Transforming the Second Life Experience with Big Spaceship

What Oryx said! Personally I don't like the Big Spaceship website. Too much flash and not enough content (or as Broccoli said "all fluff and no trousers". Hehe.

I get that if you're a typical San Francisco tech company, like LL, then this looks like a really good move and is really exciting. But there are other kinds of companies and other ways to run a company. Like employing more folks like Torley (ex concert pianist) who can give you a different perspective on things. Personally, as a noob, if I'd got one of those flash websites, I would've been seriously irritated.

I'm really not convinced the 'sign up' process is actually the problem.

In my mind, there are two real big issues that are not being addressed at all by LL.

Firstly, there is the problem of 'technical' issues - many of the failed signups, for example, will simply be down to someone's PC not being up to it, or people that get in-world, find the lag is so bad they just can't do anything, or unexpected crashes, and give up.

Secondly, there is the problem of once people get in ... there's actually nothing to do. Most other online games/worlds/whatever, there are goals, achievements, things to work towards. In SL, there's nothing, and unless you're the creative type that likes to build/make stuff, on a small bit of land to call your own, and possibly sell to other players, most places you come across are either going to be little enclaves of people that don't speak a language you do, bunches of afk people/bots/zombies, or people that simply don't want to be disturbed at that time. In SL, you mostly make your own entertainment, either by making things, or enjoying other people's creations - if you can find them amongst all the crap that passes itself as 'popular places'.

Bots don't read websites.....................

I heard Sony ??? Not Sony will release soon HOME for PS3 ?

Katt.

The link on the Blog to make comments or get further information leads to the Forums.
Yet those on Teen Grid cannot access the Forums.

I take it then that you are not at all interested in the Teen SL user experience?
Or any comments or thoughts they may have?


Teen residents again get shafted.
Despite them paying just as much in Tier, Premium fees, and $L exchange rates, they cannot access any information on scripting, building, texturing, or anything else.
And now they cannot even read or comment on issues posted on the Blog.

... nor can those on the adult grid without payment info on file after a certain birthdate, if I remember correctly - the vast majority of the active playerbase?

How many people here working in a project team reply to feedback from customers within a few days without sitting down, sorting out alternatives, discussing it, getting it approved.

Believe me, if I started a forum to ask for feedback and within 24 hours it was filled with 1000s of knee-jerk insults (some of them directed personally at me) that I was expected to read then I wouldn't be very inclined to post either. Good on Katt and Jack for being more patient than me.

If they post replies everyone rips into them without even considering what they've said, if they don't reply within half an hour everyone assumes they're being ignored... sometimes I wonder why I want to be part of the SL "community" when it seems a large proportion act like spoilt teenagers whose daddy won't buy them a pony.

This is a thread about making improvements to SL, which will affect everyone for the better if it's done properly, and they're asking for feedback to do just that.. what is so wrong with that?

That changed several months ago. Logging into SL once is now enough to get forum access.

What's wrong?

How about...

- the company they've chosen does not seem to impress us with their flashiness, and appear to have no prior experience in virtual worlds.
- the timing is poor, trying to bury the openspace price hike.
- flashy interfaces will not overcome the various technical, and user behaviour, issues of SL, nor will it change its image of being 'adult orientated'.
- the fact that many people have made suggestions over the years and been dismissed.
- that existing groups (mentors, newbie helpers) and places like NCI haven't been asked, and aren't being included, thus devaluing their vital role in this
- we're giving real feedback. It doesn't always have to be positive, and in fact critical but factual feedback is more useful than the usual "we love the lab" fanboi feedback you see.
- by restricting feedback to forum only, large percentages of the userbase are excluded from having any input.
-

... for a start? I'm sure there are other reasons as well.

Interesting. I don't remember seeing a blog post about it. Thanks. I'll try my alt's alt's alt's alt and see if that can access the forums.

News are reported as they come up. What you want them to hide it until nothing bad come up so they can release the news? I don't get why people are so complaining about this 'timing' issue, which shouldn't be an issue at all.



SL is 'adult orientated'! It clearly stated the minimum age is 18.



Well, now they hire someone to speed it up, and people complain that they do...so go figured.



Well the way I see it, there're three group who give LL feedback. The fanbois group who always love what LL do no matter what, the 'hater' group who always say 'the sky is falling!' The more balanced group are rather hard to come by... And I say that in general.

"Adult orientated" as in 'sex', not 'for players over 18'. I don't know why so many people confuse the two every time it gets mentioned. Just because you can have sex (of sorts) in SL doesn't mean that's all there is to it.

One primary issue with attracting residents/citizens to the various "quality" builds is the ones that people would find pretty are spread far and wide upon the grid. Much of what is in the current metaverse is experimental builds, ideas thrown around into clumps and thoughts expressed as freebies scattered about in each sim.

The issue in attracting new residents I feel is the need to have a gaming PC. Most manufacturers of PCs use the cheapest parts to assemble a computer and most computers have basic on-board or lack luster 3D video making the SL experience laggy and visually unappealing.

Other issues regarding the SL experience is the fact that there is no goal for people initially, no challenge for them to experience and overcome. SL is so open many people do not see what the point of it all is, which is a shame. There is nothing leading or compelling the new resident to do something, and it is very very difficult when trying to research what actually exists that might interest them.

My gallery that I have worked very hard on might never get to be on the magical list of showcased locals because I am not able to spend enough Linden to place higher on the ad list. This makes it difficult for up and coming residents to break through the elite showcased locations and possibly causing residents to give up and go away.

Just my thoughts rolling around in my empty head. Huggies, love you all.

Davina

Not within LL's direct controlCould be due to slow connection or too much laggy content in simI haven't seen this happen in a while, but then I find many WA's to be too laggyWho really needs land? Now THIS is a problem.
Any socio-economics gurus want to tackle it?

Well, speaking as an older user who's never played WoW and started using PCs when it was DOS 1.0 (and still has the 5.25" floppy to prove it), I absolutely love these ideas!!!

So, I don't think it's just the younger players who will appreciate these sort of changes. Fixing the avatars is also a high priority.

Firelight

Well I don't know about thet thar soshiable economy fancy shmancy perfesser stuff.

But I do know that a significantly improved in world showcase and event system would likely cause people not looking for sex to not find sex. In addition some policy and enforcement about ad falsification, including traffic and pick falsification, would go a long ways towards minimizing exposure to things not asked for unless the new resident was specifically looking for it.

What is the number one question from new residents?
Could it be "How do I make money in Secondlife"?
That is what I hear the most. Every so often I will take on an apprentice and mentor them into becoming a positive content creation asset for the grid. But this is not a first hour experience thing.

First hour should include an available tutorial on opportunities and case studies in Secondlife businesses followed by a listing of educational opportunities and special interest groups relative to content creation and business in Secondlife.

This meta-topic really shouldn't become the thrust of this thread, but really:
No company manages their public communications by just letting news be reported as it comes up--least of all on the public face of the company, and for LL, that's the blog. In the meantime, M is off giving interviews and press releases--are we to imagine that those aren't timed to the Internet equivalent of the news cycle? This is a business, not a kindergarten show-and-tell: if the timing and content of Linden public communications are not being managed, there's a lot of business re-education urgently needed on Battery Street.

This is because help islands werent working because volunteers had no powers to return griefing prims and none of the vendors worked? signs were confusing and outdated and welcome areas are a sesspool of people trying to push the limits of the AR? because to this day, the pele tutorial on orientation island doesnt work? it would have taken one person one day to solve these things and yet it never happened. thousands of volunteer mentors crying out for change, and all it takes is one LL business partnership to make it all go away.

Your reputation precedes you Broccoli... not gonna mess with you

Exactly my earlier post.

Account retention should be THE prority,, not greasing the slipway into the platform. The writting is on the wall.. millions of accounts, 80% retention losses.

Expanding the userbase is critical to the success of Second Life, take away the users and all the fun is gone.

I am glad finally Linden Labs seems to be making SL more accessable for new members, Hope it doesn't mean huge changes in the interface itself though, as that would probably put off current users.

It would be nce to see LL produce more pleasant mainland parcels at affordable prices to new premium members, This would certainly help to keep new players in game and hopefully get them participating quickly.
Current affordable mainland for new members is a mess with either extortion plots cut out or surrounded by other buildings packed tightly together, Your customers need to see what SL can offer from the start.
A new player continent with nicely spaced out 512 plots and a little landscaping would help to ease players into the game, perhaps they could hold a plot for 1month from applying for a premium account?
This would help LL generate premium members to pay for the land being used and encourage users to purchase further land after the month was up.

To keep people on the mainland though, the promises of effective estate management need to be upheld, leaving extortion traps and having most inner mainland sims looking awfull does nothing to hold a players interest.

I like the new Nautilus Island and feel more of this style mainland would hold more users in SL, tweaking the initial experience is a good step forward to getting people through the door now you need to keep them inside.

hmmm just make the first hour pleasant and then its .. bendover and take it..
nice policy

Discussion?????????? where.. where
cranes her head around looking desperately

The venom in some SL residents will last forever. Let's get real:

@#13 The truth is I can't remember the last time I had a sim crash, inventory glitch, viewer crash, or lengthy group message lag. Used to happen a lot in 2006 and 2007, but no longer. There have been tremendous improvements in the viewer and RL computers have become way better.

@#14 Of course 20 hours is overkill, because it's just not true. "Some experts in the eLearning community regularly say that 4 to 20 hours is needed in order to do basic tasks (tp and search)." That's baloney propagated by the same kind of person who spews garbage all over the SL Blog and these forum threads. I bring students in all the time with no difficulty. I once had a student who took three hours to complete Orientation Island. When I expressed surprise at how long it took, she confessed that she had been perfecting her Appearance so it was just right for her grand entrance.

@#16 Kate, here's one of those places that a little transparency would go a long way. When you post generalities, the wombats here have nothing specific to chew on so they gripe about generalities. "We're also working on a number of things intended to make that 'first hour' experience better." How many corporate secrets would you jeopardize by putting a bullet list here of some of those "things?" Residents then could contribute concrete ideas, at least.

@#30 @#56 "When they first materialize inworld, they need a positive experience that makes them want to stay." & "New residents need ... something to do when they get here." Put fun and intellectually engaging things around the edges of the welcome centers as windows into our world. A carnival with lots of motion and flashing colors. A Craft Fair exhibiting a variety of small handcrafted objects to fascinate and inspire. A collection of dioramas depicting some of the extraordinary environments to be found across SL. Not photos, but 360° panoramas complete with interactive components. Our residents have demonstrated thousands of times over that they are capable of amazing technical feats of illusion. Show newbies some superb examples of this fusion of art and technology and they will be captivated.

--Stone

The one thing that puts new Residents off from using Second Life is that they are told by Linden Labs that they cannot own any land unless they purchase a premium account membership. This is something which is an issue for someone new to the game as they want to experience it, having their dreamhouse as advertised on the www.secondlife.com mainwebsite, without paying 9.95$USD/month with their creditcard to Linden Labs only to have their own little place to live.

The interesting aspect to this is that Linden Labs are stating: you cannot own land unless you are a premium member and pay Linden Labs monthly tiers.

Is this true? No, it's pure lies. But for a newcomer who have never see what Linden Labs is (in)capable of explaining, it's hard to understand the scheme to make maximum profit with quick turnover for minimum effort. So unfortunatly the shock to the newcomer comes when he/she in-world meets people who are anchored to reality and explain that they can indeed own land without handing over their creditcard details to Linden Labs for monthly charges.

But does this infuse trust towards Linden Labs; Does this make the newcomer feel taken care of by Linden Labs? No...so the reason why they would stay is not because of the offered 'first hour experience' by Linden Labs (which used to mean getting stuck in a starting area together with 500 other Ruth's, not knowing what to do next), it would be because of the other Residents they meet in-world who guides them into the world as we know it, a world where greed is getting a stronger foothold daily. So with us being sheep, take care of us and you will get wool because we would want to recommend it to others...