Kitely Forums

If it were possible to have a signboard give out a welcome/starter pack when an avatar clicks on it, what should go in the pack?

The pack/folder probably shouldn't contain too many items, but just enough to help a person get started and with pointers to where to find out more when needed.

Some starters for discussion:

Welcome -- start here
Guided tour of the Kitely Welcome Center
Quick start guide -- finding people and places
What else?

Information notecards
What are the key topics that need to be covered?
What titles would make them easy to find in inventory at a later stage?

Landmark notecards
How should the landmarks be organised? Genre? World type?
How many per notecard?
How would these be kept up to date?

And so on ...
What else might be helpful to include?

I'm just gonna say this and then drop it-- If a guided tour is required to find your way around a welcome center, then said welcome center has already failed.

Moving along...

Welcome, Start Here
Worlds On Demand and search (both in the viewer and the Kitely website) must be explained immediately. Having spent quite a few hours sitting in the welcome center and answering questions, I can tell you that not understanding worlds on demand and how to find things in Kitely and OS, are primary reasons people leave and never return. IMO, this info bears prime positioning in whatever packet is handed out and stated in plain view at the landing point. Seriously, these two things could maybe even pop up on a screen as a person logs into Kitely. It is that important. (Really, it is. I am not exaggerating. I know people who have tried Kitely and never returned because they did not understand these two things.)

Notecards
1. See above.
2. Get them into the Kitely Community Group. Get them to join. Personally, I'd be in favor of putting everyone automatically in that group when they join Kitely and then the onus is on them to choose to leave it if they want out (or to change their settings for it). But, one way or another, get them in that group when they join and suggest that they say hi in chat when they come in. Make sure they know we want to know them and they are part of the community.
3.Explain HG. Call it something like "New To The Hypergrid? Then, This Is Your Lucky Day." THIS is the time to explain what items cannot leave the grid.
4. Websites that will help you find your way around Kitely and the Hypergrid.
Include Kitely Forums
Explore Worlds Page
Kitely Market
Sign Of The Kite
Kitely Services Page
Hyperica
Opensimworld
5. Names of Greeters/Mentors willing to be contacted for help.

Landmark Notecards
Some LMs will fit in more than one category. That being the case, go ahead and put them on more than one card.
As to how many per card-- as many as we can find. One can NEVER have too many options.
Depending on the number of LMs, we need a person or team of people to verify all LMs at least monthly. I know I am willing to check some LMs every month; I bet others are too.
1. Sandboxes and Free Rez Zones in Kitely
2. Freebies in Kitely
3. Entertainment Venues
4. Arts Venues
5. Building Supplies and Instruction
6. Structures
7. Clothes
8. Hair
9. Shoes
10. Body Parts and Avatars (skins, eyes, shapes, etc.)
11. Adult Venues
12. Hang-Outs
13. RP Venues
14. Non-Profits
15. Public Educational Venues
16. Avatar Accessories
17. Scripts
18. Textures
19. Portals to Other Worlds (Hypergates)

As many things as I just listed, I am sure I missed some things that would be helpful to newcomers.

Great discussion idea, Dot!

Some random thoughts..

I bet the greeters have some good ideas about things they get asked all the time. Useful for the "how do I" faq. This forum post might have some. viewtopic.php?f=37&t=3422&p=19877#p19877

Newcomers want three things.
1. look good
2. find places
3. find people

So I would focus on
1. Better free avatars and box of landmarks to more appearance places
2. Boxes of Landmarks to fun places to explore on your own
3. Ways to find people. JOINING THE KITELY COMMUNITY GROUP should be number 1. After that, the calendar and the forums.

About landmarks:
I like the places that put landmarks in separate boxes. So that when I click the "Freebies" box, I get a folder marked something like "Kitely Freebies". Even better would be "Kitely Freebies June 2016" so that when the boxes are inevitably updated and I go back and click, I can find the darn things in my inventory and know that they are current. Landmark notecards make things HARDER for me the user and notecards also need updating every time you drop a new landmark into the box. Just landmarks is fine.

No more than 4 or 5 boxes, though. Maybe something like
Freebies and Sandboxes
Arts and Entertainment
Newcomer friendly hangouts
Worlds to explore (things like the Devokan regions, Miguel Rotuno's worlds, Karima's worlds.)

I think Freda's list is good for a more comprehensive world navigation system which is something we definitely need. I would love to see a vendor that you can rez on your own region populated with the public Kitely worlds in categories chosen by the world owner.

The free male and female avatars offered at clutterfly are better than what we have now. Perhaps Someone can put together three female and three male avatars using the clothing/hair and Avis found at clutterfly and have those as either starter avis to choose from- which for a new person I do think its just easier to have nice new avis, rather than expect them to change - but offering the items would be good also.

Also curious, would it be really awful to have a version of clutterfly at the welcome region? Skipping furniture perhaps but offering clothing and such? If a new person can find a place to 'shop' right off the bat without having to go elsewhere feeling awkward, that might be nice. I know that I quite love the welcome areas which offer the free stuff. When IW decided to no longer include the starter freebie stores at the main welcome island, many people were upset about that. The less looking around a person has to do to get comfortable, the better. imo

greetz everyone
i feel same as freda, honestly (after almost ten y sl and being mentor & helper in vw's etc)
what we also 'i believe? ' might aime for is 'US' : the community, (yes teh group), and also : thats why 'giving landmarks' of all of us creators who give free items for new residents (and all our other work at landingpoint) is sooo important
not 'just give all pretty avi's at welcome' = a welcomecenter is not to give all and 'there u go', no its also doing our best to help, inform & lead pple where all the goodies are IN the world and make them 'part of the world'
verrrrrrrrrrrrrry few will go to the market as ns rite? so if there arent lm's to give them guidance & discover our work & getting all they need, free, also = much better tahn just 'give all u need', they ll wear it & wont discover the kitelyworld
if we put our lm's in a 'very clear for ns'- sign (or whatnot ), that will HELP the community to flourish
since,what most of us, experience alot, is there are sooo few ppel who explore & hang out in kitely, eh
this (imo) has also alot to do with not being able to put our creations in classifieds , so pple cannot really search & find
that was my few cents
chris

The notecard regarding how to use Search within the browser would be good too. It is a good workaround for the lack of classifieds. I gave it out to a few of the greeters, if you want a copy just ask.

Simple is best.
Less is more.

Welcome Folder

NoteCard *New to Kitely? Please Read* - First off information about 'you will see the message 'world is offline' if you click the link and no one is currently on it, followed by web links about how to get a trial world, where the forums are etc.
NoteCard *How to Find Places in Kitely* - information on using Websearch in viewer for Places and People (see above - it works better than regular people search and brings up all the worlds with same search terms on website, but without having to log into the website which some people find too much of an extra step for a first time experience)
Landmarks *Clutterfly Landmark* - describe it Find Clothes and other great freebies!*
*Sandbox Landmark* - describe it as Unpack your items or practice your building skills!
*Kitely World Explore Hub* - landmark directly to the world teleporter in the welcome centre
*Weekly Town Meetings* - landmark to the town meeting spot
I personally still offer the Clutterfly free male/female starter avi box and AO. I have not had one person yet say no. Each person was thrilled to receive it and within the folder I hand out, I include the G rated Clutterfly shop and sandbox links as well (Serene passed them around)

Once they know how to get what they need to look decent (for those not new to opensim/virtual worlds) and once they know how to find things, then they are free to explore on their own. The more things put in a folder the harder work it is to keep it updated. Greeters might change frequently, worlds might close down etc.

I've been doing the greeter thing for a few weeks now. All sorts of people come, new users, visitors from other grids, students looking for their class....

#1 question I am asked is how to find places to visit without going through the Kitely website. Moonrise's suggestion on notecards, especially the "How to Find Places in Kitely" is right on and exactly what we need to hand out.

I would also like to suggest a short notecard on acquiring land... #2 question I get is how to get land, where to get land, price of owning your own land, etc... maybe a notecard listing some sims that have rentals (for those that don't want full region responsiblity) and a simple pricing chart for Kitely regions?

I know as a Greeter I am to "greet" people and help them forward, but I also try and keep them here too, have them choose Kitely as their home base...with some very soft selling when the subject comes up, like .... "did you know you can own your OWN region for only... and still have the option of teleporting to all these other grids"

Ok, I put in my 2 cents Good day all

My humble suggestion is to add these four Google+ groups to whatever notecard will have useful links. If a person is coming from SL, they are likely going to try to use Facebook to try to find Openim/Kitely events and stuff, but Opensimmers are generally not on facebook as much (because using your Avatar name there is dodgy). When I come across a new avatar, I usually point them to the following:

• Hypergrid Destinations: https://plus.google.com/u/1/communities ... 1432319540
  Kitely Virtual: https://plus.google.com/u/1/communities ... 4656181042
  Opensim Virtual: https://plus.google.com/u/1/communities ... 2234467612
  Opensim Everything: https://plus.google.com/u/1/communities ... 8637608613

I think these groups are plenty for a new avatar to find anything that interests them. I belong to many more, but these four are how I found the others.

Hi all!

I've been reading all the suggestions and I can honestly say, they all have merit, What I am writing this post for is , I had an experience just this last weekend that showed me some points that are missing from all these discussions.

We all "Take for granted way too many things new people just don't know yet".

Long Story Really Short:
I also play World of warcraft and have for many years. A friend of mine asked me what else I been up to, so i explained in short about virtual worlds and being on Kitely. I asked him to make an account and log in. I was in a voice service with him so i could guide him through this process. This is where i began to realize just how much "basic" information about being in a virtual world we all take for granted, like "ok i clicked this thing, it said it gave me clothes, where do i find them?". Being new to use of a viewer he had no idea where to open inventory, much less how to browse through the folders to find things, OR how to use them when he did. Hes actually a fairly smart guy and it was still difficult for him to do these things for the 1st time. I walked him through it all and showed him around and he was impressed with the magnitude of what all is here and can be made. I hope he returns soon! That being said....

Things like, but not limited to :: How do I put on shoes? where to find those shoes in my inventory? how to open a box? how to rez in world a box to open? where did it go after i Finally figured out how to move this box's contents to my inventory? I clicked the box, why do i have to "open it" and move its contents? How do I know where those "contents " i moved went to? Ect....Ect... Ect... We take a LOT of things for granted !

I could go on and on and on about these details, but i believe the point is clearly made, If you never did any of this before it can be very Overwhelming very Quickly, which turns a lot of new people away.

The things new people Need to know is how to begin where they begin, not where we take for granted they are beginning from.

Just my "2 cents worth" - I hope it is helpful, you all have many great ideas so far!

I have run into the same situation Don describes above when bringing in new people from rl who have never tried VWs before. It helps aLOT if I can be in voice with them or (better yet) in the room when they are trying it out or the first time. Of course, we could provide extensive newcomer training in the welcome center but that might be more than many people want and more than we can reasonably do there. I think it would help to offer newcomers help finding the many worlds that offer help for new avatars. Cookie, Never Ending Story, The U (in process of being rebuilt)-- are there others? I think there are many more, but can't come up with their names at the moment. My point is that I think the resources already exist in Kitely-- we just need to make them easier for new people to find. And, as with everything, the best way to disseminate info is by having it appear immediately upon world entry and/or via volunteers willing to be of service to newcomers. Hospitality requires that we be, well, hospitable (and patient).