Residents' stories?

Why do some people become Second Life residents, while others remain tourists?
This is one of the questions that we are asking as part of our research into Second Life.

We are looking for people who can tell us about their own journey from new arrival to regular user, resident or aficionado.

We’d like to know about the times you nearly quit – and why you decided not to. We want to hear about the first time that you really felt that you’d become a resident of Second Life, and what that means to you. We're interested in why you first came to SL, and what made you decide to stay.

If you could send us, say, half a page to a page (250-500 words) that would be great, fantastic...but we'll take whatever you're willing to send us!

Please send us your story by email to [email]residentstories@googlemail.com[/email]

We will keep all contributions anonymous or, if you prefer, we will keep your name attached to your contribution as its author.

If you do choose to send us something, let us know if you are happy for us to share it with others (on a blog for example), or if you would prefer us to treat it as private correspondence.

About us: We are Andrew Burn, Martin Oliver and Diane Carr. We are educators and researchers at the Institute of Education, University of London (www.ioe.ac.uk) and we are investigating experience, learning and teaching in online worlds.

you picked a hell of a time to ask this!

Before i consider an answer i would prefer you answer me these questions first:

~How long have you been in SL Yoursel/f/ves?
~Have any of you been long term players of any similar On-line game?
~What specificly, or generally attracted you to This aspect of the On line experience?
~What is the Ultimate Goal of your research, What knowledge do you hope to Gain, or share?

Answer me these questions. You may be as brief, or as verbose as you choose, but they DO have Bearing on the subject at hand and on my decision whether or not to participate.

Angel.

I'd also like some evidence that the googlemail address is in any way associated with that fine institute of learning. Why are you unable to use an email address under the university's domain name, since this research is presumably sanctioned by that fine academy, yes?

Gee... who even knew gmail could be spelt "googlemail" ?

Gmail, yes....Googlemail, I don't trust the domain.

With a name like that I'm surprised you didn't have a story to tell.

Hi Jelly. As you can see, many people get VERY suspicious when "university researchers" start asking for information. Sometimes these researchers are just reporters looking for a scandalous story, and sometimes they are marketing people looking to profit from people's personal info.

On the bright side, some of us willingly share the story of our SL life. Although it takes work on your part, you can check people's profiles to see if they have a web page or blog. You can also look in the Resident-Run Websites section of the forums, where many people have posted their links.

It doesn't come in a nice compact summary (and really 250-500 words is not going to get you useful info on such a complex topic), but you are welcome to read my blog. I started it a few weeks after I started SL, but the entries chronicle my SLife from the very beginning. The first month or two are pretty jam-packed as I was learning all about SL, but the posts are fewer these days as I spend more time working on SL projects and messing about here in the forums.

http://ava.wavescrashing.org/

Well research is always Easier if the rats in the maze fill out their own evaluations, However, as ANY proper researcher can tell you, Such evaluations, In the study of human behaviour, Psychology. and social interactions, are really less than useless form an imperical research point of View, The responses are purely subjective, and likely to be innacurate because those being studied are Fully aware they are being studied. The results are tainted. Those being studied will likely Only tell you what They Wish you to Know, Not the Full story.

My questions, as yet unanswered were intended to evaluate the researchers Themselves. If i am to be an active participant in the study, that is information i am entited to.

Are these people REALLY from a University? Well, you can't really tell by the Poor research practices, because being Connected to a University, whether Student or faculty is No Guarantee against Shoddy research so they Might very well be.
Let them answer my questions here, then I will decide Whther to take part or not.

Angel.

For what it's worth, the three names listed in the OP are listed on the university's web site as being affiliated with the school. They first two are senior lecturers, and the third is a doctoral fellow. E-mail addresses are posted for all of them.

Hello and thanks for your responses and questions.
I'll try and answer more or less in order...
Since March. Not long! That's why we thought it would be good to ask people stuff.
Well it's not too similar (what is?) but we are regular MMORPG players.
Broadly speaking, we are interested in the educational potentials of SL, the learning that is happening in SL already...so we are interested in finding out what works for some people, and why some people stick with it...we are also interested in why people don't stick with it (but perhaps that's another story?)
The general aim of our research is to look at the learning that happens in social worlds, and look at how this might transfer to good teaching practice. We are educators so our outputs/results will be conference papers, articles, things like that.
We've been exploring SL and reading blogs, going along to in-world seminars and generally chatting to people. The idea of asking for stories is just one approach we thought that we'd try and, yep! it might not work.
Still, if we only find out that people don't like us asking, we've learned something ; )
Re the address - I thought it would be efficient to have a separate email address for this. You can use my work email if you prefer, and that's d.carr (at) ioe.ac.uk. Our names are on the original post.
'With a name like that I'm surprised you didn't have a story to tell'
Ha! actually it turns out that Jelly is a pretty common SL name.

Missed one question, but I'll let that Go.
If you wish to discuss Education in SL then Come and see my directly in Game, My experiences there could fill Volumes and Cover a Multitude of Disciplines.
I've been in SL for Over three years now. i have on occasion considered leaving, these have been at times of Great emotional stress due to My relationships. The Reason ultimately that i have remained is the same, My personal Relationships. No Matter what one is doing, RL, or On-line, there comes a time when one wishes to Run. That's the "Fight or Flight" Instinct kicking in. when it comes right down to it, I'm a fighter.
"It is better to live an Hour as a Tiger, than a lifetime as a Rabbit."

Angel.

I suspect I'm in the rabbit category...
Thank you for the offer Ms LaFollette!
IM me with to propose a convenient time and place perhaps?

If you see googlemail instead of gmail.com, you know the person lives in the UK (or said they did when they signed up for their google email.)

I don't know the details but there was some kind of legal battle over the use of gmail.com as an email address in the UK, so those who sign up from here (and say they are from here - there are ways to work around it) get @googlemail.com email addresses.

jelly, the last guy that came in here asking for something nearly identical (all of a couple of weeks ago) turned out to have a personal stake in some sort of online marketing outfit.
people are going to be suspicious. personally, i dont mind answering questions. but im not going to draft up a thesis and email it away. i have devalued land to worry about and $tier$ due in 10 days.

I've contacted Jelly via the researcher's real e-mail (as he posted above for all to use) and received a most proper and polite reply. I'm convicned that she and her team are legit.

Here's a suggestion; it may take some work and money, but doesn't research usually?

1. Set up a location in-world. It doesn't have to be big or fancy... maybe something that looks like a lab building.

2. Put in a notecard taker where people can drop off notecards with their in-world sagas. This way no one needs share their RL email address. No worries about spam, no worries about hackers, guaranteed anonimity

3. Take out a classified ad, perhaps pass out notecards at events and clubs (with the landowner's permission of course)

4. Watch the data come rolling in.

i agree 100% and i have the land to sell him

Lots of empty, fine-sounding words that don't really address the very specific questions about their bona fides.

I am not making any accusations, here - perish forbid! - but I am putting my hand on my wallet and running far away and not responding in any way.

Either they are too clever by half, or they are idiots who don't know how to construct a proper study. Either way, they are not worth my time, nor anybody else's here, IMO.

"Ain't no cheese in *this* maze..."

imogen