Breaking the Ad Barrier in SL

Something revolutionary happened in Second Life this week, although the Lindens didn't blog about it (and may not) and they so hid it behind a door nobody might even notice.

For the first time, and a Linden infohub there are kiosks with ads for resident newbie-helping activities and content.

Yes, peer at this picture above closely, and you can see two things:

1) Yes, the Lindens fixed that old clunky resident ad-maker from the telehubs -- or rather, no, they didn't fix the clunky script but just put a new skin on it and made sure it did work (I think the old one had timing problems) -- so yes, you can now go to Violet Infohub and put in an ad and a texture to rotate for two weeks.

2) And there in the background is Carl Metropolitan's NCI, with information and landmarks to this newb helping empire. More are supposed to come. This is part of the system of "endorsed resident helping groups" which is now going to be called...something else. SL New Resident Experience? That's their buzz word. But this system apparently lets you retain independence and freedom from mentors.

Of course, as for the resident ad, there's no need for it to be clunky, and to have that awful looming hand and too-fast timer. There are other resident scripts out there that simply do more -- they enable you also, once you've paid, to get information about who clicks on your sign (name and place) -- that's the norm everywhere now. The Lindens could easily adapt one of those sorts of scripts and have people pay $0 to have those options which would be tremendously helpful.

More to the point, by cracking the glaze on the Lindens' long-help exclusivity over infohub content, the way is opened up for them finally, some day, hopefully sooner rather than later, to understand that they need to have ADVERTISING in these hubs and welcome areas.

YES, BOYS AND GIRLS, ADVERTISING. I'm not even going to listen to the Lauk's of the world and the various naysayers who immediately begin screeching that sex clubs will lure newbies into horrible abusive and exploitative traps if residents are allowed to advertise. That sort of scare-mongering is like the scare-mongering done around SL in general, as if it is some giant sex trap.

No, there can be rules like anything else (the events list, the classifieds) in which only PG is allowed, and even further restrictions might be placed, it would have to be debated.

The point is, advertising space WHERE THERE ARE EYEBALLS -- HELLO?! -- is absolutely premium stuff, and the Lindens need to SELL THAT and get over there squeamishness.

Why this lovely build of Barnes even has as part of its integral design a wall where billboards could naturally be integrated with the build -- and no, they need not be big, ugly, spinny, gross. They can be normal boards that take you to clubs, live music, classes, rentals, special events, etc. And why not?

How the hell ELSE do you think people will STICK to SL unless they have something like this. When you go to There or Active Worlds you get boards like this without anybody having a cow.

No, it's all normal stuff, and it's time to gently but firmly pry the clutching fingers of the non-commercial or "no-business-but-my-business" gangs at the Lab and in the FIC and allow this to go forward. It's revenue for the Lindens; they can provide both paid and free advertising space; it's access to real eyeballs for residents; it's giving newbies who land some options.

Of course, given all the screeching that always occurs every time anyone tries to raise this topic, someone will be sure to bleat that you will get THE HORRAH too many clubs or too many rentals and not enough of the PG NPR sort of stuff Lindens love (but that real people don't go to). Well, that's ok. The Lindens already have their endorsed sanitized newbie groups that they clear. And they can contemplate putting Showcase in the hubs too especially since nobody notices it on the webiste, and have it networked and updatable better than the long-discredited "Pathfinders' Picks".

But....you can let the market handle this. Truly. Nobody will wilt. Newbies aren't children; they are adults with DSL lines and disposable time and income *just like you*. No need to infantalize them!

The REST OF THE INTERNET works that way people. Nobody has a cow because search engines put ads up around your results -- it's the norm. When you log into your email or blog portal, ads abound. So why the hell can't they reside in Second Life? What was your plan for making this thing pay, anyway?

Of course, the Lindens would must rather steer the newbie stream to their own content, which consists of either boring scripting and building lessons or their sponsored events that they fete, i.e. the birthday or Burning Man or whatever. However, perhaps common sense and logic might prevail with them, and they could actually measure the clicks and TP follow-throughs and admit that in fact, newbies don't go to the Ivory Tower of Prims -- most of them. I mean, it's great that it's there, but ... life moves on, the earth turns on its axis, and people go to clubs or music or malls. And that's ok.

We now have socializers blessed by M Linden as a legitimate core customer constituency. It's of course on shakier ground than business or education which makes the PC Lindens salivate more, but still, they get that they can't dump them off the platform instantly. So while they're here, they need to show -- even if only for the sake of their future IPO -- that they can get people to stick.

There is a huge missing gap in the New User Experience, and that is after you learn those first few things, then what? You want to get out of those dumb infohubs where infestation groups are babbling and showing off and being obnoxious, and get on to the next thing. There's only one way to do that: portal boards and landmark givers that in fact you press on and GO TO.

Perhaps as a halfway house to gentle get the more screechy Forums FIC and paranoid Lindens to let go of this aspect of SL, you could fill up the wall with politically-approved venues. So the portal boards could be to things that Uplift the Soul, Improve the Mind, and Are Hygenic, Too like....uh...the balloon in Linden Village. ANYTHING but having to stare at the Lame Linden Content (TM) kiosks with stuff like the kiosk with outdated resident newspapers showing a guy who looks for all the world as if he is sitting on a toilet, or the link to the ever-scintillating Linden Blob...or...this gem, called GOT LAG? which someone should do the favour of stealing or blowing up or covering over with a big bush. Here's what it says, by way of lag advice (!!!):

Here's an example of the ads that were in an early period of Orientation Station -- tasteful, normal, even helpful:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LAG
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What causes and contributes to Lag is a complicated issue. Please see our Second Life In-world Help Support page for details on the various kinds of lag, what causes lag, and how to reduce lag at:

>>http://secondlife.com/app/help/technical/LAG.php

Another important thing to check is the minimum and recommended computer system requirements for running Second Life. Details are here:

>>http://secondlife.com/corporate/sysreqs.php

Lastly, if you are using Second Life on computers in a networked computer lab, you are essentially sharing all the common bandwidth. A key thing to remember is that each computer running Second Life will need an average of 80 kbps downstream, spiking at about 400 kbps on initial connect and during teleports. Upstream is much lower, requiring 30 kbps on average. Make sure to check with your IT folks to make sure your network connection can handle these bandwidth requirements if you are running Second Life on multiple computers at the same time.

Lag can greatly reduce your enjoyment of Second Life. Hopefully this information helps you identify some of the possible causes and resolve them!

**************
The networked kiosk system used to distribute this notecard was developed with scripts by Sasun Steinbeck. If you would like more information about the system, please feel free to contact her directly. Thanks, Sasun!
**************

SIGHHHHHH!!!!

By contrast, here's what I have in my infohub, inside a turtle struggling over to the water basin:

WHY AM I MOVING SO SLOWLY?

If you are feeling like your avatar is frozen, unable to click on things, or is moving jerkily, stalling and darting ahead, or moving as if he's in molasses, then you are experiencing what most people call LAG.

There's a few things you can do right away to adjust your settings to minimize lag for yourself.

The first thing to try is to go to EDIT/PREFERENCES on the upper left hand menu bar and go to the GRAPHICS tab and CHECK CUSTOM over to the right to see DRAW DISTANCE below with a slider and set it to 64. The higher this number, the further you will see into this sim, or location and the next, and that can lag you down.

While in EDIT/PREFERENCES/GRAPHICS/CUSTOM you can also make sure there is no check under GRAPHICS detail the "bumpy and shiny" and set LIGHTING to "sun and moon only" and performance is at LOW. You can always put them back later. Terrain detail is at LOW,

Under AUDIO & VIDEO uncheck "play streaming music and video" -- if they are checked to play, they can grind you to a halt without a fast connection and computer.

To see the statistics for your own computer versus Second Life's sim, or server, press ctr-shift-1 and look to the upper right hand corner to study the stats. You can see "packet loss" here too, which can be at issue. Press ctr-alt-shift-1 again to remove the menu. A simpler read-out is contained in HELP/LAG METER at the top of the screen which lets you know whether it's your computer or the sim you are on lagging.

You need a DSL or cable connection to run SL. Wireless laptops are not intended to run on SL, for example, though you might be able to log on and move around and talk to others minimally.

Be sure to check the requirements for SL and the drivers needed:
http://secondlife.com/corporate/sysreqs.php

Don't forget that in addition to updating drivers for the graphics cards, mouse drivers can always be a huge factor in running SL -- it can make all the difference between being frozen or moving. So check your mouse drivers. I've also found that even with the latest drivers, some patches undo especially the mouse driver, and it has to be re-done.

Lag is a big and very heavily-debated topic in SL; it can be on your side, which is called the "client side," or it can be on the "server side," i.e. on SL's side. Lag is not an "official term" that Linden Lab recognizes for most of the things your avatar experiences, so if you are trying to get help from volunteers or Lindens for this condition, be very precise about your experience to enable them to give you more precise help, i.e. jerky movements, no movements, can't type, can't see, lock-up, etc.

The biggest cause of lag in SL is avatars! So if you see more than 20 or even 40 avatars on this location or sim, that means that "frame-rate," or motion and sight for you, will be reduced. Fly away to another nearby location as each sim has its own performance.

Interested to follow this more closely? Use ctr-shift-1 to see the menu and note the simulator's Time Dilation, which should be at .99, and the SIM FPS, which should be at 45. These shift constantly but if they seem consistently at much lower numbers you can ask managers to contact Lindens or to reset the sim themselves to improve performance. You can also see BASIC FPS which is your own frame-rate -- under 10 or 8 is when you begin to feel jerky and stuck.

Note that often on days when a new version of SL is patched in and you either download it, or it is put in through a rolling restart, it can take awhile to go through all the sims and you may experience these times as "laggy" and having "grey squares" or poor visibility.

Various activiites or items that can lag a sim -- cease or remove them when coming on to a crowded area like a townhall meeting as a courtesy to others.

o avatars being in "appearance mode"
o multiple avatars
o vehicles with physics and moving parts like helicopters with blades
o scripted avatars like shoes, weapons, etc.
o prim hair -- huge wigs made out of prims, or any kind of heavy-prim or multi-part outfit or accessory
o particles and poofers
o scripts that listen and say, "Hi, Avatar" etc.

Lag is a fact of life in SL but after awhile you'll learn to minimize it for yourself and be a good neighbour and try to minimize it for others.

Oh, want to see this little turtle's native habitat and pick up one of his cousins as a free pet? He's very far from home! Check out Svarga, a controlled-climate sim with simulated organic life!
[landmark]

Comments

[Ann Otoole]

Huh? Where are these ad boards? Is there a directory of these ad boards? (This system/idea needs some work. A networked system based off a classified ad type. You buy that ad type and load your texture and it goes into the grid wide rotation)

[Ciaran Laval]

Ann these ads are in the infohubs, they've been there ages but I've never been able to get them to work.

I will however try again after this tip off.

[Prokofy Neva]

The ad system used to be on the old telehubs -- there were about 42 telehubs by the time they were removed in 2005. Those old ad systems were clunky, and not that effective, because they only showed one at a time, and would keep showing that ad until someone came and moved the viewer to the next one. Still, it did have some effectiveness and it was widely used, there were usually dozens of resident ads in each telehub.

When the Lindens put in the infohubs, they didn't carry this over, anti-commerce Lindens prevailing in their design. But because about a dozen infohubs were then allowed to be redesigned by residents, including those who had not opted to sell their telehub land back to the Lindens under a compensation deal in 2005, some of us put them back in. Osprey Therein got the thing working again -- it has problems.

One of the things I discovered, with help on interpretation from Ordinal Malaprop, is that the telehubs all embedded within them a script that tracked the arrival of avatars, so the Lindens monitored the traffic at the hubs.

The ad system is clunky and later ad systems scripted commercially by resident companies do a much better job.

I'm not sure they've put them in all the hubs -- I don't see them in welcome areas, where they used to be, like Waterhead or Dore, but only saw this one in Violet.

One of the problems with this system and why people argue over it constantly is that there is always this insistence that ads in various "instances" or singleton help or orientation or infohub areas are worthless unless you have a system that globally distributed ads to every single instance.

But that's not necessary, nor does it really provide enough access to the system. It's perfectly fine to have each local hub have a separate set of ads manually inserted by residents for that hub because their stores may be nearby, for example. There is nothing wrong with developing locality in SL; indeed, it has been a recipe for success for retention and meaningful experience.

If you have a global system, a few big purchasers or users will flood the system with a few ads -- that's the problem we have now with ad farms like Cytherea's BTE. There isn't enough real estate for people to gain access to the market.

I used to go around and put my ads manually into about 20 telehubs that made sense because they were near properties, back in those days nobody would fly more than 1,000 m somewhere. Although there is now p2p, there's no reason not to develop locality and provide more space also.

The Lindens should also seize the moment to put up roadside billboards especially on areas that are already commercial and business related. They don't have to cover every inch. They don't have to even be in every sim. But strategically, they could put in several thousand of these and make them available to rent just like residential billboards are available.

[Jemima Boucher]

There is at one at Waterhead (just checked!) but it appears to be broken ...

[Prokofy Neva]

Yes, that one at Waterhead and some others have been broken for ages, and it's deliberate, the Lindens who hate commerce prevail. Maybe M Linden can override this.

[Ann Otoole]

Why do people that hate commerce work in a for profit company? Shouldn't they live under an overpass in a cardboard box with the rest of the philosopher experts?

Oh wait I think I know.. They like to role play at being all anti commerce but when they drive their nice car to their plush home they sure do like the benefits of commerce.

[Dirk Talamasca]

I like the ad boards. I just hope they are maintained and looked after properly. Good things happening there.

[Gigs Taggart]

Prok,

Is this a sign the Mentors is finally being phased out?

I have to say my only experience with anyone wearing a mentor tag are people with serious cases of false authority syndrome.

[Ann Otoole]

Interesting. Each private island has a telehub icon on it on the map. I have never seen a telehub on any island. There are no telehub icons on any mainland. I found the one in Violet only because of this article. The one in Miramar appears to be a primary dumping ground. And that "resident ad board" is not accessible to residents for placing ads.

Indeed Linden Lab needs to either terminate telehubs completely or make them serialized and all 100% identical, standardized, easy to use, and all have the same opportunities for resident advertising. And get rid of the telehub icons on the map or make them reflect real telehubs.

[Prokofy Neva]

No, nothing of the sort. It's merely a capitulation to the reality that newbie helping groups like Carl's simply do a lot better job than the Mentors. They are unlikely to retire the mentors, but they are just giving the other groups a crack at the newbies. I myself do not like that concept, as I don't think the Lindens should FICize this or that group and elevate it above others and give it eyeballs in the infohubs for free. If they restore the resident ad system I can barely tolerate it still because it is still a terribly unfair system to give one group an elevated status in these hubs (as they did back in the day with InfoNet which was later removed, thank God). But in terms of cracking the ad barrier, it's a step in the right direction of it eventually leads to them permitting ad sales in hubs and welcome areas.

The reason you can't see telehubs on islands is that you bury that function inside a prim or in the ground -- it's a glorified landing point. Few people would actually use those old clunky brown telehub buildings.

But the dirty little secret of the Lindens' "removal" of the telehubs for horridly ideological reasons is that...they didn't remove them from islands. Many island empires in fact retain robust use of them. Desmond's, Anshe's, etc. continents all have landing stations with actual telehub prims and sometimes even more elaborate objects like a gazebo. They then drive people past stores, so they work on exactly the same honey-trap principle of the old telehubs. And imagine, the horror, the horror of having them in the past that gasp people were "forced" to shop. In Caledon, if I want to go somewhere, I have to land at the telehub and then vector in, past shops, which inevitably I'll stop at as many do. So it was sheer hypocrisy, that one.

Type the word "infohub" into the search/places and visit them. The resident designed ones aren't uniform, and that's a good thing. They are all uniform in having some basic Linden advertising for their blog and stuff but they vary as to how much or little or what kind of orientation they give. You can visit the one I work on in Ross or the one in Calletta which is the most robust and elaborate of all the resident-made ones with lots of content and help and freebies and traffic.

Miramare has always totally annoyed me. It is city buildings and concrete -- another geeky affectation -- which the overwhelming majority of people coming into a fantasy second world to escape their tenements do not want. The fiction that people love distressed urban as a backdrop to their socializing is limited to a very severe niche of about 7 percent 19-20 year olds still fascinated by the noir. They get over that fairly quick and then they want pastoral, countryside, McMansion, sea, grass, whatever.

[Prokofy Neva]

Ah, the plot thins here as it turns out...Carl tells me that in fact the builder, Ingrid Ingersoll, put this kiosk in as part of her development of this resident-developed sim, which is more like a "the Lindens called their friends and asked them to fix it up" sort of thing, different than other resident-developed, but...well...still technically "resident".

So there was no Linden decision to have resident ads in the hubs as such, but no objection. There's never been a clear reading on this. I myself put out kiosks with resident publication and blogs, but frankly, I don't see my purpose to drive existing traffic to other infohubs for basic orientation because this information is already being flogged elsewhere and I see the Ross hub as not basic, but intermediary.

I contacted Ingrid directly and she said that she was given a folder of textures and redid the ad thing and the kiosks to make them less primmy and clunky. Also Stever Whiplash redid the ad script. And that's of course what does need redoing -- and further. In any event, what we have here is a sort of partial situation: resident ads are being put back in the Linden hubs by residents, without Linden objection. What we don't have yet is Lindens themselves putting the resident ads in or improving them -- that barrier still remains.

Sigh.

[Prokofy Neva]

AND...now that they have "endorsed" groups and do have a plan to put their kiosks in, we can expect it...some time...soon....