Why do so many new players not get the inventory system?

[Arielle Popstar]

2 minutes ago, Solar Legion said:

Again, enough of the excuses.

Ever since Windows XP (or perhaps slightly later) important system folders have been hidden away from the users. It is nothing new nor does it take much to learn how to get around or deal with.

My present phone is still 'stock' - no rooting or such - and I can still access the majority of the file system using the file manager it came with. Directories outside of this selection/purview can be accessed via ADB/PC if need be and newsflash for you, the majority of users won't have a need to do so. An App developer might however.

The most locked down device I own is a Quest 2 HMD. You have to go through hoops to enable Developer Mode on it if you want to 'sideload' any applications or do anything beyond what basic functions Meta allows (there's a culprit for you - walled gardens/locked down devices). iPhones are even worse as far as this goes.

So yep - find a different excuse/scapegoat.

Meh, you seem to be the one scrambling for excuses but in any case, your wide range of knowledge about the various directory structures employed points out your own familiarity with them and no doubt that came through having been taught them followed by tons of practice. Is it any wonder why those without that lack of practice aren't so familiar with it? How many joining a game, have the motivation to practice something that isn't even the main thrust of what people come for? This shouldn't be hard to grasp. The only ones arguing here are oldbies who arrived before there was barely a world and then wonder why new people have such a hard time. And blame them for not being smart enough, educated enough or the right generation for why they leave, instead of looking at SL development and recognizing it isn't user friendly for many and requires one to have a PHD in game structures to understand it. That's not doing anything for user retention.

 

[Persephone Emerald]

1 hour ago, Rowan Amore said:

I didn't even own a computer until.I was well into my 30s.  No idea whatsoever how anything worked.  I learned to type in HS on a manual.typewriter.  No such thing as a computer class.

I turned 60 last year.  I know how to find files, move files, etc.  I learned all on my own.  I didn't even watch a YouTube video on how to do it.  

The same applies.to everything I've learned in SL.  I figured it out.  Some of it was hard.  I muddled through.  I'm still here.  Changing clothes and hair and accessories daily and sometimes, twice daily.

Is my inventory a mess?  Sure is.  Why?  Because as @SpiritSparrow Skydancersaid so well...

Some people have more difficulty learning new things than others do. It's not all older people or all younger people. It's just people. Keeping one's mind active and working to learn new things helps. Getting enough sleep helps. Maybe some nutritional supplements might help.

I've already given advice on how to clean up one's inventory in other threads. Basically, use the filters to mass delete scripts, landmarks and other crap you don't need. Put your folders into your System folders and appropriate subfolders. Use symbols such as * and ! at the front of your folder title names to move your favorite items to the top. Keep the packages inside the folders for the items, and then delete all the sizes, skin tones, old sculpts or other items you're never going to use.

Trying to find stuff in a chaotic inventory is more stressful than mass deleting stuff.

Edited March 26 by Persephone Emerald

[Arielle Popstar]

3 minutes ago, Persephone Emerald said:

Trying to find stuff in a chaotic inventory is more stressful than mass deleting stuff.

Except when you no longer have something and can't replace it!

[Rowan Amore]

18 minutes ago, Persephone Emerald said:

Some people have more difficulty learning new things than others do. It's not all older people or all younger people. It's just people. Keeping one's mind active and working to learn new things helps. Getting enough sleep helps. Maybe some nutritional supplements might help.

I've already given advice on how to clean up one's inventory in other threads. Basically, use the filters to mass delete scripts, landmarks and other crap you don't need. Put your folders into your System folders and appropriate subfolders. Use symbols such as * and ! at the front of your folder title names to move your favorite items to the top. Keep the packages inside the folders for the items, and then delete all the sizes, skin tones, old sculpts or other items you're never going to use.

Trying to find stuff in a chaotic inventory is more stressful than mass deleting stuff.

It's not a matter of not know how.  I even had a thread asking how other people organized.  I started.  I got bored and quit.  It effects my overall SL experience in no way.  It's not stressful for me.  It just is what it is to me.  Can I always find what I know I have?  Nope.  It's SL.  It's really unimportant in the scheme of things whether I find that 5 year old whatchamacallit I thought I had.  I move on.  That's just me, though.

NOTHING here should stress anyone out.  Especially your inventory full of nothing tangible.  I'll panic when I lose my car key, cell phone, cat.

[Persephone Emerald]

17 minutes ago, Arielle Popstar said:

Except when you no longer have something and can't replace it!

Double check your trash before emptying it.

I've lost items in SL. Probably most of us have. I lost a No Copy ancient-style wash basin I loved because of a sim restart. I lost my whole folder of shoes because I had too much inventory and a bunch of stuff went missing. I lost some older skins I wish I had now because I was getting rid of most of my old system skins. (I didn't know they would work with the Jian Petit avatar I later bought.) 😫 

We have to accept loss in SL and RL because it's inevitable. One day all of Second Life will be gone too.

[Solar Legion]

Pardon me while I roll my eyes right out of my head in exasperation.

I learned by doing.

So no, I'm not the one making excuses.

[Theresa Tennyson]

3 hours ago, Arielle Popstar said:

 

App and program developers are responsible for bringing about the lack of familiarity with directory structures because they pretty much have hidden it from view in the process of trying to simplify  it for users.

Isn't that what you want Linden Lab to do to "simplify" things though?

[Bree Giffen]

I have been using the search function a lot for general inventory tasks. I tend to need huds to control various things and instead of going through the folders I will just type a few letters in search to bring up what I want. I still sort everything to folders but I just don't need to see the whole directory very often now.

[Arielle Popstar]

1 hour ago, Theresa Tennyson said:

Isn't that what you want Linden Lab to do to "simplify" things though?

For crying out loud Theresa! Just like your knowledge and experience:

7 hours ago, Theresa Tennyson said:

 Many of them come in knowing nothing at all about sewing but I can generally get them going after a few sessions. This is not because I personally am the best stitcher in the world, but because I've been doing this long enough to see possible problems and explain things that might be a problem, and I learned sewing fairly late in life and have a handle on the process of learning.

We see that for whatever reason, the lab after 20 years of experience seems to be incapable of teaching or developing a methodology that makes knowledgeable and effective residents. With your experience as a teacher, can you honestly say they have done a good job at communicating to the average resident what they need to know to circumvent possible problems or explain what it is they need to know? As Gwyneth's post pointed out, their whole history has been a lack of foresight and simply reacting to problems after the fact. 

[Sid Nagy]

Everyone who knows how one of these ancient and incredible complicated devices (shown above) work, should be able to grasp a directory system within minutes (when interested to do so).

Edited March 26 by Sid Nagy

[Theresa Tennyson]

30 minutes ago, Arielle Popstar said:

For crying out loud Theresa! Just like your knowledge and experience:

We see that for whatever reason, the lab after 20 years of experience seems to be incapable of teaching or developing a methodology that makes knowledgeable and effective residents. With your experience as a teacher, can you honestly say they have done a good job at communicating to the average resident what they need to know to circumvent possible problems or explain what it is they need to know? As Gwyneth's post pointed out, their whole history has been a lack of foresight and simply reacting to problems after the fact. 

Gee, the residents who are reacting to things they see as possibilities and producing things seem to be pretty knowlegeable and effective. Maybe the communication shouldn't be the Lab's job at all.

[Obic Malaprop]

When folk ask what the goal of this "game" is, the answer is obviously "inventory management". It is Second Life's actual End-Game content.

 

 

[Persephone Emerald]

15 minutes ago, Sid Nagy said:

Everyone who knows how one of these ancient and incredible complicated devices (shown above) work, should be able to grasp a directory system within minutes (when interested to do so).

True, but I've also met people who don't know how to use a map. It probably wouldn't take long to teach them, if they were interested in learning how to use such an ancient and incredibly complicated device.

[Love Zhaoying]

27 minutes ago, Sid Nagy said:

Everyone who knows how one of these ancient and incredible complicated devices (shown above) work, should be able to grasp a directory system within minutes (when interested to do so).

Imagine needing to keep all your instructions on hand..(I had the idea of getting this because I remember seeing them at auto repair places, etc.).

[Sid Nagy]

Inventory maintenance is simply not as much fun as shopping, dressing up the Barbie or Ken or decorating the house, go to a club, hang out at a beach, do adult stuff.
And once one is behind with archiving hundreds of items, it becomes a real pain to do something and then the hoarding starts in the Object folder. End of clean inventory.

Now if only the inventory would be visible to the people one wants to impress with the totally dressed up Barbie or Ken..... problem would be solved in a jiffy IMHO.

Edited March 26 by Sid Nagy

[Rowan Amore]

7 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Imagine needing to keep all your instructions on hand..(I had the idea of getting this because I remember seeing them at auto repair places, etc.).

I've actually used a binder with tabs for my husband's recipes.  He has absolutely no clue whatsoever about how files work on a computer.  He's smart enough to understand tabs for Entrees/Beef or Deserts/Pies/Fruit.  

Edited March 26 by Rowan Amore

[Arielle Popstar]

9 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said:

I've actually used a binder with tabs for my husband's recipes.  He has absolutely no clue whatsoever about how files work on a computer.  He's smart enough to understand tabs for Entrees/Beef or Deserts/Pies/Fruit.  

So why does he have no clue about how files work on a computer? Is he too young to have learned what everyone over the age of 30 is supposed to know??? 

[Rowan Amore]

1 hour ago, Arielle Popstar said:

So why does he have no clue about how files work on a computer? Is he too young to have learned what everyone over the age of 30 is supposed to know??? 

Because he doesn't use one so has no need to know.

[Marigold Devin]

On 3/18/2024 at 1:56 PM, Charlemagne Allen said:

I've noticed that the number one frustration noobs have is the inability to customize their av. I try to explain it and even do screen shares and half of them do not get it at all. Guys will take meme avs, but women absolutely want a normal person av, and it's frustrating to not have an attractive stylish av. I know mesh bodies are weird, but it's interesting how the basic systems are also confusing. What's your experience with this?

I know for sure that if I was to have become a resident of Second Life over recent years instead of in 2007 the faffy nature of modern mesh avatars would have totally put me off. As it is I feel so much less inclined to bother logging in because of it. Do people really enjoy all the extra work it takes to always be tweaking and modifying and changing mesh avatars, because I just feel it's too much of a time drain.

So here I am, in a system avatar, which I don't find confusing at all. Same old shape. Old skin now. Just occasionally change the clothing. 

[Solar Legion]

How to use a system avatar:

1. Wear a skin
2. Wear a hair base
   1. Use a bald one if using a mesh hair
3. Choose/edit a Shape
4. Choose your clothing layers (if desired)
   1. If wearing mesh, choose the right alphas
   2. Choose outfit pieces

How to use a Mesh Avatar (once acquired/you choose one):

1. Wear a skin
2. Wear bald hair base
3. Choose/edit a Shape
4. Choose your clothes

Optionally use tattoos.

Everything else is done through a HUD and the majority of it does not need to be touched once set - this is the same for any item that uses a HUD, be it for a Mesh Body, a piece of clothing or what have you.

But then again, that is my own experience as I find no reason to do much more once I have a form set up other than choosing what to wear.

[BaynBreton]

My niece is an MBA. Very hard-working, brilliant, dedicated and successful girl in her mid 20s. My nephew is 30 plus, also a very successful guy who has the power to decide if folks get a house loan or not. Yet none of them have any idea of how a directory works. Their iPhones just fill up and get slower, and none of them have any idea of why that happens, so they need a new one. There is a technological age gap here, admit it or not.

The SL inventory seems to be mostly for our oldbies who know how to use folders, at least on a basic level. The first thing I do whenever I get a new Android phone is to get some sort of file manager installed. That seems foreign to so many. No worder why SL has retention problems.

[Aethelwine]

I can't work out android or Linux folders, but that is kind of an aside. I got lost when programs became apps.

I do have a question someone might be able to clear up about the second life folder system. My wisdom on this may have come from forum advice 13 years ago, or perhaps sage advice of the bloodlines clan that adopted me when I was new. What I recall being told is not to use the system clothing folder for storing clothes, because it was for making clothes not storing them, the implication being it would be more likely to lose them. I may have misremembered but aside from a few things I unpacked in my first weeks here it is otherwise unused. So my question is, is it current wisdom to be using the clothing folder for storing clothes or not?

[Theresa Tennyson]

1 hour ago, BaynBreton said:

My niece is an MBA. Very hard-working, brilliant, dedicated and successful girl in her mid 20s. My nephew is 30 plus, also a very successful guy who has the power to decide if folks get a house loan or not. Yet none of them have any idea of how a directory works. Their iPhones just fill up and get slower, and none of them have any idea of why that happens, so they need a new one. There is a technological age gap here, admit it or not.

The SL inventory seems to be mostly for our oldbies who know how to use folders, at least on a basic level. The first thing I do whenever I get a new Android phone is to get some sort of file manager installed. That seems foreign to so many. No worder why SL has retention problems.

Because apparently getting a master's degree is easy, but typing a few words into search and reading an article is impossible:

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=create+directories+on+iphone&ia=web

[Sid Nagy]

1 hour ago, Aethelwine said:

 So my question is, is it current wisdom to be using the clothing folder for storing clothes or not?

I don't know if it is wisdom or not, but I use that folder since my start in 2007.
I have several sub folders and sub sub folders in there and all my clothing resides there. Shirts in the shirt folder, jackets in the jacket folder etc. etc. etc. 
Never even lost a sock in there so far.

[Theresa Tennyson]

1 hour ago, Aethelwine said:

I can't work out android or Linux folders, but that is kind of an aside. I got lost when programs became apps.

I do have a question someone might be able to clear up about the second life folder system. My wisdom on this may have come from forum advice 13 years ago, or perhaps sage advice of the bloodlines clan that adopted me when I was new. What I recall being told is not to use the system clothing folder for storing clothes, because it was for making clothes not storing them, the implication being it would be more likely to lose them. I may have misremembered but aside from a few things I unpacked in my first weeks here it is otherwise unused. So my question is, is it current wisdom to be using the clothing folder for storing clothes or not?

It's mostly a folder like any other. If you do make a new system wearable lit will end up there loose at the bottom, but there's no reason not to also put the folders for purchased clothing in there too.