Second Life is a virtual world, not a game. Unlike games, it has no quests to complete, no scoring, no leveling, and no end. There are certainly many games within SL, but SL itself isn't a game.
Learn inworld your first steps with "Your first steps in Second Life".
Index Q&A for Second Life
This is the index of the Q&A for new residents in Second Life.
If there is any answer to your question not on this website, please sent in an issue form.
I remember when I first started Second Life (SL). It seemed like I met some many nice people! I thought “how cool is SL, so many nice people!” Then I met some not so nice ones and my bubble burst. Have you heard of the expression “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”? Well, SL is filled with people – good and bad, just like RL. Not so much ugly though. You can fix ugly in SL, but you can’t fix bad!
"Camping" is a way of earning small amount of lindens or other objects by sitting in one spot for a certain amount of time. The following are some locations that have Camping chairs.
You can chat in 3 ways:
1 - public text chat or "Nearby Chat"
2 - Instant Messaging
3 - public or private voice chat (not available in all areas of SL)
In SL, you will find furniture of all kinds, from chair, to couches, bed, beach towels and so on. So, how to use them?
Being able to "cam around" in SL is an invaluable skill. If you learn how to use the camera effectively there are several benefits, including causing less server side lag. Another benefit is that you can zoom in on things and people to see them clearly without having to walk right up to them.
Your appearance and clothing are probably the first things on which you want to work. We all start out with "stock" avatars and from there, personalize our appearance. You can modify your shape to get just the type of face and body that you want. And you can change clothes. In fact, shopping is one of the great pass times in Second Life. So let's get to it!
Your inventory (suitcase or shirt icon, or CTRL+I) is where everything you own in SL lives. All that you ever possess in SL will be in your inventory at some point.
If you want to return to a place you like, then you will want to make a landmark. Other people may also give you landmarks, suggesting you go visit. And when you buy things, often, the package will contain a landmark to the store. In short, lanrmarks are the fast easy way to hop from place to place in SL.
There is actually a surprisingly wide range of different types of entertainment in Second Life.
Given that places come and go, no landmarks will be provided here. Instead, this notecard will cover a few of the types of entertainment that exist. To find places, make use of search: open it with Ctrl-F, then type in search terms and see what you find. Look not only at places, but also event listings and groups.
There are several different mesh bodies out there. And when you want to paint something on them ... say a skin or a makeup or certain types of clothes (T-Shirt, etc) you have to use an applier to do that. Many brands come with their own unique applier. For example, catwa heads come with a built-in applier that works only for catwa heads.
There are many ways of getting great free stuff in SL to make your avatar look fantastic!
I remember when I first started in Second Life and bought a pair of glasses. It came "boxed" or "packed". I had no idea what that meant, so I tried on the "glasses". I right clicked the item in my inventory and selected wear and had a box on my head. As odd as that sounds, it's a common occurrence.
If you are seeing some avatars as solid colored blobs, that means they are too "complex" for your viewer to render normally, based on your default viewer settings. This is called "avatar complexity".