Is there a way to Test Drive SL?

Ok, I've referred two people to SL and both of them didn't like it. Didn't work on their computer, they were bored, didn't want to spend time figuring it out..now there are two names out there (in that list of 6 million members) that will not be back. They've deleted the software from their system.

Is there a way to keep a beta site live and list 100 names that can be 'rented' for a few hours or a day or whatever so people who are curious could try it out before committing to downloading the software?

Is there a way to limit usage from an IP address to a specific test period? (for example: Joe Smith comes to the SL main site, sees the Test Drive area. He clicks on it and it takes him to a page where he can choose an avatar for the day. No choice of name or appearance (keep choice of sex though I guess). If none are available, he'll have to come back when someone logs out (or come on there must be a list of names or numbered avatars we can use?) He tries it for a few hours, likes what he sees and joins. Or he tries it, doesn't like it and never comes back.

Would this cut down on the number of people who just want to 'check it out' and register but never come back to the game again?

Just throwing this out there to the wind...

You must have the client software to run SL.

I think the way you suggested is a good idea, however, LL seems to want an increase in numbers, so your suggestion may be at odds with their business strategy.

The "Burden of Corpses" is relatively light, probably little more than a few k of static data. Sure it clutters up the Find->People results slightly.

It would probably add more lag to have an automated clean-up process going through cremating old bits than it is to just let them gather dust.

Well ... they shoudl keep their info written down somewhere


If Second Life really is the dawning of the 3d Web, the Metaverse, etc. Then They will be back in a couple years, wont they?

If its not - then who cares? Second Life will get pushed aside for the actual Metaverse thingie.

If your asking if you can rent or loan an avatar the answer is no, the TOS states......

*2.4 Account registrations are limited per unique person. Transfers of accounts are generally not permitted. *

so unless you get permission from LL, its not recommended, Do you want someone else to possibly get you into trouble, maybe grief a bit then get you and your Alts, all baned.

I could be wrong but, i'd never take that kind of risk.

Having a way to let someone try SL without creating an account - like being able to enter an orientation and help island complex, for example, to see how their computer handles it and if they find it to be of any potential interest at all, without having to create a permanent avatar identity, give an email address, credit card number, or any identifying information at all, sounds like it might be a reasonable idea.

Of course they'd not be able to enter SL proper without creating an account.

To prevent griefing by fake "trial members" they'd probably need to be alone or able to interact only with Linden employees or users approved by Linden staff, or perhaps no one at all.

Might be worthwhile, I don't know.

Why have a test account when its free to sign up? I don't see the point. If a 20 some meg download is too taxing on thier system, then it likely won't run SL well anyway, and the sign up procedure only takes a few minutes.

Some folks are real paranoid about giving any information out, but they might change their mind after giving it a try.

Reusing avatar accounts like "Guest1 Visitor", "Guest2 Visitor", etc. would have the benefit of not clogging the avatar data storage system up with lots of names, profiles, etc. for people that just "came to try and said goodbye". This might cause a big reduction in time spend searching the avatar database; I don't understand how the system works well enough to know one way or the other.

The system wouldn't have to appeal to people who think like you do on this matter, so far as benefitting Ll goes, picking up users that don't want to provide any data at all just to try it out increases the user base just as much as picking up folks that don't mind. Plus it might enable them to make claims of even more people trying SL than they already do.


It might also help give folks a chance to sober up before selecting their permanent avatar name.

As for the download, of course there's no way to get past that. Most times the download is plenty fast enough to be no deterrent for me, but then I like trying software, and it usually only takes a few minutes.

It will also cut the "total residents" figure quoted to all the media. So it may not be what LL is looking for.

If you are good enough at lying to call everyone that signs up and tries SL for ten minutes and logs out and never comes back a resident of SL I am sure you could convince yourself to call these trial users residents just as well.

"They are residents, Ms. Reporter, extremely, exceedingly, very very very short term residents. That's my story and I'm sticking to it."

I'm pretty sure that the vast majority of those 6 million + residents tried it for a couple of hours, got bored, found it too hard to work, and left to play something else....maybe WoW? Who knows. Fact is...they still have the names on the register. Out of those 6 million + residents...maybe 100,000 play regularily...from most of the day to a couple of hours a month. Out of those, maybe one in 500 are premium users...I don't know the exact number. Out of those, some own land, some don't. Of those that own land, some have greater than 1/2 a sim, others less.

The point I'm making is that SL has a very steep learning curve for the casual player. It would not be in the best interest of LL to allow "Test Drives" because that drives up thier total numbers....The fact is, most of those 6 million + residents ARE test drives.

Hmm I don't know about that, wonder how much server space they occupy, and won't it great when you can't get the name you want because some person who logged in for 5min 5 years earlier still has it tied up.
5,900,000 accounts have to add something to account complexity.

I wonder how many sign up, try it, find it not instantly palatable, then a month later, say, want to try it again.... and can't remember their account name or their password and feel stymied about it.

So ironically it's worked worse than SL for me, but you are supposed to be able to use SL through a 2D web browser at http://dtv.sheeplabs.com/ without making an account at all.

This is a problem that doesn't need to be solved, because it has virtually no symptoms other than a high "total residents" count.

Virtually any solution would cause more problems than the original "problem".

Let it be.