So, as usually, there is nothing on the board so I’m going to stir the pot. I have noticed a C:SI combat SIM with the rule that no AO are allowed during combat and another C:SI SIM in which they are thinking of making it a rule as well. I asked someone why that is, and without giving names, this person told me that it lags your opponent. There was also a case at Meiji where a returning C:SI player was asked to remove there AO and when they said no, her opponent told her that no one will spar her with an AO on.
I have done some research into this. When I first started the rule for AO’s was, An AO should never hide the animations of the C:SI weapon. There has been a lot of discussion on the Forum a page back.
“AO's cause server-side lag rather than client-side lag, i.e. they don't lower framerate, they cause the type of lag where it feels like you're running through molasses and people float across the sim. Taking off one AO in a sim where there are 30 people standing around with AO's isn't really going to make a difference. Also, since it's server lag both you and your opponent are supposedly experiencing the same lag, so it evens out. It's different with something like prim hair where it might lag your opponent but not yourself since you don't see it in mouselook. “
There has also been a case about removing shoes as they may conceal scripts but this is the case with anything prim. I’ve said before that perhaps if our avatars were naked, hairless and fighting with a plywood stick we may cut lag down even further. At what point due we say its just a game and not worry about winning? If you feel its unfair, why not just stop?
Perhaps we should have a set tournament rule for those “serious” fighters and let other that want to enjoy beautiful graphics, tumbling in the air with here cape flowing be allowed also?
I can certainly understand the desire to want to provide the smoothest experience possible to the largest number of people possible, and it's not at all surprising that some people will want to try to standardize on a set of 'rules' that they think will facilitate that.
It's also quite natural that not everyone will agree that any single set of rules makes sense, especially since everyone's priorities are going to be slightly different.
Fortunately for all of us, there are enough places to gather and fight to provide for a very wide range of tastes. There are hard-core fighting sims with explicit ARC requirements, and free-form RP sims where combat is among the lowest priorities, and many others somewhere in-between.
Well lets be honest, there is no real need or point to spar with an AO on, is there? Does it actually bring anything to the game? Nearly all of 'us' out there are counting prims and turning off as much as we can. Generally affecting how SL looks and feels to a greater or lesser degree for ourselves. We have all seen users with slightly dodgey AO's which obviously affect gameplay and we have all met people loaded with scripts. It's the way of things I guess! However I can't see that removing an AO to spar would detract from the actual game itself. Surely it's playing and not looking cool that counts! Now where is my gazzilion prim diamond encrusted outfit....
AO's do sometimes hide the C:SI animations. That can be real bothersome when you land and are sliding across staring at the ground for a second because of an animation. That had happened to me when I first started playing. I hate running around like a noob though. So, I made a "combat" setting for my AO. It pretty much only changes my run, jump, walk, and stand. None of which will mess you up in a fight. But, people gotta whine about something right? lol Let's have a play date with our swords! >:D
