Rezzing in a Sandbox

[AidySL]

So I am busy writing a notecard to help new people on SL. Landing there, it isn't easy to find out what to do next. 

Rez in a  sandbox?... and everything after that is not easy. Is there already a Notecard about this? 

I will give them how to look nice for free, maybe there is someone who wrote this already.Would love to read that. 

I still think it is easy to look nice, and still be free. Try to get used to SL before you decide to spend money. 

After that I will send them to you on the forum, so they can learn more. 

 

 

[Persephone Emerald]

Send them to YouTube channels that help with newbie advice. I think SL is easier to understand with a good video than with just notecards. Keep an updated notecard for where to get good free stuff too, especially one for male avatars and one for where to get free mesh bodies & heads. I always direct newbies to join SL Frees and Offers and Fabulously Free as well.

 

[Scylla Rhiadra]

44 minutes ago, AidySL said:

I still think it is easy to look nice, and still be free.

@Skell Daggerhad an absolutely superb post on his blog about meshing up a good-looking and stylish male avatar for free -- but for some reason I can't find it now. (Skell, is it still there somewhere?)

At the very least, however, his blog has a really excellent rundown on customizing both system and mesh avatars.

[AidySL]

Thank you both. I think a step by step notecard is easier then vids, but that's just me. But meshing up an avatar, that would be step 2. I want people to understand how SL works, look at the title, we all know what it means, but new people really don't. But I really hope I can use the post from Skell as a part 2.  

[Skell Dagger]

1 hour ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

@Skell Daggerhad an absolutely superb post on his blog about meshing up a good-looking and stylish male avatar for free -- but for some reason I can't find it now. (Skell, is it still there somewhere?)

At the very least, however, his blog has a really excellent rundown on customizing both system and mesh avatars.

Thanks for the recommendation, Scylla Do you mean this Bloke on a Budget post? I should really do a few more of those, and give them their own special links page so they're easier to find.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

3 hours ago, Skell Dagger said:

Thanks for the recommendation, Scylla Do you mean this Bloke on a Budget post? I should really do a few more of those, and give them their own special links page so they're easier to find.

Yep, that's the one!

It's a superb post; i wish the link, along with the ones to the posts I mentioned above, were handed out to every noob male coming in.

I speak from experience: I used it almost exclusively to mesh up my old male alt, Richard. I did eventually splurge a bit on a hair from Dura that worked well with my alt's old look, but everything else he's wearing in this shot at Burrows is from your "Bloke on a Budget" post. He's not a fashion plate, but I think he passes very well in public. (Whether I "pass" as a man is a different question entirely . . .)

Really, on behalf of everyone who wants SL to succeed and retain new users, I should thank you for the immense amount of work this must have been to put together. So . . . thank you!

 

Edited December 27, 2020 by Scylla Rhiadra

[ClariceRose]

Don't forget that there are numerous help sims that you can refer them to. Some offer classes, notecards, etc. Some are usually staffed with volunteers as well. 

I'm on my phone so I don't have access to these help sim landmarks but am sure others can offer them if you'd like them. 

[Josephine Carissa]

Hello Aidy,

here is some information to add to your toolbox : )

https://fabfree.wordpress.com/

https://fabfree.wordpress.com/the-fabfree-mesh-body-and-head-listing/

its so kind that you want to help those that are new.

Best Regards,

Josephine

 

[AidySL]

Really busy with this, and trying it to be as short as possible. But is a notecard un-endless? And thanks for all the links and help. 

Edited December 28, 2020 by AidySL

[Rowan Amore]

46 minutes ago, AidySL said:

Really busy with this, and trying it to be as short as possible. But is a notecard un-endless? And thanks for all the links and help. 

You might want to break up the note cards into relevant sections.  Have one with just websites and LMs.  One called Tutorials with links to YouTube videos.  Then put them all in one folder.  It's a lot easier to pick if you don't have to scroll down an endless array of things to find the one thing you want.

[AidySL]

3 minutes ago, RowanMinx said:

You might want to break up the note cards into relevant sections.  Have one with just websites and LMs.  One called Tutorials with links to YouTube videos.  Then put them all in one folder.  It's a lot easier to pick if you don't have to scroll down an endless array of things to find the one thing you want.

I had the same idea. But with some things it doesn't work. And I also noticed after a year not on SL, a lot of my LM don't work anymore. If it's finished I will post it here.. 

[Ren Toxx]

1 hour ago, AidySL said:

[...] is a notecard un-endless? [...]

Dunno, just found a wiki page saying they can be up to 65K, which I guess is a lot. But if you’re asking cos you plan to put everything but the kitchen sink in it, I suspect it’s going to be a major effort for way too little practical results. Simply put, and almost regardless of how well you craft it, it’s gonna be a wall of text which many will quite simply not read—even if they say they will and thank you.

Of all the pre-made tutorial formats, an SL notecard rates pretty close to the bottom. I’m old-school too & not too fond of vids, but that’s the thing: it couldn’t possibly matter less what I like or not. If they like videos most and find ’em more instructing, then videos are the best option, period. It’s about what helps them most, not what you’d prefer it to help them most, or what you feel would help you most. Pray believe, I’m not saying this in a mean way... we all tend to think that way a bit, it’s quite inevitable. But it’s also true: if we don’t help in the way the other really needs, we’re still not doing it right, good intentions notwithstanding.

Put it another way. I’ve been helping for years and, in my experience, the best way to help each one is to adapt to them. Some go through rather techie instructions like a rocket, some need a long, careful explanation of the difference between right-click & left-click; some have a good attention span, some have near zero; some are pretty methodical and follow instructions like it’s the Bible (and yes, a notecard might get close to be what these need), some get desperate and start clicking everything while swearing they’re about to uninstall SL, so they need a lot of handholding and cheering up. The closest by far I’ve gotten to being able to help most people, is to adapt to each.

Point is, you’ll get nowhere close to tailoring a notecard to cover all, most, or even a reasonable number of these cases. You can’t with a website or video either, but at least those are easier to skip fro & back to find the info they’re after a bit quicker; being richer media, they’re just easier on the eyes & more navigable.

At best, you could—and probably should—split into many notecards, each for a specific topic, and give each on specific questions. Sure, most noobs are gonna ask about the rest sooner or later—but there’s a fairly good chance they won’t read anything they don’t want to know about at each precise moment; and an equally good chance they’ll have dismissed, lost or even deleted your notecard by the time they reach that bridge. They’ll just ask someone else willing to give that specific info at that specific moment, rather than everything again.

Edited December 28, 2020 by Ren Toxx

[AidySL]

2 minutes ago, Ren Toxx said:

Dunno, just found a wiki page saying they can be up to 65K, which I guess is a lot. But if you’re asking cos you plan to put everything but the kitchen sink in it, I suspect it’s going to be a major effort for way too little practical results. Simply put, and almost regardless of how well you craft it, it’s gonna be a wall of text which many will quite simply not read—even if they say they will, and thank you for it.

Of all the pre-made tutorial formats, an SL notecard rates pretty close to the bottom. I’m old-school too & not too fond of vids, but that’s the thing: it couldn’t possibly matter less what I like or not. If they like videos most and find ’em more instructing, then videos are the best option, period. It’s about what helps them most, not what you’d prefer it to help them most, or what you feel would help you most. Pray believe, I’m not saying this in a mean way... we all tend to think that way a bit, it’s quite inevitable. But it’s also true: if we don’t help in the way the other really needs, we’re still not doing it right, good intentions notwithstanding.

Put it another way. I’ve been helping for years and, in my experience, the best way to help each one is to adapt to them. Some go through rather techie instructions like a rocket, some need a careful explanation of the difference between right-click & left-click; some have a good attention span, some have near zero; some are pretty methodical and follow instructions like it’s the Bible (and yes, a notecard might get close to be what these need), some get desperate and start clicking everything while swearing they’re about to uninstall SL, so they need a lot of handholding and cheering up. The closest by far I’ve gotten to being able to help most people, is to adapt to each.

Point is, you can get nowhere close to tailoring a notecard to cover all, most, or even a reasonable number of cases. You can’t with a website or video either, but at least those are easier to skip fro & back to find the info they’re after a bit quicker; being richer media, they’re just easier on the eyes.

At best, you could—and probably should—split into many notecards, each for a specific topic, and give each on specific questions. Sure, most noobs are gonna ask about the rest sooner or later—but there’s a fairly good chance they won’t read anything they don’t want to know about, at each precise moment; and an equally good chance they’ll have dismissed, lost or even deleted your notecard by the time they reach that bridge. They’ll just ask someone else willing to give that specific info at that specific moment, rather than everything again.

Thank you. I just want to help, and if they don't follow it, because people like easy nowadays, that is their miss. Don't listen, I send them to Quinn Lysette, let's see if they listen after that...

[Ren Toxx]

9 hours ago, AidySL said:

Thank you. I just want to help, and if they don't follow it, because people like easy nowadays, that is their miss. Don't listen, I send them to Quinn Lysette, let's see if they listen after that...

Believe me, I know. I get puzzled, even irked when they want too easy, partly because they waste your time struggling to explain complex stuff in just 100 words, and they start ignoring you after word one—if that. And in part because I believe easier isn’t always better (the example I always give them is, “how quickly would you get bored if it was tic-tac-toe easy?”).

But if you truly want to help, you have to forget yourself and make it about them. You have to go from “I want to be the one helping, and doing it MY way” to “I want them being helped, I don’t care how or by whom, as long as they get what they want”. Not saying you have to lower your pants all the way, but yes, you have to compromise & tolerate a bit; otherwise it really isn’t a big willingness to help, as much as an attempt to convince yourself that you’re helping. Not quite the same.

... and I’m also saying this for your own sake, Aidy. If you take the inflexible route, and while it might help some a bit, you’ll still go through a lot of effort, in part because your proposed notecard truly means to cover a lot, and in part precisely because one way or the other you’ll labour long and hard to tailor it as much as possible, which is FAR from easy—to put it mildly. You’ll just spend a lot of time on it, gurl, and possibly not get a whole lot of satisfaction from the results 😉

Edited December 29, 2020 by Ren Toxx

[BelindaN]

People learn different ways. That's the problem. So it's hard to cover all types.

Sure there are hard things to master. I struggled with unpacking for a long time, and with sand boxes.

Mesh is the biggest challenge but there's plenty of help if you ask the right people.

I never looked at a video, and didn't know what a notecard was for weeks.

[LittleMe Jewell]

18 hours ago, AidySL said:

And I also noticed after a year not on SL, a lot of my LM don't work anymore.

Extremely common in SL.  I don't even bother saving very many LMs because the majority of them will not be valid after 6 monhths.

If the place has been open for many years, then there is a better chance that the LM will stay valid, but only if it is an educational type location.  Even stores that have been around for many years will move locations a lot --- unless they have their own private regions.

[Skell Dagger]

On 12/27/2020 at 3:51 AM, Scylla Rhiadra said:

I speak from experience: I used it almost exclusively to mesh up my old male alt, Richard. I did eventually splurge a bit on a hair from Dura that worked well with my alt's old look, but everything else he's wearing in this shot at Burrows is from your "Bloke on a Budget" post. He's not a fashion plate, but I think he passes very well in public.

I'm glad that it was helpful to you. Richard looks great! Hopefully I can get some time soon to put together another post. (You're right, btw; those posts do take a hell of a lot of time.)

23 hours ago, Ren Toxx said:

I’ve been helping for years and, in my experience, the best way to help each one is to adapt to them. Some go through rather techie instructions like a rocket, some need a long, careful explanation of the difference between right-click & left-click; some have a good attention span, some have near zero; some are pretty methodical and follow instructions like it’s the Bible (and yes, a notecard might get close to be what these need), some get desperate and start clicking everything while swearing they’re about to uninstall SL, so they need a lot of handholding and cheering up. The closest by far I’ve gotten to being able to help most people, is to adapt to each.

As someone who also helps a lot in SL (CSR for a major brand) all I can do is point to the above and say "This. So much this." There's no one-size-fits-all way of teaching and learning in SL. Some prefer videos, others like step-by-step illustrated blog tutorials. I've even had people ask me why there's no voiceover on a 5-second video showing where to click on a HUD (my answer: because the voiceover would literally just say "click here", so - since I'd made it very obvious in the video where to click - a voiceover was completely unnecessary).

The ones that are a joy to help are the ones who work with you. The ones that can be a bloody nightmare are the last ones that Ren lists: the "click everywhere while swearing" type, who - in the middle of you painstakingly explaining how to fix their neck seam - suddenly yell "OMG MY HEAD JUST TURNED PURPLE! I DIDN'T TOUCH ANYTHING!"

Edited December 29, 2020 by Skell Dagger

[rasterscan]

On 12/28/2020 at 9:53 PM, Ren Toxx said:

just found a wiki page saying they can be up to 65K

I can remember Sir Clive Sinclair suggesting no one would ever need more than 48 kb in the computing world lols