User:Jaszon Maynard/Proposed Introduction

This is a quick introduction to the essential things a new user (resident) should know to start learning their way in Second Life.

Please note, a few of the links in here function, however many lead nowhere. They're just indicated for quick illustration purposes of how this would read.

Also, the structure of this page is "done", but I have more to write to fill it in...I'm still in the middle of writing.

What is Second Life?

The best answer to that can be found here on secondlife.com's website. If you'd like to read more, they have more good info here.

Before You Begin Using Second Life

Helpful Reference Info

As you read these instructions, don't forget that this help documentation has a dictionary of terms, including in-world slang. It also has a help section regarding the client program you will be running on your computer to use Second Life (the Second Life Main Viewer).

Reading this Help

A special link you may run into while reading this help is a SLurl (Second Life URL). This is a special link that can exist on any webpage on the Internet. It's a way of marking a location in Second Life. When you click on a SLurl, you are taken to a webpage that shows a map of that location in Second Life. If you have Second Life setup on your computer, then with one click on the SLurl's webpage you can have the Second Life Main Viewer get launched and in the Second Life world your avatar will be immediately teleported to the specified location. To learn more about SLurls go here.

Before Signing-Up for Second Life

For various reasons (explained in a following step regarding the Orientation Island for New Residents), when you first enter the Second Life world, you have a slightly limited time window in which to complete some valuable instruction tutorials. You can spend as much time as you like at any time going through the process of signing-up for an account (which can be free), downloading the Second Life Main Viewer, and installing it. However, when you're finally ready to enter the Second Life world, it is best if you do so at a time when you expect to have a block of available free time. This will allow you to take best advantage of the special instruction tutorials that are initially available to you.

Sign-up and Install

You may wish to first check Second Life's computer requirements to ensure you will be able to run it. You can find those requirements here. You should then head to secondlife.com and look for a "Get Started" or "Join" link, which will walk you through the steps of signing up for an account (which can be free), downloading the Second Life Main Viewer, and installing it.

Improving Your In-world Experience

As you begin using Second Life, walking around, and trying the in-world tutorials (refer to the following step regarding the Orientation Island for New Residents), you may find that the graphics are jerky and stuttering. If you are not having any problems in this regard, then you can stop reading this step right now and skip to the next step. However, if you find the jerkiness to be bothersome or interfering with your enjoyment of Second Life, there are relatively simple steps you can take to improve the performance.

It's worth spending a little time to improving your in-world performance, however, you should not spend too much time optimizing performance right now. As mentioned in the step Before You Begin, you have more important things to be doing with your initial time in Second Life. If you would like to take a few minutes to improve your performance, please see the information on Second Life Performance.

Your First Stop: Orientation Island for New Residents

About the Island

You start off in a special Orientation Island that's only for brand-new residents. It has various in-world tutorials and special screen overlays that help walk you through learning some initial ways to gets things done in Second Life.

Be aware that once you leave this special Orientation Island, whether by accident or on purpose, you can never go back to it (unless you create a new account). And while there is a Public Orientation Island that you can visit at any time, the Orientation Island for new residents has special features and tutorials that don't exist anywhere else.

Therefore, you should explore this special island thoroughly before you leave it. Especially the areas labelled Move, Communication, and Appearance, since knowledge of some basic mechanics of Second Life will be very helpful as you start exploring the world. You should do every exercise that seems at all valuable to you, and you may wish to gather every Notecard available to you, even if you don't read them all now. Should you miss any Notecards, the information they contain can be found here.

You should do your exploration soon. If you drag it out over the course of days, it can happen that when you return to Second Life, if the computers that run the special Orientation Island are having a problem at the time you are logging-in to Second Life, you may enter the world, but be kicked off the special Orientation Island and placed somewhere else in the world. Once that happens, you have left the special island and cannot return.

Leaving the Island

Once you're done with this special Orientation Island, it's time to leave (remember, you can't come back ever again). The most common way to leave it is to head to the central hub of the island and click on one of the various billboards there labelled "Exit". One billboard is for people who'd like to head to Help Island next, the other is for those who'd like to head to a general location in the world.

Clicking on a billboard will cause a Landmark to be given to you, which you should choose to "Keep". It will then be saved into your Inventory. Landmarks are a way of specifying a location in the world. Additionally, a Landmark window will pop-up onto your screen, from which you can click "Teleport" to choose to be teleported to the specified destination.

Avoiding In-world Practical Jokes

Once you leave the Orientation Island for new residents, you will find as you explore the world that, like the real world, there are practical jokers in Second Life, and even dishonest people. It's not common, but you could run into someone who asks you to sit in a special chair, or hands you a trick item to wear, or an object to use, and then something unexpected may happen to you when you do that.

It may be something harmless and silly, though possibly annoying, that, at most, wastes some of your time. Or, should you actually have spent real-world money buying Linden dollars, it could be something criminal that actually steals real-world money from your Second Life account.

The best way to avoid problems is to be a little careful about who you trust, particularly when it comes to using items that have been given to you. Of course, when you're brand-new to Second Life and haven't gotten to know anyone, who do you trust? Generally speaking, someone who has an established presence in Second Life and a reputation to worry about should probably be trustworthy. If someone with an established presence in Second Life were causing problems for residents, they could be punished, and they probably want to avoid that.

For instance, if you sit in a chair at a bar in Second Life, the owner of that building has, at the least, invested a good deal of time to setup that bar, and they probably want to keep it running. They're probably not going to want to place trick chairs in there or allow other people to permanently place harmful objects in there. The same applies to buying items from an established store or vending machine. If the owner of an establishment abuses residents, it's fairly easy for those in charge to track down that owner and hold them accountable, and that owner could then be in jeopardy of losing what they have invested in Second Life (whether time or real-world money).

Second Life Mentors should also be trustworthy. A Second Life Mentor is a volunteer resident of Second Life who works with Linden Lab, the maker of Second Life, to help teach and guide other residents. In-world you can tell if someone is a Second Life Mentor by right-clicking on their avatar and...

Overall you should not worry too much about these things in Second Life, it's not a common problem. But you should at least be a little aware that mischief is possible.

Should you be the victim of some form of mischief and you need help in addressing it or would like to lodge a complaint about the perpetrator, read the information available here.

Managing Your Inventory

As you spend time in Second Life and acquire various items (clothes, accessories, objects, etc), you may find that the Inventory of items you are carrying quickly becomes very full and disorganized, making it hard to find what you want when you want it. If you notice that starting to happen, you may wish to read the tips on managing your Inventory.

Find a "Home"

For various reasons, explained elsewhere, it can be helpful to have established a Home for yourself in Second Life. You can do this even if you do not own land in Second Life. To establish a Home in Second Life, please read the information here.

Next Steps

It's time to decide what you'd like to do next. If you still feel lost and want additional instruction and tutorials, then go to the step More Instruction. Or perhaps you want to get out there and start experiencing the Second Life world, in which case go to the step Explore the World.

More Instruction

The Public Help Island

Good tutorials here too, maybe Mentors too

Additional Help Resources

In addition to this wiki's Second Life Help, there are other help resources available, both on the web and in-world, which are described here.

Explore the World

Search, sightsee, main help topics, free clothes, welcome area, places to visit,

(the structure of this page is "done", but I have more to write to fill it in...I'm still in the middle of writing)