What are the hardest things about Second Life for new players?

[LuxuriousSin]

I got my partner to join SL. He is a gamer, and was absolutely baffled by the avatar customization system. He was shocked that you had to buy skin appliers separately, one for head and body, and that you had to buy a body and a head from different creators. I think that since avatar customization (if you want a nice avatar) isn't built into the core system, and that you have to go buy items from different creators to get your base avatar customized can be very challenging.

[ThorinII]

9 hours ago, Syo Emerald said:

I think the hardest part for most people is to make the shift from "this is how games work" to "this is how SL works".

1000x THIS.

There are many people who expect SL to be  just another game to pkay through - and they can't be more wrong.

[LuxuriousSin]

1 minute ago, ThorinII said:

1000x THIS.

There are many people who expect SL to be  just another game to pkay through - and they can't be more wrong.

This is so true. I think a lot of people come in thinking there are going to be objectives, or things they can do to advance... and then are disappointed because they have no idea what to do, or where to go, and a lot of the time end up exploring empty sims and wandering around aimlessly or something. And breaking into a community as a new player can be difficult as a lot of people have stigmas around new players, or assume that every new avatar is an alt. I've also seen a lot of judgement happen towards new players who figure out how to make a nice avatar (almost always with someones help), and it is months before anyone will take that person seriously because they "look too nice" to be a new player.

[Ivanova Shostakovich]

   Quaternions! I still don't understand those!

[Erwin Solo]

It's a complicated game.  I am finally learning to script vehicles after all these years.

[Pussycat Catnap]

1 hour ago, LuxuriousSin said:

I think that since avatar customization (if you want a nice avatar) isn't built into the core system, and that you have to go buy items from different creators to get your base avatar customized can be very challenging.

Avatar customization IS built into the core system.

It's just that nobody likes the system avatar anymore.

We all prefer various user made avatars, that are much more updated.

Basically - it's not that different from playing 'World of Warcraft' (minus having to sing Chinese Communist Party Anthems or get banned) with addons. Our addons 'reskin' the character instead of report things like how many 'poseballs per second' you can click out...

 

[Erwin Solo]

Certainly integrating a head from one maker and a mesh body from another maker, and trying to hide the neck seam across all graphics modes and all lighting modes is a non-trivial exercise.  On the male side, a couple of makers provide both mesh bodies and heads that really match.  Trouble with them is that you then have a challenge to find a well painted third party face so that you don't look like a body double of everyone else who made the same mesh choice.  

[Adam Spark]

The concept that this is a virtual world and not a World of Warcraft/The Sims style game is hardest for most to grasp.

[FairreLilette]

On 10/25/2019 at 2:53 PM, Amina Sopwith said:

I'm not a new player, but having returned a year or so ago after a prolonged hiatus, yes, it's the all-new av customisation. I never spent all that long on my av to start with, but it's 20 times more complicated now and less than half as much fun. 

It's not just the difficulty when I landed here into a world of huds I didn't get...it's the expense too of making a mesh avatar versus a Classic avatar.

And, to the OP:    

More PG and wear any kind of avatar you like events are needed.  There just aren't enough.  And, some events are a little pricey too.  

I want to be with people who just want to have fun and not break the bank.

I have two little clubs and cannot afford several thousand linden per hour acts.  The Dj's may be less...but I still cannot afford even 1,000 linden an hour for a DJ...do you think my club would make one thousand linden an hour to cover the expense?  I don't.   Most people are tipping the DJ and the host and the club makes about 20% of that usually.  Although I'm not sure what the average percentage split is for most clubs.  

I emailed directly if I can play my YouTube playlists in my virtual world home for friends without having to pay licensing fees and such...I have yet to hear an answer from YouTube.  There is a phone number to call YouTube which I am considering...the only thing is I wanted it in writing from YouTube to my email so there would be no problem playing music from YouTube.  As it stands now my question has 0 (zero) answers and it's been about a week.  

But, it's an expense too.  If you are a newbie, play as cheap as possible for awhile until you decide you really like it unless you have money to burn and can take the loss if you decide you don't even like it.  

It's was a year and half before I got my first mesh head.  I built for a year and half in SL.  Then, went into mesh avatar.  I danced at clubs with friends as a Classic for a long time.  I wasn't looking for a bf on here.  I love the music and art aspects of SL...but it can be an expense.   And, with some clubs...the music is too much the same thing.  But, the art is a constant evolution of amazing things.  

Edited October 26, 2019 by FairreLilette

[Amina Sopwith]

My overall impression of SL now is that it is much more style and much less substance. Obviously that's only my experience, and I have very little time to spend inworld these days, so I know that affects things. But it's consistently been my impression since my return.

The first time round, it was a while before I got fully immersed and initially, as now, I didn't have much time to spend on it. But I felt, all the time, that there were intriguing experiences to be had if I could just explore a bit more, and I felt drawn to it even before I'd built up any kind of "life" within it. I sensed exciting potential. This time round, I know full well how engaging and exciting it's capable of being, and yet I find myself largely bored by it. Maybe I'm the one who has changed, after so many years I certainly hope so, but I came back with hope and an open mind and, well, I'm just not enamoured. 

It looks better than ever before, but I'm finding it empty. It's almost the opposite of meeting your ex and finding they've become very unattractive. I feel I've met my ex and he's been working out and looks gorgeous, but he's become so obsessed with his gym routine that he's got literally nothing else to him.

 

[FairreLilette]

32 minutes ago, Amina Sopwith said:

My overall impression of SL now is that it is much more style and much less substance. 

To me, I think style seems to be a large focus...a focus on being the perfect mesh avatar which I felt like one poster who said in a thread about her avatar..."OMG avatar!  No matter what I do I just can't get it right!" (not an exact quote).  There are a lot of people on here who make amazing avatars...I just feel I can't get to that level but then one day I found something else and realized I didn't need to afterall.  I was chasing after something that wasn't satisfying to me.  I found something more simple now that works for me.    I became a Dinkie.  A tiny Cat avatar with anthropomorphic characteristics.  

Quote

This time round, I know full well how engaging and exciting it's capable of being, and yet I find myself largely bored by it.  

 

 

I am bored by the music.  I love music.  I don't like today's music though...as I want to hear musicians playing musical instruments.  But too many clubs play the same stuff.  I'm just really, really bored by the music...I don't know if there are people I will meet one day who just want to get together to share music and not lindens.   Most acts want 2k and up front...so I feel obligated to tip.  It gets expensive to keep tipping for me.  I do know, however, most have to pay for a stream...that is why I am exploring perhaps cheaper and legal ways to hear music in SL for us not so rich people....or to just find a group where we can enjoy music without spending a lot of money.  

Edited October 26, 2019 by FairreLilette

[Amina Sopwith]

8 hours ago, FairreLilette said:

To me, I think style seems to be a large focus...a focus on being the perfect mesh avatar which I felt like one poster who said in a thread about her avatar..."OMG avatar!  No matter what I do I just can't get it right!" (not an exact quote).  

 

I think mesh has a lot to answer for here, and it's a shame because it should be a welcome and beneficial development. There really does seem to be way more av judgement than there was before, starting most simply with the system/mesh divide. Maybe I can't really talk because back in the day I used to get annoyed with Lego noobs who had put zero effort, and I really do mean zero, into their appearances, all while trying to cop off with the best looking female avs. So maybe I'm being hypocritical.  But back then, dammit, it really wasn't that hard or expensive to customise yourself a little bit. And I stress, I really am talking about guys who did literally nothing or almost nothing, yet still felt entitled to someone who had made way more effort. Guys who wouldn't even get skin or prim hair as dollarbies and slap them on.

Now, it is so much more complicated and expensive (neck seams! Bento faces! Slink feet! HUDs up the wazoo just to get dressed and walk around!) and half the time you'll still look a mess if others don't have the right viewer. Yet despite this, there still seems - to me, at least - to be a huge amount of judgement around it, way more than there was before. Yet this increased focus on looks doesn't seem to be matched by equivalent progression in anything else. If anything, other elements such as sophisticated in-sim RP meters and so on, seem to have fallen by the wayside. Style and no substance. Gorgeous ex with no character.

It's only my impression, of course,  and I know not having the time makes a difference. But every time I do go inworld now, that's how it seems. 

 

Edited October 27, 2019 by Amina Sopwith

[Pixie Kobichenko]

I remember when I made my previous-to-pixie-avi, sometime in 2006, and I logged on and didn't know what I was supposed to do.  I remember seeing people camping for lindens, everywhere, and I thought okay, so people just log on and sit on pillows and that's it?  I didn't get any further until I came back 3 years later and had created Pixie.  Once again, I was directed to go to places to sit for lindens.  There, at what was an area dedicated to Galveston, Texas, i met my first friend, who took me to a Tiny Empires group's land and I made friends there I have to this day- and a few of them took me under their wing and taught me how to customize my avi, shop inworld, and on the MP (xstreet) and look up blogs.   (obviously they advised me I could actually use real world monies to buy lindens)

I didn't know for a really long time we could have individual homes.   

I can't begin to imagine how confusing and overwhelming SL must be for new "players".  Especially if they're like me and do not actually play any sort of video games.  Nothing to base anything off of experience or intuitive wise.

 

 

[Maryanne Solo]

Realising its a sex game

[FairreLilette]

8 hours ago, Maryanne Solo said:

Realising its a sex game

It partly is.  

Internet chat rooms in the 1990's before Second Life when it was all just text...people getting in your IM and asking personal questions about what turns you on, etc (stuff I cannot publish here).

The group chat in the 1990's was fun...it was the IM's that were just too prying and a turn off.  It's like meet in one second... a man sees your name and thinks immediately you want to go to cybersex in a private message?   There was no Second Life nor visuals when chat rooms began.

Second Life has amazing creation...but is the creation all a means to an end...which equals sex?  I think the answer is yes and no.  I think a women wants to feel sexy.

For me to be interested in sex, I need to feel sexy personally...but I need that in real life.  The cybersex didn't do much for me.  Arms going through each other...faces making weird expressions.  I just didn't care for it.  The faces it puts on women I found downright silly and think it was a content creator's mistake....because it looks awful....it's too bizarre and over-dramatic facial expressions.    

I asked my male best friend what he thought women wanted most and he said "to be admired".  I think he is right in many ways.  I don't know if cybersex is a substitute for a real life relationship though.  

 

 

Edited October 27, 2019 by FairreLilette

[Maitimo]

On 10/25/2019 at 7:42 PM, akat19145 said:

10 days of playtime was enough to realize an important part of SL Community is really harmful and hostile against new players. If they check and see your playtime is like a few days, they will either ignore you, block you, accuse you of being fake (depending on gender) or alt. I joined a nude beach and complimented a woman, and 10 days later, today I learnt that she was really mocking me off under the table. She thought I was trying to have an intercourse with her, while in fact I was experimenting on people's reactions to a compliment in middle of nudist beach. Guess what? This experiment was successful, and will help me to write my book.

Long story short, biggest threat against newbies are old players. At least half of them hate the newbies to death. So if you want to survive, create your account and freeze yourself for a few years, then boom! You will see some respect finally. (I will close my two accounts and leave this game for good. I hope you will have a better experience than me and not encounter this people. Stay safe.)

I think that is more a factor of making the compliment than your avatar's age, tbh. Many women are, understandably, exceptionally cautious about receiving unsolicited IMs from male avatars they don't know, regardless of the age of the avatar.

I think you'd have had a much better experience if you'd engaged in local chat, in a non-adult region.

[ItHadToComeToThis]

On 10/26/2019 at 6:46 PM, Ivanova Shostakovich said:

   Quaternions! I still don't understand those!

I had to resort to YouTube math videos for that one and I’m still not convinced that it’s not just witchcraft by a different name

[Resi Pfeffer]

Like others already mentioned, its the steep learning curve when its about how clothes and attachments work.
With BOM just ahead of us, ill recommend every newbie to hand craft a swiss watch before they get into avatar customisation. 
 

18 hours ago, FairreLilette said:

For me to be interested in sex, I need to feel sexy personally...but I need that in real life.  The cybersex didn't do much for me.  Arms going through each other...faces making weird expressions.  I just didn't care for it.  The faces it puts on women I found downright silly and think it was a content creator's mistake....because it looks awful....it's too bizarre and over-dramatic facial expressions.    

You need to see the silly and dramatic face expressions from a different POV. Most male attachments i have seen, tend to have measurements between my upper arm and up to the size of my thigh...

[Maitimo]

3 hours ago, Resi Pfeffer said:

You need to see the silly and dramatic face expressions from a different POV. Most male attachments i have seen, tend to have measurements between my upper arm and up to the size of my thigh...

They have to be that big when their arms are so short. They would never reach, otherwise.

[FairreLilette]

4 hours ago, Resi Pfeffer said:

Like others already mentioned, its the steep learning curve when its about how clothes and attachments work.
With BOM just ahead of us, ill recommend every newbie to hand craft a swiss watch before they get into avatar customisation. 
 

You need to see the silly and dramatic face expressions from a different POV. Most male attachments i have seen, tend to have measurements between my upper arm and up to the size of my thigh...

Ha! about the attachments.

But back to OP.

It takes time and investment making a good mesh avatar.  I see amazing mesh avatars in photos (in the threads under Avatar and elsewhere) and I've realized it's just not my forte.  I'm not very good at it.  Although I think making a great avatar is a valid art form and it's a fun hobby.  

As far as cybersex...it was around before Second Life.  

I enjoyed the group chat way back when it was texting only...it was hilarious!  

I'm a lot more quiet than I used to be in group chats though.  I don't really know why?  

p.s.  And, some of these thread on the forum here are hilarious...it was kind of like the forum way back when...except it was all one page.

 

 

Edited October 28, 2019 by FairreLilette

[FairreLilette]

Another one could be lag.

I became a Dinkie a human kind of tiny Cat very, very low in complexity.

I have almost no lag now and no more jelly dolls.

You all weren't lagging my computer...my own avatar was.  As a human, I averaged about 80,000 complexity; as a Dinkie I am about 25,000 average.  

I can see the other avatars now and it's way better.  

And, I love being a Dinkie...I'd have to say they are priceless and precious as are the tinies and titchies...and so creative!

Edited October 28, 2019 by FairreLilette

[Lindal Kidd]

Hey, @FairreLilette

How about a catalog of avatar types?  I know Furries, Nekos, Tinies, and Petites.  What are Dinkies and Titchies?  I've heard about Kemonos, and how do they fit in?

[FairreLilette]

20 minutes ago, Lindal Kidd said:

Hey, @FairreLilette

How about a catalog of avatar types?  I know Furries, Nekos, Tinies, and Petites.  What are Dinkies and Titchies?  I've heard about Kemonos, and how do they fit in?

Maybe this video could explain a little.  It's about fun and being silly...and I don't know how to explain.

But Dinkies can do about 80% of human animations though hover height is a problem with ground animations.  Tinies need special animations.  Titchies are the smallest ones.  

[BelindaN]

I can only imagine what it was like back in the day. But everything changed over time. Maybe this concern about style over substance mentioned earlier is simply that SL holds onto creativity and artistry. These are people who will relish building avis……..I'm in that group and more than anything it's what kept me here, and caused me to build three alts.

The market for alt customisation has grown to meet demand, and why not? And the same thing applies to building other stuff, and terraforming. I just wish I had the skill...…...

Those gamers who just want it all and want it now won't engage with SL at the same level, and if the data was available, might show a lesser retention rate.

In the end you can make this a place to love, whatever your interests, but you have to want to make it work. 

[Lindal Kidd]

Hoo boy...that was fun, but definitely NOT explanatory!

I should know better than to ask a Tiny...pardon me, a Dinkie...for anything rational! (No offense intended...craziness is good too.)