Ann Otoole

The ideas I had, that LL actually tried, failed. So I am officially out of the help SL with ideas business.

Good luck.

Earth changed. Better get the "normal people" and ask them. But they are too busy watching sex in the city on iphones to care.

Ayesha Lytton

I disagree, Penny - sure there are debates, but every time these issues come up, people agree on several basic principles. It wouldn't be hard for LL to implement them, either. The ones I see every time are:

- A quest-based or interactive tutorial where residents receive rewards for completing tasks that teach them how to use SL.

- More initial avatar customization options. Better proportions for avatars and get rid of the duck walk.

- Interest-based community gateways or portals to help new people find things to do and make friends. Destination Guide is great, but newbies need locations that are prepared to welcome and help them.

- Eliminate and/or clean up infohubs as they tend to be full of griefers and troublemakers who create an unwelcoming environment.

All of these are relatively simple changes that could be accomplished with existing scripting and tools. If I were project manager for this I could pull it off with a couple of dedicated employees plus some Moles to create content. Considering the potential profit if user retention increased, this should be a top priority for the Lab.

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Penny Patton

Actually, plenty of people have been vocal against what they see as the "gameification" of SL and are adamantly against this idea.

Did you see my thread in the Content Creation forum? Multiple people right here on SLU arguing very heavily against better proportioned avatars and people have always been arguing against better/more initial avatar customization options because they feel it would hurt the user generated content market.

From the moment the community gateways were announced until the day they were axed, people cried "FIC!" over them. Some people still cry "FIC!" over the destination guide.

Didn't LL eliminate infohubs as newbie arrival spots? Sure, they're still there and unwelcoming, but, unless I'm mistaken, newbies aren't dropped at them anymore.

I believe the last time I created an alt for the purpose of seeing the new user experience I was dropped off in Pteron or some sim like that.

Bit of a correction, the quest based new user experience would require new scripting and tools. They tried it once with the existing tools and it failed miserably because the tools simply weren't up to the job.
You might be able to, but like I said not everyone in the community, as demonstrated right here on SLU, agrees on what needs to be done. Many in the community are very vocal in supporting very bad ideas.

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BJ Tunwarm

Here is another explanation for slow decline SL population; the hamfisted governance team. I've personally been accidentally IP banned twice by governance because they don't understand the concept of a dynamic IP addressing. Pretty easy to see someone who isn't technically proficient decided to go do something else.

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Tyabela

Penny it may not be LL's plan to dump newbies into infohubs but them landing there still happens.

I screwed up when I landed at the starting area. Ran before I knew what I was doing and walked into the linden realms portal. In my effort to get BACK to the starting area I went poking in menus and saw Teleport home. Used that thinking it would land me back at the starting area and instead got dumped into an infohub.

I CAN'T be the only one this happened to.

Simple fix would be to stop making infohubs the default TP home location. Make it somewhere like NCI or Oxbridge. But I am sure someone would scream about that too.

Heck Help Island public would be an improvement.

Penny Patton

Thanks. I wasn't aware that LL was still making infohubs he default home point for new residents.

Amelia E

This has been a really interesting read for me as a new person. When I signed up a week ago, I had the option of two weeks of free trial land on a big estate. I don't know if I'll continue paying for it or not yet, but the best thing was, after they set me up with my home, they assigned me a mentor lady, who gave me some basic help and some landmarks to places where I could get free stuff to get started, and friended me so I could ask questions as I went along. Our interests are totally different, so I don't know if we'll stay friends, but I don't know if I'd have stayed if I had to figure everything out on my own.

Adeon Writer

Heya Amelia, welcome to SLU - and SecondLife, apparently.

I wasn't aware of LL giving trail land. Was this a promotional thing for signing up with someone other than LindenLab?

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Amelia E

It is on an estate owned by someone named Chung, but it was advertised right when I signed up. If I understand correctly, it was only something they were doing for a short time? You could teleport directly from the Second Life website to an area where the representatives for that estate would show you a home, and set you up for two weeks. I can keep it after the two weeks by paying, or just let it go.

Please keep in mind, I don't know that much about homes in SL, and may not be explaining this perfectly well.

Ann Otoole

how interesting that LL is engaging in anti competitive practices on a formal basis. All the other land barons need to get together on this.

Amelia E

Ann, I'm new, so I'm not really sure what Second Life are doing wrong, I just had the opportunity for two free weeks home, and a mentor to help me find my way around and learn to do stuff, so I took it.

Honestly, I probably would not have stayed at all if it hadn't been for having a place to land and the nice lady that helped me figure out how stuff worked. I'm spiffed up, going around socializing, enjoying contests and trivia (and winning enough that I can afford to keep my home or find a different one, and do a little shopping), doing hunts, and all kinds of fun stuff.

I really, really don't know that I would still be playing if I had tried to figure all this stuff out on my own, and without somewhere to get onto my feet. I thought that the setup I went through was very useful, and I posted it because it was an interesting contrast to what other people were saying in the thread.

Trasee Darkwatch

Amelia, you'll get used to the various posters here on SLU. Those types of statements are common from Ann. Sometimes they have basis in fact. Sometimes they are completely from left field.

Personally, I think it is great that you had that offer. I think more things need to be done to help people stay in SL. The simple fact is, we don't have all the information, and Ann was just basing it off the little information that you had, which I personally don't compare to "unfair business practices."

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Phoebe Avro

funny thing is when I started this thread about my new alt, I got several emails from LL

One of those emails said something about trying out a house or land for 15 days, i never read it all so i can't remember, I found it in my trash it said :
Try a Starter Home in Second Life for 15 days!

the small print :

*Linden Lab is sponsoring the Starter Home Program which will be operated and supported by Anshe Chung Sims. You acknowledge that if you agree to participate in the Starter Home Program, in addition to the Linden Lab Terms of Service you also agree to be subject to the terms of service required by Anshe Chung Sims. After 15 days you decide whether you want to keep your home or not. If you do want to keep it you will need to pay for it pursuant to the applicable terms of service. If you don't want to keep it you won't be billed for it.
The promotion runs from 12:00 PM (PDT) April 19, 2012 and ends at 12:00 PM (PDT) May 18, 2012 and is subject to a limited availability of Starter Homes.

Trasee Darkwatch

That is quite interesting. If I recall, Anshe is the largest land baron in SL. I wonder who approached who with the idea, and if others could do something similar if they wanted to?

While I don't agree with Ann that it is "anti competitive" it is certainly in LL's best interest to find ways to retain users, and I think this is a good way to do it. I do feel that there needs to be something that tells people there are others out there as well, others that may be less expensive than Anshe Chung, or more appropriate to their needs. I'm not saying Anshe is more or less expensive, or better or worse, because I don't know. I'm simply saying that there should be more visibility.

Phoebe Avro

I had a friend years ago in Sl and she rented 1/4 region and she had a premium account, I asked her one day why she had premium? (because she normaly asked me for help after getting no where with support)

She said you must have premium to rent land ^^

It took me ages to prove to her and her believe me that it was total crap and she did not need to be premium to rent land on a private estate!

But when you look at the way new residents come into SL I can see how a lot would think they needed premium to rent land!

Adeon Writer

I heard of Anche Chung before I joined SL, and all 5 years I've been around heard not a peep of her until now. She seems to be on the move lately.

bladyblue

This sounds like a private estate's marketing plan and not a current Linden Lab program. The mentors were given the 'heave ho' some time ago.

EDIT: Oh I see as I read on further that it is a program from Anshe Chung endorsed and marketed by Linden Lab. Cheeky.

Basically, Anshe gets potential new customers funneled to her through a direct e-mail marketing program that Linden Lab sends out to thousands of customers a day.

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Trasee Darkwatch

Yes and no. LL is sponsoring it.

Jack Abraham

From what Amelia's saying, it sounds like this is a really good thing. Hopefully other estates will be able to participate.

Welcome to SL, Amelia!

Amelia E

It was my understanding that the mentor worked for the estate, but whoever she worked for, I appreciated her help very much. Linden Lab may be applying the program unfairly, again, I am new and not necessarily up on the politics of the thing. If it should be opened up to more estates, I can understand why there might be some controversy, I'm merely reporting on my experience with the program's setup of starting me out with a place to live for a couple weeks and someone to show me the ropes. I found that aspect of the program amazingly helpful, and to the subject of the thread, it is probably the reason I stayed, rather than messing about for a few hours and never coming back.

bladyblue

Yeah, you're right. It's definitely a good thing. And I guess it's fitting that the first (only?) person to become a millionaire from doing business in SL gets this opportunity from LL.

Even though the actual Anshe sold her name to a German corporation and cashed out long ago.

Trasee Darkwatch

Really? I hadn't heard about this. I thought it was still being run by the same person.

bladyblue

Anshe Chung, LLC. Functions in a few games on the web. They are very good at extracting income from virtual platforms. They even have a game currency exchange and a smartphone app to log into SL.

Trasee Darkwatch

Ok, that's good, but that doesn't mean the person who created Anshe Chung isn't behind it. After all, there's TOS issues with transferring the avatar to another person. I'm just wondering where you heard that Anshe Chung sold off as opposed to just diversifying. I'm not disagreeing with you, just wondering where the facts are coming from.

ETA: Also, when I looked up the company site, the address is listed in China, not Germany.