Some thoughts on antigravity...

One thing I love about SL is that I can log on and just play. I don't have to do anything. Sure, I have goals and projects, but sometimes I can just go out exploring. Or decide "I wonder if x is possible" and try it. Sometimes with hilarious results.

A few days ago, I wondered if I could make a room that was zero gravity. In which one could float, bounce off walls, etc...

Well, yes and no. There are ways to couteract gravity, certainly, but there are some very subtle balances to be made or else one goes flying off into space or crashing down to earth... However, the problem lies not in making oneself float, after all everyone in SL can fly...

It's that no matter what animations your avatar is undergoing, you've always got the same up/down orientation. In zero gravity, there is no up or down. As I, in my nerdlier days, used to be wont to answer when asked "Yo, what's up?"... Up is the inverse vector of gravity. When there is no gravity, up and down are just matters of perspective.

Except in SL, where up is always up and down is always down. Some days the sky may be plaid, but up and down are inviolate...

So to come up with a truly anti-gravity attachment (which I've decided is the way to go), I must also do some careful camera work. Make the static up/down camera do things it just wasn't meant to. I can't wait to give it a swing. And >bing< "just playing around" has become a new project.

But all is not lost. There are some spinoff technologies from my playing... There's a jump belt in my future. The scripts are actually written, it simply has yet to be modelled. And the jackalope horns I made incorporated a jump booster. When one jumps, instead of zooming an entire meter into the air, you loft upwards for five or so. Not incredible, but fun. After all, jackalopes are excellent jumpers.

This, however, leads me to a bit of a philosophical matter. I was asked why the jackalope jump enhancer only went a few meters up into the air, when it was possible to make one that jumps you much further. The answer is simply because what use would that be? People couldn't see you jumping. You'd be there one second, and sims away the next. Whereas now I can jump back and forth over their heads. In a related matter, I've often wondered why all flight boosters make you go faster. Sure, that has its purpose when going from one place to another that's far away, but how about when I'm close to the ground and just want to move a little. Flying is too fast, but you don't want to sully your new shoes by actually touching the ground. Where are the "maneuvering" flight controls that let you fly more slowly? Say just above walking speed? I feel the same about lots of vehicles. They go too fricking fast. What's the point of going so fast that you spend more time crossing sim borders than crossing sims?

I'll stop now before I get out my cane and start hollering at the whippersnappers.

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