An example of a great newbie faq

A pity such an excellent faq can't be given on newbie isle. It would be an excellent primer for new players and help with all manner of things before they even hit the mainland.

An example of a great newbie faq

WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS FAQ

Q> "What do I do here?"

Second Life is like a Massively Multiplayer 3D Playground (or a 3D MUSH if you are familiar with that term).

NO I AM NOT, CUT OUT THE GAMER CRAP AND TELL ME SOMETHING SIMPLE

It's a 3D canvas where people can create things in a shared space with other people.

WTF IS A 3-D CANVAS, I DON'T SEE ANY PAINTINGS OR PAINTBRUSHES HERE

SL is not exactly a game, as there is nothing here to win, and there are no specific tasks that you are expected to do. The only goals here are the ones you make for yourself.

BUT I HEARD THAT I COULD MAKE STUFF AND MAKE RL MONEY AND COLLECT POINTS AND WIN PRIZES

If you're not sure what to do first, try these suggestions:
- Fly around and explore the world to see what other people have created.

HOW TO I FLY???

- Check out the events list by pressing the ( Events ) button at the bottom of your screen.

I DON'T SEE ANY BUTTONS

ANSWER: MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE FULL VERSION OF YOUR SCREEN VISIBLE BY GETTING THE USER INTERFACT, OR PANEL, VISIBLE THROUGH LOOKING AT EDIT/PREFERENCES AND CHECKING "WINDOWS" IF THAT WILL HELP. OR GO UP TO THE UPPER RIGHT HAND CORNER OF YOUR SCREEN AND MAKE SURE THE WINDOW IS OPEN ALL THE WAY.

- Start building in a sandbox (i.e. in regions Morris, Cordova, Goguen, and others).

I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT A SANDBOX IS. I DON'T SEE WHERE THEY ARE. I DON'T EVEN SEE ANY SAND IN HERE.

- Make friends with people in the Welcome Area and ask them where to find good places to visit.

I'M SURROUNDED BY IDIOTIC FUCKTARDS IN THE WA PUSHING GIFT BAGS AT ME AND TRYING TO FRIEND ME UP AND SHIT. GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE.
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Q> "How do I make money?"

The most common ways to make money include:
- creating content and selling it to other residents (i.e. objects, clothes, scripts, animations, textures, etc)

HOW TO I MAKE STUFF THO? DO YOU HAVE THE TRANSMOGRIFIER?

- winning a cash prize at an event (i.e.: bingo, trivia, Tringo, etc)
- doing contract work for another resident
- hosting an educational event which educates other residents about how to use Second Life

BUT ONLY MENTORS GET TO DO THAT I READ, CAN JUST ANYBODY DO THAT?

Additionally, your weekly stipend is given every Tuesday. Your stipend will be at least L$50 for an active Basic account, or L$500 for Premium accounts. You may also recieve a bonus with this depending on your ratings.

WHAT IS A RATING? WHERE DO I GET IT? CAN I PARK MY SIM SOMEWHERE AND HAVE THE LOT POINTS GO UP???

If all else fails, you can purchase L$ with US$ from third party currency exchange sites, listed under the menu: Help > Purchase L$...

Note that there are no 'missions' or 'loot' you can gather extra money from like in MMORPGs. Your only sources for money are from other residents or from your weekly stipend.


BUT I HEARD THERE ARE GAME-WITHING-GAMES HERE LIKE WHAT URIZENUS HAS, DOESN'T HE HAVE GOLD?
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Q> "Why is my display so slow?"

SL is a very complex 3d application which will consume a large chunk (if not all) of your computer's CPU, memory, video, and network resources, more so even than nearly all other 3d programs.

Most games have pre-compiled maps, which is why they run so much faster. SL is too dynamic to be able to use these shortcuts, so it will run a bit slower than those games.

WTF IS A 'PRECOMPILED MAP'. WTF IS DYNAMIC MEAN? I JUST WANT TO MOVE DAMMIT, TAKE OFF THE SLIDE SHOW. [/B]

Fortunately, you don't need a high framerate to enjoy SL. 10-15 FPS is typical and quite usable here.

LOOK, LADY, I DON'T WANT TO TAKE PICTURES IN HERE, I DON'T NEED FRAMES, I WANT A GAME, NOT A FRIGGING SLIDE SHOW.

If you are suffering from unbearable lag or instability, or are curious how to tune your performance, please read the following attached notecard:
[† ]

BUT I HAVE A HIGH-SPEED DSL CONNECTION, ALL THE MOST UPDATED DRIVERS ON THE GRAPHICS AND SOUND CARDS RECOMMENDED BY THE LINDENS, A BRAND-NEW TOP OF THE LINE HIGH SPEED COMPUTER, SO WTF??????
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Q> "How do I detach something from my head?" (or other body part)

Your avatar can have up to 30 objects attached to it's skeleton. This is a great way to customize your look, but sometimes you attach things by accident.


I DON'T SEE ANY BONES OR SKELETON. IT LOOKS LIKE ALL JUST FLESH TO ME.

To remove an attachment, try each of these steps in order, until you manage to detach the object:
- right click on the object (make sure the point on your mouse is right on the specific object surface), choose "Detach"
- go to the Edit menu, select "Detach Object", then pick the highlighted skeletal region where the object is attached
- right click on your avatar, select "Take Off>" then "Detach All" (this will remove all attachments)

If all else fails, try relogging. It may just be "ghosted".


DID I DIE ALREADY? DO THE LAMPS IN HERE ELECTROQUTE TOO LIKE IN TSO?? DAMN! I DIDN'T EVEN SEE!
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Q> "Where do I shop for new clothes?" (or other things)

- Click the ( Find ) button at the bottom of your screen
- Select the "Places" tab
- In the search box, type a keyword for what you're searching for (ie clothes)

BUT I TYPED IN 'LITTLE BLACK DRESS' AND I CAN'T FIND A THING

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Q> "How do I buy something?"

Typically, you just right click the object and choose "Buy" from the pie menu.

If "Buy" is not available, but "Pay" is, then you are probably dealing with a scripted vendor. See next question =)

Some things to keep in mind when purchasing things:
- Be careful of spending too much money when you first arrive in SL
- Sold objects are usually copyable or transferrable, but rarely both.
- If you are buying something as a gift, make sure you will have transfer permissions

TRANSFER? IS THAT LIKE A TATOO?


- BUYER BEWARE! Some less-than-honest people like to find free items that other people have made and sell them to unsuspecting new residents. You can always check who the creator is by looking at the object's properties. If you have doubts, IM the creator.


I'M CLICKING AND CLICKING AND I DON'T SEE WHAT YOU MEAN BY PROPERTIES. I'M NOT GETTING ANY MENU OR ANYTHING.
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Q> "How do I use a vending machine?"

Usually most vending machines have an arrow or two, which lets you navigate forward or back through the list of items it is offering for sale.

Some may not have arrows, but will go to the next item when you left-click on the picture.

In most situations, to make a vending machine purchase:
- right click on the picture of the item you want
- select "Pay" from the pie menu
- type in the amount you want to pay
- This is your last chance to change your mind. Click the "Pay" button if you are sure you want to buy.
- accept the item from the blue dialog box

Be sure to accept the object when prompted. If you do not, you will not get the item, and you will not be refunded by the vendor!

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Q> "Where do I go for lots of free stuff?"

- the "Library" folder of your inventory
- the Bazaar in Stillman: [ƒ ]

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Q> "I purchased something, but all I have is a box (or bag)?"

In SL, every prim has it's own inventory which can contain other objects. Sometimes people use this as a way to sell items.


WHAT IS A PRIM?

To get the stuff out of it's container:
- go to a place where you can build

I'M HERE AT THE TELEHUB BUT IT WON'T LET ME

- drag the container from your inventory to the ground

WHAT IS INVENTORY? I DON'T SEE ANYTHING ON THE BOTTOM OF THE SCREEN LIKE IN TSO.

- right click the container
- choose "Edit" from the pie menu
- in the Edit window, click on the ( More >> ) button (unless it already says "<< Less"
- click on the "Content" tab
- drag each item in the list from the item's contents to your inventory's clothing folder

Here are detailed instructions: [? ]

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Q> "I just teleported, but I'm not where I should be"

SL doesn't let you teleport directly to your destination. Instead, you will arrive at the "Telehub" nearest your destination, and then you will have to fly or walk toward the red beacon which marks where you intended to go.

If you have a friend who is already at the place you're going to, ask them to offer you a teleport. These teleports *will* take you directly to your friend.


I KEEP FOLLOWING THE RED LINE AND IT ENDS UP IN THE SEA, AND MY FRIEND ISN'T AT THE END OF IT. IS HE HIDING?
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Q> "How do I build?"

Building is a bit of an art, but to get started down your path to master 3D builder, you need to know some basics. In Second Life, we build with primitive 3D shapes, usually we just call them 'prims'. Some of the primitive shapes you can build with include: cube, sphere, cylinder, and torus. Arranging these shapes and then scaling, cutting, and twisting them into modified shapes will give you a great deal of flexibility even though you're starting from these very basic shapes.

To begin building:
- go to an area where you are permitted to build (i.e. a sandbox)
- right-click on the ground
- select "Create" from the pie menu; this opens the Edit window in create mode

WAIT I DON'T SEE THE EDIT WINDOW. WHERE IS IT? I CAN'T SEE ANY WINDOWS.

- pick a prim shape you would like to create from the top of the Edit window
- left-click on the ground to 'rez' the shape

WHAT DOES REZ MEAN?


- your Edit window will then change to editing mode
- open up the edit window completely by clicking on the ( More >> ) button if you haven't done so already

The General tab is where you set object name, description, permissions, and the details for selling the object if you are putting it up for sale.

The Object tab is where you will edit the numbers associated with the object's shape, position, size, etc.

The Content tab displays a list of objects which are contained inside this object. This is where you will add scripts, sounds, animations, and other assets which you usually use in combination with a script, or for when you are using this object to sell it's contents.

I'M TRYING TO PICK UP SOMETHING AND PUT IT BUT IT WON'T PICK UP.

For a more thorough introduction to building, attend a building class (check events), or visit the
[‚ ] for a self-guided tutorial.

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Q> "How do I become a landowner?"

You must have a Premium subscription to own land. If you have a Basic account, you can change it to Premium at:
http://secondlife.com/account

If you're looking for land in-world, use the Find panel to search for a good deal on a parcel.

You can also bid on newly released land from a land auctioning system at:
http://secondlife.com/auctions

Once you have found a plot you want to buy:
- Go to the land you intend to buy.
- Enable parcel border display with the 'P' key.
- Right click the ground inside the parcel you want to buy.
- Choose 'About Land' from the pie menu.
- Click the 'Buy Land' button.

Note: If you have never owned land before, you will probably want to check out the "First Land" program, where you can get 512m for a very cheap price of L$512. Once you own land, you will never be able to enjoy the "First Land" offer again.

BUT I KEPT CLICKING ON THIS AREA THAT I THOUGHT LOOKED ABOUT THE SIZE YOU SAID AND IT WON'T LET ME BUY IT. IT'S NOT GOING THROUGH.

Caution: Be wary of land speculators who want to buy your First Land and exploit your newness to the world to make a profit. Check out the current average land prices at the URL below before negotiating any land sales.

BUT MY FRIEND FROM TSO PROKOFY SAID HE WOULD BUY MY FIRST LAND FOR $3500 THEN GIVE ME A RENTAL FOR FREE WITH THE 512 TIER. HE EXPLAINED IT ALL, OTHERS HAVE DONE IT, AND IT DOESN'T SOUND LIKE A SCAM

To find out more about land, visit:
http://secondlife.com/land

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Q> "How far away can people hear what I say in local chat?"

- 20 meters for normal chat
- 100 meters for shouts


I'M GETTING ALL THE STUFF SCROLLING BY AT ONCE! ARE THEY HEARING MY IMS???

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Q> "Why is some chat text white and some grey?"

The darker text is from people chatting who are further away from you than the lighter shaded text.

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Q> "How do I see what someone said earlier in local chat?"

Press Ctrl+H to open your chat history window. From there you can also scroll back and select text to copy/paste.

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Q> "What are some of the basic social rules here?"

Second Life is an online community of adults (you must be 18 or older to participate). Due to this standard, it is expected that people will behave maturely and respectfully to their fellow residents. Here are some guidelines for standard etiquette in Second Life:

- Regions are indicated as either (M) or (PG) at the top of the screen. In PG regions, you should refrain from speech, behavior, sounds, or images which would not be acceptable to a general audience (similar to broadcast television or a PG rated movie). In Mature regions, mostly anything goes except the most extremely offensive content.

Playing sounds is fun, but try to limit playing the same sounds over and over again. Keep in mind that sounds also apply to the PG/M content rating rule.

For the exact rules, read the Terms of Service and Community Standards pages on the official website at:
https://secondlife.com/tos.php
https://secondlife.com/comstandards.php

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Q> "How do I script something?"

If you are familiar with programming, the Linden Scripting Language should be easy to pick up in a short time. LSL is a compiled language which relies on events to trigger behaviors, with over 300 API functions to allow you to interact with the environment and the people in it.

WHAT IS COMPILED AND WHAT DOES API MEAN?


The absolutely best reference for LSL is the LSL Wiki at:
http://secondlife.com/badgeo/

If you are not familiar with programming, LSL is a great language to start with; however, you may want to pick up a book to learn some of the basics of all programming languages (i.e. variables, functions, boolean logic, conditionals, loops, etc.) to help build a foundation.

Sometimes the best way to learn is to find example scripts, and jump in and just start changing them around to see what happens.

You can find a bunch of free scripts on the Second Life "Scripting Library" forum at:
/15/1.html

If you have any questions with scripting, try asking Live Help, or post them to the "Scripting Tips" forum at:
/54/1.html

Included with this FAQ is my scripting tutorial [… ], which I've composed from my lecture notes from back when I taught official scripting classes. This guide (like the class) was designed to be informative to both programmers and non-programmers alike, and should hopefully help you get started if you are new to scripting LSL =)

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Q> "What does that abbreviation mean?"

Here are some common abbreviations that are mostly unique to Second Life:

SL - Second Life
LL - Linden Lab; the company who made SL
RL - Real Life; the meta-place where you need food, restroom breaks, etc
FL - same as RL (unless they mean Florida)
L$ - Linden Dollars; the virtual currency
AV - Avatar, your second life "body"
LH - Live Help; a group of volunteer residents who help people with questions
LSL - Linden Scripting Language; the language used to program objects in SL
GOM - Gaming Open Market; a currency exchange site

WHAT IS FIC?
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Q> "I joined a group, and now I have a title in front of my name, how do I remove it?"

- Open the "Edit" menu
- Select "Groups..."
- Scroll to the top
- Select "none"
- Click the "Activate" button

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Q> How do I set my profile picture?

- Upload an image under the File menu, this will cost L$10
- Locate the image you uploaded in your inventory. It should be in the "Textures" folder.
- Open up your profile window by selecting "Profile..." from the Edit menu
- Drag and drop the image from your inventory's textures folder to the profile picture slot in your profile window

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Q> "How should I set my Preferences?" / "What does this Preferences setting do?"

To open the preferences panel, press Ctrl+P or choose 'Preferences' under the Edit menu.

You can get an overview of all of the various Preferences settings in this separate guide:
[„ ]

________________________________________

Q> "What if my question isn't answered in this FAQ?"

If you have any questions which aren't answered here, try the following:

- Select the menu "Help" > "Live Help" to query a group of volunteer residents

- Teleport to the [€] and ask your question in local chat

- Search through the forums, or create a new post with your question at:
http://forums.secondlife.com

- Check for a new version of this FAQ. Click the FAQ dispenser at:
[‰ ].

- If you are familiar with IRC, try asking on efnet #secondlife

- Send an email to Second Life's official support address:
[email]support@secondlife.com[/email]

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### Acknowledgements ###

Thank you to the following people for helping me with corrections and additions:
Chage McCoy
Essence Lumin
Torley Torgeson

Please let me know if you see anything that needs correcting =)

SURE THING!!!!

[/B]

That sure is a lot of words.

Great FAQ Kex!

Ick. Heaven Forfend this person ever did more than tear down the humanitarian efforts of others.

Kex, it is a GREAT faq. Ignore the scavenger.

Nicely done Kex. I have an old version of your newbie FAQ that I hand out. I probably should get the new one.

To avoid 'plumping up a oldbie FIC' (FIC apparently being anyone older than a week with whom Prok disagrees), otherwise known as giving credit to where credit is due, you could always hand out the FAQ without a name attached to it.

Prok: Why does the supposed newbie in yours seem to have some really bad PMS?

Yeah, free to have your SL identity taken from you, free to be shunned by the lords of the realm, free to be smackdowned by Lindens! Free! Free to shut up and leave if you hate it so much! Free to whine about people trying to make a difference instead of getting off your bum and helping!

so unhappy :( :( when will you get your hugs?




Great FAQ kex :) I remember you helpin out in the welcome area 2/3 morris-makeovers ago. It is really appreciated to have someone knowledgeable and helpful there for new residents.

And I'm sure they appreciate a FAQ that doesn't treat them as if they're mentally lacking, and anyone who doesn't understand this FAQ likely won't understand given any instruction :)

Have you hugged your Prokofy today?

Maybe the girls can get together and send a fruit basket?

Prok, for someone who thought it was wrong to treat newbies as "stupid" you sure take a condescending(sp) and immature "newbie" portrayal. Honestly thats just rediculous and mean, not towards Kex even, but towards other new residents.

There are ways to criticize or point out what you think is wrong about something without being hatefull or spitefull.

I think its good if *anyone* takes the time to answer questions and write them out, even you.

While you may not agree with some of the answers provided, obviously some people do or else the FAQ wouldn't be passed out so much.

So instead of belittling and taking a bad attitude role about how some new residents may act, write your own FAQ the way you think it should be done.

If you can write one, without injecting your own personal views on the "FIC" or "Tecchie Wikki" (or whatever it is) group, I'll give you a sticker.

I'm all for using all caps on FAQ always

Right on, Kex!

And thank you, Blaze, for posting it.

Maybe it would be useful to offer a FAQ *directory* somewhere acceptable, and by means of a bar-graph, or some other useful form, the noobie could choose which version he/she has time or energy to read. Maybe estimated reading time or word-count could be shown?
Myself- I would choose the shorter ones first, because after the hassle I went thru to get SL running at a *usable* frame rate, I wanted to jump in.
Now that I've spent a few hours (and most of my L$), I'm spending much more time reading, both in world, and in the forums, especially this one.

Sorry Prokofy... you seem to be one of the most brilliant writers here, but my wee brain can't take meals that large in one sitting

The queries I interpolated into Kex's FAQS are all real-life questions I get asked all the time. Just last night I met with a guy from TSO and he asked most of those same questions.

It doesn't take a "serious case of PMS" to understand that her FAQ is self-referential to inside SL knowledge and inside computer tekkie knowledge -- and even people who are tekkies but not from SL are not going to get it -- because she doesn't start with thiings like "what is a prim" but just assumes there is knowledge of it (she makes the self-editor's mistake of not defining a term at the first appearance of its usage).




I think you haven't seen Aimee's caricature of me and her belittling of me in other threads or you wouldn't be laying these charges at my door.

All my interpolation shows -- to anybody with an open mind without the FIC blinders on -- is that there are in-group terms, jargons, and belief systems contained in that FAQ that make it a poor tool to introduce at least some people to the game.



I do, and my customers all get this from me, and even a lot of non-customers, I just don't make Lindens take it and distribute and I don't come on the forums and brag about it lol. I try to put it to use whre it is needed -- right in the world.



It's only passed out because people needed to butter up Lindens, show off in the forums, and posture in front of newbies to get their business. I don't have a need for that



I already have that, and other kinds of cards, I just don't show off with them.



My cards are in the game, where they are useful, not put up in the forums to brag.

I highly doubt all the text you replied with is something a newbie has said, especialy given the directiveness. While some questions I know as well have been asked, not all of them.

Blaming someone else or doing something just because you think someone else is doing the same thing unto you isn't a good thing to live by. Using the "well this person does it to *me*" excuse isn't a good one.

If you could send me your FAQ in world, I'd appreciate it. And no I'm not going to be mean with it.