Get rid of keyboard typing as the means to communicate. Let people speak to each other naturally by using Voice Over IP technology. This probably means a strategic partnership for Linden Labs.Has anyone stopped to consider that not everyone on the net wants voice as a default? That a large number of us want to type things out?
Think of it as the desire for personal privacy. Personally, I think of it as the desire for literacy--if I'm with someone who can't type (who is otherwise equipped with working fingers), I really don't want to hear them talk. Much of the internet, including the web, is not voice-enabled to this day. Much of the internet, including the web, will not be voice-enabled for at least five more years--if then. Call it elitist if you will, but anyone who doesn't value learning, and education, and any excuse to keep learning--well, I'm just not interested. Move along.
[Following up on this article: Apparently, he's been getting quite the vociferous responses against his 'Get rid of typing' approach:
OK. "Get rid of keyboard typing" is too strong. The better way to put this is: Make voice the default means of communication and integrate it cleanly into the environment. Thanks for pointing this out.Now, while I still don't agree with his approach, I can at least understand it slightly better, because he's approaching this from a business point of view. In this case, it's still a stupid thing to say, but it's an understandable stupidity, because enterprise users of SL may be easier to sway if stupid ideas are presented to them. (Personally, I'd think that would be the wrong way to go, which may be why the entire enterprise team of Linden Labs was sacked.)]
Operation Squeegee news. There's been live music, or at least a live DJ, almost twenty-four hours a day for the past two days. There's been a ton of community support. And I am very proud to mention in just two days, Operation Squeegee has raised over L$130,000.
Two. Days. That's phenomenal.
In grid news:
[16:52] Mari Moonbeam: Details on the roll out-roll back -skip if techie stuff makes your eyes go @@
:Asil Ares commented on SVC-5927:
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Falcon Linden wrote: "...the original issue with objects being queued is definitely caused by my throttling. And, what's worse, there appears to be a bug in my throttling code that's causing avatars to be frozen as well. This was not detected because it only appears in release builds and not in debug builds. Andrew has also discovered an issue that causes overall lag to be worse in 1.40 combat regions than in 1.38 (although most regions are performing better)."
@ Falcon. When stuff goes wrong (and it will), debrief and move on. I like this simple "debriefing mantra":
* What happened?
* Why did it happen?
* What can we learn from this so as to do it better next time?"
[16:53] Magdalena Outlander snickers and keeps her comments to herself.
So apparently, the grid-wide restart? Is not to bring everything up to the same code, it's to roll everything back from 1.40 code, to 1.38 code. Wonderful.
Apparently the problem was radically noticeable in combat sims, where it wasn't noticeable in other sims, because of the unique physics that happen there--namely, folks would fire, all the bullets would clump, appear to freeze, then suddenly reach the avatars all at once to lethal limits. Miss Moonbeam summed it up thusly:
[16:54] Mari Moonbeam: "we're all dead --who won?"
So, we struggle through.
In the meantime, an all-too brief introduction:
This is Mr. Trasgo Beaumont. He is very devoted to historical accuracy. For example, he made that incredibly curling mustache himself.
I only had time for a couple snaps--I was supposed to be working--but he's well worth looking up in world. He has a couple of very interesting links for historical attire, and apparently he does historically-accurate (virtual) portraits--so if your dream is to fall into a Jan van Eyck painting, f'rinstance, Mr. Beaumont might well be your source on the grid for that.
Finally...I'm catching up on Doctor Who, as I can, but being as how I'm not a) in the British Isles, and b) possessed of cable or satellite TV, it's proving somewhat difficult.
And there are Grand Mysteries this time out...
11:59 am. Scotland. Levshire, did they say? June 25th. Only it's night out....
12:00 pm. Scotland. Whatever town it is. June 26th. Still night.
Oh, yes. Mysteries abound...
4 Comments:
Has anyone stopped to consider that not everyone on the net wants voice as a default? That a large number of us want to type things out?
You couldn't PAY me enough to do voice on a general basis. I can't keep track of more than 2 voice conversations, and even that's a stretch... but I can monitor, track, and be appropriately responsive to at least 10 in text - although my fingers get a workout if we all have a decent typing rate... :)
It's true!
One on one, I'm generally fine, and as I've learned, I can manage for short times to track four to six voices in a conversation. Over that and I just sit there, trying to sort everything out.
Yet I can sit at the keys and keep track of several IM conversations, group chats, AND manage to chat "in person" in whatever sim I'm in; I've done that for four years now.
Voice? Is insane. And can you imagine the chaos with voice in an actual MMO? No, thank you!
"Has anyone stopped to consider that not everyone on the net wants voice as a default? That a large number of us want to type things out?"
Absolutely! I have commented before that I find it impossible to multitask when some one is using voice.
I tend to feel that those that use voice seem to think that nothing is more important than my undivided attention.
With text, as has been said, one can keep track of and respond to several people.
If I believe the metrics, only about 40% of the concurrency is from the USA, and some of those in th USA speak with an accent.
One of my friends speaks 5 or 6 languages...all with an accent! Never mind those with speech impediments or deaf/mutes.
I would think anyone that wants mandatory voice needs to go stand at a welcome area or Moose Beach for a bit.
Not only that, but I have to say, it sounds like the great American failing on this one: assuming the whole of the world speaks English, simply because most Americans can't speak anything else.
What about those individuals who type English fluently, but struggle to speak it accurately? They are brilliant erudite magnificent people, in text. In voice? They are still brilliant erudite magnificent folks, but there will be some disdain on the part of American audiences (especially if those audiences are NOT as well educated, oddly enough)
Or let's take the disabled--I know more than a few people with forms of autism who find it difficult to speak aloud, but can type without difficulty. Or deaf individuals--typing? Not a problem. Speaking? They have difficulty a) hearing other speakers and b) speaking clearly enough to be understood. What about mute people? I know one mute fellow; he cannot speak vocally, but in text, he has a voice.
No, that idea was very, very short-sighted.
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