[Viewer 2.5 with Web Profiles Has Arrived]

Yes I'm with you on this - the great improvements in some areas are being negated by annoying stuff like this. As a V2 user from almost the beginning I give credit for the terrific improvements that have been made, but this profile thing really is annoying.

Also LL - can Hiptomi's Starlight Skin not be incorporated into the main download as an 'optional skin'. For me Starlight really adds functionality and the colour system is better IMO.

[Getting Immersed in Second Life]

Welcome to SL and great, great introduction - it really bodes well for the future. Most people have said it all - especially Suella... but because I'm like that a few points (forgive the repetition)...

Listen to people but please do be aware that the people who yell the loudest do just that - yell loud. Please take time to read/listen to quieter more thoughtful people too - they are truly more representative of the ordinary person in SL.

There are many 'interest' groups in SL - they all think they are right - it's just like RL really. I knwo some are uncomfortable about the adult parts of SL and some are uncomfortable about the teens coming to the Main Grid. Both have their own agendas that they are very good at dressing up as reasonable argument - I'm hoping you'll see through that and make decisions based on reasonable approach rather than moral indignation.

One of the things you might consider is gradually separating G from M areas. This would take some time I know but the scattering of G sims in the middle of M sims is a bit tricky for a lot of people - especially now that the teens are here.

Border crossings remain a pain in the bottom, as does search (esp events - it's a nightmare if you run a venue).

V2.5 is a real improvement on V2 - keep the improvements coming. Don't listen to the people who yell to get rid of it - but do listen to the genuine issues people still have with some of it's functioning. I for one would like to see the option for a more 'basic' view without all the pics and graphics - I just want it to load fast and give me information.

Some people will never be happy - these people can make SL (and the forums) sound like everyone is terribly unhappy with SL. Most are actually quite happy and just get frustrated by the things that affect them... lag (time to bring in script limits perhaps), border crossings, use of sim resources by one parcel (those scripts again), search not functioning helpfully, etc etc etc

Customer service has taken a bashing in the last few months - please have a look at that and see if it is possible to bring it back to where it was a year or so ago - when people could get a response within a few days (not always the response they wanted - but that's a different matter).

I'm sure I've forgotten some things but no worries other people will fill those gaps in - with spades.

Good Luck - SL is a great place please try to keep it a diverse, exciting alternate world to RL - that's where it really wins - a playground for grown ups.

[Making Strides to Improve our Customer Support Services]

I agree completely about the new 'office hours' it's a disgrace for an international 'game'.

As I said previously there is an increasing frustration with not just the decisions being made by LL of late, but also by the way they announce them. PR is terrible at the moment and little thought seems to be put into how announcements are worded and there's little follow-up to answer questions or clarify.

When I mentioned 'ranting' I wasn't really talking about this blog - which has remained mainly very level (which is surprising given the level of annoyance, frustration and sheer helplessness that people are feeling) - I was actually more referring to the forums - I'm sorry if I didn't make that clear.

I'd love SL to restructure - almost anything would be better than the aimless drift that seems to be happening for the last 12 months or so. Even if I am not happy with the restructure at least I would have something tangible to be unhappy about rather than just wondering what is going to happen next. If we could all see LL's intent and future plan then each of us could make our decisions based on those facts, rather than wondering if we should continue to invest in SL.

[Making Strides to Improve our Customer Support Services]

Of course - and understand I am just musing now - if we were to take some (if not all) of the newer grids as an example this scenario might emerge...

SL/LL stops selling little pieces of land to prem members - all you can buy is full sims... instead prem members get a nice little home etc as their bonus - oh and live chat (but if you can't own a little piece of land like now,  it's unlikely you'll need live chat much). They then can target most of their support resources to concierge level - those who own sims and rent smaller pieces out to everyone else.

If that is the model that LL are moving towards it brings them sort of up to par with what other grids are doing right now. The harder thing to do will be convince people to take prem membership - unless they want to buy sims. In essence this would make SL a two tier grid - Prem members/Sim owners - and the people they rent to. Far less costs involved for SL and far less headaches trying to keep everyone happy.

Like I said I'm just musing here - but it does make for an interesting 'muse'

[Making Strides to Improve our Customer Support Services]

No worries I don't take it personal and agree with much of what you have written.

It is however my experience of forums across the internet - not just SL - that they attract a 'negative ' group of people who do just like to 'have a go' and they can unfortunately crowd out the more reasonable complaints, ideas and issues that 'real' people are trying to raise. It's kind of like the 'boy who cried wolf' syndrome - if forums are filled with hype it becomes a good excuse not to take them seriously.

That aside - I do agree that people (including myself) are becoming increasingly frustrated by the sort of seemingly aimless and disjointed decision making that LL seem to have been embarking on for the last year or so. As I said in my post just above - maybe it's all a lead up to a total rethink of how SL functions.

Time will tell

[Making Strides to Improve our Customer Support Services]

At the risk of becoming boring and repetitive (never!!!) I will say again - it's the direction that LL is taking SL right now that I find confusing - rather than any single one of their decisions.

Individually the decisions they have made recently are perfectly within what any company is entitled to do - even if I don't agree with all of them. Collectively these decisions are harder to make sense of - for a while I was pretty convinced that LL were 'cleaning' the place up and making it an arty-farty, educational, business project. But then the rethink of discounts for education and non-profit seems to go against that. Even with their slight turnabout on that they are only offering to keep the discounts for however long people/organisations can or will pay upfront. Sounds a bit like they are looking for cash flow to be honest. But then - as we have no idea of what the bigger picture might be - all we can do is observe and ponder right now.

[Making Strides to Improve our Customer Support Services]

I think everyone in SL needs a basic level of service but unfortunately if you 'rent' from a landowner your main port of call will always be to them for support. A bit like renting a shop in a mall - when things go wrong you look to the mall owners to sort it. Unfortunately if the owners are busy, away, ineffectual or disinterested it's easy for them to fob you off - that's one of the risks you take when you rent - rl or sl.

I have had cause to use support a couple of times in the past month or so and yes it's not as good or quick as it was earlier in the year - but to be honest I was treated politely and my issues were resolved within a few days. Maybe that's just the luck of the draw.

What I do think is that the rise of other grids is presently making SL look expensive - at the moment I have space on one, and while it's lots of fun most people in SL would go nuts at the issues and bugs that are rampant there. Unless you branch out and explore (and I mean more than a quick 'sniff about') it can be easy to rant on about how expensive SL is in comparison to other places. Saying that I do think that LL need to consider how to make SL look more competitive in a financial sense with other emerging grids right now. The obvious way to do this is to make prem membership more attractive by giving actual incentives for people to make a quarterly or yearly contribution up front. Frankly if I pay up front (which I do) I think it is not unreasonable toexpect something 'solid' in return - I will repeat some ideas mentioned by myself and others in this blog:

The ability to use megaprims, even if there was a limit of say 30 or 50m on them, more group spaces, the ability to have more 'tags' or roles within groups, the possibility of adding tier in a more balanced way rather than doubling up all the time, the ability to keep more in your inventory (maybe this means penalising basic members), a reduction on upload fees - maybe 5L instead of 10L, 1024 of tier free land - it (with the inclusion of megaprims) would then be big enough to actually do something with. There are many other ideas - some would cost initially, but many like group spaces, megaprims, group roles and adding tier in steps would not cost a lot at all and indeed might encourage more people to buy that bit more land.

I am one who actually believes that there should be 'tiers of service' people who pay up front are entitled to a better level of service to those who don't - sorry but that's just reasonable. And for those who spend many hundreds/thousands of USD in SL but won't take prem membership - well that is your decision - and in taking that decision there is no point in then ranting that you are entitled to the same service as those who pay membership fees direct to the company,

Seriously folks take a deep breath and have a think - if you're spending thousands in SL - isn't it worth paying direct for the service - and no I'm not especially moved by the 'trickle down' argument.

What I do hope is that this means that LL will actually 'IMPROVE' it's customer services to prem members not just cut back on it's services to basic members. Remember if you are a basic member and the person you are renting from is getting a good service - the service you get should improve also.

That's my tuppence worth and I shall bow out now :-)

[Making Strides to Improve our Customer Support Services]

Sorry I wasn't getting ar you - just taking your valid point as an example of the problem that LL have - no matter what they do at the moment they will step on someone's toes.

Personally I think linden homes are a mistake - they create a fictional version of what is actually available in SL for prem members. When anyone gets fed up of living in a colony/community and strikes out for independence they will immediately be struck with the fact that linden homes are actually unreasoanable competition for both LL landsales and private renters. (I think that makes sense - it does to me anyway.) Some things on the other hand are unavoidable - like the impact of lowering tier pricing would have on rental rates etc etc etc

[Making Strides to Improve our Customer Support Services]

That is why I said I hope that this new 'venture' would mean an IMPROVEMENT. I am aware that since the lay-offs support has suffered - makes sense really - it also makes sense for LL to target their resources at people who actually pay for membership - what I'm hoping is that this targeting will bring support back up to a decent level.

[Making Strides to Improve our Customer Support Services]

And seriously - that is the issue - no matter what LL do now they will naff someone off big time. They're sort of in a no win situation when it comes to that. People are just lined up waiting to have a 'go'. I reckon for every genuine gripe there are 8 just throwing in a punch for the hell of it. Hence I think blogs and forums have lost their power. Too much ranting going on with little real imput. And now I shall wait for the rants about that :-)

[Making Strides to Improve our Customer Support Services]

Ack - M. Linden was somehow so cut off from SL that everything he said made my hackles rise.

I have mentioned before in this blog that for me, at the moment, the real issue I have is one of confusion - I'm really not sure where LL is going with SL. There seems to be many conflicting decisions being made right now. I am also totally aware from my RL experience that many decisions looked at without access to the 'bigger plan' can seem confusing. I do hope that there is a 'bigger plan' and I do hope that it will be good for SL in the long run. But all we can do is wait and see.

[Making Strides to Improve our Customer Support Services]

There are a number of things that LL could do - in my opinion - to make Prem Membership more attractive - especially for those who have been in SL for some time. The ability to use megaprims is definitly one - and even if there was a limit of say 30 or 50m to the megaprims it would still be a vast improvement to what we get today. Other things to consider are more group spaces, the ability to have more 'tags' or roles within groups, the possibility of adding tier in a more balanced way rather than doubling up all the time, the ability to keep more in your inventory (maybe this means penalising basic members), a reduction on upload fees - maybe 5L instead of 10L. I'm sure there's many more things that could be possible and not at a huge cost to LL - indeed most of the things I mention wouldn't cost them at all.

[Making Strides to Improve our Customer Support Services]

This is how I see it -  LL are now pushing for 'paid members' and are reducing the services that basic accounts can avail of. It's probably a cost cutting exercise as well - as support services are expensive.

Genuinely I can find little fault with this. I know, I know - a lot of basic members spend a lot of money on SL through renting estate etc etc etc. Many own large business and invest in SL in 'indirect' ways. Given all of that it does strike me that for a long time there has been little reason to become a prem member unless you wanted to actually 'buy' land - or live in a linden home. I have argued for quite a while now that the tier allowance for prems should be increased from 512 to 1024 - making it a reasonable size for building anything on. Some people have argued that the stipend should be bigger - it all depends on how you see things. Right now I'm beginning to think that maybe either tier allowance or/and stipend may become a thing of the past - and what prem members will actually be paying for is the ability to buy land straight from LL - and get decent support.

To a point - yes it is a step backwards - there was a time when prem members got stipends, free tier AND great support. In these economically tight times I have a feeling that many things are going to change in SL. I guess if LL brought tier down in price - or at least rethink how it is charged for (going up in small chunks as opposed to the 'doubling up' that happens now) it may be worth it. I do feel that 'free membership' is not going to bring much else with it apart from the ability to wander about SL and buy things (including estate land). Prems will get support and possible some other 'perks', and that will be it.

To be honest - apart from emotional arguments - it's a development that it's difficult to be too critical of, it's kind of in line with what happens most places both in virtual and real life. I just wonder what LL have planned (and I DO think you have a plan). A while back I thought it might be about sanitizing the Grid and making it primarily an education/art place where students and artists would feel most at home. The recent announcement re the dropping of the discounts to education and non-profit organisations seem to evidence that this is not the case. Actually now I'm just confused as to where LL are taking the grid and what the plans for the future actually are.

Interesting times!