Create Alt or New Resident?

Hi All,

I've been in the game for a couple months now and I find that I seem to be leading a double life here! It's as if I have two completely separate groups of friends, groups and activities.

I have thought about creating a second resident so I can completely separate my activites here. I understand that I can sign up as another resident. I also understand that I can create something called a Alternate.

My questions are these ...

How do I create an Alternate?

What can be shared between my first Resident and the second Resident or Alternate?

What are the advantages and/or disadvantages of creating a second Resident versus an Alternate?

Thanks in advance.

They're pretty much the same thing. An alternate account, or alt, is simply another account played by the same person. Just go through the signup process again

You can't share anything between two accounts any more than two regular users could share anything, i.e. no transfer items are stuck on the account you aquired them with. I dont know about transferring friends and calling cards though..

I know the feeling Egon. I just proposed a feature over in the voting feature section to be able to make the different groups you're members of invisible so you can be free to be whomever you want to be each time you log in without having people see all of the disparate groups that you're members of...doesn't solve your "Friend" issues, but hopefully it'll be acknowledged by the Lindens and we can at least have the "appearance" of leading one life.

i think i'm just going to re-join as a new resident. but can i link to the same credit card number?

Yeah, it lets you do that up to 5 times, afaik.

Yes, you can have up to three accounts linked to one credit card number.

According to the FAQ, "you can only get one free trial per credit card during a 90-day time period". The FAQ is now silent on exactly how many additional accounts can link to one card, and it still says there is a $9.95 USD fee per additional account. (They really should ammend that...)

You can't share "friends lists" or Calling cards that your existing account has. The best method there is to call several friends at a time of account A to a specific location to meet Account B, and then log in as account B and make friends again or exchange calling cards again. I had to deal with this when I created an alt to work as my building assistant. That account still has a much smaller list of contacts...

Yes, that's how you create your 'alt.' Second Life isn't like other online games where you have a single account with many characters. Each avatar you play on Second Life is a different account. And like the other person said, you can use the same card more than once. Of course now you don't need to specify a credit card at all; just pay your new character from your main account if you like... you can even pay your alt right after creating him/her on the website so you have some money in your pocket when you first rez on Orientation Island.

Thanks guys ... and thanks Wildefire. I never thought of giving my alt money from my primary. That make it even easier.

But how do I pay my alt before he rezzes for the first time?

Now to just get 2 pc's running at the same time so i can have my primary make friends with my alt. lol.

You can't pay him until he's inworld. After you get him in, log off and have your main look him up and pay him.

Edit to add, that is how I did it, maybe you can pay him before he rez's, I don't know.

I wish we could give alt's our inventory, alas...

You 'exist' before you get in world, as soon as you sign up, so I don't see why you wouldn't be able to pay your alt before he logs in for the first time.

My friend signed up before she realised her computer wouldn't run SL, so she's never managed to log in, but she's listed in 'find people' and I expect I'd be able to pay her profile.

Ok, then, I stand corrected. I had the idea in my head long enough to start to believe it was a fact.

Would it be considered incest if your alts cybered each other?

You are so hot. Busy later?

Don't even try it bitch, he's all mine.

Don't make me get out my banning stick!

Does the 9.95 fee still exist?

i wish i could give ANYONE some of my inventory.

Ceera Murakami's post seems to imply that there is no $9.95 charge for an alt. i didn't get notified of such a charge either when i signed up or when i went in-world. of course, my alt has no cc connection yet.

I've actually done this twice now:

1. Create alt account at web site; do not enter payment verification info.
2. Log in to SL on my MAIN account.
3. Look up alt in Find, then Pay alt some Lindens, and then drag some transferrable goodies onto her profile.
4. Log in to SL on my alt account... lots of lil blue notifications that I've received new items and a non-zero Linden balance.
5. Teleport to the main grid and start shopping!

Nope. You can't pay 'em $9.95 if they have no payment info for you.

I suspect it's quietly been dropped. If it hasn't, it's my personal opinion that it should be dropped.

Think about it. You can register an unlimited number of unverified and untracable accounts, for free, simply by refusing to give credit info at registration, and declining the free L$250 that they offer at sign-up, to sweeten the deal if you give your billing info. So what sense does it make to charge someone ten bucks for the 'privilege' of giving Linden Labs their credit card info?

The $9.95 USD fee and three alts per card max limit were primarily to discourage people from farming stipends, back when a free account started with L$250 and got an additional L$50 for every week after the first that they bothered to log in. But now, new accounts no longer get weekly stipend payments, and only get the initial L$250 if they provide credit card info. So there is nothing to farm, really.

All I can say for sure is that I know people who have two accounts on the same PayPal account, or on the same VISA card, and as far as I know, the second one never got billed in either case. And they DID create those second accounts while giving the financial info at registration time. In both instances, the accounts were created after stipends were no longer available for new accounts. The PayPal one was after 6/6/06, and the VISA one was before the change. I am not sure if the same given name and e-mail address were used for the Paypal account pair, but I believe they had to be for the VISA pair (since that requires you to also give the name shown on the card).

I agree. I have a couple of alts that I would register with my paypal, but will be ticked if they charge me $9.95 so for the time being, I shall just wire them L$

Schitzophrenia much?

Wait, wait...I missed it. Who said anything about hearing voices that aren't really there?

Or perhaps you didn't mean to say schizophrenia and instead meant another mental disorder that involves multiple personalities? Like maybe dissociative identity disorder (DID). Schizophrenia is utterly unrelated to multiple personalities and involves hallucinations both visual and auditory along with chaotic and disorganized thought patterns that make processing reality difficult.

Misundertand mental disorder much?

I stand corrected..... and so do I

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha

That made me laugh in a goofy fashion.