If you had one bit of advice to give ...

Y'know, Aimee, I think this is the first thing I noticed. Bear in mind that most of my online experience over the last 6 or 7 years was rubbing elbows with 13 and 14-year olds, griefers, player killers, and exploiters/cheaters trying to game the system or scam you. (My resume includes UOL, EQ, DAOC, Anarchy Online, SWG, Earth & Beyond, TSO, There, City of Heroes, Matrix Online, WoW and Guild Wars, most of them in beta.) What a breath of fresh air to find a world where most of you are mature and intelligent. That alone is more than worth the price of admission. If I miss my magic sword and elves I'll just have to design my own

The quality of the people in a community cannot be underestimated for its value. Truly.

Cin

If you see something that really blows you away... send the creator/owner a message about it. They feel good and it's a great ice breaker. You never know where it will go from there. When I've done that I've always come away with some new insight that made being here much more enjoyable.

hear hear!

Put having fun before making money. If having fun includes taking on the challenge of making and selling stuff (and BOTH making and selling are challenging), more power to you.

But there is NO shame in taking the equivalent of a movie ticket, buying a few grand of L$ on www.gamingopenmarket.com, and then buying whatever fun gadget you wanted, or renting that plot you had your eye on.

Life is short. If something or someone in SL is rewarding, then do it. If not, drop it/them and move on to something else. It's a big, diverse world out there with lots of really cool places and people.

and yes, visit the ivory tower!

Make some friends.

#1 learn the camera, learn to fly, learn to rez a cube then get out and see as much as you can for the first couple of weeks.

#2 make money, for what? do you realy need anything? or is it just that you want stuff. Learn to make clothes, script, make textures, or build, find a job and acturaly show up when you say your going to work. Keep in mind your reputation goes a long long way in sl. Just be good and honest

Cat

Give me all your money.

All your Lindens are belong to us!

For me the game all boils down to people. Simply take time to meet people and make friends. They more than anything will be there a year from now. Stuff we delete, store, recreate, forget, spend tons of money on too... but always there are friends!

Good luck and enjoy,

angel

Walk, drive, or sail around the grid to see what's really out there. Ask questions. Patiently wait to find what interests you, then pursue it.

Go to newbee Q&A sessions. Go to more than one. Ask questions.

Ask gobs of questions -- Most people are delighted to help out because we all remember our first few weeks.

Ignore the backbiting in the General Forums -- Some people's day isn't complete unless they've created heartbreak for someone else. Happily, most of that element in Second Life restrict this to the forums.
By contrast, look at all the other forums frequently, and ask questions.

Go back to the Welcome Area frequently when (not "if" you begin to feel overwhelmed. Sit and listen to the questions other people ask. Then ask some of your own

Most of all, really cherish those first few weeks -- You're only new once, and it can be very magical.


Also, don't forget to eat.

Totally agree, and for more reasons than 1.

If you learn the basics of what's available, it will give you a whole new appreciation of what you see in world. It's easy to look at something and think, "Oh, that's nice." But if you know what went into that creation, what innovations it involves, you'll appreciate it that much more. Each time you have a nearly impossible time trying to do something, only to see it done beautifully somewhere else, it will recreate that feeling of wonder you get when you first arrived here. (Or that I had/have, anyway.)

This is a great thread! Thanks everyone for the advice!

I've been a guildmate of Cindy in quite a few of the online games she mentioned earlier. But when she posted about SL, it tickled my longingin for a world a la Otherland (Tad Williams novel), so I had to come check it out.

Tonight was my first night and it was a lot of fun. I have to agree with people saying that the players in SL are a very friendly and helpful bunch. Thanks a lot to Alliez, 5th, Vicki and of course Cindi for helping me through the traumatic experience of trying to extract something from a container.

And thanks for this thread. I'll definitely go visit the tower of primitives soon... if I manage to stop going virtual clubbing for a while.

Wendel

Oooh! Oooh! OOh! I got one!

Go t00bing in your underwear!

<makes mental note to do this again for the weekend.

Don't be afraid to take chances. Talk to people you wouldn't normally think of hanging out with, try something you think you aren't any good at, pick random places you've never been or heard of and go explore. I've met a lot of great people and seen a lot of interesting sights that way.

this is a great idea for a thread! Cheers!

I'm still working off the smell of noob, but the most fun I've had is wandering around, through events or just using find, and seeing the amazing things people have created. I have yet to have a negative interaction with someone - most people really are glad to help.

i'm really happy with the first land I bought, even though it may not be worth a ton of $L. I looked and looked over a period of a few days. I probably should have waited even longer before I settled down, but I'll chalk it up to noobishness.

I love it. And would probably buy the book thinking it was written for me (the Dummies part).

One more piece of advice, please. Now that Wendel's here, someone tell me how to post really embarrassing screenshots of him trying to dance?

Cindy

Be polite and talk to people, if they don't reply they're probably busy but aren't trying to be rude, if they are being rude move on because the majority of people you meet will be cooler than you might think and are generally generous.

Quote: "everything that's been said so far" :EndQuote

But really, talk to everyone. 99% of the people in this game are really great people. (you other 1% know who you are)

Compliment people if they have an interesting av/house/handheld object. It really does open a lot of doors for you.

oh, and don't eat the yellow snow.

there are many things to try in sl, if you aren't having fun now... go look at events and try something you haven't tried.

you will probably find something interesting.

the other thing you can do is find out where the little green dots are congregating and see what's so interesting.

I give you a demo of my slickest moves (well, maybe that's pushing it a bit) and this is what I get as reward?

That's it! The poledancing pictures are coming out!

Wendel

Or Sleep! LOL

Most has been said already but I'll throw my 2 cents into the mix:

1. Ask questions At the Welcome Area there are folks with Help or Helper above their names or Liason and Mentor. Most residents are great at helping out as well!

2. Click your Events button and search out SL Basics, or Noobie-friendly events and get out there and meet people and learn new things. You never know what a chance meeting might lead to.

3. Don't forget to take a break if/when things start to get overwhelming There's a lot to absorb so take your time & go at your own pace.

4. Play Find Menu Roulette - a great way to explore. Type in a random word (the crazier the better) hit search and see what pops up. Click the teleport button and follow the red beacon and arrow to check it out
Don't forget to explore as you go along. The journey can be as interesting as the destination.

5. Find something that you are passionate about from your first life or have always wanted to try/be or do and see if you can make it happen in your second life. Ask around. Explore Groups tab on your Find menu for like minded people and have a blast!

Welcome to second life