Random Acts of Grid Kindness

A couple of days ago, discovering a cluster of green dots on the map, near my land, I went over to take a look. I found a dancing where people were wiggling their behinds on dancepads for some L$ and upstairs, where the gambling machines used to be, an avatar in a ‘lucky’ chair and a lonely girl mopping the floor.

No-one spoke. Guess they were all afk or something. I went back home to sit in the garden and hum the Metaverse Blues. Then I put some extra freebies in my lttile shop, in case they might chance upon them. And of course they can always go out for a ride in the swanboats, on the ocean.

My very first time on SL I was teleporting around the map exploring, and I ran across a very nice guy who showed me some basics, movement basics, and he took me a few places. He asked if I had any cash, and I replied no, and he slid me $200L. About 3 or 4 months later (years in SL time), I was running a mall and doing real estate and since I remembered the guys name, I looked him up and invited him to my mall to look around. He came and we chatted a bit, and he was saying he was glad I stuck around. Then out of the blue, I repaid him his $200L. He said that I didnt have to do that, and I said I knew that, but I wanted to. I told him to give it away again to another newb

@Desmond: You were actually one of the reasons why I started being nice to strangers, too! (Yeah, I have to drag up the thing about the house you gave me again! )
I was impressed that contrary to what I had heard before, not every seller in SL tries to rip you off. I have met far more nice people like that than I ever thought.

Yes I do. I spend quite a bit of time helping out people suffering from 'box on the head' syndrome. Helping new people feel comfortable benefits us all in the long run.

Glad I helped!

With regard to my West Trade Imports business and that free house, yes West Trade does insanely well to this day, but the issues are (a) my time and (b) the quality has gone up sooo much in the world, that I'm not 110% proud of everything for sale there compared to everywhere else.

In fact, I'm about to pull quite a bit off the market - even off SLExchange and Shop OnRez. I'm planning on letting others of highest quality sell there by personal invitation only, and/or becoming more of a Sotheby's.

Regarding random acts of kindness: money is sometimes appropriate, but 95% of the time there's a better way.

Look for motives and needs. It's all right there, between the lines of text, in big bold letters.

I'd daresay confidence and good cheer are the most sought-after commodities, freely given but impossible to ask for and so difficult to obtain.

I give out the exact same freebie box that I got as a newbie; I was absolutely thrilled to receive all that cool stuff for free. What I've done, too, is pop in all the landmarks to all the super duper cool non-sex related places I can find; I can remember thinking "is this all there is to SL? Casinos and sex?" It wasn't until some kind souls showed me around that I realized that SL can be SO much more.

One of the most enjoyable things I've done was the few times I ran into curious new residents who didn't know the first thing about building. I only know the first thing and not the second so at least I'm a step ahead of them It was fun showing them a few basic things, orienting them to the building interface and then sending them off to The Ivory Tower to learn more. The curiosity and enthusiasm came through in their chat and reminded me of how COOL! everything was when I was new. Whenever I'm asked a question I try to answer at least two. And on occasion I do just give out some Lindens. Which brings me to...

Although it's not really finished, I've started collecting donations to hand out to new residents at Our Lady of Perpetual Frustration Shrine. Hats and Furries not only welcome but encouraged.

Our Lady of Perpetual Frustration

please don't forget to give this away to n00bs


by Lucrezia Lamont

she worked very hard on it!

There are many people in Sl more adept than I, so within game/platform I worry now about motives.

But.....we all do what we can. I HAVE tried to help in areas where my first life knowledge is okay, mainly financial services and the Ginko thread here on this BB. Seeing folks loose hundreds if not thousands of real life US dollars is not nice.

Within game/platform though I do know what you are getting at Desmond. One clear example I can offer is my own experiences within WoW. In short is was surprising to me just how many higher level avatars would help lower level folk to kill mobs/complete quests which included me. Now I have got to higher levels myself if I see some poor person struggling I do my best to help by buffing/healing/killing, (unless the mob is a flying bird for which I have grown to like as they offer no aggro and are graphically good looking)

Shouldn't that be Our Furry of Perpetual Frustration Shrine .... or would that be discriminatory?

The Lady doesn't discriminate, gentle Hobbit! She comes to all. You'll understand if you happen to go there.

Yeah , I used to love seeing the look on a newcomer to LineageII when my lvl 70 buffer would give them powers to kill mobs, they struggled to do and survive, now with a single blow. Or walk by a huge crowd of newcomers desperately trying to make it through a room to their quest, heal them to 100% with one lift of the wand, buff them to the hilt and then have them follow me, and my 'botted' group of healer/buffer, while I group slept the whole room.....

how many pocket protectors do you own?

I love giving out Lucrezia's folder. I'm still new enough that I'm working through the SL learning curve. A lot of people who have been around a while don't remember how steep it really is. It's ridiculous compared to a lot of platforms, and if someone is used to RPGs or FPS's (my personal vice), it's impossible. I was absolutely frustrated to the point of giving up when I first got to the mainland, and if it weren't for a few people who asked me, out of the blue, if I needed help, I would have uninstalled. Just explaining to someone how to unpack a box can make a world of difference. I don't know how many times I've explained how to use search.

Anyway, this is my favorite thread in a long time. What a great group we have here.

I was at OI yesterday and it was like a feeding frenzy, I nearly posted here begging for more help. Many people don't get the place's layout (it might be easier for folks if it were LESS clever, more like a software package quick start, but that's not the topic here). I really feel sad that the mentor program seems to be suffering lately, and I've been playing wistfully with the thot that we could do it informally here ... set up a google calendar and have people volunteer coverage. Stand at the TP in point and explain the place, and the whole OI/help path, so people know there's light at the end of the tunnel and don't TP out in frustration. Or, if they do TP out, at least have them do it to someplace decent like NCI!

I helped one woman figure out that her screen resolution was wrong, and that was why she couldn't use search right. I sent a French-speaker who couldn't understand the tutorials to New Paris to find someone who would help him (didn't have a babbler, dammit). If OI is really going to work, it needs an attendant, no matter what design they use for the place.

I was approached by a girl once that had her newbie hair on underneath some other hair that she most likely picked up in a freebie bag.

I asked her if the new hair came with a bald head wig, and she didn't know, so I taught her how to use her inventory search, and she didn't find any bald head wigs.
I ended up giving her one of mine since I have plenty to go around.


I made sure she got it on properly and she couldn't thank me enough....it was a nice feeling.

Nika, do you mean one of the "official" OIs? Or OI Public? I hang out at the TP point of the latter quite a lot. Babblers and other scripted items won't work there, more's the pity. But there usually are a number of volunteer helpers there to assist the newcomers. GQ Start, Help People, and The Birdies, among others. Residents DO run SL, at least the everyday stuff LL can't be bothered with, and so many of them are willing to contribute time, talent, and energy to help the newcomers. Also, there are often "official" SL Mentors on hand.

Special thanks to Barbara Iwish, Di Dilley, Tid Kidd, Neko Shilova, Rev Starostin, Doc, kelley, Skit, and all the other "OI Regulars".

Des,

That's such a wonderful idea.

I try to help out wherever I can, myself. It gives you a warm feeling of satisfaction.

Wouldn't it be great if RAOGK caught on and spread? Pretty soon, we'd have everybody being nice to everybody else.

Even if it never goes that far, little acts of kindness spread little patches of sunshine all over the metaverse. How nice!

I was at an official one, I was bringing in an alt. I don't think residents can get there any other way, can we? The lindens, however, could make it possible ... isn't that what the official mentor program enables, presence at OI and Help? The degree of rampant puzzlement was very sad to see. I think there needs to be an attendant there all the time. If I had thought of it, I would have sent my main to OI Public and seen if there was anyone there, and sent them all there! I was so startled that I just stood around for 2 hours helping people and handing out packets.

You're quite right, the only way to get to an Official OI is as a new account, or as an LL sanctioned volunteer (mentor, greeter, several other categories...).

There are so MANY official OIs and Help Islands, though...there would have to be a very big staff of official volunteers to cover them all 24/7. I mean, after all, over a million new accounts signed up in the last month or so alone! And it's taking, I'm told, months (up to nine months!!) to get "approved" by LL once you offer to be a volunteer.

When newbies wander into our pub, I usually pull out those Jack in a Box and Jill in a Box sets that the folks at LindenLifestyles.com put together a few months back. I put hair on them, and a nice outfit, then pass then the new resident info folder that one of the gracious forumites pulled together.

Yes, it's trying at times, but we were all newbies once.

Perpetuate acts of kindness..... when someone says... " I dont know how I can ever repay you" answer then by simply saying... "Repay me by helping someone someday someplace on your own."

Yes, the approval cycle for mentors is broken, and the training cycle even more so. LL is not making good use of the volunteer resources it has now, to "train the trainers". Also may not have any path for expediting mentor qualification by soliciting referrals from trusted individuals.

You could rebuild the official mentor/volunteer program slowly but effectively by aiming for coverage initially only during peak hours with on-the-job training by mentors in 'buddy' mode ... I think peak time for SL is around 2pm SL time ... and build from there.

/me itches to get her hands on LL's broken mentor/volunteer program

Don't pay it back, pay it forward....

One thing I find myself doing is if I am shopping for a furry avatar, and if I happen to hear someone nearby comment that they would love to get a particular avatar, but can't quite afford it, I'll offer to gift them the difference that they need. I've made several people very happy, as they left with their brand new avatar as an anthro lynx or husky or whatever it was that they wanted to be.

I do the same sometimes when shopping for clothes. I hear someone admiring a dress, but stating they can't afford it yet. And I say "You really like that dress? I agree, it would look good on you. Here... go ahead and get it. No need to pay me back."

That sort of thing gets a lot of happy reactions.