A Writer’s Guide to Learning About Second Life (Part 3)

Wow! Second Life is a lot to learn!  At least that’s what I’ve realized as I’ve worked on these posts.  So if you’re just starting out in this virtual world, be patient!! 

• In Part 1 of this series, I gave my (opinionated) advice on the best way to get in and get going quickly in Second Life. 
• Part 2 listed some of the great writers’ resources and communities in Second Life, as well as some general bits of advice about living in SL.
• In this post, I’ve got some more tips for getting around SL, as well as the set of skills I think are the first ones writers should master.

Special thanks to an entertaining (and very well-written!) post by Michelle on the blog Juiced On Writing.  Her questions about SL pointed out some more areas I’d forgotten about getting oriented in Second Life.

And finally (drum roll, please!) Part 3 of —

Alas Zerbino’s Newbie Guide for Writers
(and Anyone Else) in Second Life: Part 3

Handling Weird or Frustrating Situations:

If you’ve gone in-world a time or two and had some, shall we say, “interesting” encounters, don’t be put off or discouraged!  Just about every SL resident has dealt with one or more situations similar to the ones I’ve listed below — and for which I’ll offer some tips. 

My advice is to try not to get shocked, frustrated, and/or angry in situations like these:

SITUATION:  You are suddenly in sight of a man who has a penis sticking out of his clothes.  A lot of times the guy doesn’t even know it’s there (which is also a very good reason to turn your avatar around and check how he/she looks from the front!).  New SL residents get lots of offers of “freebies,” and amid the crowds and activity, often accept an attachment like this without even realizing it. 

SOLUTION:  Laugh and move on, unless you feel like telling the poor guy about his appendage. (One friend of mine saw “male penis” listed in his inventory and thought it was part of his avatar’s body and would be well hidden by his clothes.  He strutted about unknowingly for quite a while before someone asked him to “cover thyself”!!)

***

        Gray "nudity" is a common sight in SL.

SITUATION:  Avatars around you are nude, though with gray skin.  In a location with many people and much activity (i.e., most of the places new residents first go), the time it takes for an avatar to fully “rez” (i.e., appear) can be quite long.  As avatars rez, they often look like naked people with gray skin.  It’s a function of “lag,” which I describe below.

SOLUTION:  Get used to it.  Wait awhile (sometimes a very long while) and their clothes will appear.  

***

SITUATION:  Avatars around you are nude, with flesh-colored skin.  In most cases, especially in areas geared toward helping new residents, this means only that they’re is trying to change clothes or edit their appearance and don’t realize how they appear to others.  Most people I know have done this at least once (including myself). 

SOLUTION:  Turn away if you don’t want to watch (and remember, it’s impolite to stare!!), or go somewhere else.  And when you want to change clothes, look for a secluded spot or dressing room (NCI, described in Part 1 of this series, has many of them).

***

SITUATION:  All the movement on your screen stops, and/or the images get blurry or jerky, and/or your keyboard and mouse have ceased listening to your commands.  This is what happens when the infamous “lag” occurs.  Second Life can become “laggy” for one or more of these (or other) reasons: server problems at Linden Lab, connection problems on the Internet or with your ISP, your computer’s resources stretched too thin, or anything and everything in between. 

SOLUTION:  First, don’t jump to the conclusion that it’s your computer!! Wait and see if the lag improves.  Log off Second Life and log back in.  Reboot your computer to free up your resources.  Accept that lag is a fact of virtual life, and not something wrong with you, your computer, and/or Second Life.  It always eventually improves.  On its Web site, Linden Lab also offers some great suggestions for reducing lag.

One of the many ways in which "lag" can appear on your screen!

***

SITUATION:  You are minding your own business when an avatar pushes you, fills up your screen with stupid text, asks you to have sex, or any number of other rude behaviors. These are examples of  “griefing” — i.e., harassment from other avatars.

SOLUTION:  Remember that the proportion of idiots in the virtual world is roughly the same as in the physical world.  Ignore them if possible.  Mute them. Or teleport someplace else.  As you start hanging out more in areas of your particular interest, you’ll have far fewer experiences of griefing.

***

SITUATION:  You can’t see your avatar anywhere on the screen.  You think you’re lost.  You don’t know what the heck you’re looking at on the screen.

SOLUTION:  Press the ESC key on your keyboard repeatedly until you’re once again “standing” behind your avatar.  In Second Life, I use the ESC key more than any other key!

Basic solutions to nearly all unexpected, unpleasant, and/or strange encounters in Second Life include these:

1. Use your ESC key.
2. Walk or fly away.
3. Teleport to your home base (see step 10 from Part 2).
4. Log out of Second Life and take a break.  (When you log back in, the avatars annoying you will no longer be there.)

About Boxes and Other Stuff in Your Inventory:

It’s sometimes quite confusing (even for me, a year later) to figure out whether something in your inventory is immediately usable or has to be “unpacked.”  Some clues to help:

• If the icon for the item in your inventory is anything BUT a yellow cube, it should be usable as is.  For example, if it looks like a shirt or pants or skirt, you can simply right-click on it, select the “Wear” option, and it will appear within a short time on your avatar.
• If the icon for the item IS a  yellow cube, that means one of four things:
  1. It is a box that contains the actual items, and you need to unpack it before you can access them.  This is the situation where you must drag the box out of your inventory, right-click on it, choose “Open,” and then click the “Copy to Inventory” button.  You then use the unpacked item in your inventory and delete the packing box remaining on the ground.
  2. Or it is an object, such as a couch, a tree, a house that will appear when you drag it out of your inventory (“rez” it). 
  3. Or it is something you wear, like wings or hair, or a prim skirt, that you right-click on in your inventory, and choose “Wear.” 
  4. Or it is a HUD (“heads-up display”) that you also open onto your screen by choosing “wear.” 

  These things will always have the yellow cube icon in your inventory.

• When you acquire something — whether you buy it or it’s a freebie — it can appear in your inventory as: 
  1. a boxed item you need to rez and unpack
  2. a new inventory folder that contains the items ready to use
  3. a combination of 1 and 2
  4.  or a single object ready to use

Different types of inventory items have different icons — except for objects, which all have yellow cubes. Notice the two examples of objects of similar names (MystiTool and Texture Organizer) where one object is the box containing the tool, and the other object is the tool itself.

If you have objects to unpack or rez directly onto the ground, remember that you can’t rez them everywhere.  If you get a message that you can’t, go to a public sandbox, such as the TLE Newbie Park or the TLE Sandbox at The Learning Experience.

Key Second Life Skills for Writers:

Finally, here are the Second Life skills you most need (in my opinion) to have the best time at writing-related events and locations in SL.  For each one, I’ve linked to a quick tutorial on the topic (most of them one of Torley Linden’s videos).

• Sitting (with or without pose balls) and standing up
• Using text chat
• Creating new notecards, and setting their permission levels
• Giving other avatars your notecards (or other inventory items)
• Using avatar profiles (your own and others)
• Using voice chat
• Using HUDs
• Reading books in Second Life
• Using a mouse (not just a touch pad or other laptop pointing device)
  This may be unwelcome news for those who don’t like to use a mouse, but unless you’re really skilled with the touch pad or other device, a mouse is almost essential to a good experience in Second Life.  You don’t need a fancy mouse, but without one, it’s a challenge to manipulate the “camera” that lets you see all around your avatar, zoom in, etc.

Well, that’s it for my “Writer’s Guide to Learning About Second Life” — at least for now.  There’s lots more to learn (or not, depending on your interests) about and in Second Life, but these tips should get you going on your way.  And there are lots of ways to learn whatever you need to know, both in Second Life and on Web sites (some of which I listed in Part 1 of this series).

Whether you’re a “newbie” or an “old geezer” in Second Life, what else should writers know in order to have the best experiences possible?  Please add your tips and comments to this post!

Tagged as: Second Life Wiki, Torley Linden, video tutorials