Getting a Second Life Just Got Easier with Direct SLurl
Thursday, September 18th, 2008 at 11:40 AM by: BlueAs we’ve discussed several times in this space, improving the “first hour” experience of new Residents is one of our primary goals. As our use cases and base continue to diversify, it’s important to begin tailoring the Second Life experience to the specific needs of our audience and reduce the time it takes to access and begin exploring the virtual world. One of the ways we can address this is to look at how first-time visitors are finding and accessing Second Life.
It’s with that mission in mind that we are launching Direct SLurl, an improved web address vehicle that enables first-time visitors to arrive directly at a location within Second Life, as their first location, by clicking on a Second Life URL from the Web, email, etc. Previously, all new Residents were directed to Help Island upon registration, where they went through orientation before they began exploring Second Life. In this new model, a first time visitor will be directed to www.slurl.com where, on that page, they click “sign up” and quickly register, download and login to the viewer, and arrive at their originally intended destination. A quick tutorial will open upon their initial arrival.
All existing SLurls will be enabled with the Direct SLurl extension effective Thursday, September 18th, 2008.
While Direct SLurl will mostly affect first-time visitors, the tool has significant existing benefits for current Residents as well. For example, if you are hosting an event inworld it will be much easier to recruit and attract non-Residents, as you can post your SLurl to your blog, email to friends, etc., and then attendees will be sent directly to your location.
Furthermore, Residents have the ability to create and brand their own page within slurl.com. When a new visitor clicks on your SLurl, they’ll be directed to a page with your content, further extending your inworld brand(s) to the real world.
While all SLurls will be Direct SLurl-enabled, the same security measures and land ownership protections will still apply. If your island is private and not accessible to the general population, it will continue to be so unless you indicate otherwise. If a first-time user is trying to access private content they will be advised of its status and be directed elsewhere.
It’s our belief that taking the steps to make it easier for new visitors to sign up and begin exploring Second Life will improve the usability of the platform for everyone. Further tailoring of the “first hour” experience can be expected in the near future with Direct SLurl being the initial, and very important, first step.
Further Information:
* How do I invite someone who isn’t currently inworld to a specific location?
* I don’t want people to use a SLURL to access my land
* I followed a SLURL and it took me to the wrong place!
View Torley’s informative Video on Direct SLurl
September 18th, 2008 at 11:43 AM
This is a wonderful development. SLURLs up to this point were of rather limited scope in their utility. I know this will be something many will find of great service. Good work.
September 18th, 2008 at 12:04 PM
Now, can we have some way to pre-assign someone to a specific group membership? So, for example, if you are running a University class, you can give something to your students that will set them up with the new account AND set them up with group memnership, so they can access the group-only classroom spaces?
September 18th, 2008 at 12:09 PM
Where’s the beef?
I mean: what’s new about this??
I picture myself being new and looking on a sort of green and blue coloured map.. why should I pick any place from there? All looks the same… shouldn’t it have at least >some< markers there?
In Google-Earth I can tilt and get an imagination of what’s on the ground, but not here, in this virtual world.
And why is this website loading so slow? To make the newbies “get used to it”?
September 18th, 2008 at 12:47 PM
While I’m loving this idea, I have one serious question:
Is it going to be easier for new users to download the client? To be honest, I think linking the download/install to trigger while the new user fills out the paperwork, so that way, the new user has everything to start. Then at the end of the paperwork, it triggers the client to start. This way, there’s less confusion.
After that, if they haven’t figured out they need the client..
September 18th, 2008 at 1:01 PM
This is great… but…
The place I’d like to send them to is not show on the map, due to the map itself being more than a year out of date.
September 18th, 2008 at 1:11 PM
Ceera, Group Membership is coming soon. The ability to provide inventory is being re-evaluated.
September 18th, 2008 at 1:22 PM
When will teleports, money. & group chats stop failing? Linden Labs keep adding more & more things for Second Life & not fix the problems we have now? New features are nice but when SL don’t work worth a crap half the time your using it why keep adding more & more new things????
September 18th, 2008 at 1:26 PM
Does this mean that the maps on slurl.com will finally be updated, after 10 months of inactivity? Pretty please?
September 18th, 2008 at 1:51 PM
I have one small question, that perhaps you won’t run from this time Blue.
Can you tell me just how Linden Lab arrived at this destination? I mean, did you conduct any studies with New Residents to ascertain what they were wanting? If so, how many New Residents were included? Comparingly, what was the Ratio of New Residents to the base population of Second Life?
Please, once more I ask, describe for us all the great lengths that Linden Lab has actually traveled to arrive with this “proposed” change.
It’s not that I don’t trust you guys there at Linden Lab, but I’m interested in the data, not how you have “confidence” in the procedures you use to arrive at a decision. I want to place my confidence within Linden Lab too, just help me figure out how I can.
September 18th, 2008 at 1:53 PM
I’m not quite getting this, what does a resident do on Slurl.com to get a teleport?
September 18th, 2008 at 1:57 PM
[...] was formerly the CEO of online creative/marketing agency Organic. Today, Linden Lab announced Direct SLurl, a way to maneuver straight to a Second Life location without logging into the world. We chatted [...]
September 18th, 2008 at 2:42 PM
Great idea, but best make sure there isn’t a website for Goguen Sandbox first!!!!
September 18th, 2008 at 2:45 PM
@7: Thanks Dirk. Being able to pre-set a group membership and to provision inventory in advance would be invaluable for my University clients! Right now, we are having to set it up so they arrive via a landmark or slurl AFTER they have an account, and then they must interact with an inventory givier to get the stuff they need to start orientation for the University. Theoretically the “Registration API” can send a brand new account to a designated starting sim, but it can’t provision inventory or pre-assign attachments, the way the LL orientation does.
September 18th, 2008 at 3:40 PM
Ceera: you could use the encoded join/slurl link from the SLURL page (the hotlink on the page itself that starts with http : / / join . secondlife . com / ? slurl = gibberish) sending them to a location that’s otherwise unlikely to be visited, then have a scripted object there that calls llGiveInventory() when it detects a sufficiently new visitor arriving at that location.
You could also have a website that generates a custom slurl (or join link) for each student, at a unique skybox location, and when they arrive you will immediately be able to identify them by the location they arrived in.
September 18th, 2008 at 4:30 PM
I don’t think LL intends this to be a substitute for the Registration API, but rather as an alternative to the ugly “This URL type is not associated with a program” error you get if you don’t have Second Life installed.
This way people who stumble upon a SLURL are actually directed somewhere meaningful, instead of just having some cryptic error presented. On the merits of this, it’s a great idea.
If you try to turn it into something it’s not, I’m sure you can find all sorts of things to complain about it.
September 18th, 2008 at 4:31 PM
Did anyone else read that Q&A our wonderful CEO gave today?
Not in a Recession eh? Wow, it only took him three months to fall out of step with his community; isn’t that a new record at Linden Lab?
September 18th, 2008 at 4:59 PM
[...] was formerly the CEO of online creative/marketing agency Organic. Today, Linden Lab announced Direct SLurl, a way to get into Second Life from the web. We chatted with Kingdon about the state of Second Life [...]
September 18th, 2008 at 5:26 PM
This is fantastic! I frequently give SL tours to librarians and library staff. It will be so nice to give them a slurl so they can start their first SL adventure at the library archipelago where they will get plenty of help in learning about all SL has to offer. I think landing on Help Island (where there are frequently rude or intimidating people) turned off people because they never got to see what SL is really all about.
September 18th, 2008 at 5:48 PM
[...] Labs announced today the new Direct Slurl. This is fantastic news for people who are trying to encourage people to [...]
September 18th, 2008 at 6:08 PM
Any bonus/reward program for running an advertising campaign (that serves on Linden Lab’s behalf) to attract more customers?
September 18th, 2008 at 6:16 PM
@15 Darien, “This way people who stumble upon a SLURL are actually directed somewhere meaningful, instead of just having some cryptic error presented.”
Agreed, I like that about it. Very useful for events, too.
September 18th, 2008 at 6:30 PM
Being that the SLurl gizmo only halfway works and the map is usually not working at all… I hope this works better than it did the last time I tried to use it.
September 18th, 2008 at 6:39 PM
Agreed, Ceera. When you direct people IRL to Second Life you generally have the area they’re being directed to set to non-public, since you don’t want random Residents stumbling into your private sim… Not being able to link to such a private sim would sort of make the very situations in which this would be useful unworkable.
Still, yet another way to make the initial step easier (and less likely to fail!).
September 18th, 2008 at 6:48 PM
Something seems to have go wrong with the blog moderation software.. A post I made at 1:53pm still says “Your comment is awaiting moderation.”
September 18th, 2008 at 7:08 PM
I agree that fewer cryptic error messages is a good thing.
@ 4 That’s an excellent suggestion, Raudf! I know that some Lindens are looking at making client download less intimidating to new registrants, so I’ll make sure to promote the idea to them directly.
@ 2, 6 Thanks Dirk, auto-group invite is definitely something that would benefit not just educators but resident businesses, musicians, etc
@ 18 Glad you approve Rebekah! We’ve found that it’s not just professionals who wish to bypass the Linden orientation to get to their meetings and training sessions etc. The most frequently asked question on Orientation Island has been “how do I get to the mainland?” (or variations thereof).
@ 20 That’s also a good idea Ann! How about this…if you can beat retention numbers for LL’s orientation for a month, I take you out for prim sushi? You can’t put a price on dinner with a big green monster
September 18th, 2008 at 7:14 PM
I’m with 9 here, and judging by Linden responses, I think his questions will get ignored :/ though completely valid questions.
September 18th, 2008 at 7:20 PM
“All existing SLurls will be enabled with the Direct SLurl extension effective Thursday, September 17th, 2008.All existing SLurls will be enabled with the Direct SLurl extension effective Thursday, September 17th, 2008.”
Um yeah, I think today is Thursday the 18th, but then again I could be wrong…
September 18th, 2008 at 7:38 PM
This new 1st day experience is almost as quick and easy as the new virtual world, ExitReality is.
September 18th, 2008 at 7:46 PM
@ 9
It would be interesting to find which forum this was discussed on, since this seems to be the new method of coming to these decisions now, I assume there is a forum??
Could someone please post a link to it so I can look it over?
September 18th, 2008 at 7:55 PM
I think this is a positive and needed feature and just wanted to say good job.
September 18th, 2008 at 7:59 PM
It sounds like a great idea, but I’m a little disappointed. I thought maybe we could now skip that annoying taleport page. Maybe, in the future, could an option be added that skips the page if we are already in world?
<8D~ Shadoe <8D~
September 18th, 2008 at 8:08 PM
Very awesome
September 18th, 2008 at 8:33 PM
@8, Buckaroo, I think the maps are a lot more than 8 months out of date. My home, except for the closest zoom level, looks well over a year old. WEB-87, added April 07, complains about them being 6 months out of date.
Blue, I’m all for making things easier for new users but y’all really need to poke the map - the new mainland continents aren’t even on there..
September 18th, 2008 at 8:47 PM
One important step that was left out of the instructions in the vidtut is to click Show My Location on the map before you create the slurl. I’ve often seen it give a slurl for a completely different destination if you don’t click Show My Location first.
September 18th, 2008 at 9:34 PM
For everyone wondering when/where this was discussed, it was done at a “hijacked” Office Hour, I say “hijacked” because I was asking questions Linden Lab employee’s refused to answer, and they therefore consider this a bad thing.
After not getting anywhere with Grant Linden or his entourage, I then questioned Robin and Blue, and received the same treatment as I have received here.
I find it amazing that I’m told that “We [Linden Lab Employee's] are confident in the procedures they’ve used to come to these decisions”, yet cannot offer ONE solid number on just how many New Residents were questioned or provided feedback on any channel.
Sounds to me like the usual is going on at Linden Lab, and they are going to do what they want, not what real people, like their customers might want.
Once again Blue or Grant or Robin, please help us all understand what procedures Linden Lab has taken to come to this decision with the new SLURL’s. How many New Residents were questioned, what was the sample size compared the actual number of New Residents during this time period? I really do want to understand and be confident in your procedures, just as you are, but I need to know what those numbers are in order to do this.
September 18th, 2008 at 11:32 PM
Lovely idea, Blue! This is very useful for our new Residents.
~Tauwra
September 18th, 2008 at 11:36 PM
This is a god step in the right direction….
Actually, when I read “Direct SLurl” i thought about a checkbox which would eliminate the “Map Feature” , e.g. reduce a SLurl to a secondlife://RegionName/X/Y/Z link.
But this is even better then what I thought!
Great Work!
Alex
(btw, are we gonna get some new on CG’s soon?)
September 18th, 2008 at 11:40 PM
Cool, massbotters can skip the newbie stuff and log their infinate supply of bots straight in at their first botting location.
September 19th, 2008 at 12:32 AM
Congrats on a brilliant inroad. This is one of my biggest concerns as a mentor when dealing with first time residents at OI and HI. and it means that friends can now get to the right location almost on time and while they are there they can learn to interact from the person that invited them. Better skills can be achievied later by visiting the HIP .
I remember my learning curve when I started , lost alot of sleep.
As for those wondering about where LL get their feed back, you know those little surveys that pop up from time to time
Try one , they are very helpful.
September 19th, 2008 at 12:56 AM
woot! great idea!
September 19th, 2008 at 12:56 AM
This is a great new feature. Now the maps need to be updated a bit more often to take better advantage of it.
September 19th, 2008 at 1:17 AM
This development is most lovely and a step forward
I hope that new residents will learn SL much easier than the roller coaster I remember when I came online in Dec. 2006.
September 19th, 2008 at 1:28 AM
A nice feature, but I would prefer that my sim “Rockje” would be mapped after more than three month on the grid.
It still shows “No SL data available” when you go to Slurl.com.
I found no information on slurl.com how to ask for the mapping of a new sim.
September 19th, 2008 at 1:37 AM
And the idea of MK to simplify things is to be embrased very much.
For new users and non power users it may also be interesting to have LL’s attention on how inworld matters like moving, building, scripting etc could be simplyfied, more accessible and less time consuming.
September 19th, 2008 at 2:02 AM
Great idea!
Unfortunately, slurl.com FAILS at teleporting.
That IS going to get fixed sometime soon, right?
Right???
*cricket, cricket*
*sighs*
September 19th, 2008 at 7:08 AM
@35
Bob, LL has no obligation to explain or justify their internal procedures to YOU. They might choose to do so, but you act as if it’s your right.
September 19th, 2008 at 7:23 AM
This is a great idea, keep up the good work
September 19th, 2008 at 8:03 AM
Does this mean and end to the MENTOR PROGRAM? Mentors have traditionally been located at entry points to help hatchlings find their way with basic questions. New members are going to miss this support.
September 19th, 2008 at 8:15 AM
[...] Notícia original em http://blog.secondlife.com/2008/09/18/getting-a-second-life-just-got-easier-with-direct-slurl/ [...]
September 19th, 2008 at 8:41 AM
@46, I’m only asking that those at Linden Lab who have claimed to be the most “Open and Transparent” Communicative Gaming Company to live up to their rhetoric.
I’m only asking to hear how they, Linden Lab, have come up with these ideas about what New Resident’s want. Are they guessing? Do they actually question New Residents? Did they commission any studies to know what’s going on in the community?
I’m sorry I’m such a literal person, but if Linden Lab wants to claim to be “Open and Transparent”, then that’s what I expect of them. Then again, I also think they should provide a more stable platform, but I will take “Open and Transparent” knowing the other is out of reach of their incompetence.
September 19th, 2008 at 9:48 AM
@48
Ann, I worry about this one too. Maybe Mentors should wear a greeter HUD like the one made by Help People. It sends a LM and a notecard to any new av within 96m.
September 19th, 2008 at 11:33 AM
[...] their Blog, Linden Lab announced one more kludge to make that happen: Now with every Slurl you create, there comes a button to create an avatar on [...]
September 19th, 2008 at 11:38 AM
One thing is for sure. EA is wasting no time trying to make people “think” their new replacement for the sims is “user created content”.
Secondlife needs to be advertised me thinks.
September 19th, 2008 at 11:49 AM
Regarding concerns with map updates…Direct SLurl is not dependent on a current map. SLurls can be created from your current location inworld, or by entering Region and coordinates into the SLurl Builder (http://slurl.com/build.php). If the location of your SLurl is open to the public, your guest will be able to reach it…even if it does appear as naught but briney deep upon ye olde map, yarrr…
@ 48, 51 Direct SLurl is definitely not the end of the SL Volunteer program. There will likely always be a considerable number of newbies coming through Linden orientation who will appreciate the help of friendly, informed residents! For discussions related to Mentors, please feel free to stop by my office hour, where it’s a regular topic.
September 19th, 2008 at 12:44 PM
Thanks for the update, Blue.
It’d still be good to get the map updated. It’s way, way out of date. Way.
September 19th, 2008 at 12:49 PM
Now if you’d get SLURL’s working on the forums then people might start to see more benefits from them, the forums being quite an important place to have such a feature such as this working and all that.
September 19th, 2008 at 1:15 PM
Or at least remove the “parse links in text” feature if you’re not going to make the [url] tag actually work. :p
September 19th, 2008 at 2:48 PM
I really don’t get the improvement. Sorry but you join SL and for example I started on Plum Island were a spent a bit of time learning how to do a few things. At that time I had no idea about SLURLs or had a defined place I wanted to go. Sorry I dont get it.
September 19th, 2008 at 3:17 PM
So…. unless the mechanism has changed….
The first mainland estate land where a new resident lands after joining SL is usually set as the home location — generally these are infohubs and welcome areas.
(Unless someone teleports them–I remember a friend telling that when she first joined an acquaintance teleported here away from OI to a strip club. Where she wandered around for a month or so wondering why it was so empty and asking “is this all there is to SL?”.)
This might not be bad for a shop or club owner, but not everyone wants a new player’s home position to be set on his or her property.
September 19th, 2008 at 4:01 PM
The lack of comments should say something to Linden Lab, is anyone paying attention?
September 19th, 2008 at 4:42 PM
@43 If your sim is a Private Estate, do you have it set for restricted access in the Estate Tools. If so, it won’t show up on the MapAPI ever. (can’t remember the exact box at the moment as I’m at work)
It’s a leftover from the old “Can’t be seen from Mainland” privacy setting that would keep sims from showing on the inworld map. The inworld map no longer respects that setting, but the tools to generate map images for the MapAPI does.
September 19th, 2008 at 4:59 PM
@60 - Perhaps people are tired of the way Linden Lab treats thier customers? Maybe most have just moved on to SPORE and will make due with a REAL Corporate Culture called EA.
I never would have thought this, but Linden Lab becoming worse then EA in customer service….well, I guess it’s happened.
Blue? Robin? MK? Philip? Anyone there listening? Anyone there care to comment? Anyone want to bet the next Convention will be even more raucus?
September 19th, 2008 at 5:25 PM
Yes, I agree fully that more frequent map updates would be a wonderful thing! I’m told that there are future plans for work on the map, but currently no ETA.
@ 56 There are also improvements to the forums in the works, so unclickable links and associated issues will be addressed.
@ 59 Yes, unwanted squatters on your property would be problematic! As such, if someone Direct SLurls to a parcel that does not allow “Set Home to Here” then their homepoint is automatically set to the nearest infohub.
September 19th, 2008 at 9:15 PM
where is the log in button so you can play????
September 19th, 2008 at 11:14 PM
Why not take this chance to rebrand it?
“Direct SLurl” sounds awful. Reminds me of Slurm from Futurama and other icky things.
September 19th, 2008 at 11:21 PM
@62 Bob Bunderfeld
Haha, if you think SecondLife is anything like Spore and that EA has a good corporate culture you’re utterly deluded, for one who has “5 year” plus experience with SecondLife I can’t even see the comparisons with Spore.
EA has horrible customer service, they ignore *entire* countries from online sales, have intrusive DRM and a questionable Privacy Policy.
A simple Google search of “EA customer service sucks” is all the references one needs, even the search “EA customer service” brings up one or two complaints in the first page.
So please, complain about Linden Labs customer service but don’t bother saying EA’s is any better because that’s utter crap.
I think this is a good thing I just wish the schema handling of slurls wasn’t so clunky on non-Windows operating systems
September 19th, 2008 at 11:44 PM
[...] I just noticed this post on the official Second Life™ blog about improvements to their web-to-location linking system. I [...]
September 20th, 2008 at 2:03 AM
Good point. Many RL communities gather of even form with a place in SL. So…
September 20th, 2008 at 3:57 AM
here is a question that im sure has been answerd, why is there no link or login link to the account page on the blog, some users might be reading the blog then spend 20 minuits on it trying to find the darn login button lol
September 20th, 2008 at 4:07 AM
Awsome idea.
Now at least my RL friend wont be a newbie.
@72- Yep sl needs more orientation.
SL is still pretty tricky.
The 62k users are usually online probably made a lot to don’t say “too boring, ” lets try to play another thing”
September 20th, 2008 at 7:14 AM
SL start can eb a pain cause i remember the start from my rezzday, i think it will eb good to have a a hud by rezzing wich drives you around SL and gives you places where you find free stuff, help and so with different languages. i started and this time my english was much worser as now and all pannels i saw was in english and it tooks me a week to figured out the first things
September 20th, 2008 at 7:31 AM
As if the new user experience wasn’t lonely enough, now they’ll arrive at empty business-model-of-the-hour sims and see nobody at all.
September 20th, 2008 at 7:36 AM
[...] Lab has retooled SLurls to allow you to invite friends, family, co-workers, and random strangers to join you directly [...]
September 20th, 2008 at 7:44 AM
Nice work. Just to pull out one question from longer comments on my blog, but how do you see the impact of this on the usefulness of the Registration API?
It seems to me that if you’re clever about it, you can pretty much build out most of the features of having a Registration API by building around Direct SLurl.
Now, I know that R-API allows you some control over the registration process itself and how it appears, but now that you have it down to a single page (and by the way, kudos to that as well) can you describe the advantages of R-API?
I look forward to hearing about your measurement of this program. I can’t help wondering if the Direct SLurl page will be intimidating to new users who click a SLurl from a Web site rather than from being invited by a friend as in Torley’s video. It makes it seem like you’re going to be entering an odd version of Google Earth rather than a 3D world….which puts the onus on the person posting the SLurl, I suppose, but as others have noted that opens it up to all kinds of direct SLurls to malls or whatever.
Keep us posted on what you learn from this please! I’d hazard a guess that more than half the value of this feature will be in measuring whether it works, why or why not, and what to do about that.
(P.S. Can’t you let the user DO something while the client downloads so that it’s less intimidating? A quick tutorial maybe? Customize their AV? Let them choose decent hair?)
September 20th, 2008 at 8:51 AM
@51.
QUOTE
Maybe Mentors should wear a greeter HUD like the one made by Help People. It sends a LM and a notecard to any new av within 96m.
that is against the TOS and will get an abuse report sent against you.
The new ad farm policy, which I am in total agreement with, states
“No unsolicited dispensing of IMs, notecards, landmarks or content.”
People cannot send notecards advertising a service.
September 20th, 2008 at 10:04 AM
This is a neat idea, and I like that it can help some newbies get to where they need to be with less confusion, but I don’t see how this will help Teen Grid, which, from what I’ve read, has a lower rate of people sticking around after the first hour or two. Now that this is out of the way, can LL do something more for the Teens? We’re feeling ignored.
September 20th, 2008 at 10:35 AM
All well and good but as mentioned in @43, the majority of SLurl maps have not been updated or even loaded for the majority of new sims - do you really want a borked “no SL data available” map to show for firt timers much less anybody else? This has been an outstanding JIRA (numerous times) over the past year. When is the get well date?
September 20th, 2008 at 11:19 AM
^_^ y
September 20th, 2008 at 1:14 PM
search not fully functional??? The status report claims it all should work again now…I can inform you it doesn’t….can take off any clothes and can’t put any on…either system nor prims….
I KNOW this is off topic…but you still haven’t got a place where we can ventilate questions like these….
September 20th, 2008 at 2:21 PM
[...] SLURL - new Address system for Second Life? Second life has recently announced a new Address location system for Second Life… aimed at making it easier for first time visitors to reach a destination within Second Life from a link on the internet. As they say on their blog: "One of the ways we can address this is to look at how first-time visitors are finding and accessing Second Life. Its with that mission in mind that we are launching Direct SLurl, an improved web address vehicle that enables first-time visitors to arrive directly at a location within Second Life, as their first location, by clicking on a Second Life URL from the Web, email, etc." We will be tracking this and other insights on developments with SL and other virtual world innovations in our in depth articles here on FriendPros… Full Story: Getting a Second Life Just Got Easier with Direct SLurl Official Second Life Blog [...]
September 20th, 2008 at 5:32 PM
When will money ever stop failing????
September 20th, 2008 at 11:55 PM
[...] Comment on Getting a Second Life Just Got Easier with Direct SLurl … [...]
September 21st, 2008 at 6:38 AM
From this point I’ll answer to newbie questions wit “Go to the Help Islands” (sort of RTFM) and no more explain anything.
(perhaps, maybe, I’ll ask “did you come from Help Island, guy?”… but I not assure :D)
September 21st, 2008 at 9:35 AM
I want to create one of those avatars people use in their signature posts with pictures usually dolls or cartoons and then your name in sparkling letters how do you do that?
I need medic helps ^))
Im realy have stress from that question
Thanks
September 21st, 2008 at 2:12 PM
Correct me if I am wrong this is to make it easier for more people to be concurrently logged into the game. If so, perhaps you should first work on the game to insure that it can support the increase. I have noticed when ever the game has more than 60,000 users on line it is not a pleasant experience.
September 21st, 2008 at 2:38 PM
I miss Torley. Will die without overly enthusiastic video.
Topic suggestion: “How to AR a Mentor with an auto dispensing notecard/LM giver.”
LoL - no really: “Where did I come from?” A guide to why you found yourself where you did on arrival explaining why there are no strippers in the bar at present or any number of inception scenarios.
September 21st, 2008 at 3:13 PM
What have the Lindens done to recognize the struggles of the residents in Texas and the gulf coast? Nothing? Phil…please recognize that the pr people you employ have no professional credentials. It is long past time that Phil reached out to professionals in coding and communication.
September 21st, 2008 at 10:28 PM
If Linden Labs want to really improve the experience of SL - then it should be across the board, not just for the newbies. Let’s start with the issues of stability. Unless someone pays for the SL experience (premium account) or they live in a country where the SL Server recognises an “approved” connection, the stability is stuffed. What we need is for Linden Labs to install a universal server that recognises “all” connections. Secondly, Linden Labs can stop being preferential to those who can afford the latest gadgets and make SL compatable to all computers built since - say - 2002. Why this hasn’t been thought of in the past is beyond me.
The Blogs - i remember a while there was an announcement about a new blog policy. All blogs will be open-ended (not cut-off) and all opinions will be heard as long as they weren’t openly derogatory or slanderous. This policy has obviously been ignored. I posted in Frank Ambrose’ introductory blog thread and guess what? My post was removed because I dared to express an opinion - it wasn’t in any way offensive, mind you - that opened up criticism about the level of service previously provided by linden labs.
When did this become a dictatorship? If new employee’s are too learn about what is going in Secondlife via communication with people on the blogs how are they going to learn if all opinions that go against those of Linden Labs are violently stifled? What happened to being able to express our opinions freely and fairly?
If this is the sort of behaviour that is going to be allowed on these blogs, do not expect people from the former eastern-bloc and Soviet Countries to stay here for long. After all, this is why the soviet union was dissolved - for the free expression of speech, thought and opinion.
September 21st, 2008 at 10:29 PM
P.S the above is an opinion - it is not trolling or flaming. If it is deleted, then Linden Labs have just proven my point.
September 21st, 2008 at 10:49 PM
82 MONEY-PYRAMID.COM Says:
“When will money ever stop failing????”
Maybe it’s still raining money for the pyramid and gambling industries where fools keep paying to be fleeced, but no such luck for the rest of us working for our pitance.
September 22nd, 2008 at 12:22 AM
Well, if I leave the payment cycle I shall remain an old 500L per week stipend user )) might as well make them pay me for awhile huh )) fix it or start losing money on me guys I suspect many other old players might choose this route until you do fail OH new guy take note this is one old player who is waiting for your input (Frank that is) slap your coders about the head until they become responsible the function of the Tao is most of the problem here it worked for Apple until they went professional good for a small organization not one in the main stream. Oh the draw is 2k per week vs 72 US per year so I will make money )) pays for my retails at least
September 22nd, 2008 at 2:18 AM
We get this new system of injecting new people into the game and your release candidate , which one might think would be an improvement , works worse than the standard viewer. I can only hope that Nicholaz decides to keep with his stabilized viewers since they seem to be one of the few that are reliable.
WAKE UP LOSER LAB THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO DO IT BETTER THAN YOU EVER DID
God you people piss me off
September 22nd, 2008 at 2:36 AM
Coventina Dalgleish Says: “We get this new system of injecting new people into the game and your release candidate , which one might think would be an improvement , works worse than the standard viewer. I can only hope that Nicholaz decides to keep with his stabilized viewers since they seem to be one of the few that are reliable.
WAKE UP LOSER LAB THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO DO IT BETTER THAN YOU EVER DID”
Nicholaz does great work, no denying that, but are you seriously trying to tell us his RC’s and beta’s are better than his main viewer?
Lets compare apples to apples here, the RC’s are beta viewers, if you don’t like them and think the main viewer is better, just go back to the main viewer, it’s a simple decision process for most people.
This RC probably has more faults than usual, but I expect that sometimes for a RC, so I jump back to the main viewer if it’s being quirky.
September 22nd, 2008 at 3:22 AM
I have limited use for this personally but I did create a SLurl using the SLurlBuilder. After adding a title, image, and message, the SLurl was 279 characters long… a little too lengthy for emails and such. But if you go to someplace like Tiny Url ( http://www.tiny.cc/ ), you can really shorten the length. I got mine down to 20 characters… not too bad for a url.
September 22nd, 2008 at 4:52 AM
Btw, please do bear in mind that first time users may have serious problems to found out how to move and click dance animations etc, etc. Still seeing it all the time.
A direct SLurl is a great idea… Hopefully LL will also work on the first hour and first days experiences… The learning curve is still very stiff for many is still very much heard.
September 22nd, 2008 at 8:42 AM
Sounds like a positive step. But . . . I was under the impression (from Live Chat support) that slurl.com was not being supported?
My regions have not been showing up on slurl.com for the last 4 months (new regions).
September 22nd, 2008 at 10:02 AM
I happen to be in favor of things taking this direction for one reason: Help Island Public has become a spawning ground for griefers. To say the place gets griefed several times a day is an understatement.
Also, can my referral ID be implanted into the SLurl somehow?
September 22nd, 2008 at 1:24 PM
Can I set the subscription dialog to a German one?
September 23rd, 2008 at 7:54 AM
With so many griefers creating as many new accounts daily as real newbies, and as LL hardly ever bans griefers by machine-ban - we’d like to see an additional estate option to restrict access to users over X days old (where X is a variable) unless they have payment info on file - which will save having to script it all the time.
Unfortunately it does mean some newbies will be disallowed to some estates (which we do by scripts now anyway), but it also stops (most) griefers … as they constantly need to create new accounts because of account bans etc.
If LL wants to make life so easy for griefers then at least give paying estate owners the option to limit their access … let the griefers hang around LL land / help island etc.
September 23rd, 2008 at 8:01 AM
@100 AC Pfeffer: Machine Ban does not work, neither does IP ban or anything else. I really hope this becomes common knowledge at *some* point.
September 23rd, 2008 at 3:02 PM
One of the big advantages of Orientation Island was that it created a cost for griefers to enter the game. In fact, I attribute the decline in griefing over the past year to the sheer hassle to griefers of running the gauntlet of King Bubba or whatever his name was. No self-respecting griefer will go through Orientation ten times.
What LL can’t seem to understand is that most of its problems stem from creating anonymous accounts back in June 2006. I’m not talking about free accounts; I’m talking about anonymous accounts. Now with Orientation Island gone, the floodgates are once again open to kids and griefers to pop up anywhere they like.
September 23rd, 2008 at 3:16 PM
I second Ghosty Kips’ question on referral IDs.
We can send non-Residents to join Second Life with referral links, and now we can get them directly to a location, but a union of the two would be ideal!
Is it already possible? If not, can we expect it in the future?
September 23rd, 2008 at 11:50 PM
101 Zi Ree Says: Machine Ban does not work, neither does IP ban or anything else. I really hope this becomes common knowledge at *some* point.
I hear car door locks don’t stop all theft, so we shouldn’t bother having them either.
Nothing stops the most determined, but they may only be 5% of the trouble makers, to let the other 95% in unrestricted because a system doesn’t stop everyone is madness.
September 24th, 2008 at 12:24 AM
@104 Tegg B: This is not quite the same. A stolen car is gone for the legitimate owner, they can’t use it anymore, and a car is usually worth a lot of money. And for most of the people opening a car door without having the keys is pretty hard to do, so they do indeed serve a purpose. IP banning oesn’t *work*, a car lock *works*. If you ban my IP, I simply reset my modem and get a new IP. If you “machine ban” me I download a client that generates a new “machine ID” at each login. Both things are extremely easy to do and require no technical skills whatsoever. Besides, nothing gets stolen or taken away from the legitimate owner, so there is no point in trying to lock down access for one sad individual who has too much spare time.
It’s like locking down every public phone booth because a “griefer” could use them to call you and harass you.
September 24th, 2008 at 12:56 AM
I just added this new feature on my website. I hope it works for non members so they join & come to my land.
September 24th, 2008 at 11:52 AM
@ Zi Ree:
-”require no technical skills”, LOLS. Do u have any idea how many people have a hard time turning their computer ON and/or OFF? So, if turning it ON/OFF is not easy,