How to get more users

i'm envious -- i'd be on it every day too except for all the problems there's been since i joined earlier this month -- surely it can't be this unstable all of the time?

Mostly, but not completely. I have found some places that were completely empty but the build was still beautiful - those places still make SL very interesting to me. Granted, while the various builds are awesome to find, the biggest reason I keep coming back is because of the people.

I think there will always be a case of this. Society as a whole (at least here in the US) seems to be into Instant Gratification these days. So if they log in and don't immediately find their thrills or make their millions, they run off to the next possibility.

When I came to SL, there wasn't place to place teleport as we have now. My first experience was quite lonely. A desert of uninhabited and barely developed land was under me, but I was so thrilled by flying that I didn't care. Then I used search to find an event to go to but arrived in an empty telehub. Flew around for a bit till I saw two avatars talking (figured out that the green dots were people) and asked them "what is the red beam over there?" thinking they could see it too. One said "It's your goal." I asked, befuddled, "Oh, are there goals?" I was very confused. So I went hopping from green dot to green dot until I figured things out a bit. Once I found out how to actually get to an event that was going on, I had fun. I met people. I made friends. Three years later I'm still here.

Now I run an event each week (a poetry open mic) and have for about 15 months now. Every Sunday people stop by to share poems and bellydance on the bar afterward. I think that it is important to remember that it isn't just sims but people and activities that give folks a reason to hang out in SL. Merchants might do well to remember that they only sell to a population that is socializing. Sponsor an event. Or, send funds to the FFRC which sponsors rich content in SL.

I know so many events hosts who keep up the good work by offering people fun times (primtionary hosts, greedy greedy hosts, discussion hosts, live musicians, people making plays, even ballets in SL, etc.) and to those folks I just want to say THANK YOU! You rock our second lives.

Exactly, if we couldnt share what we have and know life would be quite lonely and boring.

On second thought they can't eliminate camping, as that artificially inflates the users online figure, and thats what LL wants.

The only way to eliminate it is to go with a mass publicity campaign at the same time to get new users to make up those numbers. Thats a lot of work for sure.

Just a guess here, but it looks like as many as half of the users online at a particular time are campers. There are plenty of areas with what looks like 95% campers in them.

After eliminating the campers, the builders (who are alone in their sims), the non-english speakers, the griefers, and the pervs (maybe you like them, I ain't gonna judge ya lol),
the number of socially viable people online must be just a fraction of that online number.

Kinda makes ya wonder why the grid gets so unstable sometimes, it there aren't that many people moving about. Say, this is an odd theory... I wonder if LL don't want more people online as it would endanger the grid? Now I am just babbling.

AK

Cmon Usagi..you are not a prude You know what sells and what keeps people coming to Second Life. Yes ,I remember many full sims that were casinos and looked just like RL Las Vegas..toons half asleep at coin machines..who had been sitting for three days trying to make a buck...It wasn't pretty at all.

Reading Persephones post was soo nice. Reminded me of my first day in second life. It was all about exploration..learning for yourself and being forced to form friendships and talk to people in order to survive. IT'S A SOCIAL EXPERIMENT.(emphasis on "social".

If you've(generalization) come to second life for everything to be laid out for you and for some "mentor" to spoon feed you the ins and outs of being social..typing..learning how to build..learning how to navigate the map etc. Get over it. Where is your sense of wonder thru "learning""? I had no welcome Island, I had an orientation isle with signs telling me what to do and look for and how to fly( I had to know how to "see" and "read" and was given a "ruth" who was naked and who looked like a monkey. then i was dropped in the middle of it all.

Part of the Second Life experience(to me)..a BIG part..is "discovery". Discovery takes time..perserverance..patience..tolerance..willingness....openmindedness and prolly 100 other adjectives. It's a process...not a slam bam thankyou maam process either.

Yes..I don't envy noobs now adays..there's alot of trash they have to wade thru inorder to get to the substance but then again..without the mountains and valleys of Discovery...there would be "nothing at all."

~Lana Tomba

Possible yes lana. Indeed Gambling was a draw to many to the game. Sex well as many say they canﾞt get in in RL so they get it on sl. But is not good is the griefting that occured because of gambling. There was alot of it. Sex well if they underage porn lovers didnt create a problem we wouldnt be in this problem with age checking right?

ooh yes..its always the few who break the rules who ruin the fun for the majority.Thats what ended gambling.IMHO

~Lana Tomba

hi
i'm new and can give you a newb's perspective. I am not a prude in that one of the ways I paid for college was bouncing at strip clubs in RL. I went back to school when I turned 30 before that I was a Teamster. I have a BBA in business administration an Associate in computer science and a MCSE. I AM NOT STUPID AND NOT LOOKING TO BE PROROVERBIALLY SPOON FEED.

I am going to address this in two points. This is going to be brutally honest and will most likely attract flames.

1 - The first week in was in SL very few people would respond when I tried to talk with them. I must have said “Hello, nice to meet you” hundreds of times over that week. The first few times this happened I figured no problem they are AFK. The few that did either tried to sell me something or were begging, once they realize I didn’t have any L$ they would give me the brush. After an entire week of this I came to the conclusion that something is wrong and quite the game. Hey Lana here is a concept for social interaction when some one offers you a hand shake and says Hello, RESPOND. Even if all you say is “I’m busy”. If you claim I was talking to bots then it is problem that bots out number real people in SL.

2 - When I use the search function it brings up low quality cartoon porn and shopping malls. The results are the same weather I search places, events, popular places, classifieds or all tabs, regardless of the syntax, words or terms used in the search. If you don’t believe me I will provide screen shots. I am not stupid I have been playing MMO’s since 2001 and online since 1998. I enjoy porn and am indifferent to shopping. Wile I can see the attraction of cartoon porn it dose nothing for me. Different strokes for different folks. Just do a google search for “anime, porn, video” and see what I mean about the quality difference. Hey who knows maybe you find something you like a rub one out. Lord knows I have.

After a few months I decide to give SL a second try made new toon and purchased $20 worth of L$’s. this one I’m currently posting as. The first few days had been a repeat of the above. Then one day I had been wondering around aimlessly. After teleporting to over 20 places that claimed to be R&B clubs which where actually shopping malls or porn some one sent me a tell and said “hi, I see your new, nice to meet you.”. WOW who would figure that being friendly in a social game would cause newb’s to come back. I’ve been back for less then a month.

One thing to consider in a busy place with a lot of open chat going on is the lack of identifying who you are talking too. Address them by name. There can sometimes be several conversations going on, and they might not realize you are addressing them, and not ignoring you.

thanks for the response Brenda. that is a poor excuse. back in the 1970's and 80's when i was growing up my mom taught me manners. when some one walks into a room and say "hi" you respond regardless if you have been named or not. i do take that into consideration and vary my approach when greeting people i don't know. sometimes i just say "hi" in general sometimes i say "hello, (name)". and yet i would guess that 98 out of every 100 people ignore me. so far other then one vet who sent me a tell, the few other people who interact with me are new and seem to have a similar experience and are surprised when i respond.

see how that works, did you see that? Brenda said something me and i responded. WOW, what a concept with in a social game. i always respond.

It would be cool if LL (or residents) built a sort of (new) tourist information point - problem is keeping it updated.

The Infohubs have scads of billboards and announcements and things. Does anyone know how to get something placed there?

I completely agree that there are alot of places in SL with no sense of community and no one interacting with anyone they dont know. I will say that many times when that is the case for me it is because I am posting events, in forums or otherwise doing something where i simply miss the hello in the chat window. However, there is a place in SL where folks intentionally are working to build community, welcome visitors and make a nice safe and friendly area. Please feel free to come visit Etopia Island and I think you will find a completely different atmosphere. I cant guarantee every person there will speak to you, but I can tell you there is alot to see and do and many friendly people who live and work there. If I am online when you come to visit, please feel free to IM me and if I can come by to welcome you personally, I will do that. Thanks!

Etopia Island (180,66,22)

Want to get rid of camping? Try this:

Make Premium members and basic accounts who buy on the Lindex count more toward traffic than no info freebie accounts. Make basic accounts worth more if they actually have payment info and use it, but not as much as premium accounts.

That way it will be harder for places with things that attract real people to be drown out by sims full of zombies.

Then let the camping gurus fight over trying to attract them. They'll probably do that with paying those avatars a bonus or restricting their sim to accounts with payment info on file. Individuals shouldn't have a problem adding payment info to their account. It might be hard to do that if you are running camping bots though. Or at least pretty obvious to LL that's what your doing if 30 avatars all are using the same credit card. (Umm, hello? I think you are over your 5.)

Premium members aren't going to camp because they get a stipend as it is. Or if they do, you'll have to pay them a heck of a lot more than 2 or 3 L$ every 10 minutes or whatever. So you can either fork over a ton of L$ to try and keep your camping operation somewhat viable OR realize that at this point you're better off actually making someplace real live people actually WANT TO GO TO!

jojogirl thank you for the response and nice to meet you. of course you dont control other people in SL and can not force anyone to be nice to new players. Lindens give us the tools we chose whether or not to use them. the population of SL reaps what it sows. the title of this tread is "how to get more users" as new player i gave the account of my experience. it is unlikely that i am the only one. last night i met some one who was grifing in a jazz club because he had been frustrated at being ignored. as soon as i said "hello" he stopped busting balls. thing is i agreed with him and gave him pointers on how to get away with grifing based on online research. i've personally seen good online games ruined by rude players. when people act like snobs they deserve a boot to the head. players reap what they sow. of course some time we all miss things and dont respond but if some one claims all of the few hundred people during my first week accidentally missed my greeting, i have to call "bull shit". jojogirl you seem like a nice person and if you ever need anything i can help with let me know it will be yours. maybe if more people in SL where like you and not stuck up pricks that act like snobs then maybe new people would stick around.

on a side note all the prono gets old after wile. it dosent necessarily bother me but i can see how it would drive people away.

hi Tomomi

after reading your post i think these zombie camping bots are doing a larger disservice to the reputation of SL then most people realize. they seem to be people that are AFK, or at least they appear that way me. up until recently i had been wondering why so many people are logged in and AFK.

Well, it is quite true that people on "new resident" areas are often not capable of or interested in responding to simple conversation; older residents will generally at least _respond_, even if it is to say "get off my land!" Partly this seems to be technical, partly it is shyness, partly it is language and partly it is just that a lot of them are simply rude and uncouth.

I once had property very near a freebie warehouse which had enormous amounts of traffic, by people who would then occasionally wander over onto my land.

Ordinal: "Hello!"
Ordinal: "Can I help you at all?"
Ordinal: "Please stop trying to sit on that - I am trying to script it at the moment and it won't do anything anyway."
Ordinal: "It is probably not that productive to keep walking around me and bumping into me, either. Perhaps I could give you some instructional notecards."
Ordinal: "Oh. You've disappeared. Goodbye then."

I am not sure quite how this could be solved, if at all, apart from perhaps mandatory etiquette classes.

Funny thing is, after 2 years of SL, whenever someone says "Hello" I say "Hello" back. If I remember to check their profile & see that they're new I'll try to have a conversation with them.

There's the occassional idiot here & there, but I've encountered LESS on SL than I have some other Online MMO's.

Reminds me of a time a friend of mine tried out EQ2 when it was newer (about...2 or 3 years ago now) and that people would tell him to shut up when he said hello, if they responded at all. On the entire server there were 16 people of all levels (1-69) who were looking for a group.

SL has always used word of mouth/article as it's prime advertisement. Just imagine what would happen if they were to create a boxed version of the game that had an ad campaign behind it. Obviously a person could download SL just as they always have, but if the box were to contain a paperback manual, a cd for downloading and a code of some type that would give the buyer a starting amount of money I think we'd see some serious growth. For one, it would put the physical box in front of customers out there on shelves which is advertisement in itself. Secondly, people would have invested some money in buying said box which would make them a little more likely to stick around and actually attempt to try and find the high points of SL rather than hightailing it the second they get bored.
When it comes down to it people like to have something they can hold in their hands. It makes them feel better about dropping money into it when it's more "physical".

...just a thought that's been floating in my mind for some time now...

Eve, that's a GREAT idea! Bundle it up with some slick custom artwork, flesh it out a little bit with the recommended box content and marketing campaign ideas, and go pitch it to LL. You may become the next SLillionaire.

With respect, I don't think it's such a terrific idea. First, does anyone even buy software in boxes anymore? I have the impression that this is a rapidly dwindling market. Second, people who have spent $39.95 or whatever on a box, even if it comes with added content, are going to be annoyed that others have received the software for free - and, they are going to be even less likely to want to spend more money contributing to the SL economy than users who sign on for free.

I think the trick is understanding that you aren't just buying the game pursey. From the game's point of view the cost of creation is basic advertisement. I don't know about you but any time I go into Best Buy I stop by the game aisle to see what's out. I then go home, do a bit of research on those I find interesting and may end up going back to buy them. For people who are like me, they would find they can download SL without all the "flair" as they wish. If they do so, the advertisement worked.
Then there are those that buy the box, get some additional things that those of us that download don't get and still end up with the game. Nothing is saying they have to pay the usual $39.99 - $59.99. It could be less. That would be up to a marketing department to research.
Other games do exactly the same thing. You can download the game from the company's site and you are getting just the game, or you can buy the box and get your nifty poster and manual and fancy cd.. or whatever, and still have the game. I think when you buy this way it's generally assumed by all that you will be paying a little more for all the extras.
However, this allows two things. First, it allows people to give the game as gifts to those that wouldn't know about it otherwise. You can wrap up a nifty box and give it. It's not nearly as satisfying to do it all virtually. Secondly, often people who are already playing will buy the boxes for the extras even though they are already in game.

I remember back when beta testing ended. Each of us beta testers received a Second Life shirt, a poster and a thank you note from Phillip. What if similar shirts, posters, a cd, manual, etc... were put in this box. I think you'd see even people who were already ingame out buying the box even if they already have the game.

In short: box=advertisement above and beyond the usual word of mouth.