User:Lum Pfohl/How to buy freebies and unpack boxes

How to buy freebies and unpack boxes

There are freebies everywhere in Second Life. There's lots of it. I often give away things in my store for the fun of it. Why? Because once I expend the effort to make and market it, it's done! It costs me no more to sell one or sell a thousand, or give away a million. And people are often grateful to receive something nice for free.

That being said showing a New Resident how to recognize a freebie vendor is challenge enough - but I trust most (if not all of you mentors) can do that. Freebie vendor creators are usually considerate enough to put a floaty text that says "Click me to receive free items" or "Right-click me and buy this for $0L".

Oh Boy Oh Boy! How Do I Wear It Now?: The following is a sample dialog that I go through with a New Resident:

So this is a Second Life Vendor. A vendor is an object that gives you something, just like a vending machine. Usually the Vendor has a picture on it or words over it that indicates it has something for sale. Freebie items are "bought" from Vendors such as this one. The price is $0L. You don't need any money to buy these types of items.
Right click the Vendor and call up the Pie Menu. Select BUY if there is that option. A little window will open and show you what you're going to buy, from whom and how much. Make sure that it says, $0L. If you are satisfied with the terms then press the BUY button and the items will be transferred to your Inventory.
Open your INVENTORY and click the RECENT ITEMS tab. You should see the items you just bought in there.
If it's clothing or shapes or skins, you should be able to RIGHT-CLICK them directly in your INVENTORY and select WEAR.
If it's an attachment (such as a skirt or gun), the icon beside it will be a cube - you should be able to RIGHT-CLICK those as well and select WEAR.
However, if after wearing that item that you find a BOX or something else attached to your right hand, then you've come across a PACKAGE you need to unpack before you can continue using it. Often times, a package will look very much like the vendor you just bought from. The items you want was INSIDE the package.
In order to be able to unpack a package, you must be in a BUILD-ENABLED area. You can tell you're in a BUILD-ENABLED area if your BUILD button at the bottom of your screen is enabled (and there is no cube with a red circle slash at the top of your screen). Example places are Sandboxes (at Help Island Public, for instance).
You have two choices to unpack. You can either RIGHT-CLICK the object on your hand and select DROP to drop it onto the ground in front of you, or you can RIGHT-CLICK the object on your hand and select DETACH which will return it to your INVENTORY. In your INVENTORY you can drag the object from the list directly onto the ground in front of you. This may sound a little counter-intuitive.
If you see a box in front of you, Congratulations! You just "rezzed" your first object!
Now you can RIGHT-CLICK that object and select OPEN. Another window will appear showing you what you are about to unpack. Press the COPY TO INVENTORY button (try to avoid the COPY AND WEAR button).
Once you've copied to your Inventory, go to your RECENT ITEMS tab and find the new folder in there and you should be able to Right-Click/Wear the objects if they are attachments, or drag them from your Inventory to the ground if they're objects meant to be used in-world (such as houses or cars).
When you're done with the package, be a nice resident, RIGHT-CLICK and select TAKE to pick up after yourself. Your package will be returned to your Inventory.