ABC Island survey results are now in.

Mudslinger — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 16:10:47 +0000

So here are the results of the survey we conducted for the ABC Island sim within Second Life. Aren’t you guys glad we made the survey anonymous!

The main aim of the survey was to assist with the redevelopment of the sim – since it’s barely changed much from when it was made. A new design is needed – but we can’t just waltz in and rebuild what we feel like. Because it’s a community sim and I’m hoping to bring that community aspect of it back into a living entity again we needed the survey to help shape my decisions.

One thing to note: While we did leave open responses to many questions for freestyle answers the survey system unfortunately didn’t capture all the stuff people have said – We’ve put in the comments pretty much as they were stored (with one or two minor edits due to formatting). The long comments ended up with the tail end cut off due to storage limits in the survey itself – so we didn’t get to read everything some of you had said.

So… lets get to the data we do have shall we?

Total submissions:

Over the entire month we ran the survey it was good to see a healthy supply of responses that weI managed to round off at a total of 50 on the last day of the survey. Even though about 11 of those responses were incomplete we still accepted the data as useful feedback. Most of the responses actually came in during the first week of the survey.

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Language:

This was of course going to be a non-issue but it was one that still needed to be asked since a few admins had noted a lot of foreign people visited the sandbox area. Many of them probably didn’t take the survey for lack of understanding an English based website to begin with. (which probably adds more irony to the “no” option we put within the survey question).

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How did you find us?

Well it seems our reputation gets around! apart from many of you finding out about ABC from just using the search feature – it seems that word-of-mouth gets around stronger than most other methods.

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And with a lot of the questions asked in the survey – We left open a “comments” section for some freestyle answers. So lets see what other ways you guys found us: (note: We hyper-linked some of the things that the comments referred to)

“http://en.wikifur.com/wiki/ABC_Island“
“I can’t remember”
“Australian friend & SecondLife”
“random tp”
“The Metaverse Journal“
“I saw in someone’s profile”
“was asked to look at it”
“I searched for Triple J“

Your favourite things?

You guys are sure a curious and playful lot… It seems Sandboxes, Events & Wanting to learn and discover things are the more favourite aspects of what everyone likes to do. Meeting areas and art seems to also come out strongly. Which is good in a way since this has so far been some of the aspects we’ve been planning to integrate soon.

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Custom “other” responses for this question:

“Australian cultural/exploration stuff”
“Amusement Park”
“Have been to some intesting lectures at ABC Island, and Wolfies quiz nights were great.”
“Freebies.. but well made ones.. not the cheap tat or copybot type of things that get seen all over the grid”
“no weapons, no violence”
“skyplatform, megaprims, scripts, sounds, etc…”
“I was going to suggest chaniging rooms, so call it two votes for that ;)”
“live music events and would be great to see a Q&A type show run live at the island”
“More talks by Scientists or people researching a particular field like the CSIRO talks from a couple years ago.”
“get Good game More involved in this”

Transportation?

It seems everyone likes the quick and fast options – with little or no stuffing about. Though since we still got some votes for guided-like transport we may still sneak in something to play with that takes you around the place (if it ties well with any particular theme).

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Custom/Other Responses for Transportation:

“Riding kangaroos!”
“add a river boat to show people around”
“clickable map”

Freebies!!!

Just as we figured – you guys want something that is fun or at least practical (or both if ever possible), Clothing and Accessories seems popular too. But a sizeable number of you have gone for the “Other” category.

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And your custom responses were:

“Furniture . . . kinda”
“educational tools”
“I like making clothes, so why not competitions to MAKE freebies, which members could share with others?”
“Building tools”
“wierd things”
“ABC branded items including authorised Triple J tshirts!”
“special gifts”
“same as I said before” [edit: WTF? it's an anonymous survey! how would I even know what you said???]
“have some thing that no others have a bit of real life in the sim like items you see handmade all over the world”
“A bunch of good scripts with good internal documentation”
“Scripts and helpful tips”

And where do you want them?

Most of you seem to like everything in one spot – so that you don’t have to go hunting for it – but a few of you like to go hunting. It shouldn’t be too hard to cater for both aspects by putting most freebies in one spot but maybe some exclusive freebies in sneaky areas. as for those who think freebies are stupid – We are not going to force you to get them!

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Some of you had additional opinions on this too:

“Um.”
“Would be nice if you could weed out the crappy freebies”
“Freebies are more fun if you have to work a little for them (and they are good quality). I still have the Intel Jet Pack, which needed three components to work, even though Intel Island is now gone.”
“Caged, yes, but perhaps set up like one would expect a farmers market set up? One area specializes in clothing, another specializes in scripts, and another in fun objects.”
“In one spot, but with the option to choose which ones you can take away.”
“I’m not a fan of the freebie thing, generally. But a few donated items to help promote the Aussie Way could be fun.”
“I’d prefer to not have the usual range of junk or stolen item freebies that are about, maybe some tp boards to places like the free dove and fabulously free in sl headquarters might be a better option for helping to give noobies a good start. when it com”
“BUt ensure the item is a godo item, a stupid prim build taht one one but a 1 day old noob will use is just pathetic, what about a decent build? something that says “damn thats cool” like some sulpted australian animal avitars/furries when ppl ask “where d”

The Sandbox:

Form all the activity we’ve seen – We thought just about everyone used the sandbox area but it seems a small number of you don’t use it. as for those who do use it we got a bit of a mixed reaction about the sandbox. Some of you like it as it is, some of you partly like it for it’s smallish size (just maybe change it’s appearance a bit). and once again the “Other” category has come out strong here so the comments are going to be interesting to read.

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Your opinions of the sandbox:

“I like it, but would not mind change all that much.”
“Find current circular structure confusing when lining things up on grid. Central column gets in way, multi-levels block view from high”
“it looks round, I prefer square sandboxes.”
“never been there so i can’t really comment on this but if it has been running this long then something must be working.. If it ain’t broke then don’t ‘fix’ it!”
“1/4 sim in a similar design…. with mesh upgrades we now have 64m prims”
“give it more life”
“I’d prefer a square tower, as I find the round platforms a bit distracting sometimes when it comes to being accurate. I’d also like to be able to pop a building platform up in the sky to avoid people interrupting, some can be very annoying and ofc, no we”
“I like itas it is, mabybe a few tiers could be wider (?), and the floor texture, while better than before, is still a bit rough on the eyes, it’s like white noise with colour lol.”
“Don’t like it at all – a simple sandbox would be better. use the space for more exciting things”
“its good but more tiers needed.”

The Australian Feeling?

We seem a bit patriotic about our Australian identity here, this is going to be a challenging thing to maintain in a new setup without becoming too cheesy on the landmarks and symbolic furniture items. No doubt we’ll have to throw a few kangaroos and koalas into the mixer for some flavouring.

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Are you guys ready for change?

It seems you are! While the pie chart we drew up doesn’t really say anything special (just shows how many of you decided to respond to this question) – the real gold from this question will lie with the comments so lets get to it shall we? Your responses below shows you guys wanted to say a lot – but this is where the survey system failed to catch what seems to be potentially a lot more detail.

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Your Opinions:

“Bit more Australian nature/culture put into it, aswell as a bit of an explanation on the ABC and various things going on there.”
“None of the pics does much for me. I like the current ‘style’ “
“I would have some areas as permanent like the Sandbox – it works well, so why fix it? Others like the underground nightclub I have never seen used apart from myself. Its flawed because there’s no easy way of getting there (only a teleport option doesn’t”
“Region performance would be top of the list. Use as many Library textures as practical. Split level terrain, 1/2 region high and green, remaining half lowered and split for 1/4 region sandbox(square flat sand), 1/4 beach front. A small corporate plaza, wi”
“I would like to see more natural things punctuated with the occasional futuristic and sylvan builds. They should all work together to flatter the overall appearance of the sim, but present different thoughts and ideas in their design.”
“J’s/RN feed/s & Questacon type of stuff. Razor sharp web on a prim use. E.g. ABC shop real life items/catalogue for display? (external links may be independant? no conflicts of interests?) Info info info!”
“I would love to see it shaped like Australia, with states marked out. Each state could be landscaped with the most prominent natural feature i.e. include Uluru etc. (but understanding we can’t do everything each state has to offer in the space). Following”
“A challenging puzzle solving, scavenger hunt that could take weeks to complete but is fun to spend time doing, with a wall of fame showing names of those that have managed to complete it. Also other activities to do if you weren`t in the mood for thinking”
“I’m so over the orange dirt. Can we please have some green for a change? I’ve loved the Tower for so long too, but feel that a simpler flat paddock is more social and more practical (how often does you camera get caught in that centre pillar?) Perhaps go”
“I like it as it is.”
“Keep a sandbox definitely. I Like the current design but something else similar with a bit more space would be good. 64m prims/sculpt/mesh is coming. The help panels for newbs are always welcome as would be links to more detailed help/tutorials. ABC re”
“Garden woods”
“well it would be a big chance, why you dont’ may it like austrialia?, I mean a small map like it.”
“- squared building areas , not circles. - sky platforms for privacy building sometimes”
“make it more inline to whats in the outback. give it life australian heart”
“Why not shout it that it’s Australian? One of my favorite sims is Mexico. It’s a fantastic, interactive sim. ABC Island could be beautifully landscaped to reflect the various areas of Australia. Great surf beaches! Sailing! Skiing? Tie-in special events.”
“Pass!”
“I’d like to see professional landscaping done with sim surrounds. The Whitsudays sim is a good example of an aussie sim without being a cliche. Better quality objects would be good – sculpties have made things so much more realistic but ABC island still l”
“I’d like the island to contain more content relevant to ABC and maybe link parts of the island to the abc.net.au website and take into account the strategic plan outlined here: http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/documents/cplan10-13.pdf“
“I like teh mecha and the colum look but they say “america & europe” what you want is something more like MAD MAX that says australia, why not go post apoloptic? Broken sydney harbour bridge and smashed up opera house would look cool, with camps and some s”

Possible Themes:

It’s tricky to figure out from these results exactly what you guys will want in a new-look ABC Island – but we do know what you guys down’t want! It seems kids themes are not a popular theme. which is probably understandable due to many reasons that often question the ethical and legality of some child-related activities online.

As for all the other themes – you all ranked pretty evenly on the votes with a slight lean towards a forest theme. Since most of the themes came out with fairly popular responses it seems like we may have to mix it together and see what kind of hybrid will come out in the rebuild.

We produced two charts here – one based on the original responses – and another blending two of the results together to get a better perspective of the positive vs negative responses.

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Comments of the City Park theme:

“awesomes!”
“Fear ‘build almost anywhere’ could cause problems. Would like city concept balanced with a rural component.”
“I have seen this done elsewhere, but with limits. For example I am a member of “FAB Chopper Parts” and if I have that group active when I visit the related SIMs (FAB North, Desert Shores, FAB International, etc) I can rez stuff from my Inventory anywhere”
“Building anywhere is a bad idea. Forced landing points is frowned upon by some Residents. Buildings should be grouped together on a small street grid pattern like in Regions Korea 1, 2, 3 and 4. Only 1 type of vehicle transport like a trolley, bus or sma”
“Add Australian design and flair. Use landmarks from around Australian parks to create your virtual City Park area.”
“Any idea is fine so long as it showcases advanced multimedia.”
“It sounds like you already have an idea/concept of design and you want “approval” for it from people. Not having either been or even heard of you before I can’t comment as I have no idea if this is the origal theme or a newer updated version of what you c”
“I see a door at the bottom of that tower – you’re not thinking of horrible hard to manouver spiral stairs and corridors are you?? And not grey. It’s a virtual world, it doesn’t have to look like concrete.”
“Yawn!!”
“Looks a little bland, but I think the general open layout good, and conducive to building and socializing. 7/10″
“Sandbox should be limited to avoid clutter/abuse.”
“Boring”
“i dont like castle towers, i like something with is now, more happy , funny and secure”
“Give the place some character–make it very Australian.”
“I like to have a landmark to the place I want to be, not be forced to land at a landing zone. If someone is building where my lm takes me, then the freedom to choose somewhere else is preferable to being dumped in one place.”
“Its very closed in USE the water resorce on the sim’s borders dont ignore it. at very least buy a megaprim border landscape.”

Comments of the Island theme:

“I likes a seaside hotel resort”
“Again, fear problems with SIM-wide sandbox. I sail. Like the notion of a boat-test area. ‘Huts’ feel like an SL cliche”
“It would be nice to have a mixture on land and sea. I like the idea of the lighthouse being a teleport hub, escpecially say if you can rez boats or submarines there. However I don’t think that only one SIM is big enough for a decent mixed environment. I t”
“sandbox declared for 1/2 sim, split into 1/4 water 1/4 land. The other half could be an island with a corporate cove some stores along a strip leading out from each side the center circle. The land behind the buildings could be raised as a back drop. The”
“read my last comment on the previous subject.. same goes for this too.”
“This is sounding better!”
“Underwater is good, will bring some mers. Maybe underwater sandbox. An ever changing decoration as everyone practices their underwater landscapes. As for the lighthouse – I’d rather jump of the top than manouver down spirals. Actually I like jumping off h”
“So cliche”
“Good addition of water areas. Not many sandboxes have this feature, so you could attract a bevy of canoe crafters.”
“more boring – come up with something we haven’t seen yet (for that matter – try some “Hollywood” or – even though it’s NBC – Universal Studios Theme Partk”
“so much”
“Concept still seems to be: Make a giant sandbox.”
“this is the other extreme, mix the 2 a harbour yes, but not a water world.”

Comments of the Sci-Fi theme:

“Too much like this already in SL. Doesn’t feel very ‘Australian’”
“This space would be over themed. A good use of space will allow for a variety of activities.”
“Steampunk with a decidedly Australian flair.”
“This is a good choice. It shows of various builds and types of prims used and what can be achieved too. Match the SL windlight settings too get an even better feel for the region.”
“Yes – this is sounding far more interesting!”
“I just like steampunk.”
“Sounds fun. Not the most practical, but it’s a gorgeous and very popular genre. I’d personally enjoy it. :-)”
“it sounds script heavy = laggy”
“ok…. some art/display stuff in the hangers I assume? No chat/hangout space? or build that into the theme? If tastefully done this would be fine/interesting with places to explore and possibly RP in. But if badly done as bad as a bare sandbox sim. It’s”
“seen it all befor”
“Huh?!”
“I’m kind of a plain jane when it comes to areas, I also take inspiration from the zone I’m in when it comes to building, not sure I’d like to have a steampunk environment around me, I much prefer green, open or tropical looking spaces”
“Your getting there love most of this idea, but dont forget to make it australian.”

Comments of the Forest theme:

“Meh! Again, doesn’t feel very Australian (speaking as an American here) Don’t want to search for my freebies. “evil gnome’? Don’t like the notion of being whisked away. Small lake. Yes”
“The tree house is a bit hookey, folkish, cartooney. The forest part looks great an small island in one corner with the tall trees would make a great meeting place.”
“kind of overdone”
“I think this has been overdone in SL. Go the SCI FI theme!”
“What can I say? Your problem is you only have one island and have to make a decision… I’d like a bit of everything”
“Forest is ok, would need a twist to be different from the 1000s of other forest sims.”
“You’re asking a goat here. Of course I’ll go with forest if it’s well designed.”
“Increase the size of sandbox area or put in a skybox. Lose the gnome.”
“yeah, kind of more my style than previous ideas”
“this works also, but i want to see this mixed in the steampunk one”

Comments of the Kids theme:

“Have an area like this for kids and teens as additional area along with the normal abc island”
“Not for the entire SIM, please. Consider incorporating ‘kids of all ages’ as part of another style.”
“I think there could be a closed (safe) space for kids. That you had to register them to and links in with the great things on ABC kids website.”
“Have it in an extra SIM”
“Somebody has lost there mind and I might to if I visited a region like that. SL is already a circus, no need to contribute to the problem.”
“Since the main target audience for this kind of theme would not be old enough to use SL I’m not sure this would be a good direction to go.”
“I guess this would be okay, but as a registered adult, I do not believe I could experience it. A children’s area should be reserved to the children’s portion of the grid.”
“not too keen on this.. sounds like it will encourage kids to come into the main grid when they are not even supposed to be on it,but in a separate part away from mature and adult regions. No thanks.. Theres something deeply disturbing about ANY adult who”
“Age of SL users is predominantly over 40yrs – this is way too young.”
“I know, I’m not really being helpful in this whole section am i?”
“Just no. I like my SL to be for grownups.”
“ugh”
“Might be interesting for a few visits but would loose interest quickly. ABC needs a sandbox. It has a reputation as a good place to play and learn.”
“???”
“NFW. I wouldn’t come here.”
“really tacky, this would probably deter me from building there completely which would be a shame as this is one of the most reliable and quiet sandboxes. quiet = good as less sim re-starts, less crashes and more room to build.”
“Would be cool if it had links to playschool such as the bananas etc. Even if this was a corner of the island set aside for learning?”
“no this sim exists you have it pictured.”

Our summary of it all:

Right, so far we are getting the vibe that kids stuff is not cool, many of you scream for Australian identity. Some of you made comment to the sample pictures we used in the survey as being what was literally going to be used if that theme was picked but hey – We did say the pictures were not going to directly dictate what the changes will be! They were just some ideas we could roll with in order to help shape an overall plan. Chances are I’m probably going to end up with some kind of hybrid setup. There were a few calls for watery areas so that will be having an influence on the final design.

And yes – some of the theme ideas we have put forward have been done before – but hey - Second-life has been operating for a few years now – the extra hype about Second-life has come and gone so chances are just about everything has already been done! (it’s like the internet “Rule 34″ but for ideas – if an idea exists – someone’s bound to have tried it already) But can we do it and manage to do it right? This the the challenge we are taking on… Coming up with something original is the hardest thing these days because of so many other things being very similar.

You guys seem to like your freebies so they will stay however we will be mixing them up a bit – some of the classic stuff may still be about but we will be planning new freebies in the long term. What they will be shall be a surprise as we’ll be working on them later.

Some of you expressed concerns about laggy effects – don’t worry! Part of our planning will be taking this in as a factor and the designs are going to be intended for low lag effect.

The sandbox – since it’s currently one of the most popular parts of the sim lately will most likely be expanded – but how we expand it will hopefully be shaped by the feedback we’ve gotten from you guys. There were some complaints about limited spaces to work in – so we’ll definitely look into more platforms and skybox type of arrangements. And you guys are craving a learning environment so you give me the challenge to make some interesting educational stuff as well.

And for integrating other ABC things into SL – it’s something we are working on (however there are limitations that limit what we can get away with). Some of you desire ABC’s “Good Game” to be involved – we have tried this a bit but not much luck so far – though we may be able to re-approach this and other things later on if we find a better way of getting them involved.

Overall – We are impressed with the survey data collected as we’ve gotten a healthy mix of both positive and negative responses. So what to do now? well it’s time for the ABC Volunteer Admin Team to piece together all the good stuff and see what kind of mix we end up with. It may take a while to get a more complete and polished design out and it will no doubt require some decent planning when the changes roll ahead. Either way we hope you guys will like the overall end design once it’s been brought together!

If you wish to add more ideas and feedback in the meantime (and based on the kinds of responses you guys have given some of you probably will) – We are happy to be contacted – just message us in Second Life via the avatars Katisha Honi or Mudslinger Ning.

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ABC Island survey results are now in.

Total submissions:

Language:

How did you find us?

Your favourite things?

Transportation?

Freebies!!!

And where do you want them?

The Sandbox:

The Australian Feeling?

Are you guys ready for change?

Possible Themes:

Comments of the City Park theme:

Comments of the Island theme:

Comments of the Sci-Fi theme:

Comments of the Forest theme:

Comments of the Kids theme:

Our summary of it all: