Kitely Now Known For Its Community

[Danko Whitfield]

I posted my thoughts about the Hypergrid Business OpenSim Survey on the thread about that article elsewhere on these forums. There was one particular point in the article I thought should be focused on. It was this sentence...

"Kitely is not known as a community-oriented grid."

Well, this survey puts an end to that baloney.

I wrote a brand new piece about it for my blog, Journey To The Center Of The Metaverse...

http://journeymetaverse.wordpress.com/2 ... community/

[Ilan Tochner]

Thank you Danko, that is a very important message to get across to people with misconceptions about Kitely.

[Danko Whitfield]

Thanks Ilan.

My article is getting even more play now as Hypergrid Business has picked it up as a guest column...

http://www.hypergridbusiness.com/2013/1 ... community/

[Constance Peregrine]

Just a few words on "community" since I have had sufficient coffee, it is early, and I can put a sentence or two together and they "might even" make sense-))) [I take no responsibility for my comments later tho...lol]

In traveling this Metaverse quite a lot, and as Danko has likely observed also, in some regards, communities are a state of mind.

Some find them in simple parcels where they can build a "home" and have friends over occasionally. Some find this in watching various social sites, and attending events that interest them, and fit into their real lives, some find it by looking at maps in grids and popping over to visit whomever is there.

Some find it in one grid, or several grids, or their own grid.

Some find it mainly on social sites and forums, or just one or the other.

Communities are in the eyes of the beholder.

I do not mind that Kitely has limited scheduled events, because, for me, the forums serve well for the community aspects of Kitely, that I like...the obverse would be joining spam/advertisement groups as many grids have, and dealing with all that comes with that, both negative and positive [there is much said on THAT topic...lol]

In the few grids I am still involved with, which I have been reducing lately, who have advert groups I have unticked the notices so I won't get offlines all day long on things that do not interest me anyways. I can find enough to do watching forums and social sites and such to keep me as busy as I wish to be, and in more controlled and focused ways that work well for me.

I don't know what the future will hold as to the evolving nature of VR communities, of course, but trend-wise, I am seeing quite a bit of increasing activity...all depending upon where you look and what you have joined.

I see Kitely, currently, as a community, yes, I do, but different than other commercial type grids, which I like, actually. Forums allow for much more fine-tuning of what one wishes to participate in, or not. I like this, and it is where most things I watch nowadays are at.

I also find it less stressful, which is very important to me...I do not have to click away tons of notices, sometimes missing ones I might like to read, I do not have to go thru notices and be tempted to read things just because they are in front of my face, I don't have those additional stresses that are commonly complained about, rules made and unmade about, and the source of voluminous complaints.

I do not have to feel obliged to join a group to help a friend, which is often why I joined them...in short, the communities I like to be involved in allow me freedoms, choices, control and lack obligatory issues most communities require in one way or another.

I see more and more activity in these forums, and for the majority of it, it is very, very positive and encouraging and helpful...I even see the sometimes less positive ones as helpful, as they tend to offer insights into how people think and feel, which I like more than anything else, in these mostly anonymous lives we lead on the net.

Without discussions, we know very little about people we meet and how they feel about life and their overall morality.

Anywho...Happy Holidays!!

[Dot Matrix]

Excellent post, Minethere!

I agree with you.

The mix we have in Kitely gives us freedom to choose (or even create and shape) the community/ies where we can feel welcome and at home in.

And it is something that seems to have evolved rather than have been deliberately organised. I like that.

[Constance Peregrine]

ty-)) the downside to my post is that it is likely to be the only "somewhat" lucid one [depending, of course, on each person's perceptions...lol] for the day...it's all downhill from here..hehehe [gawd, I crack myself up so much sometimes]

I appreciate and like more organic types of community building such as I see here, rather than the more forced, common way done in the commercial grids.

[Deuce Halsey]

The mix we have in Kitely gives us freedom to choose (or even create and shape) the community/ies where we can feel welcome and at home in.

And it is something that seems to have evolved rather than have been deliberately organised. I like that.

I think online communities have to evolve - they cannot be forced or organized into existence. The main thing is that newcomers should have a good "starter" location where they can be based while they explore their new world. This is where the free houses and apartments some are offering on their worlds come into play. Realistically speaking, a beginning avatar in a virtual world only really needs a private place to change outfits and maybe practice a little basic building.

Once newcomers have that private place to change and/or learn how to rez items and open boxes and so forth they can begin to explore. The coming era of free access to all Kitely public worlds will certainly help in this area and make Kitely less confusing for folks coming from grids that don't have timed access.

The next phase is where loads of different options should be available. This is where people can locate the kind of community where they'd like to try settling in Kitely:

1) A themed role-playing world (Japanese, Steampunk, etc.) (example: Ami's Edo-themed world)
2) A communal village where people have their own homes/shops but share common areas and community resources. (example: Dot's Beithe Parish project.)
3) A few separate small estates (1/4 region or 1/2 region) on the edges of a commercial world.
Most residents do their own thing, but have easy access to common meeting/event areas. (example: my plans for Donnybrook Beach.)
4) Own or co-own your own unlimited access world. (example: much of what is currently happening on Kitely.)
5..... many other options and people think of them, try them out

It's a near-certainly that there will be some demand for each of these options, and many others. Some ideas will fail, of course. But some will succeed, and contribute to the overall online community that is Kitely.