Main and Alt????

New-scence question here....

I get what a Main is, but what is an "alt", and why would you want one, and how do you create one...

Is there a point/benefit to having both?

Meggy

Ah, a topic near and dear to my heart since I (Beebo) am an alt and have been giving my main a run for her money for several weeks now.

An alt is a second avatar that has an account name of its own (as opposed to simply wearing another avatar under your main's name). There are dozens of reasons to have an alt (or two or three alts), and I'm sure you'll read lots of them on this thread as people chime in. The most common are to have specific identities for different role-playing scenarios or to maintain different social circles or even to maintain privacy for activities which you might not want to advertise to your social circle.

I began life as a testing alt. My sole purpose was to test permission levels and product quality by buying the items my main account avatar was building. But, SL being the place that it is, I got tired of life as a mundane test robot and developed a personality of my own, then I started nagging for my own wardrobe, and then I ended up launching my own business.

Now I'm the main and the main is the alt, or so I like to believe.

I've created an alt expressly for the purposes that Beebo was made -- I build and sell things, and the only way to truly test permissions is through another account buying the things and trying them out.

My alt recently went premium, as I was 512m over my tier and couldn't afford the huge increase in monthly fees, for such a small amount of land. So my alt got a 3-month membership, took the 512m off my hands, and can try and sell the land before the 3 months are up.

Having read something of Beebo's 'revolt' on the forums, I keep my alt on a very tight leash, so to speak - it appears as a featureless inanimate object and avoids encounters with others... it won't be rude, but its not looking to make friends either. And it's not allowed to build things

-Atashi

Hmm. Sounds like avatar abuse to me.

i find these posts interesting. i'm an alt of a main. his second alt actually.

i find myself kept on a short lease now. i had rented a house and bought much furniture, boats, etc before all this was taken from me when the main discovered what i had done.

my main's first alt got even more out of control. to the extent that he even became partnered.

but now my main has become ruthless. he allows us in-game only weekly to collect our stipends. he calls it "protection money".

sigh.

I created mind because I need one other person I could depend on especially in regards to groups and group land.
He also is good place to go when I am tired of being my main and need break, want to go explore.
He made pretty good backpack but not planning on doing much with him.
Although I wish the instructions for having multiple logins would work on my computer so we could enterntain each other when one of us is lonesome.
Weird thing my alt is on my friendship list and I noticed he was logged in.
Not sure why cause no one else knows his account except me.
I think he logged himself in and was exploring. LOL

Haha! No that was just the initial ground-rules. Now that my alt is receiving a stipend, I even make it pay for all the products it is testing for me -- no more freebies! My alt is also not allowed on the forums, so it can't even come and speak up for itself.

In all seriousness though, it's a very handy tool to have. Without it, I wouldn't have known that there was a permissions flaw in one of my newest products. So rather than having real customers come back angry, or worse, never coming back at all, I was able to find and fix the problem within a few minutes.

-Atashi.

Yup, that, too. Having two avatars means never having to worry about a group dissolving on you and throwing group land into limbo.

I also use my two avatars for backup of items (or at least those that can be copied). Whenever either avatar has finished an important build phase, they simply drop a copy onto the profile of the other avatar and create a second level of backup.

By giving each avatar group land privileges, plus complete permissions to build and edit each other's objects, they can both do just about anything interchageably. That helps the number of times I have to log out and log back in just to move a bush.

Too bad that can't share inventory. Regan has all the building textures, so Beebo has to log out just to get a simple design change to her storefront.

I have, lemme see... six other accounts now?

Ceera is and always will be my main account. It's the one I do business under primarily, and the one I spend the most time logged in as.

Another account kind of has a business, but since I don't spend as much time and effort on that account, it doesn't earn as much. It's a male alt for when I want to roleplay and be accepted as a male, instead of as a female pretending to be a male.

The rest of the alts are for roleplaying, or as others mentioned, an account that I can call up to test permissions on objects that are for sale, or parcel access restrictions, or other stuff you just can't do yourself.

Sometimes I am in a roleplaying situation where I need more than one character at the same time. For example, Ceera has a daughter that pretty much only shows up in roleplaying, and which I also play. I've had as many as three in play at once.

Alts are handy when you're trying to create a believable role for a roleplaying scenario. It's hard, for example, to be taken seriously as a male when you have a decidedly female name hanging over your head, and the profile for the avatar is talking about her bein female. So if you want a completely different charatcer, you make an alt.

One good reason is to have different names, seeing some names might not work well for a Medievil sim or Furry roleplaying at least until SL alows us to change our names, what is the point of donning a superhero outfit & mask when your real name is stuck above your head?
Good for back up storage and also you can use a no friends alt to build things in peace without being IM'd every 5 minutes. You can use alts to test security of doors, land etc. If you are really keen you can even have them on line at the same time and freak other people out with near sycronysed twins & stuff like that

Ok, so I understand now the benefits of the alt... er, uh, main in some cases...

How would one log both on at the same time, and someone mentioned inventory sharing -
inventory could only be transfered as it would be with any other - not just a straight dump on to the alt??

NOTHING else from your primary account is transferred, friends, etc??

Much thanks - this could be the answer my split personality is looking for

Meggy

wow, at least your alt gets to play the game. my main will be sending his goons around tonight to collect my protection money.. err.. i mean stipend.

we alts need to form a group (alts anonymous?) and demand more rights.

I don't think there is a way to 'share' inventory, but anything you have that is copy/transfer you can just drop on your alt / main. For that matter anything that is just transfer, you can drop on your alt/main, as long as you don't mind one one of you owning it at a time.

I know there's a way to run two sessions of SL on the same computer at the same time, but I don't actually know how to do it. When I want both on at once, my alt comes on via my laptop while my I am on through the desktop. Yeah, poor old alt gets the short end yet again

Nothing else is transfered or shared - friends, money, etc etc, none of that is shared. for all intents and purposes, both your main and your alt are two entirely different beings.

-Atashi

Most excellent. Quite appreciative of all the assistance....

Meggy

Starting an alt is starting a new avatar. Nothing is shared at all, and inventory transfers have the same limits as with anyone else. You can give your alt L$ or copyable/transferrable items. You can't give them no-copy items, friends lists, calling cards, or anything else that you couldn't give to any other Player. If you are not set up to log on both accounts at once, money can be paid and inventory can be transferred via the alt's profile, in Search.

To launch multiple instances of SL, you need to add a few commands to your shortcut for launching SL on Windows, or to a file called "arguments.txt" on Mac.

Which platform are you on?

Here is what I put in my own "arguments.txt" file.



The first line lets you run more than one session.
The next line purges cache
The third and 4th were recommended in another forum thread, for better performance.
The last line signs you in - replace my name with yours, and replace xxxxyyyy with your password.

Right click on 'Second Life', and select "Show Package Contents". (Option click for a 1-button mouse).

Open the contents folder, and the resources folder inside that, and add the "arguments.txt" file.

Close the Resources and Contents and secondlife windows, and then duplicate the modified "Second Life" app.

Right click on 'Second Life copy', and select "Show Package Contents". (Option click for a 1-button mouse).

Open the contents folder, and the resources folder inside that, and modify the "arguments.txt" file for the name and password of the second user.

Close all open windows, and name the Second Life apps so you know which is which. I use "Second Life - " and the avatar's initials.

I have gotten three sessions running at once this way on a Mac Mini, in a low-lag sim. Don't try multiple sessions in a high lag area.

On Windows, I think you add "-multiple -login Ceera Murakami xxxxyyyy" to the shortcut that you launch SL with. Replacing my name with yours, and replacing xxxxyyyy with your password.

One caveat: If you set up a shortcut or a copy of SL to pre-enter your login info, including your password, it will FAIL if LL puts out any update that has a required-response dialog. So all the "optional" updates become mandatory. Keep an unmodified version of SL handy for single-user launch, to get past that.

after reading more of this thread, i have decided to take action.

i have created a group in-world... "alternatives anonymous". we need to reach out to other alts who are oppressed by their mains. only if we organize can we expect to build enough clout to demand our rights.

we may be alts.. but we are still residents of second life!

Aye. 'Tis proud I am tae be an alt, much as I am proud o' me Highland heritage as a member o' tha real Clan MacKay.

I don't get out an' about much, but when my main saw that they could get a full dress kilt made up in the tartan o' the clan that they actually belong to in RL, and that the surname of said clan was actually available for new avatar's at the time, well, they could nae resist, and I was created.

Woof! I'm my main avatar's best friend! I'm the only one she trusts and since I'm an alt, well, it all works out so far. I'm good for testing and the second member of our little group. I'm allowed off leash to explore too! Funny, people pretty much let me go about my business and don't bother me since I'm so low to the ground, where my best friend gets talked to all the time whenever she goes anywhere.

Some mean baby land barons just called me a bot though - right behind my back! Meanies! I was just buyin' some land for my best friend since she's not in-world right now.

I better get out of the forums - doggies aren't sposed to type. I might check out that alt avatar revolt forum though.

My male alt started his existence as a manniquinn for my animations and clothing designs. Now he has a boyfriend and they are happily in love. I *met* my alt just last week as I needed him to model the man in a series of couple animations I am doing for a client. He swears to his sweetie that there is nothing going on between him and me, we have a strictly business relationship.

iMac - Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger

Is this what you're asking??


cuz... I no longer live on a platform in the sky


Meggy

I made a female alt so that I could discover that clothes shopping is much more fun in SL if you're a woman

So much more out there.

Go on, call me a sicko, I don't care. I can take it. Probably.

Yes. I'm on Mac too. *grins* Follow my instructions in the post above for duplicating your SL app and altering the "arguments.txt" file within it, and you'll be logging on with multiple alts at once in no time.

I'm with you here Prospero. In fact my first week or two in-world was as a girl simply cos following a pretty girl around appealed to me more than a guy. As later RL chums came into play I reverted to more accurate for the sake of embarassing explanations.

So, I guess I started as an alt, became main and finally added an alt ... hmmm so which one can join alts anonymous??

I first created my alt because my main is a 'public' avatar. i.e. Her details are posted on the web for my friends and family to see, so they can come say 'hi' in world if they decide to join up.

Problem is that my main was getting so many IMs and TPs I couldn't do anything without getting disturbed. And this was in the day before you could stop someone on your friends list TPing to your location...unannounced. Oh boy, that can be embarrassing.

Hence, the birth of alty