I couldn’t think of a better title, but I don’t want to leave the impression these are somehow rules. Rather, as we’ve been doing demos some folks have had some good questions about “what should I do in this situation?” Just to relieve some concern, I’m putting a few ideas out as starting points–if you have suggestions one way or the other, please register with the blog (if you haven’t already done so) by clicking the “Register” entry under the “Meta” heading in the right-hand navigation bar, and add a comment to this post.
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The first guideline comes from a question from Gay Bryant (thanks, Gay!), who came inworld during a demo I was doing in Nashville. She introduced herself to the new residents who had gathered around a table on our Island, and didn’t get much response. It occurred to her that perhaps they were listening to a RL speaker instead, and so she shouldn’t distract them. What follows is part of my response to her:
I don’t know that “it’s best” to sit around quietly during a demo, simply because some people in the room will be more tuned into the virtual environment, and some will be more tuned into the speaker in the RL room. I’ve actually found it quite useful to have people with some experience inworld during a demo, for that reason. Not so much, then, as a protocol or a manners thing, but just a matter of practicality, if you are kind enough to show up inworld during a demo [and thank you for that, by the way], you might just announce something like, “Hi, folks. I’m a faculty member at PSTCC. If you would like to converse with me inworld during the demonstration, I will be happy to do so, but don’t feel pressured. I’m here as a resource, not a requirement.” That puts the invitation out there, and then people can respond inworld or in RL as they feel the need.
Thank you for thinking of this!
Multiple communication channels tend to be the norm these days, so I don’t think it’s distracting (although, no doubt, it can be confusing to some) to the new people. I just hope the folks who are only inworld understand that someone may not reply when you’ve “spoken” to them simply because their attention may be in a RL room. If you’re willing to deal with that, your presence and conversation can be very useful to someone just getting into SL, even if there is a demonstration going on in a real room somewhere.
