I am Kram Sidran. I have been in Second Life for about a year now. I have introduced several people to the world, and more just recently. Some things have changed, and I don’t like all that I see. I remember starting out not knowing anything. I had never been into gaming, or chat rooms, so I had a lot to learn. Second Life started me at orientation island, where I remember wandering around looking at different instructions that pretty much meant nothing to me.

After entering into the mainland world there and trying to do things and get around….that’s when I had questions, and wanted to know how to do things. Luckily I made friends with some very helpful people who showed me what I needed to know. I would have benefited from the instructions after entering the world, but at the time could no longer go back. I learned anyway.

Recently, I’ve helped a couple of people get started. There is now a formalized tutorial that seems to be forced on you at entry. While it’s well-intended, I think there is the same problem that people don’t know why they would want to know the information provided. It’s also a rather tedious process, and not completely clear as to where to go next. I found it frustrating, and if I was new, I might have been deterred by all this and not have bothered going any further. But I’m a little impatient about such things.

I think people should be able to enter the world and experience things right away. There should be information kiosks available in whatever first area people end up in, so as they get about in the world, and have questions, they can just check in at the nearest kiosk and get the information they need.

These kiosks would only have to be in the initial area, and if people move on and later have a question, they can go back to that area to consult the kiosk.

There have historically been mentors available to help new people, but I don’ t think that’s a scalable concept. There are simply too many people in-world now.

Social behavior is an area that I don’t think is covered very well. While it’s possible to behave in outrageous ways, I have found that most people take a fairly conventional approach to their looks and activities. It would be good for new people to know this. They should be told that walking into a mall naked with a huge erection is possible, but not a good way to meet new friends, or find a sex partner. Since friends are the main way I learned in SL, I think that should be covered, and made clear that making friends is probably the best way to get started, and develop a social network.

So maybe there should just be a New City, where new people can go and learn and live for a while before they venture out into the mainland world. They would probably learn more and quicker, and develop friends right there. They could actually end up learning from each other as each studies a different area. Then maybe mentors could be available in these areas as well as kiosks.