Tips for a newbie?

Um, this is probably inappropriate because there are mentor figures in game for this type of thing, but what can I say... I'm a loner and a multitasker, so guided tours are not really my thing. I got through the tutorial island and into one of those HUBs, and I'm pretty much completely and utterly lost as to what to do next.

I mean, I'm used to more conventional games where the first action is to go out, be a heroine figure, and kill some things. Then kill some more. Then acquire wealth with which to acquire tools to kill more, then go into 40 people groups and kill REALLY BIG THINGS.

Since none of that really applies here... well, zuh, so lost. x_x Please, if anyone knows a few good things a newbie can do, I'd like to know. I saw the promo video with the planes and the cars and the cityscapes and such. Really cool, can you actually do all that stuff in the game?

Also, question about building, even though that is probably way too an advanced topic for me right now. I've dabbled in 3d modelling (not sure if that's applicable in SL) and (re)texturing of objects before. Is there any good way to start doing anything with that?

Basically I'm lost and couldn't find any comprehensive beginner's guide to SL anywhere. x_x

EDIT: And also is it worth it to insta upgrade to premium for the extra money? I have no idea what the going rates for stuff is, obviously, so I don't know if basic free account will cut it for a while, or if it just really limits you until you pay up in pure abject frustration.

Welcome Emma! Start by exploring the city near Grignano and Barcola or the shopping area Midnight City. Then head to Abbott's for some airplane fun. Cubey Terra sells planes there, but offers free test drives. And there are a million more places to explore. Just hop around. Be sure to catch Burning Life before it goes away.

Building should come pretty easily to you if you have any 3D experience.

And I wouldn't rush into getting the premium account. Explore and figure out what you like first, then you'll get an idea if you need land, and where. There's an opportunity called First Land that you only get once, so take your time!

IM me if you have any questions or want help building.

keep your head low and watch out for flying objects.

But I am a flying object most times. >_>

There are two first skills, Emma. Once you have those, everything else begins to follow.

Skill 1 is to communicate with other people. Skill 2 is to travel to a named location

Skill 1 Communication

Two methods, chat and instant message (IM). Both of course use text, which you type into an on-screen box.

Chat is seen only by those close to you. You can whisper, say, or shout, each with different ranges. But forget that. Normal "say" chat, the default, has intermediate range. Chat is generalised, and not directed at anyone in particular.

IM is totally different. It is aimed at one identified person. It reaches them wherever they are in-world, no matter how far away. If they have it so set up, it even reaches them out of world, if they are logged off, by diversion to their email account. No-one else sees it. It is private.

I'll describe using each method in turn

To Chat, just hit "chat" or press return. A text box opens. Type into it.

I'm not sure what the default is. You may see other peoples chat as "speech bubbles", or overlayed on the screen at bottom left. This can be changed in preferences, from one of the top drop-down menus.

If it moves too fast, or is too fragmented for you to follow, you can open a "chat history" text window, where you can examine it all, or even scroll back and forth through it.

Now IM.

Since it is directed at an individual, you must first choose which individual.
Several ways. If he is standing in front of you, click on him to get the pie menu. Experiment. I cant remember whether there is an IM segment in the menu, but if not click on "profile" and you will find an IM button in it. In either case, a movable text window will open, in which your text conversation will take place.

If your target is not present you need to open his profile to get at his IM button, using another route. You must of course know his name. Go to the "find" menu at the top. Choose the "people" tab, and type the name into the search box. Be patient, the search may take as much as 10 or even 20 seconds in an extreme case. When you see him in the search results, click him and you'll get his profile, with the IM button. You're home and dry.

Skill 2. Travelling to a named location.

Use Skill 1. Make an experienced acquantaintance. Ask them to explain.

When you have these two skills, it will all snowball. You'll love it.

Take out a premium subscription the moment you know you will want to stay more than a month. It is a ridiculously good deal. It comes with a weekly currency bundle worth only a fraction less than you pay in subscription. Taking the landholding rights into account, on any rational assessment, Linden Lab is actually refunding all your subscription, and gifting you a few cents more. An offer you can't refuse.

First Land - At the start of your second life you get a once off never to be repeated land purchase opportunity at between half to one fifth market rate. One chance, but it can be delayed as long as you like. Buy ANY land, and its gone.

You can make a profit reselling your first land, so if money matters, get the best you can. Availability is patchy, so it may take a while. Ask around, and get someone to explain what makes land more/less valuable, and how to search for it. You can rent, in which case your first land privilege remains intact indefinitely until you do finally buy.

There are ways of buying more game currency with your US$, but currently they are a bit complex. Very soon (a few weeks?) it will be very easy from inside the game, so I should wait until then.

Thats it. Enjoy it. And don't read the forums much except to get help. It's a different sort of fun, for us old cynics. Spend your time in-world, and you'll soon get hooked.

As we have been hooked before you.

Oh yes, and you can usually get a live helper to advise you, by IM, on the help menu at the top of the screen.

Lastly - a bit of philosophy. Despite appearances and fun, SL is not a game. That is not its intention. It is not its destination. SL is meant to grow into a virtual world. To rival eventually perhaps the World Wide Web itself.

Note: Point out any silly mistakes I've made, people, please. I can't get in game to check GUI details.

I upgraded to a premium account already, I can skip pizza a few times to make up the balance anyway, heh. But I'm having a problem with First Land. When I search for any, none is coming up. Is it possible First Land ran out or I somehow botched the offer?

You are right there is no first land. They where good at keeping that up lately. But i expect that there be some soon again. So just check for it later or tommorow.

Welcome, Emma! I agree totally with Ellie-- SL starts out feeling like a game, but for many of us it quickly grows into another world, just as real to us as the one we call 'Reality.'

Be sure to check out the sandboxes if you want a nice big space to practice building things... you can find lots of them by looking up 'sandbox' under places.

I spent a lot of time exploring when I was new, still do now.... sometimes I choose places that I've never been, sometimes I pick a sim whose name I like, sometimes I go to cool places I've seen on Snapzilla. Wandering around and exploring is the best way to find out-of-the-way shops and attractions and pretty places that you might not find otherwise. Take snapshots (to disk, no charge for that) of anything really cool or beautiful you see and want to remember... you'll be glad to have the snaps later on.

If you haven't been there already, be sure to check out YadNi's Junkyard for more almost-free stuff than you'll ever need... clothes, furniture, vehicles, gadgets, on and on. It's a great resource for new players.

The Ivory Tower Library of Primitives is also fantastic for learning SL's building tools... I haven't been there in awhile, but I was really grateful for its step-by-step tutorial when I was new.

My best advice would be, don't be afraid to talk to people or ask questions. Most people here are very friendly and polite, and you can make a lot of close friends by taking a chance and starting a conversation with a stranger. Have fun!

I am a little biased, but I always recommend new folks have a good look around Nexus Prime, the enormous city near the Welcome Area in Bonifacio. There's a lot of construction and hidden passages to explore, and it was a lot of fun for me when I was new (although it's completely changed since then).

Another thing I recommend is that you find an inexpensive flight assist device (something to let you fly higher than 255m) and check out all the cool (and sometimes weird, even perverse) stuff built above the clouds.

Have fun! Good luck!

And, as for buying Premium: I bought premium within three days of joining SL. Because I was sold, completely. No regrets at all, it's a great value for the money. Don't go premium until you're sure you're in love with SL. Once you take that step, though, the ability to have your own land is pretty damn neat.

Lots of good advice given here, and it sounds like you are getting the hang of it. My standard answer to newbies is you don't need land, and if you try to obtain it before you have spent some time in world (a couple of weeks) you'll likely be unhappy with it.

I have had land, chose to be landless for months, and have land again. My game didn't change at all.

Well, Lora helped me a LOT today. As did Torley Torgeson by providing me with tons of tutorials and FAQs in game. Lora took me to uh... some midnight shopping center place. I forget the exact name already (someone remind me >< and we window shopped for a while. So many pretty things, so little money to spend! @_@ Asked her tons and tons of questions and she patiently answered all of them.

Even helped me step by step to construct a spiked collar in her home's back yard. Which was about the most awesome thing I have ever done in a game, building is tons of fun. Hours shot by without me even noticing.

... Oh and if anyone just happened to be looking for a spiked collar like in the attachment, well, I can sell you one if you make a nice offer? Not only will you get an awesome goth accessory, but the satisfaction of making a newbie really happy too! ^^; heehee. Really proud I managed to make that, even if it isn't all that complex.

So yeah, in short, this game/virtual world/whotsit is AWESOME. XD

EDIT: Been doing some reading and found out that there are animations for kissing, hugging, snuggling and curling up together with someone on a couch? Is that true? Because if it is, wow, that's damn amazing.

EDIT2: I'm curious if it's possible to own multiple plots of land, too. Mostly just so I know for reference.

EDIT3 (maybe I should think before posting...): Just for reference since I don't expect to be selling anything soon. If people sell objects to be worn on the body, you know like the collar I made, which might cause clipping for people... do they generally tag "Modify" on for the next owner so they can make sure it fits? Or is that not such a good idea and do most people who sell things just adjust them for the client (if that's possible X_x)

Whatever else you do learn out to unpack a box whether it is on your head or not. So many new people ignore this step not realizing that once they learn this they are well on their way to learning how to edit and creating content.

Why don't we make this thread a sticky? Jeska? With some many newbies coming in this is very useful information that you can't find elsewhere easily.

Great that you are having fun!
the midnight shopping place is probably Midnight City. So you almost got it right the first time.

Other questions:

#1. Yes all those animations are there, and lots more!

#2. Yes you can own more than 1 plot of land. you can own just as much as you can afford. Wich comes with higher monthly payments, etc. You can read up on that sometime later. Not something i would do as one of my first things.

#3 I would keep modify on. It's just nicer to your customers, and less hassle for you to make a seperate one for each customer. It does make it easier for people to make a copy. But for a simple product, if they can copy, they could have created it themselves.
I just realize that you could also sell a pack with different sizes, even more easy for the customer.

It's great to see someone so enthusiastic. Sometimes i forget that i feld exactly the same when i was fresh and new.
Have a great Second Life.

This totally applies in SL..

First, find some tinies and kill them. These are little rabbits and such... spare the cats but kill the rest, you'll get 5 exp. point each and be able to move on

Next are entertainers. They hang out at the WA and talk about scatological things and can be spotted by sound. 20exp points each but be warned you're character may go mad.

Next you'll be ready for the elves. They live in Elven Glen and Forcy is their leader. Like a queen bee if you destroy her first the rest fall easily without guidance.

100exp per elf... 2000 for Forcy.. (5000 if you kill her by pushing her off the castle

Then we have Furries who are a bit faster and tough skinned. You'll need special potions to guard against various venom. Oh and Shaun has a light-saber so watch out!

Soon you'll work you way up to mecha. The best way to defeat them is to tell them how cool the suit looks and while they are responding with thanks you rip out their central core.

I won't include anymore spoilers.. particularly the ending.

It certainly is, as well as the activities that people sometimes like to engage in after they get to know each other even better than THAT.

Do a search in Find | Places for names like Bits & Bobs, LostDog, B&B Sex Shop, and many more... or just the term "adult"... and you'll find some pretty amazing stuff.

Also...

<shameless self promotion> I'd encourage you to seek out a vendor for the free SL newspaper that my wife and I run, called The Metaverse Messenger (or you can just go directly to our website at www.metaversemessenger.com -- both the current week's issue and previous issues are available there), which will give you a nice overview of many of the events going on in SL as well as advertising from many of SL's top merchants.

Glad you enjoy our little corner of the emerging metaverse!

P2

Hahahaha, this is good stuff.

Leave us *hit in the head with a stick* OWWW!... elves alone!

Gah the Elves are falling! Strike now and we beat them at their own game!

(*cut to scene of n00bs playing Tringo against elves)

Since peope are plugging their own busines, i will level the floor a little bit.
Besides the metaverse messengers you could also read:

New world Notes. This Hamlet lindens blog, embedded journalist for Second Life.
http://secondlife.blogs.com/nwn/

Or the SecondLife Herald.
http://www.dragonscoveherald.com/blog/

And ofcourse there are dozens of blogs.

Also if you need any help or want to meet more new residents, there are groups set up for that. Brace Coral's Helping H.A.N.D. comes in mind. But there are more.

Don't spare the cats.

Welcome tro SL Emma! I am a mentor here and will help you if you have any quetions as many here will if you ask, IM me in world and I'll be glad to help

Thanks for all the information everyone!

Another random question: is there any way to turn off that your avatar looks at the mouse pointer? I tend to have it near the bottom of the screen so she's constantly looking to her left or right at the ground. >< So she winds up looking like she has huge shyness issues or something.

In many circumstances, pressing TAB will cause your avatar to face the most recent speaker. The exceptions are too many to enumerate.

However, I think you will find over time that you are unconciously "reading" people's posture as an indication of whether they are digging through their inventory or checking chat, etc. We're uncannily good at that and it's a little creepy when you first notice it . Then, over time, you'll probably find your own camera positioned at places other than the people you are talking to and it won't matter at all. Fret not, I don't think many give it much weight at all.

then fly high and watch for people without their heads down