Initial impressions...

I have been an SL member for a few days now and I have had mixed feelings since joining. I decided to give it a full shot and went to a few events to gain some exposure. I have gone to Bob Bunderfeld's newbie welcome classes for two days in a row and his attitude and willingness to help new players has helped me see much more of the SL world then I would have seen had I relied on bowsing the world.

What intrigued me was the openness of the society where people are free to do basically whatever they want to do. Build, socialize, make money, etc. Unfortunately due to the proliferation of pornography and casinos, it seemed more like a sex and gambling simulator then a game. When I joined I actually thought this was good to see, that people are able to explore things without reservation, which is what an open society should be all about.

Unfortunately, every place I went to look around was filled with half naked female outfits, slot machines/Tringo and sex clubs. During the introductionary meeting at Bob Bunderfelds, there were about 3 new players and a few veterns that popped in and out to say hello and see what was going on. Each of us started off asking "Is there anything to do here then porn and gambling?". Bob was very gratious with his answers and offered to show us other parts of SL and was starting an explorer club. He told us about sky diving, building and other things to do around.

The long winded reason I am saying this is that when new players join here, there appears to be only gambling and sex to pass the time. Most here will probably place building as a bigger aspect of the game but being only a few days old here, that seems to be more of a future prospect then a reason for joining this world. I purchased an account for my wife and talked about how great Bob is and how people in the Newbie area seemed to be nice but didn't say too much when I was there talking. She (my wife) is also being turned off by the porn/gambling focus and is not sure what I see that is so intriguing in SL.

What I did was started to look at things people made, specifically Japanese decor and housing. I was picking my jaw up off the floor at the amazing creativity and skill of what I saw and at that moment my view of SL changed. I realized that this could be a place I take for vacation, sitting cross legged on my japanese pillow, beside paper walls, listening to a running brook. Immediately further fantasies filled my head when the lack of limits become more and more apparent.

Bob provided us with Landmarks to some of the best shopping places that were not XXX focused. With this expose to Bob and his willingness to change our opinions of what SL was really about, I am actually considering getting a pay per month account rather then cancelling during my free trial. I also got my wife signed up and I am telling my online friends about it whenever I get the chance. I don't think I would be posting this had I not met Bob and it's made me see that there are people here that are not out for my $'s or cyber sessions.

Unfortunatly, from reading most posts here, it seems that people like Bob are not compensated much for these acts of generocity. I was the only one there for a while and he still stayed and talked to me, never cancelled or rescheduled, but displayed infinate patience and willingness to help. Without him, I doubt I would be posting this and I am afraid that others are missing out on a great game with a great community because of the misconceptions of what SL caters to, especially to female players.

I have noticed that there are "Greeters" being added to SL, hopefully in effort to change the aforementioned misconceptions. As I continue to be involved and evolve in this world, I would one day like to give these things back to new players as well to stop this virus of the mind that is turning off new players from joining.

Are people like Bob being compensated for their acts of kindness and generocity? Are people like Bob hard to find because there is little motivation to do what he is doing and as such, the demand (and rewards) are being placed on formerly underground businesses? I am quite liberal but even my initial impresssions were skewed and maybe pushing other new players away.

Thanks for listening to a newbie rant,
Xtropy

For those of us that focus our efforts on trying to give new residents a positive experience, the joy of doing it is our compensation.

Tringo and Sex are quite popular, and as a result, you'll find a large amount of it out there. But its by no means all there is to Second Life. You just need to find your niche - and you will

Just give it time... you'll be glad you did!

Xtropy, congratulations on a very well written and heartfelt post. Feedback like that is important, I think, so that those who have been in SL long enough to forget their newbie experiences can be reminded -- or at the least get the perspective of someone coming in now, when things have probably changed so much.

The sex part of SL is going to be there regardless, and as you said it's an offshoot of having the freedom to do and be who we want to be. Personally, I enjoy some aspects of that part of the world but I would never want it to be so pervasive that those who didn't could not avoid it easily.

I was mentally listing some of the wonderful things I've seen and done in Second Life, and my list is short but still very intriguing. If you get a chance, see if you can find some of these places -- they may or may not be on the Find list:

ChosenFew and Zaius' Geek SciFi museum. A really remarkable place. Free of charge, it includes a Holodeck where you can rez models of a number of scifi-related vessels and creatures; full-scale model interiors of two Star Trek ships (sorry my memory can't recall one of them - the other is the Defiant). And best of all, a full screen streaming video of the new Star Wars trailer. Bring your popcorn for that one If ChosenFew is on hand, she's always a walking font of knowledge about the displays and Second Life in general (like she is here).

The Ivory Tower of Primitives - another freebie. Learn how to create, manipulate and link your own prims. I've been back 3 times because my brain is like a sieve

The Amusement Park - can't tell you what Sim this is in, but it's a FUN place to spend a little time. Roller coaster, Spinning Chair, Power Drop, Pirate's boat -- all built and scripted by users. (Ride the golf carts too). Go bowling or play putt-putt golf.

Horse Races -- recently opened on Delphi Island. That's a Mature sim but the horse track is completely PG in nature. You can not only bet on the horses but ride them too Fun stuff, courtesy of Jenna Fairplay.

Battle Bots -- Just dropped in on this last night. If there's an event you can even check out your own free bot and participate in the contest. Or just watch the fun. Wow.

I'm sure there are tons more. I'm not Tringo fan (yet), as I'm afraid it will hook me and I'll never get anything else accomplished But this world is big enough for every taste, I'd like to think. It will simply involve all of us tolerating the life views of other people and acting with respect for others, ourselves.

You've made some interesting observations. It's true that much of SL is built around, or at least decorated with, porn. That's the way of the Internet, isn't it? When the web was new, it was basically half Star Trek fansites and half porn -- with a few unsettling hybrids of the two.

I fully expect porn to be a staple of user-built content. People seem to be preoccupied with sex. However, that exists only in "Mature" sims. If you want to avoid "adult" content entirely, you can keep an eye on the Mature/PG sim rating at the top of your screen and on the big map. PG sims have plenty to offer and (theoretically) porn-free.

You have a good point that trial users may get a bad impression of SL. When I was new, trial users were restricted to a handful of PG sims near the welcome area. We got to play in the Morris sandbox, explore some local PG builds and get a feel for the world. For some, the off-limits Mature sims were an added incentive to sign up. I hope Linden Lab would consider implementing that again.

Anyway, welcome to SL. Drop by Abbotts Aerodrome sometime and say hi. Lots of non-porn-related stuff there.

Forgive me, Cubey, for forgetting to mention your Aerodrome.

I've found a lot of fun PG events by using the "Find" function - it's how I learned about the Battle Bots competition last night.

Also, check out the Special Attractions section for things like this Egyptian Exposition Dream Lightcloud has put up.

There are so many other things to see. Many natural areas and beautiful builds. Maybe I'm so used to the porn that I just don't see it anymore, but seems like when I explore I run into far more non-porn builds and areas than I do clubs, tringo or nakedness.

Another thing that SL can do is give expressions to experiences completely unlike those we can have in our lives. One powerful experience of this for me was "Backstage" (check it out on the find menu). It lets you be a little person in a big big world (though a bit of a wistful, sad one, admittedly: the artwork there has this bittersweet tenor that I found extremely touching).

Also, not every place that is in a mature sim is porn centered. It is true that if one goes down to one of the hidden rooms at the spa, (Phoenix Hotsprings Spa and Massage's Grotto area) one will find erotic images, but in all of our surface areas, we keep a PG appearance, even though we are in a mature sim.

I think a key issue here is the events slate. Once we address many key issues in SL (tabs for events to help users find what they are looking for and incentives for event hosts being two very key issues) we may find that new users stick around. Classes and Arts and Culture events are key for this imho.

Hope everyone has a great weekend! ~ Persephone

Although we're in a Mature sim, there's no Sex or Tringo at the Shelter.

We're somewhat of a family-type atmosphere, and those of us who hang out there on a regular basis have a slightly higher average RL age than other places in SL.


Feel free to stop by and say hello

While sex and gambling will always be prominent in Second Life, you can find quite a few treasures tucked away here and there. Some of the events that have touched me include a jazz musician who holds in world shows, classes on African art and spiritualism, Wiccan sabbats and rites, readings from Snow Crash, in world charity events and groups, and the list goes on.

I know my small circle of friends has had some very positive experiments with gaming in world with games like Warhammer, Necromunda, Shadowrun, Dungeons and Dragons and others. We even had a Vampire The Masquerade SL LARP group going for awhile. There are (or were anyway) two MMOG type games in world, Dark Life and SimSomething or other. Both were very impressive, though I forget the name of the Sim one.

However, having said all this, sometimes the sex and gambling IS overwhelming. I remember back in the day it seemed we had a lot more creative and non sex or gambling related events. I recall the Show and Tell events... the building contests... for the holidays, build a snowman on the spot, best one wins a prize, for halloween, build a mask, scariest one wins, things like that. I recall the regular trivia contests or racing events or aerial combat events or... you get the idea. Where did those events go?

It seems there are a LOT of people that are not happy with SL as a sex and gambling simulator. Surely we can all put our heads together and come up with some fun family friendly events, content and locations that will coax people out of the clubs and casinos?

Well . . . I don't think of Tringo, Bingo, et. al as gambling. I think of casinos and slot machines as gambling. Tringo and Bingo are games. The games I have been to, you don't have to contribute to the pot unless you want to

I have run into some really disgusting places where people spend their entire Second Lives surrounded by porn of the sleaziest kind, and I don't know how they stand it, but hey, I didn't have to stay there.

I, too, came to SL, three months ago, worried about it being too sleazy a place for me. A friend kept telling me it wasn't, that you could just stay away from all that. And he was right!

Besides the porn, there's what I might call artistic sexual content and behavior. Although that isn't really for me, either, I can recognize its artistic merit when I see it.

For whatever reason, but really through no particular effort of my own, I have actually not seen much that's very bad in all my time here. True, I don't seek out such places, but I also don't much run into them either.

So I think you and your wife will be fine. And a word about "mature" Sims. Lots of people - including myself - live on mature Sims so that we won't have to worry if a guest says the f word or something, or get turned in because somehow for a bit we were topless for a minute changing clothes or something. Most of the mature sims I have been in are quite a bit like that, just normal really. Of course, they are also there for those who want to get down and dirty. But that hasn't been much of a problem for me.

coco

If you're dismayed by all the sex and gambling, the answer is to make something different. There are enough alternatives in SL and I'm glad Bob was there to help guide you to them. You're right that people make Zen retreats for philosophical discussions and study and wonderful builds, too - it's not all sleaze. But you cannot encourage the creativity that goes into making the Zen and the good builds unless you have the freedom of expression that means there will be the low end of human nature as well.

You can also be assured that Bob has already been compensated in a variety of ways, not only from the satisfaction of passing on knowledge and helping other people and the world to grow, but because he has the 4096s without tier from being a charter member. He's put it to good use to give back to the community.

The Lindens should figure out ways to give incentive to people to give back this way, without making them jump through the hoops of the greeters/mentors/system. People have different levels and different capacities at which they can give, and it's good to find ways to reward people at different levels. One way is to have groups, not just individuals, be eligible for dwelloper awards. Currently grouped land is punished and gets excluded in a sense because only a top tier payer can get enough dwell to get in the list. In projects where tier is spread out over several individuals, especially if equally, the spread prevents the effective entry into the top list. Find other ways to count what groups are doing, either by numbers of members or events or whatever, or their collective tier, and reward them, too.

I believe not only fixing group tools, but putting dwell payouts in the hands of individual players would help do things like reward the kind of good and helpful content that Bob provides himself and steers others to. I think the referrals system now, broken and not paying out, needs to get fixed.