The Penny FAQ

 Over the years I've said a lot about SL, but when I post in forums or talk to people in SL I keep running into people who put words in my mouth instead of listening to what I actually say. I end up repeating myself a lot in correcting these people. So much so that a poster on SLU wrote up a "Penny FAQ".

I've taken that and rewritten it slightly and will add to it as I come across more constantly repeating questions and accusations.

* Why should the average SL user have to be an expert on digital design?  

I frequently talk about how optimizing content can greatly benefit your SL experience and this has lead to some people mistakenly taking this to mean that I believe the average SL user should be doing these things.

I do not. My position has always been that the average SL user should not even need to think about optimization or any other digital design issues. Good content should be made available by proficient builders.

* So then you believe only those who are experts on digital design should be allowed to create content?

 

 Again, no. I believe there are things LL can and should do to make it easier for the average SL user to follow some basic practices which result in a better shared experience for everyone, without SL users even thinking about it.

* Why should LL force people to do things according to what you think is best?

 

LL should not force people to do anything. They should make it easier, though, to create content that conforms to standards which result in a better experience. LL should also make it easier for people to find information to support their efforts. Having said that, if people want to sell things on the LL hosted marketplace then they should be open and honest about what they are selling.

* Are you saying that lower resolution textures and fewer details look better? What the hell are you smoking, Penny?

 

No, I am saying that higher resolution textures and more details will not look "better" in some circumstances and the trade off is not worth the degradation in the viewer's and network's performance.

* But Penny! My customers are very discerning and demand the most biggest textures and most finest details imaginable.

 

Fine, but what you do impacts others. You should consider communicating with your customers and offer them choices and alternatives. If you want to deliver the very best quality and experience to your customers you may discover there are ways to deliver a high quality appearance without such a heavy toll on performance.

* Dammit Penny, I just want to build stuff and not worry so much about all these technical details. 

 

Me too, but this is not about you. It is about a few basic practices and ways to make it easier for us to just muck about and have some fun. This is also why the emphasis of my arguments is always on the fact that LL should provide us with better tools.

* Penny, you are a cow. I mean, you are literally a cow. Does that not imply that you a furry and your opinion means nothing?

 

Moo.

* *Sigh* Not THIS again? Why do you have to bore us with this over and over.

 

Because what you do impacts me. Unfortunately, this is a community, and we have to share SL. Also, nobody is forcing you to read this. Seriously, just move on and let me rant and get over yourself.

* My products are most precious, and I cannot let those savages change them. Why should I make them mod when those bastards will ruin it?

 

Those "bastards" are giving you their money in exchange for a little entertainment. If you let them change things in ways that make it a little more enjoyable for them then they will be happier with you.

* But Penny, those idiots will ruin my things, and then will expect me to fix it. What kind of drugs are you on, Penny???

 

Yeah, some of them will. That is what people in the real world call "customer service," and yes it sucks. Most people are better than that, but people ruin everything. If you do not want to deal with people then maybe selling things to anonymous people on the Internet is not your best option.

* Maybe so, but my things are wonderful as they are. I cannot imagine those savages ruining my pretty things. 

 

Then put your things in a museum behind glass. If you do not want people to touch your things then do not let others have them.

* Sell my things modifiable? But that will let people steal my content, won't it? Penny, is this some sort of scheme to ruin the livelihood of every SL content creator? I read this on a blog somewhere!

 

No. Letting people copy and modify content will not also somehow let them steal it. The people telling you otherwise don't understand how SL's permissions system works.

* Penny, why are you trying to force everyone to shrink their avatars?

 

I'm not. I just point out how a consistent sense of scale can make SL more immersive, more engaging, and better looking. I understand that for many their priority is simply fitting in, and if the places they go are filled with 8' tall avatars they will feel more comfortable in an 8' tall avatar. I also understand that some will choose to be giants specifically because they want to be a giant. They benefit from a consistent sense of scale in that it allows their 8' tall avatar to feel like an 8' tall avatar.

 * But what's wrong with scaling things to 8' tall avatars? As long as the scale is consistent, what's the difference?

An 8' tall avatar is 1/3 taller than a 6' avatar. Don't forget that when talking about land, everything is squared. That 1/3 linear difference when squared scales out to a 6' avatar having almost twice as much space on a 512 plot as an 8' avatar would. Instead of just a house, you can have a house, an outbuilding, a garden, and a boat dock. Given the price of land in SL, using a 6' avatar puts money in your pocket.

*More space is good and all, but won't I run out of prims/Land Impact faster by scaling down and trying to put all this extra content on my land?

Mesh costs less prims/LI the smaller you make it. Already smaller items like a chair or book probably won't cost fewer LI points, but larger structures like a house, outbuilding, garden, or boat dock could end up being reduced to nearly half their original LI cost. Again, using a 6' avatar instead of an 8' avatar puts money in your pocket.

*Even if that were true, it's impossible to make a 6' avatar that doesn't look like a dwarf!

If you only use the height slider you'll ended up with your avatar looking like it's been squashed down. Unfortunately LL doesn't provide us with an Avatar Scale slider, so we have to adjust a whole bunch of proportions manually to achieve normal proportions if we make any significant changes to our height. Luckily there's a guide that helps you do this.