Point-to-Point Teleportation

[avad]

"Back when Second Life was a tiny world, Residents could magically teleport point-to-point: that is, from any place on the grid to any other place, just like that. Shortly after launching commercially, however, Linden Lab introduced "telehubs", scattered throughout the grid. From then on, when you teleported from point A to point B, you were actually sent to the telehub nearest to point B-- usually a few hundred meters away, meaning you had to travel the remaining distance on your own power (fly, walk, vehicle.) In the same way, in the offline world, that a public transit system tends to create a civic gathering place and neighborhood around each of its stops, telehubs were a way to mitigate the urban sprawl of a constantly expanding world. A place to meet folks, and a chance to look around, wherever you were going. Smart urban metaverse planning, in other words.
All that's about to change. Linden Lab recently announced that an imminent update would re-introduce P2P teleportation. Telehubs-- which, unsurprisingly, drove up the real estate prices of the surrounding land-- would then be transitioned into some kind of public/community space...."
read the whole New World Notes article

Comments

[sendao.livejournal.com]

The telehubs shouldn't really be required anymore - there are already 'meeting centers' built up, which will continue to grow even without the attracting presence of the telehubs.

My city Portland has had good urban planning to avoid sprawl. In particular, one of the wonderful things is Forest Park, a very large untouched (except for a few small walking trails, and an arboretum) natural area.

Does Second Life have any kind of analogy for the 'nature reserve'? It's really interesting to think about how geography affects a cyber world. I wonder how much SL is missing out of the possibilities of geography, and how much more they're going to now.

It's funny - in creating a second life, we have the chance to control all the variables. Have you ever wondered why they included such a strict concept of geography in the first place?

[avad.livejournal.com]

I don't think there is such strict concept of geography, just a semblance for somewhat comfortable/familiar navigation. (also there is much built in the sky and underwater)...

but as you know in MY view all that will lose it's palpable solidity with the coming integration of the self-assembling memory palaces....'places' will be joined on temporary association...like hyperlinks through the world, you can walk through my memory palace closet and end up in a very strange place indeed...someone else might click on the lamp and have another choice...all this mutating and 'alive' and also somewhat based on the user's own searching personality...

so byebye geography...;)

[rokkitz.livejournal.com]

...repurposing the very bricks we build with...