Caledon Oxbridge General Q&A for 2019-10-06

15:01 Carl Metropolitan Welcome to the weekly Oxbridge General Q&A.
15:02 Carl Metropolitan I'm your answer person, Carl Metropolitan.
15:02 Carl Metropolitan I've been around a long time and know a lot, and what I don't know I can usually Google really quick.
15:02 Carl Metropolitan I'm here to answer your questions about Second Life, Caledon, Steampunk, and anything even vaguely related to those.
15:02 Carl Metropolitan So with that out of the way, let's take our first question.
15:03 Carl Metropolitan Hello Jan.
15:03 Carl Metropolitan Welcome.
15:03 Jan Stroikavskoi Hi Carl, thank you!
15:03 Night Rider (colin.nemeth) am afk but im listening
15:03 Jan Stroikavskoi Hi Ingo, and everyone :)
15:04 Ingo (tkb158) Hello Jan!
15:04 Carl Metropolitan Hello Jindikim, Hello Kara
15:04 Night Rider (colin.nemeth) jindi there's a seat here
15:04 Carl Metropolitan So we have quite a few people here now. Any questions?
15:04 Jindikim Hello
15:04 Jan Stroikavskoi Hi Kara :)
15:05 Ingo (tkb158) Kara, you look fabulous!!
15:05 Kara2016 Hugs Jan..and thank you, Ingo.
15:05 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) She usually does
15:05 Carl Metropolitan Hello Second Kara to show up tonight!
15:06 Carl Metropolitan Hi Ross
15:06 Kara Zor - El (superpantera) Thanks ^^
15:06 Carl Metropolitan So we are at the point where we are taking questions from you all.
15:06 Carl Metropolitan Or I am at the point where I am taking questions from you all, as Andrea is off doing Dean stuff.
15:06 Carl Metropolitan So. Questions? Please?
15:06 Kara Zor - El (superpantera) i know that :)
15:06 Kara Zor - El (superpantera) not at the moment, thanks :)
15:06 Lexus Ling I was some time offline and now i have seen a new sell system without magicbox. but i have some problems with that.
15:07 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) Oh why the dark bird sings so sadly in the wilderness....?
15:07 Carl Metropolitan Lexus, that was part of the final transition of MP to a fully web-based system integrated with the SL client.
15:07 Gronk Seriman Carl, can you explain Bakes on Mesh, please? I now care because it finally came to Firestorm.
15:07 Lexus Ling yep
15:07 Lexus Ling I look for help on that.
15:08 Carl Metropolitan If you open your Inventory, you will see at the bottom a button called Marketplace.
15:08 Carl Metropolitan No. Wait. I'm wrong.
15:08 Carl Metropolitan Okay. I will have to Google this for you.
15:08 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) FS has the marketplace button. Not sure about the official viewer
15:09 Carl Metropolitan https://community.secondlife.com/knowledgebase/english/selling-in-the-marketplace-r88/
15:09 Lexus Ling ty
15:09 Carl Metropolitan There is the Official SL Explanation.
15:09 Carl Metropolitan Okay. I think the next question was about Bakes on Mesh
15:09 Ingo (tkb158) Carl, the Marketplace button at the bottom of the Inventory is there when the folders are closed
15:09 Kara Zor - El (superpantera) I'm using the official viewer and it has
15:09 Carl Metropolitan Interesting.
15:09 Carl Metropolitan I think the MP button there may only do something when you have a MP shop set up.
15:10 Carl Metropolitan Okay. Bakes on Mesh, or BoM
15:10 Ingo (tkb158) Mine works and I have no MP shop
15:10 Carl Metropolitan If you ever have zoomed in on my avatar, you may have noticed that I have an old system body, but am wearing mesh clothing
15:11 Carl Metropolitan If you are in my situation, with a system body, Bakes on Mesh DOES NOT affect you at all.
15:11 Carl Metropolitan It only is of possible use if you have a mesh body
15:11 Carl Metropolitan Right now, not all mesh bodies support all BoM features, either
15:12 Carl Metropolitan In a nutshell, BoM allows you to use old style system skins and make up and tattoos and even clothing on top of a mesh body's skin as you can with a traditional avatar.
15:12 Carl Metropolitan There are some issues with this
15:13 Carl Metropolitan Old system skins are usually lower resolution than mesh body skins, with each section (Upper, Lower, Face) being 512 x512 rather than 1024x1024
15:13 Carl Metropolitan (Some later old System skins went up to 1024x1024)
15:13 Carl Metropolitan Old System skins that have fingernails painted on them look weird with the fingernails of mesh bodies.
15:13 Carl Metropolitan Wear gloves
15:14 Carl Metropolitan Mesh gloves :)
15:14 Carl Metropolitan The idea (from LL's point of view) for BoM was to encourage the mesh body makers to reduce the complexity of their bodies
15:15 Carl Metropolitan Right now, most mesh body makers have the basic mesh body, and three invisible layers over it that support Applier Clothing, Lingerie, Tattoos, Make-Up, etc.
15:16 Carl Metropolitan So you take the base number of triangles for any mesh body and multiply it by four.
15:16 Carl Metropolitan That's a lot.
15:16 Carl Metropolitan Especially as mesh bodies are optimized to look good... well, naked.
15:17 Carl Metropolitan Unlike system bodies which were put together by early SL programmers, and not graphic artists. And who probably never imagined that seeing naked avatars would become a major driver of the SL economy :)
15:17 Carl Metropolitan But a system body is VERY simple and low cost to render composed to a mesh body.
15:18 Carl Metropolitan And if LL can push some mesh body makers to supporting BoM and reducing the number of "onion skin" invisible layers in future updates, that could improve SL performance in areas with lots of avatars significantly.
15:18 Carl Metropolitan Will this work?
15:18 Carl Metropolitan Only in the very long term.
15:19 Carl Metropolitan Originally mesh body makers petitioned SL for BoM years and years ago.
15:20 Carl Metropolitan But Linden Lab was too busy spending their engineering time and programmer time on Sansar, and support for SL took a back seat.
15:20 Carl Metropolitan So the market developed work-arounds.
15:20 Carl Metropolitan The "onion skin" invisible layers, appliers for make-up, applier clothing, tattoos, lingerie, etc.
15:21 Carl Metropolitan So now Linden Lab (LL) is pushing against all that installed base.
15:21 Carl Metropolitan BoM will likely eventually help stuff, but it will be years before there is much of an impact.
15:22 Carl Metropolitan Any questions about specifics of BoM? If you have some, I likely can't answer them
15:22 Carl Metropolitan But I have a handy notecard with Links!
15:22 Gronk Seriman Nice!
15:23 Carl Metropolitan Click the red box to get my list of links.
15:23 Gronk Seriman So BoM has to be built into a mesh body. It can't be somehow added?
15:23 Carl Metropolitan (as you may have guessed, I was expecting this question)
15:23 Carl Metropolitan Some support is build in on LL's side
15:23 Carl Metropolitan Some requires changes by the Mesh Body creators.
15:23 Carl Metropolitan So it is a mix
15:24 Gronk Seriman [15:23] Bakes on Mesh Basics: Sorry, only the owner is allowed to get my contents.
15:24 Alexa Alton (alexaalt) seems locked
15:24 Carl Metropolitan Try again.
15:25 Carl Metropolitan Is it working now?
15:25 Gronk Seriman Still locked.
15:25 Alexa Alton (alexaalt) [15:25] Bakes on Mesh Basics: Sorry, only the owner is allowed to get my contents.
15:25 Carl Metropolitan And the Mesh Body creators are different people with different schedules and will roll out when the want to.
15:25 Ingo (tkb158) I could hit it with a hammar
15:26 Ingo (tkb158) Not sure that would help, though
15:26 Carl Metropolitan Try it once more
15:26 Carl Metropolitan I have a bunch of things with that script to fix
15:26 Alexa Alton (alexaalt) ok
15:26 Carl Metropolitan Can someone click the new "Looking for Land in Caledon" poster?
15:26 Gronk Seriman It works now!
15:26 Carl Metropolitan I just made the same fix on that as I did on the red box.
15:27 Gronk Seriman That works, also.
15:27 Carl Metropolitan Thank you
15:27 Carl Metropolitan I used the same script in all the new maps I mailed out to everyone
15:27 Carl Metropolitan Argh
15:27 Carl Metropolitan I have to do a V3 of those now, too
15:28 Carl Metropolitan And in a few other places.
15:28 Carl Metropolitan Dang
15:28 Carl Metropolitan Okay. Any more BoM questions?
15:28 Carl Metropolitan Hello Larky
15:28 Larky (larkylouz) Hi Carl, everyone
15:28 Carl Metropolitan You just missed my "Cynics Guide to Bakes on Mesh"
15:29 Larky (larkylouz) Oh, do send me a transcript at some point! :^)
15:29 Carl Metropolitan I will when I send one to Word.
15:29 Carl Metropolitan Okay. Next question!
15:29 Larky (larkylouz) thanks
15:30 Carl Metropolitan One last comment on Mesh Avatars.
15:30 Carl Metropolitan Mesh Avatars are cool. And you can even find some free basic ones from a few brands.
15:30 Carl Metropolitan But you DON'T NEED a mesh avatar to have an avatar that looks nice.
15:31 Larky (larkylouz) /me preens.
15:31 Carl Metropolitan Yes. There are a number of very nice looking avatars in this room right now based on the system avatar.
15:31 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) /me does not use mesh clothing because they do not fit on the self-made body shape.
15:32 Carl Metropolitan And you don't need a mesh body to wear mesh clothing!
15:32 Carl Metropolitan Next question!
15:32 Lexus Ling I use only system avatar and prim stuff, no meshes ;-)
15:33 Carl Metropolitan Just make the avatar that suits your style
15:33 Carl Metropolitan And your budget
15:33 Carl Metropolitan And don't let anyone tell you have "have" to look a certain way. Either a mesh avatar or a system avatar.
15:33 Ingo (tkb158) I don't wear mesh clothes, either
15:33 Carl Metropolitan Hello Andrea
15:33 Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) hi
15:33 Larky (larkylouz) Hi Andrea
15:33 Ingo (tkb158) Oh, wait . . .
15:34 Ingo (tkb158) Hi Andrea! :-)
15:34 Carl Metropolitan You are wearing a mesh avatar, though, Ingo
15:34 Ingo (tkb158) /me grins
15:34 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) But not _clothes_ :-)
15:34 Gronk Seriman I am almost always a system avatar here in Caledon. When helping in the Plaza, I want people to see me quickly. Some mesh bodies and outfits take too long to just render and show up properly.
15:34 Ingo (tkb158) But no mesh clothes
15:34 Jan Stroikavskoi For many years I used system body and clothing etc. Only in the past couple of years do I enjoy mesh. It really is a personal choice.
15:35 Carl Metropolitan Andrea, we are on the tail end of talking about Mesh avatars and Bakes on Mesh
15:35 Carl Metropolitan Yours looks very good, Jan
15:35 Jan Stroikavskoi Thank you Carl
15:35 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) Certain grace always shines through......
15:35 Carl Metropolitan We probably need to update the Hall of Avatars to cover more about mesh bodies.
15:35 Carl Metropolitan Okay... new questions.
15:38 Carl Metropolitan There can't be no new questions?
15:38 Carl Metropolitan Okay. Well, then I'm going to ask you guys some questions. Not trivia, I'm afraid.
15:39 Carl Metropolitan If you look at the prim I just lifted up behind us, you will see Marion Questi's long running chart of Oxbridge traffic
15:39 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) No, I have no idea what if the exchange rate of the golden herring in galopticon XIV.
15:39 Carl Metropolitan It has slowed down some recently.
15:40 Carl Metropolitan I've been thinking about—purely on my own accord—as to what can we do at Oxbridge to get those numbers up. We have more capacity, by far, than what we use.
15:40 Carl Metropolitan Any ideas?
15:41 Carl Metropolitan Note this chart only measures first day and first week avatars.
15:41 NormaCenva50 I think I just stumbled here by chance a couple of weeks ago.
15:42 Carl Metropolitan Do you remember how you found us? Did someone recommend you?
15:42 Carl Metropolitan Recommend us, I mean?
15:42 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) Traffic waxes and vanes. And we still get newcomers who have not passed anything else but the first areas.
15:42 NormaCenva50 Yes, someone at Social Island gave me the landmark.
15:42 Jan Stroikavskoi Sigurd arrived 2 weeks before I did. I forget how he found Caledon. I might've done a search on Victorian/Steampunk communities.
15:42 Carl Metropolitan We get most of our traffic from Word-of-Mouth like that.
15:42 Gronk Seriman We need better representation on the Destinations tab. Caledon shows up there, not Oxbridge specifically.
15:42 RossMetzger The first-day line actually seems pretty steady, about where it was 2 years ago
15:43 Alexa Alton (alexaalt) some is attributable to the season. School returns, level of sports currently going on
15:43 Carl Metropolitan That is a good point, Gronk
15:43 RossMetzger What's dropped off is keeping them here more than a week
15:43 Carl Metropolitan That is something to talk to Word about talking to Desmond about.
15:43 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) Some still stumble here apparently accidentally.
15:43 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) Thought some come in wearing London group tags
15:44 Carl Metropolitan If you look at Word's chart behind this one on the wall, you will see most of our traffic is over 1 week old.
15:44 Carl Metropolitan London City has a very basic orientation tutorial. I think they send people who need more to us often.
15:44 Larky (larkylouz) A lot of staff come through. And there are relatively new avatars who hang out here a lot.
15:44 Carl Metropolitan The brown on the bar graph includes both staff and anyone older than 1 week.
15:45 Lexus Ling well, buildhelper in the sandbox, there can some one learn that there?
15:45 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) I have also met newcomers who came here after impolite treatment by someone in NCI.
15:45 Carl Metropolitan Really? That's just sad.
15:45 Jan Stroikavskoi /me agrees... Sigurd will send people here too.
15:46 Carl Metropolitan Lexus, I don't understand what you mean. Can you elaborate?
15:46 Larky (larkylouz) I've had some very uncomfortable encounters at NCI, especially when I was new.
15:46 Lexus Ling newbies can learn building in the sandbox.
15:46 Lexus Ling how to build some basics or so.
15:46 Carl Metropolitan I was pushed out of NCI in late 2009. Not my fault, Larky. I am very sad to hear that.
15:47 Carl Metropolitan There is a room full of self-paced building tutorials attached to sandbox already
15:47 Larky (larkylouz) In the smaller room.
15:47 Carl Metropolitan Do you think those should be better integrated into the sandbox?
15:47 Ingo (tkb158) How do our numbers compare to the number of new accounts that are being created in SL?
15:47 Carl Metropolitan I have no clue, Ingo.
15:47 Lexus Ling yip.
15:48 Larky (larkylouz) oh, good question!
15:48 Carl Metropolitan LL does not either, as they have no idea how many new accounts are alts of old ones, bot accounts.
15:48 Larky (larkylouz) I hung out at one of the entry islands recently. The incoming traffic was not heavy, but it was steady.
15:48 Carl Metropolitan They do know how many log out after day one or week one and never come back though.
15:48 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) I have not kept any notes but I think there is about 50/50 split with those who visit us once and then go and those who keep coming back.
15:49 Carl Metropolitan New user traffic always used to go up when there was a good scandal in the news about SL.
15:49 Larky (larkylouz) /me chuckles. "Oh, naturally!"
15:49 Ingo (tkb158) That's a good percentage, I'd say, Elfbiter.
15:50 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) I remember huge influx of Brazilians some years ago. Unfortunately it coincided with the Basic Accounts thing...
15:50 Carl Metropolitan Though the child avatar sex scandal, for obvious reasons, was an exception to that rule. It took a lot of enforcement and a long time to get rid of most of those people.
15:50 Carl Metropolitan If you have ever wondered why some Adult sims have signs saying essentially "you must be this tall to enter", that's the origin of it.
15:51 Carl Metropolitan Anyway, I'm digressing
15:51 Carl Metropolitan I was just hoping people had some ideas on how we could increase traffic here. To get more people who need Oxbridge to find Oxbridge.
15:51 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) Well, we do not have much of PR or marketing budget.
15:52 Carl Metropolitan We don't even have anyone doing that job really. Andrea is fundraising; not marketing mostly. Correct?
15:52 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) Hm. There has been some people recently who have been sent here to make some homework based on SL...
15:53 Gronk Seriman Get our freebies on more freebie lists. If it only attracts freebie hounds, that's OK, since they will know of this area, and may word of mouth to newbies they meet.
15:53 Carl Metropolitan That's been a constant forever, Elfbiter
15:53 Carl Metropolitan One of the reasons I've been working to improve them. I don't think they are quite "there" yet, though.
15:53 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) Making surveys and asking things for questionnaires, that is. And some have specifically said we were recommended.
15:53 Carl Metropolitan We have a history of being very education friendly.
15:54 Lexus Ling did we have designe creators here?
15:54 Carl Metropolitan We always participate in the VWBPE conference, for example.
15:54 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) One was looking for information about how people with disabilities were using SL. I gave her Virtual Ability landmark.
15:54 Carl Metropolitan And work to make teachers and students feel welcome.
15:54 Carl Metropolitan Good.
15:54 Carl Metropolitan Dreams is also good for that.
15:54 Carl Metropolitan They help people with various neurological issues.
15:55 Carl Metropolitan Lexus. What do you mean by Design Creators?
15:55 Larky (larkylouz) Landmark please, Carl? For Dreams.
15:55 Carl Metropolitan Sure.
15:55 Larky (larkylouz) ty
15:55 Lexus Ling clothes, jewelry, or so.
15:55 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) to me, too, please.
15:55 Carl Metropolitan We used to have classes on stuff like that in the past, Lexus
15:55 Carl Metropolitan But those have fallen away over time.
15:55 Carl Metropolitan Teachers left.
15:56 Lexus Ling hmm
15:56 RossMetzger /me gives Elfbiter a tome ;)
15:56 Carl Metropolitan And the technology of making SL clothing and jewelry got more complicated as it moved away from prims.
15:56 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) And I am _not_ giving any names but there have been people who have been involved with Suicide Survival groups in SL who have come here
15:56 Carl Metropolitan I usually send people to Builders Brewery or Blender Benders for that sort of advanced stuff.
15:56 Lexus Ling ok
15:57 Carl Metropolitan That is good. We try to be friendly to everyone I think.
15:57 Lexus Ling I have only thing at build events...
15:57 Carl Metropolitan We have a basic building class.
15:57 Larky (larkylouz) The Atelier has tutorials on clothing and jewelry, as I recall. The TP pad is in back of and to the left of the one to the sandbox (outside the Entry Hall)
15:57 Gronk Seriman Lexus, we still have the the Atelier here, a semi-secret area for clothing and jewelery making. The teleporter is kinda hidden in the Plaza.
15:57 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) I am kind of missing the avatar customization and vehicle building classes. Even if I made fool of myself in the latter.
15:58 Lexus Ling ty gronk.
15:58 Larky (larkylouz) And Sandie's class on beginner-intermediate building, too. And Samm switches out topics a lot in her Beginning Building class.
15:58 Carl Metropolitan Right now, and for the past five years, Wordsmith has been both Chancellor and Dean of Education. Those are really both one person jobs. It would really help is he could at least get an Assistant Dean of Education to work on expanding classes.
15:58 Larky (larkylouz) Phrynne and Word are both heavily overworked!
15:58 Carl Metropolitan I remember the old Avatar Makeover class was very popular.
15:59 Carl Metropolitan Yes.
15:59 Ingo (tkb158) I don't know of any other place that is teaching on avatar design
15:59 Carl Metropolitan Here's my unofficial advice. If you know of a class that you want to see us offer, and you think you can teach it, put together a detailed course outline and talk to Wordsmith.
16:00 Carl Metropolitan I am sorry.
16:00 Carl Metropolitan I was wrong!
16:00 Carl Metropolitan Samm is assistant dean of education.
16:00 Carl Metropolitan That used to be unfilled.
16:00 Carl Metropolitan I did not realizes Samm had taken over there.
16:00 Carl Metropolitan Okay. Also talk to Samm :)
16:00 Ingo (tkb158) She is a good choice for that
16:00 Carl Metropolitan She is.
16:01 Carl Metropolitan I am glad she is doing that to help him.
16:01 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) I think I suggested the Vehicle class idea to Samm.
16:01 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) Unfortunately, I am _not_ in a position to teach it...
16:01 Carl Metropolitan I have a good class I've outlined, I'm not in a good position to teach, either.
16:02 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) Partially because of timezones.
16:02 Gronk Seriman Me, too. The Avatar Show and Tell class.
16:02 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) Mostly because of ignorance
16:02 Carl Metropolitan Well, it is 4 PM, and Kara has already started turning into a pumpkin, so I guess this is time to call this session of General Q&A to an end.
16:02 Larky (larkylouz) It may actually help to offer a few classes that are in a different time zone.
16:02 Carl Metropolitan I really want to thank all of you for your suggestions and questions.
16:03 Larky (larkylouz) Thank you, Carl and Andrea.
16:03 Larky (larkylouz) Thanks everyone.
16:03 Carl Metropolitan Thank you all for coming.
16:03 Carl Metropolitan Goodnight!
16:03 Alexa Alton (alexaalt) Thank you
16:03 Ingo (tkb158) That you, Carl. Very helpful!!
16:03 Lexus Ling Thx and gn8
16:03 Gronk Seriman Thank you, everybody!
16:03 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) Two hours past midnight here.
16:03 Jan Stroikavskoi /me grins at Kara turning into a pumpkin
16:03 Jan Stroikavskoi Thank you Carl, a most informative meeting!
16:03 Jan Stroikavskoi Hugs Kara :)
16:03 Carl Metropolitan You all are very welcome.
16:04 Elfbiter Skysmith (elfbiter) I have to try to get some sleep.
16:04 Carl Metropolitan I'm off to prepare a transcript. These are eventually going up on the web
16:04 Andrea Jones (andreajonesms) is headed back for a nap. Sorry I was late.
16:04 Carl Metropolitan Bye everyone.