I don't get it

I decided to give this a try, but it seems pretty close to the worst program I've ever used. It's barely even functional --I've done some parts of the move tutorial three times because the stars keep disappearing, and now the flying part just doesn't register as complete when I'm done.

It also looks bad, which is admittedly my own fault for trying to play on a laptop that's several years old.

What am I missing? Should I just give up?

I've been told your video card has a LOT to do with your experience in second life, I'm guessing an old laptop doesn't cut it.

I'd think that even if it doesn't look great, though, it should still work. Bad graphics don't excuse the fact that it doesn't notice when I'm standing on the target it told me to go to.

Maybe I'll trying cleaning up my computer a bit, but then I guess I'll give up. I blame the program, though.

edit: I realized the performance issues are probably from my wireless internet connection; other than that I think I meet all of the system recommendations and am well above the requirements (I'm not sure about my graphics card, NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5200, but I think it's fine). Someday I'll get a real internet connection.

I'd still like to go to the LT gatherings, though, and I could deal with sub-optimal performance, if only it would let me get beyond the tutorials!

I just broke down and ordered a new video card to supersede the "integrated" video on my motherboard. The only problem is that I might then have to upgrade my power supply to make the new video card happy!

I have been to orientation island three time now and can't get off the island. Maybe someone can print up some tips on how to get started, because their help screens really didn't help me.

I got off the island accidently - I was looking at the map and hit "go home". I actually wasn't done with the tutorials, so I was a little peeved, but I couldn't find a way back on.

#6 - Hey, that's good to know! I thought it said somewhere that you couldn't do anything else until you completed the tutorials. Maybe I'll try again.

I couldn't figure out how to get into the LT/Bookmooch chat.

Go to the Search function. Type Bookmooch. It will come up and click.

Doesn't it cost money to get into Second Life?

Not to get a basic account.

I swear it doesn't! I got one yesterday and was in there playing around and talking to people and I didn't pay anything!

(Sorry, I got into an argument with someone earlier who insisted that it cost money. Uh...I have an account. They don't. I think I know.)

It costs if you want to own land and build stuff. And I guess there are other things too. But a basic account is free.

I'll throw in one additional important bit of info. - your inventory can get very large, very quickly, and one of the things you can build are "storage devices" for your inventory (literally build devices to store your inventory - that's why someone might buy a very small plot of land that can't hold very much - it's big enough for the storage devices). I found out the hard way that the inventory can fill up quickly.

_Zoe_ - SecondLife, to work properly, needs a fairly consistent network connection of high speed, and also needs a rather high end graphics card. Laptops have not had these until the past 18-24 months, so your few-years-old laptop may well be too old. It's rather difficult to design a heavily rendered world that assumes high bandwidth and high-end graphics as an operating assumption, and then make it also work in a degraded 'simple/slow' variation. You end up making too many compromises in writing up the code, meaning it looks worse for the users with the better graphics and network capabilities. The Second Life website clearly states the requirements, but if blaming the program makes you feel better, go right ahead. :)

Bluesalamanders - in the "full game" - there are mockups of orientation and help island. Just do edit->search->places for "orientation" and you'll find it. You can go back to a full replica of the original orientation island. Also visit the help island mockup.

As to LibraryThing in second life, I'll be honest. The real advantage would be to be able to build a WALK-THROUGH-LIBRARY of your books. Since in SecondLife you can write scripts that suck up XML from other websites and process it (example: There are real-time weather maps) - it should be possible to write a script that sucks up my current library, and then generates shelf after shelf of book titles. Each with a texture on the front that is a mock-up of the cover. Then, I could walk through "my library" and browse "my books" (Well, I can do that at home...) The thing is - we could walk through others' libraries.

The challenge on that is that this would cost each user money. People think that what they buy on second life is land. Well... yes... but you are also purchasing the right to place PERMANENT OBJECTS (called primitives, or PRIMS) in Second Life. Each book would be 1 PRIM. Now, my library is what - 1600 books. An Island costs $300/month US, giving 14,000 prims. To get those books, I'd need 1/8th of an island roughly, and that would be something like $45/month - just to show my library to others?

Not worth it. Not at all.

Other than that - sure - as yet another place to say hi to the same people - it is great. I will say this... if you work hard at designing a decent looking avatar (and no, you can't do that with what SecondLife gives you for free - those always look crude) - and then talk to people in SL... the sense of ambience given by the animation makes it far more impactful than a text-only chat room. That surprised me.

Three weeks ago, I gave a talk for work, to about 40 people or so in a small 'ampitheater' setting. I just started typing away, then, I saw the folks there, and started walking my avatar around, and people started getting more involved in the talk, etc... I was working the room and that astounded me. The movement of my avatar made a difference.

Rather amazing.

Well, for some reason when I signed in again yesterday the graphics were greatly improved. I guess my internet connection isn't consistent; nothing else could have changed.

Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned my computer, because that's really not the main issue. I can't find an easy way to compare graphics cards, but Second Life recommends a GeForce FX 5600, which only has 128-bit memory, like my GeForce FX Go5200. So maybe my graphics card is a bit below their recommendations, but not much, and definitely well above the requirements (it claims to require only a GeForce 2, some of which are only 64- or even 32-bit). It was probably misleading to say how old my computer is, because I upgraded most things as much as possible when I ordered it.

I don't see how it's my computer's fault that the tutorials didn't work. It should register when I've done what they told me to do, and once I've completed an activity and have a star for it, that star shouldn't go away. Luckily it turned out I only needed the big main star for each tutorial section, or I would have been stuck on the tutorial island forever.

I'm still having other problems, though. When I try to put on different clothes, it says that I'm wearing them and I can see in the appearance-editing box what they should look like, but my avatar's appearance doesn't change (with the exception of a pair of shoes that did work). Other objects, like wings, are okay.

But at least overall it's somewhat working now. I don't think I'll use it much, but I should be able to participate in the Sunday gatherings. I guess that's the main thing.

Message 13: JPB -- Okay, maybe I'm just too old or too grounded in reality but why would any reasonably sane person spend real money to buy pretend land in a pretend environment? We are talking real money, right? For cartoons? I just don't get it. What am I missing?

#15 This is meant to be a somewhat humorous response, but I realized the last few paragraphs aren't. My apologies.

Think of it this way. Why would a reasonably sane person spend real money to purchase a logo-covered jacket advertising a for-profit enterprise located in their town (a sports team). Why would a reasonably sane person spend much more money to see a film in a theater, when they could rent it for much less money a few months later? Why would a reasonably sane person spend real money to purchase a plane-ticket and a hotel room to visit Las Vegas to gamble, when all statistical analysis shows that over time, you will lose all your money? Why would any reasonable person pay big $$$ for a baseball card, when all it does it sit there on a shelf?

The answer to all of these is: it's fun for them, of course.

Some do it for profit. One housewife owns multiple 'shopping centers' and the profit she obtains from her leases more than breaks even. Some people speculate on real estate, and have made $100,00s of REAL dollars at it. (Others, not so wise, have lost money). Some designers will do the construction work for other people, and charge $5000-$20000 PER REGION US$ for their efforts.

The core point is: people will pay $$$ to be entertained. That's what happens here. And, where there are people willing to pay $$$ to be entertained, there will be people to help them spend that money, in some ways cool and good, in some ways manipulative.

On a most sobering note, I met one person at my company's location. She designed her cartoon character more than Jessica Rabbit cute - it was something detailed, like out of a Vargas painting. (like I said, MUCH better than you can get from the stuff you get for free). She was outgoing, funny, smart as a whip.

And about 15 minutes into the conversation about my company's products, of which she was quite knowledgable I asked her what attracted her to Second Life. We started talking (well, typing) about it, and went on for a couple of hours.

She said - it allowed her to socialize. She is in the terminal stages of cancer, multiple chemotherapies. Exhausted... but she can lay in bed, and log into this place... and meet people... go on 'dates' (as it were)... interact socially, flirt outrageously... not be self-concious about her bald head, IV marks on her arms, etc.

She showed me the house she designed. A wonderful soaring piece of 'cartoon' art. Like something out of Spirited Away. The woman has talent.

She has found, in this virtual world... contact with human beings at a level robbed from her by her reality.

I think she is incredibly sane.

>>The answer to all of these is: it's fun for them, of course.

I always remind myself, when I think someone is nuts for being so absorbed in something like Second Life, or role-playing games, or anything else I can't relate to, that someone out there probably thinks I'm nuts for spending what they'd probably consider inordinate amounts of time and money on my preferred forms of leisure.

Different strokes . . .

That said, I hope that LT doesn't go haring off into a Second Life project when there's so much to be done here. (And if they want a new project, MusicThing or FilmThing would be a good one to work on.)

I agree lilithcat.

#16> JPB - that was very well presented.

Your #13 probably scared a lot of people away, however. SL does not have to be expensive, and one receives "spending money" every week to offset costs.

I have been contemplating the fact that SL does not have a Public Library (or churches - but a LOT of sinning!). I wondered about the cost of building and maintaining one "visitable" library.

I don't know much about the SL building process, but it occurs to me that a single "prim" could be textured with a photo of a section of filled bookshelves, so that a large library would take a few prims, not one per book. Scripting to allow a visitor to take down one book and have the text appear on screen, could be based on a single "master" book-form, with the text being retrieved to order, like Project Gutenberg.

Anent my #19, I just visited the Bookmooch area on SL and there is an example of a single-prim-many-books bookcase there. It has one book which is clickable, producing a notecard of text. Not exactly what I meant, but still.

I have also discovered a seller of bookcases on SL: it's at Isle of RFyre 94,102,62. They have several styles, filled or unfilled. Not very expensive.

Also, the THiNC store (I don't have the coordinates) has: THiNC Book, (single version) a book which can be used as a photo album, a novel, or a catalog. It comes with a full set of animations for opening, closing and page turning . It's transferable and modifiable. AND, the THiNC Printing Press, (single version), which lets you produce unlimited, exact copies of the THiNC Book for unlimited distribution. Each book produced has copy and transfer rights modifiable by the owner (publisher).

It seems the ingredients are all there. A little planning and design ought to produce something of the kind you want.

#15> kageeh, I really hate to do this to you... :-P
BUT, to quote one of your messages from elsewhere,

"I just realized that I have purchased 336 books so far in 2007 and it's not even the end of March yet. Will anyone else confess to being such a bookbuyaholic or am I alone (alas, sigh . . .) in my profligacy?

As it is eternally avowed, "Different strokes.."

Message 21: artisan -- Do you mean to say, if I bought fewer books, I could afford a whole 'nother life on SL? I'm afraid I'm just not sufficiently technical to do all the things on SL you suggest. I admit it could be lots of fun but I have so many real-life books I want to read, I'll have to stay right here on firm earth.
Besides, my real friends are much more interesting than my imaginary friends ever were.

#19 Artisan: I've heard that some public libraries around the country have opened presences on SL; one has actually hosted a library conference for librarians and library staff from around the US. I apologize for not having names and/or coordinates in case you were interested. Never having been on SL, I don't know if you could search entities and locations to find out where are the public libraries.

#22 > No, kageeh, I wasn't suggesting that you sign on to SL at all. I was "commenting" on your message #15's shock that people would spend money for SL. Some might think spending real money for 336 books in three months excessive (I don't) when there are public lending libraries!

Message 24: artisan -- Well, Phooey on those people! I try to buy only books my public library doesn't have or books that I know I will want to keep.

I tried it out a couple of nights ago...I was just wandering around these big and mostly empty "islands" filled with slot machines. I went to about 8 different places and they were all slot machines and similar stuff.

I enjoyed creating my avatar, but now that I hear you've got to pay money for an avatar anyone will likely interact with... especially given that I only found 4 or 5 other people in there...

Which makes me repeat the original question asked here: What's the point?

I was set up to love it -- I love Sims, I love role play, I love wasting time on the internet...

Really, really like my first life.

I dunno I have been wandering about for about a fortnight now and mostly it seem that things are happening in the next room. there are obviously roleplayers on there and the economy has a certain fascination I have had some interesting conversations and a few looks at the clothes and objects for sale reveals that there is a definite appeal for collectors. With thousands of fashions and things if you were into action man or Barbie or model soldiers it will appeal to you.Equally obvious is the sex for the lonely function. I found myself eavesdropping on some unusual activities at one point. Then there is the hacker culture. hackers are powerful there is real status is involved. A lot of people have a hobby for this reason. During the week they might be just a face in the typing pool but come the weekend they are national clog dancing champion. Head of the American-Chinese Elephant style Kung fu association, an influential Shriner or a mover and shaker in second life.

I told my sister about Second Life and she said it reminded her of Snow Crash, which inspired me to buy a copy (the library's copy is damaged, so can't go that route) to reread it. It is amazing how similar it really is...and the more I hear, the more similar it sounds. All it's missing is a big highway connecting everything.

I agree with Simon, it's bringing me back to the Barbie dolls of my childhood. I'm enjoying trying on new clothes (when it's working...).

I don't really care about meeting random people, but I'm looking forward to attending an LT gathering eventually.

yes though it reminded me of Tad Williams Otherland books I am not a recommendation of them too long and the plot falls apart at the climax Snow Crash is equally valid. Now back to edit my last post It seems to have been written in my sleep.

#26> pdxwoman, something seriously went wrong with your foray into SL. Immediately after
creating your avatar you should have teleported to the Orientation Island, where there are no slot machines, but some training practice in communication, movement, etc. - then you should have teleported to Help Island, where there are also no slots, but lots of freebies to pick up, and lots of things to do to become familiar with the processes of creating things, building houses, and a place to examine all the many things in your inventory (yes, already an interesting collection at that early stage).

You should not have been able to go to ANY other islands until after you had completed the orientation.

In these beginning places, you won't find many people or much chatting (they're for inexperienced and shy newbies) - BUT, you do not have to buy a fancy "skin" for your avatar to have normal interaction with others (a super-sexy female shape, skin and skimpy outfit would, of course, have literally hundreds of men instantly hitting on you), but there is plenty of conversation available anywhere.

The reason I say there is something seriously wrong with your first attempt is that you did not find people (at any given moment there will be 30,000 or more people signed on), and only found some of the casinos. There are literally thousands of places, events, gatherings, things to do, to look at, to buy or you can make anything you want or need. Then you can even sell those things if you want to, for real money.

So far, those are all free. It only costs if you want to buy stuff beyond the free money you get when you sign up and any pin money you want to add. And don't be fooled by the prices of things like clothes - the local currency (L$) is currently 250 to $1 US . That means the L$300 dress really costs $1.20. If you want to be able to buy land and set up a house or place of business you could be spending some money, but that is definitely not necessary to have the kind of fun time you expected.

Don't let yourself be deterred by your first experience. There is a whole world there. You have to explore a LOT, but is it fascinating.

I tend to keep half an eye out for money trees and other such freebies:^)

How about us looking around to see what we can find in the way or archetecture or furnishings for LT On Sunday?

Simon

Damn.

This just keeps getting uglier.

So, SL's tech service first tells me that my "integrated graphics" won't work, and that I need to get a graphics card. So, I go buy a graphics card (which, in 26 years of owning computers, I've never had to do previously) and NOW find out that the card I got (a Radeon 7000 series) "isn't good enough".

Of course, in the meantime, I've (on the suggestions of various folks) gone out and spent MORE money on additional RAM, on the theory that perhaps the 512mb that was working just fine for everything else on my system, was the limiting factor for SecondLife.

I'm going to be $200 in the hole before I get this stupid f***ing GAME to work.

I am so angry that I'd be very happy to beat the S.L. developers to death with bricks!

#34> It baffles me, too. I'd think your set-up would work. Perhaps your integrated graphics didn't turn off when you installed the Radeon.

In my case, I get perfect results on a new Mac Mini in SL, but URU Online won't work (It's similar in community character, but puzzle-oriented), which worked just fine on my old PC with a good graphics card but one not as good as your Radeon 7000.

BTRIPP, before you get yourself more agonized, spend $10 hiring the chief nerd from your local middle-school or high school. Those kids are absolute geniuses at figuring out hardware problems. I'd bet that a sawbuck spent on an hour's kidpoweredIT will solve your problem.
(Ask any neighborhood kid for a referral or call the school's computer teacher.)

#33> I have a free house (copyable) and a free upholstered bench (also copyable, in multiples, if needed) from the freebies on Help Island. Neither can be modified.

I'll have to check the dimensions of the house, though, to see if it would fit the land. What are the dimensions of the LT lot?

Equally important, how many prims is LT allowed? That may be the stopper.

>Equally important, how many prims is LT allowed? That may be the stopper.

91. That's very very few.

I was thinking about a picnic site with a few cushions to lounge on or a campfire with some sitting logs. there are a few covered display area i the commonwealth that might be okay for prim consumption without looking naff.

where/when does LT meet on Sundays?

we have been meeting at the
bookmooch site http://slurl.com/secondlife/Kula%201/39/82/22

artisan:

thanks for the info on what was suposed to happen ;-) I went back to the orientation and the help island... it's making a bit more sense...

I had to remove SL because my pc started to freeze up. Yes, it has plenty of free space and speed and graphics (brand new Dell laptop) but something went seriously wrong. And I'm still getting random freezes where all I can do is turn off the machine; I can't even power down.

I had to remove SL because my pc started to freeze up. Yes, it has plenty of free space and speed and graphics (brand new Dell laptop) but something went seriously wrong. And I'm still getting random freezes where all I can do is turn off the machine; I can't even power down.

kageeh: I had the same problem, so I deleted, too. Then I ran Spy Sweeper and Registry First Aid -- talk about an invasion of spyware and malware! I'll never re-install SL! Tonight my computer is running like it's pre-SL self again.

Message 44: pdxwoman -- I ran my anti-viral software (did a complete system scan) but nothing turned up (Trend micro PC-cillin). Should I run something else?

I also found a lot of spyware after using Second Life. I used Ad-aware, which is a free program. My virus-scan didn't find anything, but it still seems like things aren't quite back to normal. I'm also wondering whether I should run something else....

Anti-virus software doesn't seem to always catch these kinds of bugs. I use Spy Sweeper and Registry First Aid. I had to restore a registry that was pre-SL. I'm still having some freezing issues with Firefox, and I'm considering what else I might do (reinstall everything? yikes).

I don't know what else to tell you -- I'm at the limit of my computer knowledge on this one.

My computer committed suicide last night while I was running a spyware program to fix the slowness. Dell doesn't ship boot disks with their pcs anymore so I'm going to be trouble-shooting as soon as I get home from work. If the gods be with me, I can use Dell's hidden Symantec reboot utility to reformat the hard-drive. Am I glad LT is web-based? You bet!

I will not be installing SL again. I'll live in the real world, warts and all.

I don't want to be a wet blanket here, but I would rate the possibility that SecondLife put spyware on you computer as zero point zero. You had it before. Most people with PCs do. There are too many ways for it to happen. SecondLife is as likely to put spyware on your machine as LibraryThing is to burn your house down.

49>

I don't think it was SL itself. I think it was from a skin, clothes, or other inventory item created by another user. My problems started within an hour of opening an SL inventory box given to me by another player.

SL uses uBrowser -- can't get malware that way unless you add an extension, I know, but it's not clear to me if I could get it opening a packed box in SL. I don't know enough about it. But it does seem strange to me that three of us, within mere (seconds, minutes, hours, days) of installing SL started having the same problems. I don't know about the other 2 of you, but I hadn't been having any problem with my computer pre-SL. Coincidence? I'm willing to entertain the possibility.

My partner has been in computers for 24 years now and keeps a tight watch on the computers -- 2 kinds of virus software, spyware, and registry first aid, always the best and most up to date. His opinion is that it was related to Second Life.

"SecondLife is as likely to put spyware on your machine as LibraryThing is to burn your house down." I guess I might have to cancel my membership on LT. I have renter's insurance, but since I've been warned by the Big Guy, my insurance company might consider me negligent ;-)

Oh well just having bought some land it seems I am a convert.

Tim, can you explain a bit more about how you know the spyware isn't from Second Life? Random user-generated content seems pretty sketchy to me.

I wasn't having any serious problems, just frequent browser crashes, but it seemed pretty strange that that had just started and I was finding more spyware shortly after I started using Second Life.

I signed up and all but never got my confirmation that would let me in.

#52: Zoe--can you explain how almost 80 of us who have signed on to Second Life within the past 9 months) have not had adware and spyware destroying our computers since we signed on?

We use SL to have team meetings. Its been a slow process of conversion at work . . . I was one of the last holdouts . . . but we have had only 4 who experienced OS instability since installation of the SL software.

2 were video driver problems and coincidentally one had visited a web site (which inserted the spyware) before she installed SL and the other person had opened e-mail which infected her PC.

I don't see why SL would install malware or even adware on their setup files since pranks like these would damage Linden Labs as a business venture. Techies (who are the early adopters of this virtual world) would have found out in no time flat--- if Linden Labs was screwing around with customers' PCs.

Message 49: timspalding -- My kids would probably pay you to have LT burn my house down because they think I have far too many books in it :). However, you may be correct about SL; maybe it was coincidental. But I'm not going to tempt my newly-cleaned hard-drive again until you can persuade me that all the LT fun is happening there. And then I will show up naked, having acquired nothing that might harbor diabolical little gremlins.

#54. Polly, have you tried signing up again? I've forgotten how I had signed up and don't remember if it required e-mail confirmation.

#51: Simon, I haven't bought land . . . but I am renting. Just a teeny tiny place in Amauera, called Secret Garden and I have put you and Soji Slade in --- as Guardians of Amauera. LOL. Actually it just means you can rez items there. (Whatever that is. I have to buy some manuals ---)

Its a fantasy RP place. But I would like to TP some LTers to my rented digs on Sunday--when we meet weekly. If you wish.

I have picked up some free gowns for the ladies so we can all look like we're in Middle-earth. Men--- perhaps cloaks or boots or Robin Hood tunics of some sort . . . I will look for stuff for you too.

Kageeh--- show up naked. You will be very popular. If you'd rather be dressed, I have some nice gowns (and hair) you can try. :-)

Message 54: localpeanut -- I understand what you're saying but I wouldn't think SL can 100% prevent malware from setting up residence than Microsoft can guarantee to keep out all the hackers (please, no Apple users telling me how that never happens to their iMacs). Not everything on SL is developed by Linden Labs; that's one of the primary reasons it has grown so quickly and attracted so many users.

I work for a company that considers high PC security to be the backbone of its ability to serve its millions of customers. Second Life is forbidden on company machines and not just because it means the users aren't working. The techies I know who have SL on their computers at home do so knowing they can reliably fix problems as they occur. I can't even figure out where each cable goes on my machine, even though each fits into one one outlet.

okay, this is my last post on this topic (yeah, right)

54>

I don't know if Zoe can explain it (no offense, Zoe, I just don't know -- not casting aspersions on your intelligence!), but I can give a number of plausible explanations, just like you could give a number of plausible explanations for how it wasn't something on SL that affected our computers. Maybe your co-workers didn't run into the right pair of shoes or skin or hair or clickable object or island or notecard or or or...

No one said it was Linden Labs...For goodness sake, of course it wouldn't be Linden Labs -- that would be like Tim actually coming over and burning down my house after I installed LT. Duh. (okay, that was said with a sarcastic tone of voice -- but not mean sarcastic -- hehehe -- is there a difference??)

Just because other people didn't get malware/ adware/ spyware/ a virus/ whatever, doesn't mean the three of us didn't. Maybe we all three encountered the same object or island or (see above list of "ors"). Maybe it's a coincidence. I don't know. Who gives a rats behind? It happened, I think it's related, I'm not using SL anymore. Go ahead and the 80 of you use it, more power to you. I'm not invested in whether or not other people use it. :-)

Techies, or more accurately, hackers, have already hacked SL several times as far as I can tell -- even accessing about a half million people's names, credit card numbers and log ins? Causing random havoc on the virtual world by creating randomly generating objects? Who's to say the possibility doesn't exist that they are also finding a way to write code into objects to frack with my computer?

Anyway, I found SL boring on top of the possibility of problems with my computer, so I would have uninstalled anyway. If I had found it interesting, I might have tried harder to figure out what exactly was going on with my PC. Nothing against people who find it interesting -- I love Upstairs, Downstairs, which others find infinitely boring. ;-)

55> I think the area LT inhabits on SL prohibits nudity...watch out... ;-)

#54--I was honestly curious about how he could be sure that the possibility is 0.0. That's a pretty strong claim, and I'd like to know more about how secure SL is.

The argument that since 80 people had no problems, no one will have any problems is just completely invalid; I'm not sure what you need me to explain about it.

I never said anything about spyware destroying my computer; I just said that there was a lot of it on my computer after using Second Life. So I removed the spyware. There was no computer destruction involved.

And I definitely never said that the spyware came from the setup file. If it is related to Second Life, I'd think it's from a user-created object. I certainly don't have the technical knowledge to judge for myself. But I'd rather learn something about it than just say "Someone who knows about computers said this, so it must be true." I don't think it was at all unreasonable to ask for more information.

#59--No offense taken! :)

Message 54: localpeanut -- Doesn't 4 out of 80 users experiencing OS instability equal 5%? That's a significant number of failures with a software program in my book. You say you use this at work for team meetings. I'm impressed. Where I work, that would never be allowed. We just this year got the ability to have meetings by phone and I work in a highly technical company. We're always at least two years behind in the adoption of any Microsoft OS upgrade because it takes that long for the IT engineers to verify stability. We're not even allowed to download Microsoft service pak fixes for months after release.

It is 5% but the 5% was not SL's fault--as I stated. Out-dated drivers are a commom difficulty--with or without SL.

So would we say this was a 100% success rate? LOL

Bad software is everywhere, even in SL but in this instance---we did not find the software-- a problem. We were as a group, informed of SL's demands on our systems. We all have huge amounts of RAM and video cards set to optimum effect.

(The Internet is inherently a risky and dangerous place. But at the same time, it has a lot to offer. With the proper precautions, we enjoy it.)

We don't log on from work. We log on from home. When we want to meet off-station, this is what we do. SL is not allowed at our workplace either. It slows down the network.

Meeting are better attended, when held in SL. Because people design their avatars, I think it encourages freedom of thought. And most of all acceptance. (we have no restrictions on what AVs should look like-- we even allow . . .er vulgar displays of flesh . . . because that employee gets teased unmercifully when he or she returns to work)

THey choose their skin because they are comfortable in them . . . something a dress code would not allow at work. Our technicians thrive particularly. THey are no longer drones. They may be as brilliant as their bosses!

Most agree that virtual reality--has hatched some butterflies out of the chrysalis.

Well, I'm certainly not running a turtle in a horse race.

AMD Athelon 64 FX-60 Dual Core Processor
2.61 Ghz 2.0 GB RAM
ASUS nVidia GeForce 7900GTX

I'm water tower cooled and updates are all up to date.

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Anyway, computer running just fine now, so I'm a happy camper...catch you all in another thread :-)

Message 62: localpeanut -- You're not the only person who uses SL for work-related meetings but I'm still amazed. Maybe I'm too old. We can meet by phone, video conference, IM, and email. A system hog such as SL just seems too difficult to attract the people I know.

Yes, it amazes me as well (remember, we all log from home, not from work) that we actually get a lot more done on SL than on our on-site meetings. One of our boss who is an online gamer (Warcraft) thought it might be a good idea!

SL forces some of us to think before we speak---because of all the typing. And forces us to be prepared because some issues are rather technical! Disruptions from "blowhard" employees are minimal. (THey are probably too busy reading the posts of the 60 words-a-min typists! LOL)

Some cool projects have resulted from these SL meetings!

i can't get off the island. or if i do, i end up at the bottom of the sea. or my computer hangs. where is all the fun i hear people talking about?

i love the idea of second life but it isn't working yet for me

You can either "fly" (PageUp twice) or "teleport" (go in your inventory and select "Landmarks"). Walking long distances in SL is a slow and less productive method for getting around!

bibliobibuli-boo,
AKA loquacia (heh-heh - that should be my name),
Join us and the BookMoochers Sunday at 11 am sl time (pacific - or 2 pm EDT). We'll send you a teleport (tp) message and we'll let you live up to your name.
Me, I hang out on Info Island at the outdoor reference desk and just chat with people, such as BTRIPP above ('Lo, Eschatos!). We'll also be able to suggest other interesting places to visit and give you some landmarks as well as general SL tips.
I try to keep track of some of the interesting things I've done on SL on my blog.
On second thought, maybe you shouldn't read what we've been up to there.
If SL still doesn't work out for you, don't worry. SL can be a drug and at the very least, hard on the eyes.
Oh, and I crash all the time. I'm famous for it. That is, either SL crashes my graphics driver or something else goes wrong. But I'm a junky now. I keep coming back for more.
I'd like to meet you there! Lludmila Mirrikh who has moved her SL blogging to: http://virtuallyhappy.blogspot.com/ and SL fashion to: http://unsluttyundead.blogspot.com/

Re: #69

Howdy Lludmila!

Well, to the person who said there are no churches - yes, there are; I've been in one. I was just looking around, but there were avatars in the church and no one was saying anything - so the good news is: either they were all stupefied at being there, praying silently, or firmly committed to not trying to convert the curious newcomers. If you do a "church" search, I'm sure you'll find one if not more, or perhaps you have to search under a denomination.

That said, I'm offline until I transfer files from my old computer to my new one; I needed a new computer and made a point to make sure I had the right graphics interface when I did. I had the same problem others did: constant crashing. I'm still in my exploring stage - and there are some tremendously creative people in there, judging by some of the places I visited.

I also agree with the OP's comments on nudity - the reason I enjoyed my avatar walking around in the nude (when she did) was because it is something I would never do in real life, so it was fun, and truthfully, a bit freeing for my own psyche. But you have to make sure you're in an "adults only" section when you do, where nudity is accepted - sometimes it isn't.

Hmm yes plenty of churches of all sorts of denominations with plenty of sincere congregations and plenty of other faiths around to. not all silent by any means.

Sorry! Have to put in my oar. I recently went around documenting some religious spots in SL. Some of these are functioning churches and synagogues (I don't pretend this documents all the religious life in SL, just what I have had time to find so far). They are all worth visiting. For photos, see the Religion in SL set I have on my Flickr page:
Flickr Photos

a friend often attends religous meetings there not I have to say with very pious motives admitedly but his accounts reveal others do.

and indeed as say those for fetishs clubs it is not unusual to see adverts for such organisations often juxtaposed with those for say fetish clubs.

What are you saying, SimonW11? Let the fetishist beware? The next fetish club s/he attends may be a hidden church?
I am appalled.

It worse than that:

"My examplar is one, Jesus of Nazareth, who feared not to associate with and minister to prostitutes, thieves and tax-gatherers."
-Donald Lothrop

yes even tax gatherers.

Sacre-chien! Is nowhere safe anymore?