Linden Lab has launched browser-based tutorials within the Second Life viewer.

The interface-based tutorials were tested against orientation island, and Erica Linden called the result of the test a “tie”: new users who were directed to Orientation Island (OI) had “as successful” an experience as those who bypassed OI but were given the client with the tutorials.

This led to the shuttering of Orientation Island: because it didn’t add anything to the success rate of new users (which they measured across a number of metrics including retention, hours, etc.) and because of the cost, lag, and instability of the OI HUD, the Lab decided to implement the tutorials and focus user experience efforts on things other than OI.

Tutorials (more like mini snippets) can be accessed through Help>Tutorials.

While not context-based like the suggestion by Roy Cassini in his User Interface contest entry, it’s a step in the direction, and by being Web-based rather than hard-coded in the viewer allows the Lab to tweak and refine the tutorial content.

For those who might want to put together their own tutorials and distribute a viewer to specific target audiences, the URL that the content is called from can be accessed through the debug settings. This implies that organizations, for example, can create their own tutorials, host them at a domain, and set that domain within a viewer that they distribute.

The Lab agreed that the ideal would be if the tutorials offered a richer way to “drill down” through the content - for now, it’s just the basics, but there are thoughts on using it as a better launch point to richer or more user-friendly help functions.