I'm a Second Life noob, could somebody please help me?

Ok, I'm not familiar with anything even similar to Second Life, but I really want to get into it, obviously I've set up an account, and I've chosen how I will look to start with, but other than that I am lost. I don't know how to navigate the website, and I don't know how to enter the Second Life world. I've seen people (on tv mostly) playing Second Life, and I've heard about it, and it looks really cool, how you control a person, generally based on yourself, and you can explore this huge world. So, how do I get my avatar, my person, into the world, and walk around, explore etc.

Secondly, I have a Basic Account, to start with, so, what are the restrictions of a Basic Account? What can't I do, and more importantly what can I do? (I know that you need to have a Premium Account to own land etc, but what can I do with a Basic Account?)

Oh, and, with my Basic Account, how can I earn Second Life currency? Can you get jobs in SL? Erm, is there anyway I can buy things in SL as a Basic Account member?

Thanks in advance

Hi Joe, and welcome to SL

this page is what you need to get started inworld, just download the viewer and then login using the icon on your desktop.

http://secondlife.com/support/downloads.php

A basic account can do pretty much everything a premium account can do except as you rightly said buy land. The other difference is a premium account gets given a weekly stiped of 300L$ (linden dollars) to spend inworld as they choose. yes you can get jobs in sl if you search through the forums you will find many posts from people looking for staff. just spend some time exploring the world, don't be too hasty to make purchases since there are many places like The Free Dove along with a number of designers who give away freebies.

Enjoy your new life

Rhia x

Thanks a lot, I look forward to my second life

You mentioned you didnt know how to enter the second life world:

When you created your account you should have downloaded and installed the secondlife program which should have put an icon on your computer that looks like a green hand and is called "Second life"

1. Double click on that icon
2. when it starts, you enter your avatars first name, last name and password then press the "connect" button.
3. It should start you in orientation island where you learn the basics of second life, then once completing a few tasks you can teleport to the rest of the world.

If you didnt download and install the program, you can get it from here:
http://secondlife.com/support/downloads.php

Damn, I downloaded it on my other computer, that doesn't work too well, cos' that computer can receive e-mails properly, not like this one. Confusing I know, I have two okay-ish computers, not great ones lol

EDIT - Everytime I enter the link, it doesn't work, and there's a message saying 'adress not valid'

Anybody know why?

That can happen if you included the and in the link which you shouldnt

Try everything between the " " here:
"http://secondlife.com/support/downloads.php"

http://get.secondlife.com/

Easier.

Joe, you CAN buy land with a basic account if it's on a private estate so that pretty much leaves the premium account for getting back the lost items in your inventory that SL swallowed.

In otherwords, you get to pay for the privilege of getting back your paid for stuff due to a bug.

Sweet!

It wouldn't be buying the land on private estates. You would only be renting from the estate owner. If you would chose to rent, make sure you find a reputable estate owner as he or she can take the land back from you without warning or justification. Above all read the land covenants for any parcel you might want to rent.

Unless you actually buy the private estate yourself, you are not really buying there. If you are paying a large upfront "purchase" fee, you are simply buying the right to rent the land and possibly the right to "sell" this parcel to someone.

However, you do not ever really own this and therefore could lose it at the whim or demise of the estate owner.

A new user might want to join the New Citizens Inc. group, also known as NCI, and also drop by a place called the Shelter.

NCI has a number of places inworld. The traditional one is at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Kuula/71/173/28 .

The Shelter has mutiple places now, I think. One is at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Isabel/61/230/77 .

Joe, please don't make a decision to get involved in land transactions until you've been exploring for a few weeks, at least.

i would be happy to show you around some fab places SL has to offer next week, if you are interested. there are gret builds and exciting visuals that are MUST SEES!

at that time, we can discuss land buy vs land rent, and storefront rent, etc, but i don't think you should consider investing in SL in that regard until you've had a little time to absorb the full flavor of the game, and had a chance to see what types of 'builds' you find most interesting.

As for making L$ scratchy getting a job till you find fun things to occupy your time. A job should enhance your enjoyment of SL not be a means to it. Don't put the wagon before the horse. There are plenty of freebies to be had to help you get started. Try places like FreeDove? You may also find kind people in world that have compiled a bunch of these freebies already as well either as hand-me-downs from their newbie days, or actively searched them out to give to new residents to help, as my partner puts it, wipe the newbie off.

Make SL fun first, that is usually free, then look at earning to make it better. The quickest way to L$ though is to buy them. Keep that in mind, other free ways to make L$ are HoppyPay a hud you wear and get a certain amount for each parcel you visit, Money tree farming for you first 30 to 60 days, and my least suggested is camping. HoppyPay put together with money tree farming could make you a tidy some rather quickly if things go your way, not saying thousands but enough to get you well established.

This is advice worth repeating:



And I would even expand it to include the spending of any money in Second Life. The Second Life economy, on a whole, is tricky and won't work as you expect it to function. Take a few weeks- at least- just observing before spending any money.

Even so, land is trickier, and a more expensive proposition. Losing L$ 500 (~$ 1.89 USD) on clothes you don't like is one thing. Losing L$ 70,000 (~ $264.15 USD) on a bad land deal is another thing. The latter happened to me, and that's even after I had been in SL a few months and thought I knew what I was doing.

The very best advice any noob could get is to hold on to your money until you've been in SL for at least a few weeks and have gotten used to how things work.

Money tree farming is great. Unlike just sitting there in a camping chair you get to see parts of SL as you hop from tree to ,tree. You will also meet lots of people as you go. I used to love it, If you found a tree that was full you would IM others who you had met along the way too tell them, I met many friends that way.

Joey, you dont need land yet. Learn how to get in there, move around, and explore.

There are public locales, privately owned places, corporate islands of neat stuff, simulations of popular geographical locations, and other places you can check out to get familiar with SL and appreciate what has been created for perusal and entertainment.

Eventually you'll decide how you wish to be a part of the community and follow your dream.

Look for freebie places in search. A good place to start are the help islands and New Citizens Incorporated aka NCI in the search.