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SL’s First-Time Experience Needs Both Bots and the Human Touch.

SL AI helper bots Clipp

The reader conversation around creating an AI-driven experience that improves Second Life new user retention continues. Just please, writes, Zane Zimer, no SL bot like Clippy, the intrusive, unhelpful "assistant":

Microsoft's Clippy is still a point of jest, all these years later. A 'character' is not the answer. Simple, intuitive, perhaps even guided, viewer help is a good idea. I would argue simplification of some of the innate SL complexity would go a long way to that first experience though. Heads/bodies (and other parts) are a disjointed mess. AOs, vehicles, needing to learn to 'build' to basically change your look. At the end of the day though, if there isn't anything to keep them in SL…it doesn't matter how good that first experience is.

Najeda makes the very good point that we definitely don't want to eliminate the human factor in the first-time experience, noting "I was helped when I joined and, in turn, I gladly helped other people who joined later."

Then goes on:

On a human level, being helped and helping someone is a completely different experience from following an automated tutorial. Furthermore, it demonstrates to new users an example of the social interactions, as well as sharing your experiences, having fun together with other people on the platform. The automated tutorial should serve as a backup option, not a replacement.

On the other hand, often nobody is available to help. And some individuals offer assistance with ulterior motives, i.e. to hit on newcomer girls. Also social anxiety exists.

The AI assistant, available 24/7 and at your pace, could be welcomed if it's optional, not forced, and doesn't pop up always, unsolicited like Clippy, but allows users to call it when needed.

Hard agree! Many new SLers would prefer a bot/NPC-type assistant to get started, since it's actually quite typical to have one in many MMOs/multiplayer games. (Once again, check out the Scavengers' starting bot character below.) Personally I prefer to noodle around on my own, without the pressure of a human assistant looking over my shoulder.

Speaking of human tutors, that brings up another approach that Philip Rosedale has alluded to: A first-time matchmaker service, where the AI bot can ask the new user what about Second Life they're most interested in doing ("building", "shopping", "roleplay", etc.) and then get connected to a designated SLer volunteer who's most qualified to help them.

Just no goddamn Clippy! 

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One response to “SL’s First-Time Experience Needs Both Bots and the Human Touch.”

  1. William Gide Avatar
    William Gide

    the AI bot can ask the new user what about Second Life they’re most interested in doing (“building”, “shopping”, “roleplay”, etc.) and then get connected to a designated SLer volunteer who’s most qualified to help them.
    There’s nothing about this that requires AI. It would probably be more reliable to not use AI for this (assuming you’re thinking of generative AI to refer to the entire AI project, which unfortunately so many people are doing lately).

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