Second Life University

[Coffee Pancake]

 

This kind of content is only relevant to people who are already invested and WANT to learn more.

The stumbling block to the required level of personal investment is base accessibility and usability.

 

Q: Why didn't you stay in SL after your first session?

A: It was confusing and complicated, I didn't know what I was doing.

Q: Would you like to watch youtube video tutorials?

A: Not especially ... I already moved on.

 

In the context of a low time in world user, the typical "It was confusing and complicated, I didn't know what I was doing." statement can be interpreted a hundred different ways and almost none of them are "the viewer instruction manual wasn't very good".

Answering base questions, like "Why am I here?", "What is this place?", "Where is everyone?", "How do I have fun?" is a prerequisite for motivation required to learn more.

 

I'm not saying its not important to have such content, or that we don't need or want such content, but in my experience with new users, it misses the point and by the time a user is sufficiently invested, someone has already told them to download firestorm.

 

[bigmoe Whitfield]

"viewer basics"  they need to cover the SL viewer and Firestorm, since that is basically the basics and has been the standard for a long time. 

[Nika Talaj]

Depending on the quality of the courses for "advanced learning and building", I think this could be a good thing.  In fact, I think it's a LONG-overdue thing.  LL should always have taken responsibility for teaching SL at all levels with this sort of program.  So, congratulations LL!

But I think this announcement would have been MUCH more graceful had it acknowledged the resident-run universities that stepped into the vast knowledge gap over time, and still offer inworld in-person interactive classes where actual humans answer actual questions.  The two I know of are:

BUILDER'S BREWERY

CALEDON OXBRIDGE UNIVERSITY

 

[BTW, LL, it's still not too late to vastly improve LSL documentation by hiring an actual TECH WRITER!!! There are really good contractors who will work with expert coders to shape the portal up.  IMHO, it has been slowly but steadily decreasing in value over the years, as indexes, cross-references and examples have fallen out of date.]

 

 

 

Edited April 6, 2022 by Nika Talaj

[Coffee Pancake]

10 minutes ago, bigmoe Whitfield said:

"viewer basics"  they need to cover the SL viewer and Firestorm, since that is basically the basics and has been the standard for a long time. 

1 minute ago, Nika Talaj said:

But I think this announcement would have been MUCH more graceful had it acknowledged the resident-run universities that stepped into the vast knowledge gap over time

Most viewer basics questions are prefaced by a need.

The user is logged in, using SL, and wants to know how to change the way something works (often in response to something unexpected happening). Some will look for options, some will ask.

The act of seeking support and mentoring a newbie is itself a social activity granting purpose to both parties. Doing this inside SL is really important to building and maintaining a connection to SL. This is why games teach you how to play while playing.

Those of us who voluntarily decide to unpick this mess and go down the rabbit hole are often motivated differently, LL don't need to worry about us past the initial "why am I here" question.

In my own case, that big "why" question was not answered on my first account during the first session and I left and stayed away for almost 2 years.

[Nika Talaj]

Yes Coffee, "Viewer Basics" may not be the highest-value initial offering, true.  But it is intuitive, and kind of a MUST for this sort of learning.  And it's easy for them to do.  

Hopefully, tho, LL is aware that an inworld support group such as Firestorm's, generally answering your specific question within a couple minutes of your asking it, will always be superior to video tutorials.  It will be interesting to see just HOW interactive their first broadcast will be.  

It sounds like part of their ambition is to offer a curated index to existing online tutorials, which is not a bad idea.  There's a lot of obsolete 'information' out there that doesn't even tell you what VERSION of the server/client it was created for.

 

[Silent Mistwalker]

1 hour ago, Coffee Pancake said:

I'm not saying its not important to have such content, or that we don't need or want such content, but in my experience with new users, it misses the point and by the time a user is sufficiently invested, someone has already told them to download firestorm.

 

Yet, the team (devs and support) will tell you not to use FS until you are comfortable with the official viewer. Well. The good ones did anyway. 🤔

[Paul Hexem]

1 hour ago, Coffee Pancake said:

This is why games teach you how to play while playing.

...

But I've been told that it's not a game and we shouldn't do anything games do, because something something kids and Fortnite, no matter how much it would improve the platform!

[Rufferta]

1 hour ago, Nika Talaj said:

Depending on the quality of the courses for "advanced learning and building", I think this could be a good thing.  In fact, I think it's a LONG-overdue thing.  LL should always have taken responsibility for teaching SL at all levels with this sort of program.  So, congratulations LL!

But I think this announcement would have been MUCH more graceful had it acknowledged the resident-run universities that stepped into the vast knowledge gap over time, and still offer inworld in-person interactive classes where actual humans answer actual questions.  The two I know of are:

BUILDER'S BREWERY

CALEDON OXBRIDGE UNIVERSITY

 

....

 

 

 

Don't forget Happy Hippo, Dreams, Virtual Ability, Ross Infohub, and all the other places that work inworld to help residents. I will assume that Linden Labs (or whatever we call them these days) would have sought input from these groups, but you never know...

They could check the forums/reddit/Discord/etc...for 'questions most commonly asked about Second Life' and work from there.

[Prokofy Neva]

Well, I suppose the Lab was jealous of the 47 views that resident videos got, and wanted to get that traffic over their way.

When they get to the part about all that stuff with BOM and appliers etc I might watch but I'm one of those people who does not learn from videos, I need to read the text.

I've asked Jeremy Linden to put information in the land Knowledge Base pages about how prims work different in grouped land and other aspects of grouped land that didn't make it in there. And yes, we have tutorials in the Ross Infohub about the issues of group land, how to avoid land scams, etc. and at the Moth Temple infohub in Iris, we have info about how to start a business, what to avoid, how to advertise, etc. Not sure how much uptake it gets. The single most frequent question I get from newbies or returnees is "where do I find a job" or "how can I make money". Even when they grasp it's not like you can mine gold as in a game, they still want an entree to the economy where they can earn their keep in SL. The second most frequent question is: how do I get out of here? They either were sent to an infohub or stumbled on one, but who wants to stay picking up freebies and seeing tutorials for ever. They want to move on, and there's only the bots to talk to much of the time. So now comes the third question: where are all the people? So that's actually hard to answer definitively and differs according to an individual's experience and taste, but that's the thing, people, not tutorials about building. 

I think most people, including myself, learn by doing a thing they want to do. So if they want to socialize and go to a club, they learn how to chat, how to teleport, how to dance, how to use animations, etc. and then get into styling their avatar. Or if they want to go to a book club, they learn how to make notecards, how to link to websites, how even to print a book in SL. Of if they want to start a business, they learn what is involved in scripting or building or breedables. So you have to want to do a thing, then learn the skills that go with that thing. So since I'm not interested in clothing and styles, I haven't bothered with any of that BOM stuff except eventually, I was frustrated that I couldn't fit my 60L sneakers on my system feet, so I bought Slink feet. 

There is a very lively YouTube SL video culture that may not have a ton of views but still has a loyal audience and I think some people do learn that way and it's worth doing.

[Lindal Kidd]

I see they're going to post these episodes on YouTube. That's good...seems to me they are once again going to do videos like the ones Torley used to put out. Those were great, but they're somewhat dated now, so a new batch is a great idea.

[Lucia Nightfire]

1 hour ago, Prokofy Neva said:

I've asked Jeremy Linden to put information in the land Knowledge Base pages

They haven't worked for LL in some time, heh.

[Arielle Popstar]

It is to be hoped that through the interactive Q&A livestream, the Lab will see where the viewer is not very intuitive and put some focus on fixing those areas to make it more user friendly.

[Fluffy Sharkfin]

Regardless of their choice of topic and how useful it may be, I'm just happy to see LL making an effort to interact with residents on social media and take on some of the responsibility of helping people learn about SL.

The timing for the announcement is pretty coincidental given the recent discussion in another thread about SL and Twitch, kinda like...

SL Residents: "official SL live streams would be cool, but there's no way LL will ever do that!"

Linden Lab:

[StrayWanderer]

More Videos.   Oh well.    

Text and images.  Use Stills or Short, 20 or so second long, Video clips to show the 'Click here'.  Subdivided into sections and subsections.  And...  Update it.

Not just videos.   Sitting thru a 'whole lecture' is BORING!    Because...  They, just like me,  Want to Go PLAY!

Use all formats.   Have a 'Manual',  comprehensive and digestible,  in short sections, subsections,  sub-sub sections, etc.  Write so that one gets the initial overview of any concept, the steps to perform that action, with the associated background information.     Associated Background information, too.    There is going to always be a point where they 'Just have to Figure it out', because there is no way to cover it all.   It is not just viewer controls in the viewer,  it is controls in world, too.    HUD's, dialogs, all that.   That is UI as well.   

Text and images is not just a Wiki format, and not just a FAQ list.   Both of those methods presuppose that they 'Know what question to even ask'.   Textbooks may not be as shiny,  but they do have a tendency to work.   It is textbooks and lectures.   

So.... 'Here is manual, come back, looket more later'   

Then...  if I am feeling generous with MY TIME,  I can give that link to LL's Customer,  to help LL's Customer.   Then maybe...   LL can get Mo Money.  It's their Customer, not Mine. 

---------

Actually teaching SL to someone is very time intensive task.   Other that warm feels,  it has no re-numeration.   So make it as Stupid Simple as Possible.  Then I will be able to rapidly point someone in the right direction, and go on with what I want to do, with My Entertainment Time. 

Edited April 7, 2022 by StrayWanderer

[Persephone Emerald]

In-world classes sound like they'd be boring, but when they're hands-on building classes they can actually be fun. Happy Hippo had one that taught each page of the Edit button. It was very helpful and fun. I even used some of how that class was taught to show a newbie friend a few building tricks recently:

Rez a box. How many sides does the box have? (It's a trick question.) Go into the Texture tab & color each side of the box a different color. Now go into the Objects tab and make it Hollow. Now you can see the Inside is the 7th side of the box. 

 - My friend then thought it would be cool if he could make the box turn, so I gave him a Rotate Object script and had him drop it in the Contents.

Now rez a sphere and make it Hollow. Now go into the Texture tab and make it 80% Transparent. Now change the size to 2.5 on each x, y, z window. Now stand inside the sphere. Now go into the Objects tab and make it solid.

 - People love it when they can roll around inside a sphere and push each other around.

Next I make the skybox we're inside Phantom, so we both fall to the ground far below.  

 - Learning this way is fun and often gets people interested in building, which in turns keeps them enjoying SL when chatting and shopping eventually get boring.

Edited April 7, 2022 by Persephone Emerald

[Coffee Pancake]

One concern is it just ends up being residents who use the official viewer taking the opportunity to point out everything it lacks compared to TPVs.

This makes for useless long term content, but maybe it gives the lab a bit of a wish list to approach TPV projects about.

(They cant just get our code as that would taint their internal builds with GPL code and force them to always release anything that code touched as GPL, they have to get us to submit our work to them, often with changes and style requirements and hand over ownership in the process. Admittedly from the position of an outside developer, forcing them to always release an open source viewer would remove a giant sword of Damocles that hangs over everything we have done - LL can just decide, no more open source, and that's the end of that. no more firestorm or Catznip and we're back to reverse engineered hacky clients, although should they do that we're more likely to walk away from SL reinvigorated and poor all our motivation into making OpenSim viable.)

[Alwin Alcott]

one of the biggest problems is that new residents run as fast as possible through the portals to get really inworld. 
They try to avoid as much starter information as possible, till the real problems start.
Don't read manuals from their brandnew bodies, have no clue how to use skins applier or even open boxes.
I think there should be a, small, barrier to enter the big free world and show some very basic skills before being able to tp out of the portal/start location.

In those circumstances a "university" has a purpose, build on basic skills people learned already. Without a base, a university should start at a kindergarten level.( and not call it university)

[Silent Mistwalker]

10 hours ago, Alwin Alcott said:

I think there should be a, small, barrier to enter the big free world and show some very basic skills before being able to tp out of the portal/start location.

There used to be one and it was really simple. You had to learn to jump/fly and hit a target spot without falling into the water between you and the exit portal(s). For some reason it was changed just before the big influx of people in 2006/7.

That was the onboarding point I almost gave up on SL. I don't remember details, but I do remember how frustrated I was trying to hit that specific spot or do whatever it was to trigger whatever I was supposed to trigger, so I could get all the way inworld. If it hadn't been for my determination to pay my last respects to a friend, I wouldn't be here now.

Edited April 7, 2022 by Silent Mistwalker

[Bree Giffen]

Random thought: Maybe LL should include a specific cache of textures that is installed with the client. This would contain textures for the base avatars and everything else in the welcome/tutorial areas. When a new resident starts up SL everything loads quickly at first. Later they would get to a point where they teleport to the rest of the world and there is an explanation pop-up explaining that the entire rest of SL has to load from servers and will be slower.

I like the university idea. It's always good to have some educational videos for those who seek it. It's important that these be updated as changes happen. 

[Solar Legion]

1 hour ago, Silent Mistwalker said:

There used to be one and it was really simple. You had to learn to jump/fly and hit a target spot without falling into the water between you and the exit portal(s). For some reason it was changed just before the big influx of people in 2006/7.

That was the onboarding point I almost gave up on SL. I don't remember details, but I do remember how frustrated I was trying to hit that specific spot or do whatever it was to trigger whatever I was supposed to trigger, so I could get all the way inworld. If it hadn't been for my determination to pay my last respects to a friend, I wouldn't be here now.

That jump/fly was still active when I joined in late 2006!

[Janet Voxel]

I wonder how feasible it would be for LL to make a “tutorial viewer” so to speak. It’s a very stripped down viewer specifically geared towards new users, with little pop up’s to guide them through the most critical things you would need to know how to do in second life. It would guide you through something like basic movement to adjusting you wind lights. Something quick, lasting no more than 30 mins to an hour.

[Rolig Loon]

25 minutes ago, Janet Voxel said:

I wonder how feasible it would be for LL to make a “tutorial viewer” so to speak. It’s a very stripped down viewer specifically geared towards new users, with little pop up’s to guide them through the most critical things you would need to know how to do in second life. It would guide you through something like basic movement to adjusting you wind lights. Something quick, lasting no more than 30 mins to an hour.

They toyed with that idea a decade or so ago. It didn't last long, but I'm not sure why.  I'm guessing, though, that some people who started with the Baby Viewer said, "Is this all you can do in SL?" and then left with a shrug. Others learned how to use the Baby Viewer but either lost the instructions about how to replace it with the Real Viewer or couldn't figure them out. And left in frustration. In any case, the experiment died out after a year or so.

In fact, though, that's what the abbreviated pseudo-viewer set of windows (the Guidebook) that open up in Welcome Island do today.  They walk you through very basic functions, pointing to the specific viewer buttons that make them work.  The newbie resident walks around Welcome Island and the tutorial windows give contextual information about what's going on at each spot and suggest a couple of things to try.  It's all very basic. You can bring the Guidebook back later at any time to review the basics, because it's built into the viewer code.

Edited April 7, 2022 by Rolig Loon
Additional information

[MoiraKathleen]

8 minutes ago, Janet Voxel said:

I wonder how feasible it would be for LL to make a “tutorial viewer” so to speak. It’s a very stripped down viewer specifically geared towards new users, with little pop up’s to guide them through the most critical things you would need to know how to do in second life. It would guide you through something like basic movement to adjusting you wind lights. Something quick, lasting no more than 30 mins to an hour.

A lot of that type of information is in the "Welcome Island Guidebook" that is part of the viewer - I think it's been hidden away by TPV's, but is more prominent in the LL viewer for new accounts.  it doesn't go into as much detail as adjusting EEP settings, but it does cover moving your avatar & camera, nearby chat, IM and voice, interacting with objects, changing your avatar (among the other starter avatars in inventory), avatar attachments, and finding places to go.   Basic info, but a good amount of general info for getting started. 

People come to try SL for so many different reasons and purposes, and like to learn by different means, and there is so much to learn about SL, that I think it wouldn't be possible to come up with one comprehensive manual or tutorial that would work for everyone - or be even looked at by many.  The Knowledge Base contains a lot of information about core things to know, and even that may not be complete, but it's a good place for learning the basics of general areas.    

I don't really think SL is the type of place where you can create an account and expect to be given all the information that you need to know about SL in one small package that won't challenge one's length of attention span.   You need to be given info about the basics, sure, but then I think it's up to the individual to follow-up on learning about areas that interest them. 

[Coffee Pancake]

watched the video .. and a couple of minor points

• Derendering avatars via the render types menu does not just remove avatars, it also turns off all rezzed animesh objects .. which could be something you want to see before buying when shopping.
• While the camera is in motion the viewer will not fully rez any textures, so just stopping still and being patient is the best way to get something you need to see loaded.
• crashing on teleport trying to leave an event and getting photo bombed by a half naked anime avatar at the end (because of poor LOD model) is peak SL

Otherwise all good .. don't know why it needed to be live.

[Coffee Pancake]

I will add...

Teaching people HOW to cam is a big deal - with the controls and keyboard. Please do a whole episode on just this.

Directing new users to the advanced and develop menus isn't ideal .. it's really not a good idea to poke most of the stuff in there.