Originally published on my Patreon
Last Friday, Linden Lab's mobile development team led by CTO Philip Rosedale and company head Brad Oberwager shared upcoming features to Second Life's mobile app -- and the long-term strategy which drives it. Pluto Linden, lead UI/UX designer on the mobile project, unveiled the top line updates.
Coming this month (December 2024):
Create new accounts in the mobile app using the existing the web flow. "We're trying to break down barriers of people coming in-world," explains Pluto.
Push notifications for select groups. Linden Lab believes this will be "vital" for engaging SLers around in-world activity from their phones.
Persistent chat conversations and IMs on your device (see above). "If you come in [on mobile] today and come back tomorrow," Pluto explains, "that conversation will still be there... [This should] induce people to stay and remind them of the vibrancy of the experience."
Planned for first quarter of 2025:
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Address bar to enable sharing SLurls and creating landmarks.
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maps.secondlife.com will work on the mobile browser.
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Shipping a first version of a communications lobby (above). While the world loads, users will have the option of starting in a lobby where their various messages are waiting for them. ("We'll put the communication aspect front and center.") This is also intended to make the Second Life mobile app relevant for people who have mid-tier/lower-end smartphones who can't fully display the virtual world view.
Coming early Q2 2025 (see image below):
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Quicker and better access to chat.
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Item-level avatar editing.
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Tap-based object interaction.
"We're a small dedicated team just plugging away on this," Pluto notes, saying that the app's foundation was laid out in 2024. "The real exciting stuff is coming 2025."
And yes, they know many rigged mesh-based avatars aren't fully displaying on mobile. Fixes, said product head Grumpity Linden, are "coming soon".
Linden Lab's Mobile Marketing Strategy
If you're wondering why you haven't seen ads for the mobile app, it's because Linden Lab isn't targeting general consumers yet.
"The mobile app was not designed for new users where I spend a million dollars to bring [them in]," as Oberwager put it. "We built the mobile app for current residents... we're not putting marketing dollars to bring in new people."
Under their strategy, they even expect mobile users may create an alt account for mobile, yet continue using the desktop client:
SL's First-Time Experience Needs Both Bots and the Human Touch.
The reader conversation around creating an AI-driven experience that improves Second Life new user retention continues. Just please, writes, Zane Zimer, no SL bot like Clippy, the intrusive, unhelpful "assistant":
Najeda makes the very good point that we definitely don't want to eliminate the human factor in the first-time experience, noting "I was helped when I joined and, in turn, I gladly helped other people who joined later."
Then goes on:
Continue reading "SL's First-Time Experience Needs Both Bots and the Human Touch. " »
Posted on Monday, December 09, 2024 at 03:11 PM in AI, Comment of the Week | Permalink | Comments (1)
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