Best practices for building an Orientation Island

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This article is part of the Second Life Knowledge Base. Although Linden Lab can't guarantee its accuracy, as part of the Knowledge Base it must meet high quality standards, and designated reviewers must approve any changes.

This article contains some suggestions for Resident builders interested in creating an "Orientation Island" in the Second Life® virtual world.

Tutorials to Include

Our data indicates that users will be more likely to return to Second Life, and have a more successful experience, if orientation teaches them the following:

• Movement
  • Include flying; see the "Style Guide" section below.
    • Many new users prefer using the built-in movement head-up display (HUD) to using the arrow keys on the keyboard; we recommend turning it on as a default.
• Camera
  • New users may also prefer using the built-in camera HUD, so it may also be wise to turn it on as a default.
• Appearance
  • Users like to spend a lot of time customizing their look, but the process can be somewhat complex. Be sure they get the basics of navigating inworld before they hit this big time commitment.
• Chat/IM
  • Highlight using the Enter key and the buttons at the bottom of the Second Life window for chatting and IM.
• Buying an item/using inventory
  • This is one of the trickiest things to learn. Detailed instructions are necessary.
    • Having new users' inventory open by default when they log in helps users see new objects arrive in their inventory.
• How to use pose balls/interactive objects
  • It's not immediately obvious how to interact with non-avatars in the world -- or whether objects are even interactive.
    • Pose balls are a simple way to demonstrate interactivity.
    • Teaching "stand up" is important to keeping new users from being "stuck."
• Buying Linden Dollars (L$)
  • Many new users never learn how to get L$ to spend in Second Life!
    • Explaining the relation of L$ to "real" money is a good idea.
    • Teaching new users to buy land, however, may be too much information; new users do not yet know why they would want land.
• Using Search
  • An ideal context for using the inworld search on Orientation Island is "finding a friend." New users often meet people on Orientation Island who they are unable to find later when looking for help or cool places. In addition, the Showcase tab in the Search window is an easy way for people to browse for interesting things to do.
• Using the map and teleporting
  • We've found that many new users don't know there's a world beyond Orientation Island, and don't leave it for weeks!
    • For this reason, it's critical to point out the map and give instructions for finding other locations.
• Joining a group
  • Offering a "new user group" invite on Orientation Island is correlated with increased user retention, and is a great way to keep users in touch with your gateway.

Style Guide

We've seen many common errors in developing Orientation Islands in the past that confuse and irritate new users. Try to avoid them!

• Use images, not text, wherever possible
  • We can't emphasize this enough!
    • People don't take the time to read text. They come to us ready to "go go go!" and want to click around and look at things.
• Notecards should be given only as a way for users to save instructions for later
  • Don't rely on notecards as a primary means of teaching users. Opening a notecard requires getting into inventory and reading text, which is much more complicated than simply looking at a picture.
    • When we stopped using notecards as a means to teach users how to navigate inworld and use the Second Life viewer, retention of new users greatly improved!
• Try to avoid using scripted objects as required points for completing orientation
  • Making changes to an Orientation Island which is full of interrelated, scripted objects takes a lot of work, and makes it harder to fix problems or improve your Orientation Island. We learned this the hard way.
    • Leaving fun, simple, scripted objects around for users to touch and experiment with, however, is a great way to get them excited about Second Life!
• Be sensitive to users with different keyboards
  • Not everyone has PgUp/PgDn on their keyboard.
    • Be sure to teach other ways to fly -- the Fly button at the bottom of the Second Life viewer, the F key, and the movement HUD.
• When possible, freebie objects should look like what they are
  • New users who are out looking for free clothes or other gifts often ignore boxes and billboards -- they're looking for actual objects.
    • At the very least, be sure to clearly display pictures of the freebies on your box or billboard.
• Keep up with interface changes
  • If you use pictures of interface elements like buttons and menus, you may want to revise your graphics periodically as the Second Life viewer interface changes.
• Be sure to set correct permissions on interactive objects
  • Often, we see orientations with nifty cars or boats on them that can't be driven, making for a baffling new user experience.
    • Either make these objects un-rideable if they're scenery, or set permissions so they are rideable by anyone.
• Design around popups
  • Be aware that interface windows may sometimes pop up over your tutorial elements, and users may not know how to turn the camera to see both at once.

Technical Recommendations

We have a few recommendations for you regarding the more technical side of Orientation Island creation and management. In general, we think it would be good to keep in mind the following:

• Second Life can be slow to render. We can't control the number of textures or objects displayed on most islands.
• Orientation Islands give us an opportunity to display an optimally simple environment where users see things faster; keeping the frame rate high helps new users see your Orientation Island faster.

The following are some more specific technical tips:

• Keep new users indoors, and out of lakes and rivers
  • Large open areas, particularly those over inland water, take a long time to load, though water at the edge of a parcel is not a problem.
    • New users often fall into bodies of water and can't figure out how to get out.
    • Building your Orientation Island in a cozy, enclosed area may also improve lag problems.
• Avoid using trees and other transparencies
  • These also render very slowly.
    • Remember that every transparency requires rendering pixels behind the transparency, the changes made to that pixel by the transparency, etc.
    • Multiple transparencies require re-rendering the same pixel many times over!
• Don't use particles
• Re-use textures whenever possible, and don't have too many
  • Textures are downloaded and then cached by the viewer. The more textures you have, the slower your Orientation Island will load, and the more frustrated users are likely to become.
• Discourage helpers from handing out objects made of lots of prims

Troubleshooting Recommendations

What follows are a few tips geared toward solving basic rendering problems common on Orientation Islands, the solving of which helps new users see your Orientation Island faster:

• The Graphics tab in the Preferences window
  • • Directing users to turn down the Quality and Performance slider in the Graphics tab of the Preferences window can be a huge help for users with less-compatible technology.
• Rebake Textures option
  • New users on Orientation Islands often find their clothes and skin do not render properly.
    • Directing users to the Advanced > Character > Rebake Textures menu option will reload their skin and clothing, though you have to show them how to open the Advanced menu. You could also instruct them to hit Ctrl-Alt-R on their keyboards.

Volunteers on Orientation Islands

You may want to consider having volunteers stationed on your Orientation Island to answer questions and help new Residents out.

The Big Question

The most common and fundamental questions volunteers on Orientation Island report being asked by new users are related to the value of Second Life. By far, the most important of these is:"What do I do here?" There's a considerable time investment involved in learning to drive a car, but the value of knowing how to drive is clear. When people come to Second Life with a clear understanding of its value to them personally, they are far less likely to be deterred by the learning process and will actively engage an Orientation Island. The majority of new users, however, are unsure of Second Life's value and are less likely to engage in a long learning process (therefore, it makes sense that there should be few if any mandatory elements to the orientation process). New users have reported that the most obvious answer "You can do anything here!" is less than welcome. To those in the know, it's fairly accurate, but it does little to lead a new user to personal value. Asking a few brief questions can help to determine where best to direct new users looking for something to do inworld.

Other Common Questions Related to Finding Value

• Where Is...?
  • New Users with a general idea of how to find value in Second Life will have specific questions regarding shopping, clubs, events, etc. They are typically willing to learn a minimum amount of the viewer interface to achieve their goals, so teaching them how to use Search will provide them with a means to explore along their perceived path to value.
• How Do I (General)...?
  • New Users with a general understanding of the value of Second Life to others will want to gauge their ability to participate by asking how to build, script, make money, meet people, etc. They are usually willing to spend time talking about the experience and learn how other people us Second Life.
• How Do I (Specific)...?
  • New Users with a task at hand looking for a means to complete it have a good idea as to what will be of value to them, but want a bit of help in completing it. Helping them to open packages, wear clothing, use the map, find the person who talked them into trying Second Life, etc. will be immediately appreciated. Questions on how to adjust appearance are some of the most commonly asked of the specific "How" questions.

Further Reading

The OIslanders Test Team page in the Second Life Wiki contains some observations and opinions from Residents who've given this sort of thing a try.

Second Location and What It Tells Us

An informal study that tracked Resident behavior against the second location they visited after orientation yielded some results that might be useful to consider when designing your orientation experience.

• The highest-ranking locations (Help, Exit, Freebie, Money, Commercial) suggest an interesting mental model: "Help Me!" and "I need Money!"
• The results support that teaching people how to find and spend L$ generates more activity/time inworld.
• It appears that people who spend time in either Freebie or Money locations (money tree, camping chairs) are more likely to buy L$ and spend more. However, we're not sure whether this is a cause or effect: it seems possible that people who are already shopping-inclined are more likely to go to freebie locations and subsequently go on to buy more, but it might be that people who go to freebie locations get the idea there that they can acquire content in Second Life, and go on to buy more.