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What is the policy on weapons in the Islands of New England? |
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Written by Community Manager
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Friday, 24 July 2009 11:34 |
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Combat is not allowed. Weapons, including military vehicles, are not allowed, whether functional or decorative. Any behavior which is menacing, threatening or bothersome to residents is not allowed. The determination of "menace", "threat" or "bother" shall be at the discretion of Estate Management. |
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Are there restrictions on aircraft in New England? |
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Written by Community Manager
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Friday, 24 July 2009 11:28 |
Aircraft are permitted provided they keep a reasonable distance from persons, other vehicles or buildings, and provided that they do not behave in a manner which is a nuisance to other residents. The determination of "reasonable distance" and "nuisance" shall be subject to the case by case discretion of Estate Management. Aircraft may not be left on the land, although float planes may be moored or docked in the water.
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Last Updated on Friday, 24 July 2009 11:34 |
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Do you have any limits about the size of boats that can operate in the Islands of New England? |
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Written by Community Manager
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Friday, 24 July 2009 11:24 |
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Boats or other vehicles over 30 meters or 300 prims are not allowed. High prim vehicles (over 31 prims) will only be allowed to operate when and where sufficient free prims are available. Boats docked in rented slips in the New England Marina may be alloted additional prims (subject to availabilty) to allow for furnishings. |
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Written by Ceorl Onlyone
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Saturday, 04 July 2009 14:46 |
Overview: There have been a number of inquiries recently about the use of Sim Expanders at SLNE. Because this is a recently popularized technique, which we have not dealt with previously at SLNE, the Covenant Committee and Estate Management have had some discussions about it and its role in the estate. In short, the decision is that such off-world builds are NOT allowed at SLNE, based upon existing provisions of our Covenant. I will discuss the specifics of our rationale a bit later. Background: For those of you who may not know what Sim Expanders are, I will try to briefly explain. This is essentially a trompe l'oeil technique, creating an illusion of more land than actually exists. The way it works, is that a single and usually invisible and phantom prim is placed within the sim boundaries. That prim must be the root prim of the object. As long as that prim is in a valid on-world spot, the rest of the structure can project over the sim boundary and out into empty space. Because empty space has default water as a filler, islands or other structures built that way do not differ visually from real on-world landscaping. These builds can be quite extensive, including islands, foliage, even buildings such as lighthouses or castles. They often make use of megaprims and sculpties as well to keep the prim count low and maximize the size. While you cannot actually go to these islands by normal means such as walking, flying or sailing, you can sit there if they have pose balls installed.
Like many newly popularized techniques, this one is currently sweeping the grid. Remember when bling was big? or particle effects on teleport? Many makers of these off-world builds have emerged and we have had half a dozen such islands pop up around SLNE. Before too many people spend money on them, we decided we should discuss the estate's position on them and publish it.
Concerns: While these off-world builds appear to be harmless, and bothering no one, they do raise some concerns.
- First off, we don't really know what performance or stability impact these builds might have on sims. While it has always been possible to stick things out into space, these builds involve sticking often very large and complex builds as far off-world as possible. This is something we do not believe the software was built to support and it does present a risk.
- Second, we spend a lot of our time dealing with property and territorial issues. Our residents pay for a certain amount of space and prims and other resources such as scripting, and we do our best to protect the integrity of those boundaries and resources. These off-world builds are projecting into space that may be thought of as being owned by no one. However, while it is certainly not owned by the individual sim or parcel owner, the estate does have some claim to that space, in that no one is allowed to place another sim there without the estate's permission. We even see a possibility of contention between two landowners whose sims are both adjacent to the same "empty" space. In such a case, which owner has the right to place the off-world builds on the space? How would we resolve such conflicts?
- Third, there is the aesthetic concern and the potential impact on the quality of the environment of SLNE. The terraforming and landscaping of such builds could not be exempt from the normal review and approval criteria for any builds or land formations here. As most of you know, the land shapes are the exclusive purview of Sudane, with me helping occasionally when the workload piles up, but the shape of the land is always ultimately her decision. Few if any of the off-world builds we have seen either placed or advertised, have been suitable for a New England theme.
Covenant: After some deliberation, we came to the consensus that several existing Covenant clauses define a very correct and fair way of dealing with this issue.
- "* all buildings must be set back from the property edge a minimum of two meters, with the exception of docks & boat, which may go right to the property line" - This clause, while it refers to "buildings", clearly intends to indicate that residents must keep their builds within their property lines. Perhaps we need to change the wording of "buildings" to "builds" for clarity, but the intent is the same
- "* no terra forming is permitted" - While technically these off-world builds are not terraforming, they are visually indistinguishable from terraforming, and as stated before, that is the exclusive domain of Sudane and the estate.
- "* landscape elements may not be changed, although adding in theme plants is allowed" - While we have been very flexible on this clause, allowing placement of rocks and some other natural elements when they look appropriate and do not interfere with waterways, the use of off-world builds to construct entire islands goes far beyond in terms of degree and would significantly change the landscape of the estate.
- "* no water builds, which includes astroturf islands, boathouses extending over the water, large stationary yachts or houseboats, excessively large dock structures, or any other object which impedes sailing or is deemed to be incompatible with the theme. Exceptions may be made for limited, appropriate decoration such as rocks, marine plants and animals, however all are subject to the discretion of the Covenant Committee and Estate Management." - We would certainly not allow such islands to be added to the navigable Linden water of the estate. This is both in order to keep the waterways open for sailing, but also to preserve the aesthetic integrity of the estate. These off-world builds are, at least visually, water builds.
Summary: So in summary, while we hate to say no to our residents, we must say no to these off-world builds. We regret any expense residents may have incurred in purchasing these items. We have moved as quickly as we could in this busy time to define and publish this position, however we know that some residents have moved quicker with their purchases. We must insist though that builds be confined to the space you have purchased, and not beyond.
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 08 July 2009 18:05 |
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Section Blog
