Welcome area - what can we do about it?

Both garages beside me, the Asda down the road, and within a five mile radius of me several small grocers.
I love our 24/7 society.

How about after the voting for the 7 wonders of SL, someone erect a teleporter with those 7 locations for the new residents to explore at the Welcome Area?
They deserve the traffic and what better way to show residents the posibilities here?
Just an idea...

Clarrice, that's an excellent idea.. but, i'm thinking we should suggest one step further.

what if they could choose one of those places to go to instead of the WA? reduces lag in the WA and helps introduce new Resis to the wonders of SL in a more profound manner.

also, maybe they should be encouraged to contact their Greeters before 'porting to the WA. trhis we we could have a chance to TP them somewhere less congested. there have been a few times when i've TPed them to my home location in Miramare. lag is minimal and they get to see those crazy city builds at the same time.

Think of it like this, a greeter can tell a new resident in the welcome area. this is the worst lag you will experience in second life ever, from here on, it all gets better.....

Lots of things.

More important, Second Life is 24/7; there's people from all over the globe on, after all!

I usually try and whisk people away from the WA as soon as I can, and take them to somewhere quiet and open like Clementia Park, where I can show them what there is to look forward to, rather than the welcome area being where they grind to a halt and possibly never log in again.

Lewis

OMG I been to the wa for the past few days and its seems worse then ever at times. These bad people are look for problems. Maybe its time to rethink is there a real need for a wa.

I'd love to know how many people got to the welcome Area and quit. I almost did that, it's a horrible place and even worse when you're in Australia on shoddy DSL.

I thought you weren't posting. *shiftyeyes*

You know women we are moody

At the very least, it would be beneficial to offer many more welcome areas in various areas of SL, and randomly place new users based on which areas are the least laggy at that moment.

Get the new avatars to the less laggy areas 1st... let them go find the lag, rather than have the lag greet them.

I would have appreciated it, when I signed up help island was dead, just a few other newbies, i ended up going to the mainland. Thankfully I had a friend online already to show me the ropes.

Least laggy tends to be least active - the biggest gripe I heard from friends who started back in beta was there was nobody to talk to.

It would be better if users are only able to home to the WA for their first XX weeks, after the time is up they are forced to pick a new home,or wait a week and have one assigned at random (maybe determined by lowest activity). Public places that the user can select as their 'second' home would have to be really obvious and easy to find.

If these second homes get really laggy, thats fair enough - its the users choice to start at that location.

Actually, the whole concept of the current Ahern WA encourages lag.

Back when I started, it was the old hill, a couple of signposts (including the events list) and Stage 4. It was usually deserted, and not very welcoming at all.

Later, there was the boardwalk. A circle of newbie-rezzing platforms, a small gathering area, then across the sim border, the touring balloon, the boardwalk itself with directions to sandboxes, the Luna Mall and Busy Bens... and of course, the path to Stage 4. Usually, near the rezzing end, were to be found "welcomers". Some Mentors, some Lindens and some other residents. Sometimes it got a bit like the current one, but due to the design, people were encouraged to walk under the big "Start Here" and walk on into their Second Lives.

Now, it's a square. People appear in one of the 4 wings, and everything points to the centre. go back the other way and it's wilderness. So they hed to the centre, where, even before you add other people, there is a laggy fountain, scripted signs and loads of textures to rez. Add into that a mix of other newbies from the other 3 wings and bunches of bored residents and suddenly the place is full of lag and noise. Sure, some people will like that better than it being nearly empty, but not all. And there is no longer any obvious way to get off to the sandboxes to practice. It all seems a huge step backwards to me.

The OI concept seems to be working, but not all new residents get to go there. We need a second or a third OI and get all newbies through it. For those who don't know, it's quiet, low-lag, and there are almost always a few volunteers around to offer advice or to assist. There are tutorials, demos, a sandbox and a small freebie store. I kinda wish it had been there when I was new...

Anyway, just my opinion. It won't change anything, least of all Ahern, or the almost-as-bad Waterhead, but it might encourage someone to consider how new folks feel, arriving into such a place.