What do others think about kitely plaza ?

[Dot Macchi]

I agree, Ada. Keep it simple. Keep it focused.

Regions/worlds separate from the putative welcome centre could provide the other functions, and in a way that reflects the diversity within the Kitely userbase.

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Edit: I've set up a new thread: Kitely welcome area: What does it need to include?

[Marstol Nitely]

I can't speak for the other Kitely Plaza volunteers, but I will add my two cents. I agree with most of what has been written in this thread. There were a couple of subjective, unnecessarily snarky comments, but for the most part it seems a constructive conversation with good ideas. I won't go into a long missive about what I think went wrong and right, but I will say that most of us did as we were asked and worked within the parameters we were given.

I would be thrilled to see a more functional, scaled down plaza. I will not be involved in this one, but am happy to see Dot is involved. Her management (and creation) of the transfer station project was excellent.

[Ada Radius]

Ya I loved the Kitely Plaza concept. It just doesn't work as a welcome sim, for reasons not thought about before doing it. Viewer side lag, mainly. It is mostly gorgeous. Maybe it could survive as a hangout and events location and showcase instead?

[Marstol Nitely]

First, thank you Marstol for your involvement in the existing Kitely Plaza. I think you and the other volunteers did a wonderful job and we intend to keep the existing plaza online once a replacement is created (though probably not as an always-on world). I agree, you and the others followed the instructions that were given. I think that a big part of why the existing plaza is not ideal for its job is a result of us not having thoroughly mapped everything out before assigning sections to volunteers to work on. I hope that this time around we can have a more unified plan that includes the actual components (objects, textures, etc.) that can be reused to give the new plaza (maybe call it a different name?) a more unified feel while at the same time keeping it lag-free.

[Constance Peregrine]

you could call it:

צ'יבר

-)))

[Sierra Jakob]

What Do Visitors Want at the Kitely Plaza?
Noobies want to feel welcomed as part of the family. They want to feel safe, wanted, and informed.
Established members are looking to be involvement in the community—they are generally looking for more advanced information & often for people. Here are some of my own thoughts on how we can use the Plaza to meet these needs.

People arrive at the Plaza with a certain amount of energy to burn. The Plaza design can determine whether they spend that energy spinning their wheels--or building community.

Landing Point
The Landing Point is the most import place in Kitely Plaza. For the Noobie, arrival at the landing point is by necessity an abrupt arrival. Psychologically, therefore, it needs to be a space, where the individual has a moment to take a breath and get oriented. The landing point should feel peaceful, spacious, calming, and inviting. It should not be crowded with objects or information. Allow the individual to get their bearings and move forward when they are ready. At the same time, the individual should be able to get visually oriented from the landing point. There should be an obvious structure to the area, with a few clear sections of interest--that can be easily explored in the first visit. The Established Member, upon arriving at the Landing Point in the Welcome Area, should feel a sense of pride—that this is a Kitely Show Place--that they can be excited to invite friends and acquaintances to Kitely, knowing that with their first arrival in Kitely Plaza, they will be impressed. There should be a large, clear gateway, visible from the landing point, just beyond the welcome section—beckoning to these more advanced citizens.

Text Info
Display of Information is critical. It makes sense to present information about Avatar operation and socialization in world. Placement of text information is critical. No one likes to be bombarded with information without warning. Therefore, information at the landing point should be sparing—limited to instructions about, for example, how to walk to a nearby area with more detailed info. That way, “info saturation” is a voluntary experience, and the individual has time to adjust. Info should be well organized, easy to view, and concise. Wading through new information can be quite fatiguing—so efficiency means the user gets what they need and is willing to use the system repeatedly—staying involved.

Tone
Kitely Plaza should be beautiful and pleasant. New Comers should feel immediately that this is a place in which they would enjoy spending some time. This encourages community involvement.

Theme
A unified theme is restful, leaving the user receptive, and able to focus on what is important. A clean design-using a few textures consistently-puts the mind at rest, and allows the user to absorb information more readily.

Travel
Travel should be a pleasant and easy experience. Even from the Landing Point, it should be apparent that there are clear pathways to get to different places---and that there are different types of pathways that lead to particular sections. For example, using different colored pathways, can make giving instructions to new comers much easier: “Follow the yellow brick path to get to the Welcome Center”. “This white sidewalk leads to free items you may enjoy.” “Follow the red brick path to get to our featured merchants and purchase quality items.”

Consistency over time
The overall structure of the Plaza should be perfectly built from the beginning, and should remain as it is over time. Users who return should already be familiar with structure and be able to easily find locations—not have to search anew. This makes it more likely that people will return, and makes it easier for them to help new comers without actually escorting them. A new “look” can be given to the Plaza periodically by refreshing the texture set used—but the actual structure, the overall design of where everything is should remain the same, because it is serving so many people. People really love it when they can count on you not changing things after they have learned it.

I also worked on a model over the weekend. I'll tweak it a bit before offering a viewing, but stay tuned.

[Danko Whitfield]

I think the main problem with the current plaza is that it tries to do too much. The individual parts are interesting and if someone made a whole world of any one of them, I'd be interested in exploring it. But thrown altogether in one place, it becomes a mish-mosh.

It looks like a place built by a committee.

Maybe the thing to do is not to form a new committee to build a new plaza. Instead, hire one experienced designer and have them build a welcome center.

One region.

Keep it simple.

[Constance Peregrine]

I agree mostly with Danko, in the regard, as I said before [but who listens to me and who the heck cares wut I say most of all me!!] I still think a mega should be used, but most of the surrounding regions just as nice showcase with mostly water, maybe some cool bridges going out in spokes to them. Low prim ones and such.

The one region for the landing spot for noobs with ideas others have expressed.

Possibly a 9 region mega with the LP in the center would be cool.

The megas are a very major selling point imo, as NO others offer this in a commercial grid environment and some grids even poo-poo them...showing how well they work is a very good idea, seems to me.

Maybe make the 8 adjoining regions interesting but low build/asset ones, and people could be given that as their main objective, and we could even vote on them

I can envision looking in a map and seeing a nicely designed central region and pretty adjoining ones to go visit.

I do this on my 9 region simulator I have someplace else, and I love it a lot-)) tho I do not use a mega myself.

[Dundridge Dreadlow]

jumping back and forth between the threads amuses me

Advanced mega regions are awesome to anyone with any knowledge of a non-Kitely grid, and they give plenty of space with plenty of building potential, and it's easier to flood an area that isn't used than to fill it with content

[Dot Macchi]

The two threads serve different purposes.

If people could use the new thread to post ideas about a possible new Kitely welcome area, that would be helpful: Kitely welcome area: What does it need to include?

This thread, I suggest, focuses on the existing Plaza.