TP to Orientation Island to Help Refered Friends

About 15 minutes ago another one of my friends signed up for the game. (Thanks Video Linden I owe it all to you.) I happened to be online and got the message that he had joined up. I immediately IM'ed him and he was asking for help, as one would, and I walked him through the process of how to TP me to him. He was on Orientation Island but when I tried to teleport to him I was taken to Glorious Ar instead. I contacted live help to see if maybe something was wrong but was told that residents cannot get back to Orientation Island.

I can understand the reasons for this certainly, but there should be a feature that when someone you have refered logs on for the first time, only they can TP someone in to welcome them and help them go through Orientation.

Anyone agree?

YES!

I recently had a friend sign up and he got stuck somehow on orientation island, and there was no way for me to help him. It took a while even to be able to tp him off of the island.

I understand the need for protection of noobs, but it seems that maybe an exception could be allowed to the Sler who referred the new player.

Copies of the Orientation stations can be found on the North Western corner of Ahern in the Japanese castle.

Our inability to go back to Orientation Island is not due to some insurmountable physical law is it, but is rather the result of a policy decision on the part of the company, isn't that correct?

It aggravates me to read people say you can't go back as if it were akin to time travel or flying without technological assistance by flapping your arms.

It's software. Of course we can go back if the program is changed to allow it.

I am not arguing to change the policy, but just to recognize that it is a policy - a choice - that makes returning to Orientation Island unavailable, not something intrinsic in the nature of physical reality, so it makes more sense to say that we are not allowed to go back than to say we can't go back.

Is this a forum that the Lindens with the power read and might respond to? Or should I go about creating one of those propositions to see if we can get this feature adopted?

Actually, you should consider letting the new player go through the station on their own, answering basic questions via IM, and they can skip what's problematic or difficult at first.

Then you can both goto Ahern, as Strife suggested, and work together on those stations that the newcomer had issues with.

That should give both you and the referral player the best of both worlds.

If you have a friend that is going to join, you can contact them while they are on Orientation Island by instant message, if you know their avatar's name, and likewise they can contact you if they can figure out how to send an IM to you. They can contact Live Help when it is available. If they can't understand and remember "Click on Help and select Live Help" and respond to the IM dialog that appears, they can select the bypass orientation option on the sign where they first appear and go directly to the welcome area where you can meet them and give them personal assistance.

I agree with Pituca.

Sadly, I agree with Pituca as well. Just as there are kind, helpful folks in our population, there are evil, destructive folks as well. If WA shenanegans became Orientation Island shenanegans - It'd be a sad day for all.

Possibly a better compromise is -

1. have a 'button' for easy transport *from* orientation island.
2. allow new residents to return to orientation as much as they like within their first week of SL.
3. replicate orientation island on the mainland for collaborative teaching.
4. allow mentors/instructors/live helpers access to orientation island.

1. Basically already implemented in that all the newbie REALLY has to do is to "foolow the arrowed road" to the chasm on Orientation Island and then fly across it to the teleporter to the WA. If they can't figure out how ot walk, can they really survive here? And flying is essentially the same - only in 3 dimensions.

2. Again... basically already implemented via the Dore sim-Japanese themed orientation stations. However, there is little advertising of this resource. The notecards in the

Information kiosks in the WA expand on the orientation stations. Perhaps we could get a kiosk there which mentions the Dore orientation stations? Or, a single kiosk in the WA with all the original cards from Orientaiton Island again.

3. See 2.

So, the rest of my response centers on #4.
My response - No, no and no.

There are too many people who are already concerned about favoritism, LL/FIC in-breeding and the like. There are also concernes about commericalism/commercial endorsements by people with "early access" to new residents. I suggest that some of these concerns are VALID while others are completely OVERBLOWN. Do we realy want to feed this drama producer?

Still, what it comes down to is this. Orientation Island is exceptionally simple to complete. While there are a few spots which might have room for improvement, Live Help and a Lisaon or two occasionally showing up (as happened when I was first rezzed) are options tha should be utilized to the maximum extent possible - and should be encouraged from the get go. The new Greeters program can also assist with any initial difficulties the new person has.

If a friend of mine came onlline, IM'd me and said "help", I would suggest he/she contact Live Help until he got off the Island and THEN IM me once he/she arrived in the WA. Only THEN would I offer him or her a TP ... probably to some quiet place where we could "defeat the SL noob look" and how to wear new clothes thing together. In taking him or her to Stillman, Freebie Bazaar or to Yadni's Junkyard for a host of freebies, we'd get through the initial difficulties of IM, chat, the user interface and teleportation/orentaton together.

And guess what, knowing my friend, I'd bet we'd get through it.... just as he/she and I got through orientation island. If a resident cannot figure out how to get through Orientaiton Island with Live Help IM's and/or Liason assistance, I am not sure they can survive SL.

But of course, I have what I consider to be a reasonable expectation of intelligence and computer game competency for most new residents.

I think we should go back....I want to go look at the new people :0!! Go to the hotline to linden and make a proposition if you want !

I dont think its a good idea to go back, When i first joined, i got stuck abit but i found it the best way was to work through it myself, if you get lead through things although you may get there quickly, you may not know quite how or why things work the way they do.
Its more of a rush to get you in world and out shopping for clothes and skins etc, and to have that buffer zone is good.

The only reason I'd want to go back is because Orientation Island is so pretty. It ought to be a solo process, or at least one shared with other newcomers only. The presence of experienced players, even with the best of intentions, could seem daunting. Worse than that is to arrive and find another newcomer apparently being given preferential treatment.

So... let's make another Orientation Island, call it Greeter Island or something, and TP people to that.

cool... i think its a great idea to have a greeter island and only greeters and newbies (ie. <30days) can tp into there?

in that way newbies need not select any greeter and the greeter will not need to wait forever to meet up with his/her assigned newbie. prolly at the end of orientation, instead of tp-ing the newb to the welcome area, a choice is given to visit greeter island?

just some thoughts...