What is Second Life? It is The Sims 2 meets ICQ where you are represented by a character called avatar which can interact with one another and objects as well. It is a global virtual world and all other avatars you see is also some real individual from somewhere in the world. It is an exciting world for those who enjoys this sort of thing and if used properly, Second Life can be an amazing chat experience like no other. This short guideline is aimed at those who are new to Second Life and for you to fully understand the many articles I wrote in this blog. I hope you will find this useful.
WHERE TO REGISTER
You may register for a free account either at the Second Life official website or the Second Life CSI:NY website. The latter boasts some pretty photorealistic avatars which are anatomically correct, especially for female avatars whilst the former has more customizable avatars but are more pg-rated in the anatomy side. For male avatars, unless your purpose is to join some sex orgy online, there is no reason to be that anatomically correct since when fully clothed, nothing to see. The choice is ultimately yours. But with so many free stuff in Second Life, it really doesn’t matter whether it is customizable or not since you will find freebies to change everything. So my advise is go for the CSI:NY avatars because at least you won’t be shocked at how ugly your avatar is when you first enter Second Life.
After you register for a free account, you will need to download a program/viewer that you will then install. Click on that viewer on your desktop and fill in your username and password and log in. First time log ins will see a terms and conditions. Just click agree and move on. And that’s it. When you see your own avatar’s back facing you, you are in Second Life already. The first place you will see is the orientation platform where you get through the basics on how to control your avatar. The question now is did you enter Second Life through the viewer downloaded from the official website or through the Onrez viewer downloaded from CSI:NY. Whether you enter Second Life through the usual orientation portal or CSI:NY orientation portal, or whether you use the Onrez viewer downloaded from CSI:NY or the official viewer, the end result is you will get into the same virtual world as any other. Just make sure you didn’t sign up for the Teen Second Life.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TWO VIEWERS
The Onrez viewer is more simplified in its functions and looks. And I do feel it loads faster with cleaner interfaces, especially for those who does not have high tech computers. However the official viewer is more feature based but crashes often. I highly recommend first time users to use Onrez viewer and once you get the hang of it, switch to the official viewer which I find is less intrusive because Onrez tries too hard to explain everything with annoying pop up boxes. Also in Onrez, somehow the face light object just refused to work and you won’t be able to find the fly button. I must add that nothing stops you from creating 2 avatars and have them log into Second Life at the same time and even interact and meet each other. You can log into Second Life using Onrez and the official viewer at the same time and just see with some freakly results as your other avatar materialise before you. I find it creepy because the first time I did that my avatar(s) were in a dark sinister looking cave and the other avatar was materialising very slowly due to my low tech computer and her face was basically featureless for quite some time. But cool. Give it a try.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TWO ORIENTATIONS
The Onrez viewer will log you into CSI:NY orientation since it is created for this purpose. So everything you learn in there are basically about how to navigate and participate in that world, from learning to collect evidence, where to analyse evidence, etc. It is not particularly useful for the normal Second Life world but with a bit of patience you will learn how to navigate the usual way even if you enterted CSI:NY. But the official viewer will log you into the Second Life official orientation island which if after you leave it so says that you won’t be able to get back there. Not true since you can do a search of that place and still get back in it. The official orientation is more loaded with information, divided into several sections on an island that emphasises on teaching you how to walk, talk, chat, fly, change your appearance, etc. So if you’re not that into detective work which you can learn later, try to get into the official orientation island because it is useful. If you can learn yourself, where you enter does not matter. By the way sometimes in both orientation worlds, you will find volunteers or mentors who will answer all your questions. If you can’t find any, you can ask me. After all this is the purpose of this blog anyway, to promote what I love about Second Life. I aim to join the volunteer programme but now is too early since my avatar has to be at least 6 months old.
You may learn this during the orientation but believe me, I can explain it better so do read on.Second Life is a virtual world, so it is limitless. There are islands in each region and each island may be a Second Life official island which is public place or it may be privately owned by individuals such as you and I who may in turn make it into a public area or a private area. Most are public areas. To those who can’t afford to buy an island may rent a place so that they can play interior decorator instead of architect. You can do business by selling products either in your own mall or premise or in a rented place. Everything is about money in Second Life and the currency which is tradeable in real life is called Linden Dollar. Inflation is high so for the buyers, it is a good deal and for the sellers, well how much can one earn with L$1 when USD$1 is L$4? You do the math. There are plenty of free stuff, especially for newbies who are less than a month old so no worries about not having anything to wear. There are also many free stuff but if you’re into realism and quality as well as variety since you may be sick at dressing your avatar like a prostitute, you may want to earn some money to buy these stuff, which can range from L$10 for ok quality to L$5000 for great quality. Hair is expensive but the most expensive is actually skin, with make-up because they’re more difficult to create. You may earn money by buying a premium account as you can see in the official website and for people like me who are not that cash abundance, you can do work in Second Life. Work consists of clicking on a poseball and making sure you stay online for as long as you wish to earn the money by standing, garedening, mopping, sitting, etc which can be from unlimited amount to a capped amount. The usual rate is L$2 for every 15 min you stay online. There are islands dedicated to camping but most malls, private residences, etc will have a few places for camping with better rates but limited seats. If you don’t want to keep staring at your computer screen for hours and hours, get the anti-idle orb where you can stay online for as long as your viewer’s window is active and opened. However in some islands I notice these orbs do not work. Anyway life is hard in Second Life. These camping are set up by individuals who :-
1. wants to help the less fortunate; and or maybe or
2. wants more traffic to a particular site since that may mean revenue, more so for those ad supported camping site that often asks you to fill in surveys and earn money.
Whatever the reason may be, with a bit of patience and unlimited broadband access and the anti-idle orb, you will earn some money.
And if you have the money, then you must find places to spend the money. Depending on what you want and what kind of quality, you can buy an island or rent a spot, buy funitures, build houses, malls, etc, but clothes, hairs, make up, skins, shoes, eyes, body parts, bed, sex toys (yes, that too), animated objects, animations, cars, helicopters, boats, and everything else. These items can be placed in your own home or your island. Items that are misplaced will be sent back to the owner, which is you so no worries you have to pick up your garbage. You may also buy gift certificates or even give money to some other individual. Basically it’s again your choice. And if you do feel an overwhelming need to give money, I won’t mind some. Just find Funn Jewell.
Now how do you get around Second Life? When on land or under the sea, you can walk, run and fly. When getting from one island to the next, you can teleport. If you want someone to join you, you can choose to invite to teleport that person to your co-ordinates. You search for places by clicking on the Search button and then click Places and then type the keywords. Most Second Life islands are labelled having mature contents, so beware of such islands if you feel you do not wish to go into that area. However mature as it may be, sometimes it may refer only to the clothings and the subject matter of the island. Not all avatars walk around naked and engage in sex orgy everywhere, because you need a poseball for that as well. So if you wish to keep it clean, avoid keywords such as nude, sex and orgy. I think other than that, there may be some shocking stuff but nothing you won’t be able to recover from.
If you do find your significant other via online, you may wish to “marry” that person as in avatar. You can send an invitation via the official website and pay a nominal fee. But remember, divorce costs more so why marry? You can do that in real life! In Second Life, be free!
There are also plenty of places to check out that are tasteful and does not involve some thrusting action. They include garden, beaches, museums, fantasay realms, etc. I have included these into my articles in Miss-Adventures so do have a read. If you have some place to recommend, tag it to the Shout Box. What is common about these places are the ambience and the realism of them without looking extra realistic. If you want that realistic go to a real garden. What you will find in Second Life is a mixture of photorealism and animated realism. Some places may be a bit cartoonish but there are plenty that looks like an art. Some look like real abandoned street whilst some are of course heavily populated. Since Second Life is big, more often than not you might be alone. I find that quietness quite disconcerting but nothing too bad, until I wanted to take a photo for two.
There are also many activities you can do other than exploring. With so many types of animations availanle freely inworld, you can swim, dive (many poses), sleep, sunbathe, read, sing, dance, fight, windsurf, ride a helicopter, pretend you’re dead or even die, but the last one is only in the fantasy realm where it involves some RPG type games. Yes, it exists, and the avatars look like a cross between anime characters and Lord Of The Rings. Second Life is expanding continuously so I won’t be surprised someone might be inspired to build a Harry Potter themed island!
For those who are interested in what most newbies are interested in, I suppose a visual online sex chat is infinitely more stimulating than just online sex voice chat. But believe me, after all the amazement with the tech, animations and what nots, you too will get pretty bored with such poseballs. However one must judge for oneself and I must admit, the first time I came across a sex orgy it was very exciting because it was looking very realistic, minus the sounds one would normally expect. Now with voice enabled, I suppose with a headphone you can hear such sounds. The animation are really good though, I must admit. But there are more chaste poseballs for those who wants to have a fling or two. There’s the couple’s poseballs, just cuddle, kissing, hugging or one where you and your partner can walk hand in hand through a park! How can that be done? Simple. You click on a poseball (pink for girl, blue for boy) and the animation will begin and all you need to do is just sit and watch. Some may require interaction done by a pop up menu which is pretty cool, but not that cool when you’re alone. Even in Second Life, life can be pretty single, if you know what I mean.
Explore and find out for yourself. Of course you may stumble into somewhere offensive, but well enjoy the effort in creating such animation. It’s quite an artwork. But beware. There will be avatars soliciting you for sex, so just ignore them. Teleport away if you must or if it is becoming a harassment, report it as an abuse. That avatar may be banned from the region for life. You too can be banned if you behaved badly. I have been banned from 2 places, one I know why but the other I didn’t. Put it this way; those lands or regions, or islands or parcels belong to someone and it is their prerogative to play God or master of their domain so just behave well, keep to yourself and you won’t be banned, I hope. And yes, even in Second Life, life can be pretty hypocritical and worse for some, lonely and intimidating. But remember, Second Life is huge so if you get banned from one place, move on to another unless you’re banned from Second Life itself which Ibelieve is unheard of. I don’t want to be the first.
The point is there is only 4 points to know when navigating Second Life;
1. Learn the buttons well and practice by actually exploring. There are many more functions in the top menu bar of your viewer, such as running instead of walking, changing the effects of the region (such as instead of night, you can set it to Noon, etc and of course whether you want more realistic details or not like water ripples, waves, etc).
2. Use the Search button wisely and you will find many places to explore.
3. Be courteous and polite to avoid being banned and ignore other people if you don’t want to entertain them.
4. Turn up your volume because the waves have sounds, there are bird chirpings, bubbles, shower sounds, etc. It is not a silent world in Second Life. There’s even sound when you’re typing. Enjoy the ambience. My all time favourie is the sound of the waves.
The rest as I am repeating myself often in here, if up to you entirely.
BASIC TERMS IN SECOND LIFE
Fly
Well, you fly using your keyboard. Onrez viewer users, remember to fly by pressing Page Up, up, down, left, right keys and to land Page Down until you hear a thud sound. Walking is also the same except you don’t need to click Page Up and Page Down. Some regions will disable flying so for faster movement, try running.
Teleport
This is for one island to another. Just click a landmark or the teleport button to go.
Landmark
Works like a bookmark. You can either click the many landmark notices on a particular island to bookmark the co-ordinates or look for Create Landmark Here in your top menu bar. All landmarks will be stored in your inventory under landmark folder.
Inventory
The clothes, landmarks, calling cards, etc that you downloaded are no kept in your computer. In fact they’re kept in Linden Lab’s server so it means you don’t have to worry about your computer crashing AND if your item is labelled as non-transferable, you won’t be able to give it away, such as your new 2nd avatar. So the point is stick with your avatar because it is a great pity to start all over again especially if you bought those items by camping.
Calling Cards
Name cards given by one avatar to you. Clicking on it will pop up a window with that avatar’s information, including a space where you can make notes on that avatar which only you can read. You can also IM that avatar, offer teleport, etc.
Instant Messaging. There are 4 ways to chat in Second Life. One is through Chat, which is made public. Then there’s Instant Messaging which works like your Windows Messenger or ICQ where only the intended recipient will receive and be able to read. You can also chat via group chat where members of that group will receive the posts. Finally there’s the voice chat, using microphones and headphones. Never tried that before though.
Anti-Idle Orb
A must have for all residents. Easy to find I suppose but I always get mine through my group, Stars Fashion Mall. Anyway wear this orb and you will never go offline unless that particular region bans such orb. Not sure if that’s true but I notice some places it never works.
Face Light
A must have if you want to look good. Once you wear it, it will illuminate your face, especially in dark places which gives you a glowing look that is realistic and beautiful. I couldn’t go online without it and looks great in photos too. It doesn’t work if you log in using Onrez Viewer, I don’t know why. Some will sell this to you but you can get it for free at Anne Rose. Just click on any demo hair, or skin, download it for free. Ignore the demo skins, go straight to Face Light, right click and wear. Instant glow. Gorgeous.
Objects/Package
There are plenty of stuff when downloaded will automatically extract itself into its own folder in Inventory. But there are some that are like zipped files, you will need to open them. That you will find in Object folder and you will need to go to an island which allows you to place objects on the floor for a short moment to open it. Just drag that object to the floor, right click and choose open. A window will pop up with the list of items in that package. If you wish to wear it later, just choose Copy To Inventory. Close that window, open inventory, find it in its own folder. Right click on a specific item and click wear. As for the object on the floor, either right click it and choose take so that it goes back as a copied item in your Objects folder (you can then delete it by right click and choose delete) or you can leave it there and a few minutes later the items will be automatically returned to your Objects folder unless you rented a place and you placed it in your own place.
More will be added later. If you have any particular term you do not understand, just leave a comment in here and I’ll answer it in here.
FIRST THING FIRSTS FOR EVERY NEWBIE
You won’t want to look like a train wreck in Second Life or worse, meeting your doopleganger! So when you’re in Second Life, especially if you’re a newbie (less than a month old), there are many free stuff from the developers of high end products to make your own look. Some are totally free, some are with nominal fee. First thing firsts. Go to Money Island and earn some cash. Or you can try Money Tree Island but to earn money you need to join the group, Money Tree Madness but it’s free. With money, at least L$20 in your pocket, now you can go shopping.
For beautiful male and female skin, a must dowload is at Tete a Pied, where the usual skins are L$500 but you can get newbie skin for free! I regret not knowing this when I first logged in. You can also find gorgeous eyebrows and realistic pubic hair (well it’s free) there, although I notice in other branches of the same shop, you have to buy it for L$1. But because they’re not customizable, you may want to consider getting a general skin that can be customised. For that good skin, you will need to go to The L Word Orientation Island. It’s a lesbian community but you’re there for the skin. The skin there can be customised and looks better than most free skins. So now you have your glamour skin and general skin, you will need hair. Most hair are flexi-hair, which means it is animated as in it sways and stuff. But hair is easily the most reconisable when it is not from a high end developer. Luckily you newbies got free stuff with gorgeous hair. The more down to earth, the more expensive. For free gorgeous hair, the first stop is Virtual Shopping Alley, which you will go to after your CSI:NY Orientation if you enter via Onrez Viewer. There are many shops there, most have one or two free stuff. Just go in each shop and download everything free. There’s one with a pack of I think 5 each, and they’re gorgeous. One even had a pack of 20 to 30 colours for one type of hair for a nominal fee.In those shops you will find free clothes as well. So explore. At the same Virtual Shopping Alley, in the middle when you first teleported there you will find free stuff on all four sides of the marble wall. Mostly for female avatars, like jewelery, realistic looking watches, hair for men, gowns for women, etc. Download them all since they’re free! Find eyelashes as well for free which requires some adjustments in the many shops via Search button. For some normal wear which are pretty good quality, go to any of the Free Union stores where most of the items are free. Look for boxes with modelling poses because to pose and take pictures, these poses are essential. For affordable normal wear, you must visit Kaimi’s Casual Wear where for the cost of L$100, you can buy a set of clothes which consists on long skirt, short skirt, pants, earrings and sandals all lumped into one. Usually you get only the clothes you see. All major shops have one free gift so do check it out. Now if you have money, all these are not important. And last but not least, put them all together, find a good spot (which you can by checking out my Miss-Adventures), click one of your preferred pose (in Inventory), adjust the viewer and then go to top menu bar, find Take Snapshot or something like that and snap away. If you don’t want the hassle of finding a pose, try one of the many free Studios in Second Life where you can pose with some pre-defined backgrounds! One of my favourites is SL Picture Booth and it’s free. And finally, send me your picture moments to share with all!
I hope this short guideline and introduction will assist you in enjoying the wonders of Second Life. If you hae any questions, feel free to ask. I hope to meet you someday in there and if you happen to see me sunbathing in nude, please don’t take my picture. Shy lar…
Regards,
25.12.2007
Welcome to Funn In Second Life. This is a blog dedicated to my writings from the viewpoint of travel & leisure as well as fashion in Second Life as seen through the eyes of my avatar, Funn Jewell. I welcome your feedback and of course recommended places to visit in Second Life. If you wish to join me, do email me at funnjewell@gmail.com. Thank you.
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