Thursday, April 21, 2011

Let's not make SL smarter, let's make V2 dumber

Oh
My
God!

Have you actually tried to use the basic mode of the Second Life Viewer 2.6.3? With whom is LL competing that they have to add a useless mode to their viewer? Have you even tried using it?

First of all, and most important, you have no access to your inventory. You can't buy lindens, you can't buy products, you can't even receive things from your friends. And you will look like one in 8 other basic mode users.

Granted the normal (now Advanced) mode does have a lot of settings and things that new users might feel intimidated to use, but that's why you build in pop-up-once tips when they do something for the very first time. It's why you make tooltips for every single preference that includes scenarios (if you enable then this will happen). It's why you make finding help so much easier, including experts (paid and volunteer) available in chat groups and clear and easy-to-read wikis.

Take a lesson from the folks at Phoenix. They have two VERY active chat groups filled with experts and peer support, a well-documented wiki and other support accessible outside SL.

MAKE V2 WHAT THE USERS WANT, NOW WHAT YOU WANT!

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