Greeter Program

this overall seems a good idea. Just before I left for my hiatus form SL Haney had several of us give this a try. I tried it but ran into problems right away. It always seems that trying to do this at the WA I owuld be helping 2-3 people at once when wearing either the LH or Mentor tags. I felt it would be a bit rude to ignore others to concentrate on one person so at that time I did have a problem with it.

I do like the idea its just that somehow this has to be a 1 on 1 situation and I just dont see how it can work unless its a seperate area they are met at and then brought into the WA after a chat

Hmm, Toy, you have actually touched upon a point that this waaaay long thread had not discussed before... you're quite right on that. If a group of some 300 Mentors means that the best you can expect is 2 or 3 around the Welcome Area every day and night, and they'll be helping out perhaps 2 or 3 new residents at the same time - yes, there's certainly nothing unusual about that - I wonder if we'd need a thousand Greeters to achieve the desired 1 to 1 interaction...

Anyway, I still mantain my (very old) proposal in this thread, to "merge" Mentors, Instructors and Greeters in a single group. The major reason is, of course, having a few more groups left - at least, until the groups are completely redesigned (which will not happen soon). But it seems that you have pointed out a good "minor reason" right now: not spreading the volunteers too thin, so that there are enough available for Greeting.

The "Mentor Island " project was not completely abandoned - at least, there is still some interest in it, even after the new Welcome Area is finished. I believe that we should address that again to Jeska, when she has a bit of "breathing time" left Perhaps we should propose that she hosts another "Mentor Meeting" in-world to talk about Greeters and the eventual Mentor Island - as soon as 1.6 gets released and the Lindens are able to go back to their 20-hour workdays again (oh yes, they're certainly on 24-hour days right now ) ).

Anybody know if you can limit the number of people you greet in a week? If five people are greeting 100's, I see a problem...

I am very interrested too, sign me and the Junkyard IN =D

I would probably be a Host at the Junkyard

I have only been a resident for a matter of weeks and I understand how greeters could be seen to be an advantage, especially for those that are naturally shy, but i think to implement a regiment of semi-official avs to take these new residents by the hand might just take away from the whole experience of Second Life. It could very well stop new residents exploring and discovering new things for themselves. Live help is explained very well when you 1st join and i think this is more than enough to get someone started.
The responsibility is therefore on every resident to offer support when someone new comes on. It's not as if it's hard to spot them and I'd like to say this. Not a single person i spoke to in my 1st week shunnned me or failed to offer their knowledge when iasked about something. And all too often I had people starting conversations with me and offering to take me to helpful places.(A big shout goes out especially to Shell Palmerstone at this point and the rest, you know who you are)The fact is that the majority of SL residents are already more than willing to offer assistance wherever they can, just look at the number of profiles which read along the lines of "if you're new just ask me and i'll help"
I really believe that if you implement a greeter service then the onus will be removed from every other resident who is willing to show people around and offer their knowledge. Helping and welcoming people is one of the most fun aspects of SL. Listening to awestruck new comers is a true delight because it reminds us of our first reaction to the world and the help we recieved and it makes us WANT to help out in turn. This is truly a case of asking not what SL can do for you but what you can do for SL. We're all in this together and many residents may feel that they'll be treading on helpers toes by showing newbies around and therefore won't bother. And that people will be a true shame to witness

Lately I have really come to enjoy giving hotair balloon tours from the Waterhead Welcome Area. I particularly like meeting people new to SL and showing them some of what SL has to offer (over-aggressive security scripts tossing us out of the balloon and all though I'm mapping routes to avoid those as much as possible).

Is this the sort of thing a Greeter might engage in? If so, I am interested in making it official.

-Ghoti

sounds like something to do thats fun id love to do it

I think this is a great idea. I personally spent 2 days at the home hub asking anyone who would talk to me questions. It would be nice to know there is someone available. I will be happy to be a greeter and help those newcomers out as I was.

Storm

Yes, please don't require new members to have to do anything. Make it an optIn program. And please, please keep it simple!

SL seems to becoming more and more top-down-rule oriented. Simplicity rules!

I would like to be a greater also so put me down as well...

This sounds like a great idea! It's great for the new players who may not know what they want to do or why they're here. I think the greeters can show them purpose and lead them to do great things! I'll definitely be participating in this program.

I think the greeter program is a GREAT idea.

I remember being new, and quite honestly it took me about a week to even like the game, and find my way around.

I have made a habit of popping into the welcome area on at least a weekly basis, and greeting a newbie. I have brought them to clubs, malls, etc.. taught them to fly, how to find a place using a landmark, seeing how it takes you to a telehub, then you have to fly there. I have taught them how to edit their appearance, and found some freebie items for them to get them started.

If it weren't for people who helped me when I first joined sl, I am not so sure I would have stayed.

Maybe the program isn't "perfect" but what is?

I'll be more than happy to sign up, so long as this is not a major commitment of my time. I do it now, so doing it as a mentor, or a host, or whatever term is chosen, is no big deal to me. Everyone can use someone to help them find their way around sl!

: )

I havent been here desperatly long, but I had fun, good people look out for me on my first days, and I'd like to pay that back. I had been a newbie helper on text based multi sims
and I think it would be nice to just be a "Hi welcome let me show you what I know" person.
I dont have all the answers, but I can give them a good head start and some ideas on what's ok and not ok to do here, and how to make their life here on SL fun.

Kit Turnbull

I never got properly greeted so I have been walking around the noobie area without a clue as what to do. Are you telling me you can FLY? that would certainly help things. can I sign up for a greeter now so i can learn SL properly? I dont know what I am doing! please help! o ya areas of intrest, where are all the sex balls?






um, jk

I came into SL with a support group already in place. That made everything so much more comfortable. I would love to help new residents to SL experience the wonderful world I have come to call Second Home.

Here's a great idea..

How about a "log in status option" that's open to anyone, that says "Hey, I'm in a helpful mood today... I'm logging in as "Mentor So-and-So" ? From a mentors position.. if ya wanna work, you work. Ya wanna chill with your friends, your "off duty". Less stress. After all don't we come to SL to get away from the other stress in our lives ? Who needs more hassle if you just wanna relax..?

---------------------------------
HERE'S AN EVEN BETTER IDEA ... !

What about .... a "find live mentor or host" help button on the find page that we can ALL join !! Just guide the newbies into using the "live person" help system when they need it. This way newies (or anyone for that matter) can learn and explore on their own, or ask for help with a specific topic, as needed. The help system can include specific catagories (shop, travel, build, scripts, etc ) or general things like questions. I've had help from people that had no experience, except for that one thing that they were expert in. SHARE THE KNOWLEDGE !

Jeesh ! Why stop at mentors ?? EVERYONE can have a 'PREFERENCES' setting choice or the option of adding your "talents" to the help system. For example: "i'm stupid, but great at shooping. I want to help bimbos choose shoes for their outfits" or "I'm an snob and will discuss advanced scripting with those that qualify to be in my presence". I'm making jokes, but you get the idea... Then there is no small "exclusive mentors club" and the choices for help are as large as there are people online ! You feel helpful, check off the "I'm in a helpful mood" box on screen and become available for help related IM's. Get involved or need a rest, check it of for a few minutes. It should be right on the front screen..

I'm Man Casanova in-world. I own a club, planetarium, park, home and land. I offer free use of my park and club land for others to explore and play. Needless to say I can build a bit... lol ! I think it's a great idea. SL can be intimidating at first, this will help others, BOTH mentors and newbies !

My 2 cents worth... This is great that it's open for discussion. More proof that SL will survive !

SIGN ME UP !

Im fairly new to SL myself but i pick up fast, although some help when i got on would have been welcome. I (like many b4 me) wandered around sl bout a week trying to find what SL had to offer. It was all abit unclear to me at first, since i didnt know anyone in the game, but like i said i pick up fast and am addicted to SL now (lol). So the idea to get greeters in SL is really good.
Maybe another thing can be added to a greeters profile like his nationality, cause i think that some ppl might like to be greeted by someone with the same nationality, because sometimes terms used by e.g. an american person can be quite confusing to ppl with other nationalities (not bothered by it myself) and it might also be fun to see that you are not the only 1 from that country. I myself keep finding dutch ppl in this game. I expected some but not this much.

Keep on coming with these good ideas and make SL even more beautiful and fun!!!!!!!!!

BTW I wouldnt mind myself to be a greeter, since alot of ppl were willing to help me and answer my questions.

SL ROCKS

In general I think an otional program is a good idea, but it must be optional. However, on the other hand, since we already have a mentor program, and people are waiting months to hear on this, why start something new when the old hasn't been taken care of? Doesn't that just make more cost of ownership? I also think that keeping it simple is good. Leave out speiciatlies, it just beocmes a number game, like the Lindens concerns about ratings (which btw I never experienced in that capacity). And as far as attachments go, we all find out about those as soon as we see someone wearing a pair of wings or other thing that isn't even sex-related, and when shopping. Let's give the newbies some credit for brains. I don't think that we should build a huge semi-official deal out of animations balls. Dance balls work the same way, and it's not difficult to extrapolate what to do.

Now there's a difficult trade-off While I certainly understand that we could have a free-for-all Greeter program (ie. no prerequisites for becoming a Greeter - it's just a checkbox on Preferences or an attachment you wear), the trouble is, how will you prevent harassment? Unfortunately, you cannot trust people to "behave" properly, and the Lindens only know how many Mentors have "abused" their status already... sadly, but oh so very true

The purpose of having a "special" group is - filtering out. Sure, the system is not perfect. But there are at least simple rules: you must have been a bit in-world, built a fair reputation (meaning, no abuse reports on you...), and willing to wait weeks until you're "admitted". Most scammers/harassers will give up early in the process. I'd say, if this filters out 90-95% of the potential bad influences, it's well worth the trouble.

Sure, there are people who have become Mentors and Live Helpers just to harass others. However, the percentage of the ones who misbehaved is quite below that of the overall SL population...

Like gwyneth said there are some ppl around who take pleasure by pissing of other ppl, or being rude and sl isnt about that.
Gwynneth i totally agree with you!!!!!!!!!

I would love to find myself available to greet and help the new ppl. I remember how important that was to me when I was new. A darling lady, Brace Coral, not only met me but took me to her shop and gave me so many things. She was my mentor and helper. I would love to do the same for others.

when i was new it was overwhelming. i felt i had to know everything from day one. after about a month of attending classes i still felt dumber than a door knob! having someone who is willing to be there a spell and tell ya what to focus on or not, steer ya where your interests already are... it sounds good to me.

there are always problems in anything in life!! and good progress has been made after tons of mistakes led the right way. this program as all programs will have its developmental stages. but so what. it will at least have a much stronger foundation because of all the prethought in places like this. to me it looks very promising for the future ones who come. at least they are met with someone who cares initially---

i am very shy if i'm left to myself. when i first came to sl and even today it was hard for me to strike up conversations just for conversations sake. oh i'm great on a topic... and i can hold my own when needed, but my natural tendency is a bit shy. the welcome area was and still can be a bit intense for some. takes all kinds (=

that said, i'd really love to be envolved if we can share what we are willing to do. i could say i'm laid back and dont do clubs, for example so folks dont ask me to take them bar hopping... haha. i'd be in a sore fix because i dont know the name of one!! but i'd still love to help make someones first experiences positive. i'd love to share why i believe in sl and what it can do for someone. there are many simple things we all know that we can share. most importantly the attitude and unimaginable potentials!! it can be... what they want it to be... i'd love to point the way, the many ways, then set the birdies off to fly. (=

balance that with not having to OD on it. wanta keep things fun for the greeters too, so they keep greeting. (=

i think its very win win!

simply me

What is the difference between a greeter and a mentor? Looks the same to me.

I am highly interested in this program! Let me know!

I would very much like to be a greeter. I love to he lp people in any way I can. I will not profess to know anything abuot building or scripting so I would not be a good choice to help people with that. But showing people fun things to do in SL introducing them to people that I already know etc.