Environmental Enhancement Project

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Sudane Erato
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Environmental Enhancement Project

Post by Sudane Erato »

This is another topic for the LUC, really, but I thought I'd post it here, in case there are people who'd like to comment who can't post there.

I think that I've mentioned to someone in the community that in another lifetime, or lifeplace, I did lots of work on virtual environments... first, before simulators existed (in the 1990s), for videos, and then later for "other" simulators. It was a huge topic of interest for me. When I came to SL in 2004 it was hugely discouraging... because while SL has the incredible benefits of being able to shape (almost) EVERYTHING, our control over our environments, meaning skies and water, is utterly the worst I had ever dealt with. When Windlight arrived I remembered I had high hopes, because clearly the programmers had the right ideas... but it was really a disaster. A terrible implementation of a logical interface. I've made a rainy/snowy environment for my New England sims... but left it at that.

Now finally comes along the Environmental Enhancement Project... the EEP. LL has installed the code on its servers, which has muddied up the standard skies we are used to (black stars, etc), but so far they have only released an experimental beta-version viewer that supports EEP. In typical resident-ignoring LL mode, they have not breathed a word of this, leaving it to the outside organization Firestorm to try and explain to everyone why their skies are looking so weird. They do, however, have a somewhat new thread in the SL community forums, https://community.secondlife.com/forums ... ck-thread/ which I urge you to have a look at if you're interested. There are a TON of idiot questions there, but Rider Linden and Whirly Fizzle (who I THINK is connected to Firestorm) are doing their best to sort through all the complaining and provide useful info.

Of course, I've installed the EEP viewer and begun to fuss around. To the extent of what I've discovered so far, the EEP really is the SL environment development that I've been praying for. Of course, I can't even find my nose in an SL viewer... I've been using Firestorm for so long... but I CAN make new environments, store them, apply them, save them... with some real logic. And the sophistication of the controls, at least in skies and day cycles (haven't fussed with water yet... and water is REALLY important too) is really impressive. I am VERY hopeful that we have a real breakthrough here! And I must say... what I have seen in the EEP viewer, is visually stunning.

AND... for our community... some real choices to think about!

Here are a couple of LUC policy issues that the new EEP will cause us to want to think about.

1) We are six sims. Do we want the same environment on all six? It frequently annoys me that I cross one of our sim lines and the environment changes. That seems very artificial... I've always wished we kept all 6 the same. But now, in thinking about this hopefully GREAT new ability... maybe we don't. Maybe we DO want to emphasize the bizarre realities of SL in our own estate and maintain 6 different environments.

2) Days. Days in SL have always been 4 RL hours long. But they have not been even.... the standard SL day is 3 hours of sunshine followed by 1 hour of night. With the EEP, we can have our day length be anywheres from an hour (I THINK thats the lower limit) to a month! And within that "day-cycle" we could have our sunshine be 95% of the time and our night be 5% of the time... or even no night (or no day!) at all! If we really wanted, we could have the sun and moon chase each other around the zenith all the time... totally weird stuff.

I REALLY hope that we keep the sun coming up in the east and going down in the west... but that's my opinion. We easily could, if we wanted, have it come up in the northeast in the summer (as in RL northern hemisphere) and go down in the northwest. And southeast to southwest in the winter, again like RL. Or anything... really. But we do have to decide... because now we'll be able to!

Anyway... I wanted to introduce people to this new excitement. In that thread, Whirly claims that Firestorm has already loaded the EEP code, and is just making some final choices on how it will be implemented... so it sounds like it will be available soon. I suspect that the main SL viewer will also come equipped with it soon. Let's start thinking about our skies and water!

Sudane.................

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Lyubov
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Re: Environmental Enhancement Project

Post by Lyubov »

Thank you Sudane for adding valuable context to the EEP project and its possibilities for CDS.

I view this as not only a LUC discussion (what are the ideal settings for CDS), but also something that should be reflected in the Covenant (what are individual Citizens permitted to change within their own parcels).

First, the question of what is desirable and ideal for CDS. As we continue to strive towards ever greater realism and authenticity, with improved mesh building techniques, materials textures, and an organically-developed Fishing Village, it seems only natural to extend this vision towards the sky and water. It would be wonderful to find a sky that reflects a natural day cycle, color, and sun position, as well as water that looks as it should. An environment that further enhances our seasonal changes, as the day length changes and sun position moves, would be welcome. My guiding principle is, "What does the environment we are modeling require?". Also to consider: Would our 24-hour day cycle continue to be based upon the SL timezone? By my estimate, less than 10% of the CDS population lives in this timezone.

I have also been disturbed with the jarring environmental changes at sim crossings, and I have also wished for a single setting for all six sims. I often find that I turn off the region Windlight setting and use my own instead, which mitigates the problem for me.

I would be open to different region-wide environment settings if the transition was smooth and natural. It is indeed true, that an Alpine region and a Mediterranean region should have different environments. This is part of what makes each unique and interesting; however, if jarring transitions are the only option, I would prefer a single "best average for all" setting. At a recent LUC meeting, there was extensive discussion regarding the terrain textures, and the efforts to eliminate, or hide, unsightly seams at region boundaries. Part of the solution has included creative landscaping and prim riverbanks and beaches. I would suggest that at least the same thought and care be applied to the environment.

Secondly, what changes to the environment should be allowed by individual parcel owners? One of the exciting features of EEP is the ability for individual parcels owners to set a custom environment for all to see, as simply as setting the parcel Sound or Media. As Sudane notes we will soon be able to explore the "bizarre realities of SL in our own estate", but also within our own individual parcels. Is this at all desirable? If so, under what conditions (ie. deviation from region settings is allowed on specific parameters, within a defined range). At recent LUC meetings, the issue of Security Orbs was discussed. It was determined, that for a number of practical reasons, these were neither desirable nor necessary. We have policies that specify allowed structure types, quality, and outdoor landscaping. The environment is no different.

I can however foresee the possibility of "variances" to a CDS Environmental Policy. It may be desirable to allow for a "night" setting for all during a special event, so that regardless of the time of day in SL or RL, we may experience a night event properly. Similarly for a daytime tour or seminar. Variances may be parcel-specific and ongoing, ie. "It's always 5 o'clock at the Biergarten", or time-specific, ie. "green skies over the pub for today's St. Patrick's Day celebrations". What is the policy on variances? Who shall grant them? How often should they be renewed (should a variance be granted by one entity to another until the "end of time")?

The extensive care by which the LUC may determine region- and estate-wide environment settings can be quickly undermined by a patchwork of "bizarre" parcel environments. I would suggest that we consider what is desirable for CDS, and these policies should be reflected in the Covenant.

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Sylvia Tamalyn
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Re: Environmental Enhancement Project

Post by Sylvia Tamalyn »

Assuming that one has to actually step onto a particular parcel in order to see a custom parcel environment, I see no harm in allowing this feature. The sensible route would be to allow it and if it turns out to be a problem down the road, deal with it then, rather than forbid an exciting new feature before it's even fully in place.

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Re: Environmental Enhancement Project

Post by Han Held »

One of the problems that the CDS has is that it imposes a lot of rules and constraints on its' citizens that residents of other estates (and even mainland!) do not have.

That makes us prettier, but it also makes us a harder sell, as well. We shouldn't add to that unnecessarily.

I can see and I agree that the region windlight change from sim to sim can be jarring (I took a stab at trying to fix that as chancellor but never figured out what caused it -setting all the regions to the same "day cycle" didn't seem to fix it) and I would like to see them all on the same setting too.

That said -one of the appeals of having property is the "your home is your castle"; if you want to change something, you can -within reason (TOS and Covenant).

We should absolutely not slap more chains on ourselves and on the people we're trying to sell citizenship to than we absolutely need to.

Once EEP goes live, I would suggest doing an experiment for a year or so; half of the estate would allow parcel windlight, half would not.

At the end of that year, take stock of what problems, issues and complaints came up and then find some sort of balanced policy to deal with them.

This could be offered as a bonus to folks who take parcels of X size, or on X regions ...but that might prove just as jarring.

My main point,though -is that this is an issue that we should NOT be rushing into any kind of policy decisions on. We should wait and see what impact this has in the first place; maybe even give people room to abuse this just so we know how serious (or not serious) of a problem that is

....and then decide.

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Re: Environmental Enhancement Project

Post by Lyubov »

At the least, the Policy implications are something that we should at least consider now at the outset, even if we decide that "no policy" is the policy. It may be desirable as Han suggested, to enable the feature on a Pilot basis, within defined areas, for a limited duration. These should be pro-active policy decisions.

However, I am more of the inclination in this respect to be among the last to change. Let's see how it is used and abused elsewhere, before we allow it in CDS. Let's allow the LUC and the Environment experts therein to experiment with the feature and learn. Then we might be able to make a more informed decision on how it should be managed (or not) on a parcel basis in CDS.

At the moment, no current functionality is lost by limiting this capability, so this is an easy time to make a policy regarding a new feature. This policy may evolve over time after we gain more experience. Taking something away later is always harder.

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Sylvia Tamalyn
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Re: Environmental Enhancement Project

Post by Sylvia Tamalyn »

I think the less authoritarian approach would be to let citizens try the feature and then see what everyone thinks about it. Issuing a pre-emptive "NO" and speaking about "what we (whoever "we" is) will allow" does not sound welcoming, or representative of the citizens' views, for that matter. As a reminder, the CDS Constitution states: "The Representative Assembly (RA) is a body of democratically elected legislators which represent the views of CDS citizens." (emphasis mine)

I agree with Han that there is no need to rush in and add yet more rules if they are not necessary. Let people try it out, listen to what the community thinks, and then, if there are issues, they can be dealt with.

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Re: Environmental Enhancement Project

Post by Em Warden »

Yes, Sylvia, exactly as you reminded us- "The Representative Assembly (RA) is a body of democratically elected legislators which represent the views of CDS citizens."

That is no doubt the reason why Sudane posted the issue here. This is a great way to collect the citizens' opinions, and also their arguments. I hope many more will air their thoughts on how to implement EEP in our sims, so that real democracy can be acted out.

Personally, I need to reflect a bit more on the pros and cons before I can form an opinion. The arguments from citizens on the Forum will then be a great help.

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Re: Environmental Enhancement Project

Post by MadmaxSoulLover »

Hello all, As one of the newest citizen's to our little community and from all I have seen of our government in work I'd just like to say thank you to all government members for all you do. As for my thoughts on EEP and any issue's that may or may not come about from it within our community, I personally think we should give it time to see all it can do and better yet give SL the time to implement it properly and without all the bugs it has and is creating within SL at this time, To jump into making decisions this early in the process seem's rush to me given SL has rushed it so far and cant even get the bugs fixed yet for any of us to truly see what it can do.

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Sylvia Tamalyn
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Re: Environmental Enhancement Project

Post by Sylvia Tamalyn »

I agree, Madmax! It does make sense to wait and see what the new feature does and what we can do with it, and then make decisions (if any even need to be made).

And welcome to CDS and the forums! It's great to see a new citizen speak up in here. :)

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Re: Environmental Enhancement Project

Post by Kyoko »

What Sylvia said!
Welcome MadMax

And, while it is good to think through options, I agree with Sylvia and MadMax entirely. No need to hurry on EEP.

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