How much help to give new users

Another update

I have just sent a message using non-SL systems, giving the names of the two people who offered assistance. I have asked my friend to contact either resident using SL IM's, so that the process can start (and I did explain how to find the residents profiles, using search etc).

I hope to put this problem to bed soon, the situation has started to impinge on my enjoyment as already highlighted, not the least due to veiled hostility from my friend resulting from my actions (for her own good).

This will not wear me down though, I feel that I have done all possible within my capabilities, and the response from this forum has been absolutely fantastic.

Thank you everyone, all the comments have helped in formulating how to proceed. More updates to follow I hope.

You should be recommended for sainthood. I'm going through a similar experience with a friend who didn't bother with the orientation. Thankfully, she's a quick study, or I'd be pulling my hair out.

Maybe a test should be required before people are allowed to leave the island.

I think we are all guilty of skipping stuff we feel we can come back to later, I will confess to having skipped the building skills, since I have no current interest in that, although I know others enjoy it immensely. I was with a friend last night, who wished to explore the island where we had enjoyed a music gig. Great, lets look round. However, she did no more than find an empty house, and then practice furnishing it ... talk about bored ! I quickly made my excuses and tp'ed away to a beach party with other friends (insert your own mental images here - guys and gals in beachwear, arranging dining room furniture, which is it to be ...)

I guess saints dont go for scantily clad beach-goers ...

I’m in agreement that SL isn’t for everyone but I’ve seen ppl who are so clueless about even the basics still thrive here. I had a close friend who was a horrific typist…couldn’t find or organize anything in her inventory. Would literally go into a mental freeze when given the most basic instructions. I once had to have her change her password (requesting any Lindens reading this to look away please) so I could log in her account and help fix her avatar that was so screwed up. Then of course change her password again! And I will never do that again either. Freaked out when she got an IM from someone while I was her.
Anyway where was I?
Oh. Well she’s still here. Over six months now and still loving SL. We all get different things out of SL. For her just standing in place and chatting with friends is all she wants. Even though she’d like to look nice and have a place to stay, that is secondary to just being here with her friends.

Guess I'm no saint. I enjoy making my box look as homey and decorated as my prim limit will allow ... and I think I do a pretty bang-up job of it too. But it's no comparison to the beach. Especially a beach with scantily-clad beach-goers.

... and I skipped a thing or two also. But not the whole island! That's just goofy.

Beach parties must be among the most fun things in SL. This is perhaps something my friend needs to experience, then she would surely be driven to put the effort in !
There is so much eye candy, I am at risk of virtual diabetes, and need eye drops !!!

I've got to say AMEN to that. I'm learning constantly and I'm sure there's a lot about SL that I'll never understand, but basic navigation and (for Pete's Sake!) how to put your clothes on are pretty simple. If someone simply can't get the hang of those, they may be less frustrated just trying something else.

Howz about arranging furniture while in scantily clad beach wear? (^_^) To add to the funiness, I just completed a bunch of beach front building while in my vamp avatar... Talk about looking out of place. (=_=)

/me giggles... That sounds like someone I know, but, she's going on her second rezday soon. Considering the number of sex groups she's in... I'll just assume she has different priorities. (^_^)y

Funny how for some, once they learn how to click on a poseball…that’s all they need to know

... hehhe ... not that there's anything wrong with that level of interaction, mind you.

Some people cover up their inability to grasp new technology with humor..some with anger...but it's all the same. We learn at different rates. There is a man in my office who is so computer illiterate that he drives everyone crazy..but it's his age..and he doesn't have a computer at home. His idea of a mouse is that gray thing that scurries across the field! But it also takes patience to learn slowly - first..read the buttons across the bottom of your screen....now read the buttons at the top...what do you see ON the screen? Any buttons? or just the picture...it's hard to go so slowly with someone..sometimes you DO want to just shoot them (or yourself) and end the misery. But I think SL is worth the aggrevation!!

Hope she contacts me - if not? good luck to whomever she has teach her. If she leaves? Gee...too bad. But there's a newbie around every corner (usually walking into it!)

Derek just im me in the forum with her name and i will im her..
i've met many people that have a ruff start in sl ..it's just a matter of finding the best way to explain it to them..you know when they get it because most will type up...ohh i see now!!
it's all down hill then hehehe lol

I don't trust your friend as far as I can spit a live rat. She's up to something or she is the laziest person on earth.

You don't get PhD's in Criminal Law, for one, so she's not being honest with you there. At least not in the sense that lawyers can do it. The basic post-graduate law degree is a Juris Doctor, and while you can have a bit of an emphasis depending on where you go to school and how they run the program, it's not a focused degree - it isn't in Criminal Law or Environmental Law or anything like that - it's just a law degree. The next degree up is an LLM, and the vast majority of lawyers don't bother with it. I don't know of any Criminal Law LLM program anywhere in the US. It might exist, but I doubt it. The two main ones you see are Tax Law and Environmental Law. You just don't see PhD's in Criminal Law. So she's either lying to you, or she's got some sort of social studies PhD that addresses criminal law. If she's too dense to figure out how to click on a dance ball, then she has absolutely no chance of getting any sort of legitimate law degree.

At any rate, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink. If she's been around 3 weeks and she won't take the time to learn to walk, then she just doesn't want to. When they say SL has a steep learning curve, they don't mean that it takes three weeks to learn how to right click or how to walk. She can't be bothered to learn, so nobody can help her. I suspect she could walk just fine and she's just being a drama queen.

This is true. Movement, manipulating objects, tp'ing, poseballs, etc. is no problem at all. You can get around, chat, use basic controls without any problem in about 5 minutes if you are starting from scratch.

The learning curve comes in when you try to find your place and fit in or when you get beyond the most basic of controls. I found basic building to be a challenge until someone (very patient and special) took some time to show me the basics, and getting my AO to work almost made me quit. The cultural learning curve can be pretty steep because there are a lot of concepts that aren't in other games, like private property, for example, and the way the economy is set up. It took me a little while to really figure it out.

she could be running super high crazy settings on a system that can't handle them also that that can make it hard to do these things..
it should be easy to tell right away what the problem is..if it is lazy i'll see it .if it is just someone getting frustrated with the controls it can make you frustrated..chances are she doesn't have her cam on her screen and a few other things to make it a lot easier..
we'll see..
either way i'm in world now and will be most of the day since i am home from work today..
i'm kind of curious now and up for the challenge hehehe

...... (O_O) ... That's an...... interesting....... mental image. (O_O)

Some progress at last I think. My friend replied to indicate that she is grateful for my input, and will engage with her preferred mentor, as and when time is available.

I am hoping for a happy ending here, and grateful that all you guys have been able to steer me towards this goal.

Where you end up also depends on where you start. Some people think they have "basic computer skills" because they can check their yahoo email.

I was given an assistant like this once. Nice lady but...I had to put her on phone & filing duty because whenever I asked her to type up a word document it took more time trying to explain to her how to open it, etc, than it would be to do it myself. Forget about SL or anything more complex than checking & typing emails.

Sometimes the less people know about a subject the less aware they are of how little they know.

Dunno if anyone ever answered you, Derek, but QFT means "Quoted For Truth."

My vote is with Ceka in that it's quite possible that your friend is running super high preferences and can't see half of what she should see. That's just one side of the coin, though, and like others have said, she *should* have learned this stuff by now. Walking? C'mon....

Hey Oryx, I loved the redneck pic.

Thanks for that Oryx, I am a bit burned out on acronyms, having absorbed them all my life.

HOSTILITY???? From you trying to help her???

I'd be hitting the mute button and/or removing her from my friends list so fast she couldn't blink.

But then I'm a redhead. *grins*

Oh...QFT - acronym for "Quoted for Truth"

EDIT - Orxy beat me to it First chance I've had to check out the forums today...sorry for the slow response, Derek.

Exactly what I've been thinking after the first few posts.

To be honest I expected a degree of reaction, since my original message to her had to be fairly blunt. I was aware she may have seen me as being critical rather than assisting. When I encountered her in the nightclub that night, the dialogue was fairly sarcastic, but I accepted it as a reaction to the moment. No resentment from myself. we go back a bit.

I treat ALL my friends as I would in RL, ie I try to be there for them when needed, not just around in sunny weather. However, some friends ... that is the subject of another thread lol !