Hello! Questions from a Newbie

Hello all!! I am a newbie to SL, just signed up yesterday. I'm still tyring to figure it all out but I have a few questions. Hopefully I am posting in the right place...

1. Where am I supposed to change clothes? I don't have a home as I don't own any land and the thought of getting naked out in the middle of everyone is strange.

2. I don't like the way my Avitar looks. I picked the rocker chick one to start out with but how do I change things like skintone?

3. Can you recommend some quality free items like clothes and skins that I can start out with?

4. Where are the best places to go to meet people if you are a newbie?

Thanks in advance!

Try popping over to New Citizens in Kuula:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Kuula/55/168/28

There are changing rooms, a freebie wall with AVs, people that can answer your questions in person and people.

Others will soon find your questions and have better answers.

Kitsy ^.^

I will send you an invite to the Forum Cartel group. Group members can set the Hangout as Home, something nice when you are new. We have a private changing room and a freebie room. Group chat can be busy. And you can always ask a question in group chat, someone will know the answer. We have plenty of power shoppers who can help you with yourlook, some may even give you stuff they have worn and just keep in inventory now. But there are several "newbie" places here. Any of them are good.

Better? I doubt it
We may have other options but NCI is a great place to start.

Raven, one thing that might help is to turn on Private Messages. They are turned off by default on these forums. You can get to the options from the control panel - "User CP" from the menu at the bottom of the upper banners.

The Shelter is another good place to start out. You can change clothes, meet people and ask questions about anything.

And of course, this place here is a good place to ask about anything you need. What times are you online? It is always easier to get started with a little personal help. If we knew when you were online someone could volunteer to take you around.

[ETA]
Try this site. It has a list of good places for skins, clothes and just about everything else for new people.
http://thenoobletadventures.blogspot.com/

Sarah Nerd's Freebie Paradise. It's just been remodeled and expanded and has all sorts of things...pretty much everything you would need to get started.

Hi LadyRaven, welcome to SL! You've come to the right place, you'll be fine now!

One thing that isn't obvious to many new people is that you don't need to take off current clothes before putting on new clothes. Just wear the new item, and the previous one in that spot will automatically come off. You don't even need to be in appearance mode.

This means that for most purposes, you don't need to get naked. It's only if you're trying out skins, sometimes shapes, certain private body parts, or other unmentionables that you really need a place suitable for being naked.


The properties of your Avatar's body come from two main items: skin and shape. The shape determines the size and proportions of body parts. The skin determines the skin tone, shading, muscle definition, makeup, freckles, and so on. Skins are also used for body and facial hair, but some people prefer prim attachments for that.

Many skins are "tintable", meaning you can go into appearance, select Skin, and change the coloring to a degree. Always make a copy first before doing this. Also, because of the way details are put onto the skin, there's usually a very limited range that will look acceptable.

Start by trying the built-in skins in the library. Also, since you're new, hunt around for places that give away good skins to newcomers, usually avatars under 30 days old. Skins are one of the more expensive must-haves in SL, so spend some time learning about them with the freebies before shelling out a lot of money. And always try a demo skin before buying it.


The best thing to do is to search for groups and places based on similar interests. There are places, such as NCI mentioned previously, that are good for learning the ropes, but for long term, it helps to have a place where people have something in common - even if it's just a style of music.

There is also a very easy way to change clothes without having to find somewhere. Fly up very high and can just do it floating in the air.

Do take advantage of the freebie places supplied for newbies, that way you can take a little more time and care finding the look you want. Skins are expensive but worth the money when you find one you really love, just be careful to try demos and shop around before parting with the money or it can get very expensive making mistakes.

I would say that skin, shape, hair and AO (animation overide) are the most important items to shop carefully for, they are what really makes your AV into you.

Rhonda, Thanks! I changed it so I can received private messages. I am on usually around 7 p.m. EST. The duration of my visit depends on my RL (ie. baby at home). I will check out the New Citizens site tonight. Any other information or tips is always appreciated!

Welcome to SL. In addition to the suggestions above, you might want to check out Natalia Zelmanov's blog, in particular http://www.mermaiddiaries.com/search/label/*%20Getting%20Started%20in%20Second%20Life%20Guide%20*. You might also find these video tutorials on changing appearance quite useful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4v6kK0ZKwE and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqbuMi5N97c

I have to admit I have not even looked in the library folder! I will be trying that tonight to see what is in there.

One thing, if you buy a skin or hair, always, always, always buy a demo first. Otherwise you may get stuck with something that looks bad on you.

I would add shape to that as well if buy one, I have noticed that even if you try and skin and shape on the ad they often look nothing like they do on the pic!

That is very important, some skins do not work on some shapes. Due to how they are shaded, etc.

Shapes you can get by without buying. Find someone who is good with them and they can help you adjust your shape to get what you want. Good shapes are just a matter of plugging in the right numbers.

Hi LadyRaven, welcome to SL and the forums

There are lots of places where a nw resident can pick up "freebies" - use the search function in world to find them - search for places with "freebie" or "free" in the description. The Gnubie Store, The Free Dove and YadNi's Junk Yard are good places to start.

Some of the large stores have nice boxes of free samples - try Pixel Dolls, Baby Monkeys (shoes) and Nicki Ree.

Also some hair and skin makers offer noobs less than 30 days old a free sample - try Girl6, Diversity and Cala.

Lucky Chairs are another source of useful things - if you find one with your initial on it (L in your case) you can sit on he chair and win the prize.

Remember you can also pick from the Money Trees until you are 30 days old (sometimes longer depending on the tree).

You do not have to take off clothes in order to change them - in most cases, just wearing something else will swop things over. It's a good idea when you have a set of clothes, hair and accessories that you like, to make them into an "outfit" - then you can just wear the whole ensemble. To do this, you right click on your avatar and select "Appearance". The click the "make outfit" button, check the items to include (don't forget to include shape, skin, hair as well as clothes and shoes) and give the outfit a name when prompted. This will save a folder in your inventory with all the componant parts you selected and you can simply drag the folder out of your inventory and onto your avatar to change into that complete outfit.

Good luck and I hope you have an enjoyable second life.

This is a list of material for avatars under 30 days old:

http://thenoobletadventures.blogspot.com/

You MUST be under 30 days old to get this stuff, so don't wait or you'll miss out.

Most of it is far and away better than the typical newbie stuff you'll find.

You should go first of all to LAP (Long Awkward Pose) to pick up the free female AO, so you can walk right.

There are a lot of skins and shapes in the various welcome packs. What I did was to concentrate on getting the shape, skin, hair, and eyes that I liked. You can look pretty good without spending any money.

Just make sure you delete the stuff you don't like.

Great minds ...
I also sent her a LM to the LAP AO. It should put her right in front of the board.

1. Besides the other suggestions, Melita Magic has a plot of land with several little changing rooms on it, right next to the Forum Cartel Hangout.

2. See the other responses.

3. I'll send you a folder of some places you can find freebies.

4. Right here in these forums! We have an in-world group called The Forum Cartel. Join it! It's free! But you'll have to put up with a lot of silly group chat...

Besides that...well, what sort of people would you like to meet? I can put you in touch with a lot of deviants, but maybe you're looking for something else.

check out places such as

xstreetsl.com
slapt.me
meta-life.net

And do a search for "Free".. You will find many things from good merchants..

Sites such as slapt.me and Meta-life will require you to go through a sign up process.. It's explained pretty well when you click a terminal to do so.

Best of luck..

LadyRaven,

I would like to compliment you on two things you have done well so far:

1 - You picked a great name. So many new users pick a bad one and get stuck with it (you can never change it.)

2 - You have come to the forums to ask advice. You will find that the people here are very friendly and helpful as long as you are friendly.

Welcome to SL and the Forums

She came to these forums so she must be looking for deviants. Well except for Mari.

Looks like everybuggy already answered your questions, so Ill just say hi and welcome to Second Life.

Speak of the devil, say her name and she shows up.

And me.

Pep (Fill in your profile if you want to attract the right types - and deter the wrong ones!)

I'll shoot you a box of really nice freebie skins I have when I get inworld. There's a lot of really nice skins in there - stuff that helped me get started in my pole-dancing career. Oh - and hair... I have a box of good freebie hair, too!

Good shapes and clothes are a little harder to come by. If you don't want to look like every other newbie who raided the Freebie Dungeon, it'll take a bit of work and persistence; but if you join a Lucky Chair stalker's group and pay attention to the messages in group chat, you can score some really nice stuff.