Would/Do you recommend SL to friends?

[Persephone Emerald]

I understand that many people don't have the time or mental inclination to explore a virtual reality, but I can't help but suggest to Second Life to online friends or other obviously computer-savy people.  I *LOVE* it, so I think other people would love it too...if their computer has good enough graphics.

Here's why SL can't get more long-term users:

1. Most people don't like to think or act in ways they perceive as "not normal". They're comfortable doing what most other people do & thinking like most other people think.  This is the same reason that the Science Fiction is not very popular. The idea of treating a virtual world like a real environment doesn't make sense to them. It's "weird", which translates to them as unsavory.  Creative & unusual people love it, because it lets them express themelves in ways they usually can't in RL, but this isn't a very large cross-section of the general population.

2. Many people don't have the right combination of intelligence & patience to learn how to have fun in SL. Learing how to move around & do stuff in SL takes work. Figuring out what to do for fun also takes work. Most people either don't have the time to figure it out or don't have the patience to work at it. - I got hooked because a friend kept saying how great it was & he took the time to show me some of the ropes, but I didn't start playing in SL until after I lost my job, because I knew I wouldn't have time for it while I had a full time job.

3. Many people can't afford a new computer with a good graphics card or can't afford to spend hours & hours learning how to enjoy SL. Put simply, the RL econonmy sucks, so people don't have much money or time to play with.

The RL world hasn't created a large number of educated, open-minded, creative people with plenty of free time & a good amount of disposable income, and this is the demographic that's most attracted to SL.

 (Edit to add):

I'm a INT/FJ, btw.

 

[Wildcat Furse]

I am an ESTP ........:smileyhappy: *meows*

PS. I love being creative and love change too .... SL is the perfect tool for me!

PS2. While being extrovert in RL, in SL I prefer being introvert (I like it calm and quiet).....!

[Void Singer]

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Pamela Galli wrote:

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Kenbro Utu wrote:

ENTJ.  Exceptions to every rule I guess.

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Oh plenty of exceptions!  Not a very scientific poll either :-) 

But I bet you are not going to find

many

ESTJs in SL.

 

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or on the internet in general.... introverts rule the tubes... but mostly for Sl it depends on finding your niche community before you drown in frustration of being bombarded by everything else. if I had come to SL way back when, for the reasons I still stay, I'd have left in disgust...... and if I hadn't found those reasons along the way, then I'd have left when my original reason to be here did.

[Jo Yardley]

Yes absolutely.

I've actively promoted SL on facebook to all my friends and share links to videos, photos, etc. there.

Most people have a negative view of SL, just like I did.

But once I show pictures and videos they realise SL isn't as they thought it is.

I've lured several friends to SL and most of them have not only stayed but are now very active members.

[Jessika Rang]

Oh... back in the day I did try to bring some rl friends in, they were disinterested at best, so long ago I decided to keep my sl to myself and I still prefer it that way.  Its an escape for me... tho over the years close sl friends have become friends on other rl social networks. I like that

[Ganelon Darkfold]

No, I don't recommend it to friends.  Of the few family and friends that I know that have tried it, they found SL either confusing or boring and didn't stay long.

 

To be honest, I didn't stay long, either.  When I first started, I had a rather old computer and SL was pretty awful.  Everything was jerky and glitchy and took forever for scenery to rez.  I gave it a few days and then left.  After I put together a considerably better computer, I tried it again.  Still pretty awful, but better.  Then I got an ok graphics card because I needed ti for best performance on flight sims and spaceship sims I like to spend time with, and it's much better.  So this time I've done more looking around and exploring, and it's at least kinda neat.  With even the oldest machine I tried, SL always at least looked interesting.  The main difference was how long it took scenery to rez and how many crashes one undures.  All of the machines were at least "minumum specs" according to the SL site at the time. LOL

 

SL is more than a bit of a resource hog, and I couldn't recommend it to anyone with a worse machine than mine.  That's a lot of the people I know, right there.  Do there's an equipment barrier for a lot of people.  Not everybody has a new computer and a machine can do pretty much anything most people do on the net like play games or watch videos just fine and still not be squat for SL.  The interface is also not particularly intuitive, which gives SL a rather steep learning curve before anyone trying it is likely to find much of anything interesting.  Simple things like just adjusting your avatar so it doesn't look too much like something from a bad horror cartoon can take quite a bit of time looking up tutorials and fussing with it.  Many objects/items have little or nothing in the way of documentation or operating instructions, and that is not really a plus with the vehicles, to make one example.  

 

Ok, so with all that, why am I here anyway?  Well, I've always been interested in "virtual worlds" as a concept, and SL was supposed to be a big one.  In years gone by I was a builder in some minor MUs, so I can at least appreciate some of the effort and thought that goes into it on different levels.  Mostly, though, I wandered into the forum to look something up and ran across Pussycat Catnap's article on sailing in SL.  She made it sound interesting and fun, so I tried it.  And it is, even with running into unexpected banlines and etc now and then.  Then I saw Hippie Bowman was giving away a spaceship.  I hadn't even known there were flyable spaceships in SL.  My thanks goes out to both of them, since those are certainly some of the things I find enjoyable in SL.  The past few days I've been doing "The Gold Hunt" thing.  That's kinda fun, like an easter egg hunt when we were kids or something, but I figure I'll get bored with it soon enough.  For now it's neat since it leads to places I haven't seen before and didn't know about. 

 

Almost everyone I know in RL does something online, some game or activity.  With my family, what's going on in our assorted online games or communities is pretty common supper table convo.  So we're not talking about tech-shy people here.  There's not a lot of interest in SL among them, though.  Add in the rather heavy learning curve and the equipment barriers that some would have and it's going to be even less attractive.  I'm still not sure if I'll be around in SL in another week or two, so I really wouldn't recommend it to many of my friends of family, and most of them where I think they *might* like it.. Well, they've already tried it before and found it either too confusing or too boring for their tastes or simply haven't seen any point to it and left in a day or two.

[Mayalily]

All I can say is maybe, it depends.  But, for the most part, I have a second or different family on SL.  Also, I don't have enough extra hours it would take to help all the people I could invite.  I think I'd be helping all the time, and not have enough time to relax.  A lot of family is into music, but not too many of them are into art or creative things like I am.  

[Celestiall Nightfire]

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Pamela Galli wrote:

Oh plenty of exceptions!  Not a very scientific poll either :-) 

But I bet you are not going to find

many

ESTJs in SL.

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Hi Pamela!  I happen to be an ESTJ.  

But, I also have noticed a predominance of people in SL that say or write on their profiles that they are Introverts in RL, and that SL allows them the opportunity to display a more out-going personality. 

Now, as to the S part that is for Sensing.  It means that Sensing types experience the world more by sensory data like touch, hearing, and taste.  Think of the five senses.  Although it's true that all people experience the world through sensory data those that are Sensing types predominately use that for finding out about the world.   As opposed to the N=Intuitive types that use their internal feelings to find out things.  These are generalizations, as all people use both.  It's just the some people favor one method over the other. 

For me, the E/S is more than 50%, but I also have fairly high IN factors.  My SL exploring partner is also an Extroverted type, so there are two more Extroverts you can add to your poll.  :  ) 

Sidenote: The T=Thinking, which means that those with that trait rely more on "Thinking" as opposed to "Feeling" for decisions.   The J=Judging, which means that I'm a judgmental meanie-cat unlike all those nice P=Perception folks. 

Hmm, this might also explain why I have such a hard time relating to the feeling-sensitive "Hugs" people in SL and this forum.  (Laughing)

 

Edited to answer your question:  Yes, I do recommend SL to friends, not all of my friends, but some.  I have also recommended SL to several relatives, although I'm not aware of any that have created a SL account.

 

[Persephone Emerald]

This is great post, Ganelon.  I wish all the developers at Linden Labs would read it to understand why SL isn't holding onto it's new users.

Please don't give up on SL yet. You sound like you could be a welcome addition here. There are so many beautiful sims to explore, but it takes some time to find them. Take a look at Da Vinci Gardens,  Alpha Point & Omega Point, 1920's Berlin, or some others that people can suggest. There was one really beautiful underwater sim I saw too, but I can remember the name.

After you see the amazing things other people have built, you might want to start building some of your own stuff too.

[Pamela Galli]

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Celestiall Nightfire wrote:

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Pamela Galli wrote:

Oh plenty of exceptions!  Not a very scientific poll either :-) 

But I bet you are not going to find

many

ESTJs in SL.

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Hi Pamela!  I happen to be an ESTJ.  

But, I also have noticed a predominance of people in SL that say or write on their profiles that they are Introverts in RL, and that SL allows them the opportunity to display a more out-going personality.

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Oh well no wonder I have always found you so interesting.  You are my exact opposite. :-)

Of course, you will find all types in SL -- INs are just more heavily represented than in RL, for the reasons you mentioned.  I think it is helpful to keep this in mind when we introduce someone to SL and they see no charm at all (esp if you are one of those who fell in love from the first login). It's just not the kind of thing that appeals to some personality types, who would rather be out playing frisbee or running a corporation.

 

 

[Maryanne Solo]

I know a perfect candidate for SL. A Sims 3 devotee and a very tech savvy and creative lass. She would just adore it. She is 16 years old. She knows I play a virtual world game and knows it's way cooler than TS3. I have told her that in this world you have to create everything or buy it. What I have told her is of the tech & creative side of SL. 

She has never seen any pictures, nor does she know its name. I have told her I might show exactly what it is when she turns 18. The big negative is you simply can't mix the creatives and teh smexers. They simply do not mix.

Eg: I was in a new hair store having a look when I was Im'd by a stranger and of course I responded with the usual "Hi! " to which he commented "wow your not very outgoing or friendly are you?" and I'm like.. "I beg your pardon?" I won't post the rest of the conversation but basically he had a problem with anyone who didnt seem to be readily availabe for pixel bonking, like right there and then

He simply did not understand the concept of wanting to create things and sell them for fun. Nor was he of the opinion that a virtual world enterprise, (no matter the current state of the meta verse), was a concept worth pursuing.

There is no way I am going to introduce a very creative female teen to SL when that is the prevailing attitude. I am not calling for special places or rules or whatever. I'm just saying that this girls development should not be intruded upon by people more.. *coughs worldly or experienced in.. *things.

[Ganelon Darkfold]

Oh, I haven't given up on it yet, Persephone Emerald.  Sorry if I sounded overly negative, it was just the mindset after thinking about how few people I know personally who have the machine and the patience for maybe getting into SL.  It's probably somewhat different for the "people persons" who spend a lot of time in clubs or something similar.  It might take a little bit for everything to rez, but once it's in the viewer cache it wouldn't be constantly rezzing new terrain as happens when travelling.  So maybe the machine requirements for things to run fairly smooth have more to do with what sort of activities one does than I'd been considering.  I travel a lot, so new scenery is constantly rezzing and I imagine that puts more demands on my machine's resources than if I stayed in a popular area, even a fairly busy one.

 

There's a lot of really neat underwater sims.  Recently I ran across the labyrinth under the Sea of Fables.  I'd just recently gotten and started using scuba gear, so that kept me busy for an hour or so, finding my way through it.  I've seen shipwrecks, tentacled monsters (ok, maybe not plural, since I've only ever actually seen one), sometimes ruins, even treasure chests.  Some people really put a lot of time and work into the undersea areas, and while it was pretty sailing over them, I spend some time now looking to see if there's anything cool under the surface too.  Today I got Aley Arai's version of the Nautilus, and spent a couple hours just getting cool pics of it travelling along underwater for my ever-growing collection of screenshots. LOL

 

So I do have fun here, and didn't mean to imply otherwise.  I probably wouldn't be the best person tro recommend SL anyway, since I spent barely half an hour (if even that long) in the beginner areas before striking out on my own.  So I started with only the barest ideas of how to do things and get around or where I might go or what I could do.  Which was my own darn fault (there, I said it before any of the people who work hard helping beginners in the welcome areas said it.).  But at least when I first started, I never met any helpers and had no clue they existed.  I read a few billboards, and as soon as I got to one that listed places of interest, I was gone.  LOL  it was just too much noise and confusion and people trying to talk to me while I was trying to read instructions and etc, so I was out of there as soon as I could find out how to teleport anywhere else.

 

That's apparently not the easiest or best way of starting.  But how are beginners supposed to know that?  Maybe if there was some sort of kindergarten/grade-school/high-school education that took people into progressively more challenging and interesting areas?  I don't know.  I think a lot of people would just skip it anyway.  The interface could be more intuitive, though.  Once you're familiar with the icons and have fumbled through enough menus, it's ok, but at first at may as well be and alien language.  Maybe if there was an option for more verbose mouseovers to explain things a bit that could be turned off once one gets used to it?  I understand that there are other options for the interface, but you don't know that when you've just downloaded the cerrent version from the main website and wandered into SL.  That one is the one most beginners will start with and logically it should be the eaisest one to run (in a perfect world). 

 

 

[Persephone Emerald]

Someone even newer than you just posted a thread asking for beginner help too. I posted links to some helpful videos on YouTube.

 http://community.secondlife.com/t5/General-Discussion-Forum/Can-some-one-give-me-a-guide-to-SL/m-p/1069661

 

I've been saying for a while that LL needs to design the beginner areas so they teach newbies how to do all the essential stuff they need to do & reward them for doing these tasks with freebies. Teach them how to open a box & reward them with a piece of clothing or an outfit. Teach them how to walk & reward them with a decent walking AO. Teach them how to fly & reward them with a flight feather.   If the initial experience were a little more game-like, maybe the people who expect a game will stay a bit longer.

[Jesica Dragovar]

I would and have, most of my friends are scattered across the globe so chat and IM is about the only way I get to spend time with them using SL is basically the next best thing to going out with them, going to movies, shopping, hanging out at IHOP at 3 in the morning talking, laughing ect

my fiance lives in the UK and I in the US and because of beaurocratic red tape he can't move here and I can't move there, 

tried getting him into SL with the idea that we could at least have a wedding inworld and move in together that way, but just could not get him interested in SL, such is life

[Quinn Morani]

I've talked about SL in a professional context with colleagues and clients as far as the pros and cons of virtual worlds for job training. Not many have expressed any real interest.

Outside of that, the only two people I've actively recommended SL to are my RL husband and my RL sister. My husband joined, but hardly ever logs in. It's just not his thing. I also showed my sister a bit of SL while she looked over my shoulder one time when she was visiting, but I don't think she was highly impressed. I'm almost positive she never created an account.

As for Myers-Briggs, I am an ISTJ. There was a thread about this on the old forum and I tallied everyone's responses at the time. Here were the final results based on a sample size of 50.

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/General-Discussions/Myers-Briggs-personality-types/m-p/447777#M210094

Of particular note (and quite telling about whom SL is most likely to appeal to):

• The IN's make up over half of the forum population who responded to the thread (58%).
• The I's dominated the E's (82% v. 18%)
• The N's dominated the S's (70% v. 30%).
• The correlation in percentages between the GD forum population and the general population is completely inverse.



[Pamela Galli]

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Quinn Morani wrote:

I've talked about SL in a professional context with colleagues and clients as far as the pros and cons of virtual worlds for job training. Not many have expressed any real interest.

Outside of that, the only two people I've actively recommended SL to are my RL husband and my RL sister. My husband joined, but hardly ever logs in. It's just not his thing. I also showed my sister a bit of SL while she looked over my shoulder one time when she was visiting, but I don't think she was highly impressed. I'm almost positive she never created an account.

As for Myers-Briggs, I am an ISTJ. There was a thread about this on the old forum and I tallied everyone's responses at the time. Here were the final results based on a sample size of 50.

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/General-Discussions/Myers-Briggs-personality-types/m-p/447777#M210094

Of particular note (and quite telling about whom SL is most likely to appeal to):

• The IN's make up over half of the forum population who responded to the thread (58%).
• The I's dominated the E's (82% v. 18%)
• The N's dominated the S's (70% v. 30%).
• The correlation in percentages between the GD forum population and the general population is completely inverse.



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Wow thanks Quinn -- would you mind if I added this quote with attribution to my blog article about it?

[Pamela Galli]

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Persephone Emerald wrote:

Someone even newer than you just posted a thread asking for beginner help too. I posted links to some helpful videos on YouTube.

 

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/General-Discussion-Forum/Can-some-one-give-me-a-guide-to-SL/m-p/1069661

 

I've been saying for a while that LL needs to design the beginner areas so they teach newbies how to do all the essential stuff they need to do & reward them for doing these tasks with freebies. Teach them how to open a box & reward them with a piece of clothing or an outfit. Teach them how to walk & reward them with a decent walking AO. Teach them how to fly & reward them with a flight feather.   If the initial experience were a little more game-like, maybe the people who expect a game will stay a bit longer.

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Pretty good idea, earning by learning :-)

[Quinn Morani]

Of course I wouldn't mind, Pamela. I'd be honored to have that info added to your blog! :matte-motes-bashful-cute:

[Nuuna Nitely]

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Pamela Galli wrote:

Kind of related to the portrayal of SL in the film Life 2.0 -- which apparently leaves out everything good about SL. SL has both good and bad stuff (like some other life I can think of -- and which is which depends on your POV) -- is there enough you consider good for you to recommend SL to friends?  If not, what is it that you have the most reservations about?

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If my friends would be interested in computer games, then yes I would recommend SL. I wouldn't hang out much with them, but they could do their own thing here.

[Persephone Emerald]

I got my RL roommate hooked on SL while she was recovering from wrist surgey. Now she's retired & on SL most of the time. We don't hang out together much in SL, but we both talk about it in RL, speak the lingo, & understand the quirks of this world. We share a house in RL & group land in SL. In RL I rent from her & in SL I'm sort of her de facto landlady because I help her land use issues.

[Pamela Galli]

I keep thinking of this thread when reading other threads about LL's meager attempts to promote SL. LL has an army of customers who could be out there promoting -- and yes, in this age of information technology, word of mouth still rules -- but if you look at posts in this thread you are not overwhelmed by the level of enthusiasm.

If LL took care of the things that customers have a right to expect to be taken care of, they would have a happier customer base more likely to bring others in.