Location: Planning Virtual TravelThis began as an update to the previous post, until I discovered that Linden Lab has already done something I was about to recommend for retaining player...I mean resident...interest.
The clever and intuitive "destination guide" can be found, though after too many clicks, from a featured area at the bottom left of the log-on window. It's also there when one clicks on "world map," but that's not enough because in either case. The visitor must scroll to the very bottom of a few selected sites to get the big list.
The guide deserves greater play. Perhaps instead of the moon-eyed couple in Paris or the shopaholic in the little videos shown to all visitors, why not feature a different roleplaying group or cool location with each reload of the window, using machinima they prepare for the occasion? At the top of the page, I'd add "stuff to do."
Just as the model companies mentioned in my previous post sponsor contests and promote groups, Linden Lab could promote these key communities in SL. With a click the visitor could could discover the nature of the RP community, see some photos, read a few ground rules, and learn of places of interest in-world.
The problem would be how to feature something like Gor (not technically "adult") without raising a ruckus in the mainstream media that sporadically cover SL. I can see it now: "you too can become a slave girl!" I leave it up to Linden Lab to figure out a way to showcase roleplay without that particular problem. They already have "Sexy Islands" up there, as racy as I'd suspect they'll get.
The guide also features the UT system project as well as the ever-popular (or annoying, your choice) Bloodlines game.
The impression is of a large and diverse community. That should be front and center, not Ken and Barbie on the Eiffel Tower.
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