Community Development Guide

Description

At Linden Lab, we are asked all the time: "What does it take to develop a successful community in Second Life?" This is a tough question for businesses, non-profit organizations, educators, and individuals alike.

The answer to this question is about as varied and diverse as the Resident population itself. Online communities are extremely complex, delicate creatures. While there is no simple formula, there are currently a variety of articles, resources, and academic studies on the web about community development in Second Life. This Wiki is an attempt to capture that knowledge in one place and create a "living document" anyone can edit and contribute to. It is our hope this Guide will be useful to interested individuals, businesses or organizations using the Second Life Grid.

Planned Growth

As a new member of Second Life, I feel it important that there be community discussion about planned growth on the mainland. Such discussion may allow more vibrant communities via:

Zoning for commercial space, residential space, and mixed use areas: The overall experience of secondlife seems diminished when a resident, or group, builds a peaceful and natural environment, only to have it pockmarked, and surrounded with big-box commercial structures.

Planned easements for walkways, streets, and other common areas not owned by residents: While searching for possible parcels for purchase, it was common to find really nice parcels which are land-locked within other developed lots. Planned easements would make sense in this case.

Perhaps these comments have a better place elsewhere in this wiki, however with the discussion area now closed regarding the future plans for the mainland, they are placed on this page in order to draw some discussion.

Please note: These are unofficial resources and not meant to be a substitute for our official support documentation. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the author's and not of Linden Lab itself. For all official support documentation, please visit our Knowledge Base at: http://secondlife.com/support.

Best Practices Links

• Building community 'scaffolding' for educational experiences: https://lists.secondlife.com/pipermail/educators/2007-June/010218.html

See also

• Bringing Your Community into Second Life
• Solution Provider Resources