New Users are the real Feted Inner Core

I think I've seen a few Lindens who have tried to defend their socializing with the old guard, the so called Feted Inner Core.

I've thought about that and have decided that yes, it's OK to socialize with SL residents.

They're just socializing with the wrong ones.

If they want to extend favors or have conversations to let people know about what's going on in SL, or offer TPs to cool places, I suggest they start focusing on one crowd and one crowd only - new players.

Otherwise, SecondLife is just going to be the Well all over again. The Well had a lot of potential for becoming a very successful virtual community and in many ways could have been the predecessor of SL.

Unfortunately, an old guard developed in the Well, one that became very sanctioned by its system operators. And the Well eventually imploded under the overbearing and unwelcoming presence of The Defenders Of All That Is Right And Holy About The Well.

I've seen this time and time again in so many different environments it feels like the nightmare that never ends.

We start to rest on our laurels, we glorify the past, and we forget that everything (and I mean absolutely *everything*) is going to come from the future.

And players that have been around for years may re-invent themselves and become a part of the future. However, since you are a Linden you can't socialize with everyone, I suggest you therefore pick the ones who most likely to be a part of the future.

So the next time you want to nudge-nudge wink-wink with a SL resident, I suggest you go find a new user, a long time resident from the future, and hang out with him.

Otherwise, SL is going to last about as long as it has and not much longer.

You treat them talking to oldbies like it's strictly business- y'ever think that maybe it isn't?

Right on. This is exactly the problem. Founding Fathers Syndrome. Coupled with apprenticing of only certain select newbies. Devastating. Death. I will go on fighting it.

IN fairness, I do see Lindens talking to new people who approach them if they have been assigned the welcome areas.

The Old Guard is a ceremonial unit. They guard Arlington Cemetary, but are also an active Infantry Regiment in Washington DC. You won't see them taking parking tickets or doing drug busts, though. What's wrong with having a ceremonial unit?

I honestly don't really know what you're talking about here. Unless you have talked to a Linden and they have confessed that if they get a complaint from someone who joined in feb '05, and a conflicting one from someone who was in Beta... and they took the Beta player's word as it is just because...

There are going to be people who were around longer than other people everywhere in the entire world. That's why we have birthdays. Age is a factor in how you deal with people, both your own and theirs, but it is honestly not a large one at all, from my experiences. If somone has bling in their jewelry, it doesn't matter how old they are, i'll think they are an idiot

To all the mensa candidates out there who love conspiracy theories with this little metaverase of ours:

One of the things I've always liked about SL more than other worlds and games is that the Lindens are, metaphorically and metaphysically, three dimensional characters. They're not just cops or employees. They're friends and community members, willing to help with a problem, or just chat and have a laugh.

Get over it already Blaze. We're heard your opera too many times now, and its no La Boheme.

Your logic goes right out the window when you consider that the most likely place to find a Linden - is within 50 meters of the area where new players spawn. Care to explain that?

-Flip

Ever got to the point you want to respond to someone but you realize doing so would decrease your IQ level 20 points so you don't do it.

Nothing, but it is true that some Lindens do not talk to all residents. I agree it is wrong. If a Linden greets one person in a group then they should say hello to the others present.

It is not only an old player/new player distinction. Some older players dont even receive a greeting while some newer players are brought totally into the fold.

One thing that I will admit that bothers me a little. It seems that beta players do get treatment and even were offered perks for being there from the beginning. Thats fine and dandy, they should be rewarded for helping the birth of this world. Though myself, a customer for over a year(12/25/03) and have paid montly tier fees the whole time, will probably never get a word of "thanks" in any way.

I know I will now get flamed from those older than me but I just thought I'd throw in my two cents.

Hey look, it's time for Blaze and Prokofy to feel sorry for themselves again and justify it with delusional conspiracy theories. I love this show! It could use some new plot twists though.

Taco

Have you people ever tried being nice to a LL employee, works wonders. Because the feh feh feh people are the same type who complain every time their sim's FPS drops.

Bah!

FLAMED....nah


<<<Ties Beau to a Titan missle with a 200 gigaton Nuclear warhead and runs ....

Wow, they sound like really nice people!

I've always referred to them as a family anyway... the methology of SL is so unique and lateral that comparing it to other online worlds, or "other" video games really breaks apart like a meteor made of dixie cups flying into orbit.

They were offered perks because at the time it wasn't clear whether or not SL would survive at all, and the Lindens wanted to keep people around. Almost every company there is has some kind of bonus for people who jumped on board early, why should LL be any different? I've never gotten any "thanks" from the Lindens for the time that I was paying tier, but I don't let it bother me because I know that their thanks come in the form of using our money to make SL better.

And as the customer base grows, the Lindens will increasingly have less and less interaction with the majority of us. It's only really a problem if you see them not as developers, but people who should keep you entertained. If I talked with a Linden and had fun, i'd see myself as lucky, but if I heard about someone else who talked with them and had fun, i'd just think "oh that's cool, wish I had been there."

Ghod Chip and here I thought you would never do the 20 IQ point drop thing ...but ya did and your still smarter than me...sniff.....waaaaaaaaaaaaaa

I completely agree that talking to newbies is critical.

And more than just "hiya, how's it going" comments. Asking questions like "so, what do you want to do in SL?" or "what have you found here that is exciting?" And maybe most important..."please contact me again if you have any questions or ideas."

I know the Liasons do a HECK of a job and spend a LOT of time interacting with newbies like this!

This is why I've been seen "hanging out" in the WA off and on. To try and help newbies who have basic technical questions, yes. But mostly to try and make connections with newbies, learn what they are trying to achieve in SL, and to let them know that I am approachable and want to hear from them in the future.

I know that ALL the Lindens really feel this way. Some of them just don't have the TIME to do this as much as they would like. Or, they are focused on a completely different area of SL that prevents them from chatting with people.

Some Lindens are totally focused on fixing bugs. Some are totally focused on dealing with griefers and responding to serious threats to the community. Some rarely have time to log inworld at all, since they are working on server-side issues all the time. We are all specialized, according to our strengths.

Anyway, I really like neat little ideas like "Linden Collectable Cards" and "Linden Collectable Bears," which encourage newbies (and olbies!) to come up to Lindens and talk with us. Encouraging interaction.

But lastly, I think the overall point should be that we ALL need to interact with newbies and work to help them become members of the SL community at large.

That job isn't just up to us Lindens. It's up to ALL the residents.

I blame it on the drugs.

Here here!

I hang out at the WA alot sometimes (off and on depending on if I'm busy), and there usualy is a group of regulars around, inclueding Lindens.

What's really frustrating is that people receive a constant barrage of derision by these folks for simply not being afraid to talk to the Lindens.

Anyone can. Howling about TPs and conversations with the Lindens is just ridiculous and smacks of internal issues because of some sort of phobia which prevents some from doing so themselves.

The Lindens encourage this interaction. Yet we get all this self-contradicting rhetoric, day in, day out.

"Beta love fest", etc., etc., etc., ad infinitum, ad nauseum. Then when Lindens are caught chatting with new players, they are questioned for that too! Which is it? You yowl that they must include newbies, then when they do, you cry foul; you're picking the wrong newbies! How are you qualifying that? Please offer proof. I don't know how you can expect people to take you seriously with manuevers like that. What do you want? Should we all just compartmentalize and make the Lindens into untouchable Gods that we can only contact via e-mail?

Yawn.

It's your thread dude.

Here is the real issue. In any organized group there are so-called old timers who think they know everything. Some are good, some are exceptional and some are assholes.

SL is no different. It is easy to surf these boards and pick out the ones who truly want to help and also the ones who turn their nose up at anyone 'younger' then they are. It's laughable to think that this is how they measure themselves against others. I prefer to follow Ty Webb's method for measuring himself against others; by height.

Posting a thread such as this invites ridicule even though parts of it have merit. I really don't care if there is a clique that has more of an 'in' with the Lindens. The few times I have needed assistance, a Linden was always there for me. That is what I paid for and that is what I have received.

Where this thread does have merit it is in pointing out the absolute snobbery of the above-mentioned asshole class that does exist. The group that looks at you as a date in-time and not as someone who they could actually exchange ideas with. But, as in all organizations, this will not change so we might as well go back to picking on Anshe, crying about intrusive satellites, or discussing how the new continent will screw every land baron over.

I've been here for over a year and have never actually had a conversation with a Linden, other then being interviewd by Hamlet. He seemed like a good guy. I think Lee solved a problem for me once, and I think Jeska spoke a sentence or two to me once in-world. Oh..and I got froze by a Linden once, in a case of mistaken identity.

Do I want to talk with one or more? Sure. Am I gonna bug them or chase them around? No.

I figure if the opportunity ever arises, I'll start chatting and see what happens. But there are a ton of folks in-world I haven't spoken to, and they are equally important and equally interesting (well, some of them anyway), in a non-game mechanics way.

I too believe some Lindens like some older residents, and i feel that's to be expected, since they've been around longer, and circumstances have arisen to make them bump into each other often enough that a relationship develops. Also, many Lindens have alts that play in Second Life, and they have groups of friends they hang with, so of course they are gonna know, and talk to them more often even as Lindens.

And some folks in-world just do alot of cool or interesting things, or have very bright personalities, which will attract Lindens attention, as well as other folks.

I don't. I'm kinda quiet, kinda lazy and somewhat of a loner, so I don't expect to attract busy Lindens to stop by and chat. I don't think it's a conspiracy, merely the natural order of things. Presidents have friends, soldiers have friends, doctors have friends, CEOs have friends. Even to the point of a small amount of favoritism in attention or business. It's not drastic, nor really harmful, so what's the big deal?

More good points made... and for anyone who hasn't read this story of "true equality", I highly recommend it. It's called "Harrison Bergeron" by the famous author Kurt Vonnegut.

The opening paragraph goes as follows:

THE YEAR WAS 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren’t only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General.

And here it is:

http://instruct.westvalley.edu/lafave/hb.html

Awesome Torley, I have Harrison Bergeron on VHS (cant seem to find it on DVD), and it's VERY relevant to this situation.