Are we building for nobody?

[Keith Selmes]

I find LSL weirdly strange. I'm not yet sure what limitations it has, but it is possible to do a heck of a lot with it, with some ingenuity and persistence.
It's so very event driven, which makes sense for what it has to do, but is very different from anything I saw before.
Feels like you have to reshuffle your brain like a Rubik cube to get to grips with it.

Making sense of LSL reminds me of a drawing by Escher
http://www.criticaltwenties.in/wp-conte ... edium2.jpg

[Roswenthe Blackwell]

If people are looking for other people, I don't think single player experiences will meet that need. It might for a little bit, but I don't think it would be sustaining. I've run three roleplay sims, and what people ask for are experiences with other roleplayers.

I agree with joseppe that a staffed welcome center would probably help a lot, aside from those that are moving out to advertise more. I think Kitely would be great for roleplaying sims who can't afford SL because they don't want to turn their whole sim into shops, so it might be a market to target.

Unfortunately, I can't script much either.

[Ozwell Wayfarer]

I am not suggesting that a single player experience should replace “traditional” social RP. Just that when there is nobody around to play with, a single player experience would be a decent substitute which might encourage people to stick around until someone else shows up. People are looking for other people because they already know from experience that there is no single player in SLRP. Therefore if there is nobody at the sim, there is (generally speaking) nothing much to do.

Ami was asking why people don't seem to hang around on sim very long. I say the problem is engagement. People come, cam around, decide everything looks very pretty….. but there is nothing to suck them in.

Besides, the whole idea of single player experiences is only to feed the social aspect. If you have something for people to do, people will hang round on your sim more, if people hang round more the chances of them meeting other people increases, which also increases the chances of social RP situations developing.

A good case in point is the April hunt. Since adding it to my world, average visit time has roughly doubled from 20 to 40 mins.

This is already a well-known problem with RP sims in SL. In OS the problem is exacerbated by the much lower population. I am suggesting that you could change the paradigm and engage people more with more single player elements. But, horses for courses though as they say.

With regard to a staffed welcome centre, it's a nice idea but I doubt we will find the volunteers to do that until the grid gets bigger.

[Amiryu Hosoi]

Hey guys,

I would like to start inviting people into RP groups but only just not now since the building on my old town has not even begun. The old town and harbor are going to be th eheart of the region so, thats where the geisha and maiko will live and where the kabuki theater will sit. Once I have 70% ready i will start to set up groups and put u onfo boards to invite our future RP residents. Since I am building alone it may take some time;-)

Thanks all for the great responses.

Ami

[Freda Frostbite]

I can tell you that many people, myself included, are not looking for RP or single-player experiences. There are a million and one ways to make use of the metaverse. Not all of them relate to game play in any way.

I am looking for community. Many others are as well. Specifically, I am building a community of folks who work (or dabble) in the arts and literature and spirituality. These are the things that interest me in the solid world; they are what interest me in Kitely too. It will take a long while and a lot of patience to build such a community, but I am in for the long haul and so is my partner. So are some friends we have brought in with us. I can tell you that such community does exist in SL. It has been and will continue to be a huge, valuable resource for me as an author. I am not leaving SL at all, just transferring much of my energy to Kitely due to recent changes in SL that make it hard for folks to do art there.

So when I visit a cool medieval sim or a lovely Asian build, I admire the art of it and I want to know more about the feelings the place evokes. I am not interested in RP, so if that is what the place is about, I am unlikely to hang around much. I will no doubt be back to explore more, but never to hang around and play. There are many who approach such worlds as I do. I am not sure it is reasonable to assume an RP community will materialize just because a great setting has.

As for the notion that people get paid to come to some sims, Bribed might be another word for it-- It might be more charitable to say that the world owner has offered things that people want and has attracted visitors with these virtual goods. It may not be MY way but it is one way. I don't think we need to sneer at folks who go that way. Besides, isn't that precisely what our Easter Egg Hunt does?

Now that I get here on the page, I forget what made me say it all to start with. LOL!
Time for tea.

Freda/Steph

[Roswenthe Blackwell]

I am not suggesting that a single player experience should replace “traditional” social RP. Just that when there is nobody around to play with, a single player experience would be a decent substitute which might encourage people to stick around until someone else shows up. People are looking for other people because they already know from experience that there is no single player in SLRP. Therefore if there is nobody at the sim, there is (generally speaking) nothing much to do.

There are a number of sims that have had single player things just as you describe. Chanwood, which moved to InWorldz awhile ago, had all of that - farming, shooting NPCs, etc. People used it, but not very much. New visitors didn't hardly use the scripted RP system. It was mostly people who had been there for ages. I think it would be a nice addition to a RP, but not much of an attractor. However, you can have just a handful of roleplayers who are active and have a fairly stable roleplay going. You don't need tons of people, just active ones and maybe set times to RP.

I agree Freda, that there are other things that attract people. I specifically brought up RP because RP sims often cannot afford to be RP sims in SL. Sims like the book sim in SL fund themselves fairly easily, I would think (though last time I was there they had quite a few empty shops). As we get more people, people will infuse their passions into their own sims, and that will happen naturally. RP sims want to use their prims for RP and not selling stuff or renting, so going somewhere cheaper would work to attract them. They will come in, want to do things besides RP, and the other sims will gain members, too.

Having more generally themed events can attract more people, too. If the events are too specific, they will only attract people interested in that subject.

[Amiryu Hosoi]

Hey Freda,

Back in SL we had a community of people interested in Japanese arts, poetry, dance, etiquette, etc. In the old Edo Town we had a little school building, a Kabuki theater and a Place to learn to be a maiko and geisha. We had real Japanese people teaching about Japanese arts, poetry, dance, etiquette, etc. Thus, on the one hand we had a roleplay environment for the samurai, geisha and peasants and on the other hand we had real teachings and gatherings for poetry and story telling. In fact it was a great mix of both.

In Kitely I want to try to create the same environment for people who really want to get involved. My region should defenately not end up a static build for people to say oh and ah. My goal is serious involvement and commitment. It will take a lot of time I know but there is a big audience out there that will join once the environment is ready;-)

Ami

[Freda Frostbite]

Ami, was Pomona Writer one of your students in SL? I am thinking she was.

[Amiryu Hosoi]

Ami, was Pomona Writer one of your students in SL? I am thinking she was.

Hey Freda, I think she was yes, the name rings a few bells.
Miyako Akina was one of the qttiquette teachers and she already has a Kitely account;-)

Ami

[Handy Low]

My region should defenately not end up a static build for people to say oh and ah.

On the other hand, when I visited recently on the egg hunt, I said "oh" and "ah" a lot.

It may be early days, but it really is a beautiful build already.