Ebbe has responded to the story about Linden Lab working on a new virtual world;
This takes care of one rumour, not starting out open source makes sense and it seems to suggest it may become open source at a later date.
My next question was about something that may keep me up at night in the near future;
So nothing sure there yet then.
Lets hope that they realise that most of us really really don’t want to start completely from scratch.
In another tweet Ebbe made clear that SL will be around for a long time to come so this virtual world is probably not something we can expect to take over soon and/or Linden Lab is planning to allow both virtual worlds to coexist for a while.
My final question for tonight;
So in short, this new Virtual World at the moment is not much more than in pre-alpha stage, perhaps even just something on paper.
It will be a long time before it becomes something we can actually try out.
Second Life isn’t going anywhere any time soon but will coexist with the new virtual world (probably as long as it keeps making a profit).
The idea is to keep using Linden Dollars and Marketplace.
It is too early to say if we will be able to export anything from SL to this new virtual world.
In her blog Inara Pey gives us a few more details and also shares the actual audio from the meeting where Ebbe made the announcement.
Make sure to check it out here; http://modemworld.wordpress.com/2014/06/21/ebbe-confirms-were-working-on-a-next-generation-platform-with-audio/
Something that I’ve been expecting is now out in the open;
Linden Lab is working on a next generation virtual world.
Closed source
Not backward compatible with content from SL.
Most of Lab’s development resources are already working on it.
Smaller dev team headed by Oz Linden remains working on SL.
This can be both extremely good and exciting news as well as horrible.
Apparently Ebbe Linden himself announced this during his visit at the PV developer meeting today.
This information was then shared via the SLuniverse forum, click HERE to read the actual thread,
The good side of this news is that well, SL is old, very old.
I’ve been told by inside sources that actual hamsters in wheels run the servers.
There is a lot wrong with the actual software and many people have said before that to make SL work, it would probably be best to start from scratch and that is what they are now doing, or so it seems.
This radical new start was long overdue to be honest and I am glad that Ebbe saw this and decided to actually go trough with it.
I was hoping and even expecting that behind the scenes there is a LOT of cooperation with High Fidelity and that this is what the next virtual world would be, maybe that can still happen.
But alarm bells are ringing all over the place.
Closed source is a really bad idea.
This will probably mean that there will be no third party viewers.
Of course that is generally a good thing for a virtual world, but not a good thing for the users.
I’ve used Firestorm for almost all of my 5 years in SL and really need all those extra options it offers.
It will also mean that it is unlikely that SL will be part of the metaverse because closed source could also mean that there will be no teleporting to other virtual worlds, no open borders for avatars.
Not backward compatible with content from SL is something that will give SL content creators a heart attack, including myself.
Does this mean that we can throw EVERYTHING we’ve ever build in SL away when the new Virtual World comes?
Or will we at least still be able to upload our mesh stuff?
How about scripts?
We have spend countless hours, days, weeks, months, even years creating things for Second Life, I’ve build an entire city (1920s Berlin), it has tenants, scripts that keep it running, so many things that if they would have to be replaced or even build from scratch, I’d age 20 years overnight.
I may even decide that it is more than I can handle.
I’ve written before that any new virtual world would have to offer a chance for us to transport most of our SL creations there, because starting from scratch something that took me 5 years to build will be the death of me.
Not to mention that some of us have spend hundreds, if not thousands of RL dollars to buy things in SL, will you be willing to buy all that again?
Ebbe did say that content creators will be extremely important for the next virtual world, so lets hope things won’t be as dire as they appear at first sight.
Will we be able to at least transport our avatars?
Or at least claim our SL names there?
I expect that in some ways they will be looking at High Fidelity and new VR technology such as the Oculus to create a new virtual world ready for the future.
That is not only smart but necessary and a good step.
It is something I’ve been talking about as well.
Although many people are still skeptical of all this modern stuff, those who have tried it (including Ebbe Linden), are generally convinced it will change our lives for ever.
And I agree even though I have to admit that currently SL is not quite right for long term Oculus use.
Anyway, so far all we have are a few things Ebbe supposedly said during an in world gathering.
I’ve asked for more info, if I get a reply, I’ll share it.
A video of the meeting is being uploaded as we speak.
A couple of days ago Linden Lab completely changed the look of the Second Life website.
I think that this is yet another very exciting step in the right direction, improving Second Life, its reputation and the general experience of (new) users.
Personally I don’t like the idea of having to scroll on websites, especially if, at first site, the page doesn’t appear to be any larger than what you see.
In other words, when you first load the website, you see just the main image and you can’t see that there is more below it, unless you actually notice your scroll bar.
And that is a shame because the best things on the page are below the picture, a picture that, I have to say, I don’t find very exciting.
It is nice to see part of an editing or even building process illustrated, but do new users actually realise that this is what they are looking at?
Or do they just see a street with some avatars standing next to a car?
I also don’t find the image very visually appealing, there are a lot more exciting images in the Second Life is looking good Flickr group.
However, I am very excited about the slogan;
The largest-ever 3D virtual world created entirely by its users.
This is what I’ve been suggesting for a while, people need to know that everything they seen SL was made by regular users, this does not only explain why the quality of sims may differ but it also makes clear that new users may one day be able to build something just like what they are visiting.
As I said, I don’t like having to scroll, I would have fitted all these things on a single space that wouldn’t require scrolling.
But if you do have more information that fits on one screen, I’d make clear theta there is more to see, with for instance a nice scroll icon.
The next section of the page shows us ‘what’s new’, with a link to the Oculus Rift blog post and one about the new avatars that will take you to the join up page.
But the very very best part of this new website is at the very bottom of the page;The Drax Files compilation video made by my friend Draxtor Despres.
And I am not just saying that because my 1920s Berlin project is part of the video!
It is a great video, showing some of the best parts of the ‘Drax Files’ videos he made that shows the creative and exciting side of Second Life that the media often seems to ignore and that most outsiders won’t know about.
This video has the potential to improve the reputation Second Life has with many and to entice those who may have no opinion about Second Life at all.
If I was in charge of Second Life, I’d put this video at the top of the page, make it the first thing visitors to the website see.
Just now Linden Lab announced on the Second Life website the launch of this Oculus Rift video together with this official statement on their website.
This means that the Oculus Rift enabled viewer can NOW be downloaded from the website and used in Second Life!
I’m glad to say that part of the video was shot in the Oculus Rift Test area in 1920s Berlin that you can now also visit as part of your first SL oculus experience.
You can find it by clicking here.
Further more, there is now also a special section in the Destination guide with sims that are especially suitable for Oculus Rift users;
Here is the full text of the announcement, followed by the video;
At Linden Lab, we’ve been very happy to see all the recent activity and interest in the virtual reality space – it’s a sign of progress and innovation in the industry and helps validate the space Second Life has led for more than 10 years. Developments like the Oculus Rift hold great potential for Second Life, and we’re very excited to bring the virtual world into the future with new technologies and partners.
A few weeks ago, we began a limited beta test of a version of the Second Life Viewer that makes it easy to use an Oculus Rift headset with Second Life for a fully immersive, VR experience. From the outset, we’ve seen strong interest in the integration, not only from existing Second Life users seeking a new way to experience the virtual world, but also from virtual reality enthusiasts eager to explore the enormous quantity and variety of user-created 3D content and social experiences inworld.
The early beta testers of our integration have provided some valuable feedback, identifying bugs as well as providing suggestions for additional features and options that would improve the experience of using the Oculus Rift with Second Life. Today we’re pleased to announce that our Oculus Rift integration is now available as a Project Viewer, the first step toward becoming a part of the default Second Life Viewer.
The Project Viewer features:
Full Oculus Rift Hardware Support – includes automatic hardware detection and display calibration for quick and easy setup.
Full UI Support – users can access the entire Second Life UI and HUDs while in Oculus Rift mode, so there are no limitations on what a user can do inworld while using the headset.
Customizable UI – users can tailor the settings for Oculus Rift mode that work best for their needs.
Avatar Head Motion – Oculus Rift head-tracking data is mapped to the avatar, so users’ avatars look where they do.
New First-Person View – allows users to enjoy the immersion previously available with mouselook mode, but thanks to the Oculus Rift, the mouse is free again to control the cursor, allowing for interaction with the UI and objects inworld.
“Align to Look” – allows users to quickly start moving the direction they are looking.
“Action Key” – interact with objects by pressing a key, works great in mouselook mode.
Like our initial beta release, this Project Viewer is more about making it easy to get started using the Oculus Rift to view Second Life than it is about optimizing the UI for headset users. We’ve made some minor adjustments to the regular Second Life UI in order to present it in head-mounted display (HMD) mode, but the UI headset users will experience with this project Viewer is still essentially the same as you’d see without an Oculus Rift.
If you have an Oculus Rift headset and would like to use it with Second Life, get the Project Viewer here. Getting started is easy – the Viewer includes automatic hardware detection and display calibration, and we’ve created this brief video to help:
For a long time people have been discussing the subject of Tier, it keeps popping up and the general consensus is that it is just too high.
If you own a full region you may end up paying 295 dollars a month, yes real dollars, not Linden dollars.
Even if that is good value for money, it is a lot.
Many people have offered their ideas and opinions on the matter, I myself have brought up tier a couple of times and shared ideas with you on how LL should perhaps offer a wider choice of regions, create perhaps a smaller region, etc.
Another thing they might want to consider is simply letting people pay for the amount of land or prims they use, as the jump in rate for premium users is very high.
If you want to use just a few more prims, buy a little more land, you suddenly find yourself in a new category of tier.
Again, here some flexibility may make things easier for us.
Although it tier is a lot of money, it may be impossible for LL to lower it, at least at this moment.
Recently Mona Eberhardt explained why the Tier is not too high and it made me look at the situation a bit differently, the following discussion on her blog was also very interesting.
You can read it here.
And although this may not be a very popular view, I also feel that if a sim like mine, with such a niche theme as role-play in 1920s Berlin, can not only pay for itself but even make a profit, why can’t others?
But perhaps that is a subject for another blog.
Either way, Tier has not changed in years and although Linden Lab is not very good at communicating their motivation for keeping tier so high, they may actually have a good reason and will not change it no matter how brilliant our ideas and suggestions are.
So lets look at other ways to making Second Life a little cheaper for us users.
Monthly tier is a problem for many sim owners, but another issue they have are the setup fees.
This screenshot from the Second Life website shows what it costs to not only own a region, but to buy one.
Quite a shock to potential sim owners I can say from my own experience.
Not only that, but transferring a region to someone else, moving it, etc, that all costs money too.
I started 1920s Berlin small, in a skybox on mainland.
I didn’t want to lose any money so the project only grew when the sim could afford it.
And when I was finally talked into moving to a full region, I knew I would not be able to pay for the setup fee so I started accepting donations, organizing events, had fundraisers and auctions till we finally got the big pile of cash together.
I was lucky to have found such a great group of people with so much passion for the project that they were willing to support it.
Nevertheless it took many months for us to actually manage to achieve this goal.
A while ago I started adding homesteads to my sim but even though those are a lot cheaper to buy, they still cost more than I can afford easily.
So I’ve been waiting for months for the right moment to add another one.
And of course there are dozens, hundreds or maybe even thousands of people in SL who might be tempted to buy a region but just can’t afford or don’t want to pay the setup fee.
Even if you buy a second hand region, you have to pay a $100 transfer fee on top of what you are paying the previous owner and as they usually would like to get some of that setup fee back, you could still end up paying a couple of hundred bucks for it.
And don’t forget that Value Added Tax (VAT) could also be added on top of that!
So if we can’t convince LL to lower their tier, perhaps we can get trough to them regarding the setup fees and other costs.
Maybe this too is something they won’t even consider but again, because they don’t explain to us in detail why something costs what it costs, we’ll keep poking them with complaints, ideas, suggestions, etc.
And some of us will continue to keep shouting ‘Lower the tier’ at any Linden they see.
Anyway, the setup fee is as big, if not a bigger barrier for people who are considering buying a region.
If this fee was lowered or even scrapped, as I would suggest, I think quite a few SL users would be tempted to buy a region.
Of course this will mean a loss of revenue to Linden Lab, something that they are probably not to keen on at the moment.
But I think that this loss will be overshadowed by the amount of money they’ll start making on monthly tier by those people who now want to buy a region.
A much more steady flow of income than the irregular payments from region sales.
For starters, if they would lower or scrap the fee on homesteads, I’d buy two tomorrow and it would be a lot sooner before I start working on my next full region project too.
I think that the boost this idea could give to the economy, would be worth it.
People are more willing to invest and risk tier than the full set up fee.
Who knows how many crazy dreams people have but can’t afford, will turn out to become the next big thing in SL that will get it a lot of RL positive publicity?
And imagine the buzz it will create amongst users if after years of decline, the amount of privately owned regions goes up again.
Maybe this idea (also) makes little sense, but that again comes down to the fact that there is a lack of transparency when it comes to the costs of running Second Life.
If Linden Lab told us exactly why costs are so high, why they charge what they charge, we may not only stop writing about our crazy ideas, but we might even stop complaining about the tier.
After all, we don’t know how much it costs to feed the hamsters who run in the Server treadmills!
What do you think?
Another daft idea or something that actually makes sense?
When you join Second Life you get to choose from a selection of avatars, there used to be a dozen, recently 24 mesh ones were added.
It was about time that the old avatars were replaced by something new and more up to date but I fear that by giving new users 100% mesh avatars, Linden Lab may have made things more complicated for our precious noobs.
The new SL starter avatars
Imagine being a new user, you pick one of the avatars, start your Second Life and then you decide you want to change your clothes, or your avatar… and you realise that this is very hard.
A friendly oldtimer gives you some clothes… alas these don’t work on these avatars.
You chat to someone and see their mouth move, you realise your avatar can’t do that.
You visit a sim that has a dress code, you need to change your avatar… but you don’t know how.
Ebbe Altberg explained on Twitter that they had made a mistake with the avatars, they should have mod permissions, so this will be fixed.
But still, a full mesh avatar is something for experienced SL users, not for those who’ve only just started it.
One of the things EVERYONE in SL wants, is to customise their avatar, change hair, skin, shape, etc.
This has now become harder.
Getting the new user experience to be fun, easy and inviting is one of Linden Lab’s main goals, after all, lots of people join SL but only a few hang around, the user retention is not very good.
We should want new users to be able to create an avatar they like and start exploring as soon as possible.
I don’t think these new avatars will help with that.
There might be a better way to help new users start their Second Life.
I’ve written before about using the Second Life website for more phases of the new user experience, such as a tutorial, helping them find a first location to teleport to, etc.
But I also think we should perhaps let new users create their own avatar on the SL website before they even start the SL viewer.
I think that it is very important that new users get to experience SL with an avatar they like, one they created themselves and one that they can bond with.
One that represents who they are or who they want to be, someone they will perhaps would not abandon so quickly and that might keep them in SL a little longer.
Actually relating and starting to care for an avatar is a great experience that enriches your Second Life and it is something that usually doesn’t happen till you’ve been in SL for a while.
Imagine having that feeling from the very beginning!
I would like new users to create their new SL avatar on the SL website just like they can do with countless other games, MMOs and simulation games such as The Sims.
Besides giving you an avatar you will feel closer to than one randomly picked from a small selection, it is also just a lot of fun to do.
If I look at the current avatars on offer, I don’t see any that I fancy, that represents me.
If I joined SL today, I’d start it with an avatar I didn’t like, one that I could easily forget about if I decided to leave SL.
You will never make everyone happy with avatars you’ve created, so let them create their own.
Really, we don’t care if our avatars are not 100% mesh, we can always decide to buy one of those or as many do today, replace parts of our bodies with mesh bits.
Creating, adapting and customising your avatar should be fun and easy.
Look at the game industry to see how they do it and translate that to an avatar builder on the SL website.
If others can do it, so can we.
Let’s have a look at a game that comes very close to Second Life; The Sims 3.
A game I used to enjoy a lot, till I discovered SL.
Creating a ‘Sim’, is a lot of fun.
With big buttons and easy sliders you have a surprising amount of freedom and countless options to make your avatar look the way you want it to.
And all this before you even start the game.
The second you move into your first house, you have already spend some time with your Sim and probably already like him or her.
I think that something that allows new SL users to create their own avatar, even if it is more basic than in the Sims will be better than making them choose from a selection of avatars, no matter how cool they are.
After all, SL is all about freedom and creativity, why not start that experience from the very beginning?
Oh and bring back last names 😉
What do you all think about this idea?
Let me know in the comments.
I want to leave you with this very impressive video of the avatar creation tool from ‘The sims 4‘ that will be released later this year.
Linden Lab JUST announced that the new starter avatars I’ve spoken about a few times before, here and here, are NOW available.
Go give them a spin and let me know what you think!
So at first sight it is nice to see some diversity.
However, as discussed before, most (if not all) of these new avatars are mesh and with mesh avatars we get certain issues that may make things only more difficult for new users.
Nevertheless, they do look a lot better than previous ones and that is also important when it comes to first impressions.
I’m not sure about the Vampires section, ‘Fantasy’ might have been a better name, as I also see monsters and zombies there.
I still think that we should just get rid of starter avatars altogether and let new users create their own avatar from scratch before they even start their Second Life.
Not only will this be fun, will it cause the new users to invest into their avatar and create a connection, even bond with it, it will also give new users more freedom and will make it easier for them to adapt to Second Life as they won’t find themselves in this virtual world with an avatar that looks like dozens of others, who’s mouth doesn’t move and for whom all the free basic clothes they get won’t fit.
I also fear a flood of new users visiting my sim and then having to explain to them that they won’t be able to dress their avatar in 1920s clothes because we don’t have fitted mesh 1920s clothes as a freebie at the moment and having to explain to them how to completely change their avatar because they choose a fantasy themed one.
Sorry folks, no zombies in 1920s Berlin.
So in short, good idea to replace the old avatars, about time even, but I don’t think it is a huge improvement to SL as a whole.
They confirmed that this was the case, so with their permission, I hereby reveal two of the 24 new avatars future users of Second Life will soon be able to choose from.
You can see them in action and hear them share some very interesting things in the next episode of ‘Designing Worlds’ that will be broadcast on the 19th of May, so make sure you keep an eye on the Designing Worlds website.
Recently Ebbe Altberg, CEO of Linden Lab announced on twitter that we were going to get new starter avatars, giving people who are starting their Second Life a choice of (hopefully) better avatars than the ones they can pick now.
Ebbe was a bit too optimistic when he said the new avatars would arrive in March, but today he told me they would arrive in Second Life “before the end of next week”.
This is quite exciting and perhaps the first step towards improving the new user experience, something most people agree about is rather bad and when improved could make Second Life a lot better and maybe even sort out the huge retention problem we’re suffering; a lot of new people don’t stay in SL very long.
Although new, better looking avatars are a great step in the right direction, I do worry about new users having to deal with mesh avatars and that some of these sometimes seem incapable of moving their mouths while talking.
There is a new wave of enthusiasm and excitement going trough the virtual reality community lately.
I too have felt the new atmosphere in SL and it has made me want to revisit some of the ideas I have about improving our virtual world but also share some new plans that have popped into my mind.
Yes, I may have said some of the things I’m saying before, I may be repeating myself.
I’m old, it is allowed.
Reputation
This to me is one of the biggest problems SL has; it either has a very bad reputation or people aren’t even aware it (still) exists.
But this is something that can relatively easily be solved.
For starters, SL needs to get back into the media’s interest and in a good way this time.
Luckily the Oculus Rift and the coming Virtual reality renaissance are already doing this, SL is being talked about again and not always in a bad way.
Suddenly we’re part of something big and interesting again that is happening right now.
But educators are still scared to mention it or suggest a school or museum to use it because of its past.
People still think that SL is just a place where weirdos come to either pretend to look like Barbie and Ken or do all sorts of kinky stuff.
And of course that is true, but there is more to SL than just that, and Linden Lab and us, the users of SL, have to try and make people realise that there is this whole other side as well.
Up till now LL has has not been doing well when it comes to improving their reputation.
Their advertising often shows very pretty young avatars who are either shopping or suggesting something sexy might happen.
The Bikini advertisement they are using right now caused a bit of a stir, to be honest, if I had seen that ad before I joined SL, I probably wouldn’t have, assuming SL was just another IMVU, or worse.
But this post is not just about complaining, I also want to offer some ideas and suggestions.
And when it comes to advertising, I am not just talking as a user.
I graduated from Film school, made a few short movies that got every positive reviews, wrote and directed things for TV, owned my own production company, etc, etc.
Not to mention that my father worked at an advertisement company while I grew up and he brought his work home.
So if you permit me, I’d like to share a few ideas for SL advertisements, for free.
And when I say free, I am of course telling lies.
If LL uses these ideas, I really wouldn’t mind a pile of cash 😉
When SLGo went live, they had a nice, cute, advertisement.
It was well made, unfortunately it reinforced some of the ideas people have about SL, that all we do is shop, flirt and dance, but it looked good.
The most valuable and interesting thing about Second Life are its users and Linden Lab should use them and what they make to promote SL, in a good way.
Imagine the following advertisements;
A very slick and smooth video shows a game, someone flying a mini airship with a cannon, dirty children running trough Victorian Steampunk like streets being chased by a scary man, explosions, smoke, danger… It looks like an advertisement for a new game… coming to your computer soon… for free! Then a young chap who is playing this on his computer turns around, looks into the camera and says; I made that! ‘Second Life; make your own game’ An idea of course based on one of SL’s best creators Loki Eliot.
We see an avatar walking into a bar, other avatars turn around, wave at the avatar, welcome him back, they chat, they dance, they laugh. It is busy and very social, a bit like Cheers perhaps, and maybe, why hide it, there is the promise of romance in the air. But then we see a guy behind his computer take off his Oculus Helmet, smile because he has just spend some time with his friends and then we see that he is (of course) cool and handsome but lives in the countryside, has a touch job far away from society, maybe gamekeeper in Africa or he works on an oil rig, or perhaps he is even a soldier at the front who now has to go back to do his duty.’
We see a typical ‘soccer mom’ (I hate that word and btw, it’s called football), at home in a kitchen, she is designing clothes on her computer and selling them in Second Life. Her teenage son comes in, pretends he is not interested but can’t avoid peeking at the monitor. He has to confess, that last dress she made is actually pretty cool. She tells him sales are good, he grins and asks her if that means he’ll get a new computer for his birthday. Mum says they can’t afford that but then checks out her Linden Dollar balance, she smiles and we see her open another window and start searching for that new computer.
A timid and shy teenage girl living in suburbia, in a very boring household where everyone just watches tv, in a very quiet and soft voice she tells her parents she is going upstairs, she gets no reply. She goes up to her room, logs into SL and we see her avatar get on stage at a full club, everyone cheers. Then she starts singing, she has a great voice and sings something that is completely opposite to what her character in RL seems to suggest she would sing. She rocks. We see her in her little room, perhaps with the Oculus on her head, singing and swinging, having a great time. We switch to another user who is in the audience, at home in RL he is also enjoying her show, he is a cool kid. In the background we see his father, busy on the telephone behind a desk, there are gold records on the wall, he hears the music his son is listening to in SL, the man stands up, walks over, gets excited and then holds the telephone by the computer speaker. It is clear that this shy teenage SL user is about to be discovered.
A high flying career guy at a fancy modern office tells his secretary he is going home, he is going to meet some old friends. He lives in a nice fancy apartment, he has a good job, there are pictures everywhere of friends, parties, his wife is there, perhaps kids too. He puts on his Rift and starts up Second Life. His avatar is suddenly a kid, he is in a basement, everything there is 1980s, the posters, the computer games, the books, the toys. Other avatars teleport in, all young boys, they laugh, they chat, they play 1980s music and computer games. We see that behind these avatars are all business men who are living all over the world and who have clearly not been together as friends since their childhood.
A big strong muscular guy is hammering iron onto an anvil, he finishes a sword and leaves the forgeand walks trough the narrow busy streets of a Medieval town. Everywhere people are working and making something, they agree, that is one nice sword the blacksmith made. He walks to a castle and hands over the sword, the lord of the castle tells him that the sword is really good, he will get an A+. The blacksmith takes off his Oculus Rift and turns out to be a 12 year old kid in an Irish classroom. He is excited, and asks if he really just got an A+. The lord of the castle takes off his Oculus and turns out to be his teacher who confirms it.
Black and white, we see a young pretty avatar dance with a sailor, the settings is a 1940s sim. Vintage cars, big band music, a dance hall. They have a great time. The girl takes off her Oculus Rift, she turns out to be an 80 year old lady, a tear rolls down her cheek, on the table next to the laptop we see an old black and white photo of her in the 1940s, with a sailor next to her, on their wedding day.
Ok, I know, I got a bit carried away, some of these are a bit silly and over the top, but try and imagine what the target audience would think about them.
Also just forgive me, I’m used to writing drama and have way too much imagination and love for melodramatic romantic stories.
It is not about avoiding adult content, I would be fine with showing someone who in RL is perhaps “in the closet” and who uses SL to realise they are actually attracted to the same sex and explore this.
Or someone who is a very dull office typist but who has a double life as some sort of dominatrix.
It is not about making SL appear better than it is, all of what I suggest is already possible, SL has some stunning places but so much of it will never even be seen by new users who don’t stay long enough and only see the 5 year old abandoned half empty shopping malls.
The idea is that we show that SL has many options, it lets you be who you want to be, that everything you see is made by regular people and that there are real people behind every avatar who do all sorts of different things in SL.
We need to show the world that, yes SL is for shopping, yes it has hanky panky but it has so many other options as well.
If you can manage to make one or lots of small videos that show, in a positive light, the many ways people use SL, you may end up with something that they will want to share with their friends and family to show them what it is they do in SL while now they probably don’t want to tell anyone they even are in Second Life.
A good advertising agency can probably stuff all these ideas into one commercial, they can without doubt also come up with better stories.
SL has creativity, romance, education, an exciting future and so much more.
Stuff all that into one video, even into one picture.
Sure, show bikini babes, but add someone in a medieval dress or a space suit as well!
I know that young people who are interested in social interaction, shopping and romance are the biggest business in SL, but I also know that the advertising that is bringing in these people does not bring users to SL that stay very long.
If the advertisement policy was working, we wouldn’t have such bad retention, more about that later.
The last SL advertisement video I saw did show a very diverse selection of sims and possibilities, but it didn’t link this to real people actually building all of that and using it.
We need to let possible future users know that everything we see was made by regular folk like them.
Another thing LL has to keep an eye on is how the media represents Second Life.
Why are there still stories being published with screenshots from 2007?!
Do journalists not check the LL press page?
Does the actual Second Life website not have a press page?
I looked, I couldn’t find it.
Imagine you’re a lazy journalist, you have a deadline, you have to write about Second Life.
You look at the SL website, can’t find a press page, you don’t bother checking the Linden Lab site.
You need screenshots, they need to be in the public domain so you don’t get hassle with copyrights.
You look for them, all you can find is some old screenshots of weird people doing weird things, well what a coincidence, you think that is what SL is all about so this will illustrate the article perfectly…
People, not just journalists, are lazy.
They want to spend 5 minutes on Wikipedia, 5 minutes on google an then write their article. So you have to offer them ready made information packages.
When I still made movies and had press viewings, we made sure they got whatever they needed to write their review, a folder with copyright free pictures, background information, facts & figures and some extra stories.
I think that if you can steer the media a bit in the right direction the odds of them writing something positive about you or at least something that is true and up to date increase.
Make it easy for them, stick a big ‘Media enquiries’ button on the SL website, just in case they don’t visit the Linden Lab website.
Keep the press page updated, the current ‘Linden Lab in the News’ section seems to suggest Linden Lab has not been in the media since October last year.
Journalists want to know we’re already experimenting with the Oculus Rift!
As for copyright free images, they link to their flickr collection where they have only 10 pictures that, although good looking, are not very exciting or showing the many different sides of SL.
Many of us would be happy for LL to offer the pictures we make for press use, so why not look at the art we make and ask the makers if you can add them to the copyright free collection the media gets to choose from?
I’ve already uploaded some of my snapshots to Wikipedia Commons so there are at least some up to date pictures there.
If the media does not portray you the way you want to be portrayed, make sure they have easy access to the side you do want them to see.
Don’t ignore misconceptions, fight them.
Tier
The high costs of Second Life remains an issue, it is stifling creativity and stops Second Life from growing.
Land in SL is expensive, maybe the price is somehow justified, but it is still a lot of money that many people can’t afford and there is competition out there that offers more for less already.
Stopping the discounts scared many educators away and Tier is also stopping a lot of people from starting a project or opening their shop.
I’ve written before about tier and I understand that actually lowering tier is a scary thing to do, even for a big company, as they risk losing a lot of income and can’t be sure the alternative will actually work.
I suggest that in stead of just lowering all tier, LL should add more kinds of tier.
That is what big companies do if they have a product that their customers feel is too expensive, they offer special deals, discounts, give away extra’s and above all; offer more choice.
We already have the discount for educational sims back, but why not add other options for regular users such as making tier lower just for the first two months to give people an incentive to start something new, reward sims that are doing well by lowering their tier after a few years, and above all I think Linden Lab should expand their merchandise.
At the moment you can only buy 3 types of region in Second Life!
You can buy a full region, it costs $1000 (!) to buy and has a tier of $295 a month.
Or get a Homestead region, it is the same size but you get less prims and less people can visit it at the same time, it costs $375 to buy and $125 a month in tier.
Or you can get a so called Openspace Region, it costs $250 to buy and $75 tier a month.
Real dollars, not Linden dollars.
I personally feel that all these prizes are much too high but besides that, why are these the only options available to us?
I don’t know much about the technical side of maintaining Second Life, but to me it doesn’t seem like it would be a lot of extra work to sell 2 half regions in stead of 1 full one.
Why can’t we buy a full or quarter region?
Just split a region in 2 or 4 parts, or just create completely new regions of different sizes.
They shouldn’t be next to each other, otherwise you might as well rent it from a landlord, they should look and feel like regular regions, should be place able in the middle of nowhere, just smaller.
A quarter sim would get you 16384 square meters, 3750 prims and would allow 12 avatars to visit at one time.
But it would also cost you $250 to buy and have a tier of about $74 a month.
Still a lot, but cheaper than the other offers and you would actually own your own land and not have to rent.
This may be just what someone is looking for who does not want to buy a full region.
All I am saying is that Linden Lab should look into creating more alternative choices for the customers.
I’m sure we can come up with more than 3.
And although this would create some cheaper alternatives for the users, the land will still give Linden Lab the same income.
Because when I started buying land, I didn’t care about the size but about the costs, the amount of prims and how many people would be able to visit at once.
I would have been really happy with just half a region.
Another idea I’ve had is to create ‘part time sims’.
A lot of social life in SL is centered around clubs, running these can be a lot of work and it is very difficult to break even.
But most venues don’t have a show on every day, maybe just one or two in the weekends.
The rest of the week the club is empty, just using up recourses.
So why not offer sims that are only online in the weekend?
Activated only 8 days in the month, turned off the rest of the month.
If we spread Tier across 30 days it turns out a full region costs about 10$ a day and by only using the sim 8 days a month LL could lower the tier for a full region to 80$ a month.
Of course, as I said before, I have no idea what the possibilities are, but I am sure there are some.
Either way, you could give people more options without lowering the tier per actual square meter.
And this way Linden Lab can test how many people are actually interested in buying smaller regions at lower costs and test if lower tier does actually increases the amount of people buying land.
Retention
Now this is a big one, still.
I think we’re going to get a lot of new excited VR users trying SL out (again) when the oculus Rift and/or other headsets become available to consumers.
But according to LL figures we already have a lot of new people signing up every month.
Problem is, they don’t stay long.
After trying SL as a noob the new CEO of Linden Lab Ebbe Altberg came to the conclusion that first moments in SL for new users are pretty bad.
To be fair, I haven’t tried the new user experience myself for a long time, but this video I shared last week gives a pretty good idea and well, it is rather horrendous;
In previous blogs like this one and this one, I’ve suggested a few possible solutions;
-Let new users create their custom personal avatar on the SL website before they even start the viewer.
-Give new users an online tutorial on the SL website where they can figure out the basics and also learn how to use the search function (or check the destination guide), choosing their first landing location so that their first steps in SL are in a place they picked themselves.
To my previous suggestions I want to add a new one.
At the moment new premium users get a free Linden Home, in general people don’t seem to be very excited about this offer.
There isn’t much you can do with these buildings, you don’t get a lot of prims and there are so many rules.
It doesn’t really represent the SL slogan “Your world. Your imagination”.
But the idea of giving new users a home, a place to go to, is a good one.
Why not give every new user some land without a building on it?
For free!
Ok I know this will cost Linden Lab but it will also make the first visit to SL a lot more fun and the odds of new users returning a lot greater.
After all, they now have a place where they can try building something, they know where to go to unpack their shopping and where they can invite people to who they meet.
Not to mention that they could begin their Second Life there in stead of being thrown in at the deep end, between the freaks and grievers.
But make it a temporary deal, new users get their deserted island in the sea but it will only be there for a month or so.
When that time runs out those who have stayed in SL will probably want to find a new home so they can keep the house they’ve build or keep enjoying the other benefits of having your own piece of land.
That means that they will rent something from a landlord and thus support the SL economy or they may decide to buy land from Linden Lab.
And it also means that Linden Lab can stop building portals, creating in world tutorials, etc.
Education
I’ve just blogged about this and seeing the Irish school class using another virtual world in stead of Second Life for their amazing history lessons made it clear that Linden Lab has to do more work to get education (back) in SL.
More discounts, more freedom, more options.
Why is this so important?
Because it shows a whole different side of SL and thus it is good for its reputation and second of all, it is a way to get future generations involved with Second Life at an early age and this increases the chance of them returning to it after school.
But above all, it uses Virtual Reality for something really worth wile and valuable.
The video I shared with you has gone a little bit viral, people are discussing it everywhere, that could have been free PR for Second Life.
But teachers need some security, they need to be able to make sure their pupils don’t teleport out, don’t get grieved, don’t bump into things that will freak out the parents.
They will need to be able to download and save the things they and their pupils made.
This takes care of one rumour, not starting out open source makes sense and it seems to suggest it may become open source at a later date.
et’s have a look at a game that comes very close to Second Life; The Sims 3.
n it or suggest a school or museum to use it because of its past.
