Remember Newbies

Some of you know that this blog is a group effort and usually hold a meeting in world every Friday at 2 PM SLT to discuss… well what ever we want to talk about.

One recent Friday just as one of our meeting was coming to a close, there was a female avatar show up. She asked what was happening there.  Upon recognizing she had spoken, I informed her what we were doing then checked her profile. That day was her first or second day in Second Life.

I asked her what she thought about Second Life? She responded something along the line of “Well I just don’t get it. What is there really to do?”

I asked her what would she like to do? Go shopping, dancing, skydiving, scuba diving, etc.

She exclaimed, “You can do all that in here?

May I escort you around a little? I asked.

She Gratefully accepted my offer and told me she would like to dance, so I hit search and found a club with rock and roll and escorted her to the club. She nearly flipped when we got the music started and hit a couple dance balls. She kept hopping from dance ball set to dance ball set to see the dances. I showed her the difference about public chat and IMs or private messages. I spent about an hour with her answering her questions while we danced. I told her about altering her appearance, buying skin, clothes, toys, concerts, etc.

She is from Poland and our hours are usually opposite one another, but she is on my friends list. Several days later we caught up with one another when she IMed me and told me she had been shopping and wanted me to see her now!  She was now very proud of her looks, and couldn’t stop thanking me for being so nice to her our first meeting.  She told me she had already made the decision to leave Second Life when she happened upon our little group, and I had taken the time to show her around a little and teach her how to find things in the search… which sparked an interest in Second Life.

The point is, remember when you were new?  Did someone spend a few minutes with you?  Would you get enjoyment out of spending a little time with a newbie?  Will the newbie benefit from crossing your path? or pass right on by without your even noticing?

Everyday we enter Second Life we will usually have a chance to directly affect somebodies Second Life; especially a person who hasn’t been in Second Life more than a couple days.

I found the experience gratifying, and intend to do it again often — and hope this little post might get you to think about doing the same.