Making the CDS more Interesting

[Desmond Shang]

I personally think the CDS could do a great job at this; the only issue might be the number of people around, but with new residents coming in that too can change.

It might be worth a try! Got to say, your particular venue is hardly like any other on the grid and definitely of interest to many. The worst case is that you could be told 'not ready yet' - so long as the CDS can afford the space.

I don't think any new residents would be harmed by a startup effort; in fact they may be inspired by it.

[Ranma Tardis]

Wonder how many of the CDS residents attend college? Recruiting from this environment might provide both an opportunity for them to see government in second life and good residents. While I said that the Linden program would funnel a lot of griefers and children to the CDS a careful thought out program or recruiting from the campus might be in order. I am going back to college to update my computer skills and while there could sort of mention it to prospective residents. Just because I had issues does not mean they will. I would them make up their own minds.
It is not younger people that make up all of the griefers. Think that it is the anonymous method of making an account that is behind such. A program to bring in known people should work out a lot better!
Let me know what you think?

[Rose Springvale]

Ranma,

We love college students Any recruiting you want to do is welcome!

We've had several students come through doing research, some undergrads, more grads lately. One who is more serious, archmunster Toll, is working toward a ph.D i think, and has interviewed several people over several months. I'm sure he'd be glad to talk about his work with students too.

I think we've helped more than a few out with that late night term paper too

i agree with you Desmond. I think we might have more people who would help than might first appear. Will be watching Oxbridge.

[solomon mosely]

hmmm, would a series of panel discussions with gov't officials from a variety of sl nations be of any interest? it could be hosted at each location as focus topic and branch from there. is there a field of virtual gov't or social organisational studies we could contribute to?

[Sonja Strom]

To entertain people in Colonia Nova we could maybe hold gladiator battles in the Amphitheater.
Other ideas could be ice skating on the river(s) or a gathering and open discussion in the community bath. One possible topic could be the economics of monarchial rule.

[Rose Springvale]

I think that in the early days of Colonia Nova there were some sorts of Gladiator activity... maybe someone who was around then can enlighten us.

I also know that ROMA does something with this, perhaps with the Legion? I want to say it is one of those game systems where you have "health" and such... certainly something to be researched.

[Sonja Strom]

In the last couple of months there has been a lot less activity in this forum than there was before. Does this indicate a lack of interest in the CDS Might it be because of something else?

Maybe the slowdown in the world economy is affecting the CDS too, although it looks like the numbers of avis in SL at any given time are still continuing to go up.

Maybe it's just that people don't really like the forum, like somebody said here: http://forums.slcds.info/viewtopic.php? ... 265#p12794

[Timo Gufler]

Good questions, Sonja, and you are not the only one pondering that. Myself I have been very busy at all levels of RL that restricts time dedicated to SL/CDS.

Maybe world economy influences CDS a lot. Another explanation could be CDS population is getting old (not talking about RL age). I have many contacts in SL who were more active earlier but as time passes they are seen seldom and seldom in-world. Of course there are always those who make come-backs but still certain proportion of the SL population seem to become passive but fortunately newbies flow in. Maybe this is also true in CDS. We have people who were active earlier but nowadays their focus is elsewhere but still they don't want to give up the ties to the community.

If this is true what CDS should do? Should we have more interesting events for the veterans? Maybe not, since there are a lot of good events, thanks to PIOs and other volunteers. I think we should get new people to CDS and a good way to make that happen is to have such land for sale new people are interested in to buy. I believe also the proposed shopping area information might help.

[Desmond Shang]

Timo you have hit on something rather important.

Some may disagree with my next statements, but if taken with a grain of salt there might be something to appreciate.

Older, more educated, wealthier users tend to hang on and enjoy the long term sweep of things, but log in less... and less.. and less. Whilst young folks generally cherrypick the best of experiences and then move on. Over time, a community tends to turn into the former, as the latter keep churning through.

One way to limit this is require some mechanism for participation... or the user is *out*. One of the ways I do it on my estate is to allow only 12 weeks of rent paid ahead... no longer. Paid in $L. People have to 1) log in and 2) visit their parcel *at least four times per year*.

Sounds crazy, but there are a huge number of people who would pay me in years at a time. And log in just for that.

Hey, maybe make some mechanism where residents have to log in and do some really simple thing (pay rent, participate in a vote, participate in some other function) and if not... they are really more of an investor than a participant in a democracy, no?

Just a thought. Perhaps not an ideal solution.

* * * * *

I've been away because I've been insanely busy, and quite up to some things Perhaps what would really work for the CDS is what worked for me: a Community Gateway that dramatically revitalised the country. It's something you could easily afford! Give it a thought...

[Sudane Erato]

One way to limit this is require some mechanism for participation... or the user is *out*. One of the ways I do it on my estate is to allow only 12 weeks of rent paid ahead... no longer. Paid in $L. People have to 1) log in and 2) visit their parcel *at least four times per year*...

Actually, when we brought the current tier payment system into the CDS, we quite consciously put in place just such a system. It requires that a citizen visit the community, go to their payment box, and make the tier payment every month.

Many folks have complained over this feature, wishing that they could pay their tier 4 or 6 months ahead. Aside from the fact that this system has no provision for that, my question would be the same as Desmond's. How are you really a member of the community if you wish to show up once every 6 months to pay tier? Many members in fact have little other interaction here, but at least they appear once a month for this obligation.

Sudane...................................

[Sonja Strom]

Maybe we could organize courses about different subjects that would interest people. Some courses I remember that have been offered in the CDS before are: scripting (taught by Jon Seattle), how to make clothes in SL (taught by Arria Perreault), and what is democracy (taught by Rudy Ruml). However, so far as I know these were not part of a consistently organized effort within the CDS. All of these courses were offered in the School in Neufreistadt, but I don't think they would have to be limited to there.

If we offered courses about how to do things in SL, other people might come in from outside our community to attend them. This would create opportunities for us to meet new people, and they might also be interested in learning more about us.