[Opensim-dev] thinking about a viewer

[Fleep Tuque]

I guess I'm in the "evolution" camp simply because I think revolution is
not realistic, but in my heart, I think revolution would be required to
move OpenSimulator out of niche category software.

As I said in an earlier thread on the users list comparing OpenSimulator
and Unity, it's clear that the vast majority of folks can't or don't want
to learn a viewer interface as complicated as <insert any current viewer
here>.  Until we have a viewer that gives a stable, graphically appealing,
cross-platform, easy to use experience for end users, only the dedicated
metaverse enthusiasts will bother with it, and even we can't sell it beyond
limited use cases in its current form.

I still think the key is to have a simple (VERY simple) starting interface
that scales up in complexity as you need or add tools.  Think about the
starter interface on an MMO, you begin with just a "skill" or two in your
tool bar, a basic inventory, and simple communication interfaces.  Over
time you add more skills and spells to your toolbar (which typically is
user customizable) and add more features as you level up and engage with
other aspects of the game.

That's what OpenSimulator needs.  A viewer that starts simple, and scales
in complexity as the user's expertise and needs grow.

- Chris/Fleep


 Chris M. Collins (Avatar: Fleep Tuque)
Center for Simulations & Virtual Environments Research (UCSIM)
Division of Innovation & Partnerships, Research & Development
UC Office of Information Technologies (UCIT)
University of Cincinnati
400 University Hall
PO Box 210658
Cincinnati, OH 45221-0658
chris.collins at uc.edu
(513) 556-3018

http://ucsim.uc.edu










On Wed, Aug 6, 2014 at 1:38 PM, Kevin Cozens <kevin at ve3syb.ca> wrote:

> On 14-08-04 09:08 PM, Mister Blue wrote:
>
>> I've been seriously thinking about creating a new viewer project. But with
>> Maria's survey[1] and all the different virtual world announcements
>> happening and the lively OpenSimulator vs Unity discussion on the
>> opensim-user list, I'd like to open up the discussion to the OpenSimulator
>> development community[2].
>>
> [snip]
>
>> What do you  think? Evolution or revolution?
>>
>
> At the moment I'd vote for reliable and stable rather than either
> evolution or revolution. With most viewers sharing a certain amount of
> common ancestry all the ones I have tried for the Linux platform have
> problems.
>
> I used to like Singularity. It was good back in the early 4000 revisions
> but I have had issues with it since it hit the 5000+ revision. Common
> issues with viewers is a tendency to crash when switching workspaces, voice
> chat from other avatars can start breaking up after a while making it
> impossible to understand what is being said, and the worst problem is the
> viewers that push the CPU to near 100% (often while caming around) which
> leads to lag or to practically locking up the viewer and preventing one
> from doing almost anything in it.
>
> --
> Cheers!
>
> Kevin.
>
> http://www.ve3syb.ca/           |"Nerds make the shiny things that
> distract
> Owner of Elecraft K2 #2172      | the mouth-breathers, and that's why we're
>                                 | powerful!"
> #include <disclaimer/favourite> |             --Chris Hardwick
>
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>
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