Another Newbie - Too many choices

Hi there everyone! First I want to say a huge thank you to all of you for the insight that you have provided in the forums. I have aread alot and you have cleared up so many questions already.

Of course in the past week I have made all kinds of faux pas - running around naked, wearing boxes, bumping into people etc. I also have gone crazy living the wild life and doing things I would NEVER do in my rl. (And boy was it liberating!)

But now that I have gotten that all out of my system (well maybe not "all", and am comfortable with maneuvering around, I am ready to really get down to business and become a real part of the world as opposed to just running around crazy in it.

I am completely fascinated with this sl world, and after playing Sims2 forever I am thrilled to actually interact with real people.

Here are a few of my conundrums:

Where I am at right now is that I am overwhelmed with the possibilities. I dont know right now if I should rent an apartment, buy an island, build a house, buy a prefab, rent a cottage, or buy a region! When I start looking for something there are so many choices that I simply give up because I don't want to make a wrong move. But I really want to get established somewhere - meet people and have somewhere to put all of things that I have already purchased (shopping is a blast!) What I really want is to find a reputable realtor, tell them what I'm looking for and how much I want to spend and let them do all the dirty work. Maybe someone can refer me to one.

ALSO

For a vast world with thousands of people running around - Where is everyone?
Except for a dance party (and another naughty place) - I haven't come across more than 5 people at a time anywhere. Mostly no one everywhere I have gone.

Thanks for reading my ramble!

I hear they are all at Bear...

Sorry- running joke around here

Welcome!

I see most people in the shopping malls or in different clubs - search in groups for things you are interested in- most groups are free to join. Check out some of the learning available in world- you may find creativity in you you may not have been aware of before.

Good luck and Enjoy you SL!

Try keeping a notebook in RL and writing down things/places that interest you. Then do a search for those things in SL. You'll be surprised what you find.

I would hold off on buying an island until you have a better feel for sl. Visit places like NCI, the Shelter, and the Forum Cartel Hangout. That way you can learn alot more about sl and what you are interested in.

Definitely. Start small and rent until you figure out what really appeals to you. I know there is that impulse to immediately immerse yourself in EVERYTHING, but it's better to get past the honeymoon phase before you commit to something like buying an island or region.

My advice is to wait.

It isn't at all necessary to have your own space. And there's a lot to learn, and a lot of mistakes to be made.

Start by learning how to find the sort of groups of people you're interested in. Learn to search not just the event listing (which is perhaps the poorest choice), but also for places and for groups. There are plenty of popular clubs. You might try looking for music genres that you like (e.g. rock, jazz, techno, etc.), for example. Or perhaps you have a hobby? Or maybe you speak a foreign language and would like to meet up with people for whom it's their native language?

After you've made a few good friends, and perhaps a lot of casual friends, you'll have a better handle on whether you need a place of your own, and if so, what sort. You'll also have more experience with the various issues that go into such a decision.

I would search events for things going on. Live music, especially, but other events sponsored by various groups are usually certain to have people show up.

As for buying versus renting - I would rent first to get a feel for your own style, and how much it will cost you to live at the level you want. Renting can often be cheaper than buying, but you first need to figure out your needs and it's a good, low-commitment way to do that.

Hey! I'm addicted to Sims2 (and to the original before that) too!

I bought land my first few months inworld, but I wound up selling it pretty quickly. The prim
limits really didn't let me do as much with the land as I had hoped and I couldn't afford more, so I'm a drifter for now .
I found the spot just hopping around, so I don't know about realtors, but I purchased from Sarah Nerd and I can say that her prices were very reasonable and all her properties that I saw were nice.

As for places with people, I always recommend The Blarney Stone, it's a great pub that's always packed and really friendly.
Also, you might try just entering something you're interested in into Search, then sorting your results by traffic. It doesn't guarantee that people will be there, but it's a good way to get a feel for the variety that's available.

Feel free to IM me inworld. It's hard to think of specific places when I'm not on and can't look in my inventory.

I reccommend that you buy a smallish parcel of land. 1024 is a good size. Land prices are low right now, so just do a bit of comparison shopping, but it doesn't matter all that much who you buy it from. Around 5-10 L/Square Meter is a reasonable price.

For myself I found that owning a bit of land helped immensely with the overwhelm. I had a little bit of second life that I had complete control over that I could retreat to when needed.

Hello and welcome Chariclo
So much to do, so much to see, where do you start? Yup, we've all been there!
I have to admit that since my immersion into this world, crowd numbers do seem to have dwindled. Alas, many of the clubs that I found so popular have gone for various reasons, among others the fact that a crowd in attendance isn't necessarily making revenue for the owners, something many club owners have found to their detriment (those who were seeking revenue that is!)
Really, the base question is, just what do you want to do? Some build, some script, some make lovely clothes, some .... just buy it and chat a lot!
I've been here 18 months and still just love chatting and seeing new creations.
Land acquisition is something that's been discussed in great length in the past. Sounds like you're not sure what scale you want to get into. I'd take my time, have a good think about what you want, some good, reliable land resellers about but then, if you wanna go the whole hog for a region, then it's direct to LL

I agree with the start small phillosopy. I am not sure "rent" is the answer.

Attend classes. Learn to build things, script, use gimp, or animate.

Find what you really love to do.

Years ago when I joined I was landless for about 1 week. I bought myself a little 512m plot and found I really like having a place to call my own and toss prims around as I learned. Public sandboxes are great but I found being able to leave a work in progress out when I had to log out invaluable. Also land ownership taught me alot about group and land controls, terraforming, landscaping all Kinds of things. Many rental plots are VERY restrictive in what you can and cannot do. Hence I say buy but buy small.

The key to longevity and sucess is SL is loving what you do. It can take time to find out what that thing you love is. Also that thing you love may change over time and thats ok too. Take your time, learn everything you can and enjoy the ride.

Welcome to SL and Teh Forums Chariclo! and don't worry we ALL did those things whether we will admit to them or not !

first, take a deep breath and relax! the best person(s) to talk to about finding a home base are right here in these very pages. i rent at a wonderful place called peachy dunes where the owner is a joy and takes good care of his property. i suggest renting a while, and reading the forum thread on owning land( i think) started by Raymond Figtree. the grid is bigger than it looks as well, so pull up your map and look for the green dots. many of those may be bots, but there are "people" there too. i like exploring myself. and have seen quite a few beautifully done builds that i return to when i want some zen time.


let em add it is always wonderful to see someone so excited about SL, it reminds me of my first time here, and gives me a boost to explore more! Good Luck!

On the assumption that you want to build a place to live, if you're not now a "Premium member", I wouldn't jump into that just to be able to buy Mainland right away. It may well be that Mainland is what you want to buy at some point, but for now, I'd just find a place (Mainland or not) that will rent you some cheap parcel of bare land for a price you won't notice in RL, and play around with it. Rez freebie prefab houses one at a time and disassemble them to see what tricks make them look good, and what sloppiness makes them look bad.

It's absolutely true that you don't need a place to live at all, of course. But the nesting instinct is strong.

(The only real problem with buying land early is that you'll buy the wrong land... and before you know it, you'll own a quarter sim of the damned stuff, and then the right land will come along and you'll have to sell or rent the old, wrong land, and before you know it, you'll be a land baron. And, like, respectable 'n' stuff. To be avoided.)

*waves at the fellow reformed sims2 player*

My first and best piece of advice:

Before you do anything, and I mean ANYTHING, organize your inventory. Being new, you've already acquired a lot of crap that won't mean much of anything to you in a few months. Just like in Sims2, you know how fast your download folder can fill and get disorganized. It happens here too. If you catch it early, this doesn't have to happen to you!

*edited to add* my partner found me naked in a sandbox hehe

I won't advise, but I'll mention some 'user tragectories' that I have seen...


1. The Accidental Avatar

...drifts into SL, checks it out, never really owns anything, sporadically pops in.


2. The Enthusiast

...is fascinated, enthused, gets a tiny parcel, GOES CRAZY, has waaaaay too much land, gets overwhelmed, second life eats more hours than first, burns out, settles back to about 4000m of land somewhere and grouses on forums. Oh, this all happens in 90ish days. Net loss: over 1000 USD.


3. The Casually Addicted

...typically thinks they aren't into it that much, gets land, makes a shop, never takes anything too seriously, hangs out with friends. This low key fun is like a barbed hook, however. Progressively they get better known, their shop starts to support land, next thing they know they have an entire region or two and are a pillar of the community. Oops.


4. The Secret Dark Force that will PWN you all

...logs in to get the 'angle' on everything, tries to monetise every obscure niche and squeeze maximum advantage - wants to 'harvest' the grid for cash. Usually ends up getting a 'business in a box' or entering really crappy distributive marketing deals. Gets absolutely nowhere. Is eventually ripped off himself by a scammer posing as an 'investment bank'.


5. Soap Opera

...is here because of friends or romantic interest; land and 'stuff' and the economy is all sort of peripheral, but the significant SL other made a nice house for them, &c &c - they aren't rich but comfy enough in SL style. Time goes on, friends and lovers come and go, occasional bouts of drama on a cycle from about three to nine months. Typically on 4000-8000m of land somewhere; generally stable nice looking address.


6. Arteest

...might have land, might not, might even be invited onto someone else's land for all the cool things made. Not into sales, but has made some incredibly wonderful things and people keep saying: sell your stuff! Never gets around to it.


7. Sandbox Warrior

...like the Terminator, he landed in our time with a purpose. But his is to bring Order and Justice to the wild grid. Locked and loaded, his keen eye scans the horizon with a variety of tools at his disposal to deal with griefers and troublemakers. Often has a sidekick or small band. Incidentally, he knows the most dreaded archgriefers in first life - who as it happens first told him about SL during recess.


These are just a few. I hope this post is informative when it comes to monetary choices - for some, it may save them a lot

As for "where is everybody?"...

We're all here, posting in the forums.

Seriously, at last count SL had 22,051 regions. There are about 50,000 people logged on at any given time.

If you spread us out evenly, you'd have about 2 people per region. But we're not spread out, we tend to clump at events and popular places. That makes for a lot of very empty sims.

My suggestion: Enjoy the solitude. If every sim was full up with 40 avatars, life would be Lag Hell everywhere, instead of a just a few popular clubs.

Running around crazy in SL is an *excellent* way to become a real part of the world

As others have said.. knowing what you can and can't and do or don't want to do in SL does take some experience, so try to adjust a bit more before you spend too much money.



First of all, since you've put all these in one list I have to make sure you understand that these aren't the same. On SL, the land and the things you build on it (such as a cottage) are separate. Some landlords will rent out apartments or cottages, but what they are really renting is the LAND, but with a particular object on it. If you "buy a prefab", all you get is the structure, and you need land to put it down on.

Buying an island or a region costs more than a thousand dollars, and is more space than almost anyone needs on their own. I wouldn't start with this unless you're absolutely positive it's what you want to do.

Renting (or "buying" on an Estate) can be cheaper than buying land, but if you rent, you have no official relationship with Linden Lab - so they can't help you if the landlord breaks your agreement. There are many very reliable landlords in SL, but there are many untrustworthy ones too.

If you want to try to build a house from scratch, look for a "sandbox" area. You can practice building a house there, and although you can't live in it (the sandbox is cleared every 2 hours), you can magically pick up the house and put it in your bag (!) and then take it out again when you want to work on it some more, or when you have bought or rented land to put it on permanently.



A realtor will provide you with land, and SOME of them will place a house on that land for you, but mostly realtors rent out empty land where you can place a prefab or build a house of your own.



Most people will be together in social areas and in, um, "naughty places". Many people do enjoy flying around and exploring but they don't do it 24 hours a day so it will be a rarity for them to be in any particular place at the moment you look.

I knew you guys wouldn't disappoint!
Thank you!
Some great advice - and comical responses too! (Desmond that was great!)
I am definately going to start by finding some groups this evening. I've already started the building basics, and want to learn as much as I can - although extremely different, I feel like I have been training for years with the Sims.

I am a premium member already. I will continue to explore the own/rent dilemma. I understand all of the concerns about jumping in too fast - and I don't want to suffer some of those consequences.

I guess I will relax a little and enjoy the ride. If you see me out there wandering aimlessly or looking like a fool - laugh! - and then point me in the right direction. Your insight is greatly appreciated.

There was a time in SL when the measure of a builders ability was what he/she could do with a crappy piece of land. Some of the most amazing builds I have ever seen in world (or built myself for that matter) started on a near vertical rock cliff!

With your premium you can own a 512m without additional tier. You will have to pony up for the initial purchase itself but thats it. Also a 512 is resonably easy to unload later if and when you are ready to move up. Don't expect to make back your investment, almost no one does these days on ANY land.

I would not be too worried about ending up with crappy land. If you fly around looking at parcel and find something you like go for it. Its your world, your imagination or so they say. Beautiful vs crappy is in what you envision there.

I do not fit any of those descriptions

I am more of the addicted from the start, had land within a few weeks, went premium almost immediately, own the same land for almost 2 years, have added to the land, never downsized
spend a hell of a lot of time in SL, design, create, tweak, and always eager to learn, used to be a social butterfly, but now more into what I create.
(tried everything, learned as much as I can, even was a mentor, had my own club, stripped, danced, DJ'd, etc)

not sure what I would categorized as...

maybe Total addict, raving lunatic

Welcome, welcome, welcome!

Be assured you will make the wrong move...in fact you will make many wrong moves so don't worry about it.

Renting is a good start and lots of folks will give you good answers as to where to find good rentals. If you are intent on buying there is some nice mainland 512s and 1024s in Lipshen (I'm not selling the land, I just live nearby and its a nice area).

You do need to have a premium account to own land so renting would be best if you are a free account.

As for other SL folks, do a search for events that you enjoy..classes, discussions, live music, etc and just start talking to people. If you are like most of us your friends list will be flooded before long and you will have more than you can handle to do..and you will learn the joy of the busy mode when you hit phase 3 which is finally getting down to making stuff.

One thing that could be fun is signing on for a machinima project...most need actors and it would be a fun way to meet folks and be part of something fun. Check the machinima forum for that.

Enjoy!

Welcome to Second Life.

My #1 advice, and someone already mentioned it here: Organize your Inventory. Landless or Land Baron, it still stinks to wade through hundreds of folders and vague objects to find that one cool thing.

Hmm actually my #1 advice would be "avoid teh drahma." Easy to say, hard to do!

Oh that's was you? Good, I was worried it was one of my alts got loose
Rent till you find what size land you need rather than what size you want, plenty of land to buy, just be careful where and who you buy off, island land is really only renting as an island owner can close his account tommorrow and the sim vanishes forever so don't fork out a lumpsum and be sure the owner has been around a while and is not a "30 day wonder alt".
The population is spread aout a lot with between 30k & 64k online during the week, but an unknown percentage of that population are bots for camping, buying cheap land and cheating traffic. So if they ignore you completely and act like bots they possibly are if they aren't AFK, or maybe they don't speak english.
Oh also SEARCH>EVENTS>EDUCATION is the best way to find classes on building and SL content creation, join the groups NCI, Rockcliffe University and ASL, they announce cclasses 5minutes before they start on the group.

My mistake was buying furniture with too many prims. I have loads of furniture resting in my inventory, because I have replaced it with low-prim alternatives.

I don't know how much you can afford in rent or tier, but prims run out fast! I have sofas that's only 4 prim, with built in menu so 2 avatars can sit and chat, and cuddle/kiss. My definitly best buy! Same with bed, I have a 6 prim bed with all the common poses... and the best of all, ornamental candles that's only 1 prim.

I rightclick on everything that interest me and count the prims, then see the creators profile to find the shop. And search for "low prim" when you look for shops.

Welcome to SL Chariclo

I think I seem to fall into the same category as Rha does - except I've never been into clubbing very much - and, I should just like to say that Rha is the most versatile builder I have yet come across in SL. She can deal with just about everything from the very smallest and detailed jewelry, through fashion clothes and accessories to creating entire cities. So maybe being a "total addict, raving lunatic" isn't a bad way to go in SL.

But whatever you do - just do it anyway and do it your way!