ZHAO support

As some of you may know, some time back I made a free and open source animation overrider gadget called ZHAO, based on an earlier AO by Francis Chung. Some people seem to use it and like it. Some animators use it to package and sell their animations, people have written mods for it that add cool new features, and the ZHAO core scripts have been used in other products. So there seems to be a bit of a community of users around it, which is great.

The problem is, the ZHAO object shows me as the creator, and some people don't understand the distinction between the AO and the animations within it. People don't realize that they did not buy their AO from me, and come to me for help/refunds/replacements/etc. I've done my best to explain this in the notecard I include with the ZHAO, this is explained in my profile, and I even have an email auto-responder for my forwarded SL IMs that explains this. Some people have written very helpful ZHAO guides and tutorials on their websites and blogs, and I've put links to them in my profile. In short, I think I've made a reasonable effort to provide the information about where to go for help. So it's a little frustrating to get IMs like this:

[14:08] ****: omg
[14:08] ****: the ao you created it's so......
[14:08] ****: shit!
[14:08] ****: i can't understand how to change the animations
[14:08] ****: couldn't you make it more simple?
[14:08] ****: r u trying tobe smart?
[14:11] ****: WELL THE AO HAS THE MOST AWESOME STAND POSES BUT IT SUCKS
[14:12] ****: My wife is a reporter on *** magazine
[14:12] ****: i will aske her to write about it
[14:13] ****: make the ao more simple
[14:16] ****: ziggy
[14:16] ****: i bought your ao
[14:16] ****: cause i lovedthe stand anim
[14:17] ****: but the walk it's just for laughs
[14:17] ****: so
[14:17] ****: i tryed to change walk
[14:17] ****: and i destroyed the ao
[14:17] ****: and i'm almost 17 months is this f***g game
[14:17] ****: i havent met most coplicated ao!
[14:19] ****: ok now i'm waliking like a f***g noob?
[14:19] ****: can you help me?
[14:20] ****: this is the only ao thati can't change a f***g walk
[14:21] ****: and i miss the file that you saying " empty "
[14:21] ****: YOU WILL BE REPORTED
[14:21] ****: sorry

I get about a dozen ZHAO-related IMs a day. Occasionally one of them will be a legitimate request for help with setting up the AO. Most are requests for customer service for other peoples' products, and sometimes I'll get something like the IMs above.

The point of this post isn't to rant This is a request for help. Since I don't make any money from AO sales, I think it's fair that I should not be the primary customer support contact for someone else's product. So this is a request - if you're an animation creator/seller and you use the ZHAO to package up your animations, I would really appreciate it if you included a notecard in the folder that said something like "Please contact <insert your name here> if you need help with this product". Anything you can do to have your customers go to you for service would be most helpful.

Thanks,
Ziggy

I started with the ZHAO, and after trying many others, it's *still* the one I like best. You just have to come to grips with the fact that SL, like RL, is full of stupid people who cannot follow simple directions.

Your AO rocks.

Ziggy, glad to have a chance to thank you for the Zhao...really made a big change in my SL.

I don't understand those complaints either. I once bought an ao using the ZHAO base, but soon just picked up the original real deal and loaded it with whatever animations I wanted, and I still modify it sometimes. The instructions couldn't be more clear.

It may be too late now, but I wonder if the free version should have been no transfer, or if transferable, had just been a set of scripts the animation designer puts in a prim made by them so your name doesn't easily show? I don't know enough about scripting to know if that's even doable.

At any rate, I think the device is an inestimable contribution to the SL world and it's an awful shame you're getting harrased because of it.

Likewise, I'd like to say that the ZHAO is the best product I've ever seen in SL.

I'm not sure how much help I can be. I try to give you props every chance I can.

It's like they say... "No good deed goes unpunished."

Peace!

Sadly the last thing people read it seems is notecards - I have found this out in my products. They even get affronted if you suggest they read them first.

Ziggy, I would like to add my thanks for a fabulous product - one without which SL would not be the same

I loved the "My wife is a reporter...." It's like the people in Rl who constantly threaten to call their lawyer everytime they don't get their way, like on the TV show "Airline"

It took me about 10 minutes to figure out the Zhao II. It isn't hard. It's a great product.

I sometimes think the best way to give out a script is to post the text somewhere outside of SL anonymously. If you're not going to make money on it, you shouldn't have to put up with grief about it.

I suppose one could use a throwaway account and put the script text in a notecard and accomplish the same purpose.

I suppose in addition to putting a notecard in the Zhao it could also be made to say "Please contact <insert your name here> if you need help with this product" when you attach or detach it or something like that.

It might be possible to include a texture on the object that said "For Support See:" with a space to add a prim with the appropriate party's name.

Thanks for the encouraging words, guys.



This is what I plan to do if I ever get round to releasing ZHAO-III

Like the others said, the ZHAO-II is fabulous, Ziggy. Maybe it would help if you sent the larger animators who use your AO a not-unattractive sign that they could post saying that they, and not the maker of the AO software (Ziggy Puff), are responsible for support?

Frankly, I think that any animator who sells an AO running your unmodified software should support their customers on not only the animations, but on using the AO, including adding anims.
.

So THATS why you couldn't help me with it.

JK

Ziggy, it's an awesome product and I use it every day however my attorneys will be contacting you because the menu colors clash with my screen.

I have the ZHAO female AO - had it for ages - I'm happy with it, it's part of me now!

Add me to the list of saying, I love my ZHAO II. ZHAO means never having to type /on /off and in crowded areas, that is a life saving tool for me. Plus, it's pretty easy to set up.

I'll also echo the sentiment that some people will never read ANYTHING that is either in the store or included with the product. You could seriously have a 20ft sign at the entrance of a store, covered in neon, making beeping noises and bashes them in the head when they go under it, and they'll still not read it.

I wish I could say this was just an SL thing because people don't want to wait for signs to rezz, but they do this in RL too.

Definitely release just the scripts for AO creators next time around But.. be prepared for some of them to not read either!

I clicked on the link for this thread with a certain amount of trepidation, actually I saw it last night and waited until this morning to read it. For some reason I thought that this was going to be another "I am leaving SL" thread and this would have been a tragic loss for both SL and the scripting community.

Hang in there Ziggy, answering a dozen IM's a day, especially if most should not have been directed to you would be a very unpleasant task indeed and I am glad it's not me. Hope everyone gets the message and follows the simple request.

For the record, Ziggy. I've never used a different AO. Quick..efficient..and *easy* to fiddle with. You rock in my book.

Hang in there with the IM's. Your problem is you get to see the minority who don't "get it". And never hear about the silent multitudes who are pleased as punch that you took the time to write and release such a good thing.

hey!

i know your AO and its a great product

###
after almost 17 month in this f***g game not to know the difference between the script_creator, animation/poses_creator, ... IS "noobish", so yes the AO should switch to a f***g "NOOB" walk -> as a feature
###

the problem with notecards set to modify, you will show up as the creator, no matter whats modified and this can lead to false information.

I feel your pain, Zig. And I'm sure that Miffy Fluffy does, too.

I get IM's like this, thanks to being the creator for MLPV2 and the poseballs it rezzes:

"You created my balls. They don't work."


Makes my day

Ziggy ---

No good deed ever goes unpunished.

(By the way, the AO sellers DO generally tell their buyers not to contact you if they have problems. Obviously, some people are too stupid to live.)

I love being able to use the ZHAO II to create silly avatars that I can then give away to friends. Please don't make future versions no-transfer! I could work from a bare script, but most newer residents would find this too difficult.

I agree with previous poster that your best bet is to create an alt to distribute the AOs. You can put a note in the alt's profile pointing to you, in case they really need to contact you. That will cut down on IMs.

So now I finally know who created my balls... Thanks dude they work well

Joking aside, it is kind of sad that people making great stuff like this for free do get the trouble as well. But hard to avoid, as many people simply right-click the item and IM the creator, without giving it any thought. And notecards/store signs are seldom read, I can vouch for that Yet I keep putting them inside my creations to educate people on how to do certain things...

For my implementations of MLPv2 I do put the scripts into my own prims, so chances are big that they will indeed IM me. maybe I should copy-paste the scripts into new ones as well to avoid people right-clinging them and IM Lear after all. After all, we should be grateful for these gifts!!

I was thinking of providing a "Build a ZHAO" script, so you link a few prims together, drop this script in, and it sizes/textures the prims to be what the main ZHAO scripts expect. Then you drop the ZHAO scripts in and you have a full perms object with your name as the creator. I don't think that would be too difficult for someone who knows enough to build and distribute AOs. For personal use, I'd have a pre-built no-transfer AO.

I think that would adequately cover the new user who wants to set up their own AO, as well as someone who distributes AOs (and I'm assuming that such a person is not a new user). If there's a problem with this approach that I haven't thought of, let me know.

Sounds like a good idea to me, Ziggy.

For MLPV2, I'll probably make the container object no-xfer in the future. I probably won't bother changing the ~ball objects; usually people don't actually look at the balls to find the creator. Since MLPV2 doesn't depend on the object properties much -- other than orientation -- this should be fine.

BTW, if anyone wants a ZHAO-II with typing anim override support, see my profile. (NOTE: my picks are out of date, look to the neighboring plot -- will update soon!)

This version of ZHAO also colors the menu prim yellow when sit override is off. If you don't like that feature, just flip your AO prim over (rotate Z 180 degrees) and drop the ZHAO textures onto the prims if necessary (which it will be for the standard ZHAO prim; won't be if you use the one I provided).

I'm thinking of adding "sit anywhere" feature as well. With Mono, there's enough script memory to add a few features.

You might have to start pushing a new version of the script, one that keeps track of owners and alerts new owners to the real situation when the owner changes. I had to do that with my Flight Feather.