NUE to me (^_^)

NUE… New User Experience.  That’s the catchphrase the lab used a while back to talk about what first-day newbs… well… Experience. =^-^=

Back when I was a Mentor, my account was flagged to have access to the Help/Orientation islands that were available at the time.  But, now that Mentors is gone, I can’t just go steppin’ in anymore. DX

So… Technique… Make an alt!  HAX! XD

I did so yesterday and took a buncha snappies in the process. (^_^)

From the looks of things, we’re back to the linear path orientation.  How to walk, turn, chat, cam around, focus, fly, sit, and such.  Each tūt was in a numbered chamber connected to the post and prior with little tubey hallways.  (^_^)

The others around were typically trying to edit their appearance.  No matter what’s in front of them, I think that’s the primary first task people give themselves in SL… “How do I make myself look good?”  So, they go straight for the sliders and turn themselves into a relative freakshow… To be repaired by time and further HUMAN assistance. =^-^=

The build itself is all indoors-y now… No island or bridges.  The sky is loosely visible through the translucent roof.  And, it’s really super sterile.  Lots of whites and grays.  Kind of has a ‘Hospital of teh futurez’ feel to it.  So, yeah, soothing… But I was waiting for THX1138 to come around the corner somewhere. DX

Finally, at the end, I was presented with a wall of 4 panels.  Click one of the 4 to get a pseudorandomized map popup of the type of destination you’d like to start at.  Exploration seemed to typically give artsyfartsy estate sims.  Shopping gave stores (rut-DURR!).  Socializing spun through the regular welcome areas and infohubs.  And, help… Well, I didn’t click help.  Maybe next alt. =^-^=

One thing I noticed about the “maplauncher” wall was that I didn’t get the usual finger-thingie as my mouse cursor.  While this may not phase a first-timer, my first reaction was a bit of a “will this work”.  I mean, even browsers have the finger-thingie for links.  At a minimum, it felt weird and a bit awkward. (>_<)

I’d say that this new setup probably isn’t any more effective than the prior HI/OI setups and still begs for some human interaction.  Add, APPEARANCE!! The shiny new SL avatars aren’t enough to discourage from going straight to the sliders.  If anything, maybe a compact “AV Maker” app would help or an appearance menu blackout until they leave the tūt and hit the main grid.  (^_^)

I still get the feel that human intervention is necessary.  Not everyone learns the same way.  It was easy enough for me to breeze through the tūts because I been doing the bloody stuff for over 3 years.  But, for a first timer who probably only has videogaem or Email experience… I’m sure there’s a whole lot of ‘WTF!?” going on. (=_=)

It’s good, but, it could be far better.  It was nice to they sculpted the chatty parrot. =^-^=

About Imnotgoing Sideways

I'm a Second Life avatar with my own cookie jar! (^_^)y
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5 Responses to NUE to me (^_^)

  1. brinda Allen says:

    Immy…I’ve said from day one that human intervention is the way to go…I know we were never able to actively help all… but it was comforting to actually see someone there.
    And yes… edit appreance is just about the first thing we all did. To start with… it’s the only way we figure out how to see our own face.

    OK..this will sound like my records stuck (does anyone remember records?!) Sorry Mr. Rosedale, Secondlife as we know and love it will never be Easy….
    I look around at those of us that stick around for a few years…if you ain’t some kinda geek when you join… you end up a bit geeky

    • sandra says:

      It can’t be that difficult. I am seriously non-geeky but made it through in 2006 with, as far as Iremember, no help. But I so agree with Immy that Appearance is the number one item that most people want to fix. Number two is walking, why can’t the default avatars have nice walks?

  2. Dale Innis says:

    Yay, the ol’ parrot! :)

    Thanks for the walkthrough of the current OI. Nice they are at least doing something there; last time I made an alt (Feb 2010) I was just thrown into the middle of Help Island 437 or whatever, with no guidance of any kind; it was significantly less useful than the 2006 OI that I first rezzed in.

    We ought to get a couple dozen people together and take turns getting like a weekly snapshot of the NUE, and organize them all on a website somewhere.

    In our copious spare time hahaha…

  3. Solar Legion says:

    As a former member of the Mentor program and someone who went through the original HI/OI incarnations (new users reading this, go to Help Island Public and Orientation Island Public for a peek): The instant the Lindens started altering the set up, they began to destroy the ability for new users to learn a bloody thing beyond the absolute basics.

    This new “Orientation” is an utter joke – more so than the last two incarnations of this process. Even worse is the fact that they shut down the Mentor group – a group dedicated to picking up their bloody slack!

    I feel nothing but pity for the new users now: They’ll be entering a grid utter;y blind and clueless.

  4. Looks like a remix of the old Discovery Islands, with the same extensive use of megaprims.

    Which are, of course, forbidden in Linden Lab builds, and officially unsupported by Linden Lab. :-)

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