randomhumanity

Snoopy Pfeffer, OpenSim developer and OSG resident, answers some of my questions about her land.

random human: I’m sure you’ve told me before, but what kind of hosting do you use for the regions here and how much does it cost?
Snoopy Pfeffer: well I have two kinds of land:
Snoopy Pfeffer: – free homestead parcels with between 2 and 4k sqm of land, with just residential use allowed
Snoopy Pfeffer: – 16k, 32k and 64k parcels of land ppl can rent
Snoopy Pfeffer: I have 2 renters that have rented 4 sims in total at the moment
Snoopy Pfeffer: the 4 atoll sims are for the homestead parcels
random human: oh you charge for some parcels?
Snoopy Pfeffer: yes
Snoopy Pfeffer: the bigger ones
Snoopy Pfeffer: bigger than 16k
Snoopy Pfeffer: well the homestead parcels allow ppl to get a first impression
Snoopy Pfeffer: some that like it here will probably want more land later
Snoopy Pfeffer: but because I cannot cover all costs myself these renters need to share their part of the costs
random human: fair enough of course
Snoopy Pfeffer: most anyway prefer a whole region if they want more land
random human: yeah, so they’re going to run their own really
Snoopy Pfeffer: yes if they know how
Snoopy Pfeffer: some ppl just want land and dont have the technical know-how to run an opensim server theirself
Snoopy Pfeffer: for them I offer that land
random human: good point
random human: ok, so are the different types of land running on different types of servers? more & less capable?
Snoopy Pfeffer: yes
Snoopy Pfeffer: the atoll regions ron on a quadcore server at home
Snoopy Pfeffer: so they are for low traffic residential regions
Snoopy Pfeffer: for the other regions, the shops and the land rented, I have a fast server at a data center
Snoopy Pfeffer: and these servers definitively cost money
Snoopy Pfeffer: thaty why such land costs money
random human: ok. how much would a region set someone back?
Snoopy Pfeffer: the costs are very reasonable compared to sl
Snoopy Pfeffer: it just covers my costs
Snoopy Pfeffer: not calculating in my work
Snoopy Pfeffer: US$ 90 for the setup and then US$ 45 per month
Snoopy Pfeffer: and I try to run it as stable as possible
Snoopy Pfeffer: just picking the stable versions as good as possible
Snoopy Pfeffer: and I have special service management tools that keep the regions up and running and restart them if required automatically to ensure a high service quality
Snoopy Pfeffer: btw high traffic greions get 1 core per region
Snoopy Pfeffer: 3 medium regions get 2 cores
Snoopy Pfeffer: and 2 low traffic regions a core

random human: If OSG were to shut down suddenly, would it be possible for people to attach their regions to another grid, save their inventories, etc?
Snoopy Pfeffer: well
Snoopy Pfeffer: in general yes
Snoopy Pfeffer: but some assets are stored at grid level
Snoopy Pfeffer: at grid level there are the following servers: user, grid, asset, messaging and inventory servers
Snoopy Pfeffer: often called UGAIM
Snoopy Pfeffer: the asset server stores all testures
Snoopy Pfeffer: but the prims are stored locally by the region server
Snoopy Pfeffer: so if you connect it to another grid you still have your rezed builds
Snoopy Pfeffer: but you loose your inventory
Snoopy Pfeffer: and the textures of the buildings
random human: right, ok…
Snoopy Pfeffer: so you need to upload the textures to the new grid again and then you need to reapply them to your builds
Snoopy Pfeffer: I did that when I moved into osgrid
Snoopy Pfeffer: I built my first house outside of osgrid
random human: in a standalone?
Snoopy Pfeffer: yes first I had a standalone region
Snoopy Pfeffer: even not connected to a grid
Snoopy Pfeffer: I moved that into osgrid at the very beginning
Snoopy Pfeffer: that is Dreamland, now
Snoopy Pfeffer: the other regions I have added later
random human: ah cool
Snoopy Pfeffer: I have built my house on Dreamland during my last summer vacation, disconnected from the Internet
random human: lol
random human: sounds like it might be easier to just connect first though huh?
Snoopy Pfeffer: yes
Snoopy Pfeffer: then you dont need to import the textures again and reapply them
Snoopy Pfeffer: and you dont loose your avatar and its inventory when you switch to the grid
Snoopy Pfeffer: well now with hypergrid it is easier because you can connect your local region or grid with the rest of the metaverse easily
random human: yeah, I’m looking forward to trying that out…
Snoopy Pfeffer: but then it was necessary to choose a good grid to not be on your own all the time
random human: he hehe
Snoopy Pfeffer: North of Snoopies is a hypergrid portal that you can try out
Snoopy Pfeffer: simcore owns that
random human: cool!
Snoopy Pfeffer: it is called “Babylon”
Snoopy Pfeffer: just open the map window, search for “!!!” and tp

random human: Why do you make homestead parcels available?
Snoopy Pfeffer: well
Snoopy Pfeffer: I saw that two things are still missing in osgrid
Snoopy Pfeffer: well first: I chose osgrid because it is the biggest and fastest growing grid and because it is the main testing grid of opensim
Snoopy Pfeffer: and the opensim developers meet here regularly, so it is where things happen
random human: aye, fine reasons
random human: but what is missing?
Snoopy Pfeffer: well two things:
Snoopy Pfeffer: there were not many ppl at the beginning
Snoopy Pfeffer: only between 8 and 12 online at the same time, maximum
Snoopy Pfeffer: but more ppl are needed to create a momentum
Snoopy Pfeffer: to create a real community in osgrid
Snoopy Pfeffer: so I decided that I want to attract ppl to come into osgrid
Snoopy Pfeffer: so I told all my friends in sl about osgrid
Snoopy Pfeffer: and opensim in general
Snoopy Pfeffer: but also that it is alpha software and what to expect
random human: how did they see it?
[Snoopy Pfeffer: well it is obvious for me that opensim sets the future standard for the 3D Internet
Snoopy Pfeffer: so it will become a big thing in 1 or latest 2 years
Snoopy Pfeffer: well what was missing: lol
Snoopy Pfeffer: – shops
Snoopy Pfeffer: many ppl are not software developers or very motivated builders
Snoopy Pfeffer: at the very beginning opensim was something just for software developers
Snoopy Pfeffer: then for builders
Snoopy Pfeffer: but most ppl dont want to create ALL from scratch
random human: indeed
Snoopy Pfeffer: they want to get some things for free or they want to buy it
Snoopy Pfeffer: imagine you would have to create all yourself: skin, shape, eyes, hair, clothes, your house, plants, …
random human: well, I kinda like that idea myself
Snoopy Pfeffer: btw most ppl did not like the Ruth look at the beginning
random human: but I know what you mean that others don’t
Snoopy Pfeffer: they want to get rid of that look as quickly as possible
Snoopy Pfeffer: my shop helps them with that
Snoopy Pfeffer: you dont need to create all yourself and you can look good quickly
Snoopy Pfeffer: the second thing important for success is land
Snoopy Pfeffer: ppl want to build
Snoopy Pfeffer: and many are not computer experts
Snoopy Pfeffer: and it is quite difficult to setup the network and opensim at the moment
Snoopy Pfeffer: it is too difficult for most
Snoopy Pfeffer: so there is an interest in renting land
Snoopy Pfeffer: but because it is alpha software ppl should not be forced to spend much money and then they find out that they dont have enough pioneer spirit for opensim
Snoopy Pfeffer: so I thought it is better to give ppl small parcels of land for free
random human: to keep them interested?
Snoopy Pfeffer: this way ppl also get to know  each other easier and a community starts to develop
Snoopy Pfeffer: well so that they can find out if they like it
Snoopy Pfeffer: the idea is that sooner or later most ppl will want more land
Snoopy Pfeffer: then they can rent more land from me or others
Snoopy Pfeffer: and the homestead parcels that get free can be used by new osgrid newbies again
Snoopy Pfeffer: this way ppl can enter osgrid with a low risk for them
Snoopy Pfeffer: if they rent land they know what they get before

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