Top 5 Tips for the Newly Born

1. Don't believe all the things you see and read in the RL media about SL. It's neither as good or as bad as they say.

2. Don't believe all the things you read in the Forums. It's neither as good or as bad as we say.

3. Don't be in a rush to accomplish anything. Sit back, wander about, see what others have done. Don't apply the usual video game mentality. There is no goal in SL other than to enjoy it. Have fun, don't take yourself, or your Second Life too seriously.

4. Don't let Toxic people suck you in and contaminate your experience. Learn what tools
are available to deal with people who annoy, harass or swindle you. Think before entering any transaction concerning money. The same RL rules apply here. Stand up for yourself, don't expect some higher authority to fight your battles. No one can make you do anything you don't want to.

5. Spend a little extra and buy good shoes. Your feet will thank you.

I think I've got it covered in my wiki...

which is at https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/User:Tid_Kidd

Enjoy!

My tip is always name your objects you create, otherwise you will have an inventory full of "object"s and no clue what they are!

Sorry I don't have any tips to add at the moment as I'm only a 'week old'. Many thanks for those who did share. I wish I'd come here last week!

I'm still kinda new, but heres my '5'

1. CTRL-ALT/CTRL/CTRL-ALT-SHIFT::
Very useful, always. You can even use them for making crude machinima instead of a camera HUD or such. CTRL=Rotate Left and Right, Zoom in and out. CTRL-ALT=Rotate all around, no zoom CTRL-ALT-SHIFT= Pan camera, up/down, left/right

2. Attach to >>Bodypart)::
If you have two pieces of clothing you want to wear together, but attach to the same part, do not fret! Just attach them to parts that move the same. IE Chest & Back, Eyes & Nose & Chin, etc. I myself do this often. My collar originally went to spine, as did my wings. Well I am required to wear my collar, and my wings are part of my species. My wings are now attached to my chest, (Rotation needed to align properly) and it looks fine!

3. Animation Ultra-Override::
When trying to hug/kiss someone with an attachment you have, oftentimes your AO will overpower it, so they might be hugging you, but you'll just be standing there. When you hug or kiss someone, make sure your AO is OFF if it does this! Its just awkward!!

4. Circumstantial Behavior::
You're just off newb island, and have stumbled across the Uni of Submission... all the girls are nice, and treat you like a king. DO NOT expect this anywhere else!!!!! You will be treated different everywhere, and not all behavior is acceptable everywhere. Follow the rules of where you are, if its an RP Sim, don't go hugely against it (Dont be a robot in an elven glad for instance), and never expect people to do what you ask simply because someone else did.

5. PUT ON SOME DAMNED CLOTHES!!!::
You'll find you are much more respected, and allowed many more places if you just refrain from public nudity. Sure, some places allow - even promote- it, but those places are ADVERTISED as such! If it doesn't say you can, don't do it. Its annoying, and you will get kicked out of alot of places. And the 'I was just made' excuse doesn't work... you were made with clothes, keep them on! I was sitting at the University, greeting visitors, and every day at least 5 naked people would show up.. often it made sense considering they were slaves and just wearing bondage gear or soemthing that showed their naughties, but there was this guy who showed up, bad prim dick, only clothes was a leather mask. He wandered off somewhere with no response to me asking him to get clothed... it's stupid.

So..theres my helpfulness I guess...

This is my first time on the forums and I've only been on SL for about a week. I admit thats its been very overwhelming and intimidating and there is so much to learn, so much thats its hard to know where to start. This thread has been and will continue to be so helpful for me. An aquaintance that I just met on a journaling website did a wonderful thing for me last night. I was given $1000, a skin(I looked so bad), a form, an outfit she had designed herself and beautiful hair. To me, this was such a generous thing to do and I would like to do something for her to express my thanks. Just saying thank you didnt seem like enough. Is there a way to maybe send flowers to someone as a gift...or is there something else I might do? I appreciate any advice.

Oh, and as has been stated several times....I will definately work on my profile today. I'm not quite sure how to take a picture of myself tho.

This topic has really helped me. I am fairly new to SL (have been registered for just under a month) and cannot get online atm because of various reasons. Anyway, when I first got off Orientation Island, I was practically hijacked into going to a wierd sex place!
There I was, minding my own business, reading some tutorials when this guy came up to me, became my friend, and teleported me to a sex club! Ok I didn't have to go along with him but i was fresh and didn't have a clue what was going on - I thought he was going to help me or something.
So that turned me right off SL. I wasn't in it for the cyber, I wanted to be part of the community etc. Express my creativity etc. When I finally came back online after about a week, i met a really nice guy. He gave me a tour of the cities of SL (Madrid etc, copies of the cities from RL) and then took me to his house, showed me what you could do with a bit of land and gave me a notecard, landmarks, and some really good advice on how to make a bit of money, and where the best freebies were. He was really helpful and I am glad he took the time. He said someone did the same for him so he wanted to help others. He even offered me a job!
So this is my way of 'paying a forward' while I am offline.

1. If you need help - ask! don't be afraid to ask for help. There are soo many people willing to lend a hand. Some without even being asked. Thats another thing - don't be grumpy if someone tries to help. I once got told someone could see my nipples. I was really offended until I same he was right, so I thanked him and changed my top. (I had raided the freebies and was testing a top - didn't realise it was see through lol)

2. Find the freebies and L$1 stores - Yadni's Junkyard, Free Dove, NCI, Freebie Warehouse... the list goes one. Get what you need and dump the rest or pass it on.

3. Read Up - There are loads of blogs and forums to help noobs. My personal fave is www.slnatalia.blogspot.com Natalia the mermaid and her evil alt Talia explore SL, finding new places and posts tutorials on building etc. Check out the Second Life website and the residents sites page.

4. Other people are online! - and they do not neccessarily want to see all your nudie bits. They are online to socialise or explore. Unless you are in a sex club, wear clothes! And please remember to factor the massive Lag into your clothes equation. All your bling scripts, AOs, flexi prims and attachments might look fantastic but it is no good if you cause so much lag you kick everyone off the Sim so they can't see them.

5. Have fun! - Be kind and courteous but most of all enjoy yourself! SL is not just a bunch of rules but it is a community and world designed for people to explore and have fun! As long as you don't upset everyone around you then do what you want! there are soo many places to explore you will never get bored, and once you get tired of exploring you can channel your creativity into creating places or items for others to enjoy.

i hope I have helped someone at least a little bit. Thankyou everyone else for your fantastic tips (I never even knew about the F1 thing or the Buttgrab move lol). And thankyou to all those who dedicate just a little bit of time to help the noobs. It helps, thanks

See you in world,

CS xx

(sorry about the length of the post lol, didn't quite realise how large it was )

1. dont accept gifts from strangers. there are urban inworld myths of people having everything from their cash (which did happen to me and is true) to their avatar stolen from accepting random gifts from people

2. dont believe 80% of what people say, most want to be their avatar but arent anything close to what they claim to be

3. 50% of the women inworld are really guys in disguise

4. skills, skills, skills, you need to get yourself a skill, dancing for quarters doesnt count

5. rent land or a house for the first few months, or you will be constantly reselling land and getting a bigger plot until you wrap your head around primmage and land value is crap right now

lil side note learn to backtrack through your EDIT menus, if you find a house, sculpture, photo, whatever...that you find interesting then look up the profile of the builder. Right Click EDIT-> CREATOR... lil button. Take a look in their picks and classifieds. Interesting builds are usually made by interesting people..who have interesting places on their PICKS list. Most people don't advertise, they just collect locations in their picks.

Welcome to SL Lexi! There are several places that sell gifts items and cards. I found a great one the other day when I was shopping for gifts for the cast of my SL play. Unfortunately I'm answering this at work, but shoot me an IM when you are in-world to remind me and I'll find the landmark for you.

I just want to say thanks for putting in the time to give us Newbie's these tips. I have only been in SL for about 3 days and enjoying it alot were else could you go to Greece, Moscow, New York and Japan in one day. Thanks

I am writing this question because I believe that residents who don't have Payment info on File cannot write on the forums.

I have a relatively new resident as a friend and although she gave her credit card info when she joined, it doesn't show on her profile. She isn't too bothered except there are a couple of places which she would like to visit (one being a texture shop) from which she is barred.

She would like to know how to get LL to change her profile to show that they do have her payment info. Any ideas how to do that?

Thanks

Alexa (I love your last name, I'm a big fangirl of Thielman Susato), I believe that your friend will have to USE the credit card to show, i.e. buy a small amount of lindens.

Hope that helps.

Ah Dimanda, many thanks

Wow! I just read all eleven pages and man are my eyes tired. Thank you all for these lessons. They have been a great help. Some of the tips generated additional questions for me, but at least I now have some new learning locations to visit.

P.S. this is the most polite 11 page thread I have seen since 1999!

I'm only a few days old as of this posting, still trying to understand the intricacies of SL (even the basic ones). This thread has been extremely helpful, and I thank everyone who has contributed to it.

I look forward to a time when I can contribute my own tips to other noobs.

Here's to not making a fool of myself in this new life!

-Blaize

This has been the most helpful thread!
I'm a couple of weeks old and I already learned some of these the hard way, so here are the bits I've gleaned in my short life thus far:

1)Organize your inventory as you go!! If you wait until days later, it's much harder to remember things and it will take loads more time. Much better to drop that perfect red dress into a folder titled 'perfect red dress' in the first place.

2)Don't be too boxed in by your RL opinions. I hate country music in RL, but I had practically the best time I've had in ages line-dancing at Heartland. Experiment!

3)If you feel uncomfortable, or even just bored, TP out. Say something like "Gotta go, sorry" if you feel that you should, but when you want to leave, leave.

4)Say thank you to the tree owners for the Moneytree linden. I have no idea how much aggravation, money, etc. land ownership and/or sponsoring a Moneytree is, but I do know that they have been a huge help to me, so I try to remember to say thanks.

5)Make 'outfits'. I didn't even notice this option for days!
If your shoes, hair and jewelry all wind up in your butt after a border crossing, you can put everything back where it goes without searching through your entire inventory.
I've made a couple of basic 'go to' outfit folders that include everything I normally put on: AO, smile, etc, in addition to shape, skin and clothing. That way, if I was all done up for a night on the town, but decide to go shopping instead, I can just do a 'replace outfit' and be all set.

spent a long time wading through this section because I just can't find any info on any subject at any time. A whole load of half info and samey tips, sure, but real info, no idea to this day where to look. On the whole I go to help island public to get info because that is the only place I ever get any answers fast and detailed.

All I wanted to know was a simple thing like how do I set up a group so my tenants can build etc on my land. Nowhere in forums, tutorials or a wasted day of wading through pages have I found this one little bit of info. Off to help isle again - quicker and less dull.

I am very new, and I have no 'new' tips, but i would like to re-iterate some other ones. This one is for the testosterone junkies:

- don't ask us to f*** within the first 5 minutes of chatting with us.

- please don't open a conversation with 'Do you shave your legs often?'....it's a freakin' avatar....we don't shave them. Some mong actually asked me this the other day.

I love SL, and have already made one very good friend......hopefully the dipsh*ts won't ruin it for us.

That's the funniest thing I've heard in quite some time.

yeah.....turns out he was some freak who liked hairy women. I should've introduced him to my friend Chewbacca.

LOL

needless to say, I tp'd out of there and went shopping to clear my head LOL.

Dearie Dastardly my sweetie if u are getting asked these questions about haveing sex with in the first few min its prolly a 14 yr old .. please ppl remember there are kids that get in and all they wanna do is see some sexual conversation. remember when u was a kid.. ? i dont think a adult would do that with in a few min unless they are really that pathedic. most likely a kid.. in most cases not all but most

SL was down so I decided to check out the forum. I'm extremly pleased!

Thank you all. . . I've learned A LOT.

Raven

cant seem to find how to buy 512 m land new to the game

Last time I wanted to buy land I couldn't seem to find any parcels I liked in the "search" list of land for sale.
So I opened the map and checked the box to show all land for sale. I clicked on a piece that looked about the right size and transported to it. At each place I right clicked on the ground and clicked "buy land" from the pie menu to see what it would cost, etc. (Don't click the "purchase" button until you are ready to transfer money out of your account.)
I spent the several days clicking on the map and transporting to the next yellow rectangle. By then I had a much better idea of what the going prices were and what kind of place I wanted and didn't want. I kept at it until I found a plot for sale that I really liked for a better than average price.
That's how I bought the land where my main shop is and 6 months later I'm still very pleased with it.