The Journal - SL World Grand tour - a Newbie impression
My first week in SL, things I've seen, people I met, places I've been and what I think of it all...
Hi everybody, first let me introduce myself, I am a newbie to SL and wanted to shear with you all my personal impression of my grand tour in the great wonderful SL world.
[and for us newbies who don't even know what a newbie, I will inform you guys that it is a new guy who do not know (yet) the "how to"s, the spoken language, the manners / behavior code and so on]
What can I tell you guys, the SL world is a huge place and full of what ever you can think of, but I don't have to tell you this... my guess is that you already know it :)
But for us newbies it is also full of surprises, all sort of surprises... some nice and some... errr... how shall I say it? well.... hmmmm... ahhh... well... humpfff... nasty ones...
As you know you can meet many people in SL, some really nice people [whom from now on I will refer as RNP, same as to an individual = Real Nice Person] and some nasty ones [from now on I will call them BATNAP = Beware Of The Nasty Annoying Person]
I have to say that most of the people are not BATNAPs, they just do not acknowledge the newbie existence... ;-) they will not answer to a newbie question, nor talk to them, but basically they will not harm us newbies... who knows? they might be RNPs but we just don't know it yet.
RNPs are the ones who are the newbie most valuable asset in SL... if you ask me why do I refer to RNPs as an asset, the answer is simple, RNPs help the newbie the start his life in SL, they will guide the newbie through the maze of SL, they will answer patiently even silly newbie questions [believe me, I know... I had my shear of silly questions :) ] the RNP will even take you places to show you around where are the nice places to go to, acting like a personal tour guide to the helpless newbie, tells you where to find a job or places you can make SL money just for being there... [for a newbie to find a "money chair" or "dancing pod" it is a nice surprise, you know that money wise, a newbie is in a bad spot... ;-) I even met RNP who gave me stuff for free, just being nice to me...
So for a newbie, if he or she meet RNP, it makes the newbie's life in SL a lot friendlier and easier.
As for the BATNAPs, hmmm... I was more than once seen abusive behavior by those BATNAPs, IF they answer a question, they mislead the helpless newbie with bad answer... :( not to mention that I even met a BATNAP who tried to "rob" me... by telling me that I need to pay him just to talk to him... BATNAPs are nasty, did I mentioned that?
After this long opening, let me introduce you with a newbie simple set of "how to" rules to make his or her life easier in SL
1 Getting around places
1.1 Explore SL, go to any places to see what is where...
1.2 Use the "search" button on the lower part of your SL window, look at the Popular Places and Events option and enter key words in the Places option.
1.3 Use the "Mini Map" to see where are the people are located in the place you arrived to [the small green dots are the people...] and walk / fly to the bigest concentration, this is where "the action" is.
1.4 Use the Teleport Pad" where you can find them in the place you just arrived, it will save you a lot of time "walking around trying to get there" or climbing "impossible" staircases [as a jerky moving newbie, I find it hard to climb those circular stairs...;-) ]
2 Getting around with people
2.1 Listen [read the chat] to what people are saying, it is a good way to learn what’s going on around in SL...
2.2 Don't talk much but answer when some one is talking to you... [you know, being polite always help... :) ]
2.3 Look at other people profiles, you can learn a lot about the person, about new places, groups, and a lot of useful info about SL...
2.4 Ask permission to IM BEFORE you do it... and if you see in the person profile that they do not wish to be IM - don't...
2.5 When you talk to a RNP, ask if you can talk some more in the future, RNP will offer you friendship, so accept and treasure it, RNP friendship is priceless...!!!
2.6 Don't be rude - Be polite, do not shout, do not ignore people when they talk to you, always look for the answer yourself before asking... [look at tips below]
2.7 Do NOT walk into someone’s house uninvited... [On my second day exploring SL I found myself on a nice island with beautiful house, I walked into the house and looked around, I saw a nice avatar sitting there and tried to talk to her ask her questions [well... what can I say, for a newbie with a simple regular dull avatar, to see this beauty made me even more curious... ;-) ] as a polite person [my mom did a good job :) ] I asked if I can ask her a question, first there was no reply, then I asked if it was OK to enter the house, since I didn’t know if it is allowed and did not know anyone was home... again – no reply, but THEN the reply came... something like “You have 15 seconds to go away...” so I opened my inventory to pick another place from my saved land marks, probably it took me too long, because I found myself being kicked up and away... :( hence my conclusion: Never to enter someone’s house uninvited...]
3 Tips for Getting knowledge about SL
3.1 Look in the "knowledge base" in SL web site [ http://secondlife.com/knowledgebase ] for what you want to know, it is huge database for SL info [with guides and how to and what ever you can think of], I started to read it last week, still reading...:)
3.2 Read SL forums in SL web site [ http://forums.secondlife.com ]
3.3 Read SL Blog in SL web site [ http://blog.secondlife.com ]
3.4 Read the "note cards" of objects for instructions and info.
4 How to make L$
4.1 Look for work
4.1.1 Many objects you will see offer you to work [cleaning, gardening and so on] so read the object info and start working...
4.1.2 Look for jobs offered to the unskilled... [well this is what a newbie is you know, even if you are a talented programmer / what ever, you will need some time to learn the SL ways... ;-) ]
4.1.2.a You will find all sorts of wanted ads in places or you can just search for jobs.
4.2 Free Money:
4.2.1 Look for money chairs, dancing pods and so on, read the object info and "sit" in it [as for dancing, never did that yet, will try and report back to you how it was... :) and as far as I can tell for now, dancing pods pay less then money chair/bags...]
4.2.1.a There are different paying rates and time blocks with objects with the same name, but in different places... you can sit on a chair / bag that will pay L$3 per 10 minutes or L$3 per 15 minutes, L$1 per 5 minutes, L$1 per 10 minutes and so on... There are places with time limit, and there are places with few chairs or lots of chairs, there are places that pay good L$ for time block but the chairs always occupied... and there are places with few chairs that are just “off” so you can not use them...
4.2.1.b Please note that there are other chairs that offer you to camp on them for "unlimited" L$... but the simple fact is that you will find it in casinos... and as you know, the house always wins... so if you like to bet and you are a gambler in your heart, fine ... you may find it for your liking, but if you ask me, I would not recommend it for newbies... [read at Stay Away below for more]
5 Recommended places
5.1 For fun:
5.1.1 Sky Diving and aircraft flying, look for Abbots Aerodome - Skydiving
5.1.2 If you like guns and firearms and want to have a chance to get free stuff, you can go to *Carduccis* Guns Weapons & Armor
5.1.3 In general if you just want to meet people, look for Events [use the search] or any place you can see a lot of "green dots" on the map / mini map that indicate where are many people are.
5.2 Free Money:
5.2.1 I do not have any favorite place as for now. Any place that you can sit on a money chair/bag will give you free L$... just make sure that you pick the place that gives you the most L$ for the shortest time block [look at 4.2.1.a above] oh...I almost forgot... I don’t know about you, but as a newbie myself, I prefer to be in an interesting nice place with lots of people and things to see, this way I can learn about what’s going on in SL while sitting doing nothing [but keep my eyes and ears open] and getting paid doing so... :) ]
6 Places I will Stay Away from...
6.1 Gooruembalchi is a small casino, I thought I will try one of the camping chairs and play a bit for fun, hey... after all the info promised "Unlimited" paybacks if you sit and play, "all" you need to do is click on a doubler symbol that will increase the money chair payout from L$3 per 10 minutes to L$4 and so on... looks nice hu? errrr... well not really... I tried to play with 3 casino machines [the VGI Magic Wheel, VGI Safari and Black JackWall 2.0] bet the minimum bet allowed each time, few times each machine [Total bets: L$ 65, total won: L$ 25, that makes a total of L$ 40 as net profit from yours truly to the casino...] I have no complaints about loosing money while playing in a casino, after all I bet and lost, fine with me,
BUT I was promised payment for sitting there [not even to play...] and expected to get paid my L$12 when I stood up from that chair... so why I was not paid??? I have no clue, so I sent IM to the casino owner who got my money and did not pay what I was promised [a polite detailed message asking for explanation why I was not paid] I know I am a bit naive... I know I am a newbie... I know I always pay my dues and expecting to get paid what’s coming to me, and you know what? no reply, no IM, no explanation, not even a note... :(
So I know I will never set foot in this place, and if anybody ask me where NOT to go, the name of this place will pop up!
7 What I find annoying
7.1 When SL is really slow... freezes and I am walking on the same spot or worst – walking without being able to stop it... :( [the only way I find to solve it is to log out and reconnect... I don’t even know if it is a lame solution, but this is what the newbie I am can do ... ;-) ]
7.2 Again when SL is slow... the graphics taking ages to load and you just don’t see the avatars of people, in this case I found my self bumping into other avatars / walking through them or even sitting on [next to?] them, beside the fact I find it rude [and if you are trying to build a good reputation in SL this will not help...] one time I accidentally tried to sit on a money bag and was kicked straight up to the sky, just to be hanging there helpless, and nothing I tried could bring me down... :( and it was in a “no flying” place... who the heck did I find myself up there? I don’t know, and guess what was the only thing I could find for this wonderful first time experience? That's right! To log out and reconnect... sad isn’t it? [but hay, who said a newbie life is easy? LOL]
End of part one
More to come, unless you – the readers will say “No more”... :)
Yours truly,
ACSman