Prim Lag — Myth or Reality

I’m gradually getting over the latest virus — last week it was the stomach, this week the sinuses. While I’m doing that, I’ll catch up with an issue that was generating bytes of excitement a week or so back.

That’s a spate of recent requests by some models and designers for avatars attending fashion shows to strip themselves of “unneeded” AOs and attachments, so as to lessen the load on the server handling the event. The concept here is that, with all those attachments needing to be monitored and tracked by the sim server, it puts added strain on the technology. Higher strain, more lag, and jittery models trooping down the runway. Brace Coral published points that, while gently stated, amounted to a manifesto in her LiveJournal a few weeks ago (thanks, Hamlet Au!).

However, longtime Resident Gwyneth Llewelyn offers a polite rebuttal to this in her own blog. The upshot of her argument is that the technology has advanced beyond where attachments and prim hair have much effect on the quality of the “environment.” Read the article carefully, and the comments that follow. Though there are some dissenters in those comments, I think Gwyn’s contention has some merit. The Almighty knows that, any road you go, the first factor influencing lag will be the population density in a given sim. As example, take two places at the extremes of the prim battle, but with heavy populations for given programs: Frank’s Place on a good night, or Science Friday on Friday afternoons, when Ira Flatow (Ira Flatley in-world) runs an edition of the popular NPR program.

Any time of the day is busy for Frank’s, but the night is particularly laggy, because they average around 65-70 Residents attending, dancing together or just standing about and grooving to the great Rat Pack jazz. The lag goes even higher on nights when the house DJs are spinning music live. Moving across the floor is interesting, especially in the big ball skirts and hair favored by most women at clubs like this. (The same goes for clubs such as Cloud Nine, Casablanca Lounge, etc.)

Alternatively, Science Friday attracts some 40-60 people every Friday afternoon to lurch around and look for chairs, so they can participate at a remove in the discussion. As a rule, most people attending aren’t wearing vast amounts of junk, aside maybe from blingtards and the occasional dragon or other large avatar. Yet the region is as slow as one of the formal clubs.

Is lag with us to stay? Yes, for at least as long as current processor technology can’t keep up with the demand on it to track individual avatars. But I don’t think we have to strip down to our virtual skivvies to do anything popular yet. And things can be done on the client side to help it along: set your draw distance to no higher than 96 for duration; upgrade your hardware if you can afford it, various other items. Give these some thought; and, in the meantime, grin and bear it (grin).

“Interesting place to wear your hair, Harper….”

We’ve all had that feeling at least once, I suppose; we teleport somewhere, and find on landing that half — if not all — of our attachments have become unattached from where they’re supposed to be, and hooked back up in our (ahem) nether regions.  You either spend 5 minutes or so unattaching and reattaching everything, or log out and back in to do an “instant fix.”  It isn’t that instant, of course, but sometimes it’s faster, depending on just how much garbage has suddenly acquired an affinity for your 6 o’clock.

Kit had a bit more extreme case than most, it seems; I discovered this the other day.  Check the comments for a little extra giggle; and it also sends you to yet another article, with even better comments!!

Full-Sim Movin’ Day Blues — with a Happy Outcome

So, as I was saying, I’ve moved again. And thereby hangs a tale….

I started out in my early days in a crackerjack little skybox that had malfunctioning doors on the upper level; after the first few days in residence, I never could get out to my own patio. Next came the famous apartment in Dunyvaig region, with a wonderful glass wall and roof. But the sleeping loft had a very low ceiling, forcing me to twitch my camera whenever I teleported upstairs. I finally got fed up with that, and ran off to a pair of friends.

Those friends were Gymmy and Nanceee Sinatra, the owners of Frank’s Place in Oasis Resort (Around the Grid, Web site). They had recently built a set of spacious apartments on the unused portion of their island; after a good examination of the place, I snagged a loft. This had two large circular rooms, with balconies on three sides. An elevator serviced all five floors of the block. I stayed there for a month and a half — and then the Sinatras asked if I could move to the block at the far end of the island. Due to the growing popularity of Frank’s, they were trying to improve lag time on the sim by clearing ground.

I’m uncertain if my moving helped out the club, but the increase in average population in the region didn’t help me much. When the lag became so bad that I couldn’t teleport any farther than the next island — and frequently crashed the client in the process — I knew it was time to split. Nanceee and Gymmy are good friends, and it was a wrench to tell them I was moving; but I wanted to improve the situation. Two days of hunting produced the place that I now call my SL home.

Ready for Oscar Night

I wasn’t planning on putting up any more photos from other Residents for a few weeks, but I spotted this after posting this morning’s Contact Sheet, and it was too good to hold back. Connie Sec again, in something that would make every fashion critic drool for as she walked into the Kodak to prepare for her presentation turn for best picture:

The gown is by Pixel Mode, the hair by Truth. And Joan Rivers would shoot herself on seeing this. It reminds me of Charlize Theron a few times, like in that orange number with the shoulder clips some years ago. Young, sexy but with an old-school sophistication that is gradually coming back.

If I had to match this, I’d wear one of my Nadirra gowns from Last Call at first guess, such as this (which I’ve published before), but with a different, more formal updo hairstyle:

What would others of you wear? Send me links to Flickr photos or blog articles in the comments below.

Contact Sheet 3

I’ve had some material marked and building up for a few weeks, so it’s time for another Contact Sheet.

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Ryou Yiyuan is a French avatar. This photo from her stream reminds me of sections of the Pictured Rocks, a long stretch of wave-worn sandstone formations on the shore of Lake Superior in my home state of Michigan. There have been arches cut by the water action in the past — though boaters should never count on their stability! The actual photo is from the Aglarond region, which Ryou calls a medieval RP sim.

For those interested and with Google Earth, this KML from Wikipedia will get you close, but you should pull out and go west to see the full extent of the shoreline.

I also recommend the three pictures she has mounted of Capadonia, which she notes as a new sim. Capadonia also appears to be medieval themed, which would fit with Ryou’s possible preference for an elven avatar. (Picture 1, Picture 2, Picture 3)

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“Connie Sec” models on the Grid (though I can’t figure out what her actual avatar name is right now), and has quite a portfolio — including some erotica, just to advise you. (Good, but not my normal shtick, and I won’t be doing much talking about anyone’s erotica, except to advise you it’s there.) In the first photo below, Connie dons a decidedly Old Hollywood-style glamour, enhanced from the looks by WindLight as well as personal creativity. She appears ready to make her walk on the red carpet this Sunday night. Her second is reminiscent of Andy Warhol’s famous four-frame lithograph of Monroe, helped along with a graphics program. Not quite Technicolor as Warhol’s work, but still quite interesting.

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Thinking of portraits, how about this from Sonia28 Jie, which makes me think of the persistence of motion phenomenon.

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And, wrapping up, one from SL doyenne Gwyneth Llewelyn. Gwyn, as you may know, is an active resident of Neufreistadt in the Confederation of Democratic Simulators, which recently inaugurated its eighth Representative Assembly. The photo here, from her Snapzilla stream, can be considered news coverage, and is something you might see in any given January 21 newspaper, a class photo of the new Congress as it works. I like particularly the person with the sword on the far right (is that the Sergeant-at-Arms, or just someone with a drawn sword?), and the small koala MP in morning coat and purple Ascot.

Contact Sheet is an irregular column of selected photographs and portraits from Residents of Second Life. Images used in this article are used under permission of the owners via their participation in the Creative Commons license; otherwise, all rights are reserved. Click on the links as necessary to go to the required Flickr or Snapzilla page. Please go to these artists’ pages in any case to leave comments, if you have an account on the appropriate service.

Suggestions are appreciated; please send them to me by in-world IM, notecard, or E-mail to harper.ganesvoort@gmail.com.

(Cross-posted to Vicious Studios.)

“What would it be like if SL were RL…?”

In the quest to get something — anything — up this week, I ran across this while tag-surfing in wordpress.com:

Not exactly machinima, but still possessed of some giggles, especially the woman with her arm stuck in the air in “pie-menu” position — except it’s the wrong arm. It should be the left arm (grin).

Thanks to The Maudlin Press.

Re-examining Inputs Via Outputs

Just to let you know, Gentle Readers, that I haven’t put anything up for a few days due to a rather nasty stomach virus that’s been going around my RL location lately.  It finally caught up with me and my family, excepting the youngest, and we’ve been bowing down before the porcelain altar a bit.  Thank goodness for Phenergan!

Anyway, when I’m feeling up to sitting at the computer for long stretches, I’ll have something for you.

Spooks on the Grid

I’m catching up on the news while in the middle of yet another move — my third in four months, but more on that another time. For now, the focus is on how the Real World keeps pokin’ into Second Life in less than savory ways.

The Washington Post (signup may be required) reported on February 6 on how intelligence analysts are beginning to worry about the chance of virtual worlds such as SL being used by criminals and terrorists as meeting sites, laundromats for money, and training and recruiting grounds. The story tells how the CIA counters the threat by purchasing a few private simulations as training and “unclassified meeting” locations. (The article is unclear on the subject, but uses the term “islands,” which suggests that these enclaves are on our Grid.)

Wagner James Au cites the Post story in his New World Notes piece, following which he checked the blog of our beloved Flying Spaghetti Monster, Cory Ondrejka, the former CTO of Linden Lab. Cory insists that Second Life counters extremism by providing a place for multiple viewpoints to be shared. Wagner wonders about this if someone is “already predisposed toward Islamist extremism.” Wagner also questions Cory’s contention that money funneled through SL and the Lindex could be traced once it hits a Real World bank, noting that numerous small transactions can probably slip under the radar.

Though I don’t really see how you could train a terrorist cell in SL to blow up a tank with an IED, I wouldn’t much discount either side’s arguments. Yes, it would be very difficult to smuggle large amounts of money through the Grid banking and exchange systems. However, the salami method of slicing a large sum up into many smaller sums is well known — I give away no secrets here — and could be used. It would take numerous people (or using bots, as Wagner suggests) and a lot of determination; but determination is a hallmark of an extremist mindset. The one thing that occurs to me is that even a large amount of small traffic going to a single person, or a set of persons, could raise a spike on a statistical examination of traffic, but this can be overcome by sending to multiple individuals, or an organizational account.

The “meeting place” scenario is much more viable. Picture this: your cell buys an estate island, well isolated if possible from encroachment by other estates being built. (There is lots of open sea, if you check your Map at max out zoom.) You declare the whole island private by using available lockdown measures, or buying a security package to boot someone home in 5-10 seconds after approach. Build your “conference center” at least 25 meters in from the edges, just to make sure you’re not “overheard.” Set up however you want, from quick-and-dirty cubes to sit on — a virtual-physical symbol of the oppression you are under — to whatever level of comfort you desire, and issue invitations to those you wish to attend. You will still face normal Grid problems like rolling restarts and outages, but you’re set to roll beyond that.

Unless someone knows that you’re operating in this place, and knows who you are, there is not a high probability of your being overseen. Nobody can approach your island without ramming into the infamous red “No Entry” lines, or your security package will give them the boot before they get more than a few sentences of whatever your group is saying. Their only hope would be to (hopefully!) get a court order — again, if they know or suspect strongly who you are — and have Linden Lab tap your datastream to capture what you send and receive. Even then, unless I misunderstand the technology, the “conversation” may be a trifle one-sided, and important information may be lost.

I don’t say that this is something to leap at in panic. But this is something to consider carefully, and take appropriate, advised action on. “Advised” because it is far too easy to abuse whatever authority you have or are given in your zeal. But we need to keep this in mind.

SUPPLEMENTAL, 1:24 p.m. local:

• Dusan Writer’s Metaverse comments on the story, including:

…[T]he Post article raises some intriguing, though perhaps overblown, claims about the ease to which anonymity can be abused. For example, records are not kept of communication between avatars, which could lead to suspicious activities between nefarious individuals. These types of situations have the government nervous, and interested in gaining access to the servers of 3-D and role-playing games.

These issues are not unique to 3D worlds. They’re not even unique to the Internet. A lot of these espionage/criminal claims are a lot like the early warning bells about the Internet, and probably at one point in time about telephones. Basically, it’s government saying “these new technologies scare us, stuff that scares us is bad, and so being scared we have a right to monitor servers and private conversations between individuals so we feel, well, less scared.”

UPDATE, Feb. 15, 7:15 a.m.:

• I just discovered Gwyneth Llewelyn’s take on the matter. She decries the Post article as alarmist:

Also, this is “old news” and vastly discussed in previous years. It’s incredible how some journalists, in their eagerness to condemn virtual worlds and ruin the virtual economy and virtual societies, recycle “bad news” from the past, change the order of the paragraphs, add a few more quotes (often cited out of context), and republish exactly the same article that was written 10 or 20 years ago.

In my next incarnation, I wish I were reborn as a Luddite journalist. One could make a career out of it, just writing one single article for my whole life, and doing a search & replace on a few words every time a new paradigm-shifting technology is released…

A Taxing Affair

Maxie Mostel at Pixeltheatre reports about getting a notecard today with an invitation to a party:

Tonight I’ll be DJing at H&R Block from 5:30ppm (sic) – 7:30pm for the 2008 Tax Season. While I’m DJing, H&R Block will have 2 tax advisors answering your questions with free tax advice!

Let’s see: a party thrown by accountants. How Ben Stein….

Actually, that’s not a bad idea, and I’m planning on dropping in to see what happens. I’ve already filed our taxes, and gotten our refund back (Hal-le-LOOOOOO-…jah!!!), but who’ll turn down a good party…? I assume the times are in SLT (Pacific Time, for those who don’t believe in the virtual time zone).

Here’s the SLurl.

Lost in a Den of Thieves?

(I was going to publish this yesterday, but the Real World interfered, and I’ve lost some of my planned links.  Ah, well….  Also, a caution:  just a touch of strong language below, but justifiable in the circumstances.  Read on….)

The latest business crisis on the Grid stems from, not to put too fine a meaning on it, out and out piracy. In-world designers are suffering from more, and more aggressive, batches of slime mold who harvest skins and fashions, then reproduce them and sell them at a tithe of what the original designer charges. According to the lead of Eric Reuters’ story, one Jolly Roger, filled with the sheerest gall and covered in brass, actually sent alts into a designer’s grand opening, shouting to the crowd that the same stuff was available at his store at a fraction of the price.

It’s evident that the labels of Second Life are experiencing what has plagued RL labels for years, if not decades: the cheap knockoff industry. Name companies have fought for many a day against Asian makers and importers of fake Rolex watches, Gucci handbags and Chanel sunglasses, not to mention the entrenched battle Microsoft pits against pirated versions of Windows. (Remember pictures from the RL news of piles of knockoffs being smashed under steamrollers?) This war now spills over to the virtual economy — and it’s a lot harder to fight. We do possess the intellectual property rights to our work, and presumably the textures we use. But the only way we can wage the battle is through filing complaints based on the American Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) — something the many international Residents have a hard time doing. Or lawsuits can be filed; but, if the perpetrator lives in another country, that brings a whole new factor to the equation. Other aspects can be imagined, of course; I leave them as an exercise.

When it comes to the question of individual downloaders vs. music corporations or movie studios, I probably shouldn’t talk myself; but I tend to lean toward the individual. The companies’ policy has been for years to milk every penny they can out of the consumer, with merchandise that is dramatically overpriced relative to the cost of producing it. (I believe this; I work in the retail end of the industry.) They seem either congenitally unable to realize that they can make up in volume what they would “lose” by lowering their list prices, or are simply too greedy in upper echelons to give the consumer a break. The designers of Second Life, however, are not megacorps, despite their appearance of being so. Any Resident who applies himself/herself to designing and using tools such as Paint Shop Pro can afford to buy a quarter- or half-island and erect as palatial a store as Nicky Ree or Elika Tiramisu. These people are small business people, just like the pirates; the difference is that they’re playing fair and square, by the rules of society and the laws of their countries.  And, most importantly, the ambition and drive to make something of themselves, as well as (perhaps) that thing that burns in the craw and heart of true artists — the need, physically and emotionally, to create.

The ones who are stealing from them are thieves, louts, lazy-assed oafs and caitiff rogues, plain and simple.  Their only concern is to make a fistful of lindens, and a few lindens more, and they don’t care how they do it, or who they hurt in the process.  Their vision is focused only on the short-term gain, and how long they can milk it — and, in that, they aren’t too different from the RIAA’s member companies.  Their thefts kill the market for the original work, smother the drive for creativity (that the thieves are, ironically, relying on for their stolen goods!), and contribute nothing to the community except pollution of spirit.  They and all their kind, if you’ll excuse the passion, are an accursed breed, and should be shunned as such.

You can help on this:

• Deal only with reputable merchants — though not just the big names, please; a small creator/merchant can be just as honest.
• If you spot someone ripping off a known skin or design, report them to the actual creator, especially the name and location they’re operating on.  Also report them to Linden Lab, to back up and document any claims the artist may make under DMCA.  Snapshots can document the situation; in this case, remember to keep the interface on, to collect as much information as possible.
• Vote on SVC-676, “Stopping texture theft and stop spreading of stolen items.”  Remember that you’ll need to log in with your Second Life name and password.  The process is not difficult at all, and lets you exercise community involvement and pressure on LL to take action.

In an ideal world, real or virtual, we wouldn’t need to deal with such wolf’s-heads, for they would not exist.  Sadly, even here in Second Life, we are faced with thievery.  Let’s help in the best ways we can, support true creativity as well as legitimate commerce, and drive the thieves away.

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Besides the Reuters article,  others have tackled the problem on their own sites and blogs.  A no-doubt partial list:

• Wagner James Au, New World Notes
• SLNN
• Does this make my ass look fat?  (sic)
• Ornamental Life
• Fashion Consolidated