Yeah, not the prims, the people.
Why is it that morons with particle scripts giong full-tilt, no shirts on, and titles like "I AM SO HORNY" are allowed to march around the WA anymore? It's barely-contained chaos.
Case in point: Bling-tard with no shirt on and a club title is walking around, and has at LEAST 6 separate particle scripts on him; he's on fire, he's glowing, he's exploding hearts, and he's oozing something green.
"hey, got enough particles?"
"me?"
"yes, you. turn them off please."
"me?"
"..."
"me?"
... and so on. He's obviously there just to be an asshole, but there's no way to get rid of him.
I try to go to the WA to help out noobs from time to time, but I just can't stomach it anymore. People come there and drag out their dirty laundry, trash talk, cuss, and basically make an ass of themselves while newbies "get off the boat", as it were. This is ridiculous. One can only imagine how many people logged in, saw the jerry-springer carnival going on, and left immediately.
Even if there's a Linden there, nothing happens to these people who are obviously there for no other reason than to be loud and obnoxious.
Perhaps the time has come to make the WA an invite-only area? Only Live Helpers, Lindens, Liasons, and MEntors can go there, as well as less-than-2-week-old newbies? It would clear out the morons, remove any attempt at hardcore club advertising, and might clean up the newbie experience a fair bit.
Ellis Island should not be where the freakshows go to play.
LF
Welcome to the Second Life Forums Archive
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Clean up the WA... |
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Lordfly Digeridoo
Prim Orchestrator
Join date: 21 Jul 2003
Posts: 3,628
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03-14-2005 10:56
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http://www.lordfly.com/ http://www.twitter.com/lordfly http://www.plurk.com/lordfly |
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Khamon Fate
fategardens.net
Join date: 21 Nov 2003
Posts: 4,177
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03-14-2005 11:02
Perhaps the time has come to make the WA an invite-only area? Only Live Helpers, Lindens, Liasons, and MEntors can go there, as well as less-than-2-week-old newbies? this is an excellent idea and should apply to the entire sim. they'll have to put a telehub in darkwood though, unless they move the welcome center permanently to waterhead which is also a most premium idea. _____________________
Visit the Fate Gardens Website @ fategardens.net
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Ingrid Ingersoll
Archived
Join date: 10 Aug 2004
Posts: 4,601
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03-14-2005 11:06
I was there last night... it was pretty depressing. Invite only, I agree.
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Talen Morgan
Amused
Join date: 2 Apr 2004
Posts: 3,097
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03-14-2005 11:07
This is really unfortunate as there are many people who go there with the idea to greet and help newbies get comfortable with SL and it would suck for the player base that do go there to help out to be excluded. Last time I was there I witnessed a full out catfight over a man and the whole time newbs were gettin spit out and wondering what the hell is going on.
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Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day...set a man on fire and he'll be warm the rest of his life
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Oz Spade
ReadsNoPostLongerThanHand
Join date: 23 Sep 2003
Posts: 2,708
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03-14-2005 11:08
Good points, and I don't disagree, but what about helpfull users who don't belong to any of those groups, and don't want to join?
Part of the thing that makes/made the WA so great was that it was the open feeling of a welcoming group from all walks of life to hang out. While its harder on LL, I'd more say the solution is a harder stance on such things, have a Linden stationed at the WA during the busiest times, they don't handle anything else but the WA. Someone pulls out something thats not allowed, they drop a notecard on them with the rules and punt them. The perfect solution is one in which anyone can still come to help out, but no one can come and be a total asswipe either. _____________________
"Don't anticipate outcome," the man said. "Await the unfolding of events. Remain in the moment." - Konrad
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Ingrid Ingersoll
Archived
Join date: 10 Aug 2004
Posts: 4,601
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03-14-2005 11:09
I went there to give away a few things I didn't need anymore and to help a bit. But I couldn't stay long, I ran back to the suburbs to hide.
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Michi Lumin
Sharp and Pointy
Join date: 14 Oct 2003
Posts: 1,793
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03-14-2005 11:13
While I don't know about 'invite only', - and I know it'd be tough for more enforcement to go on - I have to agree. Ahern's WA is a HORRIBLE first impression for most newbies now.
Yes, there are folks that wait for people to 'pop out' so they can help them; there are also folks who wait for people to pop out so they can -insult- them. There have to have been some subscription losses here; and I'm concerned that it's acting like a filter in the worst way: Those who don't like that sort of behavior, they leave. Those who like the WA's current demeanor, they stay. I'm not sure what the solution is. People aren't goin to like 'invite only'. But I'm sure it can be better than it is now. |
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Burke Prefect
Cafe Owner, Superhero
Join date: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 2,785
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03-14-2005 11:18
Well. You guy's remember what Stephenson said.... about giant talking penises.
We need a Linden who specifically works the WA and can enforce rules. |
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Marcos Fonzarelli
You are not Marcos
Join date: 26 Feb 2004
Posts: 748
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03-14-2005 11:27
Welcome Area sigh
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Ghoti Nyak
καλλιστι
Join date: 7 Aug 2004
Posts: 2,078
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03-14-2005 11:27
Yeah, Ahern is aweful lately. Really, it needs someone with authority (aka a Linden) posted there 24/7 to enforce good manners (or the SL equivalent).
-Ghoti _____________________
"Sometimes I believe that this less material life is our truer life, and that our vain presence on the terraqueous globe is itself the secondary or merely virtual phenomenon." ~ H.P. Lovecraft
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Talen Morgan
Amused
Join date: 2 Apr 2004
Posts: 3,097
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03-14-2005 11:33
You would figureThe Lindens would take the Welcome area more seriously from a business standpoint. This an avaters first community experience and most likely they will judge the world and if its worth spending on because of this first impression....you never get a second chance at first impressions.
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Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day...set a man on fire and he'll be warm the rest of his life
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Forseti Svarog
ESC
Join date: 2 Nov 2004
Posts: 1,730
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03-14-2005 11:39
invite-only seems the only economically efficient method to me, much as i dig giving a newbie advice now and again and would miss the opportunity.
Keeping it open, and allowing the lindens, mentors, liasons (anyone of official or semi-official status) to ban, would still be too inefficient because of protests "why was i banned?" etc posting a linden there 24x7 does not strike me as economically reasonably for Linden Lab to have to undertake, not when the first option exists. but yes, I also don't know why LL hasn't done something about this. |
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Surreal Farber
Cat Herder
Join date: 5 Feb 2004
Posts: 2,059
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03-14-2005 11:40
I was in the WA last week trying to find something and this asshat started following me around, stepping on me, bumping me... little virtual stalker action. In general being a big asshole.
If that was my first experience in SL, it would have been my last. _____________________
Surreal
Phobos 3d Design - putting the hot in psychotic since 2004 Come see our whole line of clothing, animations and accessories in Chaos (37, 198, 43) |
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Rose Karuna
Lizard Doctor
Join date: 5 Jun 2004
Posts: 3,772
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03-14-2005 11:53
I noticed this too - I go and hang out in the Dore WA sometimes and of recent, I have really seen some things that had I been a new person may have discouraged me from going much further in SL.
I am at a loss as to what I should do when I see this sort of thing too. Often, someone has already abuse reported the situation but it dosen't undo the damage. A couple of times some of the conversations that I saw were so incoherent and abusive I was pretty sure that the person was drinking (or something). I think that some bling at the welcome gate is interesting, for example when I first arrived I saw people with wings of fire and people with animated faries and animals and I thought "Wow" this is really cool. I remember Jon Morgan dancing around as Sponge Bob and Ethan Therian's air ship landing and taking people for rides. Some time back I seem to remember Robin suggested creating an SL meeting place for people - I think this is a great idea. I'd recommend a low lag, mature area so that people coming to pick up someone are free express their desire. That would help keep some of the behavior at the WA on a more PG level. Being welcomed by interesting residents who have built and scripted awesome AV's is cool but rezing into the middle of a what appears to be a lifestyles convention or a take off on the war between the SL Hatfields & McCoy's can be a bit daunting to a newbie. _____________________
I Do Whatever My Rice Krispies Tell Me To
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blaze Spinnaker
1/2 Serious
Join date: 12 Aug 2004
Posts: 5,898
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03-14-2005 11:56
Nah. Just make it so anyone who is causing problems gets banned from the parcel.
If someone is causing problems, then you abuse report them and the lindens should be ready to act quickly and swiftly. After a few troublemakers are kicked, people will get the message. Live helpers is a really dumb idea. I find the people on live helper to be pretty rude and they'd make a terrible face for SL.. They are a raw example of why LL should avoid getting into relationships with residents. _____________________
Taken from The last paragraph on pg. 16 of Cory Ondrejka's paper "Changing Realities: User Creation, Communication, and Innovation in Digital Worlds :
"User-created content takes the idea of leveraging player opinions a step further by allowing them to effectively prototype new ideas and features. Developers can then measure which new concepts most improve the products and incorporate them into the game in future patches." |
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Schwanson Schlegel
SL's Tokin' Villain
Join date: 15 Nov 2003
Posts: 2,721
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03-14-2005 11:57
I think lag in the WA needs to be addressed as well. People go there in vehicles, wearing the particles, hoochie hair, and 100+ prim attachments. I too have done this, but it creates the worst lag in SL. This is not a great way to start off your SL experience, in a sim thats at 50 FPS.
I love to visit Ahern and hang out, but perhaps the time has come to make it a invite only area. I think we have lost alot of potential players due to assinine behaviour and lag in the WA. _____________________
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Rose Karuna
Lizard Doctor
Join date: 5 Jun 2004
Posts: 3,772
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03-14-2005 12:05
Nah. Just make it so anyone who is causing problems gets banned from the parcel. If someone is causing problems, then you abuse report them and they linden's should be ready to act quickly and swiftly. After a few troublemakers are kicked, people will get the message. Live helpers is a really dumb idea. I find the people on live helper to be pretty rude and they'd make a terrible face for SL.. They are a raw example of why LL should avoid getting into relationships with residents. Blaze - I don't know who you got for live help but I have to say honestly that my experience with live help has been great. I've used them about five times to answer questions when I've been trying to build or upload and run into problems. Four times they were able to help, once they had to refer me to report a bug. The one time I have ever had to abuse report someone, I did so in the usual manner and waited for a Linden. After the Linden's took care of the issue, JennyFur (who showed up even though I did not call live help) helped me get rid of all of the things that the abuser dropped on my land as well as told me how to extract myself from the cage that the abuser saw fit to stick me in. I think that it is possible that people may expect more out of life help than they should. They are not the lindens and cannot ban someone or fix a bug but I have found that they try like heck to answer your questions and help you through problems encounted in SL when some features are lacking in documentation. Just my personal observation. _____________________
I Do Whatever My Rice Krispies Tell Me To
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Anjelle Lumiere
Lil Lost Brat
Join date: 6 Jun 2004
Posts: 128
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03-14-2005 12:35
I suddenly feel lucky.. When I first came here, the area was EMPTY. I know I would have ran away if I had walked into chaos. lol
There was some discussion with Haney at one point about creating a Newbie Isle. The general idea was to have a large "safe" area for noobs to not only first enter into.. but to be able to return to for a certain amount of time to meet up with other noobs... meet up with mentors, instructors, etc.. take classes.. have a sandbox area.. an area with notecards for help and FAQs.. a kind of Help Desk set up where Mentors/Instructors could be found to give immediate assistance (kind of like a face to face Live Help).. I was even thinking some merchants might be inclined to donate a few items to be placed in a Freebie area... so that we could help noobs with some of the most problematic issues they run into at first. (such as shopping, and buying and wearing a sign instead of that nice shirt on the front of the sign)  I believe the discussion was about setting up the island as a group deal to where it could be "patrolled" and kept in order.. noobs could return for 2-3 weeks after creation.. and group members could invite others in to assist or hold classes, etc. *shrug* We had a great initial discussion about it.. then nada.. |
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Annah Zamboni
Banannah Annah
Join date: 2 Jun 2004
Posts: 1,022
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03-14-2005 12:40
When I joined there were some cool people greeting us. No walking billboards or bling-bling. Even got a balloon tour from someone even though I was the only one on the ride at the time. The welcome area was nice. And yes I immediately ran to a place I found called Aqua Mall trying to redo my AV as fast as possible. I met my first true SL friend at the Aqua Mall. Wasnt there a thread about them redoing that area? Hmm..
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Schwanson Schlegel
SL's Tokin' Villain
Join date: 15 Nov 2003
Posts: 2,721
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03-14-2005 12:44
If there is any interest, I can set up a private island as a newbie training area.
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FlipperPA Peregrine
Magically Delicious!
Join date: 14 Nov 2003
Posts: 3,703
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03-14-2005 12:59
Here's a copy and paste from my rant / idea post in the "Educational Events" thread here: /120/85/38654/1.html
I believe the two problems are directly related: Another big problem is the current welcome area social dynamic. There used to be an unwritten rule about the welcome area... all grudges were checked at the gates to the welcome area, people knew to tone themselves down a bit, and there was a real team mentality about helping newcomers ease into the community. That is now completely gone. The welcome area is now, for the most part, more hideous than most clubs. The particle spam there is practically unbearable. You often have a bunch of recently-turned-18 years old there, particles running on full, typing in all caps, whose main goal it is in life seem to be ensuring you don't "disrespect them". This is a problem. The welcome area is not a club, a recruitment area or a whore house. Its supposed to be a friendly, social, educational area. Yes, fun, but not in the bootylicious sense of the word "fun". Just yesterday I was there, and I really hate what has happened to one of my favorite spots where I could relive the wide-eyed wonder I experienced my first time joining. Now, I fear, the Welcome Area brings out the worst in me some times as I try to explain to certain people what I believe the area is meant for... easing newcomers into the community and helping them. People seem to think its their own private island for some reason. This extends to the Stage 4 area, just meters away. It is no longer a fun, pleasant place to be with genuinely helpful people. These are just a few of the problems. I think Ahern / Morris should be closed as the spawn area. Keep it as a historical landmark; let people hang out there and do what they wish. That's what it is now. In the meantime, set the spawn area to be Waterhead. Encourage educational events at a new arena there. Eventually, I'd like to see multiple spawn areas based upon a choice at orientation island. Instead of having one teleport choice, have 20 posters. Let the new comers click one. If they click the poster of the Star Ship Enterprise, they get ported to the Sci-Fi Museum. If they click the guitar, they go to a musician's destination. If they click the "bling bling", they go somewhere appropriate. Any so on. They'll wind up in a destination they will enjoy, and most likely, get along well with the people there. Rotate the destinations based upon the number of people on that parcel at a given time, so there will be SOMEONE there. Perhaps have someone from the Greeting Team sign in to say, "This parcel is ready to receive"? Just some ideas and problems I've run into, and some ideas on how to win the Welcome Area back from these gobshites. Regards, -Flip _____________________
Peregrine Salon: www.PeregrineSalon.com - my consulting company
Second Blogger: www.SecondBlogger.com - free, fully integrated Second Life blogging for all avatars! |
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Bruno Buckenburger
Registered User
Join date: 30 Dec 2004
Posts: 464
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03-14-2005 12:59
I've said it before...
The WA is like the Los Angeles Greyhound bus station. It's disgusting and a freak show. For every one person there who has the best of intentions to help, there are 3-4 scumbags either out to scam newbies or hit on them. |
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Tang Lightcloud
Sweet & Juicy
Join date: 22 May 2004
Posts: 377
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Invite Only
03-14-2005 13:09
My first days in SL I was not welcomed. No one greeted me, met me, or offered to help me. Waves and I had come over from There - and my first impression was that I didnt like it. I was having a difficult time figuring out the interface and was angry about all the asshats in the Welcome Area standing around making fun of me. I couldnt believe the "Governor" would allow that to happen in his game.
To be honest, I would have left and never come back because of the attitude at the Welcome Area. The only reason I trodded on more was because Waves heard about the sex in SL.  We had not heard about the building, or the scripting, or all the other wonderful things we know about SL --- what we heard about was the sex and he wanted to see it. Well what can I say. . . we are adults an inquiring minds want to know. . .Obviously I learned my way around and enjoy it for ALL those other wonderful things. I even became a mentor to help the newbies like I should have been helped. But even today - 10 months later - I hate going to the Welcome Area because of the same ole crap going on there. Count my vote as "Invite Only". |
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eltee Statosky
Luskie
Join date: 23 Sep 2003
Posts: 1,258
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03-14-2005 13:16
There used to be a liason in the WA, at all times possible... If there were 4 liasons on, one was always in the welcome area, always... if there was one liason on, he would be in welcome unless he had an emergency call to be somewhere else... and yeah they would toss people bein idiots, turn off particle bomb scripts, etc.
They understood that this *IS* the first impression of the game, and made a real effort to ensure it was a good one for so many of us... then about when the big reuters article broke, stuff just started to break down... the liasons ended up spread more and more thinly, welcome was only rarely manned by a liason, often now liasons are online, but hidden on their liason land island unless called upon.. LL really should take the time, to come back and clean up the WA... it used to be a really very cool, and inviting place, and if you look at the number of people who stayed on with stories of their first night in welcome convincing to buy in, you'll probably find that *MANY* people older'n about 6-9 months that was probably the case _____________________
wash, rinse, repeat
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Nala Galatea
Pink Dragon Kung-Fu
Join date: 12 Nov 2003
Posts: 335
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03-14-2005 13:19
I suddenly feel lucky.. When I first came here, the area was EMPTY. I know I would have ran away if I had walked into chaos. lol There was some discussion with Haney at one point about creating a Newbie Isle. The general idea was to have a large "safe" area for noobs to not only first enter into.. but to be able to return to for a certain amount of time to meet up with other noobs... meet up with mentors, instructors, etc.. take classes.. have a sandbox area.. an area with notecards for help and FAQs.. a kind of Help Desk set up where Mentors/Instructors could be found to give immediate assistance (kind of like a face to face Live Help).. I was even thinking some merchants might be inclined to donate a few items to be placed in a Freebie area... so that we could help noobs with some of the most problematic issues they run into at first. (such as shopping, and buying and wearing a sign instead of that nice shirt on the front of the sign) I believe the discussion was about setting up the island as a group deal to where it could be "patrolled" and kept in order.. noobs could return for 2-3 weeks after creation.. and group members could invite others in to assist or hold classes, etc. *shrug* We had a great initial discussion about it.. then nada.. Don't see why this wouldn't be a wonderful solution. You'd probably have to make a separate listing in the events channel for "Orientation Isle" events, since it would only be accessible to newbies. Another thought. Any events that are held in this newbie place should automatically be set to "Notify" on the event calendar, with the option to turn it off. When I first came in, the only reason I knew about the help events was because it was announced, so this would help. |
