How hard is it to grasp the tech in virtual worlds as a newbie? We who have been a few years in vw already tend to forget the worst as time goes by. I read this in Prokofy Nevas blog and it makes you think:
“I’ll never forget going to visit one of the top computer security geeks in NY whom I happened to stumble on to fix my rather mundane computer virus problems because he was nearby. I sat down and showed him Second Life and how I had to get that working with a new video card. I pulled up the menu with the FPS and time dilation and began to chat about script time and primitive counts and how you had to check for lag and the count in people’s hair and such, showing him the different menus as my avatar expertly flew around clearing away prims or adjusting the physics colliding objects on the island and such.
He literally goggled at me. He was stunned. He said almost in awe that he thought it was really cool that a completely non-technical person could become conversant in all these things and run these servers like this, he really thought it was impressive. He is a *nice* geek and decent (fighting hackers, instead of hacking himself). And I was surprised myself that SL’s complexity on its dashboard shocked him, or that I, a nobody with nothing could run it by the “learn as you do” method”.
I think this is very very true. Yesterday Sven Idyll tried to get me to use “Starlight”, some software u install to change the skin and appearance of the Second Life viewer. It looked nice, BUT…. I got tired just to look at the manual. And I dont think im much different than the average person out there. If it gets too techie we wont use it. Simple as that. Features like this is for geeks only and its not enough if you want to grow as a grid. You have to simplify a lot more. Even if I could install that Starlight if I really tried, i dont feel its worth my time really. Most ppl are not stupid, they just dont feel like reading manuals and instructions 24/7 in their free time. It has to be easier than this if its going to be mainstream. I actually think LL was on the right track with the idea of the basic client. Maybee it was too basic though… still the idea is not bad. I also liked SL in a web solution. I did try it out and It was fine. An easy way to get ppl to try SL for a later full download of the game if they like what they see. I dont know what happened to that web thingie??
Have a fab(?) monday :]
The Eternal Sunshine of the Metaverse 