The great illusion

This post is due to a great frustration during my work in Second Life. (Expect some rantings.)

I'm scripting a system of dirigibles on a private sub-continent (a quite large group of themed private sims). Basically, it's like the subway but in the sky; the dirigibles go automatically from station to station with or without passengers. The script has been written for quite a while and it's a little wonder of simplicity. Just 16 KB is enough to make a dirigible store a route, draw 3D curves in between points, do linear maneuvers, and stop at every station... with a precision of 1 cm. Yes, I'm kind of proud of my work and I've received nothing but compliments.

Two dirigibles are already flying for the moment. One of them is just like clockwork and the other one stumbles along the way. It's not a problem with the script or SL physics, it's just that some landowners don't have a clue about land permissions.

The most useful of the land powers is the auto-return. If you don't want to see your land turn into a wasteland, set the auto-return. Just don't set it below 5 minutes because it would create sim lag.

Once the auto-return is set, it's up to you to decide if you want other people to be able to rez on your land or not. And it becomes safe to allow objects to enter instead of seeing cars, planes and what-not abandonned, stuck at the border of your land... Usually, on a land without auto-return over which you have no power.

To disable scripts only annoys noob scripters who don't know how to ignore this restriction. For you, landowner, it has absolutely no benefit. Zero, nada, niet! It will certainly not stop a copybot and it will not improve the performances of the sim, unless you own it all.

Privacy is an illusion in Second Life. The only real privacy you can have is when you keep your real life separated from SL. That's privacy. But when you're in-world, the best you can do is to isolate yourself like a spider suspended in a corner under the ceiling of the sim... and then move to your own private island when you realize that the minimap betrays your presence whatever the privacy settings you have in your client.

I won't talk about banlines which are totally forbidden on the sub-continent where I work... and I take care of my blood pressure.