New Welcome Center Beta Feedback Thread

[Ozwell Wayfarer]

Its getting late for me so I will post my further thoughts tomorrow.

I just wanted to say in response to Moonrise and anyone else participating in this conversation I appreciate all of your feedback, so please keep it coming. None of it comes off as ungrateful or unappreciative. I hope people will in turn not mistake my sometimes rather blunt answers for anger or annoyance. I am just doing my best to state the facts so far as I see them. I am all in favor of heated debate, so long as we are all still friends afterwards

There has been some really useful comments so far, and we are already planning to make changes based upon them. I am really happy that people think it is at least prettier than the current one

We might not be able to implement everything people would like to see, or have immediate answers to some of the concerns, but we are listening to and considering every idea or concern that people bring up. We have to make compromises. But every piece of feedback is important to us. Especially the stuff you think is not so great.

[Freda Frostbite]

Moonrise, ty so much for admitting you still get lost on Sundays. I do too! Every.single. time. That is one drawback, possibly, to a round configuration of areas and a lot of buildings that look very similar.

[Moonrise Azalee]

Its getting late for me so I will post my further thoughts tomorrow.

I just wanted to say in response to Moonrise and anyone else participating in this conversation I appreciate all of your feedback, so please keep leaving it. None of it comes off as ungrateful or unappreciative. I hope people will in turn not mistake my sometimes rather blunt answers for anger or annoyance. I am just doing my best to state the facts so far as I see them. I am all in favor of heated debate, so long as we are all still friends afterwards

This is so true (emphasis in bold mine) -- being friends is still important! Problem with any project like this is too many chefs in the kitchen. We each have an idea of what we want to see, and there is no way that one person or even two/three could put together something that will meet up to everyone's imagination. Narrowing down my feedback into this post and will just leave it at that because really even if it went live now I'd still be tickled:
~Greeterboard - Check!
~Better targeted focal point - Check!
~Seating for greeters (or visitors) - Check! (and they even have changes of sits within the benches. Very cool)
~Easy to navigate layout - Check!
~Info all in one space - Check!
~Easy to find pertinent information - Check!
~Nooks and Crannies to investigate - Check!
~Public Venue for entertaintment - Check!
~Updated Kitely Meeting Area with uniform sits - Check!

My personal critique
~Trees/shrubs should be phantom - a bit of a blockage of flow if out to explore - no idea on how they affect server performance - just saying I got stuck lol
~Kitely Worlds a bit far away - new kitely users who are used to other worlds might benefit from an additional Points of Interest board or something
~Ambiant sounds to help with immersiveness
~Clarification in the starter pack - One notecard that discusses Kitely's differences a bit - world accessibility and how to find them. Maybe lists useful groups to join etc - not a lot to change in what is currently there.
~ not KWC related really but perhaps updated avatar selections to choose from in the Change your Appearance area, using the more updated Linda Kellie avis from her Clutterfly Parts box.

I really can't wait to see the KWC live. A huge improvement. First kitely meeting there next Sunday? hmm? lol

[Ozwell Wayfarer]

Selby - To answer a point about windlight you made. You only way to force windlight change is if the user has "use region windlight" set in their viewer. They will then be prompted to switch. I am not 100% but I think it is enabled by default in firestorm.

Moonrise - What things are glowing? Only things that are fullbright are greeter board, world board and merchant board images. That has to be done otherwise the images look really dull and dark. But nothing else should be fullbright.

Most of the trees are phantom. I guess it is the willows people are having trouble with. I have made those phantom now.

Ambient sounds on the way.

Teleport to different KWC areas from the LZ on the way but not sure how it will look yet.

I will look at how we can break the starter pack down into easier chunks. I do agree that making a separate short notecard for each subheading might be a good idea to help people find what they are looking for right away.

Avatars - we considered that a seperate project. I agree it needs to be done. Volunteers for that would be welcome, what is essential is that the avatars function on the hypergrid and are PG rated (baked underwear).

...Right I really am going to bed now. lol

[Lorelei Seetan]

Firsts impressions...

I love this new Welcome Center, the textures and the builds are beautiful.

The words on the floor to know in which direction going is a good add (I'm always lost for the Sunday's meeting).

Ambient sound is more neutral than music. It's difficult to please several people. When you arrive in a region, you expect to hear some types of sounds depending of the theme, you're not surprised. With music, it can be different...

The board, where we can see if a greeter is online, is a good idea. If nobody is there, the person can send a message to a someone online.

The first thing people ask me when they arrived is "How can I change my look". So, offering other avatars than the ones already offered will be a good add. When you arrived from SL, it's a big shock to look at "you".

The Starter Pack is at the best place, we cannot miss it but,for new people in virtual world, it cannot help. I know that they are not the most important group to arrive here but I think it's important to think about them. They need information quickly, if they don't have, they will leave and never come back (I did that with High Fidelity). I read on other posts (sorry don't remember who) to give them the basic information on a website page or tutorials on a region.

Ok, it tooks me long time to write just that so maybe Ozwell or Ilan already give answer!

Lorelei

[Moonrise Azalee]

Moonrise - What things are glowing? Only things that are fullbright are greeter board, world board and merchant board images. That has to be done otherwise the images look really dull and dark. But nothing else should be fullbright.

Not glowy really but with the abient occlusion and environment being that sort of atmpsopheric haze/sunsetish sort (which i love) it already makes bright things bright - Selby mentioned having some things on full bright so more noticeable and I was just saying to please not because for myself and i think most if graphics are up things are bright as is.

[Ozwell Wayfarer]

Ok so just to summarize so far.

*The issue of totally new users is one we are aware of but wont be expending too much effort on during this build. We will add LM for The U and/or any other community project judged to be of a high enough standard for official affiliation. Community initiatives welcome.

*Same goes for the free avatars.

*Tress that were not phantom now are.

*A teleport board will be placed in the LZ with links to the major POIs in the KWC.

*I will test the possibility of having world search and market search available in the respective areas as media on a prim. No promises here though.

*The Starter Pack will be broken down and rearranged to make overview easier.

*Ambient sounds will be added in time.

*Invisiprim to be added to the water in the LZ so you cant fall into it.

*Any extra branding will be at Ilans discretion.

Please let me know if I have missed anything important.

[Selby Evans]

Ok so just to summarize so far.

*The issue of totally new users is one we are aware of but wont be expending too much effort on during this build. We will add LM for The U and/or any other community project judged to be of a high enough standard for official affiliation. Community initiatives welcome.

*Same goes for the free avatars.

*Tress that were not phantom now are.

*A teleport board will be placed in the LZ with links to the major POIs in the KWC.

*I will test the possibility of having world search and market search available in the respective areas as media on a prim. No promises here though.

*The Starter Pack will be broken down and rearranged to make overview easier.

*Ambient sounds will be added in time.

*Invisiprim to be added to the water in the LZ so you cant fall into it.

*Any extra branding will be at Ilans discretion.

Please let me know if I have missed anything important.

I agree with the OZ plan above and recommend freezing the design as given above. I say freeze design and go to implementation. Excellent work, Oz!.

For other changes, people can prototype on their on land or on land I will be happy to make available. (I already have a 4x4 for such things.) If you want space to develop your own entry concept, contact me.

Some more comments:
Welcoming newbies: I agree with Ilan. Kitely's business interests are best served at this time by bringing in people from SL and other closed grids. In any case, I don't think grid welcome sites are the best way to bring in new people unless it is a themed grid that can make the welcome site fit the theme (sailing, racing cars, etc.).

New Media Arts has set up its own themed welcome site on Cookie II and that is where we seek to bring people when they come to our website. See:
http://virtualoutworlding.blogspot.com/ ... -2012.html
(Basic training in virtual worlds)
and
http://www.newmediaarts.org/home/projec ... ll-travel/

Lighting: On my first visit, the lighting was not as Oz intended, apparently because of some glitch in my Firestorm settings. Those settings have been corrected and my comments on lighting are no longer applicable.

Places to visit: I have found that the places to visit display on the login screen often shows good recommendations for me. It might be a good idea to repeat that panel on the places to visit path. (Note that a path can have more than one interest point.)

Adequate information: I think the information presented is adequate. New people will need lots more information, but it needs to be tailored to their needs. If you want to give more information, get on the welcomer panel (I hope we are going to need a bigger panel). You can give out a notecard with information, landmarks, and other stuff embedded. You can also invite newcomers to your place.

Sound: I think ambient sounds is the best way to go for now.

[Moonrise Azalee]

I agree with the OZ plan above and recommend freezing the design as given above. I say freeze design and go to implementation. Excellent work, Oz!.

I think the information presented is adequate. New people will need lots more information, but it needs to be tailored to their needs. If you want to give more information, get on the welcomer panel (I hope we are going to need a bigger panel).

And I agree with Selby - all the key points are addressed - AND I hope we get a bigger greeter panel so I can get my mug up there too

[Ozwell Wayfarer]

The reason the greeter board is a bit "basic" is so that it can be expanded and/or contracted as need be.

Originally, I wanted to make it much more detailed and "flashy". But the more detail I add, the less flexible the board can be and the more complicated it will be for others to change if I am not around. Right now all the administrators need is edit permission at the KWC, a profile pic and the avatar UUID. Nice and simple. Thank you to Brayla Sana for providing those scripts by the way!

Obviously, there IS a selection criteria for the board. Not everyone who volunteers to be a greeter will get put up there immediately. Only greeters who have been around a while and are known among the community as members in good standing will be permitted. Greeters who are gone for longer than 1 month without notice will be removed. We need people who are trusted, knowledgeable and active.