Thursday, June 3, 2010

Managing Public Space: II. Gratification

Thanks to Sweetie for suggesting this post.

Written 3 June, 2010


Managing Public Space

II. Gratification

Making our sims accessible gives Sweetie and I a lot of gratification. We love to see people some singly or in pairs or in groups and have a good time riding the train, wading in Pele's lava, hang gliding, paddling in the canoe, getting inked by the squid, dancing high in the sky, or spending hours on the Devotion poseball at the entry.

Sometimes we say hello, and sometimes we just smile to ourselves. And occasionally a visitor will turn into a friend or will wind up living on Whimsy.

Lying in bed, we see dots on the screen and know people are having a good time below. Occasionally we turn up our draw distance and look at the ground from the grand height of 350 meters and check just to be sure no mischief is afoot, but mostly we just enjoy the idea of people enjoying themselves and take pride in the wonderful areas we have created.

We have small classifieds for Whimsy and the robot sanatorium on Whimsy Kaboom, but most of our visitors come because their friends told them about us. People have a good time here and want their friends to have a good time, too.

That changed night before last last when the robot sanitorium wound up on the editor's picks in the Linden showcase. Ever since then there's hardly been a minute when between two and six people haven't been poking around, turning themselves into robots or taking staff training, pressing buttons to lock down the building, operate the electromagnet, or open the roof.

Sweetie and I go up there in the evening to join in the fun and make sure the complex machinery is operating properly (for the most part it has been; I've made a couple of minor tweaks and improved signage where people tended to get confused). It's been great hearing people make robot-related jokes to one another. "You look like a tin can." "I think I'd best stay away from magnets." "My battery has a bad cell."

I'm happy to see the robot sanatorium put to such heavy use. It's what it was made for. Getting listed in Showcase generates more visitors, which gives us more satisfaction.

Sweetie and I have made awesome spaces, and it's a pleasure to share them.

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