Tuesday, June 29, 2010

State of Love and Trust

"State of love and trust is/busting down the pretext." Pearl Jam

Papa grid has issues getting the mainstream adoption it so desperately wants and needs due to two main factors: hardware hurdles and community fragmentation.

What does this have to do with Inworldz immersion? Well, the hardware issues stay the same for all virtual worlds. Third party clients may run a bit lighter than officials, and Heritage Key has a web portal option now, yet these things alone do not overcome the hardware hurdle for OSGrid worlds. A web based viewer is needed for mainstream adoption. Accessibility is the heart of the mainstream.

The community issues are the same as well. All grids after papa grid are in the unique position of being able to establish their niche from the start. All also have the trials and tribulations of papa as a living history lesson to study. What is the defining characteristic of Inworldz? Why should people make this grid their home?

Papa grid made some big mistakes here. At first, his defining characteristic was community. Come join a community and build a new life in a 3D world, he called.

And many answered.

Over time, though, it seems Papa has become all about the money; corporations and commerce. And all the pretexts and secret dealings that come with that focus. I doubt many would say that papa's grid is in a "state of love and trust". This revelation made me open to trying other worlds.

A friend asked me to try out Inworldz with her. I read the TOS, I poked about on the forums, I registered an account. I waited for a time when the two people I knew were on, took the plunge, and rezzed in.

The experience was altogether different than my rez in on papa grid. Instead of a fancy wasteland where I knew no one, I rezzed to a warm and inviting area, with two friends and a mentor saying hello. Everyone around us was chatty and open, both established residents and noobs like me. I logged out a few hours later, marveling at the feeling of possibility on this new grid.

All because of an open community based on helping people, not selling them stuff.

So imagine my surprise when I go to read ilivesl and find she has a different impression of Inworldz's overall focus.

maybe true niches will grow from this, like Reaction Grid’s focus on education or Inworldz on commerce similar to SL

grids like Inworldz will need to have very good protection of their creators if they will succeed more than LL has

Now, there is a money system in place Inworldz, and there are shops, but I thought they were looking for a better, safer community-not a consumer haven. Maybe the advertisers that stand in the path of the newly rezzed over at the coffee shop have more place there than I. Maybe the mentors are so bent out of shape over residents hanging out at the coffee shop because they're marking territory. Maybe Inworldz is a place all about exclusionary corporate consumer culture.

I hope not. I am worried, though-these trials are coming up so quickly. Most that make it over to Inworldz have been indoctrinated by papa grid. They assume it's all corporate. They assume the newly rezzed are consumers ripe for the picking.

Let those of us that came here to feel a part of a greater community of help and beauty make the stand with you. Don't push us off IDI. That's a state of love and trust. That will bust down the pretexts of consumerism.

4 comments:

  1. I am an avid reader of Iliveisl, and take from that brief comment the fact that Ener hasn't spent much time in Inworldz and is making the assumption of commerce niche because 1) IW has an economy and 2) the primary people who've gone looking for a better community and found it in IW were merchants. Yes, lots of our community are merchants and content creators. That doesn't mean we didn't come here and stay here for the same reasons you have.

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  2. Understood. Her impression just shocked me because I didn't feel the same way on first look. Thanks for the comment, I am glad that is not the case. All merchants are not created equal, and I am always glad to meet those that realize business is built on community more than any other factor. If no one has a personal connection to a product, it doesn't sell. That's why spam should never be a marketing tactic.

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  3. I love the "papa grid" reference. I have been using it all day. The lab has been becoming more aggressive about protecting their trade names so, moving forward, I will be using the "papa grid" reference.

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  4. We'll keep it as a standard on the blog. I have been playing with different ways to refer to papa grid for awhile, glad to hear that it got across the proper impression.

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