Welcome areas....

The only issue I see with that is the most bored people won't have the motivation to move beyond their starting point. Once their off Help Island (or the now defunct Orientation), the first place they land becomes their home. Without motivation to find bigger and better things, they stagnate in these locations and become the cliques and crowds we see today. (>_<

The only thing I could imagine is a staged entry way... Maybe once someone is out of HI, they will noobdrop at a welcome area, and they will have 30, 60, 120, ??? days of access to that welcome area and the grid at large... That way, they can form easy friendships... Get their "foot in the door" experience... And, be driven to find bigger and better things without becoming WA mushrooms... (=_=)

But, that's just me letting my mind wander. Honestly, I still enjoy popping back in Hanja, and if an idea like that were enacted, I would be totally against it. (=_=)

Then again.... Maybe that can be the new perk of the Mentor role, after HIs are all closed off to anyone but greeters. (O.o)

=^-^=

AVATAR CANNON FTW!!11!! Shoot noobs out of a cannon that will send them to random places on the grid. Or have a spaceship they get into that is directed by their answers to a few simple questions, then lands somewhere and unsits them.

Maybe noobs should start out very small - smaller than Tinies - and grow bigger every day.

Like noobseeds turning into noobsprouts.

You know? That COULD describe my avatar habits in SL completely. =^-^=

I think people should be allowed to set anywhere in SL to home, unless the parcel holder blocks it. That would help a lot.

Um, there are...about 1700 of us Second Life Mentors. Not to mention about 8,000 helpers in the resident-run Help People Institute, plus other helper organizations.

But Morwen's OP is valid...the Welcome Areas are wretched hives of scum and villainy.

Heh.. If you wonder how much effort is being put into improving things so far....



=^-^=

The Goatze porn and similar displays I see at the Linden owned sandboxes are what get me. I can certainly imagine the first time a person sees that being the last time they log in to SL, particularly if they have children in the household.

Perhaps they could set aside a special "welcome area" for those who are joining only to troll for cyber. A big flat sandbox surrounded by 100 m high walls. Anyone who says "A/S/L?" in the normal welcome area gets immediately catapulted there.

What really really gets me here is that we all have spent literally days hashing out ideas for great New User Experiences (NUE) here in the forums, after being asked BY THE LINDENS, and then they blow us all off, throw our ideas out the window, and actually hire some advertising company to revamp the NUE.

I'm positive that the NUE could be made terrifically fun and informative with a group of organized volunteers, led and guided by a Linden or team of Lindens, and it would cost LL exactly zero dollars. Why oh why does LL money go to a company that makes entertaining Corona commercials? How many hours have any one of those people actually spent in SL?

Sigh.

Well, it's a smart move by Linden Lab to outsource a task with which Linden Lab has no internal competence.

It remains a complete, unprofessional disgrace that Linden Lab encourages residents to submit ideas and suggestions, and participate in discussions, and then ultimately just ignore the residents valuable time and input.

Maybe there is a positive outcome after all. The advertising company, being professionals, ask Linden Lab what efforts they have made. Linden Lab mentions the discussions on forums, in office hours, and other venues. The advertising company realizes, hey, there is valuable information for us out there, and they pay attention to all the resident discussion that Linden Lab has ignored.

Then the contractor storyboards their ideas to the Lindens, who recognize ideas not invented by the Lab but by (shudder) residents, and redirects the contractor to the one true Source Of All Knowledge.

Okay, that's too cynical. Maybe:

The contractor studies the resident input carefully, sprinkling the words all over their spiel for storyboarding the same damned approach they took with every other client for the past three years. The Lindens lap it up, congratulating themselves on how they've again given residents exactly what they want.

Still too cynical, huh?

Linden Lab has certainly earned the cynicism of its residents, particularly over the nearly two years in which I have been a resident.

I do think, however, that I've observed flashes of potential positive change since Linden Lab installed a new CEO this year. I know Linden Lab, when doing the search for a new CEO, intended to find someone familiar with Second Life. I guess they failed to find that person, since most sane business leaders weren't doing business with Second Life.

Perhaps the current CEO's perspective as an outsider helps. Maybe he is bringing real world professionalism to Second Life. Maybe. I'm still waiting for results.

I guess I don't have to be cynical anymore, because I've dashed any expectations of doing real business in Second Life, and accordingly I spend my money elsewhere. And because I figured out that Linden Lab doesn't care about me as a customer, so I no longer waste time in their calls for resident participation.

If Linden Lab eventually becomes a real, big-boy company, then I can consider spending more time and money with Second Life. If they don't, it doesn't bother me; my current expectations are met because I have adjusted my expectations to be very, very low.

Okay, then change it a bit... as I see in Everquest II...

All people with equal or higher levels have access to 1-9.... the same for 10-19... an 20-29.. and so on and one...

And no, I know this is not the perfect solution... in EQII the 1-9 channel is often the slaughterfiled of higher levelled players...

Ah well... just bah...
Morwen.

.. Its not a matter of an hour or a day... it shold be consistant and on going...

What I have found though, many new people come to my sim.. how they find it I dunno.. but they do come.. and I make friendly say hi.. normally they POOF away without responding....... I try and I will help anyone when I can..

I can not stand to see people making fun of new people.. If I see a new person doing something wrong, or that might get them in trouble. I gently IM them and tell them,, hey you don't actually sit on that spinning dance ball in the sky you click it... or.. hey girl here's a free pair of panties! (they sometimes don't really realize their neitherworld is exposed with the sl skirts) ...

The ultimate solution would be for LL to eliminate all welcome areas immediately and rename them as grifer areas or something like that. I see no reason for LL to continue to direct new residents to areas that do nothing but to discourage new residents from staying. Let the griefers, whether new or old, continue to inhabitat the "welcome areas" but please direct noobs elswhere. That certainly can't be too hard for LL to do.

I think the vast majority of Help People are newbies themselves; to date I've come across dozens of 'em, none of 'em newer than a week old. New Citizen's Inc. seems to be a bit longer lasting and more well rooted overall, not to mention prolific, given that they have several well constructed orientation islands, The Shelter, and infonodes at many infohubs...

Help People is split into 2 groups - Help People itself which is restricted to av's who have been around a while, and these days who have been assessed as competent to provide at least basic help, - and Help People Fans, which is the group new people join. Anyone under a week old (I assume that is what you meant) will not be a member of Help People itself, but of the Fans which is mainly intended to make it easier for new players to obtain help wherever they may be on the grid.

What are "levels"?

1 User Laughed: Adz Childs
It's really tough to not be cynical sometimes. Maybe it's contagious, or an response to hostility and powerlessness?

Maybe a new signer-upperer should have several choices.
"For orientation would you like:
Businesslike
Playful
Solitary
Communal SL orientation"

Then for Playful it could be a big ship on the sea with learning stations and fireworks every hour, and when the new person is ready to go he jumps into a cannon, which teleports him to one of a long list of places somewhere on the mainland.

Businesslike could be formal, with serious signs and freebies like business suits, clipboards, and sensible shoes. Following orientation the business person gets into an elevator and is teleported to a business site within SL.

Solitary is self-explanatory.

Communal is what we have now - a crowded area of random people.

My own experience when I signed up was (because it was ages ago) solitary, which I liked. I wandered through alone, then teleported to the old WA, which had a few people in it standing about talking. It was night, but I'm not sure if I knew about forcing daylight at that time.

I wandered down past the few displays (I think a motorcycle and a trampoline, maybe), then flew off. Exploring was great - I flew everywhere and loved the Classic Games sim and the Ivory Tower. The builds people had made took my breath away.

I read ALL the documentation, and didn't realise for the longest time that it was far, far out of date. I kept expecting to be charged to teleport. There was a little section on SL style - how round or organically shaped builds were more SL-ish than squared builds, and that's still how I think today.

It would be wonderful if new people could have a pleasant initial experience, and so could ease into this world without being mithered by crowds, griefers, lag, etc.

Send everyone to Hobo Island.

Okay... concerning SL that is a good question.... let me sleep a night or two on that .

There could be room with many doors (or a sign up questionaire or a set of pneumatic tubes):

"I've always wanted to be a (pick one) A. Hobo, B. Neko, C. Robot, D. Muscle-bound pinhead, E. Top-heavy trollop, F. Company employee, G. Vampire, H. Business owner, I. Artist, J. DJ, K. Teacher, L. Explorer." (or whatever)

The person chooses one and is whisked away to a relevent area, or conversely, enters the chamber like the man in The Fly, and is transformed into whatever has been chosen.

I do like the idea of getting into a kind of pneumatic tube affair and zooming off to the destination of your dreams.