WA Disgusting!

Some of the things residents do in the Welcome Area are plain disgusting. Perhaps they are acting up for Video Linden, or really want to gross out other residents, but it's a sad scene for new arrivals to witness. If Lindens did some publically visible enforcement there, perhaps the WA might recover to where LL would not have to consider sending new arrivals to other areas.

From a recent posting, it appears that LL ain't into the policing gig:I don't know what I could add.

Let's return the Welcome Area to a visitor-friendly, welcoming experience. Evenhanded application of guidelines (language, behavior, "ne1 wan 2 buy this?" to residents and newcomers alike would restore its intent.

EDIT: If the Welcome Area is not policed by the Lindens, then the users will begin to enact their own policing and enforcement. I've seen this happening already. If that's the intent, then so be it.

Abolishing all Linden Land is the sensible thing to do. Linden Research is loathe to take action against potential income sources. Not having any pseudo-"public" property is highly scalable.
Linden staff have stated repeatedly that Linden Research is not in the content provision business. This should apply completely, including no Linden provided welcome areas, parks, sandboxes, streets, etc.

Not having any so-called public areas would mean the troublemakers could be barred from access to SL on a parcel to parcel basis totally.

The function of the access ban list should be expanded dramatically. Land owners should be able to export their ban list, import ban lists from other residents, and subscribe to ban list services created by other residents.

Linden Research is planning a major customer increase and is looking to avoid getting swamped in costs as the customer base enlarges. Going forwards towards the goal of being solely a provider of a mechanism for the provision of content produced by others makes good business sense and would result in new members arriving at places where people paid for the privelege; this should result in a much more satisfying experience than the dismal scene that new members see these days.

During a recent protest at the Ahern Welcome Area, I was informed that if people complained about my hand-held sign that I would be required to stop peacefully protesting(I had a bigger sign that I voluntarily detached from myseld and switch to a hand-held sign). Linden Lab is definately in the policing business with regards to protests that are about LL actions or actions of residents they closely protect.

Yup, they are. It isn't hard to respect someone else, except the fact that if its obvious childish behavior.

There's a difference between having fun and enjoying yourself while being a little crazy, but there are limitations. People tend to forget that sorta thing.

Its ok to have fun there, as long as its tasteful and within the guidelines.

I go to the WA area occasionaly to hang with newbies and hand out bottles of vodka and play around with fun animations. For the most part i stick to a corner and chat it up. I have noticed some realy freaking odd folks there. Most of the time I LOL but occasionaly my jaw is on the desk and I end us shaking my head and leave. I try to let ppl know that SL is out there and they have to leave the WA to see it. The WA just treat it as any other telehub, it's interesting but its a stepping off point.

Cat

Awesome, so no buffer zones between huge clubcubes. No public pathways to get from one point to another. No guaranteed public waterways.

It would be horrendous.



And so would Joe Q Avatar.



Yay blacklists! This won't be abused...


LF

agreed...some pretty land in SL is welcome!!!!!

Linden land has a purpose. I wouldn't want to see it go.

As much as I dislike statism and intrusion in private lives (second or first), I think Linden land is a good thing, in that it gives space to landless residents to express in. I see it as a quality-enhancing investment on the part of LL into SL.

What if the Welcome Area was rid of completely? Then there would be no central point for any kind of entertainment. Just have people start at random places (decent PG places that is) and have their mentor TP to them (or the other way) and welcome them. It could be private, away from any distractions, etc.

Let the mentors do what they do best and welcome newcomers. And it doesn't have to be just one on one, it could even be a temporary group session.

Of course those who voluntarily like to assist others even though they are not "official" mentors will not be around to help out like you can in the welcome area.

The purpose is still there, just not centralized. Or maybe even multiple welcome areas may do. With multiple WA's this may help in reducing load in a central WA and keep it balanced out. But I am thinking with multiple WA's the majority of people will still focus on one crowded place cause that's where all the "action" is.

Just some random thinking...

They might start to do this, right now they are testing a thing where, when new people get inworld for the first time, they have a choice of a few places. I think in the future they might want user created WAs.

The other problem with welcome areas, and maybe Travis has heard this too in The Shelter, is that no one talks to the newbies.

I've had more than one newbie come into a club I work in and say "wow, people talk here, I was at the Welcome Area and NO ONE talked to me".

Sad thing is, most of these clubs are the same ones that I hear being moaned about in forums all the time.

God yes, Katja. I hear that comment all the time.

It doesn't surprise me, because - assuming your goal is profit, I'd think there's more money to be made in 'attendee chrun', rather than spending energy on making people feel like you're genuinely interested in them.

It takes a fair amount of resources to not only greet, but actually engage everyone new that comes in. And I imagine the higher your traffic is, the more expensive this becomes.

If you're not a newbie, maybe this sort of attention isn't as critical. I know I'm not alone on this - but I *freaking love* second life, and sometimes I feel like an Amway rep about it.

This is the kind of attention new residents need if we expect to keep them in light of the instability of the environment, the learning curve - and the flat out stimulation overload commonly experienced in one's first week in Second Life.

Getting rid of Linden land:

- Certain decimation of vehicle usability. (no place to avoid ban fences, security scripts)
- Uncertain and unlikely that every landowner would abide by a universal ban list.
- Uncertain consistant areas of beauty.

Since my sleeping schedule has been great changed due to SL I have found myself awake in the middle of the night. Since generally there are no events at 3AM and such I have started hanging out in the WA alot. I have always called it the "Times Square of SL" and have had some really funny times while there. I have yet to whitness anything truely terrible being displayed so I cant comment on that.

As for newbies, many of the regulars in the WA at night make an effort to greet the newbies and we go out of our way to send them free stuff, clothes and the like. While it is not the best welcome they could receive, a place like The Shelter would do so much better. If they don't want to rush to join SL after seeing a line dancing Brian Griffen from "The Family Guy," nothing will make them stay.

And besides I have been to The Edge many times and no one ever talks to me there every time. So newbies or oldbies we all just want to be talked to darnit! LOL

I think the WA should stay just as it is.

The people I've noticed that tend to stay fall into one of the following categories:

1) Have friends already in game. This is helpful, as it helps orient the person to what to do and how to do things (how I came in).

2) Find an awesome place within their first day with people that do genuinely make a person feel welcome and included.

3) Seasoned internet game player.

4) Designer or someone who becomes fascinated almost right away with what they can build and create.


You're right Travis, we need to give newbies a welcoming, warm experience to keep a lot of the ones that are going to form the "consumer base". Kudos, btw, on the Shelter, I promise to drop in again soon lol

I want whatever you're smoking.

Although, if we did abolish all INFRASTRUCTURE (the reason there is LL owned land) then maybe I could buy up all the telehubs and ban certain people from them. Oh, now that would be fun.

People can make money buying land and building roads on them. People who want to drive vehicles on roads pay the roadowners. Problem solved; the supply of roads equals the demand.

I did not suggest anything about a universal ban list. If a troublemaker only makes trouble for me because they disapprove of me in particular, why should they be banned from the entire grid? Banning people deprives Linden Research of money they could have gotten from the banned person, Linden Research does not want to forbid people from giving them money, having the of response to an infraction be one that deprives Linden Research of the troublemakers future income stream is one of the reasons it is so difficult to get effective action taken against troublemakers.

Beautiful spaces would be built by landowners seeking to attract people to their land, or by people making their own land beautiful for their own enjoyment. No one, neither Linden Research nor any other customer of it has any obligation to provide anyone with beautiful land beyond what you are willing to pay for.

Please explain further just what the problems would be.

I like the roads adjacent to my land in Yamato ... and considering it took forever to get a hole in one patched, I want to keep them a really long time.

I also like that these roads connect to a network of roads ... even if I dont drive ... I generally fly along roadlines ... simpler that way most of the time ... but that is another thread ...

My point is that once the land and roads are gone .. they can't be rebuilt privately. Talk to communities trying to build commuter rail lines along rights-of-way sold off by the railroads years ago, resurrecting old service corridors. Impossible to re-acquire that land and the right of way.

So, I want to be on record that I do not want to see LL give up providing this infrastructure. And if they choose to do so in new sims, I am adamament that they keep the current infrastructure intact.

Jim

When one goes to a privately owned and operated shopping center, are the stores all stuck together in an unbroken block and hence inaccessible or is there a great big hallway in the middle, with seats and directories, provided by the private owner of the facility, because they wanted to make a place that people would like, because that's what makes them the most money?

I don't think the Welcome Area is THAT bad, at least compared to how it used to be when I first joined a few months back. Back then, there were 3x negrating griefers, scripted axe attacks, people who would troll for arguments just for the sake of spilling abuse, etc. This has gotten a lot better over the last month, which is very cool.

However, I still believe that sound clips really get abused at the WA. They do bother me, as I've heard the same hackeneyed ones 12,589 times over, but I can at least zoom the camera away 50 feet or so, so they're not too loud. However, if I was a newbie just starting the game and had to be subjected to listen to an obnoxiously loud Six Flags 5-second jingle theme spam looped for 15 minutes straight while trying to get some help from a Mentor or while I'm trying to adjust my appearance, I would assume the game developers set that intollerable looping sound bite as their "Welcome Song", and would proceed to laugh at how cheezily amatuerish SL is as I logged off.

I don't mean to come off sounding like a complainer, but I really like SL and I want to see it grow, which means putting forth a concerted effort to welcome newbies, give them some freebies and advice, and do my best to make them realize SL is a cool place where they should stay.

Calling roads here "infrastructure" is a misnomer; roads in SL are a frivolous decoration of no functional use whatsoever.

The Linden land that needs to go first is the Welcome Area, where people just entering are treated poorly on a continuing basis.