View source for Town Hall 6/10/03/5pm

[http://forums.secondlife.com/showthread.php?t=3050 Forum Link: Original Post]

6/10/2003 5pm Town Hall with [[Philip Linden]]

You = [[Hunter Linden]]


You: hi guys - philip is on his way so we'll start in a minute<br/>
You: ta da - philip linden<br/>
You: i see lots of pretty fancy people here tonight<br/>
You: okay... let me say a few things then turn the floor over to Philip Linden<br/>
You: First, thanks for attending<br/>
You: It's great to see so many people - some new, many old<br/>
You: We're also especially excited to see so many people getting ready to "cross over to release" with us<br/>
You: the alpha and beta have been amazing<br/>
You: and SL will continue to evolve<br/>
You: but it will soon be time to take the next step and....<br/>
You: start inviting more people in!<br/>
You: These townhalls will give all of you guys the chance....<br/>
You: to ask questions about the end of beta<br/>
You: and launch of Second Life<br/>
You: okay....put your hands together<br/>
You: for PHILIP LINDEN<br/>

Philip Linden: hi everyone!<br/>
Philip Linden: as always, I could just sit up here and watch all of you.<br/>
Philip Linden: my zoom fingers are getting tired.<br/>
Philip Linden: So first let me start by saying THANKS to everyone who has signed up so quickly.<br/>
Philip Linden: We've got a long way to go, but this is a fabulous start!<br/>
Philip Linden: I guess this can be like a telethon... you've gotta sign up while I'm up here ;)<br/>
Philip Linden: OK so anyway I'm sure we've got lots to talk about.... I'll not try and anticipate Q's and just start with you...<br/>
Philip Linden: who’s first?<br/>

James Miller : Are you able to tell us how many registrations you have gotten to date?<br/>
Philip Linden: We're not giving out numbers so early!<br/>
Philip Linden: Wanna give folks time to decide.<br/>
James Miller: aww, come on, we wont tell!<br/>
Philip Linden: Yeah right ;)<br/>
James Miller: gah, Now I gotta hang up with Tech TV! :(<br/>

Christopher Omega: Will situations like this one where many ppl are concentrated into one area be improved?<br/>
Philip Linden: Yes!<br/>
Philip Linden: There are two phases of solutions we are working on.<br/>
Philip Linden : The first is just supporting more ppl interactively, like this.<br/>
Philip Linden: First thing is faster physics... we are working hard on that.<br/>
Philip Linden: Next is a mode where LOTS of ppl can be at an event less interactively.<br/>
Philip Linden : Like a camera or something.<br/>
Philip Linden : So the first you will see soon<br/>
Philip Linden : The second will be later<br/>
Philip Linden : But this is our #1 task.<br/>

Adam Money: when’s the game going public? 23rd?<br/>
Philip Linden: Hmmmm.....<br/>
Philip Linden : Honestly we are trying to keep the exact date under wraps<br/>
Philip Linden : So we are keeping that secret... but it is very soon.<br/>

Derek Jones: Will you be adding any new gestures to SL before the final release?<br/>
Philip Linden: Yes.<br/>
Philip Linden : We have several new anims.<br/>
Philip Linden : One that was requested was a bow/arrow, and I know that's in.<br/>
Philip Linden : Also we are expanding to be able to handle lots more... expect some in each release<br/>

Cal Rogers: I'm concerned about the issue of object usage in a sim, I left one sim because of 95+% utilization. Now I'm in one with 83%.<br/>
Philip Linden : Yeah, that's a good Q<br/>
Cal Rogers: Will this limitation be raised, or punishment be issued for banking objects?<br/>
Philip Linden : Regions can only handle so many objects.<br/>
Philip Linden : We will increase this as we are able.<br/>
Philip Linden : And as folks leave, etc, space will generally free up.<br/>
Philip Linden : There has to always be some regulator.<br/>
Philip Linden : Also we will always be adding more land... very soon in fact.<br/>

James Argonaut: there have been some issues with the Physics engines not being able to move really heavy items, no matter how much force is applied<br/>
Philip Linden : Ooh good question<br/>
James Argonaut: is this a bug or intentional?<br/>
Philip Linden : So that is by design!<br/>
Philip Linden : So there is a limit to the forces objects can apply.<br/>
Philip Linden : This limit is driven by the mass of the object!<br/>
Philip Linden: So small things push less, bug harder.<br/>
James Argonaut : is there a equation that you can give us to tell us max force?<br/>
Philip Linden : I will look into that for you.<br/>
James Argonaut: thanks :)<br/>
Philip Linden : The design prevents small stuff from being too annoying<br/>

Charlie Omega : some of us have become accustomed to the features in the debug menu, will these be avail to us after release?<br/>
Philip Linden : Some will, some won't. We will try and make them more functional by moving to other menus.<br/>
Philip Linden : Power users will always be happy ;)<br/>

Darque Grimm: will the primitive limit be increased and or the avatar limit in a sim, this is a big issue for those that live in da boom<br/>
Philip Linden : I will look into whether we can free some stuff in DaBoom.<br/>
Philip Linden: As I said earlier, expect stuff in general to free as new land comes on.<br/>

Teeny Leviathan : Are there any plans to give us more flexible construction tools?<br/>
Philip Linden : We are always focused on the tools<br/>
Philip Linden : What in particular... AV or Prims or what?<br/>
Teeny Leviathan: I find that it’s difficult to do windows without stacking a few prims. Any plans on a more precise subtract tool?<br/>
Philip Linden: OK. Subtraction.<br/>
Philip Linden: So that is a bigger problem. I can't forecast a quick sol'n<br/>
Philip Linden: But it is something we are thinking about.<br/>
Philip Linden: Sorry I can't be more specific.... it is a hard prob b/c of the CPU load in creating the subtraction surfaces.<br/>
Teeny Leviathan: IRL, I'm a CAD drafter, and we have a few nice features in Autocad like array and mirror. They really come in handy.<br/>
Philip Linden : And you all don't want lower FPS now do you? ;)<br/>

Hiro Yamamoto: What about objects not being aligned after you don't look at them for a while (especially attachments which slowly drift totally askew over time)<br/>
Craig Thompson: it happens majorly moving when your sitting on something and crossing sim line, just much slower when an attachment<br/>
Philip Linden: Hmmm... that sounds bad!<br/>
Philip Linden: I haven't heard about that one.<br/>
Philip Linden: Can you put a bug into the forums on the specific case of attachments drifting.<br/>
Philip Linden: I will follow up with you.<br/>
Philip Linden: that shouldn't be happening.<br/>

Kathy Yamamoto: What will the age requirements be when this goes public? And when do you see them changing?<br/>
Philip Linden: The age requirements will be the same at public as today.<br/>
Philip Linden: We feel that there needs to be great parental controls to explicitly allow younger.<br/>
Philip Linden: But we do want to make SL available to all, so we will work aggressively on this.<br/>

Hikaru Yamamoto: Will we still keep the voting booths?<br/>
Hikaru Yamamoto: or will the vote system change?<br/>
Philip Linden: Ahh.... the tricky booth subject! I'll duck the tomatoes!<br/>
Philip Linden: We will launch with them... but will move to a system that rewards differently in 1.1 timeframe.<br/>
Philip Linden: So this will be connected to improvements in mapping, for example...<br/>
Philip Linden: So if you have a popular spot, it will also be easier to find if well liked.<br/>

Dave Zeeman : I know the Lindens are on the rail about custom animations. I was wondering if you had any sort of plan for it set up, and if not, if you're looking for plans through the forum.<br/>
Philip Linden: Ooh that's a good one!<br/>
Philip Linden: We think that we will do them for sure.<br/>
Philip Linden: SL WILL be the most expressive place ever! And this is a part.<br/>
Philip Linden: However, it isn't trivial, so I don't want to commit to which release or exactly when.<br/>

Kaji LeFay: i want to know what will happen to property when some one doesn’t join<br/>
Kaji LeFay: and items and all that<br/>
Philip Linden: It will be released to public in the way that decay occurs today.<br/>
Philip Linden: So there will be more land for you all!<br/>
Kaji LeFay: so i will always exist in the world even though i don’t join<br/>
Philip Linden: No, only for a short while.<br/>
Philip Linden: In general if you leave SL your stuff decays.<br/>

Cal Rogers: I wanted to voice my vote for the preference option to suppress Online and Offline messages for those we hold calling cards for.<br/>
Philip Linden: If you don't want messages from someone, you should delete their card, right?<br/>
Philip Linden: The idea is that cards are a contract like friendship.<br/>
Philip Linden: This makes them more meaningful<br/>
Darque Grimm: no he mean the "bob is online bob is offline" messages<br/>
Philip Linden: Oh OK!<br/>
Philip Linden: Sorry.<br/>
Philip Linden: Yeah we will look into that... we are thinking about a better 'console' for system msgs<br/>
Philip Linden: like those.<br/>
Philip Linden: So you will see updates to that soon.<br/>
Craig Thompson: so well get a Half-Life Console?<br/>
Philip Linden: Umm... yeah... something like that ;)<br/>

Mickey Roark: regarding someone not joining: what about -no copy -no modify (especially scripts), that are already sold or bought, what happens to them?<br/>
Philip Linden: Good Question.<br/>
Philip Linden: Things you have bought you can always keep.<br/>
Philip Linden: So they will not decay.<br/>
Philip Linden: Permissions will be respected, though.<br/>
Philip Linden: So you will not be able to edit.<br/>
Mickey Roark: so it they are broken we are sol?<br/>
Philip Linden: Someone can claim objects in public, but not edit.<br/>
Philip Linden: Indeed, you are then SOL... it seems the only fair thing.<br/>
Philip Linden: Considering that the alternative would be a real breach of creative privacy.<br/>

Christopher Omega: Do you have an "expected by" date for script, texture, and other inventory other then object permissions?<br/>
Philip Linden: Yes, that work will be in the next release, late summer.<br/>
Christopher Omega: can I ask how they will work yet?<br/>
Philip Linden: Too early to describe, but we are designing and will post design.<br/>

James Argonaut: will we be able to import midi files?<br/>
Philip Linden: Midi files are a technical challenge...<br/>
Philip Linden: Interesting idea.<br/>
Philip Linden: We can put it on the list if you want.<br/>
Philip Linden: .ogg will be easier.<br/>
Philip Linden: Since we use it already as the format.<br/>

Darque Grimm: will the scripting language ever be simplified to something maybe more like qbasic, so more people could do it?<br/>
Philip Linden: Good forum thread! We have some ideas about better design there.<br/>
Philip Linden: Like for example global vars you can change with sliders, etc.<br/>
Philip Linden: Would be interested in folk's thoughts on that... start a thread.<br/>

Hiro Yamamoto: Would it be possible to have non humanoid avatars? like just have an object you make be an avatar?<br/>
Philip Linden: Hiro...<br/>
Philip Linden: Attachments will have to do for a while...<br/>
Hikaru Yamamoto: heh, it would be to turn really tiny and make a tiny home only you can fit through<br/>
Philip Linden: The system is fairly keyed to humans right now.<br/>
Philip Linden: But another soln might be hierarchies, etc, which we are thinking about.<br/>
Philip Linden: So you could make a complex jointed object.<br/>

Dave Zeeman : Do you plan on adding new terraforming features, such as a larger editing box or more specific ways of changing the landscape?<br/>
Philip Linden: Yes, we are working on that!<br/>
Philip Linden: Realize the existing tools are rather basic.<br/>
Philip Linden: Just talking about that today...<br/>
Philip Linden: Don't have specific schedule for it.<br/>

Darque Grimm: will you soon be implementing a AFK and BUSY auto response?<br/>
Philip Linden: OK so you mean adding a custom away message?<br/>
Philip Linden: We will try and add that to the near term list.<br/>
Darque Grimm: yes ,heck any if not custom<br/>
Philip Linden: Oh... actually should be in 0.8<br/>
Philip Linden: SO check it out.<br/>

Charlie Omega: could there be a way for a optional huge cache directory so that maybe textures known to the servers within a specified area can be loaded on the client in an encrypted form that stays resident on the client system, therefore reducing packets/lag?<br/>
Philip Linden: Yes we are looking into that as one of the ways to increase performance<br/>
Philip Linden: The textures aren't the biggest part of it, actually...<br/>
Philip Linden: but that’s the general idea.<br/>
Charlie Omega: really?<br/>
Philip Linden: Yes it is object creation, etc that is most of the load.<br/>
Charlie Omega: ah<br/>

You: okay everyone - thanks for coming<br/>
You: i'll post a chat log of the event<br/>
Philip Linden: Thank you all again for staying with us!!!<br/>
Philip Linden: I bow to you.<br/>
[[Category:Town Hall Logs]]