Rude newbies / fake newbies

but we don't have flex-prim spheroids yet ...

"If I saw a pretty house, I could go in it."

What world are you from that made you think going in someones house would be okay?

probably the world of UO, EQ, Runescape, Star-Wars Galaxies, (dont know about WOW, no interest in playing it) where almost all of the houses/shops/etc that you CAN enter (eg the owners dont have them set TO keep people out) are either part of the game server itself or you just dont have as much interactivity with things in them as you do in SL


the first time I logged into SL I wasnt aware that it was different than the other MMO's i'd played in that respect, A very nice individual whose name i cant remember (shame on me) took a few minutes and politely explained it to me.

Thanks Cindy, thats kind of you. However, at the moment, I'm still getting the feel for the controls. Much different than what I'm used to, and my exploring time is rather late in the evening.

Once I figure out how to move around, and I really don't walk in someone's house uninvited... I'll prolly want to set down some roots.

The newbie club... do ppl really get in the pool?

As a newbie who signed up just a week before the floodgates opened on June 6th, I can say that I definitely have noticed a big difference before and after that date. I really like the game -- the building and scripting capabilities make it so much more interesting than the MMOs I have played for the past several years -- but the frequent visits by griefers to the NCI sandbox, the Shelter, and other places that I have liked to hang out are very disturbing.

I will join in the voices asking the Lindens to *please* bring back the stricter registration policy! I am surprised that they can get away with not verifying that applicants are over 18, since they are in essence giving minors access to material (in some regions) that can only be described as pornographic.

I'm sticking with it for now, but if things don't improve, I'm afraid I (and many other "real" newbies) will give up on SL.

Salvador

P.S. Tannah: if by "the newbie club" you mean The Shelter, yes, people do get in the pool, every Saturday night.

I hope you don't give up. I am fairly new myself. (a little over a month) I continue for find great new things and new people everyday. I haven't been to welcome areas lately. Maybe I will have to go take a look for myself and see if I see a difference since I have been there last. Feel free to say hello if you see me.

I still speak as a post-triple-six newbie. Restrict registration!!!!
ALthough I have four alts so who am I to talk.

I'm also a post 6/6/06 person. I've noticed that people tend to be pretty courtious as long as you make an attempt to be nice.

Also, I didn't know people were so protective of their land! I meen, I don't spawn stuff on other people's land (unless I am chatting and want to make a point visually. In which case it's small, maybe 2-prim things, which I derez when I'm done) but I would have thought people would LIKE others looking around in their houses! I'll keep that in mind in the future.

A lot of people *are* very kind and helpful to noobies since we tend to remember being new ourselves.

As to looking around in people's houses, there has been, I think, a change over time in what people intend for their houses and their virtual property in general.

Early on, lust building a house was a new thing, and it was a lot more about display than about the real world uses of a house. This also went along with a much smaller population and probably a more close-knit community feel.

These days, there are enough people, and enough new people that a lot of users when they buy land and set up a house are *not* doing it as a display piece, but rather they are doing it in order to have a private space for themselves and their chosen circle of friends. As such, they're not likely to welcome intrusions from strangers.

When I was new, I used to wander around and look at people's builds and walk through their houses as well (When they weren't home.) but that's not something I'd do now.

Personally, I don't mind people looking around when I'm not home. If people want to fly around and cam through the walls to look at the place, I have no problem with it. The only time I'd object to that is if I'm actually in residence. (Something you can tell this from the mini-map.) I wouldn't think that most people would have a problem with that.

For myself, the ground level of my land is space that people are generally welcome to wander around, so long as they don't disturb me or my guests when we're using the beach and want to be alone. My house is in the sky, and I'm mostly only picky about that if I'm there, or if I log on to actually find someone *in* the house.

Anyway, I hope that this helps.

I don't mind at all if someone turns up in my house, as long as they are polite they can feel free to look around all they want. Me and my partner took time setting everything out and it seems like a shame to restrict enjoyment of that. As long as they're not rude (I.E. I'd appreciate if they actually said hello and not remain in silence), I don't have a problem with it.

What I do have a problem with is the sudden influx of idiots trying out their new weapons in the no shooting sandbox regions like Goguen. Giant magnets that pick up physical objects is NOT cool. Shooting people to the other side of the sim is NOT cool. You ask them politely to stop (hey, maybe they didn't read the signs) and you just get abuse hurled in your direction and maybe a bullet or two. I can only assume this is down to the new registration form because prior to this I had never witnessed this happening in any of the non-combat sandboxes.

I have had this happen to me too.


I live in a wonderful beach house I built form scratch. It's not uncommon for people to stop in and comment on what they think of my home. I too get people who just walk into my home, right past me as if I weren't there, and start wandering around like my house was a public park. I usually start out with "Hello?" to see if I get a response. If none is given then I eject and ban them and add them to my secutiry orb as a target. If they are willing to chat I explain to them "How would you like it if you were in your back yard at home and I just went into your house walking around looking at everything?" Most say to me, "You have a point."

I don't think real newbies get the concept of private land. They think it's there I'll go look at it and check it out. I certainly don't mind if I'm there and someone wants to see my home. If they would IM me and talk with me and ask I would be happy to give them a tour, but just walking past me like I wasn't there is pretty rude.

Also, I've been in my bedroom naked because I was in the process of making a new outfit and when I get back into game from Photoshop I find some guy naked dancing in front of me with his penis sticking out. WTF is that about? Are guys THAT stupid to think the best way to get cybored ingame is to do such acts? It really makes me wonder about the age of some of the people on the mature grid. Needless to say he was immediately ejected & banned and added to my security orb attack list.

I too am seeing an influx of newbies who claim to be new but all their actions point to that not being true. They are definitely alternate AV's made for whatever purpose.

As to money farming, well, companies like IGE have to keep their supply up somehow. I've heard stories of boiler rooms with 20+ computers in them (like a computer science lab at a college or high school) where each individual can get a FREE account with an email address and credit card and then each can farm trees or camp chairs or dance pads. With 1 person doing it, it doesn't add up to much. Get 20 or more and it can add up.

If there's money to be made there will be individuals willing to think up anything to get some. It doens't matter if it effects you or not, they don't care. All they care about is the money.

I personally have no salution. I do HATE camp chairs and dance pads. I think they are the worst thing ever created in Second Life. All they do is lag SIMS and make your experince trying to navigate the area they are in a lesson in frustration. I have resolved myself to not patronize any place that has dance pads. It's my way to rebel against what I feel is a scourge and plague in Second Life.

*HUGGLES*
Savonah Madonna

Is this a trick question?

I have a shop with my own private area on top. I spend a lot of time in various states of undress for the reasons mentioned above.
My door is lockable and i have privacy windows.

A few days ago I was busy and happened to see that someone was trying to open my door, he walked forwards and backwards around 50 times - each time sending the message "i will ring the bell".

I ignored this figuring he would get bored and walk away. He didn't. He stood on the other side of the window for around 1 hour just looking in (privacy windows only seem to be 90% opaque). After that hour he sat down at my outside table for another 40 mins or so. Eventually I logged off. At no point did he say a word.

This was quite a freaky experience for me - it was 3am my time and I was alone in my rl home.

The next day I was talking to my (female) neighbour and he has done the same thing to her - only he managed to get inside her house

This player was not a noob - compared to me at least.
But would you class that kind of behaviour as abuse? Several people I have told just laughed it off.

People come into SL with a lot of different philosophies and world views.

Some would *love* for you to look around their houses. Some want their houses to be private spaces. Some don't mind you looking around as long as they're not online and in the house.

Best way is the way of courtesy, asking the host before going in.

There's no true privacy in SL, just implied privacy.

Look for signs indicating that the owner wants privacy. Doors that can't be opened are a good example.

Be aware also that security systems can be very selective. It may allow you to freely roam certain areas but will blast you out of the house if you enter its protected areas.

Well, yeah, they don't have access to it.

Unless you mean from just outside the property line. Don't know, I'll have to find out when the grid comes back.

I guess its because of my social handicap but i tend to stay clear of areas on the map that have just 1 or 2 green dots. I respect peoples privacy too. I just wish others would do that in return. IRL my location i tend to have flys enter my house and just buzz around wherever they want even in my face. I guess you gota have something like that in SL too. :/ Its when you hit them with the spray that you solve that problem.

If someone comes up to my home, bothers to talk to me, and is at all polite, I'll usually be quite happy to give them a tour of the place. Assuming, of course, that I'm not busy entertaining some other guest at the time. I've given tours more times than I can count, and so has my Companion. It's the ones that walk in like it was a public park that bug me.

fake bewbies are bewbies too

I totally agree with what most of you are saying about newbies not respecting privacy, but I must say as a newbie myself (joined yesterday) I didn't understand most of the feelings all of you have, or the distinguishment between private and public areas. I'm still so lost in this thing that I can't tell if I'm teleporting to a private residence or to a store or to the middle of nowhere. There's a steep learning curve because of all the feautres offered. I think it's great that there is so much you can do, but I'd kill for a quick cheat sheet to help determine what the community currently feels is wrong vs what is right, and things to be careful of so as not to annoy/offend anyone like building things on private property. I myself can say the first thing I did when teleported into the world was create a cube and start playing with it. I didn't realize that you need to be aware of where you are when doing this, and that it may be considered rude.

Help!? Is there a cheat sheet, or breif guide? Can any one offer some additional pointers?

So far I've taken from everyone's posts:
* Be aware of where you build/script things as you may be intruding on someone's property
* Be friendly and say hello to people when you see them. At least if you stumble in their house, they'll know it was a newbie accident

Thanks all

I have to say I too have run into a lot of similar problems with "newbs". I've always tried to be nice to them but its gotten to the point that I can't always be the nice person any longer. I try to have return times set so couples can come enjoy time together and if they want to have a picnic or whatever I try to allow them plenty of time.

Just this last week I got an IM from a customer in my store complaining about a new player coming in begging them for money relentlessly, and said if this is what is allowed here we won't be shopping here so I IM this person and ask them politely not to do that there or I'd be forced to report them and all I get back was a response with more than a few colored words directed at me and a nice lil phrase of "lindens can suck his d***".
Now calling me names doesn't bother me its the fact that people like this drive off business at my store then I know it will soon be someone elses store and I don't want to see people losing business over things like this. After informing a friend a beggar was at my store doing such things it wasnt long til he too was at hers doing the same thing.
True new players to the game rarely act like this at all and its the polite ones that I will try to help.
Heck even had some person slap down 6000+ prims of fire on both my isles and I check this persons profile after I banned them and in there it threatens rape, yes a report was filed but I still to this day have to see a thing done about it. But I will say I bet his/her inventory is a bit more than full after that one.

But heres the kicker...
anyone, including young kids can register for a free account now. No way of verifying age is even on the registration. Oh sure it ask your birthdate, but come on, we know if a young kid wants in all it takes is a white lie *imagines a couple young teens around 13 at the SL registration page, they see birthdate, they snicker and put in a date that "makes" them an adult* then BAM your into an adult game with adult themes. I do not feel comfortable with this process at all, this is exposing young kids to more adult themes and possible predators.

If you don't believe me go try to sign up one for yourself, not one thing to verify that you are an adult. I don't want to see SL become another MySpa*e but with no age verification in and adult game with adult situations is just asking for legal trouble down the road >.<

It boils down to...
1) the Lindens have just tripled thier workload on abuse reports.
2) the Lindens have just left us as residents no way to really deal with many of the situations, other than a ban (btw which you are limited in the number you can ban).
3) the Lindens have just opened an adult themed platform to any age individual.
4) the Lindens have set the stage for predators of the young.
5) plainly gave current residents even a bigger headache to deal with because now do you truely know if your dealing with an adult or some young kid? On top of the abuse I see many here have experienced.

ok theres my 2 cents for what its worth lol

I think newbies don't attach RL boundaries and concepts to SL, at least initially. SL seems like a computer game that's fun/funny to them. (I'm semi-newbie, so I have some authority... tee-hee)
But, I've met a few people on here and have seen how serious they are about their SL experience. It was rather eye-opening for me. I'm acting a little more cautiously lately, though.

Welcome to SL!

Best way to avoid teleporting 'accidentally' into someone's home is to refrain from clicking on the map at random and selecting 'teleport'. Instead, use the Find search and locate a particular place to go, such as a mall or a club. The teleport coordinates for those almost always take you to a perfectly safe starting point.

If you must click and teleport, at least choose somewhere that seems to be an open space on the map, and not a building.

Generally speaking, public sandboxes - areas where you can freely experiment with building, are clearly marked open areas, with signs that indicate they are for that purpose. The best way to find such places is to search for 'sandbox' in the places list. If you see an open area with no signs, assume it's someone's lawn until you are told otherwise. Most people are not going to worry too much about someone fiddling with a few average-sized prims on their property. On the other hand, the ones I was complaining about looked like they were laying the foundation for a full-sized house, on my front lawn!

Virtually any business or public place will have signs up that indicate what it is. If you don't see signs clearly indicating a building is a business, and if it looks at all like it might be a residence, assume that it is someone's home. Check the mini-map, and if you see green dots inside (which meand people are 'home'), it's usually acceptable to sat hello from outside the building, and if the place interests you, to ask permission to come in and see their place.

If you say hello to someone, and they don't respond, wait politely and give them a moment. They might have stepped away from the keyboard briefly, or their screen might be covered with dialogs as they deal with messages, do scripting, or build something.

If there is no one around, and your curiosity is killing you, at least have the courtesy to leave everything as you found it as you explore. Close doors behind you, don't move movable items, don't take anything. If someone shows up, introduce yourself at once, and ask belatedly for permission. If I come home and find a stranger in my house, I'll be much more kindly disposed to them if they are polite.

I'll change the landing point when I get home. Mabey I'll place it up on the airship or on a more open space.


As an aside, I'm very much against automated security systems... but I'm seriously considering one that we can trigger.

Sounds like a good philosophy. If people just didn't assume they can enter unsigned structures, we'd be better off. Politeness helps too - they should try and apply RL thinking in some aspects. Most of the people I have met in here are extremely polite, and offer help without being asked much of the time. It's by far the friendliest online place I've seen in many years (I am not new to online communities, just SL). I might also check the land description and look for signs if they think it's ok for people to look in their house. I think I would not want to open doors, if they are closed, but rather just look at the outside of the house and figure out how they built it.

On the other hand, finding someone I don't know in my house in RL will lead to an immediate ejection through the nearest window.

Thanks Tikki. Placing it on the airship might not be a bad idea.

Hmmmm. Perhaps place it in a hollow, open-topped and completely transparent cylander, 100 M up?

*grins*

Or more seriously, do as they do at Meeting Island. You are forced to TP into an enclosed room, with signs explaining the local rules. From there you can take a sit-teleporter to places on the ground. Doesn't stop friends from visiting, and could perhaps be placed over a spot that remains outside of parcel ban lines when they are turned on. But it would cause people to stop and realize that they were on someone's private estate.