Trial User Solution

"Give 'em Loki" ?? You trying to get rid of me!?! lol.

I am too excited about the post of the details of version 1.1 to even really care about the trial users right now.

I will probably always be involved in welcoming newbies to the world. Things are not as bad as I made out when I first created this post, we just need a way to deal with the buttheads effectively.

read: I have to agree with BlackAdder <New thought>Citizenship is something you earn....

I need to work on seperating ideas, like they tought us in 6th grade....

Sorry for the confusion.

Why not "give 'em Loki?" That tree-man look of yours would drive them right out of SL and back into TSO where they belong.

Truthfully, I haven't been bothered much by their presence, except for the noticeable increase in lag.


"If you give a man a fish and a baked potato, he'll have a pretty good dinner for a single night." - The Black Adder

The bugger is when they discover the never-ending hillarity of the fart.

I think this gesture and sound needs to be revolked before it becomes the national pasttime of SL.

"Sounds a bit rude!"
OMG, three days and still ROFL!

The Black Adder knows when he's been bested. I salute thee DA, for thou art truly the funniest SOB in here. (Bugger all!)

Nor, indeed, will the fun stop there. Various and sundry are the endless variety of rude noises. The makes-you-pee-in-your-britches flushing toilet sound is quarantined to liven up any dull affair. I, for one, look forward to the day when I can woo my cyber sweetie to the sound of thunderous belching, echoing off yon' mountains. (S'nothing, my dear, just some bullfrogs.)


"If you give a man to a fish, it won't make a damn bit of difference." -- The Black Adder

I think Trial users deserve to head out into the world of SL to see what they could do when subscribed as a paying member. However there needs to be a little more control over terms.

For one it would be a good idea to enforce a mandatory minimum avatar covering (to prevent wannabe nudists) from spoiling the fun of events. Besides, that sort of behavior really belongs elsewhere.

Language could be toned down a bit, probably add a profanity filter/blocking system to the end clients for us to decide if we want to read quotes from the toilet.

Just a few ideas.

Well, this thread's getting a bit long, but I'd like to contribute a newbie's perspective.

I think it would be a mistake to segregate the trial users from the general SL population, because one of the reasons I decided to become a resident was the interesting and friendly people I met. If I were a trial user, I couldn't possibly judge SL life fairly by only interacting with other trial users.

As for limiting the trial user area. I really didn't mind that. It gave me extra incentive to sign up--I wanted access to the whole SL world. This also lets the paying users retreat from the mayhem caused by the occasional nuisance newbie.

I'd kinda like to chime in with another trial user's view...between my wife's account and mine, I've been experiencing life in SL as a trial user for a couple days now, and I have to say, I've not met a single "griefer" yet. Everyone's been real helpful -- well, except for the runaway jeep that accidentally ran over my wife...

Not that I'm naive enough to believe griefers don't exist...since my early days with the 200 baud modem and the bbs there've been such wonderful people...

If my activities as a trial user were restricted to a single sim, I don't think I'd personally mind much. But then again, I understand the social dynamics of such a setting/system. I can see how many others though, would get upset at being restricted and unable to experience SL through the trial.

If one couldn't build permanent objects, hack out complex scripts, or even get a full view of the Empire State building (for example), then a person may not really feel they are getting a worthwhile experience -- even if you put in there something that says "trial users only have such and such rights and permissions until they become full users," most people who are not "technically inclined" don't even bother to read such disclaimers.

Heck, most people don't even read the EUL's for their software...as a gag I put the clause "user will be responsible for any errors that occur while using this program and should openly admit to being an idiot" in an EUL for simple diceroller program I wrote for some friends of mine, then loaded it with errors that would only go away permanently if you entered "I am an idiot" in the text field. Not one person I shared it with read the EUL.

Just food for thought there...

Point is, I don't think major world-restrictions are the way to go with trial users.

I like the idea of a pie-slot Ignore feature, where the person being ignored is completely ignored -- however, it would place a strain on the Mentors and Lindens as every idiot who gets ignored goes around whining "why is so and so ignoring me" over and over again.

What is it they say about the price of freedom?

A while ago there was a flood of trials because the lindens removed the credit card requirements.
It was a disaster. Every single day, annoying trials flew around harassing users and in spite of that influx of trials registrations didnt rise significantly.
So the lindens put back into place the credit card requirements and now there is no need for a trial user solution because there is no trial user problem.

Agreed Eggy. This is a pretty old post.


Pretty funny stuff, Kit. Welcome to SL.