Coffee Pancake

That wasn't even my idea..

But you're already here and established. You won't need to do it. you know how inventory works, and land, and clothing and avatars, and stuff and messaging and ...... If you're imagining someone out there just like you, coming here today .. I hate to say it, but we already lost them to more sensible platforms with a broader reach. Whatever this place was imagined to be when you joined almost 15 years ago, it's not, and those days are long past. If you were looking for a suitable medium today, from scratch, this wouldn't even factor.

Give them nothing, give them get one when the join the "Hunt for your Second Life" group. The viewer needs to be barren when they start, just a a breadcrumb to unlock the first bits of UI. Follow the stupid robot ... The first 10 minutes are critical, and we stall users out the gate with none standard controls and UI from their grandmas windows 2000 box. In a complex game, you get 20 minutes. If your player isn't invested after 20 minutes. They walked.

LL are capable of knowing, just looking at who flips Adult content on is a solid indicator of intent. That's the thing , "sex" isn't a singular event or act. It's a very broad term that tends to be a part of almost every community in one way or another. Even tinnies .. don't wanna know, really don't. Sailing (something I am just getting into) is actually fun .. but I think it's disingenuous to pretend that the "boats" aren't actually mobile floating sex beds (even the free boats I've gotten from Drivers). Sure .. sex free boats do exist if someone wants to make a point of being sex free and wants to go out and buy one. For me, dancing solo has always been a precursor to something under the sex umbrella, even if I'm not looking for it. Getting hit on is just normal. Explorers .. finding other peoples homes / skyboxes to have sex in. (I wish they wouldn't find mine so often .. I just deleted my home after logging in to yet another aroused 7 year old duck walker painting the place). Building . Oh boy .. now ask what are they building. Exploring abandoned places is a pet hobby (really .. find a region, any region, start at ground level, center with draw set to 160, check out the builds and slowly fly all the way up). you're only going to need do this twice to see why I'm putting such a strong weight on "sex" as a (if not the) primary motivator for SL.

Oh god .. now I'm remembering why I loathe para-rp. Oh I get that, totally .. the point about sex is it's an instant "oh right". Another and completely different "oh right" is standing about being an edge lord on voice chat. The reality is a new user will find themselves getting banned from places for being new, but by the time they hit that wall they will hopefully have enough momentum to keep plugging away. TPing about collecting stamps needs some kind of tangible purpose .. say .. every time you get one you can join one more group up to the max a basic can have. Paying premium skips this totally. It gives the legit new person activity with a purpose, it makes rolling alts more of a chore, and doesn't affect us at all (expect our disposable alts, which is probably not a bad thing). I'm fully prepared for everyone to hate on that idea too. Tasks without tangible reward are just .. jobs, and that's not fun at all.

Yeah, that's why NUX is such a big deal .. no one wants to burn $40 without some reason, but all the reaons they tend to care about don't function if they are disco-man or dogbag-lady.

because arguing on the forums about all the sex you don't want is a waste of your life Look .. we know you don't like it. You post about not liking it every time anyone mentions it, in every single thread it gets mentioned, and then spend a crazy amount of time talking about how much you don't like it. For someone with no interest in a thing, you sure do have a huge interest. You don't have to defend asexuality.

You should join the mentor program.

being asked about sex or being propositioned for sex featured heavily in the mentor training some are more comfortable with it that others, as I have already answered in this thread .. i'm not going to help the newbies hump, I am going say that they can, and they should get an decent avatar first

Lots of people found SL searching for AVATAR .. you know, the movie. Which is why there was a blue person on the video LL commissioned .. because someone thought AVATAR2 would work for us again .. and there there would be blue people in SL. I was heavily involved in the Vamp culture here. No one came for nosforatu. But that's a lie .. SL is not this big do or be everything you want. There are very limited ranges of things you can be, do or build. Tons of stuff we try to make here just isn't technically viable. This is a highly constrained platform. If you want to make or be or build anything .. you should be playing with Unity

Vampires - Super popular long term culture for SL. A bit campy now and the gamification of blood didn't help. Why did people come to SL to be Vampire and why did LL add vamp avatars - The success of Twilight and True Blood. Wait a minute .. SOOKIE !! this is sex again isn't it. 😂 Building as a draw ins't a thing anymore, if people are good with blender and want an outlet they can earn solid money pumping out content for the sims and VRChat. Recently had someone doing just ask that asking if SL could make them $60K US a year .. people weren't sure. That's not the same as building once here. Shopping .. needs a purpose. No one comes to SL just to spend money. There has to be some purpose. If you look at the kinds of clothing that sells ... well, we sure do like our beach wear, lingerie and latex and .. gdmmit. Exploring is a thing, and I tend to discount it as a viable draw, LL have had "explore" on the website for two decades straight for all the good it's done. Exploring is a think people get into once here, and even then it's very conditional and quite limited in scope. That the point though. Everything people find to do in SL is secondary. WHY would you want to be a mermaid here. Do you know how few mermaids there actually are in SL? Have you been to mermaid locations and found them populated by ghosts .. and wait .. underwater fishy sex, luring men in boats, why does .. oh right, it's SL, so of course that's a thing. Don't be naive. If someone wants to fly planes, they go play a flight simulator first. People who have gotten into SL find they can fly planes and then elect to do that here. There are not the same proposition at all. You can't get someone looking for Flight Simulator to come to SL and be happy with what we can offer. I'm not forcing anyone do anything. But people here think that by mentioning something SL is broadly known for somehow burns us to the ground. We can't add survival mechanics. SL can't support them from a technical perspective. No one is saying we should. We have been saying .. that such mechanics are commonly used in games to help players become established. SL needs to do better at helping people become established. Punching trees and zombies is out and stupid. I would have thought that would have been obvious. SO .. what can we do to help people, with the very small window between sign-up and sod-this. Dead realistic. We have probably 4 hours absolute tops to get someone from "huh" to "I get it". This is why sex features .. because it's quick and easy and is the hook proven to work for most people. People can get that .. and then they will get everything else later in their own time. The last person I mentored from "zero" to "Reborn Doux LeLutka and a dress" took 6 sessions and 12 hours. That's insane.

Which demographics are those Sammy .. Come on .. pick one and lets explore that.

Again? I'm glad we appointed you to decide when threads are finished .. Will you keep posting even if its not .. I hope so !

I'm not, but sex (!) is a big hook that gets people in the door and keeps them focused. SL is really hard, and really low in rewards early on. I've been at this over 17 years now. Everyone I have ever known here (save about 3 people) kept coming back for the sex (or the promise of sex) and happen to find something they enjoy more .. like building or scripting or running a shop or clubbing. It's also an easy sell. What can I do in SL? You can work in a club! .. oh .. um .. well that's actually prostitution most of the time, so bad example 😂 (from the Lindens own published book on Second Life from way back when .. yes I own that too). Its very fair to say sex (or the promise of sex) keeps the lights on, and has always kept the lights on. Even after people decide it's not for them and they get into _________.

Sorry I ruined BDSM for you ❤️

We have a catastrophic retention problem. "Why am I here?" "What is there to do?" In order to answer that question we must pick some messages, You are here for the art / sex / boating / prims / music / friends / ........ only they can't know what most of the things on that list means. What's a prim and why would they care .. who know! but my magic 8 ball says that in a month, that's what you will want. Answering .. "you can do anything here, it's so diverse" .. is like a restaurant with no menu and a Chef who can make anything. Practical considerations aside, there is a reason restaurants have limited and heavily themed menus, even if they have a chef who will sneak in a cheese burger if you ask nicely. People leave because they don't get it. They haven't been exposed to the hook that gets their attention. Their base needs are not met. As a mentor (from the start), my honest experiences ... the big hooks are Friends - If someone already has a friend in SL when they first join, high chance they will stay. That friendship is enough to get most to endure all the garbage SL can throw at them. Friends2 - If someone makes a friend in their first or second session, see Friends. Lower chance of success, but it can get someone back a second or third time. Sex - Most people have an itch to scratch fairly regularly. If this mess helps .. great! They will likely find all the other stuff and friends and prims, no worries. Money - Less of a thing now, but back in the day people heard they could make bank in SL. I was rarely true then, less so now. Lurr - Oh wow, this place, wow, it's amazing, my hands .. they can touch everything but themselves .. That's pretty much it. Some people would come for the fashion or because they had seen pictures or something or roleplay .. and if you pushed a little, the base need tended to resolve back into friends and sex. Lurr would rarely get off help island, but he would stay for weeks! LL don't advertise anymore. The issue is the tiny window that exists between making an account and leaving forever disappointed. Newbie : I am here for one thing and I have no idea what it is, you may make two guesses before I leave. SL : So .. sex and friends it is !! Newbie 3 weeks later : I love prims. omg. who knew .. prims ❤️ .. also this is my wife. People are allowed to like other things.

Thank you for proving my point so quickly and so exactly. It will probably horrify you to know that BDSM has been a core part of this platforms social construct right back it earliest days. Back when people couldn't just roll infinite disposable 'after dark' alts because it cost money, people had to be subtle. Most everyone was owned by someone if you knew were to look, or read between the lines, or highlight transparent to see all the hidden collars. Why? (omg why!?) .. because BDSM provided an increased level of personal connection, it raised and expanded the emotional bandwidth a little, it was also thrilling and fun. But most of all .. it allowed people to feel belonging and connection to another person. Guess which demographic doesn't have a lot of that in their life. I could post a picture, perhaps some kind of pyramid with basic needs .. but honestly, it would just be something else to pick apart rather than address the actual points.

We have to start somewhere. Say we picked "SL is a great place for adults with physical difficulty, disability or mental health issues to meet, socialize and enjoy a personally rewarding experience with other adults" .. which is objectively true and a huge use case for the platform. There would be screaming that we're leaning in on SL being for broken people who can't get any IRL. Debates about disability and sex. Worry's that we're turning people away by favoring a specific group. .. Even though SL is world changing for people with disability, especially when it comes to expressing adult interests. Here come the rebuttals .. well of course we should make efforts to attract that demographic, but do we need to mention sex? No one does that, least of all "the disabled". I have a few proposal threads here going back years. No one here wants to do anything, or have anything happen that might impact them at all .. even if it wouldn't. There is an incorrect perception that welcoming one demographic pushes out another, and that is not the case at all. There is also the incorrect perception that "build and they will come" is some how true, as though more art or a better 'thing' will attract sufficient people. It wont. No one cares. You know who do care? All the disabled people who come here to play out BDSM sex fantasies.

They have to keep the old system body for "legacy content". Just another example of old pointless guff binding LL's hands.

You mentioned putting RLV on a motorbike to reseat the avatar after a failed region crossings (a fine and legit 'not sex' use for RLV!), and prok wrote a 5000 word essay about "BDMS" that no one read. Obviously this puts you 3 good breaths away from Santa themself.

That's a lot of words that evaluates into "do nothing". Those of us who do come up with specifics get shot down over and over again. it honestly doesn't matter what it is. The same few people will hate it, and then debate hating it. Someone put up a motivational cat poster .. oh no, are we sure? We're past subtly nudging the needle to create a broad platform for all types. It doesn't work. If we can get just one demographic to show up and keep showing up we win, we have to start somewhere and that somewhere will favor one group more than another. We have spent 20 year pretending this isn't a game because a portion of the demographic freak out. The idea they are playing a game all day every day devalues their experience because they irrationally detest those who do play games. Someone take down the "get off my lawn" sign .. oh no, are we sure?

But this isn't a free body. This is the new defacto "system body" from LL.

It's significantly less hostile and isn't openly infested with fascists. I've had zero death threats, it's been great !

At this point if you're on Twitter, you're helping Twitter.

Wouldn't it be great if we had a business model that didn't depend on the world breaking and people being forced to spend time at home. There is lots of data that's openly published. Don't read it.