A new resident buddy system? Thoughts?

Oh, and I would like to point out that this would reduce your "griefing" problems by a rather large amount.
Once you establish a relationship with a person or a group of persons they tend to be a bit reserved about showing aggresive actions towards them.. (not always but most of the time)

And i HATE FRIGGING TRAFFIC numbers. Doesn't mean good product, doesn't mean ppl are even there.. -.- to me its just a lie and some hyped up cheap advertisment on their part.

I think it's interesting how you put something like market and social behaviour into one sentence. Its about people... not about business and also not about any corner.



I speak insofar broadly that the most basic promiss of SL is freedom. And any *forced* experience beyond the absolut basics to get used to the sl client and its behaviour and posibilities is a break of this promiss.

And even if this experience of being group social had been offered during creation of ones account... would you have accepted it? There was (at least for me) the offer of having a greeter... but do there exist working offers beyond that for new residents? And would you have accepted those... or how can people who need that be recognized by a software for an account signup... and be forced to choose that? Any answers that are not guesswork?

I don't know what you expect from the foundation of the sl world. To sort out ones own personal social behaviour that already exists for the person in rl? I have high doubts that this will work.



There are already lots of groups of similar interest. Easy to join the ones of topic specific interest. Unfortunately not every group really works...
I am in a german furry group and it is my best group experience so far. I consciously decided against the mainstream german group around the Dreamland community "Die Insel" as I believe that minorities are far more interesting and tollerant than others.



The quote I reacted to was different. You said something about a forced social experience... for some people. Who are these? Do they already have to know themselves that they want to be forced? And to what? Joining a group of people who are also new. Does this really help new people in a way to go on the freebie hunt and sort out 90 percent junk from the junkyard or what?

I was in a big group with regular traffic (but no personal meetings)... and I left it disappointed. The traffic gave no real benefit to me even if I was interested in the topic. Other topic bound groups might be more useful.
So my group experience is mixed. And a new resident group has to organize them also in a way to make it work.



I am not sure if this feeling of "permission" works for a longer time.
This seems to me like psychological trickery... and as most psychological stuff isn't really proven... I have my doubts.

I think that all residents have in general a lot of *social* permissions. And if one thinks not to have them... well... it's only in the persons head.



I just can repeat myself. This permission thing exists only in the head of the people who are pertained by it. The basic concept of sl is plenty of freedom and lots of anonymity. And that includes these permissions to state whatever one wants, anytime, everywhere including stuff like "Impeach Bush"... one has to deal with the reaction of the others (e.g. the group).

And it is speculative if a group of new residents is really better with that... as they have all sorts of backgrounds, already learned knowledge of creation and building elsewhere, plenty of other online gaming experience or more time to spent in-world to experience more and develop faster...

But I have seen a group of shy people and a group especially founded to overcome this as well. You see that these are specific offers to help overcome this...

My point is: Preserve the freedom of new people and provide offers for better overall integration and development paths for them, especially those who come here curious but don't want to commit right from the start.
And no... this shouldn't be a business or a market in the first kind.

You do understand what "opt-in" means, don't you Leffard?

I'd Be interested in this buddy system To Provide freebie bundles/items and Be willing to even provide Free Teaching inless you would want to pay me a small fee for my time I take to take if not thats Ok since I am basicly offering to do it for free ^-^ I love teaching, Hope the place will be Furry Friendly?

Back a while ago I asked my in game SO what to do with this lake sim I didn't really know what to do with. The lake is going away (god I hope soon), but the idea ties in with this thread, so here goes.

His idea was to set up a sim that was sort of a new user orientation area, not like the welcome area, but a place with really low rent housing, possibly free for the first x weeks, then really cheap for x more weeks, until they were too old to live in the sim any more. The housing would surround a central town sort of area with a basic (in my world a non-xxx one, but ymmv) club, a park, a small mall with vendors that have stuff priced lower for new users, freebie stuff set about and most importantly would have teaching stations, landmarks to great places to see around SL for learning and fun, and at least us as more experienced users to talk to.

The downside is it would have to be a labor of love because the mall as proposed would hardly be particularly lucrative, but for 30-60 days a certain number of folks would have a safe haven to explore and learn from. If I ever get SL rich, I'm all over it.

In the meantime, I would be interested in being in a rotation as, if not an official SL mentor, an experienced user added to a buddy group say once a month or once a quarter, depending on how many hours I ended up spending with the group and over how many days/weeks.

Char

I'll be a newbie buddy!

I think this was an attempt to hash out another way to foster this integration.

I also think that Ingrid, just as I have, has seen many posts from new people wondering how to find a connection and feeling daunted by a sense of not belonging or having a hard time "breaking through".

I agree that forcing new people into anything isn't a great idea, but an opt-in system could provide someone benefit.

I also think that learning with others on your same level can make it less intimidating and fun. I would rather err with other July 13 n00bs than by myself while a cranky Gabe watches and notes that he figured it out, so you can too.

You are right if my last post is a bit off the point and arguments don't take opt-in really into account. I have to admit that as soon as I hear things like *force* or *trick* or *system* or *plan* in conjunction with social things I quickly become doubts and are against it.

I have here a wiki with opt-in as a permission marketing so people have to agree being part of something (and be able to leave anytime). For me then opt-in is obvious and, as I see it, is already part of the group system and other things.

I see here that a system is discussed that can become an official place on the website during account creation. But who gives the approval for that... and says this really works.
And how can be assured that this does not become once more an official issue maker like other things that became in some way official.

My personal opinion is that social things are difficult to be planned to the degree of detail people are already planning here.
The buddie-for-new-residents culture seems to me a good thing... something like a regular social contact in sl for new people... but I would rather prefer people to practice this culture instead of planning... to see what really works and how it can work.
And therefore decisions on an individual base as the new residents develop their life in sl.

But one difficulty is how to bring new residents with future buddies together. An interesting example here is the scripters mentor page in the lsl wiki here:
http://secondlife.com/badgeo/wakka.php?wakka=ScriptingMentors

This example works only for a small number of people who provide their time to new scripters...

Therefore I can think of an attachment supported buddy and contact exchange for new residents. Older residents who want to spend time with new residents can use the supplied attachment (and perhaps can provide a categorie, their timezone and languages and an own one sentence description).
... their names are stored in an sl external (via web mechanisms).

New residents who have interest in contact residents who are already there can wear a contact finder attachment to find residents who are in-game right at the moment (by categorie)... and can contact them (and see what happens).

I would see it as a free contact bazaar offer for new residents. With enough new resident volunteer buddies and a working software... this can be placed at a public spot at the welcome areas as offer for new residents.