gee, that title sounds dirty but too bad, makes for a lot of clicks like the naked emo pole dancers did! =p
so what could that mean? well get your mind out of the gutter because i mean building in OpenSim
in Second Life, space is a premium and most everyone has way more that they would like to create in-world than space to create it in. going to OpenSim can all of a sudden mean tons more space but that space can be a bad thing
Enclave Harbour is spread out over 16 sims and it is very nice to be able build and have lots of elbow room but that can also be boring to the user. when i think about who will eventually be using our sims i think they might be bored by all the open space (too far to walk from most things). in real life, things tend to be crowded together and i mean in cities like San Francisco
having too loose a building style might mean boring to many people
what got me thinking about this was two things. first is performance – 16 instances of OpenSim do use more server resources than 12 (instances of the OpenSim command console window). i just did a quick test and shut down 4 regions and the impact on the RAM usage was a 15% reduction (granted that also reduced total prims on the server, but i purposely shut down near empty sims). ideally a lower RAM usage would correlate to allowing a higher concurrency of visitors. the second thing was seeing a photo Kennesaw State University in Second Life (below). it’s a very nice looking build and it looks like there is a lot to explore. the reason i saw that pic is that i just connected with the lead Second Life person at Kennesaw on LinkedIn
their build stirs up a certain amount of excitement and anticipation for seeing many different things (who knows, maybe all the buildings are empty, but i doubt it)
lots of space is nice for cars, sailing, and open space type of activities, and sandboxes, but having lots to things to look at and explore may mean a nicer experience for your intended audience
so here i go, i may see what i can tighten up, funny after being constrained inSL that i’d think about going back to that way – the pendulum of life eh? =)
click to go look at their Flickr pics
Mahalos for the post Ener:) The Kennesaw University builds are def NOT empty. Go take a look. They are closing to of the islands – Sandbox & Park, so some of the fun builds are MIA already, since we pim-stripped a bit. Builds on the Green are Replica Transitional & full of content:) DO check out the SandBox island Builder store though full of free (usually full perm) tools & nicely sorted textures. A MUST SEE: Juria’s immersive art installs on SandBox docks & neighboring vwDev are awesome of course. Immerse while you can!! LandMark notecard is here on the Green: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Kennesaw%20University%201/182/110/26
Gwenette Writer Sinclair
12 Jun 11 at 4:15 pm
I think you’re right about this Ener – the sim in the photo does look awesome and has a great layout (waves hi to Gwenette!). When things are close and cozy, they draw you in. If things are spaced too far apart, it can make people lose interest.
This is a problem I’ve been having in my own build – too much space between info areas. So I’ve been trying to think of how to “fill in” those areas and better engage the visitor. Two places in Second Life have recently inspired me: one is the “downtown area” of the Carriage Trade Sims. The other is a Mayan build developed by the Univ. of Washington class (Beverly Gay McCarter is one of the developers). For education, the Mayan build is an outstanding example of engagement and use of the space.
Pam Broviak
12 Jun 11 at 9:22 pm
you both confirmed my thoughts, i need to move some of my work around and i think i can without too much pain – better now than to keep second guessing this =)
Ener Hax
12 Jun 11 at 9:42 pm
Random thoughts:
1. The more dispersed builds are, the more challenging to coordinate and support students inworld.
2. Proximity of large amounts of content and avatars may affect sim performance depending on draw distance. Possibly?
3. Dispersal of content gives the opportunity to add more as themed builds evolve.
4. Flight and teleports are a better option than walking for dispersed builds.
5. Dispersed builds support thematic transitions and coordination with terrain.
6. If working with student sub-groups, geographic separation reduces chat overlap.
7. If you are aiming to replicate an urban environment, build an urban environment :)
Graham Mills
13 Jun 11 at 12:14 am
cripes Graham! good points on performance – now since it’s OpenSim, all of the sims share the same resources BUT depending on draw distance, loading up might be very heavy on the client for things closer together as you point out
and the separation for multiple user scenarios may be better, dang – why does everything have two sides! =)
it’s a pseudo-urban environment but it’s purpose is to exemplify science principles and that should be what guides this overall build the most
Ener Hax
13 Jun 11 at 7:40 am
I’m still thinking that the server must crunch the math to calculate who sees what and whom and the more complexity, the more crunching. But yes, no easy answers.
Graham Mills
13 Jun 11 at 5:27 pm
you are correct, everything in draw distance has to be served up (textures, scripts, etc)
hmm, maybe i won’t tighten up the build (i am pretty wishy washy at times) =)
Ener Hax
17 Jun 11 at 6:18 pm