Kitely Forums

Sorry, Minethere, I should have made my reasoning explicit. If a 3x3 is used with the main landing spot on a central edge, it would mean that the furthest row or column of three is less useful in terms of landscaping (it would be just more of the same, and a potential waste of resources). Therefore, a 2x2 might as well be used in that case.

Don't forget: more resources used for land area mean less resources available for prims, textures and scripts, even though that calculation might be marginal. A 3x3 has more than twice the area of a 2x2; while that might be nice for flying, sailing etc., that isn't the key purpose of the Welcome Center, and could be equally well demonstrated by a link to a separate showcase world.

The aim of the thread was to explore the pros and cons of each size and to reach consensus, or a compromise if consensus is not possible.

The argument for using a megaregion as opposed to a single region has reached consensus. Either a 2x2 or a 3x3 will demonstrate the merits of Kitely's Advanced Megaregions.

A 2x2 could be seen as a compromise between those who were originally arguing for a single region, and those who keep saying it should be a 3x3. There are also some explicit arguments for using a 2x2 rather than a 3x3 ("big enough, but not too big"; less likely to result in unnecessary "clutter", so a more focused build).

I recall that the original plan proposed the Kitely Plaza to use a larger megaregion, but that was scaled down to the 2x2, which might be seen as a precedent.

However, in the end, it is Kitely's call which size is used.

ah, ok, then I seem to not understand your use of the keyword "central edge"...which to me is not relevant anyways.

The 3x3 is not simply showing the functionality of them in Kitely, as megas are quite common in "free" opensim [a distinction it seemed needing due to some commercial grids being OS or based on OS]...and a 3x3 is actually, in my eyes, already a compromise...as I stated earlier I think a 4x4 would actually be more beneficial in showing ppl the "top" end that Kitely offers...however, that "compromise" to a simple 3x3 shows megas, the main thrust of what i think kitely should use as a showcase welcome region.

land mass, especially water mass, does not use much memory at all, the primary memory users are avatars, as far as i know...

The thing to keep utmost in mind when doing this is that other grid all have welcome areas, but none have megas...but I think we are safely past the single region concept, as you note.

Kitely needs to differentiate itself from all the rest, and pricing, alone, will not do this in as successful way as can be....after all, ppl are still willing to pay 300 a region in sl, and some think the average of 60 or so in all other commercial grids for a single region rental is just fine, and in those, some still say it is much better than sl's pricing, which it is, but that is not the whole story, otherwise kitely could not charge so little for so much.

yes, ppl can be shown where showcase regions are, but anybody who watches such things know full well that the initial landing spot is critical...there are tons of stories all over the meta about landing in a new grid, finding it lacking, and leaving immediately....and, frankly, most of those stories concern inwz.

in a 3x3 there are a number of good points...

a) ilan has already said he could do up to that

b] it further showcases the primary selling point for kitely [other than oars in my own view], that of the megas

c] for ease of use, the central region can be easily saved as an individual oar and changed sometimes to give variety, which would actually be very cool and further showcase it as being the only commercial grid allowing oar usage...and to try to stay ahead of possible comments on this note...the other oars would remain the same in essential elements but change up other parts for various functions...we do this all the time in opensim and it is a VERY big differentiator with kitely

d] the 3x3 allows one to spread out prims, not put a lot of stuff in one region, but spread it all out over a large landmass...this will help with lag and as well resources usage on the simulator which i assume is a single one for these "on all the time" regions, as with the plaza

e] there are some very knowledgeable opensim folx here who are acutely aware of the resources used in simulators and their knowledge should be tapped into...

f] there is no downside that i can see in any regard to using a 3x3 at all and nobody has put forth any valid one that i have seen...in other words, why not?

and one final point, software moves on, sometimes quickly, and kitely needs to promote it key differences in as many regards as possible, and quickly, before they are no longer even innovative...other grids are watching, you can be sure of this.

I'm not really sure how having the landing area in the center of one of the edge regions of a 3x3 helps create a mental map. Personally I'd try to keep new people as far from the edge of any edge region as possible. In my experience, falling off the edge of a region is one of the most disorienting and disturbing aspects of VR. It often results in having to re-log to orient your actual avatar. Having the landing area in the center of a mega region would demonstrate what seamless region crossings in Kitely are about. Perhaps having the landing area near an edge of a center region could accomplish both goals?

Another thing I keep seeing referenced is "those new to virtual worlds..." I'm just wondering, how much of the planning should be for people who have never experienced VR. In the last year I've met and heard of many people from OS and SL who have joined Kitely, but never someone who is completely new to virtual worlds. Teachers bring in new people, but the teachers I know, generally have their own landing area and provide their own guidance to their students.

Marstol Nitely wrote:Another thing I keep seeing referenced is "those new to virtual worlds..." I'm just wondering, how much of the planning should be for people who have never experienced VR. In the last year I've met and heard of many people from OS and SL who have joined Kitely, but never someone who is completely new to virtual worlds. Teachers bring in new people, but the teachers I know, generally have their own landing area and provide their own guidance to their students.

In the last meeting, I think Ilan said that our main target are those coming from SL.

A 3x3 world which isn't just water means having not just more land but also more objects to cover that landmass in order to make it look professionally developed. Having seen how well space has been used in the Sri Isodhyana world I think a 2x2 world can be more than enough for our needs - saving objects to use up close in places where they can have a bigger impact than when used as decorations for a distant landscape.

The human bowels are more than 6 meters long and fit into a space that is smaller than a basketball. By using winding paths with a lot of vegetation, rocks and water we can create areas that look a lot more rich in detail while keeping object usage to a reasonable level so it will rezz quickly and won't create lag for people with less than top-notch computers. A dense 2x2 world with long winding paths makes a big visual impact ("this place is big and there is so much detail here").

We can have a fixed-course pre-programmed high-speed low-flying ride above this world to demonstrate how well Advanced Megaregions work in Kitely: "step here to ride the dragon and hold on tight while it shows you around". The ride will drop you at a different place after a 1-min ride and fly back by itself to the boarding station so someone else can ride it as well. People waiting in line to ride the dragon can also interact with each other thus increasing socialization. Make it a ride that people tell other people they have to see - an attraction.

good then, 2x2 is decided and we can move on to others of the threads on the matter now-)) yippeee

Ilan Tochner wrote:The human bowels are more than 6 meters long and fit into a space that is smaller than a basketball.

Okay, but may I just add EW!