Good day;
I received a link to Christine Crawford’s “An SL Orientation for your review” post on Nabble 2 from a friend. I visited the orientation an respectfully submit the following findings for your review.
Landing Zone
Observation: I landed directly in front of the first station, which was good.
Suggestion: I would always encourage you to put the instructions for any action, to the left of the view, not the right. Most visitors will be used to reading from left to right and the instructions should be the first thing they see.
Observation: I immediately noticed that the walkway leading to the next station was surounded by water. When I was a “Newb” walking was sometimes “problematic.” I intentionally simulated a laggy session and poor navigation skills and this is where I wound up! Many “Newbs” who don’t yet understand flying, would “drown” at this point…
Suggestion: Guard Rails!
Observation: The “Welcome to Kuttara Zen” sign includes information seemingly designed for those who want to dance and those who want to “learn skills often used in SL.”
Question: Which of these activities (dance vs obstacle course) is the primary focus?
Comments: If learning is the primary focus, the invitation to learn should be on the left (see above). The text phrase “Right click and Touch this sign…” is also a little confusing.
Suggestion: Switch the learning and dancing invite text. Rewrite the obstacle course text to read: “To receive a NoteCard with instructions for the Obstacle Course, do the following: “Right-click on this sign, then left-click on the “Touch” menu item. Left-click on the “Keep” button on the pop-down menu.”
Note: You actually employ this type of instructional phrasing in the NoteCard provided by the sign!
Lantern / Notecard #1
Observation: The welcome message calls this place the “Chinsen Shuyo Teinen New Users Obstacle Course” I was introduced to this location by Christine Crawford as the “Kuttara Zen Avatar Training Trail”
Suggetion: Stick with a consistant, easy to say, remember and BRAND name!
Observation: Presumably “Task 1″ has already been accomplished.
Lantern / Notecard #2
Suggestion: Put the lantern “deeper” into the “zone,” so the visitor is better positioned to “Look around this stone platform” when they approach the lantern.
Lantern / Notecard #3
Observation: The “Lantern 3 Instruction Card” tells the reader that the “big pink tree… it (SP) due west.”
Question: Until the avatar reaches the sea bed and the embedded directional reference, how does the participant discern “West?”
Suggestion: Correct spelling and capitalization errors in this and other notecards and eliminate any references to compass directions, where directions are not clearly visible at the point where the instruction is being given.
Lantern / Notecard #4
Comment: When I first learned how to fly, I found it was easier for me to start by pressing the key and then using the Pg-up / Pg-dn keys for altitude control.
Lantern / Notecard #5
Suggestion: You may want to put an actual number (5, etc.) on the lanterns, to help with orientation. You may also want to warn people from holding down their directional arrows and flying to far. Because an exercise like this has the potential to send someone far from their intended location, you might want to include a Landmark and instructions to click on it if they get “lost.”
Lantern / Notecard #6
Comment: The feather is a nice gift!
Question: What are these survey questions trying to evaluate?
Lantern / Notecard #7
Comment: Nice that you give people some instruction in “dancing.” It really is “one of the most important social skills of Second Life.”
Closing:
Congratulations on your orientation project. With a few tweaks, and some spelling and grammar corections, you will have a great tool to help “Newbs” learn about SL. I hope my feedback is helpful in reaching that goal.
ps. Nice quote from Winston Churchill Christine!
“However beautiful the strategy, we should occasionally look at the results.”
Respectfully,
Valiant Westland