A sad thing on the Welcome...

You know the "Welcome to SL" card that gets handed out to anyone arriving at the WA?

The VERY TOP line is now "To purchase additional L$ currency, choose 'Help -> Purchase L$'."

Now, fair enough, but no mention of any of the other ways of making money (money trees, c***ing c***rs, etc). It doesn't even mention making stuff - and yes, there are new folks who don't know about that, I've talked to them.

You might argue "well, of course LL are going to promote things that make them money". I'd respond with "yes, but they make less money selling L$ than selling premiums, and having that right there is likely to scare off new users who will think SL's a money sink". As I've mentioned before, I have a theory that absolute newcomers won't even see SL as a community yet, just as a single game experience, and won't understand the role of L$ properly, which makes that an even worse thing for them..

Somehow I think buying a few dollars worth of "play money" is better for the end-user experience than directing them to sit in a chair for 24 hours for the same amount.

Which is more interactive, and at the end, more inviting to the consumer?

Hint: not moving isn't fun.

LF

6 times out of ten, the first question a newbie asks me is "How can I get money?" The second question (for about 3 out of ten of those) is "Where can I buy some money?" - assuming the newbie came in as a result of mainstream media coverage.

I'm guessing that they're not all reading that notecard.

It's a popular question, like it or not, and although I don't ask it, it sure gets asked loads.

It's how I tell what brought someone to us. If they ask about currency first, then they're here as a result of something in the mainstream media. If they don't, then they saw a banner advert, were referred by a friend, or somesuch.

Smaaaart. But then again, I wouldn't expect otherwise from you, Girl Genius!

I think that's a perfectly valid bit of help for new users. One of my first live help questions, during my first week, was exactly that.

I think the easier it is for a new player to get/buy $L, the higher the likelyhood is that they'll become a regular player.

You've got to experience the world before you can start to help create it. For a lot of people, that means purchasing things that make their SL more fun and interesting.

I'd rather someone chill out in SL for a few months and then begin a business (if that's what they desire to do) then feel that they have to try to start making money right away because there's no easy way to get it otherwise. That's just frustrating.

That's a very good point. I don't know how effective you can be in business here if you start in your first few weeks. All of my major business decisions were based on my experience with good and bad products I'd scored after six months as a resident. You shouldn't be coming to a virtual world to be bored or to start working -- you should be coming to escape.

I started the prelim work for my business on day four, and opened the store on day six. I don't do all that well. Bit of a niche market and all that, but that plus my stipend pays for the donations I make, and the money-tree I feed. Helping folks and supporting good events represents a cash drain.

I'm not really here for the business. Just to do enough business to support the other things I do

And if you're happy with that, then you're doing what you're supposed to be doing. I just don't think such a saltmine mentality is effective for the vast majority of people who come here.

I think for so many, they've just spent eight hours bringing home their bacon in some form or another. Knowing how to convert a tiny pinch of their existing bacon into Linden Bacon would be far more palletable than being told that their best bet is to learn how to make money all over again. Not fun!

Concur! But as I always tell people. You don't need money to have fun here, unless the only things in SL you find fun are the things that cost money.

That's a great point too. I've never understood the wildly absolute need some folks seem to have for money in SL. There were times early on where I bought one large item a month and otherwise spent no money at all, instead preferring to putter around my sky apartment amusing myself with the build tools and such. Other times I decided I wanted to do some vehicle collecting, and spent a good deal at once.

In any case, none of it was need based. Without any life-or-death needs, what's the big deal?

I think av appearance is a big factor. By rights it "shouldn't" be, but it often is: in WoW, for instance, 80% of players play Alliance, and 70% of those players play Night Elves or Humans, which has largely been attributed to them having better-looking avatars (by conventional standards, of course). And that's in a game where there aren't other people making money modelling.

No-one wants to come into a social environment and feel ugly (and before anyone posts any "perfect little barbie doll" retorts, I mean ugly by their own standards of what's good-looking). That can hurt escapism pretty badly.

Of course, in SL this kind of thing is a "luxury" - but that's a pretty heavy virtual-world difference, compared to the real world where at least paying some attention to your looks is mandated by social more. Yes, SL avatars don't have BO, hair in inappropriate places or stains on their clothing, but that only means that the social more passes on to the things which do take a "minimum" amount of effort. Getting used to the idea that this is a world in which if you want to be a dancer, you don't have to look good before applying for the job because your boss can give you a new body, can take some time; realising that there are people out there who will do that takes a leap of faith.

But it's similar to a discussion I had with Tateru last night - a better way is to find out what you want, then start making social contacts related to it. If you need L$, you'll find out; if you don't, you'll find that out too.

Individuality is part of the learning curve. Even if I handed a brand new resident L$5000 and told her to go wild, she still wouldn't look as good as people who have known the landscape and options for months. This really isn't a function of money as much as it is a function of familiarity with the tools and options available.

(nodnod)

However, knowing that is also a result of having experience.

To a newbie, they see folks looking better than they do, and mall after mall of av customization items priced out of their reach - what are they going to conclude?

I teach a newbie class every other Saturday. There's a few things I tell them about lindens:

1) don't spend any money here for a month except if you are buying the big boxes of freebies at Yadni's or elsewhere for 1L each

1a) Lots of people will try to get your money because you are an unsuspecting newb. See point 1.

2) jobs pay about .40 cents an hour in real dollars. do something because you have fun doing it -- not to make money

3) shopping in SL is fun. if you can afford it, after a month, buy the lindens. As much as you want. I then run through the linden suppliers. I've had experience with Ansche, LindenX, SLexchange and IGE. IGE was troublesome and time consuming. They insisted on calling my house, sending mulitple emails to multiple addresses and meeting me in game. The others were painless and professional.

I think there needs to be more emphasis put on the fact that LindeX and the others are exchanges, not shops selling L$.

A new user coming inworld thinking it is a game may well be put off simply because they have to BUY more L$. It should be more clear that all they're really doing is exchanging one currency for another, then if they get bored with SL they can exchange back again.


If you go on vacation to another country you would expect to exchange your money for the local currency. I get the impression that a lot of new users here expect to be given all the "play money" they might need...

Very interesting point! Probably deserves more emphasis.