Hello everyone

Community Manager… well that’s a long way from the day when I returned my very first lost roo under the watchful eye of Allatu. Yes, I’ve been here almost since the doors opened. I’ve been a CSR all this time and although some of you may know me, many may not because I elected to work the SLT night-shift during the wee hours of the morning.

My role

I’m here to liaise between the company and the community. I’m here as a listener, a contact point, an educator, and I’m here to give answers… not only in the forums, but also in world. You expressed the need for a constant presence in the forums, someone who will listen, take note of your concerns, take those concerns to the creators, and bring back answers. I’ll also be spending time at Roo sim where you can talk to me. I’m going to wander the grid and poke around the markets. Yes I know we don’t get involved in the secondary market, but it certainly doesn’t hurt to know what’s going on out there. I’m going to visit random meeroo owners and say hi… ask about your roos, ask about the things you love, the things that irk you.

A need was expressed that above all, you want to feel that the company is listening to you, that your questions and concerns are heard and answered. Allow me to qualify that a little:

If I have the answer I will tell you. If I do not have the answer, your question/concern will be noted and I will do my best to get an answer. I will follow up, even if I do not yet have a result. Please remember that I am a staff member, I’m not one of the owners of the company or a creator. If the creators do not have an answer to give for a particular question or issue, or are unable/not ready to give one, then I have no answer to bring to you. I will tell you this is the case, but rest assured that I don’t give up easily…. the creators will develop a healthy wariness for bushy pot-plants and coffee machines, wondering if Yukio is in stealth mode and about to ambush them!

About the forum: I’m not going to reply to every post about the same issue. I’ll come into a thread and post, answer and inform if it’s something I can clear up immediately, or tell you I will seek information and come back with an update. I’m going to make a thread where I will record the questions and concerns I’m seeing, progress made addressing them, answers when I get them. Feel free to continue your discussions in the threads according to the forum rules, I’ll be reading and keeping up, and taking part when needed.

At this point in my blog I’m going to say that I’ve outlined my role, what I can do, what I can’t do. Those that choose to can finish reading because the facts have been stated. Or… you can stay a little longer. I want to talk about me, about you, and about these wonderful roos.

I fell in love with the meeroos, as so many of us did. When I was given the opportunity to be a part of it I snapped it up. The lore, the magic, the vision…. animations, interaction, and genetics. All combining to ‘lift the bar’ in a huge way and cause a paradigm shift in Secondlife breedables.

I was a breeder before, of several different breedables. I’ve had up to a half sim and 200 critters in my time although I was terrible at the commercial side of breedables… money and sales were never my prime motivation. Sure I made some exciting sales here and there, but generally something special would come along and the temptation would be there to sell, but then I’d think: I need to keep it because it might make something even more exciting! I’m also a sentimental fool and have far too many 300-500 day old animals that I’ll never part with.

Then a new aspect of breedables came along... being on the ‘other side’, a part of a breedable company where my focus was providing support and customer service to all of you. I’ve done my best to provide good support and leave smiles in my wake. I consider myself to be friendly, cheerful, sentimental and sometimes a little too sensitive. That being said, I’m no push-over either... I won’t stand for nonsense, disrespect or aggression. I have high professional standards and am not the least bit afraid to make a noise if I see something unfair, or point out unfairness in/from others. Just ask the wonderful miracle-working CSR team what I’m like… no wait, don’t ask them because they might tell you! 0_o

I’ve been guilty of doing my shifts with a sharp focus. I’ve rarely had our group chats open because I’m doing searches that report back to local chat, I’m following the conversation of the customer I’m helping, I need to see ID numbers and names of roos in chat and confirm identities, and all of that was easier without the ebb and flow of group chats on my screen and for that I apologize. In my defense I will say that I have answered almost every IM that came my way, even if you did have to wait a little until I could answer.

I used to read the forums once, but I had no role in there. There was and still is a lot of constructive discussion and sharing of opinion in the forums, but as is the case in most forums on the internet, there is always a few who use anonymity to power their aggression and power their refusal to see logic or be reasoned with. That aspect weighs heavy on me, so I stopped going. Now though, it’s different... it will be my role to be there, because I asked for it.

Yes I asked for this new job. A couple of weeks ago Masquerade Ball linked me some threads and asked me to read them. I read them, then I read some more. I saw your passion, I felt your frustrations, I shared your joys, and several times my vision went all blurry… told you I was a sentimental fool. Masquerade and I then discussed the need for a role like this, that the community needed someone. I said “Masq, I could do this”. She replied “Yes, I know you could.” I then wrote a proposal to the creators and sent it.

So here I am. As I said before, I am a staff member. I don’t know what’s coming until you do, and when it comes to things like new coats or species, you guys know before the staff do! First we hear of a new coat is when one of you out there on the grid go “aaahhhhhh!!!”
I don’t know the plans of the creators, I don’t know their schedule or the challenges they face. The future is as shrouded to me as it is to you. I will listen, gather your needs and opinions, and bring them to the creators, and I will bring back what I can.

I chose a song for my new role… my ‘theme’ if you will. I’m not sure of the legalities of posting it here so I will make a ‘pick’ in my profile called ‘Me, You, and Meeroos’ and I will paste a YouTube link. The next part of my blog relates to the song, so search my profile in world if you’d like to hear it after you’re done here.

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The girl stops talking and gets up from her place beside you, walking to the door. She opens the door allowing enthusiastic sunbeams to romp in and make your eyes squint at the sudden brightness. You bring your hand up to block the glare for a moment, drop your hand away, then you notice she is gone.

Curious, you step outside and find yourself in the middle of a field of flowers high in the hills. It is early morning, a light mist is in the air, and you are surrounded by hills that roll away into the distance. You see the girl near the top of the field, some meeroos have gathered around her feet. You walk a little closer until you can hear the chirps and whirrs of the meeroos, then you stop and watch.

The girl has a backpack, and hiking boots. She shifts the pack a little to settle it on her back and begins walking. You notice the meeroos begin to follow her. Out of the thick woods to each side of the field come more meeroos… big ones, little ones, colorful and plain, falling in with the others already following the girl. Meeroos continue to come out of the woods to join the march, but at the same time you see shadows and movement in the trees, there are creatures there that have not come out but are keeping pace with the procession, keeping out of sight. You strain your eyes trying to get a clear look at one of them.

The girl looks around and down, seeing a tiny meeroo with a coat of wine striving mightily to keep up. She pauses and scoops the little meeroo up into the crook of her arm.

“Come on Pebble, you can ride with me.”

A huge fawn meeroo barges his way to her feet and reaches up beseechingly. “Whirrr?” The girl wags her finger at the giant roo.

“Smidgen! Don’t you dare! I’m not carrying you, you’re big enough to walk on your own!”

Smidgen drops onto all fours and shoots a glance at a roo nearby as if to say “oh well, it was worth a shot” and follows as the group moves on again. Still within earshot, you hear Pebble chattering in the girl’s arms. The girl looks down at her.

“Where are we going?” the girl says, gazing on ahead to where the path disappears into a shroud of mist. Hundreds of meeroos wait for her answer.

“The future, Pebble…. we’re going to the future.” The girl listens to the answering chatter then replies:

“I don’t know what’s there either, but I’m going to find out!”

The girl continues on her way. Meeroo chatter, whirrs, and chirps fill the air as they all fall in behind and around her. You see hundreds of meeroos, plus the shadowy forms walking alongside hidden in the trees, but you could swear you can hear the voices of over 4 million…..

The procession moves along the trail, towards the mist shrouded future. Just before they are all swallowed by the mist, the girl pauses once more and takes a look around, and sees you there watching. The meeroos all stop, and the chattering subsides as they turn in the direction the girl is looking. You feel her eyes on you and also the gaze of all meeroo-kind.

The girl snugs Pebble into the crook of her arm, reaches her spare hand out towards you, and says…

“Coming?”