As a shopper, I love Xstreet SL. However, as a shopper I hate Xstreet SL. On the other hand as a merchant I love Xstreeet SL. But I also hate Xstreet SL for the extra work is causes me.

You can't live with it and you can't live without it. I won't hold my breath for something better to come along.

As a customer:
Xstreet SL is probably the easiest and fastest way to "shop" for anything Second Life. I didn't say it was easy or fast. Rather it is easier and faster than hunt-shopping on the grid in-world. Thus, making it easiest and fastest, but still really sucking the "hind teat" as far as things go.

As a merchant:
The experience of creating and maintaining a listing is the evil incarnate. I must maintain a separate "inventory" box, jump through the most inefficient web design "dashboard" known to man (okay, known to Second Life merchants) and keep all this stuff synchronized. Additionally, the web interface is inefficient and outright a pain-in-the-royal-ass to use with too many damned clicks here and there and page refreshing. Is there any web-tool worse?

As a customer:
Shopping on XSL is hit or miss. Does it cost less in-world than on XSL? Is the XSL "version" up-to-date with the latest script versions? Is this really all this merchant sells or is there a much larger selection in-world?

As a merchant: I have to box everything (extra work if that's not needed in-world); I have to take a lot of pictures of my stuff (extra work if it's not needed in world); I have to wrack my brain to write a creative, convincing sales pitch to put onto XSL (extra work if it's not needed in-world). Effing XSL sucks, but I have to do it because it's not only a sale outlet, it's advertising.

As a customer:
I face a damned double-edge sword with Xstreet SL because I might be paying more for the same thing than if I buy in-world, I might be getting an old version of the same thing in world, I might not be seeing the perfect product I'm looking for because it's not listed on XSL, but it is for sale in-world.

As a merchant:
I will ignore Xstreet SL at my own peril because such a large potential customer-base will shop there or at least conduct their shopping search through there. The extra work is miserable where I must take and edit pictures of every damned product, even though they aren't required in-world (because my products are rezzed for use and perusal); I must write-up something to convince the browser to actually teleport to my showroom or even less: make that purchase right then and there; I have to maintain two inventories of the same stuff.

As a customer:
I love to hate to love that damned Xstreet SL for all the damned garbage I must filter through to even see the stuff I am interested in, then decide if I am paying more than I need, am getting the current version of something and even if a creator has what I really want, but aren't listing it there.

As a merchant:
I love to hate to love that damned Xstreet SL for all the extra hard work I must do explicitly to list my stuff there even through all that work is unnecessary in-world, so it's really easier to list only my older stuff and get to the new stuff when I am bored out of my head and have absolutely nothing better to do.

I love to hate to love you, XSL. You suck hind-teat¹ . Damn you.

I am rather afraid that I'm a furniture snob. I refuse to buy furniture with poseballs.

I don't mean menu-driven furniture that rezzes poseballs. I mean furniture with poseballs linked to it. Yes, I'm appalled that in 2010, there are still furniture creators selling sofas dotted with poseballs. Witness this:

This couch and the accompanying loveseat and single seat, ladies and gentleman, is currently retailing on Xstreet for $600L. Do people buy this stuff? I guess I have to conclude that they do, since sellers are still offering this stuff. *shakes head sadly*

When I see something like this, it immediately tells me that this creator is living in his or her own little world and isn't in sync with SL. Poseballs were necessary -- and common -- in the earlier days, but these days most furniture makes use of sit target scripts to embed poses directly into furniture prims without having to resort to poseballs. I do not know how anyone can have been in SL for any length of time and not have noticed this development.

Further, a product like this tells me that this creator is not willing to innovate, or doesn't care about innovation. They don't care about improving themselves, honing their skills, upgrading their products. They are happy to do things the way they always have, because that's what they know and that's what they're familiar with. They don't want to try new things, to experiment, to learn.

And so I find this a truly unforgivable crime, because poseballs on furniture are so ugly. They completely ruin the aesthetics of the piece. You would think a creator, having crafted his product so lovingly and carefully, would want it to look the best that it possibly can. He ought to want to present it in the most flattering light. No, instead he blights the look with ugly poseballs.

But, even if the poseballs are textured invisible and therefore unseen, they take up unnecessary prims. Now, I've been accused of being a "prim Nazi" because I count every single prim. You can't deny, however, that the prims do tend to add up, and if you are on a small parcel, every prim counts. Witness the bench in the ad above: 4 prims (including 2 poseballs), it says. If the creator had taken the trouble to use a sit target script, that bench would only be 2 prims.

All in all, I truly see no reason for furniture to ever require linked poseballs. The minute I set eyes on something like this, I have a negative perception of the creator. Sometimes, as with the bench above, I rue the fact that the creator is so behind the times, because if not for the not-so-minor detail of the poseballs, the product would be lovely and well worth buying. It is such a pity, such a waste.

Maria Korolov wrote at Hypergrid Business some interesting ideas about the Linden Lab Viewer version 2 (LLV2) and how LL is at the same opportunistic crossroad America Online was with the idea behind owning Netscape. Maria's argument is for Linden Lab allowing multi-grid support in their official viewer.

Linden Lab now has the opportunity to own the relationship with the world’s metaverse travelers by releasing a viewer that can handle multiple grids.

However, I frankly disagree. In fact, LLV2 actually creates more difficulty for all these "open grids" with regard to gaining any real popularity and it's a set-back for them in the relevancy department.

I see a lot of blog posts about all the other grids out there, including on Hypergrid Business blog. A noble effort on all their parts to champion and attempt drumming-up interest in those other grids, even though from where I stand, it appears to be a frivolous effort - but someone has to do it I suppose.

In truth, though Maria's comparison of AOL/Netscape paradigm to LindenLab/V2 is a good one to help the uninitiated understand what she is trying to say and a good summary, it also is an entirely different paradigm.

And here is why Maria and all others thinking like her are wrong...

AOL was a "walled garden" and Second Life (Agni grid) is a "walled garden": I agree 100-percent. However, Netscape (and all browsers) are just "windows" to the Internet - just like the Linden Lab Viewer is a "window" into the Second Life and other grids. Think "world-wide "grid" if you will.) And if each grid were like a web site, the idea would be to "bounce" from grid to grid as easily and cleanly as we do from web site to web site. But the Internet proper (Well, the Worldwide Web any way as it is really only a small part of the Internet) is still segregated. All grids are still "walled gardens". Until now.

Open sim and others like it are *not* the world-wide grid. They are just different "walled gardens". Albeit, what Maria is really speaking on here is in the likes of: AOL connecting to Compuserve, Connecting to Prodigy, connecting to local and national Bulletin-Board-Services...

All a bunch of walled gardens connecting through tunnels to other walled gardens, while the "world-wide-open" is still out there, outside. AOL provided "windows" to that open space outside - and so, AOL is still relevant even to this day. And so now, too does Linden Lab with Viewer 2 and the "Shared Media" feature.

Linden Lab is literally doing exactly what AOL did: Walled garden with "windows" (portals) out to that wild place we call the "rest of the Internet". This solidifies Linden Lab's place in virtual worlds. Period. Now, there is no need (from an individual perspective) for other grids. Who cares? For what reason would I go to any other grid now?

Linden Lab allows windows out to the world-wide-wonder from within its "walled garden" - that's all that needs be done, save creating a window from the outside looking in (browser-based viewer or means of getting in-world.)

Frankly, I see V2 and this Shared Media ability as actually causing the "other grids" as becoming even more irrelevant (in the "public-at-large" perspective) than they are right now, and it is that irrelevancy that they are climbing uphill trying to get away from. The problem with all these other grids is: no one knows about them, they are too difficult to get in and out of (my own preferred viewer does not have the built-in ability - so I must jump through hoops to do it - why bother?) and because of these: there is no one there.

The Second Life paradigm is social in nature. I don't want to go to an open sim grid and feel like I am a cast away all by my lonesome self. Additionally, until there is a strong monetary economy thriving... I am afraid (in my own hypothosis of course) that they will languish slowly and painfully. They won't "die" - but we are still at the very least, a decade or more away before they will become "relevant" to the public at large. Right now they are simply the turf and interest of "techno-geeks".

Linden Lab's V2, in my mind, actually causes a set-back for these other grids with regard to any real "reason" for visiting them. I can now go into "official" Agni grid and stay there - because I have access to the whole world-wide-wild-wonder from my virtual easy-chair.

I have no reason to go anywhere else.

link: Will Second Life be the next Netscape? - Hypergrid Business

[Update - see the comments below as a multi-grid experience I have not had is more clearly explained to me - which renders my comments above about irrelevancy more or less misguided, for which I apologize. As much as I follow blogs and even Hypergrid Business blog specifically, it seems the actual explanation of things as described below simply isn't happening enough. Here I am: four-year veteran of SL, adept at all things grid and viewer and yet, I was not aware of this ability. What about the average user?

The "build it and they will come" routine is a pipe-dream for anyone and "customer education" must be fast and fierce, no matter how "easy" the actual process might be.

Based on the descriptions Maria has provided there is still one glaring problem: if I can teleport from Second Life Agni grid-proper into one of the open-sim grids so easily, how do I discover where to go and learn the teleport "address"?

For instance, I intend to try-out these steps Maria describes below, but how will I know where to go? This is a real problem. Yes, there are web links provided, but the real solution would be a way to provide a directory in-world.

Maria: SLV2 has the new "Media Sharing" feature - even though it's just a cube with one face showing a web page: someone should make a HUD that shows the links you provide.]

©2007-Present, Andr'Deco & Pixietale Studios, DBA Socially Mundane; Common Sensible

Linden Lab leaves Macintosh behind, At least, that's how it appears and only partly so.

Granted, the Official SL Viewer 2 is beta, and there is a lot of work needed on it still (okay, a lot of work) - one thing that is not made clear before downloading is that it is an Intel-only application. Perhaps it states this in the "system requirements" area, but it is not made clear beyond that.

There is a lot of talk about Viewer 2 (which I'll just call V2 hence) and a lot of it is about the exciting new features. I have several Macs in my home and one Windows PC. The PC is pretty much for SL and a couple other "entertainment" things because the Mac is such a pleasure to use in comparison, I reserve it mostly for actual "productive" venture.

So I want to write about a few things in V2 that I haven't seen written on yet (such as how there are a couple "features" that will allow extreme shamming and deceit across the grid and real ripping-off of Linden Dollars). So, I download the V2 beta on the current Mac I am using so I can do a quickie log-in to do a screen-grab of that and other preferences and the first thing I notice is the odd icon:

At first I (foolishly as it is a 'duh' moment for Mac users) assumed it was a Linden Lab creation to indicate this is a beta, even though I have seen Snow Leopard show this before. The circle-slash indicates the application will not run on this machine - which in this case is a PowerPC G5 model (all my others are Intel-based).

Since the beta is widely expected to go "golden" in the next few weeks and a possible upgrade in the next few months, and with that: the discontinuation of V1 versions... what will happen to all the Mac users still on PowerPC CPUs?

No, not going to bother contacting Linden Lab directly (except a tweet to M) about it because one thing is clear: Apple doesn't sit still. They move forward at the speed of light and quickly as is possible and feasible will drop "old technologies". Most new software available on the Mac is all now Intel-based and doesn't support PowerPC at all. And in the next few years, Apple (ARM) -based so it's only a matter of time before they drop Intel as well. So why not Linden Lab? If Apple is pushing forward so hard, Linden Lab might as well also, right?

Is this an oversight on Linden Lab's part? Or, is it a "branch" (or whatever they call it) that simply has not been implemented yet (the PowerPC-supporting code)?

Is SL and Intel-based CPU-only platform hence forth?

So long PowerPC Macintosh: it was fun while it lasted, sorry can't wait for you, have a good life, whatever is left of it as you die a slow, agonizing death.

©2007-Present, Andr'Deco & Pixietale Studios, DBA Socially Mundane; Common Sensible

You, dear reader who frequents Second Life are a techno-nerd. Embrace it, flaunt it, take pride in it. I guess. The same boneheads who whine about how Linden Lab's effort to simplify the viewer and how to actually use it to explore and interact in the virtual world should all climb into the same bed with all the boneheaded pundits tearing Apple, Inc. a new one over what a "disappointment" the iPad is turning out to be.

• ZOMG! It doesn't support Adobe Flash so it will FAIL! (Not supporting Adobe Flash is a good thing and it hasn't hurt the iPhone at all).
• It doesn't have a camera! Total fail! What the hell is Apple thinking! (If you want a camera, go buy a camera. Besides, it will have one sooner rather than later).
• But...but...but it runs the iPhone OS and not OS-X!!! (Yes, another good thing. Because it's not designed to be a full-blown computer).

These techno-nerds all believe the iPad is a complete failure because it doesn't have the features they want or do what and how they want to do it.

So damned what? If you feel Apple's iPad is not powerful or feature-rich enough, don't buy one. Why should your ideas be forced onto the rest of the known universe? Are you all that high-and-mighty that what you think is the be-all and end-all of the known world? The same can be said for a very large number (and majority of blog-vocal) users of Second Life - remeber how "Voice is a failure and should be completely removed as a feature!!!"? As for all you people: you're a stuck-up, conceited snob at best.


What Apple has created is a computer that Grandmother can use and not be afraid of it. What Apple has created is a computer a five-year-old can use and actually figure it out without much intervention. What Apple has created is a game-changer for the computing "world" as we know it and it will be the new mainstream paradigm all other "personal" computing devices will benchmark off of. It will be the new leader all others try to emulate.

What Linden Lab is trying to do is basically the same thing; to replicate what Apple is doing: creating a system for the vast masses who really don't care to deal with all the technical nitty-gritty. At least not at first. Linden Lab, along with making things better for those of us who are techno-nerds, also must find a way to simplify everything for the uninitiated. So that people aren't afraid of it.

My sister's mother in law doesn't own a computer. She sits at the iMac and rolls the mouse around able to navigate the world-wide-web. Full stop. She doesn't mess with word processors or antivirus utilities or paint programs. Not that it is so difficult to paint with a paint program, but because getting there is too technical - not in the understanging of how to do it, but rather to bother learning how to do it.

And there are a lot of mothers-in-law in the world. Which is why Apple's iPad is a "win" on such a massive scale the likes of which can barely be fathomed yet.

So when Linden Lab speaks on how "Viewer 2.0" will be more "streamlined" and new-user-friendly with a simplified interface, try not so hard to slam them down. Because for Second Life to gain any traction beyond us techno-nerds whatsoever, Linden Lab has to do what the rest of the computing "industry" have been trying to do for decades and Apple has finally found a way to accomplish: simplify.

I intend to get an iPad myself, even though I am considerably more "techno-nerd" than most. Even though I am adept and tearing down and building computers from scratch, managing server farms, able to program databases and manage networks and trouble-shoot all manner of over-complicated software and driver nonsense.

Because it frees my mind to focus on the creative process, not the engine under the hood. When Linden Lab finally gets that recipe right to where a new user can just focus on the virtual world they see and not all the ropes and pulleys that make it work, then they'll have something more people will more easily embrace. And when they are ready, those users will eventually reveal the pulleys and ropes and start to shape the direction of the virtual world to their own liking the same way we all have.

How would you feel if you purchased a brand new car, and even though all you need do is insert the key and turn it to start up the engine and make the car go - but you also have buttons and knobs and levers on the dashboard that controlled everything from fuel-mixture to brake-tension and steering control with options for suspension softness and light-dimmers?

Even though all those controls are optional, how would you feel about it? Ever sit in or see the cockpit of a jet airliner? Believe it or not, a lot of those knobs and switches are actually optional controls. But at first sight it's an overwhelming experience. However, (take-off and landing aside) flying the thing is actually a rather simple procedure not a whole lot unlike driving a car.

Hell, my Toyota Camry only requires me to push a button while holding the break and it starts-up and is ready to roll. It is intellectually and mentally liberating and refreshing. When the SL Viewer is similarly presented, new user accounts will stick to the wall longer.

Now on to my diatribe and how I have become a certified virtual land expert in Second Life...

• Account #1 Tiers-down by setting group contribution to zero, setting web site land-management to zero-tier.
• Group is now in deficit and does not have enough land-credits to keep all the land it owns. Someone must donate more square meters.
• Account #2 tiers-up to a full region on the web site, but still officially only owns 512 square meters (M2)
• Account #2 attempts to contribute 128000 M2 - but cannot as the group widget states maximum he can contribute is 0 (zero) - even though he tiered-up on the web site.

It turns-out the only way to contribute M2 to a group is to deed land you already own to a group. However, this provides a couple problem scenarios...

• Only way to tier-up is to actually buy land. There is no other way.
• Sell the land to specific person, he then "buys for the group"
• However, can a group sell to itself? (Unknown and likely not)
• If private person buys land, he can then re-deed to group and contribute. However, what happens to all 15000 prims already set-out - returned? Deleted? Oh-no!

So, discovered the following, which Fog Linden did not know and was too bothered to discover - and does not appear to be documented in the Wiki or knowledge-base or anywhere else: a live-and-learn discovery process:

• When land is set to sell to a specific person, that person cannot "buy for group" - only for themselves. Which brings up more concerns:
• If land is set to sell to anyone, are the landbots still around to snag it in a microsecond?
• What happens to all the prims on the land when it goes "private" again? What breaks? Will they all be instantly returned?

So the only real answer is to set to sell to specific person and hope for the best. I was told (and have now confirmed as accurate) that Group-owned land will not auto-return all prims instantly upon sale transaction, however if autoreturn is on, they will be returned with the auto-return clock runs its course.

"Deeding failed, group does not have enough land credits to continue" (paraphrased).

This is where the confusion ensues: in the advert and special bonus of L$1000 is mentioned. However, most experienced grid-citizens (as usual) over-read and try to decipher that which should always be taken at face value. So they panic and over react when that shiny new Linden coin is not thrown at them immediately upon stepping-up.

Read Ciaran's post (end-link) to get the full story. In part, Ciaran says...

Excellent post here.

As having been a preemie since first signing-up, I clearly recall that sign-up bonuses are for new accounts (hence, why it's called a "sign-up" bonus.)

Though you do have a point that the email, which went to all existing grid residents should have either not mentioned the sign-up bonus at all (it doesn't), or at least clarified that it (the mentioned bonus) is applied to shiny, new accounts only (it doesn't).

However, the devil is in the word-for-word details and I quote: "Become a premium member today and receive a special L$1000 bonus..."

Thus, I suspect it is a special bonus offered to entice people to do the upgrade, not the usual Sign-up bonus. Here is why: when I created my shiny, new SL account way back when and jumped onto preemie status from the get-go, my sign-up bonus was sitting in my in-world wallet waiting for me the instant I rezzed.

So, if it is taking 45-days for this bonus to arrive, it makes sense that it is a special bonus. The 45-days is to ensure you don't sign-up for preemie and then immediately downgrade back to basic. By making you wait at least 30 (in this case 45)-days, they ensure to get at least one-month's subscription fee from you.

Read: no "gaming" the system with alt after alt after alt to rake-in that money.

Do I *know all this for a fact? No. But if one simply steps back for a moment, puts themselves into Linden Lab's shoes and think: "how could I entice existing basics to upgrade: offer them the bonus. How can I prevent gaming which we know people will try? Make them wait at least a good full month before giving it."

It's genius. (Not really, it's more like plain old good business sense) - but it looks and feels genius like.

This problem is most pronounced if I sail up to an island in Blake Sea - I cannot "stand-up" (I am "sitting" on my boat) - because the detail portion of the boat will detach from me and the boat will try to rez another. But it's a no-rez zone. Fail. So I often go cruising the shorelines of mainland seas and lakes looking for that one or two parcels that allow rezzing and have enough prims for me to rezz my entire boat. Then I go coast-skimming on my sight-seeing tour.

Second Life, Linden "Mainland" - the staple of the grid. When I first entered SL in spring 2006, there were (if I remember correctly) three continents and a couple hundred "estates" (private simulator regions) and that was about it. After a few weeks I, like most others, got the land-ownership itch. I went to a few lessons graciously provided by "New Citizens, inc." - general overview of the grid and how to go about doing things. it was a two-hour class and I was riveted.

It was shortly after that class (and shortly before Linden lab discontinued the program) that I went and bought my "First Land" as my first land. The program was simple: Linden Lab offered 512 square meters to all premium (preemies) accounts at L$1 per square meter - to keep it affordable. I'll never forget those few weeks I owned that parcel in the brand new region called Glenboon. It was within a couple weeks when I decided I needed more prims and sold-out for I could buy a larger chunk (I went strait to a 4096 in Dunbeath and was the only one on that entire sim until others started showing up three months later. It was heaven.)

Private Regions: the bad.

I have never "rented" land from any other SL resident. Part of this had to do with my own perceptions. At the time everything was Anshe Chung - and expensive. I was still buying my Linden Dollars through my credit card and slowly gaining grid experience. As beautiful as those builds were (and I presume still are if they're still around,) they were expensive. Besides, I didn't want a house and luxurious place (have one already in first life. The house part, anyway.)

Like most, I wanted to create my own place. As I gained my grid experience I also started to learn how there are many estate-owners who really stack the odds in their own favor (and you can't really blame them, I guess) - and in the end, I have realized that by renting space on a private region is the same as renting from Linden Lab directly. But here are the differences:

• First, you are paying money to a middle-man. That middle man does not have your best interest at heart, they have their own interest at heart.
• If you screw-up or do anything to bring the estate owner's wrath against you, you can be unceremoniously evicted (it's happened to me before for really childish and stupid reasons).
• Because the estate owner must pay his own tier to Linden Lab, they can run at-cost or more than likely, charge more in order to cover those lull-times when parcels aren't rented-out. Thus, you pay more for the same amount of prims you might when owning mainland.
• If the estate-owner is in it for the money, you could pay "through the nose" on a premium for the privilege. Example: Anshe Chung estates.
• And finally, there is nothing other than simple honor to prevent an estate owner from banning you from their estate just after you have plunked-down three-months worth of tier and lose all that money when they refuse to refund you.

The only real reason to rent "land" from an estate owner is two-fold: the first being the covenant. There is "management" with regard to the theme of the region, rules with regard to what your "builds" can look like, how tall, how grarish, and whether it is commercial or residential and so on.

The only other reason is that the region is "less laggy" - which isn't really always true. Private regions share server space with three others. If one of those three is loaded with agent (like a giant club or bot-farm-laden-traffic-gaming mall - it can bring the otherwise non-laggy sim to it's knees.
Linden Mainland: the good.

Basically all the opposites of the private region:

• You pay directly to Linden Lab. No middle-men. You pay only what you owe, no overheads.
• Linden Lab will never evict you from your land as long as your account is in good-standing.
• You have total control over your land with regard to terraforming, access and everything.
• You can find low-lag mainland - you just have to shop around a bit - in fact, my own mainland parcel is less-laggy than most private regions - and that's a fact, based on cache-clearing, stop-watch testing I have done.

Linden Mainland: the bad.

• There is no covenant and so, there is no control or restrictions on what your parcel neighbors can and will build.
• ... (I'm thinking... trying to come-up with another "bad" point about Linden mainland...)

That's about it really. If you proclaim that mainland is too laggy, you really must understand that most of it is computer lag, not server lag. It is your computer struggling to download all those horrible, oversized textures and build all those poorly-shaped prims. And it's worse the higher you have your draw-distance set to.

Combine these poor textures and prim builds being crammed into your your computer as it struggle to rezz all this stuff (like drinking from a fire-hose) - but your Internet connection bandwidth is likely also struggling to keep up. After everything is rezzed, your frame-rate is still low because of all those prims your computer and viewer are trying to draw in a three-dimensional perspective as fast as possible. So, in truth, the only really problem with Linden Mainland has to do with everyone's neighbors and what it is they do with the neighboring parcels.

It is one of the reasons I enjoy sight-seeing the mainland from a boat. Most of the mainland is rather ugly - as a whole. But individually: most builds aren't so bad. Some are tawdry at best and yet some are actually fascinating and beautiful. The problem I have is that I have my own draw distance set to maximum (512 meters) and so all the very ugly sky-builds appear. I wish people would understand that sky-builds placed between 500 and 750 meters cleans-up the sky and reduces any "prim lag" at the same time.

Sheesh.


The real problem with mainland: bilious sky-builds littering the grid. I am fortunate in my sim of Neobelow that I have good neighbors. For the most part, no low-hanging garbage. And the one time advertising blocks were placed at 300-meters, I politely asked if they could be removed and guess what? They were removed.


The horrible sky-build: the Emerald Castle of Oz on the right. That floating part actually hangs below the upper-most portion of the one rooted on the ground - but yet not connected. However, based on the look, it appears to be some kind of fantasy-build anyway.

This place really stood-out from the crowd and just irritated me to no end. No, not the look of it, but rather the waay the parcel owner uses his land. But I'll continue to explain that in my next post. In the mean time, I looked and looked and looked but I just could not find the giant graffiti sign that said "Torley was here - LULZ!"

I have finally and officially decided why I really don't like the Trudeau (and probably most other) boats and tall ships that are so-called "SL-wind sailable". They are built for looks, not function.


In my three-years on the grid I have never owned or wanted to own any boats at all, especially sailboats. Because they aren't "boats" - they are cars on water that don't "sail" - they drive. Even the "motorboats" drive like a car. and cars in Second Life don't really handle at all like a car. In fact, it's just "flying" the same way you can fly in SL without sitting on anything. The only difference is you have a prim (name your vehicle here) attached to you, and because it's set to be physical, the simulated gravity is in effect.

Car, airplane, boat, submarine: I find it cheesy and silly that at a dead stand-still, you can spin around and around like a top. I really roll my eyes if it's any kind of sailboat. And it's the creator's fault because they are focusing on how it looks, not how it works.

Like everyone who has one of these, I wouldn't know any better - except that as of a few months ago, I do.

I am now going to speak on the Trudeau Tradewind (pictured above) - a two-part vehicle. So these irritants I speak of obviously don't apply to the single linked-prim type vehicles. But tall ships are rather complicated in a visual sense and so always will require two-parts in order to be movable as a vehicle.

The Trudeau Tradewind tall ship is gorgeous. But, like I said before, it's built to look good, not function well. Because it looks so good, it is not efficiently built. Lots of extra prims where there is no-need. I have no-doubt I could create a damned good-looking facsimile with probably 1/3 the number of prims. But it's inefficiency has to do with how it functions: it doesn't.

As with most large vehicles of this type, it comes in two-parts. A part that is the actual vehicle that does the moving (sailing in this case) upon which you sit in order to "drive" it. The second part is work as an attachment - which the limit to prim-count is about 256 - no real reason to work hard at building efficiency in that case.

I've already mentioned what I don't like about the Trudeau in terms of how it functions. But I can live with that. What I really can't stand is the way it's built: sloppy. Part-one: the vehicle is rezzed in system water. It is invisible, but highlighting transparent prims reveals that is it the sails system and all that is visible are all the poseballs the pilot and guests sit on to ride and drive.

The "ship proper" is an attachment that you right-click in inventory and choose "wear". I hate this with a purple passion. As for actually enjoying the boat, it sucks royally. Epic fail as the meme goes. I have to rez the invisible sails, then manually "wear" the boat. If I stand-up, I have to manually detach the entire ship, then delete the invisible sails. This is stupid.

If I rezz the ship-proper, the inefficient build requires that I have a huge butt-load of prims available. Fail again.

Enter the SPD, TSS, and AoS ships and boats.



Let us forget that they actually sail very realistically in the movement, turning and true requirement to manage the sail angle with regard to simulated wind direction and all that. Let us instead look at the simple functionality...

• I rezz the boat on system water.
• All I see is a plain and "stripped"-looking boat hull.
• The second part, the sails and boat detail, are inside the hull.
• The hull automatically rezzes the sails and ship detail, perfectly lined-up to ensure the whole thing appears like a single boat. 

I now have a beautiful boat - for decoration or whatever. I can walk onto it or off it or all around it. No ugly poseballs with the requirement to type-in a command to hide them, nothing "unsightly".


Anyone at anytime can right-click at various places on the boat and choose to "sit" - and even, through a HUD or command, change positions (say from the bow to the crow's nest to the port or starboard side to the stern - all without standing-up to sit on another stupid poseball).

• I, as the pilot simply "sit" near the aft-castle or piloting point.
• The sails portion of the boat asks permission to attach to me.
• I say "yes" and in the blink of an eye, the sails attach.

If you aren't paying attention, you didn't even notice a change in the appearance of the boat at all.

• I can now just start sailing.
• When I am ready to stand-up, I do so. 
• The boat automatically rezzes a new set of sails so the boat remains "complete".
• Attached set of sails automatically detach so they disappear from world view.
• I can now walk about my boat again. The same boat, not a newly-rezzed copy!

This is functionality: walk up the dock to my boat, walk onto my boat, sit on my boat, start sailing, stand-up and walk about my boat again.

All without having to touch my inventory and manually rezz or wear or delete or detach anything. And the SPD, TSS and AoS and other tall ships of this "genre" are all damned-good-looking, too. Oh and in my previous Trudeau posting linked-to above, Dale Innis mentioned that the "gauges" HUD on the Trudeau is better because you can "see" the wind direction and sails angle.


Well, TSS just released an update to all their boats that now includes a sail HUD that works identically to the Trudeau HUD, though easier to understand, in my own opinion. So, Dale: there's the last single reason for sticking with the Trudeau Tradewind. Try any of the TSS tall ships and you'll forsake the Trudeau within an hour as for "functionality" and "usability".

And the kicker to all this? Average cost of the SPD, TSS and AoS boats is L$1600 compared to the Trudeau Tradewind's whopping (and I feel way-the-hell-overpriced) L$4500.

Screw the cannons on these "pirate" ships, they can be removed. As for a beautiful, realistically-sailable tall-ship which you only need rez once and be able to walk-on, sail and then walk-off without having to attach or detach anything, which is the better purchase to you?

Spotted this at the Grid Status reports:

"Wednesday January 6 2010 at 5:00 a.m. Pacific, we’ll be closing logins and disabling major in world services for ninety minutes of upgrade work on our databases.
During the maintenance, logins and account registrations will be unavailable."

All, I can do is laugh with fond memories! If you are an "oldbie" then you recall how every single Wednesday the entire grid shut-down at 6 A.M. to 10 A.M. for "grid maintenance" which often included a viewer update (and sometimes lasted a lot longer!)

Yes, the entire grid was completely shut-down to public access. Only Lindens were allowed in. The SL Blog back then didn't have a 150 comment limit and it was fun to follow that entry and reading how so many people were actually going through serious withdrawals.

Ah those were the days. Of course those also were the days of complete and utter frustration when Teleports wouldn't work for three days straight, or the grey-goo attack that screwed the grid up for three days, or the bug that cause the Lindens to turn off all scripts for three days...

Of course anyone who signed-up after the "new" grid technology that allows "rolling updates" won't understand the nostalgia of the entire grid effectively shutting down and just can't appreciate it.

(Via Second Life Grid Status Reports » Blog Archive » Logins and In World Services Down for Maintenance Wednesday a.m.)

The Trudeau "Tradewind" tall ship is a lot more bitter than it is sweet. In my last post I mentioned how difficult it can be to shop in Second Life, especially where price has zero credibility with regard to quality of the item you are purchasing. I harped loud about how positively stunned I am at the exquisite high-quality of the Age of Sale Gunboat.


I am a fan of tall ships and have been most of my life. It is ironic then that I only recently in the last few months realized and discovered sail-able tall ships on the grid. I knew they existed, but I didn't want a "drivable car that floats". Meaning like a car in SL the forward and back buttons move you as such and the left and right steer toward their respective directions. Unfortunately, most "drivable" boats on the grid are just that: drivable. They work exactly like a car, which is okay if your boat is a motorboat. But a sailboat?

Trudeau Tradewind tall ship: fail.  
Enormous fail.

I'm sorry if I sound harsh, but I don't like to softball things and prefer telling it that way is - all from my own perspective, of course.



I was extremely fortunate to have found the TSS and SPD lines of sailing vessels as the way they work on the Linden water is ridiculously realistic as far as SL scripting and the physics engine will allow. I spotted a post by Dale Innis where she (he?) was highly impressed with the Trudeau Tradwind. I was intrigued and even though in the comments of that post I learned that Trudeau boats don't take any damage, I had to go see for myself. So I popped over this morning.

Unfortunately these kind of vehicles only work for the owner so there was no way to test-drive the thing. It means you have to rely heavily on the sales-pitch in the vendor notecard. I did just that. Part of the description included "most realistic wind sailing in SL" (paraphrased.)

Ummm, not no but hell-no.

I believe the creator genuinely believes this statement to be true and that's fine. Either that or she is seriously misleading people by referring to the forward motion only and none of the rest. The fact of the matter is that the Tradewind (and likely all the other Trudeau boats) are only marginally better than those "drives-like-a-car-on-water" boats.

Firstly, allow me to say the primwork is gorgeous. It is a beautiful build and the cabin with furniture and bed is a nice touch. But poseballs? Okay wait a minute... this thing actually uses poseballs? I admit it's a red flag I should have seriously paid attention to. But I digress.

Now, the sweet part is the prim build - gorgeous. Unfortunately all the rest of it is the bitter part: total failure.

I raise the sails and the thing just sits here. It doesn't even appear to turn "physical" - no heeling or bobbing or anything. I set sail angle to capture wind and start moving. The first awkward thing I notice is the pilot's camera angle. But that's okay because if you are a technical sort you can edit the one modifiable script to reset that to something else you prefer.

So I hit the right arrow to swing direction from east to east by southeast. The boat swings around quickly. But wait a second, I'm not even moving yet! Even at a dead stand-still, I am able to spin the boat around in any direction I choose.

Where the eff is the "realism" in that?!?


This "feature/bug" alone already means this thing will likely never be rezzed again from my inventory. But I was determined to like it, so I trudged-on. The crappy handling of the thing (a car on water) was terribly disappointing. Until I found the real bug. Even with the wind at 180 degree - 100% to my back, angling the sales to starboard (right) had be moving backward. And at high-speed. What the eff is this?

Except for the beautiful primwork this thing is a painfully tragic disappointment. There are ten-times more realistic sailing ships available for one-third the price. The Trudeau Tradewind (and likely all the rest) is hardly worth the asking price. Perhaps L$800 to L$1000 for an unscripted version would be okay. L$1500 for the thing the way it is right now... hard to swallow but okay. It is overpriced by L$3000 hands-down firm. The only other sweet part of the BITTERsweet combination is that it is copy/modify, so I will rip the really crappy drives=like-a-car-on-water scripts out of it and rebuild it to use the TSS Brigg scripts in order to salvage my money-down-a-hole spent.

Sorry Ms. Trudeau, but "most realistic sailing" this thing is not. In fact it is barely this side of the opposite end of that statement. Do I feel ripped-off? No. Am I dissatisfied with my purchase? Somewhat. I am more disappointed that I had a gut-feeling this thing would be what it is, and I bit that bullet anyway when I should have known better? Abso-fekking-lutely. But my dismay is with myself, not the creator. And the influence of Dale is not Dale's fault. Dale just doesn't know any better.

If you want a very realistic, truly simulated sailing experience in SL at low cost, buy the Gunboat I spoke of in my previous post. It is on XSL here. L$3500 less that the Trudeau Tradewind and a thousand-times more realistic.

If you really want to save a lot of money and go with a most-realistic sailing experience, get the Sailing Dinghy from the same creator for only L$149.

If you are a fan of tall ships and want a sailing version that truly is the most realistic simulation on the Second Life grid, go with one of these and stay away from anything Trudeau until they get it right:

Anything from TSS (most expensive boat: L$1700 - and all go down in price from there).

Anything from SPD (Though a bit more difficult to sail than TSS; even the most expensive Frigate is L$1000 less than the Tradewind and even edges it out in the beauty-of-primwork department).

If primwork isn't a priority, there is this fishing boat also based on the "Flying Taco" scripts for only L$450. And it takes damage as it should like all other TSS and SPD boats. So don't go running through shoals carelessly. Running aground in shallows will eventually sink you if you do it often enough (true for all these boats).

So, is the Trudeau Tradewind (and other Trudeau creations) crap? NO. Is it way over-priced? Yes - to those who know and want better. The primwork is gorgeous, but the handling physics is cartoonist at best. It feels like playing with a child's toy when I am used to and want the real (as possible) thing.

My whole point is that most in SL who "sail" have no idea of what they are missing and what they think is what sailing in SL really is. I suppose that's the oldbie of SL curse.

"You and yours can take your "merry Christmas" to hell before you stick it where the sun don't shine."

I would rather someone throw the above (oxymoronic) statement at me than to use the ridiculously politically correct statement of the times. Heads-up: this is my annual rant about the disingenuous tidings people will throw at you because they are scared to death you might twitch the wrong way. I say to those people: get a clue. Better that they just keep their mouths shut and not say anything at all.

If I wish you a "merry Christmas" and you don't like it - so what? If you are one of the politically correct spineless weasels who are offended at everything, GTFU and reevaluate your principals and priorities in life.

Warning: this is a passionate pet-peeve of mine and I tend to get rather vitriolic in it. I'll try real hard to keep it toned-down and presentable for you.


The most condescending thing you can say to me (or anyone, really) during this time of year is the ridiculously phrased "season's greetings!". I mean, think about that for a minute, will you?

Season's greetings.

What exactly does that mean, anyway? Greetings I get. It simply means "hello" in a more jovial way. But the "season" part I don't get. I mean, the season is winter. So is this supposed to be a "winter's greetings"? Then why don't you give me a likewise greeting the rest of the year: "summer's greetings!" or, "autumn's greetings!"

This time of year where three major holidays occur within the span of a few weeks is not a "season". Winter, spring, summer and autumn are "seasons." And "Fall" is a lazy way to say autumn for goodness sakes, it's not a season!

So, to "wish" me a "joyous season" or "season's greetings" is a slap-down against my intellect and rather condescending. It's you trying to sound all nice and considerate when in reality you're just trying to placate me in the most insincere way possible, because I'm not worth it to you.

Then there's "Happy Holidays!"

M Linden (Mark Kingdon,) CEO of Linden Lab posted a short, simple blog entry to wish everyone on the Second Life grid a "happy holidays."(1)

If you wish me, personally, a "happy holidays" then you are obviously an atheist who is scared-to-death at the very mention of anything more specific. "Holiday" is a contraction of "Holy Day"(2) ("holi" being the original spelling way back when - besides: proper grammar dictate a single vowel followed by a single consonant creates a long-sound in the vowel.)

So, if you wish me a personal "happy holidays" I will respond with a "happy Holy days to you also!"

Notice how I mention "if you wish me a personal..." Because in the case of M Linden's blog post, and other instances where you are sending good tidings to a large group of people, I believe "happy holidays" is exactly the appropriate wish. But I don;t think that phrase works very well on a personal one-to-one greeting.

The best greetings for this time of year in my opinion is the tried and true "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Hanukkah." (Sorry you Kwanza folks - we all know that's a fake synthetic holiday that isn't really a holi day - but good for you who observe it, I have no problem with that.)

However, most people get the whole "merry Christmas" and "happy Hanukkah" thing backward. I do not wish Jewish people a "happy Hanukkah" - because I don't feel sincere enough when I do that. By wishing such it feels more disconnected, like I'm saying "Hey, happy whatever the hell you practice and observe, makes no difference to me, but so long as it thrills you, go for it."

No, I wish Jewish people a "merry Christmas". Why? Because it is what I practice. It is a joyous time for me. And it seems to me and feels more sincere to wish upon you, that which is joyous and wonderful for me. And since I am wishing for a merry Christmas for myself, I want to share that joy I feel with you.

If someone who observes Hanukkah were to wish for me a "happy Hanukkah" - I am honored and most thankful as I know they are wishing for me the same joy they hope for themselves.

And to me, that is a sincere greeting.