The Alphaville Herald

Oh Mentor, My Mentor

by Alphaville Herald on 01/02/05 at 8:00 pm

by Neal Stewart

Haney Linden fields an inquiry

“Wow, a Linden!”, exclaims an excitable avatar in Welcome Area South 4. Haney Linden is a key officer in the Instructor, Live Help and Second Life Mentor groups. She has just teleported to the area and is greeted – like all Lindens – in much the same way that you might greet a Leprechaun cobbling elf shoes in the bottom of your garden. As reluctant as they may sometimes be to assume bodily form on the same virtual plane as us mere mortals, the Lindens are the guys running the show. The architects of our good fortune.

Supporting them is an army of volunteer Mentors, Live Helpers and the newly-spawned roles played by Concierges and Greeters. With these new roles and the recent changes to event support, the mentoring system has become a source of interest and controversy. As new residents are appearing in droves, more people need more help than ever before. With just over 100 Mentors, and nearing 20,000 SL residents, there’s only 1 mentor for every 200 residents. The Second Life Herald got a chance to catch up with Haney Linden at an Amphitheatre in Brampton and discuss the whats, whys and wherefores of SL mentoring.

Neal Stewart: Maybe you could start by telling me a bit about your background and how you became a Linden.
Haney Linden: I joined SL in October of 2002 and I was the first Liaison when SL went Beta after that. I had started out working for the City of Palo Alto, working with community non-profits, then it went to film, then CD-ROM games, corporate training with video simulation, and then this.

Neal Stewart: I know that some residents are still confused about the differences and relationship between Mentors, Live Helpers and Concierges. You’ve recently announced a new role that will be played by Greeters. Could you please explain the differences and relationships between these three roles?
Haney Linden: The Concierge is easy, that’s a staff role so that’s separate from the volunteer resident things. Mentors used to offer events for new users and get L$ support. We ended that when we ended the general support for events, since the mixer events are too close to the social events that we cut support for. Live Help is made up of 30 to 40 residents at at time, who serve for three months at a time and just help by answering questions submitted through the Help menu.

Neal Stewart: And greeters?
Haney Linden: Greeters are residents who volunteer to have some info on the Web site when they are online, so new users can look through and select one of them to meet in-world. There will be two types, Mentor Greeters and Host Greeters. The MGs will be offering to help with whatever the new resident wants. The Host Greeters will offer a specifc location or experience to show off.

Neal Stewart: What do you think are some of the most common misconceptions that new arrivals have about Second Life?
Haney Linden: Well, typically they ask, How do I play? What am I supposed to do? Like Sims Online immigrants might want to know how to do the treadmill for points. Or people from MMORPGS might expect a built-in set of ways to advance.

Neal Stewart: So I guess new players today are asking the same questions that new players were asking 2 years ago?
Haney Linden: I think so. The idea of an open world without goals freaks some people out.

Neal Stewart: OK, I’ve got a couple of tough questions now, so if you’ve got any Kevlar handy.
Haney Linden: ack

Neal Stewart: Some residents have suggested on the forums that the new Concierge service has been implemented to compensate for inadequate Mentoring and Live Help. What are your thoughts on this?
Haney Linden: That’s a fresh one to me. The usual complaint I hear is that Live Help is there to make up for poor staff support.

Neal Stewart: What do you think about that?
Haney Linden: We just figured that if a resident is invested in SL and trying to create at a certain level, then they should be able to get through for immediate help.

Haney Linden: Ok, so on the Live Help thing.
Haney Linden: We can’t hire enough staff to keep up with the number of people who have questions. And lots of residents really want to help out. So I think it makes sense to use volunteers.

Neal Stewart: I know that some residents were concerned that people would be signing up to become mentors purely to take advantage of the education support. But I suppose that there is less likelihood of that happening now that you don’t have to be a mentor to do educational events. And some mentors have claimed that since the event support changes, that they’ve been taking some flack from non-mentors who resent the greater elevation in status that mentors now have. Have you observed this to be the case?

Haney Linden: Not directly. We are really focused more on the content of the class that people want to teach than the teacher. And the classes that have been proposed are almost all really solid and valuable. We are trying to avoid having a group with greater status. Thats why Live Help can only be members for three months at a time.

Neal Stewart: Do you have a rough idea of how many Mentors and Concierges there are? And how many Greeters you hope to have?
Haney Linden: There are over 100 mentors. There is one Concierge, a staff person. There are about 25 teaching classes and more signing up each day. I expect there will be around 100 Greeters at first and more all the time, but that’s not for another month.

Neal Stewart: Are there plans to increase the number of concierges or is one sufficient at the moment?
Haney Linden: Well, we just started that, so one seems to be it for now.

Neal Stewart: Do you get much time to provide help yourself when you’re not busy running the show?
Haney Linden: Ah, no, actually. People ask and I try to direct them to a liaison.

Neal Stewart: What do you think are some of the best and worst things about being a mentor? For instance, do Mentors get hit on more than normal residents?
Haney Linden: Well, for many Mentors I think they get a real satisfaction helping someone out. Some people are like that. So the best thing for them is the fact that there are new people every day and so much to learn in SL. Do they get hit on more that other residents? I doubt it, since most people see them as being sort of helpful and businesslike. But it’s possible!

Neal Stewart: And the worst thing?
Haney Linden: I think sometimes residents confuse Mentors with staff people like Liaisons and demand that they do something. But they have no special powers.

Neal Stewart: What attributes do the best mentors have?
Haney Linden: I think the attitude is more important than the knowledge. So: patience, friendliness. Lots of new arrivals come into the welcome area and it seems like everyone is busy with each other, so its important for someone to show interest in them.

Neal Stewart: What advice do you have for people who are trying to get help from a mentor? How should they conduct themselves? Is there info they need handy?
Haney Linden: Well, hopefully if they see someone in the Welcome area with the Mentor title, that Mentor will be helpful. They shouldn’t have to do anything special other than basic politeness.

Neal Stewart: What advice do you have for people who are considering becoming a mentor?
Haney Linden: Well, its easy to get in. Once you are in you need to be careful about other people seeing you as an authority, so you should avoid getting into arguments while wearing the mentor title. Other residents sometimes resent that.

Neal Stewart: Do mentors need to be jacks of all trades? Or is it OK to have some areas that you have no experience in? Do you think most mentors are jack-of-all-trades or do they specialize?
Haney Linden: No, they don’t need to know it all. We don’t expect them to. They really need only to know the basics and help new residents get oriented. Most mentors do have some specialty. I don’t think anyone, even Lindens, know everything — the world is too complex.

Neal Stewart: Do you know roughly what percentage of mentor applicants are rejected?
Haney Linden: A very small percentage. We check to see if they’ve ever been suspended or have been warned in the previous 30 days.

Neal Stewart: Is it all right if residents IM you with questions about mentoring, etc.?
Haney Linden: Sure thing

Neal Stewart: Haney Linden, thank you for your time.
Haney Linden: Thank you.