[Getting Immersed in Second Life]

...I hang out at one of the three land marks that every noob (new account)  gets in their inventory.  And the rudeness there on the part of some of the regular scares away one day old newbies just starting out.  I have IM from people who have been treated rudely and say they are done with second life.  All because of the welcome areas, help areas and orientation areas that are landmarks in the folders of people starting out.

All you need is a LL staff person to randomly drop into those areas with an alt, identify who is beind rude, and then have them punished appropriately.  You don't need someone there full time, just often enough, and unpredictably enough to scare away the idiots.  The unpredictable part is important, the rude people should have no idea who might be a Linden alt, and when they might show up.

Interestingly, I had a thread on the General Discussions forum, about the Ahern Welcome Area, that suggested pretty much exactly this.

It was (*ahem*) deleted by the forum moderators.

/me shrugs.

Still seems to me a good idea.  I still can't believe that the issue of "first experience" and retention shouldn't be more of a priority.

 

[Getting Immersed in Second Life]

Welcome Rodvik!  This post is a really positive sign, and I'm delighted to join with the others here in praising you for jumping in feet first, and getting a first-hand feel for Second Life, the old-fashioned way.

I do think, though, that if you are doing anything like a walking tour of SL, you need to ensure that you are taking in the full diversity of what it has to offer.  The vast majority of that is positive and enriching, and should leave you feeling pretty good about this new responsibility that you have shouldered.

But I want to join with Ceera, above, in suggesting that you need to take a look at the more problematic elements, and the darker side of Second Life as well.  Visit Zindra, and really look around:  ask yourself whether an adult ghetto that encompasses and forcibly lumps together simulations of loving and consensual sexuality with rape, Dolcett, and snuff role play really serves the community well.  Give some thought, maybe, to the message that it sends when SL equates sex and violence in that kind of way.  And maybe even consider allowing sex back into Mature areas, reserving "Adult" for the really violent simulations.

We are your "customers," but you now find yourself not merely a CEO, but de facto the benevolent (we hope) dictator of a kind of micro-society, with its own diverse culture.  Your task isn't merely to make this a better product, as important as that is:  it is also to give some thought to the governance of this virtual world.  Part of that will necessarily involve listening to its "citizens," and part in making tough decisions that will impact upon not merely our experience of Second Life, but how it is perceived by others.  Try to avoid the easy and cheap route of opting for a "Disneyfied" SL:  diversity is never a bad thing, per se.  But remember, too, that the decisions that you make have political, cultural, and ideological implications.

It's hard to be both corporate boss and Solon the Lawmaker simultaneously, I know.  But if you pay attention to the dialogues and discussions already underway between residents, you may find that course a little easier to steer than it otherwise would be.

[Linden Lab's New CEO]

Very cool indeed!  Welcome Rod!  Your appointment is, perhaps, one of the most hopeful signs I've seen for SL in at least half a year or more, and I'm confident that you will live up to a very promising resume, and vision.

You will find -- indeed, can see in evidence here in these comments -- that SL is an enormously diverse (and sometimes divisive) community, with many different expectations.  It is also a community that has been, of late, beset with worry if not outright fear for the future.

Appreciating that new growth is absolutely imperative for SL, remember that there is not much point in inviting others on to the cart until the wheels have been fixed, and it's moving again!  Please make it a priority to not merely remedy what is broken, but, perhaps most importantly, rebuild our confidence in SL, which has been much shaken.  And the best way to do that is to give heed to the communities at work and play here.  Please listen to us, talk to us, and even join us in-world, for just as you represent for us a new hope for SL, so too are are we your future.

[Introducing Kim Salzer, Our New VP Marketing]

Oh gosh, I'm always late to the party . . .

Hi Kim, and welcome!!

I think you'll like it here!  SL is not the software, or the grid: it is instead an enormously diverse, talented, creative, and committed community -- or communities -- of residents.  And that is where the "X Factor" lies:  within that community, among the creators, the entertainers, the educators, and the "citizenry" at large.  This is why I like this so much:

I’m excited about the prospect of helping to build a product that  really empowers people to express what they’re about, and that can make a real difference in their lives. I think we’ve only just started to see  what can be done here, and I can’t wait to see where we and our  Residents can take things from here.

I think this represents exactly the right kind of thinking:  empower the residents to make SL even more exciting and enticing than it already is!  Help us create the environment and content that will attract new people;  help us get the word out about why people should be wanting to come here.  Whether it's building a new gaming system for in-world, or helping to create stronger and more exciting communities of like-minded individuals, the focus should very much be upon "empowering" and "enabling."

That's why I also want to emphasize and repeat what some others above have said:  please come in-world, and into the forums, and interact with us.  Learn about us, and learn what we are capable of:  all of the potential for what SL can eventually become is here, among those posting here, or in the forums and blogs, or doing things in-world.

Move among us, talk to us, and I think you will see potentialities that perhaps are not yet apparent even to ourselves.