At Bear Infohub today:
[2011/11/16 10:07] [redacted]: right, one thing all you noobs need to understand
[2011/11/16 10:07] [redacted]: sl dont always work
[2011/11/16 10:07] [day old account]: please help me
[2011/11/16 10:07] [redacted]: they having issues right now
[2011/11/16 10:07] [redacted]: [day old account], ffs stfu
[2011/11/16 10:07] [redacted]: im trying to help, trying to explain
[2011/11/16 10:07] [redacted]: the game system
[2011/11/16 10:07] [redacted]: the computers that run sl for you
[2011/11/16 10:07] [day old account]: ok.sorry
[2011/11/16 10:08] [redacted]: the engineers are fixing something
Ah, the best kind of welcome to Second Life: being told to sit down and shut the fuck up, you stupid little noob. Yup, let's keep changing the viewer. That's obviously the real reason retention rates are dismal.
Oh, and for reference, she asked a single question about where to find inventory. God! Get off my back and find your own damn shoes! What does this look like, some kind of infohub?! Oh wait...
Showing posts with label Mentor Madness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mentor Madness. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Up By Your Bootstraps III
Ok, ok, this is THE final post on this subject for the next month. I promise.
It occurred to me that the failure of textures to load properly and thus fail to pass their instruction onto new residents can be easily rectified by making a simple hovertext nearby. I've noticed that I've seen that load even in laggy clubs, identifying the tip jar for the musician playing that night. It's not as if you need to show people what the arrow keys are, I think most people are familiar with their keyboard. You can simply say, "The arrow keys will move your avatar" and be done with it. Even the interface can be somewhat described. "Find a button in the lower left corner marked 'Destinations', which will blah blah blah."
And you can always have a quick message below it explaining that if they are patient, they can wait for the texture to load in order to see an actual screenshot.
And you know? Another thought occurs to me. If you have a few dedicated mentors on each Orientation Station, it will help in another way besides spitting out information: it will allow them to test out conversing with another person, getting to know etiquette, and so on. Talking to a scripted parrot is not the same as holding a chat with a veteran. From my experience, in an orientation setting, most people won't hold up the line like at an infohub because they're eager to get into the game. They'll exchange friend cards (another important skill glanced over in orientation, as there are unspoken handshake agreements in that as well), and move on.
As always, just a few thoughts for the Lindens to chew over.
It occurred to me that the failure of textures to load properly and thus fail to pass their instruction onto new residents can be easily rectified by making a simple hovertext nearby. I've noticed that I've seen that load even in laggy clubs, identifying the tip jar for the musician playing that night. It's not as if you need to show people what the arrow keys are, I think most people are familiar with their keyboard. You can simply say, "The arrow keys will move your avatar" and be done with it. Even the interface can be somewhat described. "Find a button in the lower left corner marked 'Destinations', which will blah blah blah."
And you can always have a quick message below it explaining that if they are patient, they can wait for the texture to load in order to see an actual screenshot.
And you know? Another thought occurs to me. If you have a few dedicated mentors on each Orientation Station, it will help in another way besides spitting out information: it will allow them to test out conversing with another person, getting to know etiquette, and so on. Talking to a scripted parrot is not the same as holding a chat with a veteran. From my experience, in an orientation setting, most people won't hold up the line like at an infohub because they're eager to get into the game. They'll exchange friend cards (another important skill glanced over in orientation, as there are unspoken handshake agreements in that as well), and move on.
As always, just a few thoughts for the Lindens to chew over.
Up By Your Bootstraps II
I was reading Prokofy the other day and he hit upon another good idea for encouraging retention: create a panel which displays the multitude of things to do in Second Life.
So, for instance, you'd have a panel showing War Sims for Call of Duty-esque games, and a panel to some social clubs if you're into making friends, and a panel to a sandbox and building lessons if you're into making objects and so on. When you click on the panel you want, it spits out a landmark to a location relevant to that interest.
It allows the new user to sort themselves quickly and direct them to where they would go anyway if they followed the current path. Currently, they would land in an infohub, ask where so-and-so is, and then get a landmark. This system would cut the middleman. If all I want to do is rent a house and play with some pets because a Real Life friend hooked me on Sion Chickens, then it's not really necessary to hit an infohub and have to shout over a dozen or so other people asking where I can buy pets.
And again, you can have a feedback system. Ask: Did you feel you were directed correctly? Did you get where you wanted to go? Then you can adjust the landmarks that are sent in each 'mode'. This sim is treating newbies like dirt? Remove them from the Help Station.
This isn't exactly rocket science.
So, for instance, you'd have a panel showing War Sims for Call of Duty-esque games, and a panel to some social clubs if you're into making friends, and a panel to a sandbox and building lessons if you're into making objects and so on. When you click on the panel you want, it spits out a landmark to a location relevant to that interest.
It allows the new user to sort themselves quickly and direct them to where they would go anyway if they followed the current path. Currently, they would land in an infohub, ask where so-and-so is, and then get a landmark. This system would cut the middleman. If all I want to do is rent a house and play with some pets because a Real Life friend hooked me on Sion Chickens, then it's not really necessary to hit an infohub and have to shout over a dozen or so other people asking where I can buy pets.
And again, you can have a feedback system. Ask: Did you feel you were directed correctly? Did you get where you wanted to go? Then you can adjust the landmarks that are sent in each 'mode'. This sim is treating newbies like dirt? Remove them from the Help Station.
This isn't exactly rocket science.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Up By Your Bootstraps
How is it possible that Linden Lab, through three changes in leadership and countless hirings and firings of employers, have still not managed to create a good orientation program?
I've been observing this for some time, and it is shocking that the orientation process has seemingly became worse than when I took my first steps five years ago. It was thought that by allowing residents to create their own orientation stations the process would improve but if anything I believe it destroyed it. Too many half ass it, or create infohubs which fail to provide information people want to know, or omit things they believe others just know. Often, their islands and stations aren't even staffed. It's a crapshoot: if you're lucky, you get shuffled to an OI who cares and commits the time necessary to bring day old residents up to speed. If you're unlucky (and more than likely you will), you'll find yourself stranded, isolated save for your fellow newbies, feeling around an otherwise deserted island, wondering what the deal is with all the gray squares and squashed objects.
If it seems I'm being unduly harsh on the Orientation islands, it's because the in-grid infohubs are complete garbage. Today, I sat in on Bear Infohub. For about an hour, a group of midbies (from around 07-08) dominated the infohub, lamenting that hardly anyone was talking on Voice and who was AFK and so on. The newbies were completely ignored save when they greeted everyone. When that group left, the entire batch of newbies were left to their own devices. There were no mentors to answer any questions. There was a billboard in a corner which linked to Torley's tutorial videos, some of which are outdated and often discuss topics that newbies don't care about. They don't care about sculpties or script efficiency. They want to know where to go to buy things, to meet people, and how to fucking move.
Read that last sentence again. It is true. I was asked how to move about by at least five different newbies. That is a damning indictment of the Linden's failure to bring people into Second Life. How can they enjoy the platform and its community when they can't figure out how to get their avatar to go where they want it?
Here is a list of the questions asked:
The question is, what can be done?
First, get either Lindens or Residents or both to patrol these places and be on hand to answer any and all questions. There should be at least two at each location around the clock. These people, by the way, should be screened and it should be made sure they aren't arrogant shits who'll sneer if someone asks how to fly or attach hair. There should be no worry that the person in this role isn't very software inclined, because it's rare that a newbie asks a question which would baffle the average SL resident. It doesn't take an engineer to tell someone that to attach something, you go into inventory, right click, and select 'wear'. It doesn't take a programmer to tell someone how to search for a night club.
Second, they need to hold a meeting and standardize the newbie experience. Here's a suggestion: after about a month, send a notecard to the newbies and ask them their thoughts on how well the OI prepared them for SL. Don't give any multiple choice bullshit, just ask: "What are your thoughts on orientation? Did we neglect any information? etc etc etc" Multiple choice tends to not tell you anything. 7 out of 10? Why? And these should be collected, and read at the end of the month, and OI should be adjusted accordingly. Don't hand me bullshit that it would take too long. I've worked projects where I've been evaluated by at least 90 or so people, and I was able to handle it and get everything together in about a day. I'm sure a company can do better.
Third, make notecards containing information easily accessible in the infohubs. Isabell and I think Ross do an ok job at that, but most of the others are dismal. It turns the infohubs into glorified town squares where people congregate and chat. There is nothing wrong with that, but the primary purpose of the infohub is to inform. Information should be distributed if asked. And I'd do it in notecards, and not in links to outside websites. Tell people how to do it NOW, not later on someone's website.
Fourth, please police the infohubs a little. Clean up the loiterers. Infohubs, as I said above, have become similar to town squares, where people mill about and chat. Again, nothing wrong with that, but emphasis should be placed on informing new residents of what's what. When you have a newbie asking how to fly, and the crowd is mocking them, you need to call in the police and break it up.
Please, Linden Lab. Fix this shit. You have no idea how many people come into Second Life and abandon it after two or three days because they get no help and have no idea what to do. You cannot tell me you enjoy losing potential paying customers. Why do you let this continue? And the same is said to third party OI. Clean it up, please.
I've been observing this for some time, and it is shocking that the orientation process has seemingly became worse than when I took my first steps five years ago. It was thought that by allowing residents to create their own orientation stations the process would improve but if anything I believe it destroyed it. Too many half ass it, or create infohubs which fail to provide information people want to know, or omit things they believe others just know. Often, their islands and stations aren't even staffed. It's a crapshoot: if you're lucky, you get shuffled to an OI who cares and commits the time necessary to bring day old residents up to speed. If you're unlucky (and more than likely you will), you'll find yourself stranded, isolated save for your fellow newbies, feeling around an otherwise deserted island, wondering what the deal is with all the gray squares and squashed objects.
If it seems I'm being unduly harsh on the Orientation islands, it's because the in-grid infohubs are complete garbage. Today, I sat in on Bear Infohub. For about an hour, a group of midbies (from around 07-08) dominated the infohub, lamenting that hardly anyone was talking on Voice and who was AFK and so on. The newbies were completely ignored save when they greeted everyone. When that group left, the entire batch of newbies were left to their own devices. There were no mentors to answer any questions. There was a billboard in a corner which linked to Torley's tutorial videos, some of which are outdated and often discuss topics that newbies don't care about. They don't care about sculpties or script efficiency. They want to know where to go to buy things, to meet people, and how to fucking move.
Read that last sentence again. It is true. I was asked how to move about by at least five different newbies. That is a damning indictment of the Linden's failure to bring people into Second Life. How can they enjoy the platform and its community when they can't figure out how to get their avatar to go where they want it?
Here is a list of the questions asked:
- "Why do I look like a ghost?"
- "I can't get Edit Appearance to work right"
- "I'm not sure how to use Second Life?"
- "How do move about?"
- "You can fly? How can you fly?"
- "Do you have to pay for different clothes?"
- "Where do I go for new clothes/vehicles/housing?"
The question is, what can be done?
First, get either Lindens or Residents or both to patrol these places and be on hand to answer any and all questions. There should be at least two at each location around the clock. These people, by the way, should be screened and it should be made sure they aren't arrogant shits who'll sneer if someone asks how to fly or attach hair. There should be no worry that the person in this role isn't very software inclined, because it's rare that a newbie asks a question which would baffle the average SL resident. It doesn't take an engineer to tell someone that to attach something, you go into inventory, right click, and select 'wear'. It doesn't take a programmer to tell someone how to search for a night club.
Second, they need to hold a meeting and standardize the newbie experience. Here's a suggestion: after about a month, send a notecard to the newbies and ask them their thoughts on how well the OI prepared them for SL. Don't give any multiple choice bullshit, just ask: "What are your thoughts on orientation? Did we neglect any information? etc etc etc" Multiple choice tends to not tell you anything. 7 out of 10? Why? And these should be collected, and read at the end of the month, and OI should be adjusted accordingly. Don't hand me bullshit that it would take too long. I've worked projects where I've been evaluated by at least 90 or so people, and I was able to handle it and get everything together in about a day. I'm sure a company can do better.
Third, make notecards containing information easily accessible in the infohubs. Isabell and I think Ross do an ok job at that, but most of the others are dismal. It turns the infohubs into glorified town squares where people congregate and chat. There is nothing wrong with that, but the primary purpose of the infohub is to inform. Information should be distributed if asked. And I'd do it in notecards, and not in links to outside websites. Tell people how to do it NOW, not later on someone's website.
Fourth, please police the infohubs a little. Clean up the loiterers. Infohubs, as I said above, have become similar to town squares, where people mill about and chat. Again, nothing wrong with that, but emphasis should be placed on informing new residents of what's what. When you have a newbie asking how to fly, and the crowd is mocking them, you need to call in the police and break it up.
Please, Linden Lab. Fix this shit. You have no idea how many people come into Second Life and abandon it after two or three days because they get no help and have no idea what to do. You cannot tell me you enjoy losing potential paying customers. Why do you let this continue? And the same is said to third party OI. Clean it up, please.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
A Bold New Leader
It seems that Blue Linden is stepping down from being overseer of the Mentors. He cites too much work to continue to hold down that particular job. Hey, I understand. You have to know your limits and when you accept them, sometimes, you have to withdrawal from a few of your commitments. He's choosing to focus on some pet project of his or another, and that's good. Maybe we'll see some progress!
In his place, we are getting... drumroll... Levie Linden! No, not the jean company. I have no idea who she is. Is she one of the New Lindens that pop in lately? I suppose so. There's about three hundred or so Lindens and I can't keep track of them all at once.
Anyway, I wish her the best of luck because it seems lately the Mentors are one agitated group. They're not taking the entire 'greeter mentor' business too well.
In his place, we are getting... drumroll... Levie Linden! No, not the jean company. I have no idea who she is. Is she one of the New Lindens that pop in lately? I suppose so. There's about three hundred or so Lindens and I can't keep track of them all at once.
Anyway, I wish her the best of luck because it seems lately the Mentors are one agitated group. They're not taking the entire 'greeter mentor' business too well.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Teaching
If you teach someone something, and they fail to understand, you have failed miserably.
Consequently, in the course of attempting to mentor those new to Second Life, I fail often.
Sometimes it's due to a mismatch of language. Regrettably, I slept through high school Spanish, the result being I can only say a few rudimentary phrases such as my name and that "Bud es gordo" and "El AVE es azul y gris". I draw a lot of amused looks when I try. I have never even attempted other languages. So I'm limited to English. Most of the rest of the world does not understand English. Thus I am at a disadvantage. The best I can do is use translators as a crutch or pass them along to someone who can help them. Sometimes, they don't need help so much as someone else to connect and talk with them. Best I can do is point them towards groups and places set up by similar people.
Sometimes it is due to my failure to acknowledge that something I have been doing for the past year and a half is not intuitive to the person I'm talking to. It's easy enough for me to know how to use Search, and which results to ignore and divining 'good' hits. How do you communicate something like that? It is difficult for me to imagine this precisely because there's so much one can do and ask in Second Life, and there's so much to learn and get a handle on, it never ceases to amaze me. And I often don't recognize. Frustration mounts. "Why isn't this person just getting this??"
So you keep trying. You try to understand not what they aren't understanding, but what you're overlooking. I try to change and conform as best I can. Because all people are not equal, at least with regards to getting an idea through their heads. I think 'mentoring' newbies has given me a sound respect for my previous teachers and professors. In a way, I have it easier, much easier, because I only have to 'work' on a one-on-one basis. They have to create a course for a multitude of individuals.
Nevertheless, I have to get through to that person.
Going off on a tangent, I think this is the problem with many many mentors (though not all of them). They consistently repeat and repeat themselves, seemingly never realizing that their audience isn't getting it through that line of attack. A different strategy is required. Yet, they don't seem to realize it. And so we get a comical back-and-forth. "I don't understand" "It's simple, it's this-and-this" "I don't understand" "It's simple, it's this-and-this". In a way, I have to give Torley some slack, as just like my professors had to (though I still hold to my previous posts, that's my privilege). Second Life is becoming a big big world.
I like to look at it this way: People like Torley or the infohub owners, they are the generals, they have to think of the big picture and attack it using a general method, one to reach the most amount of people. People like me and the rest of the mentors, we're the ground troops at street level. We have to take care on a constantly changing situation. It's up to us to understand who we are talking to and fit our explanation, or sometimes just our general conversation and chit-chat, to them. Mentors are there when someone just doesn't understand, say, just how to set a texture to an object. Sure, they've watched a tutorial or attended a class, but they need their own realization of it. Or maybe that original tutorial creator just isn't approachable (capped IMs). That's what Mentors should do. They're there to provide not just general information but a personal contact. Someone to understand or can easily understand their problems and issues. Someone who they can come to and feel that they care.
However, getting back on track, sometimes it's due to my failure of knowledge in the area of the inquiry. Sometimes I honestly don't know how to answer, I don't know the answer. Then I just punt it to someone who knows, just like when someone strains my poor multilingual skills. Only in this case, I try to make a point of hearing the answer and more importantly, understanding it. Then I'm ready the next time (if ever) it's asked again. So sometimes I learn something I might never have known otherwise.
So what do I do when I fail? I don't get upset, because the last thing you need is to have a meltdown in front of everyone. And I don't get angry (no matter how large a migraine I develop), because what definitely isn't needed is a giant argument. No, instead I try to take a deep breath, and relax and analyze what went wrong and what I can do to fix it next time.
Also, have you seen the previews for the new 'Mummy' movie? Abominable snowmen? Egyptian style mummification in some Chinese/Nepalese/Tibetan temple in the Himalayas? I want to see it just to see how coherent the script is.
Consequently, in the course of attempting to mentor those new to Second Life, I fail often.
Sometimes it's due to a mismatch of language. Regrettably, I slept through high school Spanish, the result being I can only say a few rudimentary phrases such as my name and that "Bud es gordo" and "El AVE es azul y gris". I draw a lot of amused looks when I try. I have never even attempted other languages. So I'm limited to English. Most of the rest of the world does not understand English. Thus I am at a disadvantage. The best I can do is use translators as a crutch or pass them along to someone who can help them. Sometimes, they don't need help so much as someone else to connect and talk with them. Best I can do is point them towards groups and places set up by similar people.
Sometimes it is due to my failure to acknowledge that something I have been doing for the past year and a half is not intuitive to the person I'm talking to. It's easy enough for me to know how to use Search, and which results to ignore and divining 'good' hits. How do you communicate something like that? It is difficult for me to imagine this precisely because there's so much one can do and ask in Second Life, and there's so much to learn and get a handle on, it never ceases to amaze me. And I often don't recognize. Frustration mounts. "Why isn't this person just getting this??"
So you keep trying. You try to understand not what they aren't understanding, but what you're overlooking. I try to change and conform as best I can. Because all people are not equal, at least with regards to getting an idea through their heads. I think 'mentoring' newbies has given me a sound respect for my previous teachers and professors. In a way, I have it easier, much easier, because I only have to 'work' on a one-on-one basis. They have to create a course for a multitude of individuals.
Nevertheless, I have to get through to that person.
Going off on a tangent, I think this is the problem with many many mentors (though not all of them). They consistently repeat and repeat themselves, seemingly never realizing that their audience isn't getting it through that line of attack. A different strategy is required. Yet, they don't seem to realize it. And so we get a comical back-and-forth. "I don't understand" "It's simple, it's this-and-this" "I don't understand" "It's simple, it's this-and-this". In a way, I have to give Torley some slack, as just like my professors had to (though I still hold to my previous posts, that's my privilege). Second Life is becoming a big big world.
I like to look at it this way: People like Torley or the infohub owners, they are the generals, they have to think of the big picture and attack it using a general method, one to reach the most amount of people. People like me and the rest of the mentors, we're the ground troops at street level. We have to take care on a constantly changing situation. It's up to us to understand who we are talking to and fit our explanation, or sometimes just our general conversation and chit-chat, to them. Mentors are there when someone just doesn't understand, say, just how to set a texture to an object. Sure, they've watched a tutorial or attended a class, but they need their own realization of it. Or maybe that original tutorial creator just isn't approachable (capped IMs). That's what Mentors should do. They're there to provide not just general information but a personal contact. Someone to understand or can easily understand their problems and issues. Someone who they can come to and feel that they care.
However, getting back on track, sometimes it's due to my failure of knowledge in the area of the inquiry. Sometimes I honestly don't know how to answer, I don't know the answer. Then I just punt it to someone who knows, just like when someone strains my poor multilingual skills. Only in this case, I try to make a point of hearing the answer and more importantly, understanding it. Then I'm ready the next time (if ever) it's asked again. So sometimes I learn something I might never have known otherwise.
So what do I do when I fail? I don't get upset, because the last thing you need is to have a meltdown in front of everyone. And I don't get angry (no matter how large a migraine I develop), because what definitely isn't needed is a giant argument. No, instead I try to take a deep breath, and relax and analyze what went wrong and what I can do to fix it next time.
Also, have you seen the previews for the new 'Mummy' movie? Abominable snowmen? Egyptian style mummification in some Chinese/Nepalese/Tibetan temple in the Himalayas? I want to see it just to see how coherent the script is.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Thank You Dirk
Throw a few bucks at real people to build the community. It is important. New residents when welcomed and encouraged properly rent our land, buy our clothes and furniture, become interested in our art, become inspired to improve their education and enroll in a class. They find likeminded residents to discuss their griefs and illnesses with. They find strength and use that newfound strength to uplift others. They bring their imaginations and skills with them and challenge us with new creations and ideas... and they do it all without borders or boundaries.
-Dirk Talamasca, on Prokofy's blog
Yes! Yes! Oh yes Yes! Dead on! On the button! Getting the newbies together and getting them involved: bingo, right on the head of the nail. That's what increases retention. I can summarize it right here:
"Build the community. It is IMPORTANT. New residents when welcomed and encouraged properly [continue on to stay invovled in SL activites]."
This is what I have said before, in a concise and neat paragraph. Thank you, Dirk. I feel validated now.
-Dirk Talamasca, on Prokofy's blog
Yes! Yes! Oh yes Yes! Dead on! On the button! Getting the newbies together and getting them involved: bingo, right on the head of the nail. That's what increases retention. I can summarize it right here:
"Build the community. It is IMPORTANT. New residents when welcomed and encouraged properly [continue on to stay invovled in SL activites]."
This is what I have said before, in a concise and neat paragraph. Thank you, Dirk. I feel validated now.
Monday, May 12, 2008
A Beginner's Guide to Second Life
I feel that, having a year and a half (or thereabouts) of experience in Second Life, the time has come for me to pass on to the next generation of new people all of my knowledge thereof. If a newbie come and asks for help, I will shamelessly spam this link. Maybe I'll put it on a notecard, because, at least for me, Second Life makes my computer drop to its knees when I try to upload links.
You've downloaded the client, created an account, and logged in. What you are now witnessing is what is known as "Orientation Island". This is an island where you are completely sequestered from the rest of the scum of Second Life so you can learn how to use Second Life without have goatse and Dissent cubes hogging your view.
I will tell you right now that you can forget anything on this island. Detach the HUD you see on screen (the one that lists your 'quests') by right clicking it (Cmd + click for Macs, if I recall correctly) and selecting detach from the menu. Right clicking will be your friend. Trust the right click. That circular menu is about one third of learning how to use Second Life. Anytime you see anything and you want to know more about it, sit on it, buy it, take a copy, mute it, or abuse report it, is but a right click away. Learn this well.
RIGHT CLICK EVERYTHING.
You can, if you wish, wander the rest of Orientation island and play around. There's a few good things but nothing special. Trust me, not much of it will be any use and a lot of it is displayed as awkward as a Chinese engrish shop. It's up to you.
You may be wondering how to not look like a clone. This is where you meet your second best friend, the edit menu. Right there at the top of your screen. This edit menu is about the only one up there that you ever need or ever will touch. You'll see lots of options here. There is a bunch that will detach your clothes and objects attached to you (more on that later) and oh look! A selection called 'edit appearance'. This will bring you to the actual editing appearance box. There's lots of sliders to play with how you look and I highly recommend taking as much time as possible tweaking your avatar to your whim. It's worth it to not look like John or Jane Doe. Clothing selection is slim and I advise against making your own until later when you REALLY get a hang of it. For now, just edit your shape and maybe your skin. You will see both of these options listed on the menu that pops up. Take your time, I'll wait right here.
Done? Good.
Before you exit this mode, click on "Save" at the bottom to make it permanent. You can also click "Save As" provided you want to name your creation. Which brings us to our next obstacle.
The Inventory.
By now, you'll see a bunch of blue boxes at the bottom, This is your second best friend. You'll see a curious box like button on the far left, that can be clicked to bring up the local chat box for... local chatting with anyone nearby. Typing has a range of about 10 to 13 feet ingame, so keep that in mind and be kind to friends who might have wandered outside of that range and thus didn't quite hear you. The other buttons are self explanatory. There's communicate which will bring up your friends list (friends can be made by right clicking someone and selecting... make friend or something similar) where you can Instant message your friends anywhere in a manner similar to any IM programs such as AIM (AOL Instant Messenger). There's also Fly which causes you to fly, Search which bring up a search box (more on that later), Map and Mini map which bring up a large and small map respectively, and finally Inventory.
Inventory in Second Life is chaotic and down right confusing, even for me. There's a lot of folders and a lots of objects and a lot of mess. But there is some hope. It will be tricky, so try to bear with me.
The Inventory window has a menu at the top like a Mac. And this has a file, create, and sort buttons. Create allows you to make folders among other things. What is most important is the ability to make folders. Under sort you'll see a bunch of options, I would suggest doing it alphabetically as opposed to date created/received. Now, the trick is to treat inventory as you would sorting files in an office job. Name the folders as you wish to sort everything, and then drag the objects you wish into each. Let me give you an example.
Let's say I have a water gun, a skin, and a notecard. I could make three folders, one for toys, one for skin, and one for notecards. Above all, take the time to sort your inventory often. Do NOT be like me and just let it sit at random. You'll thank me.
If you don't know where to find a specific object, there is hope. At the top, under the menu, is a white box. Type in the name or part of the name and Inventory will return and show you all objects with that in its name. So, if I search "Water" it might in my inventory turn up water bottle, A guide to water sports, and the water gun mentioned above. That is all there is to inventory. Not so bad, but this is something that Second Life and even instructors in Second Life tend to gloss over.
Anything in your inventory, by the way, can be right clicked and you get another menu which will allow you to wear or delete or whatever. It's self explanatory, but if you were searching for a skin for your avatar to wear then you could search for it in the inventory, right click it, and select wear. Be forewarned: do that slowly and give Second Life a good minute or so to process that kind of thing. Second Life can be notoriously buggy, laggy, and temperamental. Keep that in mind.
So you're set. You know how to edit your appearance, how to right click things, and you're somewhat comfortable with inventory. And now you're asking, "Now what? I'm still stuck in this lame island". Do not worry my friend, for you have come for the quick and dirty guide to Second Life. I will not disappoint.
Go to the center square. There will be a billboard of sorts. Click on this, and it will spit something out to you. This is what is known as a landmark. Let's discuss landmarks, because you'll get a lot and they're not intuitive.
When you get a landmark, it is displayed on your screen and is also copied to your inventory so if you should accidentally click it off you can still find it in your inventory, usually under "landmarks" folder. The landmark will show you a picture the land owner uses for that particular landmark, a short description, and the location (in this format: "Name of Destination, Name of Sim or Island, Coordinates in X Y Z planes). The two options are "teleport" which teleports you to that destination and "show on map" which will bring up the map and show you with a red circle on the map where you would go if you followed the landmark. Imagine landmarks as something like a link from a website.
Get the landmark by just left clicking the sign. It may or may not ask you things, whatever it does, just get the point across that you want to get outta there.
Now, how we proceed is dependent on where that landmark sends you. Likely, there will be lots of people and at this point just socialize. You'll get the hang of it. You'll likely make a few friends. Try to have an open mind about things, because Second Life is nothing if not weird and most people are good at heart, try not to dismiss someone because they are a furry or they wear leather chaps or what have you. If you do need help ( I doubt it), try an icebreaker. Discuss the weather, sports, or comment on the local architecture. Obviously, try to avoid 'hot' topics such as religion, politics, or toast unless you're confident in your current friends. Above all, don't be shy. No one is out to bite your head off. Be confident. I may have repeated myself there.
What about Money?
Money is an elusive beast in Second Life and the currency is L$. You need it to buy land, and buy stuff. How do you get money?? Well, there's a bunch of ways. The most obvious is you submit your credit card/paypal info to LL on their main site and transfer some funds there to your avatar. That's the easy way.
But if you're like me, you either can't, or won't, give Linden Lab your payment information. Then, it's much more tricky. One way is to start making, building, scripting, or writing and selling that to earn cash. But that's a long way off and we're just trying to get you used to Second Life first. Details come later. It's an option, but one in the distance.
That leaves us in a bind. There are numerous areas where you can get some free cash, using Search and typing in NCI will bring up a few landmarks to the NCI hubs of which some give you cash if you're less than three months old. There's money trees, but I don't know how to operate those. There are places called camping spots, where if you right click and sit on them you will earn a small amount of L$ per hour or so. Camping is very boring but good if you really really REALLY want some money.
But worry not! There are many places that will give you freebies. Try searching for a place called "Orientation Station", it is a place very similar to Orientation island that we were in earlier however in one section of it there are numerous freebies available that you can buy (using, again, right clicking and selecting buy). Using the Search button and searching for freebies will turn up some results. One trick to using search is to visit one of the top ten returns, and then one of the results lower down on the page. This ensures that you don't end up in some jerk's parcel who just put 'freebies' in his descriptions to generate traffic (similar to, I suppose, spam mail in real life).
You've got some objects now. There are two ways you get objects. You either get the straight up contents, and all you have to do is find the object in your inventory and wear it or use it. The second way is annoying. You have to find an area that allows you to make objects, and then drag the object from your inventory to the ground in front of you. Once it is outside, you have to right click and bring up that circular menu and select 'Open' and then "copy to inventory". Why people do this, I do not know but the fact is they do so it's best to know how to unpack as they call it.
Parse through your freebies, you will likely have lots of things. Skins, shapes, hair, clothes, shoes. The skins will definitely be better than anything you can make at this stage and I suggest you experiment and see what you like. There are shapes too, if you're not happy with the one you made. Clothes are the same, you find them in inventory and select wear. If you think there is a mix up, then you can go to the edit tab at the top of the window and select "Detach Clothing" and then pick what you want to shed. You might see a few objects such as "shoes" or "necklace" or "hair". Here is where the fun begins.
You see, clothes as such are not the only thing in Second Life. For you can wear this other objects too! Definitely try some of the hair attachments (attachments being what these objects attached to you are called in general). It will look more realistic than the default hair. Just right click the object in your inventory and select wear. By this point, I should start sounding repetitious and that is a good thing. We're getting somewhere. Play around with your new freebie clothes.
And then you're done. The only task left is to play around with Second Life and see where you want to go with it. You could be like me and be an eternal bum, blogging about this and that and hanging out with a few friends. You could learn how to build and script and create things. You can try to buy and sell land and become a 'land baron'. You can do any number of things and honestly, the sky is the limit. Don't be afraid to test everything and ask people for help.
That's about it, I believe. That's the quick and dirty guide to Second life and getting settled in. In doing so, I skipped over building, all the inane movement controls and building and such, and probably many other things. However, those are more extraneous and you can learn those later when you're more comfortable with the game itself. For now, you've learned the skills that are absolutely necessary. Good job you! You've learned them!
Sorry if this got lengthy, but congrats if you stuck with me long enough to get here. I assure you, it's well worth it. And hey, if you ever get confused, you can just as easily search and find my name and pester me.
You've downloaded the client, created an account, and logged in. What you are now witnessing is what is known as "Orientation Island". This is an island where you are completely sequestered from the rest of the scum of Second Life so you can learn how to use Second Life without have goatse and Dissent cubes hogging your view.
I will tell you right now that you can forget anything on this island. Detach the HUD you see on screen (the one that lists your 'quests') by right clicking it (Cmd + click for Macs, if I recall correctly) and selecting detach from the menu. Right clicking will be your friend. Trust the right click. That circular menu is about one third of learning how to use Second Life. Anytime you see anything and you want to know more about it, sit on it, buy it, take a copy, mute it, or abuse report it, is but a right click away. Learn this well.
RIGHT CLICK EVERYTHING.
You can, if you wish, wander the rest of Orientation island and play around. There's a few good things but nothing special. Trust me, not much of it will be any use and a lot of it is displayed as awkward as a Chinese engrish shop. It's up to you.
You may be wondering how to not look like a clone. This is where you meet your second best friend, the edit menu. Right there at the top of your screen. This edit menu is about the only one up there that you ever need or ever will touch. You'll see lots of options here. There is a bunch that will detach your clothes and objects attached to you (more on that later) and oh look! A selection called 'edit appearance'. This will bring you to the actual editing appearance box. There's lots of sliders to play with how you look and I highly recommend taking as much time as possible tweaking your avatar to your whim. It's worth it to not look like John or Jane Doe. Clothing selection is slim and I advise against making your own until later when you REALLY get a hang of it. For now, just edit your shape and maybe your skin. You will see both of these options listed on the menu that pops up. Take your time, I'll wait right here.
Done? Good.
Before you exit this mode, click on "Save" at the bottom to make it permanent. You can also click "Save As" provided you want to name your creation. Which brings us to our next obstacle.
The Inventory.
By now, you'll see a bunch of blue boxes at the bottom, This is your second best friend. You'll see a curious box like button on the far left, that can be clicked to bring up the local chat box for... local chatting with anyone nearby. Typing has a range of about 10 to 13 feet ingame, so keep that in mind and be kind to friends who might have wandered outside of that range and thus didn't quite hear you. The other buttons are self explanatory. There's communicate which will bring up your friends list (friends can be made by right clicking someone and selecting... make friend or something similar) where you can Instant message your friends anywhere in a manner similar to any IM programs such as AIM (AOL Instant Messenger). There's also Fly which causes you to fly, Search which bring up a search box (more on that later), Map and Mini map which bring up a large and small map respectively, and finally Inventory.
Inventory in Second Life is chaotic and down right confusing, even for me. There's a lot of folders and a lots of objects and a lot of mess. But there is some hope. It will be tricky, so try to bear with me.
The Inventory window has a menu at the top like a Mac. And this has a file, create, and sort buttons. Create allows you to make folders among other things. What is most important is the ability to make folders. Under sort you'll see a bunch of options, I would suggest doing it alphabetically as opposed to date created/received. Now, the trick is to treat inventory as you would sorting files in an office job. Name the folders as you wish to sort everything, and then drag the objects you wish into each. Let me give you an example.
Let's say I have a water gun, a skin, and a notecard. I could make three folders, one for toys, one for skin, and one for notecards. Above all, take the time to sort your inventory often. Do NOT be like me and just let it sit at random. You'll thank me.
If you don't know where to find a specific object, there is hope. At the top, under the menu, is a white box. Type in the name or part of the name and Inventory will return and show you all objects with that in its name. So, if I search "Water" it might in my inventory turn up water bottle, A guide to water sports, and the water gun mentioned above. That is all there is to inventory. Not so bad, but this is something that Second Life and even instructors in Second Life tend to gloss over.
Anything in your inventory, by the way, can be right clicked and you get another menu which will allow you to wear or delete or whatever. It's self explanatory, but if you were searching for a skin for your avatar to wear then you could search for it in the inventory, right click it, and select wear. Be forewarned: do that slowly and give Second Life a good minute or so to process that kind of thing. Second Life can be notoriously buggy, laggy, and temperamental. Keep that in mind.
So you're set. You know how to edit your appearance, how to right click things, and you're somewhat comfortable with inventory. And now you're asking, "Now what? I'm still stuck in this lame island". Do not worry my friend, for you have come for the quick and dirty guide to Second Life. I will not disappoint.
Go to the center square. There will be a billboard of sorts. Click on this, and it will spit something out to you. This is what is known as a landmark. Let's discuss landmarks, because you'll get a lot and they're not intuitive.
When you get a landmark, it is displayed on your screen and is also copied to your inventory so if you should accidentally click it off you can still find it in your inventory, usually under "landmarks" folder. The landmark will show you a picture the land owner uses for that particular landmark, a short description, and the location (in this format: "Name of Destination, Name of Sim or Island, Coordinates in X Y Z planes). The two options are "teleport" which teleports you to that destination and "show on map" which will bring up the map and show you with a red circle on the map where you would go if you followed the landmark. Imagine landmarks as something like a link from a website.
Get the landmark by just left clicking the sign. It may or may not ask you things, whatever it does, just get the point across that you want to get outta there.
Now, how we proceed is dependent on where that landmark sends you. Likely, there will be lots of people and at this point just socialize. You'll get the hang of it. You'll likely make a few friends. Try to have an open mind about things, because Second Life is nothing if not weird and most people are good at heart, try not to dismiss someone because they are a furry or they wear leather chaps or what have you. If you do need help ( I doubt it), try an icebreaker. Discuss the weather, sports, or comment on the local architecture. Obviously, try to avoid 'hot' topics such as religion, politics, or toast unless you're confident in your current friends. Above all, don't be shy. No one is out to bite your head off. Be confident. I may have repeated myself there.
What about Money?
Money is an elusive beast in Second Life and the currency is L$. You need it to buy land, and buy stuff. How do you get money?? Well, there's a bunch of ways. The most obvious is you submit your credit card/paypal info to LL on their main site and transfer some funds there to your avatar. That's the easy way.
But if you're like me, you either can't, or won't, give Linden Lab your payment information. Then, it's much more tricky. One way is to start making, building, scripting, or writing and selling that to earn cash. But that's a long way off and we're just trying to get you used to Second Life first. Details come later. It's an option, but one in the distance.
That leaves us in a bind. There are numerous areas where you can get some free cash, using Search and typing in NCI will bring up a few landmarks to the NCI hubs of which some give you cash if you're less than three months old. There's money trees, but I don't know how to operate those. There are places called camping spots, where if you right click and sit on them you will earn a small amount of L$ per hour or so. Camping is very boring but good if you really really REALLY want some money.
But worry not! There are many places that will give you freebies. Try searching for a place called "Orientation Station", it is a place very similar to Orientation island that we were in earlier however in one section of it there are numerous freebies available that you can buy (using, again, right clicking and selecting buy). Using the Search button and searching for freebies will turn up some results. One trick to using search is to visit one of the top ten returns, and then one of the results lower down on the page. This ensures that you don't end up in some jerk's parcel who just put 'freebies' in his descriptions to generate traffic (similar to, I suppose, spam mail in real life).
You've got some objects now. There are two ways you get objects. You either get the straight up contents, and all you have to do is find the object in your inventory and wear it or use it. The second way is annoying. You have to find an area that allows you to make objects, and then drag the object from your inventory to the ground in front of you. Once it is outside, you have to right click and bring up that circular menu and select 'Open' and then "copy to inventory". Why people do this, I do not know but the fact is they do so it's best to know how to unpack as they call it.
Parse through your freebies, you will likely have lots of things. Skins, shapes, hair, clothes, shoes. The skins will definitely be better than anything you can make at this stage and I suggest you experiment and see what you like. There are shapes too, if you're not happy with the one you made. Clothes are the same, you find them in inventory and select wear. If you think there is a mix up, then you can go to the edit tab at the top of the window and select "Detach Clothing" and then pick what you want to shed. You might see a few objects such as "shoes" or "necklace" or "hair". Here is where the fun begins.
You see, clothes as such are not the only thing in Second Life. For you can wear this other objects too! Definitely try some of the hair attachments (attachments being what these objects attached to you are called in general). It will look more realistic than the default hair. Just right click the object in your inventory and select wear. By this point, I should start sounding repetitious and that is a good thing. We're getting somewhere. Play around with your new freebie clothes.
And then you're done. The only task left is to play around with Second Life and see where you want to go with it. You could be like me and be an eternal bum, blogging about this and that and hanging out with a few friends. You could learn how to build and script and create things. You can try to buy and sell land and become a 'land baron'. You can do any number of things and honestly, the sky is the limit. Don't be afraid to test everything and ask people for help.
That's about it, I believe. That's the quick and dirty guide to Second life and getting settled in. In doing so, I skipped over building, all the inane movement controls and building and such, and probably many other things. However, those are more extraneous and you can learn those later when you're more comfortable with the game itself. For now, you've learned the skills that are absolutely necessary. Good job you! You've learned them!
Sorry if this got lengthy, but congrats if you stuck with me long enough to get here. I assure you, it's well worth it. And hey, if you ever get confused, you can just as easily search and find my name and pester me.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Change Is In The Air
...And I'm not talking about me.
Today, I logged into the Second Life webpage. And I notice that the police blotter is no longer avalible. It's gone. Wiped off the face of the earth. The one link we had to judging any trend in punishments is gone. We will never know any details now of abuse report actions. With the police blotter, it was inept and vague and hilariously small considering the overall volume of AR judgements but it did provide a general idea of what the Lindens were going after at the time. If it is still around then it is tucked away somewhere far from the eyes of the general public and any kind of media. And that's a crying shame. For one, I can no longer copy the current police blotter and poke fun at each entry. And for another, it indicates that Linden Lab is once again throwing things down a memory hole in the hopes that no one will notice it gone or to avoid embarrasment (and some of the actions and ARs acted upon were fairly stupid).
On the bright side, I now have an option of seeing through the website which regions are down. The link takes me to.... the support website. Great. Just what I wanted to know: how to teleport off of a region that is restarting and how to tell if it is restarting in the first place. I guess it was too much to ask that we be allowed to see if our home sim is crashed out or not. Maybe the list would be far longer than the police blotter's twenty-five entries. In retrospect, perhaps it only records the lands you own and when they are down. I dunno.
Since the last LL economy report was hopelessly brain dead (LOL GROWTH!!1) I am now going to keep a running tab of the economic statistics from this date forward every week for the SL economy, and I'll run it side by side with the Linden released figures. Obviously, I expect to be called 'biased' or 'unreliable'. We'll see.
I was going to rant about mentors, but upon reflection I decided against it. I figure I have made my opinions on the matter known, and what I was going to say, while offering new material, is the blog equivalent of beating a dead horse.
Well, that's what I've noticed changed on the SL blog since the past two months. I can't wait to see what it will be like in April!
Today, I logged into the Second Life webpage. And I notice that the police blotter is no longer avalible. It's gone. Wiped off the face of the earth. The one link we had to judging any trend in punishments is gone. We will never know any details now of abuse report actions. With the police blotter, it was inept and vague and hilariously small considering the overall volume of AR judgements but it did provide a general idea of what the Lindens were going after at the time. If it is still around then it is tucked away somewhere far from the eyes of the general public and any kind of media. And that's a crying shame. For one, I can no longer copy the current police blotter and poke fun at each entry. And for another, it indicates that Linden Lab is once again throwing things down a memory hole in the hopes that no one will notice it gone or to avoid embarrasment (and some of the actions and ARs acted upon were fairly stupid).
On the bright side, I now have an option of seeing through the website which regions are down. The link takes me to.... the support website. Great. Just what I wanted to know: how to teleport off of a region that is restarting and how to tell if it is restarting in the first place. I guess it was too much to ask that we be allowed to see if our home sim is crashed out or not. Maybe the list would be far longer than the police blotter's twenty-five entries. In retrospect, perhaps it only records the lands you own and when they are down. I dunno.
Since the last LL economy report was hopelessly brain dead (LOL GROWTH!!1) I am now going to keep a running tab of the economic statistics from this date forward every week for the SL economy, and I'll run it side by side with the Linden released figures. Obviously, I expect to be called 'biased' or 'unreliable'. We'll see.
I was going to rant about mentors, but upon reflection I decided against it. I figure I have made my opinions on the matter known, and what I was going to say, while offering new material, is the blog equivalent of beating a dead horse.
Well, that's what I've noticed changed on the SL blog since the past two months. I can't wait to see what it will be like in April!
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
On the Beat
One of my duties around Orientation Station is policing it. Most people coming in are fairly well adjusted and do their newbie thing, asking questions is what they do and I'm only too happy to help them out. I'd say ninety percent fall into this category. Even the ones asking for 'teh sex' can sometimes fall in here, since it's a legitimate business in SL and they just want to know where to get it. The fact that it's not allowed on OS doesn't mean it's illegal, just that you can't do it here. And I point those people in the right direction and set them on their way.
There is a distinct minority though, the remaining ten percent, who need to be slapped upside the head. They fall into a few categories.
There are newbie scammers. These folks may be involved in Ponzi schemes which proliferate in SL, or looking for meat bots to add to their traffic, or other things which I can not fathom. In any event, they draw off the new people from learning the basics and deposit them directly into SL. They circumvent the training process. Some may draw off the newbies and honestly educate them in how to build, how to dress, etc, but the vast majority are just using them like tissues. And when they've served their purpose or the person leaves SL, we end up with a bunch of people utterly clueless about SL and its workings. No one entering SL is stupid by any means, but SL is not easy to become acclimated to, and these people are truly missing out on learning the full set of the basics. And that is if they even bother to try, most will probably just drop out of SL. I hope the people who do this can sleep well at night.
There are a few people who don't recruit and ship newbies off to places far and unknown. These people just stand there, usually in the default avatar, and stand around. I find them stuck in this one wall. When I approach, they quickly teleport away or just don't respond to chat, voice, or IMs. I have no idea what they are doing but they don't seem to be doing anything constructive or destructive. I kicked one around and caged it, but other than providing a giggle to a nearby Ruth it didn't seem to do much. I want to say they're some kind of bot. What kind is the question to be asked. Land bots tend to hover in Linden sims or around land-for-sale. Traffic bots just stand around the owner's shops and lands. Copybot would copy people. It is a most unusual experience. I'm sure time will tell what kind of bot is popping around here, and the sooner the better.
Griefers, although these seem to be dying out. I've never been firebombed or grief-cubed, but I have had people verbally abuse me and deliberately run around in the nude. I do not care what they have to say, much of which is unoriginal, but the streakers bother me. There's no genitals and it is 'your world, your imagination', but I believe it is not a good impression to the average person. When I see someone streak about the sim, my first reaction would be, "Oh dear, this place is going to be crazy and probably stupid." This is the main reason that nudists drive me up walls. I don't think that the newbies would be scarred for life or must have their innocence protected, but because most of SL is rather normal and more entertaining than watching JesSmeg69 Oh run in his birthday suit. Other than this, griefers tend to ignore us and we ignore them.
On a side note, Orientation Station has changing booths, so if you so desired you could strip and check yourself out in a private room away from the rest of us. Or change your clothes. Whichever you want to do. I don't care, as long as they would stay out of the main areas.
Policing the sim isn't all about catching the baddies, however. Sometimes it is clean-up. Certain areas of Orientation Station, whether by design or oversight, have build enabled or auto-return off in various places like patch work, and prims drift and people scatter them, and eventually on occasion the sim will have litter. Cleaning up is an occasional task. Not often, as the island is set up fairly intelligently and things usually get auto-returned. But there have been moments where I had to take the initiative and sweep up. Sometimes it's my litter if I've been demonstrating something to someone and then get called away or just absorbed in what I'm doing. It has to get swept.
People can set OS as their home. And there is an odd quirk that when they teleport home, they end up stuck in walls. I've mentioned this and demonstrated this to many people, and it is fixed and then it happens all over again. We've tried everything, but people still teleport into this wall. And then I have to pull them out of it by offering them a teleport to my location. AT this point, we've done all we can do and possibly only a Linden or something with a good grasp of SL tech could probably help us. And it's another task that has to be done.
There's probably more junk I do doing a Mentor patrol, but hell if I can remember. This is about the regular fare that I've noticed over and over again.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
When Is A Mentor Not A Mentor?
Prok brings up a few interesting points concerning mentors and mentoring.
First, that we should treat newbies as children, which he puts down with the simple observation that if one is hooked to SL through Comcast cable, or Verizon DSL, with a $4,000 HP with 4 gigs of RAM at 3 GHz and an up-to-date video card, surf the Internet, download SL (or one of the open source viewers that are beginning to pop up), create an account, and log in, then you really shouldn't condescend to newbies. They're grown adults (they should be for the main grid, with the requirement that one be eighteen years and older). They'll handle SL like grown adults.
In other words, if one is a mentor, you shouldn't run around, pushing things on them unnecessarily. If the orientation island/ help island/ infohub is doing its job and the person cares enough, they should be able to figure out how to walk and dress themselves on their own. I've seen mentors doggedly lecture newbies on how to walk, take snapshots, dress themselves, or how to fly. There's a goddamn button at the bottom of the screen, I think a regular person with an IQ of 90+ can figure out that if you push it you take flight. In my opinion, the best method is to only provide assistance to what is asked of you. If the new person asks me where to go, I can say "Click Search at the bottom of the screen, there are tabs for every category. Input anything that interests you into it, and you'll pull up a list of related things" and I can know that the newbie will understand it. I don't have to spiel on and on concerning the details and workings of search, seven different ways to access and bring up search, or tell them the history of search and how it has evolved.
Second, he points out that most are only doing it for personal gratification. I can easily understand this, I myself have encountered some (I won't say many, I have no idea how many mentors of all flavours are out there mentoring) who really grate on me with their attitudes towards this business. It manifests itself in a variety of ways. It could be a simple boast: "I am important in teaching newbies". It could be someone keeping a record: "I helped 98 newbies today!". In any case, it shouldn't be the reason why you go about helping them. You're helping them because. That's it. Because. You shouldn't need or have any other reason. If it gives you a good feeling, then more power to you. But please please please don't let that become the reason why you help.
Also, I'd like to point out that it is important to spread this spirit of helpfulness to newbies. I suppose you could be blunt, or subtle. The idea is you should try to encourage them to do your job. You as a mentor are only one person. You can't be everywhere all the time. You could congratulate someone who helps another (being careful, however, you don't foster the idea of doing it for reward and praise). You shouldn't force people who act mentorish to become mentors. Let them do their work. I know of at least seven people who will on occasion sit around some of the more neglected infohub and behave like mentors. They get no recognition, they do it because they didn't have anyone around to help them and they'd like to avoid having the next generation encounter the same problem. It's good, I think. Prok mentions that most businesses also help newbies, either by offering freebies or cheapies, camping spots (prime source of income for those unverifieds starting out in SL), reduced rental prices. That's another way of helping the newbies. It's also good. It should be encouraged.
Finally, he recommends that sometimes, you have to lay down the law. Watching someone run around in the nude should be met with "Yo Jimbo58, put some clothing on. Nudity is not allowed in most of here." This I believe fits with the first point. Too often, I watch mentors drive themselves up walls by treating obvious griefers with too much kindness. I witnessed one SL mentor who, upon hearing that two newbies just shared passwords, laid down the law, and stress that it breached security and was against the Terms of Service. You have to do things like that.
Here is what I have come to use as a tactic. Usually, I try to play nice, I give a warning shot. "Hello gegege345, it's great that you're enthusiastic about scripting, but firing weapons around here is not allowed. Please put the weapon away". Then, I proceed to get mean. Why? I figure everyone deserves a chance from recovering from looking like a moron. I like to give people a small benefit of the doubt. Hey, haven't we all been in a position where egg was on our face, and we did something rather stupid? And surprise, most people generally listen to the first warning. The rest tend to settle down after the second where I order them to put it away or threaten ARs. It works.
I think it's probably a tad hopeless to believe anyone would ever actually follow any of this, since human nature dictates that people will pretend play 'helpful' for gain or entertainment no matter how rigorous 'training' would be. I know because I'm one of them. I have an incredible urge to brag when I help someone out, in fact there I go doing it right there! I'm a glory hog. I admit it.
I'm evil.
First, that we should treat newbies as children, which he puts down with the simple observation that if one is hooked to SL through Comcast cable, or Verizon DSL, with a $4,000 HP with 4 gigs of RAM at 3 GHz and an up-to-date video card, surf the Internet, download SL (or one of the open source viewers that are beginning to pop up), create an account, and log in, then you really shouldn't condescend to newbies. They're grown adults (they should be for the main grid, with the requirement that one be eighteen years and older). They'll handle SL like grown adults.
In other words, if one is a mentor, you shouldn't run around, pushing things on them unnecessarily. If the orientation island/ help island/ infohub is doing its job and the person cares enough, they should be able to figure out how to walk and dress themselves on their own. I've seen mentors doggedly lecture newbies on how to walk, take snapshots, dress themselves, or how to fly. There's a goddamn button at the bottom of the screen, I think a regular person with an IQ of 90+ can figure out that if you push it you take flight. In my opinion, the best method is to only provide assistance to what is asked of you. If the new person asks me where to go, I can say "Click Search at the bottom of the screen, there are tabs for every category. Input anything that interests you into it, and you'll pull up a list of related things" and I can know that the newbie will understand it. I don't have to spiel on and on concerning the details and workings of search, seven different ways to access and bring up search, or tell them the history of search and how it has evolved.
Second, he points out that most are only doing it for personal gratification. I can easily understand this, I myself have encountered some (I won't say many, I have no idea how many mentors of all flavours are out there mentoring) who really grate on me with their attitudes towards this business. It manifests itself in a variety of ways. It could be a simple boast: "I am important in teaching newbies". It could be someone keeping a record: "I helped 98 newbies today!". In any case, it shouldn't be the reason why you go about helping them. You're helping them because. That's it. Because. You shouldn't need or have any other reason. If it gives you a good feeling, then more power to you. But please please please don't let that become the reason why you help.
Also, I'd like to point out that it is important to spread this spirit of helpfulness to newbies. I suppose you could be blunt, or subtle. The idea is you should try to encourage them to do your job. You as a mentor are only one person. You can't be everywhere all the time. You could congratulate someone who helps another (being careful, however, you don't foster the idea of doing it for reward and praise). You shouldn't force people who act mentorish to become mentors. Let them do their work. I know of at least seven people who will on occasion sit around some of the more neglected infohub and behave like mentors. They get no recognition, they do it because they didn't have anyone around to help them and they'd like to avoid having the next generation encounter the same problem. It's good, I think. Prok mentions that most businesses also help newbies, either by offering freebies or cheapies, camping spots (prime source of income for those unverifieds starting out in SL), reduced rental prices. That's another way of helping the newbies. It's also good. It should be encouraged.
Finally, he recommends that sometimes, you have to lay down the law. Watching someone run around in the nude should be met with "Yo Jimbo58, put some clothing on. Nudity is not allowed in most of here." This I believe fits with the first point. Too often, I watch mentors drive themselves up walls by treating obvious griefers with too much kindness. I witnessed one SL mentor who, upon hearing that two newbies just shared passwords, laid down the law, and stress that it breached security and was against the Terms of Service. You have to do things like that.
Here is what I have come to use as a tactic. Usually, I try to play nice, I give a warning shot. "Hello gegege345, it's great that you're enthusiastic about scripting, but firing weapons around here is not allowed. Please put the weapon away". Then, I proceed to get mean. Why? I figure everyone deserves a chance from recovering from looking like a moron. I like to give people a small benefit of the doubt. Hey, haven't we all been in a position where egg was on our face, and we did something rather stupid? And surprise, most people generally listen to the first warning. The rest tend to settle down after the second where I order them to put it away or threaten ARs. It works.
I think it's probably a tad hopeless to believe anyone would ever actually follow any of this, since human nature dictates that people will pretend play 'helpful' for gain or entertainment no matter how rigorous 'training' would be. I know because I'm one of them. I have an incredible urge to brag when I help someone out, in fact there I go doing it right there! I'm a glory hog. I admit it.
I'm evil.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
CSI : SL
Yesterday was the BIG DAY. The CSI:NY episode showcasing Second Life! Floods and hordes of new people eager to enter the the wonderful world of SL! I think they were expecting something along the lines of 50,000+ concurrency, with millions of new users overall.
They even made a special viewer and special sims for them too! I think the last official count was 416, but some have claimed as many as 450. They were decked out in a Walt Disney version of Brooklyn/Manhattan, with large obnoxious games to 'play'. The call was put out for all mentors to man the stations, prepare for the golden hordes bursting through the gates!
These sims were supposed to showcase and adequately train a whole army of newbies to SL as well as please their CSI loving hearts.
Only it didn't turn out that way. I'm only one person, but even during about an hour and a half during the show's airtime, I didn't notice a whole lot of new people coming through. In fact, most of the CSI sims seemed pretty.... deadish. There were lots of volunteers and mentors and the occasional SLer coming-to-check-out-the-new-thing-on-the-block, but only about five actual new people in that hour and a half.
Maybe people just didn't feel the urge to check out SL even after watching it on TV. My bet is that most probably thought it was created specifically for CSI, or that it's imaginary. Or maybe they just didn't feel the urge.
I was disappointed. Where was everyone? I just couldn't accept the fact that hardly more than a few hundred of the millions of CSI viewers decided to check out Second Life.
Then I went to Orientation Station. It was packed! People were literally coming in on top of each other's heads!
They even made a special viewer and special sims for them too! I think the last official count was 416, but some have claimed as many as 450. They were decked out in a Walt Disney version of Brooklyn/Manhattan, with large obnoxious games to 'play'. The call was put out for all mentors to man the stations, prepare for the golden hordes bursting through the gates!
These sims were supposed to showcase and adequately train a whole army of newbies to SL as well as please their CSI loving hearts.
Only it didn't turn out that way. I'm only one person, but even during about an hour and a half during the show's airtime, I didn't notice a whole lot of new people coming through. In fact, most of the CSI sims seemed pretty.... deadish. There were lots of volunteers and mentors and the occasional SLer coming-to-check-out-the-new-thing-on-the-block, but only about five actual new people in that hour and a half.
Maybe people just didn't feel the urge to check out SL even after watching it on TV. My bet is that most probably thought it was created specifically for CSI, or that it's imaginary. Or maybe they just didn't feel the urge.
I was disappointed. Where was everyone? I just couldn't accept the fact that hardly more than a few hundred of the millions of CSI viewers decided to check out Second Life.
Then I went to Orientation Station. It was packed! People were literally coming in on top of each other's heads!
The pictures cannot do it justice. They were taken far after the initial tsunami had passed through. We (the mentors) ended up forming tour groups to orient people and keep the training process somewhat organized.
I think this goes to prove a point. People don't want to be condescended to. The CBS website portal, the 'special' CSI viewer, the goofy CSI sims... people didn't want to camp around the show. They wanted to explore what they saw in the show. They saw the gladiators and furries and what not, and they wanted to get into the Second Life proper, not some goofy CSI knock off.
Look at it this way: If I ran a commercial for jetskis during a SL presentation, you wouldn't run to my jetski store expecting me to sell SL memorabilia or SL lectures. You'd come expecting jetskis. On the same note, the CSI trippers weren't coming for CSI, they were coming to see SL. Why go through the CBS junk when you can have the official SL viewer? It's like the age old debate between generic and brand name!
For their part, the mentors at Orientation station performed admirably. They let the newbies proceed along at their own pace, didn't force anything on anyone. The ones at CSI... well, I guess I could criticize them for goofing around and messing with their pals, but when there's no one coming through, I can't really blame them.
Like gas station attendants in the middle of Arizona.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Training Wheels
A few new people complain to me sometimes about how difficult it is, to which I usually reply "Have you tried talking to anyone yet?".
I find that, in most cases, people are helpful. They add the Life to Second Life. Without engaging people, you're really just playing in a glorified virtual Lego set. I always toll on people to go out, make a few friends, hang out.
The big deal is that you don't stay in SL for the features. Crashing and lag are not features you stay for. It's the people. Look at the retention rates: Infohubs and help islands that are heavily populated usually keep people for a minimum of three months, and about half stay longer. A community builds, people get to know each other, you come back. Places that are sparsely populated will bleed newbies like a hemorrhaging aorta. They log in, and are befuddled by the controls, or what to do, or where to go, or just get lonely and quit and write the deal off as a loss.
If I had my way, I'd have a mentor at each infohub and welcome area and help island, 24-7. Rotate in shifts. Cover as much ground as possible. And engage these people in conversations. You'd be surprised at the difference between what people say and what they actually want. Pay attention. Resist the urge to spam advice, or notecards, or freebies unless asked or they accept your offer. But don't pressure. Try to string a group together, so they have someone to pal around with when you punch the clock.
Speaking of which, we also need to perfect the art of determining who is truly new and who is faking it. And quite honestly, only an honest conversation will draw that distinction. Should we punish these people? I don't think so, unless there is malicious intent, such as using the guise of innocence as an excuse to be an asshole. Otherwise, use them as a tool to again, keep the convo flowing. Because people keep people engaged, and that cascades over time.
Too often we get so wrapped up in our daily business and tasks that we overlook those who enter with a blank slate and no one to turn to. If your sim crashes, you go to a friend's. If you build something, you invite friends over to admire and appraise and critique it. If you're bored, you IM them. You go to parties and concerts, clubs and formals. It's so pathetically easy to overlook this extremely simple basic of SL.
We shouldn't take this too far, either. We should engage as training wheels, and when the time comes that these new people start branching off and finding their wings, we shouldn't jealously hold them tight, but take pride that they've moved on and hopefully become a productive member of society. And then we move on. Because they keep pouring in. We're training wheels, and when they're stable enough we're removed and unneeded, and passed on to the next person. Not that you have to cut all ties with them, but don't try to rule their lives either. When they go, let them be.
It takes training wheels to keep the grid up.
I find that, in most cases, people are helpful. They add the Life to Second Life. Without engaging people, you're really just playing in a glorified virtual Lego set. I always toll on people to go out, make a few friends, hang out.
The big deal is that you don't stay in SL for the features. Crashing and lag are not features you stay for. It's the people. Look at the retention rates: Infohubs and help islands that are heavily populated usually keep people for a minimum of three months, and about half stay longer. A community builds, people get to know each other, you come back. Places that are sparsely populated will bleed newbies like a hemorrhaging aorta. They log in, and are befuddled by the controls, or what to do, or where to go, or just get lonely and quit and write the deal off as a loss.
If I had my way, I'd have a mentor at each infohub and welcome area and help island, 24-7. Rotate in shifts. Cover as much ground as possible. And engage these people in conversations. You'd be surprised at the difference between what people say and what they actually want. Pay attention. Resist the urge to spam advice, or notecards, or freebies unless asked or they accept your offer. But don't pressure. Try to string a group together, so they have someone to pal around with when you punch the clock.
Speaking of which, we also need to perfect the art of determining who is truly new and who is faking it. And quite honestly, only an honest conversation will draw that distinction. Should we punish these people? I don't think so, unless there is malicious intent, such as using the guise of innocence as an excuse to be an asshole. Otherwise, use them as a tool to again, keep the convo flowing. Because people keep people engaged, and that cascades over time.
Too often we get so wrapped up in our daily business and tasks that we overlook those who enter with a blank slate and no one to turn to. If your sim crashes, you go to a friend's. If you build something, you invite friends over to admire and appraise and critique it. If you're bored, you IM them. You go to parties and concerts, clubs and formals. It's so pathetically easy to overlook this extremely simple basic of SL.
We shouldn't take this too far, either. We should engage as training wheels, and when the time comes that these new people start branching off and finding their wings, we shouldn't jealously hold them tight, but take pride that they've moved on and hopefully become a productive member of society. And then we move on. Because they keep pouring in. We're training wheels, and when they're stable enough we're removed and unneeded, and passed on to the next person. Not that you have to cut all ties with them, but don't try to rule their lives either. When they go, let them be.
It takes training wheels to keep the grid up.
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