[opensource-dev] Display Name & Viewer 1.x vs. Viewer 2.x

[aklo at skyhighway.com]

Display Name:

i don't want my name to *ever* appear in a login screen or anywhere else
as something like "aklo.modan"  If there's a reason to have that kind of
construct as a name used by scripts or whatever, that's fine so long as
it's kept "under the covers."  But no simple user should ever see it.

Same thing goes for "Resident".  It's an awful last (or any other) name to
*force* on people and shouldn't be something users have to *ever* look at
even though it may be necessary or reasonable or whatever for development,
administration & all that.  If someone picks it, that's their deal, but
there's other ways to solve development problems that don't have to be put
in the faces of people who aren't doing dev or admin kinds of things.

Appearances can be whatever and some people change them faster than they
go through toilet paper.  Display Names will make identity even less
certain, but why not?  i gotta say, though, if the name you see over an
avi's head doesn't mean anything to someone just looking at a screen, then
why not make any display of it at all an option?  What i mean is, just
have an option to turn off the entire ID bubble since it won't be very
meaningful anyway.

Basically, i think there's a really big diff between people liking the
idea of being able to pick their entire name (even if it's all small
letters or special characters or ...) and forcing them into a "Resident
clan" bucket, garbaging up their favorite name with a bunch of numbers so
it's unique, or making them look at some ugly string that's been computer
friendlied for them.

Viewer 1.x vs. Viewer 2.x:

i tried really hard to not only use, but to actually *like* Viewer 2.  i
failed.  i used it at least some every time i did SL for over 3 months and
got to where i could do almost everything i do with Viewer 1.23 
Somethings were easier, some were harder.  i wrote out a long list of
stuff that i'm not going to bother people with about what i did and didn't
like.  Most of it's been covered recently on this list, anyway.

Basically, the improvements in what it can do are great, but the UI is
*awful*.  The most disappointing thing to me is the impact on immersion. 
i'm not going to bother people with my weird ideas about the potential for
SL to expand reality for us, avatar compared to vihaya, and all the other
esoteric stuff that goes through my mind.  i think it's enough to say that
i want more out of my SL experience than a browser class "game."  i don't
play games.

The last straw for me was the second time a Viewer 2 auto-update disabled
the viewer so it wouldn't even start.  i gave up testing it after that. 
Please note that it was the *second* time.  The original Viewer 2
installation i did during the beta had already died over the same type of
problem and been replaced by a completely fresh installation of the
current Viewer 2 about 2 months ago.

Extra:

i like the UI to be sort of a "Terminator" style HUD.  That is, all
virtual world with all the controls & chat stuff in windows or widgets
that maybe stay on screen, but fade in and out from some variable degree
of transparency as requested or whatever.  And highly configurable, like
being able to be put anywhere on the screen, resized, recolored, and so
on.  Just sayin'.  i think i've been sorta asked for my opinion?

The draw distance setting is a real problem.  There are some sims (like
the one where i live) where tp with it set much over 150 will cause a
crash almost every time.  It would be super cool if there were an onscreen
widget like the movement & camera controls so it could be changed more
easily.  It makes sense several ways.  And, if tp with high draw distance
values is a problem for lots of people, then why not have it effectively
detuned to 0 or whatever by tp just before the actual tp is executed, and
then put back before tp completely exits?  Am i the only one who has the
problem?

i see that some avis with some viewers & HUDs have awesome prescience. 
Like, super radar & stuff like that.  Why can't all those tools be
available as UI options in the standard viewers?  i'm pitying the noob and
casual user here.  Or for that matter, just trying to even things out so
we all have a chance to have a good time in SL.  Except the griefers. 
They suck.

Like Lance says,

bye.

- AK