The new Trial method.

Can I just state that I believe the new 1.04 changes to the trial system to be a bad move, particularly limiting trialists to an area and giving them so little money.

I have only been on SL for a few days, ending my trial 2 days ago, but had this been in operation then I would certainly not have signed up. It was only being able to travel the world and meet people, and buying a little plot of land that convinced me to stay. Hanging around in a newbie zone hoping people drop by is no substitute.

For those of us not in the US, it is hard enough finding other people to interact with without being held in a welcome area.

Two of my RL friends have been looking at trying it out, at my recommendation, but both are now less interested because the trial has been constrained such that they cannot visit me or experience some of the great scenery/buildings.

A very bad move imho.

Interesting.

I read about the removal of CC requirements and was worried about people milking it for cash (make a trial account, give the $ to your usual av and then make another) but it seems by what you are saying that that is not possible. For that I say "bravo".

I do see your concerns though. So then, what is a good alternative?

There needs to be a way for people to get a trial and get hooked that isnt a good way for existing players to milk for cash.

Ideas?

The removal of CC requirements and obvious following exploit is of course a concern, however, I question the new system as well.

First some pointers:

When I entered SecondLife what struck me was my freedom, my ability to create anything I could imagine and seeing so many people doing just that. I saw many wonderous things that others had created and wished to emulate their creativity and skill. I was able to settle in right away and start creating myself, and I did so in a big way from the start.

Without this experiance of freedom, without seeing all the works others had done which inspired me to build my own creations I do not think I would have bothered. I would have played around with the primitives, maybe made something funny, socialized a little bit, then got board with the lack of being able to participate and actualy have a basis for my interest in joining permenantly.

Lets face it folks, even the biggest socialite can only greet newbies and talk about things they have no way of seeing for so long. Sure we have a good number of people greeting and helping newbies (myself included as I can) but without being able to show them the wonders of SL (other than on flat 2d pictures) how are we going to be able to express just how much they can do, how much more the world has to offer?

edit2: Ok apparently I missed the expanded welcome area but this still seams very limiting, Dore / Bonifacto are NOT the best representation of how second life works in gneral. And what of the Plum / Lime welcome area? Will this become generaly useless as what newbie would want to stick around there when they CAN actualy do something in the Ahern, Morris, Bonifacto, Dore quarter?

Ideas:
If the greatest concern here is the abilty to use the fact that Credit Cards are no longer required for gaining a trial account then mearly limit the amount of resources available. Start a newbie out with L$250 or even as low as L$100 instead of L$500 and as currently setup, give them the rest of their starting cash when they purchase an account. I honestly wouid be surprized if anyone would bother to risk their membership for the current L$500 with system, and I would be floored if there was actualy someone petty enough to make multiple accounts to milk L$100 a pop from them. Espcialy since their IP's can generaly be tracked.

If that is no good solution wise then perhaps it would be better to give newbies a 'newbie cash' set. Give them a set amount of resources that they can create with but can not be traded / given way. They can't purchase anything that costs L$ and can only rez L$-### (500?) worth of prims. They can not upload sounds or images but they are not taxed. They would basicly have the ability to create but not the ability to give away their resources until the account was purchased. (However I think they should be able to recive objects and textures etc for their own use, still being rezed out of their 'newbie cash').

Edit: As an adendum to the second option: All 'newbie' items are deletable by anyone. Their would be a new general domain created for them, much like public, except that you would not recive money for 'cleaning' newbie items and the newbie would retain full modification rights. (Bonus: set it so they can only be deleted if the newbie is ouside of the sim)

Beyond that, newbies REALY need the freedom to explore beyond the bounds of the welcome area. Its just not feasible to get a good grasp of Second Life without seeing all the things people are creating. I think that while the removal of the Credit Card requirement for new users will increase the influx of people willing to look at Second Life and check it out, I think that the severe (or maybe just wrong) limitations will cause a steaper decreese in those who actualy decide to join.

The only thing that bugged me a lot about trial was no scripting. I'm a programmer and that aspect is what made me try Second Life. I'm not big into avatar mods, or socializing or even events and that stuff. Not yet anyhow
I wanted to see if the whole scripting things you build was worth it but I had no way to see. At the least, I was able to explore and see what others had done. In the end I had to bite the bullet and end trial early, just so I could check out scripting. (Though it wasn't really that big of a bullet )

But it is an expanded Welcome Area, right? They can see Venice, Darkwood, Nexus, Yamamoto...

Im not sure exactly how big the welcome area is. I, for one, am upset about the limiting of new people in only a certain area of SL.

Newbies, even if on free trial, should be able to socialize *everywhere*.

I like the new sandbox idea for newbies, but I think it should be expanded to include scripts. (With limits of course, objects they create should not be able to move out of the sandbox).

Newbie inventory should not be transferrable to other avitars, at all, newbies wont be able to build/script outside the sandbox area, and (optional) can not create scripts directly in inventory. Also newbies shouldnt be able to buy anything from other avitars, their starting funds are only there to rez objects.

Also, LL could allow newbies to recieve inventory from other avitars, but this might be hard to track, as newbie inventory, with this system, might need to be 'marked' in some way.

Newbie items should not be able to be unclaimed.

I think this is a relitavely good compromise for the free trial ppl (referred to as 'newbies' in this reply [sorry!]).

-Chris

Emmerich - yes you can see parts of those themed communities - the trial welcome area is made up of Ahern, Morris, Dore, and Bonifacio.

\


Which are great builds, but SL is so much more....

Darkwood is one of my favorite places and nexus has some great stuff for sale, but what if the people aren't interested in those specific areas? There really is no reason they can't visit the whole world.

Give them very limited funds until they purchase an account, make all their objects decayable or deletable while they are trial users.

Give us pimp smacking rights in case they get annoying (J/k).

There is so much more to SL beyond the 4 sims they will be confined to. In fact I had no interest in SL until I finally ventured out of those.

One reporter who wrote a horrible review of SL only went around those 4 sims and commented on the lack of people and basically blasted SL. This is a very very bad decision.

JV

I too think restricting newbies to an area is a bad idea.

I'd rather they be restricted in that they cannot:
- use the Pay option.
- cannot be paid.
- buy land.
- items created by them are hardcoded to die, completely after xx hours.
- cannot use vote booths, etc.

But let them roam, let them SEE SL. Let um

I agree. Restrict the money they're given, but don't restrict them to a small part of the world. I'd be surprised if anyone decided to join up after such a limited trial.

This truly saddens me. I joined SL in beta and was blown away by the lack of constraints, the total freedom to explore and create. If I were coming in on trial now I'd be highly disappointed at having such limits put upon me. Especially if a friend recommended me to the game and I couldn't even go visit them in their own home. I'm not usually one to voice my opinions on these forums, choosing to keep it light but this just doesn't make any sense to me whatsoever. I'm truly disheartened by this new system. I think this is the first time I've really been disenchanted with this game.

Howdy do!

Here's a big picture, overall:

The new trial method is not the most proper way to build a new marketing scheme while protecting against trial account cheating. In fact I believe it lacks the kind of innovation worthy of the development of the game itself. Linden Labs needs to be far more creative, and they need to stop acting like they are developing retail software. Why?

I won't pretend to know the ins and outs of Linden Lab's marketing strategies, or how effective they really are. What I will offer is a logical, no-nonsense viewpoint based on my own experience in the software industry.

Second Life, as a piece of software, is basically subscription shareware, no matter how good it is, whether it is "released" or not, or even how it is marketed. It is still subscription shareware, and until it is on store shelves it will be no more than that. Therefore, only a shareware marketing technique will sell subscriptions to this product in the manner the developers hope to - assuming, of course, the product is worth subscribing to in the first place, and of course it is. ;o)

Shareware has a few advantages over retail software, but it has disadvantages as well. Let's take a look at a few things we could do with Second Life.

First of all, you can market shareware in many flexible ways. If you have the capital, you can advertise it just as competitively as retail software - plastering your name anywhere and everywhere money can buy. You can take aggressive advantage of word-of-mouth advertising (games like this literally sink or swim on word-of-mouth), and you can also take advantage of shareware services like download.com, or, in the case of games, Gamespy and the like. The point is, Linden Labs needs to get the downloadable client out there and stop making downloads contingent upon registration. Let the client software handle the registration process, folks! Not the website alone!

The most obvious disadvantage of shareware is that it doesn't sit on a shelf in front of the eyes of millions of software buyers. It doesn't have a pretty box with nifty screenshots and those awesome bullet-list items describing its wonderful features. It doesn't sit at a point-of-purchase and entice retail shoppers with its golden fleece. It doesn't come bundled with anything. It can't get the same kind of exposure as retail software. Because of this, it is imperative that the client software package be available in as many other ways and places as possible.

Also, this isn't a game. This is a whole different kind of MMO experience, though it's not exactly new. Active Worlds has been doing something like it since 1995. What makes Active Worlds successful? Actually, the bad news is that it's NOT successful and hasn't ever become anything more than a toy for a couple thousand people (at most) to play with. And the subscription price per month is significantly less than Second Life. I won't go into the details of why SL is better than AW here, because that's not the point. The point is, like AW, this isn't a game - or rather, isn't JUST a game, and thus shouldn't be marketed as just a game. There are other target demographics, too. As it is, though, SL appears to be a game. Come on, Linden Labs. Creativity is your model, here!

Ok, so we've got it now - SL is more of a shareware package than a retail package. So what?

The fact is, trial-based shareware can not be "crippleware" and expect to survive. Crippleware is defined as a shareware package that has many of its features "locked" out during trial use. Perhaps in some applications the user is kept from saving his/her work, or importing/exporting data. Basically with crippleware users are limited to using only a subset of the full features available in the software.

What shareware developers have discovered is that crippleware doesn't sell. Period. How do you know you want to purchase the product when some of the things that matter most to you are unavailable? How are you likely to feel about the developer who has decided he doesn't want you to be able to do certain things with his program until you've paid him? How can you properly assess the product and decide you want to pay to use it?

So now SL is not only subscription shareware, but it is crippleware as well. Until you pay for it, certain features are locked out. In fact, in my opinion, some of the more *important* features are locked out. This will not advance the sale of the product - it will hinder it. People want to see the guts of the software before they decide to buy. Essentially the guts of SL have been carved out during the trial period.

Dangling a carrot may work if what you are trying to entice is a mule, but today's software user is much more demanding. You've got to let the customer eat the whole carrot if you expect to sell him more carrots.

Theoretically a developer could bypass part of this by offering all or most of the features but limiting the area or scope of the program. Id software, for example, made a fortune with Doom by offering full functionality of their game, but with only a few playable areas. Players had to pay to get the rest of the "levels." SL is not exactly following this model, though, because not only is the playable area limited (and there isn't much one can do in Dore or Bonifacio as it is), the feature set is also limited.

So, the compromise in offering a full-featured demo or trial is to limit the amount of time the player can experience the program. It seems to me the model SL had before this most recent change followed this path of use nicely. I have to wonder what the change was designed to remedy.

If it is a matter of keeping the cheaters from passing money between a mocked-up trial account and a paid account, then there are other potential solutions that still allow for a full-featured experience while cutting back on "twinkers."

Here's one, step by step:

1. Offer trial accounts for 14 days instead of 7.
2. Trial accounts start with $100-200 or thereabouts.
3. Trial accounts are full-featured and not limited to specific areas of the map.
4. No credit card check necessary (who wants to risk getting in trouble for $100-200? And if they do, who really cares?).
5. Stipends come weekly as usual, at a reduced rate for trial users during trial periods.

With this plan, I see little to no risk to the game, the company who makes it, and the economy within it. And you've given your trial users time to get addicted. Two hundred dollars allows a trial user to create and rez a few things before the first stipend comes - by which time they will be hungry to try new things with the money they've earned. This is the proper kind of carrot to dangle.

I predict Second Life will lose quite a bit of money if it remains crippleware. In fact I don't see how it could survive.

That's my opinion.

Cheers!

-J

I've been hiping secondlife to my friends for a while. One of them JUST mentioned that he will probably sign in for the first time tonight. I now have to tell him that he will only see 1/10th (ish) of the world and wont be able to come near any of the things my group has been building. I have another who will soon be growing bored of his current MMORPG and is finaly concenting to interest (my room mate) he's the much harder sell here. I realy hope that this system is revised using some or all of the suggestions in this or the other thread.

Well-spoken post, Justice! I've been talking up SL to a friend of mine almost incessantly ever since I discovered it, complete with pretty pictures and everything. He and I have been Impatiently awaiting the release of the Mac client in the fall. But now I'm in the same boat as Gwydeon (and a host of other SL'ers -- can we say Market Demographic, folks?).

While it's nice that we don't have to submit a CC# to start the trial period, that isn't the worst concern.

I'll join the mass protest and say that if a serious area-limitation like this had been the case during my trial period, I would have said, "Forget it!" and gone back to IRC. This is what happened to me in Asheron's Call. I couldn't get beyond the trial area due to technical issues. Furthermore, the trial area did NOT inspire me to continue and work out these issues, as I couldn't see the rest of the world and get hooked on the possibilities. (The quality of the trial area is a separate issue completely)

For me, what really hooked me on SL were the various classes I took during my trial period (NOT just the Building 101 stuff, *everything*. I made half of a sleigh bed during that time, which really made me fall over in amazement. "Wow, I can make Neat Things that look like their RL counterparts without significant command of builder-fu!", and the three days or so that I spent flying around just staring at the incredible range and variety of builds lying around all over SL.

Just. Staring. Three days of that in between the odd class and event, gentlemen and ladies, and Lindens. Nothin' BUT. Socialization I can get anywhere. Experiencing the World That is SL -- nowhere else. This would have been a far briefer trial period had I not been able to do that. "Big whoop, I can see a few areas and go to building 101 classes. What now? I don't have any ideas!"

The new changes are going to give newbies a very constrained view of SL, and as such, is a less than attractive prospect.

Six word nutshell summary: Limiting newbie movement in SL == BAD.

Good responses people. I managed to convince a RL friend to try SL last night, and sure enough around 7.30pm GMT he appeared. And of course the first thing he wants to do is fly over to see me, and the area I have been telling him all about - but he can't. Neither can I show him Darkwood, Americana or the AV Shops or the castles - all the most impressive stuff. Even through the Avatar his disappointment at being constrained was tangible.

Thankfully Basingstoke and his flying Bar appeared and took us and a few other newbies for a spin round the perimeter(didn't take long), which helped, but nevertheless it was clear from talking to the folk around the welcome area that this restriction appears to be widely seen as a bad thing.

Add one more to the pile of "Bad Idea"

I think I understand the rationale, but I much prefer Bosozoku's idea. Travel freely, but heavy limits on trade (people can give them things, but they can't give anyone anything) and no land purchases. Start 'em off with L$200 bucks, and I see no reason why any sane person would try to cheat that way.

Aha I think I have gleaned the real reason to the trial changes Its all an effort to make people end trial early and get cash flowing to LL faster. Which I don't blame LL since this IS their business.

Make the Trial just enough to entice but annoying enough that you want to end early to lift the restrictions. Am I right?

edit: and trust me, LePosseur, people would cheat that way just becuase they could, to show it can be done.

I hung out in the welcome area and learned a few things last night. First its unclear to me how much money they get. Some places it says 500, somone there last night said 300 and today I read 200. The money I guess is for building. They cant buy anything, they cant script or upload anything and as we all know they cant go but to 4 sims.

One thing that hasnt been mentioned is what of the existing residents?

New folks are concentrated which then makes every player within the trial zone a mentor, like it or not. There are already random prims that need to be cleaned and other things you have to "put up with" with new players. Note I use quotes because new players can be a lot of fun too. I'm not trying to say they are "bad".

But new players cant buy anything, cant rate and cant trade goods or cash. So. It seems the residents of the themed areas are asked to support new players without much benefit. The new players if they go live will probably be tired of the resricted area and not return for awhile once released from it.

I think the Lindens should consider, especially with the new tax structure, additional supports for the themes within the trial area since they are really key in keeping new players interested with (at this time) no real benefit for doing so.

Yesterday i had my friend sign in for the first time, though it was rather disappointing to tell him he couldn't come see what i've built, or fly to where most of the population is. I showed him how to do the basic things, showed him around the 4 sims. He commented on how nice everyone was hehe, but in the end when he hadn't even been logged on for more then an hour, he was getting bored. There was only so much i could show him.

I just felt frustrated, because there is SO much more to SL then those 4 sims (though he thought they were absolutely amazing). I convinced him to stay around the 7 or so days, but i don't think he's going to sign up.

That area isnt indicative of what SL is. Limiting what trial users can do is fine, but don't limit their first impression and experience of SL.