but still completes the mission. A mage type might sneak in, or blow everything away depending on their focus: they're still doing the job.
New Release Candidate - html on a prim phase 1 is the big news!
Massively
Mar 7th 2008 11:40AM I'm not quite sure what you mean Ryukurai. This is available as part of a viewer that connects to the main grid, and since it causes changes to the parcel media streams (which is information stored on the server, not per client) it is also a change to the grid.
It most certainly is on the main grid. Whether it is a significant change to the grid that should have been on the beta grid first, or it's simply changing the field to let it store a wider range of URLs I'm not clear. I'm guessing, essentially, the larter since it was released direct to the main grid so it didn't require any significant change to the server code.
Sky News targets sexual ageplay in Second Life again
Massively
Mar 3rd 2008 11:33PM OK, as a British resident I have some pointed questions. Not about whether simulated kiddy sex should be allowed in SL, but about this report:
1) Just how long did it take him to find this place? I don't go looking for such material, but I certainly don't remember stumbling over it, and I do spend a fair bit of time in mature areas.
2) Who on earth are Kidscape? I had to look them up. There are a load of organisations I'd have expected to see before a charity I'd never heard of - CEOP, NSPCC, Social Services. Why did he pick them for his piece?
Sorry. Whilst I'm broadly in absolutely in favour of paedophile material being banned, and broadly OK about banning sexual adult-child ageplay too, I'm wondering just how hard he had to search to find this place. I'm not saying it's not there and it shouldn't be reported, but it's like stories suggesting that every priest in the Catholic Church is a paedophile. Some are, certainly. There are some, despite every precaution, in just about every walk of life after all. I'll lay long odds that Second Life is actually cleaner than real life for this sort of activity, the exact opposite of the picture he's trying to paint.
Counting the coppers
Massively
Mar 3rd 2008 11:04AM If you're only interested in WOW, then this might not be worth a daily read - the prices seem relatively stable. However, just like there are daily financial reports IRL there are economies (both SL and EVE Online) where there are potentially important day-to-day variations. That said, MLK day had a pretty significant effect on WOW prices they all fell by a few %, and it would have been missed with less regularly reporting.
I know of several people that read parts of this column avidly, and data from here is starting to be used in academic papers and the like where they discuss virtual world economies. If WOW is your interest, would you like to comment on the deflationary pressure - that is, why are all the prices falling slowly over time?
At the moment there is no way to filter only for stories you want to read about the MMORPGs you play. But, just like you'd flick past the boring pages in a newspaper, knowing others will turn to them first, just because you don't like this particular column doesn't mean there aren't people who complain when it's 2 minutes late.
The Daily Grind: Is Second Life the internet of the future?
Massively
Feb 27th 2008 10:06PM Internet is six months away from dying - yawn, it's been six months away from dying for years and years, depending on who you read and believe. It's struggled at times, but it's still here. I suspect it will be in a few years time too, in some form or another.
IMVU may be bigger than SL although wikipedia suggests only 1,000,000 sign-ups rather than the 12.6 sign ups for SL. Do your research too. In addition how does an IM client with an avatar aim to become a 3D internet? Get real.
