JIRA Issues Re: Being Invisible Online

Trying to balance some RL stuff while getting caught up on work in SL the past couple of days has been a royal pain because of the inability to be invisible in SL.

I don't have a question, but it seems that at least once a week someone comes onto the forums to ask how they can be completely invisible in SL. Each week the answer is always the same: You can't unless you want to make an alt. In frustration I did a search through JIRA and found these existing Issues. If this is something that has been bugging you, then you may want to go vote for them:


To have the ability to go into stealth mode before even logging into SL:
https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-468


If you have someone blocked but they send an IM they will see you are online. This issue is to have that fixed with a message to say you are offline:
https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-786


This issue is to fix the problem that if a person logs in after you block them they will show you as being online. Supposedly this issue has been fixed and will be released soon, but it is still open for voting and I think I'll believe it when I see it.
https://jira.secondlife.com/browse/VWR-2669

Maybe it is just me... But apart from a busy-message, I see no need to be invisible in SL. I am here to meet people, not to hide from them.

And the one time I want to concentrate on something, I switch to "busy". The people on my friendlist will understand, if not... their problem. And if someone really gets pushy... mute/ban/delete from my friendlist... Such a person should be not on my friendlist anyway.

But again, that is maybe just me.

Morwen.

I knew this question was going to come up. I can't imagine why it does, but it does. Since you ask, I'll explain my example.

I usually do go into Busy Mode and it is no problem. However, I've been gone for two weeks which is very unusual for me. I logged in to try and get some work done and have been flooded with IM's from concerned friends asking if I was ok. Now, I was extremely busy getting caught up on work, but because of their concern it was difficult for me to ignore their IM's.

I know of many many people who log onto SL who have anxiety disorders.

One of my favorite things to do is to quietly walk through the Virtual Starry Night Van Gogh Museum all alone.

There are a host of other reasons, but in the end it really shouldn't matter. The option should be there for individuals who want it. It's a basic thing to have.

I can see your reason, but I won't call it "a basic thing to have". Handy at the most.

But that is my opinion.

Morwen.

AIM, YAHOO MESSENGER and MSN MESSENGER all have it. I don't play WoW or other virtual reality games but it's my understanding that they offer this as well.

That's what I mean by basic.

I don't like to tell my friends that I'm too busy for them. It's rude. I want my friends to feel like they're the center of the universe. I want them to feel that they're far more important than my desire to stick prims together, even if they aren't!

I agree with Bradley. Sometimes I just want to come in for a minute and check my store, buy or see something quickly before I forget or do anything else. I would love a stealth button.

What? Telling your friends your busy is rude? I really don't agree with that. It is being honest to them. That cannot be rude. And I never had anyone even complain of being insulted when I send a small IM "Can we chat later? I am in the middle of a photo-shoot!". Having something like that in my busy-message is most of the times enough.

Hiding away from your friends sounds not good to me.

Morwen.

The reason it'll never happen is that there are far more griefer uses for the facility than the limited "benefits" that a few people think they will have.

Some days, weeks even I can go through my entire time in SL without a message popping up from someone saying "hi".

Does that bother me? Not at all. Some people use SL for the social angle, some use it for the business angle, some people just enjoy creating stuff for their own pleasure. Most of the time, I'm in #3.

It's not that we're wanting to hide. It's about wanting to be less available. Ya know, like turning the phone off in RL?.

Maybe. But that is exactly how your friends will feel when they find out that you made yourself "less visible" for them, I think.

I prefer to send a IM and/or a clear busy message. Always worked fine for me. But to each their own way of doing things

But also the other way around. Yesterday I IMed a friend "Sorry Mor, I busy showing someone some land I am renting away."

"Okay, Good luck. We talk later."

Morwen.

You're so tough!. I would've broke down in tears and needed a few months of therapy after being brutalized like that.

* hugs *

Bradley you are absolutely right.

I suffer from anxiety and panic attacks in RL and have become a recluse more or less (I have to go to work of course - where I work alone!) and sometimes I struggle with social situations.

For some reason IM's on my screen are the equivalent of somebody popping up unexpectedly in my living room inches from my face and saying "HI SANDY HOW ARE YOU TODAY? HOPE YOU'RE OK. WHAT ARE YOU DOING? HMMM?"

Perhaps thats a slight exaggeration but I hope it makes the point. If I want to be alone in SL, I switch SL off and watch tv.

I would like to be invisible, but with me its because *I'm* weird not because my friends aren't nice people.

I've just realised - nobody is ever going to IM me again are they?

Have to say .... I am all for the option to be available to those who want it.
Not sure I'd use it myself to be honest, but I can see where it could be useful.
I have a personalised, friendly and apologetic "busy" message and I don't even seem to use that........




/me takes note to self .... do not EVER send Sandy another IM EVER again

.

AAARRRGGGHHH!

Me and my big crazy mouth!

Now I'm even MORE of a recluse!

Well, guess if you insist, I'll give you a shout if I find some nice music



Actually...... that brings something else to my mind.... I always feel really funny about sending people an IM, unless I have a question or something.
I always wonder whether they're busy or something and am forever apologising for bothering them .... Is that weird or what?

.

* ouch *

That's not weird to me.

If I wanted to send an IM to somebody I would sit and think about it for an hour or two. Rephrase it 20 or 30 times. Wonder what all their responses could be. What if they took my IM the wrong way? What if I took their response the wrong way? What shall I say next? What if they ........ Oh just go for it.

"Hi how are you today?" [user not online - message will be stored and delivered later]

Arse

Specially when the replies come in veryyyyyy slowly....

Morwen.

I do see two different scenarios:

1) 'Ick. I don't have time for SL but I just remembered that I need to pay my rent.'

I'll be in and out in 5 minutes, as long as everyone doesn't get the "Kitty Barnett is online" popup it's fine.

If they can see my online status in groups (or if they dropped me inventory and they see the accept popup) that's not that much of a problem since likely noone will notice in the short time that I'm on, and if they do, that's just one person I have to say "Sorry, can't say, have to run out the door" to instead of ten.

2) I'm online, but busy with something so I don't want everyone to just pounce on me

Current busy is a bit of a pain (declines inventory for one) but the biggest problem is that people don't actually see that you're busy until *after* they IM you. If people could see a busy/away icon in the friends list or a "XXX is currently idle/away" when they open an IM *before* they IM you then fewer people would actually bother you since they know you're doing something and respect that.

Okay, but that would mean you have to turn on "stealth" from the logon screen or have not to forget to turn on "stealth" before loging off.



Maybe a "busy" (and "away" sign in the friendlist would be indeed nice.

Morwen.

Yes, that's a good example. Happens to me a lot because I have several lands. I'd like to have the possibility to do that without being jumped by im's. And I don't mean only the im's at that moment ('hi'), but also saved im's. Because cached im's won't come back with the next login, so I have to save them in a notepad file or something which is a drag when you just want to log in and out for just a sec. A stealth button could do that.

Maybe it's better when I open window to write something to somebody, to receive his/her status as notice in this window.
Like the ICQ (specially QIP). In QIP when i try to write to somebody I receive in red his status as a sentence. It can be combined with DND, N/A, Working... icon and etc. Everyone needs privacy sometimes.