Orientation Island Experiment

That word "fair" keeps coming up in related conversasions. It's about time that LL did what was necessary for the growth and development of Second Life and stopped pretending like we're all the same and all have the same needs and abilities. This program won't be "fair." It'll be productive.

In light of the many groups and countless hours people have devoted to working with newbies to make their first days in SL a quality experience, the choice to go with business landing points does speak loud and clear re: LL perceptions of the non-profit service groups...


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... explain to me again how dropping newbies into an incredibly laggy area under the pretense of dancing and sex is productive? Everyone has a stake in this. The more people that quit because their first experience in SL was like THAT, the less money EVERYONE makes from dwell.

At least it seems there will be a queue rotation of some sort. That would be fair. The point is, I don't think it would take anyone any length of time to figure out that money could be made by being one of the first places a newbie visits, and that they should pay for that opportunity. When someone is offered that opportunity for free, that DOES seem like favoritism, and I'm not sure how anyone can claim otherwise (unless... maybe that opportunity WASN'T offered free...?)

What kind of system would determine who in the queue actually gets picked? Would it be random, or does someone choose? Is it only high traffic areas that will be considered, or do the interesting, but low-traffic areas get equal share, despite not making as much money? These are questions that should be put in an FAQ for all to see.

Okay

It's productive because it's giving them what they ask for. Of course if you consider them too stupid to know hwat type of atmosphere will make them comfortable, you'll have a different opinion of giving them a variety of options.

I'll add too that more and more people are coming into SL by invitation after seeing pictures, reading forums and chatting with residents. They're well aware of what they're walking into and what to expect. I've not met a truly clueless newbie in months.


It doesn't seem like favouritism; it IS favouristism. Again I have to give the employees of LL enough credit to believe that they'll favour sites and hosts that they think will maintain a fairly high retention of newbies. If they just pick their friends and family for this, it'll quickly become a fiasco and go down the tubes. That'll affect SL very badly; but it'll also put the software on the market sooner than later. LL loses in that case. We win either way.

So how much did The Edge pay to get the newbies dumped directly into them?

How about something sensible like putting them at the Ivory Tower Of Prims instead?

Why only a few entry points?

Are there insurmountable technical reasons why there can be as many entry points as there are people willing to pay for?

Hmm, an orientation island with hundreds of streaming videos, live or not, allowing a person to get an idea of what they are going to will be like before they get there.... hmm.

Slightly off topic, but I always thought a promotional video streamed to orientation island might be a good idea.

Robin indicated in the meeting that is the direction they are heading with this initial experiment. Eventually there will be an unlimited number of first destinations for new residents and they could come directly from an external web site directly to a particlular place inworld -- bypassing Orientation Island completely.

The hosting resident would be providing the initial experience for the new resident, not Linden Lab, necessarily.

This is extrapolation on my part a bit with what was being discussed as possibilities.

She said that there are as many as 700 new residents born each day and there is a big drive at Linden Lab to decentralize the process for people arriving in SL for the first time. They want to enlist the help of the residents in that scaling process and provide some benefit for those that help alleviate that bottleneck.

Just a lil food for thought..

I'm very unlikely to spend any time in a place once I realize newbs are spawning there.

I never mind helping a newb that I happen to come into contact with. Have always tried to be extra friendly and helpful. However, I have no burning desire to seek them out, at all.

My hat is always off to those that enjoy being there for them. But I shant be frequenting any known newb locations.

Hell you should just have signs that talk to the person, no one likes reading besides, they learn quicker and dont pass over the important things. Or just make something like one of those pokemon Pokedex, a book that talks to them on how to do stuff.. hey.. i dont like pokemon.. just saying.. god.. hey dont judge!

I love this idea!

Hitchhikers guide to the Metaverse

If it was supposed to be something available to all interested in having noobies funneled to their land/venue whatever - they'd have put out a notice asking for people to get into the queue BEFORE choosing locations to experiment with.



Another question that pops into my mind, is what is the initial goal of this project?
Do you want to educate the newcomers?
Do you want to entertain them?
What aspects of SL are the most beneficial for newcomers to see from the get-go (in terms of customer retention)?
(fill in your own questions here)

I'd also like to second the motion for a mature welcome area.

Nah Brace - it's business as usual...

Lots of hype, lots of promises and lots-of-lots-a!


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Eek Mer - you lost yer happy shiny outlook or what? *cuddles*

nooooo say it aint so!

Isn't DaBoom mature?

I think the goal was to offer locations that have different atmospheres and social activity for those who would like different things. Person A may be into clubbing, Person B may want to learn more.

Another question, are sims not connected to the main grid allowed to be in the list?

So, I guess the phrase of the day is...

"Be careful what you wish for"

Apparently, the Shelter has been added to the list of start locations.

I'm ecstatic, but have my work cut out for me & am totally unprepared. But I'm honored that I'm being given the opportunity to try & give new residents a positive experience.

I promise I'll do my best not to let anyone down

The idea to lower the defaults wasn't mine. It came from, I believe, a relatively new player whose name I forget. But the push to make how to handle these settings clear has been my campaign since day one.

Travis, I'm glad they chose you! I doubt any place could be better!

As for any and all ideas of fairness, I am for any and all ideas of fairness, being of the opinion that an unfair environment loses members simply by virtue of being unfair, and THAT wouldn't be good for LL.

coco

This is a really fantastic idea. I wish Plum saw more use, but it's almost never set up to be a welcome area.

There is no sign that I can see of a "Abbotts Welcome Area" and I was unable to detect any new customers arriving there.

I contacted a prominent resident associated with the Aerodrome and was advised that he had not been told where new customers would arrive on his property and had been given no advanced notice, hence the absence of anyone to greet new arrivals, and that he was not inworld enough to cover the task himself.


This does not sound like a proper evaluation to me.

We're still setting things up. The people involved have been notified, and we're also working with various SL volunteer groups to cover the two locations involved this week and welcome anyone who chooses to start there.

We've been getting lots of terrific submissions for future welcome venues. Thanks to everyone who has expressed their willingness to participate. We'll let you know how the experiment goes, and what will happen next as we learn more.

Is the Mentors group one of the included volunteer groups?

Cant confirm this info I just received, but I was just told The Edge has been pulled from the roation.

The Mentors are one of the Volunteer Groups. They were invited to participate through their group forum.

We've switched out The Edge for the time being because of feedback I received from residents at a meeting in-world on Monday. We'll put it back when we expand the number of options, and when we can be more complete in our description of the experience people should expect when they arrive at their chosen destination.

I was thinking this as well, due to the fact that having 20 newbies come into a club I'm at would be annoying. I like helping newbies, however, sometimes you want to just relax, hang out, and NOT be helping newbies. If I'm being pushed all over the dance floor by newbies who don't know the settings information (good point btw coco) and don't know how to move even, you bet, I wouldn't be going back to that club. While having newbies spawn at a club might be good for daily dwell, it's not going to be benefecial to a) retaining employees (a dancer or dj or host only needs to be pushed 500 time sor so before having enough) b) to retaining guests for longterm dwell and reputation.