An interview with LaLa Legend, proprieter of the virtual world Legend City Online

Posted by Bettina Tizzy

March 15, 2009 ping: It's been months since I or anyone else I know has logged in to Legend City Online. Does it still exist? Does anyone care? Sound off, please!

Update: Per Marianne McCann, and in a message dated November 22nd, Legend City Online's LaLa Legend posted a clarification of LCOs terms of service to the LCO message boards:

"A reminder of our Terms of Service and Code of Conduct in reference to age and the use of Kid Avatars. All services are mature, strictly for entertainment purposes and are designed for individuals 18 years of age or older. It is strictly prohibited to portray a child or child avie in the matrix of Legend City Online in any way shape or form -- use of such will be seen as a direct violation of our terms and your account will be terminated."

The LCO Terms Of Service, however, as vague on issue of age, only indicating that, "Legend City Online will not knowingly execute an Agreement with anyone under the age of 18. Persons under age 18 may not use the Service without the consent and supervision of their parent or legal guardian. We only provide MATURE land. If Customer chooses to permit a minor to use the Service, Customer agrees to (i) supervise minor's use of any and all MATURE land usage, (ii) assume all risks associated with the minor's viewing of content received through use of virtual land we offer, (iii) assume any and all liabilities, including payment for services, resulting from the minor's use of Legend City Online Services as specified in this Agreement."

The only statement in their Code of Conduct ó roughly analogous to Second Life's Community Standards ó is that "all services are mature, strictly for entertainment purposes and are designed for individuals 18 years of age or older."

Hmmm.

FAST FACTS ABOUT LEGEND CITY ONLINE:

* Legend City Online's website can be found here
* Opened for business on September 22, 2008
* Legend City Online was formerly known as Central Grid
* Registration is free
* It is a registered US Company. The name has been trademarked and the design is under copyright.
* The German "Xumeo" continent was added to the matrix on October 28, 2008
* As of November 15, Legend City had a total of 303 Regions: 181 public regions, 69 regions on the separate continent of Xumeo, and 53 private regions
* There were 5,214 registered accounts as of 9am November 15, 2008; 2,196 of which are unique accounts since Legend City's acquisition of Central Grid
* Legend City will not disclose what kind of physics engine it is using
* Textures R Us (TRU), Simone and Alady Shapes are setting up shop in Legend City even now
* The Hippo Viewer, as modified and developed by Mana Janus, is their most compatible viewer. You can download it for Windows, Linux, or Mac here


Many thanks to Jolly Jedburgh for bringing Legend City Online to my attention eleven days ago. On the surface, this virtual world looks a lot like Second Life®, but it is another grid altogether. The differences don't stop with the company name, either. Despite the harried pace of signing up many new residents and dealing with the extraordinary technical issues that one might expect for a brand new world, it's owner graciously agreed to an extensive interview.

LaLa Legend has been a resident of Second Life since just after Beta in 2003. She left shortly after because, "(I) didn’t get the concept of its awesomeness," and returned in 2004 going by the name LaLa Xevious. Today, LaLa is the owner of Legend City Online. LaLa would not disclose her real name.


LaLa Legend

How many new accounts can you handle immediately?

LaLa: 75,000 new accounts can be handled, at which point we will need to restructure our database.

How large is your staff and what are their hours of operation?

LaLa: We have staff of 8 core team members as well as a small staff of volunteers working hard 24/7 to serve our community.

Why should we believe that you will not disappear overnight? People would invest in your grid, buy land, create content and set up shops... why should we believe that you will still be around in five years?

LaLa: Why would you believe that Second Life® would be? Our promise to our customer is this: We are working to create a lasting environment, where people can come and realize their goals and dreams at Legend City Online. We plan to be here for the long term.

Where is your funding coming from and will you be able to raise sufficient funds to maintain a state-of-the-art grid no matter what its growth might be?

Our funding is coming from multiple sources, and is stable enough to maintain our matrix as we are faced with the challenges that all I.T companies face in an ever changing market.

How long ago did you add a currency/economy and do you plan to keep it to Lindens? (This question was posed before I realized that the "L" I was seeing in my client related to the Hippo Viewer I was using, and not Lindens)

LaLa: We have enabled currency from day one. Our currency, the Legend $Ð has never been tied to the Linden$, nor will it be. In fact, the Legend $Ð trades at a different U.S rate than the Linden.

Understanding Legend City's currency

* Legend City's currency uses this symbol: $Ð
* Plans are in the works to establish a full-blown exchange
* You can purchase Legend dollars at Legend ATMs in Second Life. $1,000Lindens will buy you $Ð666 Legend dollars
* Notably, uploading a texture costs you $Ð10



Like every start-up, some growing pains are glaringly in evidence. This building is adjacent to the Legend City welcoming area

What are your biggest technical challenges, at present?

LaLa: Legend City is burdened with many technical issues. This is pioneering work, and there will be problems, which we will solve as we go along. We are, however, not changing things for change's sake, and we are listening to our users about the user experience they would like to have and about the steps we have to take to get there. Please bear in mind that this is a very complex endeavor and there are many things in Legend City that, in this form, have never been done before. Making Legend City a world enjoyable for it's residents is our highest goal.

More on Xumeo, the German continent...

Xumeo is a separate continent/grid available by teleport only from Legend City. It is planned as an All German speaking environment including currency, blue box dialogs, and all in world communication and signage. The two main regions there are Willkommen and Willkommen 2.



Xumeo is very PIRL and urban




Country cabins, perhaps? These were found on Xumeo


What are your thoughts on governance? Do you welcome all communities (child avatars, Gor, BDSM)?

LaLa: We welcome people from all walks of life. Of course we expect everyone that comes to our community to be respectful of each other’s choices. As well as expect that all activities are legal.

Are groups working well yet? (In fact, since I posed this question, my own experience has been that while you can create a group, it is not yet possible to add additional members. In other words, groups in Legend City have one member).

LaLa: Group implementation is a work in progress and is not complete yet. However, we are the only world offering groups at all.


Legend City newbies


There are eight avatars you can choose from upon registration: four male and four female. Here I am (also Bettina Tizzy) within two minutes of rezzing in Legend City Online


Once in-world, you can pick up any and all of the eight freebie avatars at the welcoming area

* Friend people when they are in your presence. Even so, they may not show up on your friends list. Search does not work yet.
* To change any of your body parts, go to your inventory and create a new part. Then wear it and go into appearance to begin modifying it.


Newbie look-alikes abound


Skins and eyes are already for sale on the Barrows region


My own experience has been that female avatars seem to outnumber male avatars nine to one

Newbie navigation tips:

* While it doesn't always happen, you may find that your avatar begins to bounce. One way to prevent the ensuing sea-sickness is to set your avatar to "fly"
* Sometimes you will find that the ground seems to swallow you up whole. Again, set your avatar to "fly" and you'll be back above ground again
* A teleport can be a dangerous thing. If you are meeting friends, be sure to agree on a spot before you attempt that teleport.


Sometimes the grid performs admirably and all seems perfect. You can even dance!


I have had a giggle over my avatar becoming a contortionist at times. Major lag spikes are not uncommon.


When do you expect to add voice and what protocol do you plan to use?

LaLa: We currently have no plans of adding voice because there are no technologies available to us that meet our standards. However, as our technologies develop, we will certainly look at including this feature.

Are you working with standard back-end protocols for everything?

LaLa: OpenSim is based on standard back-end protocols. These include http, xmlrpc and REST (Representational State Transfer). So the answer to your question is yes, we are working with the standard back-end protocols for everything.

Legend City Online's pricing structure and prim allocations are as follows:

Basic Private MiGs (Mini Grids) include 2 Regions for the $500 buy in pricing. Tier fees will remain at $85 per month.

Custom Private MiGs (Mini Grids) include 4 Regions for the $1000 buy in pricing.

Traditional Regions are priced at $100 with $100 a month tier. These regions have 20,000 prims and prims are scaleable to 256x256x256m

Open Space Regions are $25. Prim limit is set at 3750 and only 10x10x10m prims are allowed.


Do all scripts work on your grid? Which ones don't and do you plan to provide support for them soon? How soon?

LaLa: Of the 360+ functions, most have been implemented but not fully. The most notable exception is physics. Physics act somewhat differently and vehicle physics are not implemented yet. However, simple scripts like pose balls, doors and teleporters are very likely to work, with more complex ones needing a bit of a touch-up in places, but to know for sure you just have to try it. That’s what this is all about! Testing to see what works and needs to be tweaked.


Jolly Jedburgh tested particles in the sandbox. No one appears to be using the sandbox to learn how to build. They already know how

What are your policies on content theft, IP protection, etc.?

LaLa: As we continue to grow at such a rapid pace with new people coming to our community at mind boggling speeds, I have been made aware of the issues that other grids are plagued with at this time. It is this that has prompted me to address this issue head on and make public what my protocols for this will be.

Unlike other virtual environments, we have a zero tolerance for Content Theft or Infringement of rights in any way shape or form. With this zero tolerance come a few concerns I have as the owner of Legend City, as well as a person that creates content.

I want to say that we have taken precautions to make sure that the casual bot or copy bot being used on "our" grid is not possible.

This, we know, does not stop the uploading of content that may or may not be stolen from other grids. With this being said the following protocol will take place if the issue arises:

1. The content creator/s, themselves, MUST be the root of ANY complaint or suspicion for questionable items on the matrix of Legend City Online.

Although we appreciate those who want to keep an eye out for content theft, we will NOT respond to nor condone "witch-hunts" or arbitrary cries of theft from overzealous residents - period.

We do not feel it is fair to incite unfair or unjustified "doubt or suspicion" in anyone's products until it can be proven that the questionable content is being distributed improperly.

2. It will further be the responsibility of said content creator to provide proof of ownership and copyright and/or intellectual property registration. Without this information, your content may be unprotected. Watermarking should be kept on file with our administration.

3. An investigation of questionable content will take place for all sources to be discovered. If a justification cannot be made or it is deemed that content was intentionally stolen for ANY purpose, then this content will be banished from the matrix of Legend City Online.


The Eve region, created by Taarna Wells, is attractive.









Humps Place is a region on the westernmost coast of the Legend City continent.


Humps Place


Good to know: Moving your creations from one grid to another

According to Melanie Milland who owns the Xumeo continent, Second Inventory is having some trouble with sculpty transfers into Legend City.

Second Inventory is a 3rd Party Software that allows you to save your creations from one virtual environment directly to your hard drive, and then restore them in other grids. It costs € 29,00.

In conversation, Melanie indicated that you can NOT download a sculptmap from Second Life even if you have it in your inventory as an original, and re-upload it (in Legend City). In her words, "It WILL be broken. You need to take the same file you originally uploaded to SL and upload it. Saving it from your SL inventory to your hard disk is not lossless in itself. It changes the file."


Melanie Milland

See also:

LaLa Xevious' thread on SL Universe


Mana Janus (best known for developing the Hippo Viewer) has already set up a couple of businesses in Legend City, including MJM Lab (it sells a sim-wide teleporter), as well as Christmas trees