So what's the attraction of the Welcome Area?

Today, I thought I'd drop by the Welcome area to see if there were any new players in need of assistance.

To my surprise, the place was quite full...... lot of green dots on the map.

But nobody moving, nobody talking.

Most of the people I clicked on were quite long in the game - only a couple there were less than a month old.

So what exactly is it that drives people to hang around the welcome area.... yet leave their avatar there so it's "away"?

It can't be money, as there's no camping chairs there.

It can't be a desire to help new players, because they're all away, or idle and silent.

It can't be because it's such a wonderfully attractive place to be.

It can't even be because you're trying to hand out cards to get people to visit your club.... because there's nobody there.

So what's your reason, if you hang around there? I'm just curious.. because I'm not convinced a bunch of corpses hanging around the Welcome area is better than very few people there at all.

Lewis

We just want to share the lag with the new users.

Sometimes giant genitals walk by. I've seen them flying around the WA too.

The presense of many avatars is a lag creating situation. In between im chatting with friends, it's fun to take a break and watch the odd newbie trying to navigate their way through the WA with their default preferences settings too high for their machines.

Agreed.
And there is this giant chicken guy too.

It's the place to show everyone your bling and your poofs.

As that's inappropriate for a PG sim, I guess that gives me something to hit the abuse button over *shrug*

Lewis

The Welcome Area is a place for people to meet up and consort while also welcoming noobs...although since the Help Island has come about I have seen the number of noobs coming to the WA has dropped.

It's art.

It is?

I guess the Bush signs must be too.

At least the "Hasselhoff" stuff has gone..... that drove me nuts when I first started playing.

lewis

WTF!? Did something change? Everytime I've been there people were spaming sounds over and over and over, playing animations/gestures over and over and over, had avatars to try and shock or troll people, and dancing on the edge of the TOS with the material they were discussing.

You go Lewis!

They should rename the WA to Town Center. Since technically, it isn't the WA anymore. Soo..

Oh, and btw the pure reason why I go is simple: I can't find this best FREE entertainment anywhere. Sure beats TV.

Isn't that what it's there for?

After all, by helping remove the inappropriate, I'm enhancing everyone else's experience, arn't I?

I've never been afraid to help get the rules we all agreed to when we signed up enforced in other games I've played, and I'm sure not gonna stop now.

The only difference is that there seems to be very little enforcement going on.

Lewis

One of the advantages the Shelter has over the Welcome Area, is there's usually a volunteer around who has delegated security access. There are still situations that come up from time to time that require Liason intervention, but for the most part we can take care of ourselves, and don't experience the mayhem that's common at the WA.

Because Linden doesn't have the staffing to monitor the WA 24/7, when they're not in attendance no one has any kind of authority... which often degenerates into a free-for-all.

I wonder - if Linden gave the Mentor's group some sort of limited security system access over the WA if that would help calm things down slightly? Maybe even the power just to temporarily eject troublemakers for an hour at a time?

The new llAddToBanList() function introduced in 1.8 has a time duration on it - allowing you to add someone to the parcel ban for a limited amount of time. Possibly this could be put to good use?

He missed you, though.

*shrug* I guess that classes as 'humor' in your part of the world.

Lewis

Montreal is laughing Cory.

But a curmudgeon is a curmudgeon the world 'round!


PS your post was really funny when one remembers where Monty Python, the grandfathers of ridiculously random and surreal comedy, originated. I LEARNED IT FROM WATCHING YOU BLOKES

And we all know how hard it is to get YOU guys laughing collectively. +10 points for me.

Works pretty good here.

Funny, I often wonder if pigs had wings if they'd be able to fly. Are these not analagous in some way?

And I am *so* glad I'm not in that part of the world!


- Newfie

Haha Cory! Nice

The Welcome Area gets mixed moments. Sometimes dead, sometimes casual and then times where the chat scrolls by so fast you wanna pass out. The WA is nice though as it acts as a "lobby" for SL in general. For some folks it's home for them.

*glare*



I've personally made it a mission to warn people in advance about the WA..... :>