German Content Bids

I hope that the German part of SL will use EURO as currency and the time are set into German standard.


*evil grin*

Some very good points, Thorval. I aggree, that the language - and a consistent translation - is very important for a succces in the german market. Personally I see two big barriers for potential German (or othe non-US) residents:

1. The language. Many young Germans know a little English but are not "fluent" or feel secure expressing themselves in English.
   
2. The timezone. Just now the European community is not coherent enough to get enough events going at EU-compatible times.

I am NOT sure, if the language problem is really one of the clients user interface or the written communication in SL (which usually is not much anyway). Most younger Germans understand enough written English to handle that. I guess its more of a problem that their language skills are not sufficient for communicating with other residents in a relaxed way. And besides "creating", "communicating" is one of the most important success factors for SL.

So, I guess that even with a perfectly localized client, SL will need something more to be attractive to German (or French, Italien, Spanish, Japanese, Korean ...) residents. Some "obvious" spots to meet fellow Germans for example. And maybe some incentives or a little support for forming language specific groups.I aggree with you on that, too. But I would like to add that it may be necessary to give German sites a little more obvious "German Flavour". Otherwise such sites may be too interchangeable (like modern German downtown areas already are).

I admit, an SL Germany full of Lederhosen, Dirndl, Bier and Brez'n would not be my cup of tea.

But, even though my hometown does not sport a castle - and not many "Fachwerk" buildings, I would not rule out feeling at home living near a castle or meeting in one. And as much as I like the creative variety of SL, I would allways want to have my "home" in SL at a spot which has some kind of "Central/Northern European" flair. I am not sure, with how many residents I share this problem. Call me boring or old fashioned, but - as much as I like the mediterrenean areas of Europe or the desert regions of North America on a vacation - I want to "live" where it is green and the trees resemble what I find at home. In RL and in SL, too Thats what I like so much with some of Anshe's Dreamland sims.

Yes, good point!

The best user interfaces I've seen were those that you could switch to different languages on the fly, while the application was running... may not be possible with the SL viewer due to its inherent design.... but yeah, that would be awesome! Cuz a German user could simply swithc to US version while attending a class held in English, and then change back when s/he needs to....

But being able to choose during start-up would be cool too, maybe with a command-line switch similar to the existing ones (for starting with different alts etc.)

All good points. It doesn't even matter whether your feelings are shared by the majority or not - a German area or grid needs to cater for this taste, just as for other tastes, be they gothic, spacey, historic, futuristic, winter, summer, beach, mountain....

The fact is, there's no such thing as "the typical German" - plus, let's not forget our neighbours in Austria and Switzerland - there are about 90 million native German speakers in Central Europe, obviously featuring a LOT of variety in tastes and expectations!

So, yeah, even though I would not necessarily wanna live next to Neuschwanstein, it'd still be cool to fly around it and show it to my friends in game, or to new arrivals.... if nothing else, these things are great for conversation starters, be they appreciative or sarcastic

I don't want to sound to picky or quibbling, but I guess there are such things that would be called "typically German" - even by Germans or German speaking people all over the world. The question remaining is just "do those Germans like these typical German things? Would they be attracted by finding them in SL"

And thats a hard one. I have some opinions in it. You may have some ... Personally I don't have any problems with either Neuschwanstein, the Wewelsburg, the Cologne Cathedral, Heidelberg or Gearys buildings in Düsseldorf, the new sports arena in Munich or the Chancelors "palace" in Berlin. I would not wanne live in any of them, but the don't repulse me

But besides questions of preferred architectural style the most important points IMHO are still 1.) Language and 2.) Timezone. And I still don't believe that a localized client will help that much. It is important, yes. But much more important are ways and incentives to bring people together that speak my language. I dont want to argue in favour of a kind of ghettoisation. But I guess people need a kind of home turf where they can feel "at home" - and from which they might go out into the larger world.

You don't!!

OK I give you that. ´Maybe there's no such ting as "the typical German", but I do agree there are certain mannerisms and basic behaviour that Germans do display at times. I notice this myself, having lived abroad for 14 years - some stuff is sticking with me, no matter what!

Some very valid points.

1. The localised viewer is the first step, it prevents alienation right from the start, before the new user has set foot into the 3D world. But it's no more than that.

2. Timezone issues... I guess these will dissipate once there are more Europeans in the game. I am actually surprised how many Euro's I keep finding. Most are from the UK, but not all. But I do chat to all and sundry...

3. Gatherings with German language: This definitely will be the most difficult one. You are right, this will be of major importance to new arrivals. And we do need an architectual focal point for this.... just as some sort of beacon. But further than that, there are a couple of things we could do.

- Put a billboard in the landing area saying something like "Speaking German? Click me!!" and then the German newbie (let's call them "Neuchen", shall we? ...no, better "Neuling" gets a notecard with useful info, where to go and meet, who to IM for joining a German group (SL Deutschland already exists), maybe a timetable of regular German welcome events....

- German-speaking greeters are essential, I think. (up to the Lindens.)

- LiveHelp could go multilingual too... (up to the Lindens as well.)

- Regular German events in the Events listing.

I'm sure there's more, but my brain just crashed.

Hehe why not! And we charge our North American visitors extortionate exchange rates for changing their L$ to L€.... and then confuse them with the 24-hour-clock. "Noooo, 17.00h iz not 7pm dude!!! German Trinko waz TWO hourz ago!!!"

We also need European football jerseys so we can re-enact German, Dutch and English hooligans fighting in Düsseldorf while the Irish and Danes drink themselves senseless in the pubs... aaah the pleasures of old Europe!!!

I have put out the current (english language) versions of the orientation island stations at Brampton 168, 211 for whomever would like to use those as reference for the design of the Orientation space. Feel free to redesign the stations and include them in your bid if you want.

ben

I would love to see a United States Orientation Island created by Germans (or Japanese or other non-U.S. nationals). I'm envisioning cowboy hats, super-sized fast food, and SUVs as far as the eye can see.

An interesting idea - which might lead to some funny results, yes ...

I would prefer the Golden Gate Bridge, though. Or a nice rebuild of Manhattan. Diner culture. Martha's Vineyard. Carmel ... Thats much more "American" to me than a cowboy hat. But tastes and opinions difffer

how about ridiculous queueing to get almost strip searched for an hour to be greeted by a large sign: "welcome to california-sim, the first [enter vice of your choice]-free Sim in SL" ?
but more positively:
new england style town, golden gate, key west, miami beach, french quarter, grand canyon, (no not vegas, vegas is a pile of bovine manure against SL), Ayers Rock, niagara, 50´s themed stuff, etc.
(what do you mean Ayers Rock is in Australia? thats the same continent, innit?(trying to shoot back on geographical ignorance, scnr))

Don't forget George Foreman grills, and the ever so trendy dog pants!

I made the first german sims publicly viewable this afternoon - if you want to jump in and take a look at what the landscape will look like, go for it, they are a group of 6 sims south of the main grid.

These sims will likely change before we are all done, but this should give an idea of where we are headed. I put some blocks down where I think the bidded content should go.

On another note - I will be on vacation next week, so I won't be around to answer questions in the forums or in world - if you have something that needs asking, please email me at [email]ben@lindenlab.com[/email] and I will try to get back to you.

ben

Woooot! Wooot! Germans now have a second home zone on the grid (besides Anshe's two german sims). I have been there tonite (german time).

First man on the Moon - oops - On the German subgrid?:original footage here

Looks a littel barren right now, but I am sure that will change soon, when the winning proposal for the new German WA is implemented.

Nice! Six sims, that's great!

I'm guessing wildly here, but it looks a little bit like the "Deutsches Eck" in Koblenz, doesn't it? And I've only been there once!

Can't wait to see it filled with content. Good luck to the winner of the bid!

Nope! I was there around 6:04 PM (PST).

Was rather boring though, but nice landscaping job!

LOL, let me check. I was there around 6:30am local here in Germany (CET). Thats would be around 09:30pm PST. Arrrgh. You win!

No offense, but I was not terribly impressed by the landscaping. But I guess it will not be finalized before the new WA is set up.

Hehe. Yeah the landscape isn't anything fantasticly amazing, but I'm always impressed with LLs terraforming muscles, and I'd like to see more rolling hillsides in SL, I always imagine them more like the Scottland country-side though.

Should be neat to see what it looks like when it's done, before and after kinda thing.

I'd like to see a Kraftwerk center, cuz like, Kraftwerk are important icons of German technological progress!

Oz, I'd actually like to fall down hills more and flop my avatar all ragdoll. ^_^

A memorial to the band Kraftwerk or a power plant?

The new sims are nice, and reminded me of the Rhine valley / Deutsches Eck too.

Good point. Could be, should be both. SL on the whole has very few of either per se (I remember a Pink Floyd house and there is a cool SL petroleum company in the city sims). Even if it serves no "practical" usage it could be a formidable build and a nice place to tour.

Not a bad idea, Torley - as nuclear power plants with the characteristic cooling towers actually would give a setting like this something "typically German".

Even though I am not that fond of nuclear power plants, I walways found the cooling towers aesthetically pleasing.

Pocketcalculator!

And yes! That'd be insanely fun! In There that is/was one of my favorite activities to jump off a cliff and just watch my avatar flop all over.

Shame we won't see Ragdoll in SL for a few years probably :/. Ah well. Could perhaps do it with a vehicle and animations or some such.

Hee Hee. I spy Neualtenburg sailing down the ocean and creeping up on you

Hi everyone,
I am from good ol´ Germany and joined SL recently.

Please, don´t waste time on localization of the interface! The whole grid is english!!! There are more urgent things to fix, if you want make SL a good game (for germans or anybody else).

English is a mandatory subject in german schools from 5th grade on (in some areas now even from 3rd grade). There are very few people who will have trouble understanding what the "attach" button might do. To understand is not the problem, expressing yourself is a bit harder - especially when you´re new to online games (SL can be very confusing).

I don´t think spawning in front of the Kölner Dom or Neuschwanstein would make german players happier. Why? The current welcome areas don´t look like New York or Kansas...

What I think should be done:

- Get a german bank account so germans can pay with EC-cards! (germans are a bit sceptical about PayPal etc. and many don´t like to use credit cards since EC is very cheap and just as safe)
- Don´t ask for credit card information at the trial registration!
- Better documentation, on SL in gerneral and especially on scripting; this "Helping H.A.N.D." notecard from Brace Coral is very usefull.
- More Promotion for places like the Ivory Tower(is there a similar place for scripting?)
- More events at european time
- Perhaps, invite the german players to build this "german themed" zone. Six empty areas plus the prospect of a "german themed" zone that doesn´t look like an american cliché are a great motivation. This task could create something like a german community, that is present at the german welcome location, at german time.

Freundliche Grüße,
bulli