[kim_johnson]

i know people started threads on this before... but i hadn't really discovered it yet...

what do people do in second life? i just kinda wander around... and tend to find masses of people... and then things run slow and glitchy... or sometimes just wandering around i have interactions one on one with people but... is there some kind of middle ground? what is there to do? not sure what i'm looking for exactly...

[Perna]

You went through the orientation and know how to walk and chew gum at the same time, etc.? How about being able to "jump" to other locations?

The object is to pretend it's real life? I went looking for a rental office to get an apartment but they were more expensive than I wanted to spend. I went looking for land, too, to see what was for sale and thought about that. You have to create a life from scratch, can get a job, etc. When I joined (I was in grad school and someone mentioned it and a couple of us went off to check it out) I spent a little more per month/period? so I'd have more money at my disposal but it still wasn't enough and I wasn't clever enough to figure out how to make more "fast enough".

But I suggest thinking of something you do in real life and going about looking for how it manifests there; go to a town center and look for a rental place, for example, or see if you can figure out how to get a job/find an employment agency, etc. I went through a store/art gallery (next to the rental place I think :-)

I did find houseboats for rent :-) but they were way out of my league, more like vacation boats. I also found a police car and there weren't any people around so I decided to ask the cop directions but was told I was attempting to steal the cop car and that wasn't allowed :-) It all takes a huge amount of practice. Have you tried to use the shapes to "build" anything? Impossible. One of the small islands/places for sale that I looked at to buy was literally littered :-) with boxes and other building materials. If I were there nowadays I think I'd make a little business disposing of random building materials :-)

It's definitely not intuitive. The only "easy"/fun thing that happened to me was a machine gave me a free Coke! That was nice. Was near the cop car in an industrial area.

[I_WMD]

LOL Perna ,, 2nd life is >. can be >. a way to find your * nitche * in life >> but def not >> ,, a way of real life >> IRL ,,, is a bit more lengthy .

[kim_johnson]

huh. well... i've decided that i won't spend any money in there that i don't earn in there. but... i really have no earthly idea how i could make any money in there. i guess i'll take a look... not willing to resort to prostitution or anything like that...

i'm not sure how much of the tutorial i got through, actually. there was this very brief one... but it didn't take me through very much at all... i should try and get back to the newbies island. not terribly co-ordinated with movement at the moment.

had a look around the shops and some of the stuff people are selling is amazing... i don't think i'm much of a builder / designer, though. what happens to my avitair when i log out since i don't have a home for it?

i also went looking for free stuff (not really understanding the culture at all). my appearance got a little messed up (i think people joke around with free stuff) and i lost my initial hair which wasn't fabulous... but it was jolly hard finding a free substitute that was half way decent... joke skins etc. ak!!! sure i'll get the hang of it...

[kim_johnson]

it is weird actually... irl i don't put much time / effort into my appearance, really. thought i'd be happy enough in the virtual world with something kinda plain and 'ordinary'. blending in, i guess. but looking around at all the shapes and skins and clothes and walks... strangely addictive... i am thinking 'gee i really like that shape and that skin and those eyes' etc in a way that i never would irl. maybe... i have a more superficial side to me than i thought? but then... it seems less superficial to me in the virtual world (where people have options) than the real world (where people do not). or that is kind of how it seems to me at any rate... maybe it is something about actually having the power to choose... how would i look? all of those different ways available to me and... how would i look if i could pick from any of them?

hmm...

[Beautiful_Pain]

I went there once and got bit**ed out for not knowing what I was doing, so left. -shrug-

I'll stick to virtual pet and breeding sites, lots of nice people there

[Taonuviel]

Yeah, I necroed this. :-P

I found Second Life about a month ago and love it. It caters greatly to my creative side while giving me human interaction, lol... like a super chat room. I used the search function to find my interests, and mostly spend my time in a Christian sim now, which has been very beneficial to me, personally. You can find sims for most anything else, too. I looked for mental health communities and found a building and some groups, but they don't do much. Second Life reminded me of that thread a while back, the role-play about living in a community of Psych Central members. I actually think it could be really cool there, if there was any interest in expanding into SL. I bet it would be beneficial to people there who haven't found these forums... and something cool for us, too, to have the kind of higher interaction it allows. I know there's a lot of precendence for established groups making a presence there... a lot of businesses, schools and non-profits have places there.

Anyway, it's a little confusing at first, but as long as you don't stumble into a n00b-hostile area people are willing to help out. And good free stuff is abundant... it's totally possible to have fun there without spending a thing. I've been earning L though games and contests at that sim, and spending a little of my money for some extra stuff I wanted. I like to go there at night to listen to music, dance and chat/voice chat with people there, play a dice game, join in events, or attend live streaming music events or group studies. I'm a big fan, lol! And I'm totally happy to help anyone who's interested in looking around there.

[Maven]

I want to get into Second Life eventually, when I can spare some time for it. I have the book that tells you all about it (second edition), but there's so much to learn, if you want to make money from it, design things in it, and really do much in it. And I'm sure it's advanced much more since I tried it (one time) and read that book.

That said, I've seen some documentaries and show segments about it. I'll tell you a few things I've learned from those and the book:

Very few people make any real money (in other words, a lot of money) from SL. There are exceptions, of course.

The money you use in the game itself are called something else (I forget the name), where real money equals a certain number of these.

Some people do get to live a happy fantasy life, although I think we'd all recommend it shouldn't take the place of trying to achieve happiness in your real life. An example from one documentary was a woman who was too shy to sing on a real stage, but she created her avatar to be her as a singer, and she actually developed a fan base online. (She really did have a great singing voice.) On the doc, she went to a real place to sing for real, and people liked her, but I can't remember if she kept trying. (Some people were more successful than others.) Obviously, this can be a step towards your real life dreams, if you're willing to overcome your fears and give it a try.

You can meet good people or bad people in SL. (As if I needed to say that.)

There are rules, although SL is pretty open. They had some negative behavior in the past that led to these rules.

You can own land and businesses in SL. But something you should keep in mind...despite any promises of you "owning" anything, if the business shuts down, or hackers break in, you might find you don't have those things anymore. The stuff you own is on servers, but you don't own the servers.

There are adult areas, and you can actually buy adult body parts (if you know what I mean) to engage in adult activities (I know you know what I mean). That said, you do not have to engage in any such behavior to be part of SL, so don't let that keep you from it, if it otherwise sounds interesting.

There are groups, support, friends, people who share your interests and hobbies, etc., you can find. You can also get some education, including how to create clothing and virtual items for SL. (In SL, people sell these images of things; I must admit, it sounds crazy to pay REAL money for pictures of clothing for your avatars, etc., but at the same time, it can be argued it's like paying for a picture to hang on your wall, or perhaps more accurately, clothes for your Barbie.)

Unless this has changed, you get the first avatar free. You can get others after that for about $10 each (I think the fee is monthly or a year, but you can find out by investigating the site.)

[Taonuviel]

You can find real life information and resources, too. I have "notecards" full of information on there about Native American tribes, and quite a few other topics, too. There's a lot of non-profits and resources centers represented there also.

I wouldn't bother trying to go on there to make money... though it actually could be used to advertise real life items for sale, and I think people have found that useful. Writers and artists may be able to get their material out there that way. But it's worth trying to make some $L (Lindens) to pay for stuff you want to buy there. You can do this just by being in the right place at the right time, or by putting more effort in.

I spend a little real money for it, because I consider it an entertainment and socializing expense - I don't buy music, movies, or go out places (don't have anyone to go with) - so this works for me.

I think it has a lot of potential, too... I'd like to look into using it for classes in Native languages, because it would allow people from all over to listen to a teacher by streaming audio while communicating with one another in chat, practicing in voice chat, and receiving typed notecards or visual aids within the "classroom". I get excited about that idea, lol.

[sunrise]

Originally Posted by Taonuviel

Second Life reminded me of that thread a while back, the role-play about living in a community of Psych Central members. I actually think it could be really cool there, if there was any interest in expanding into SL. I bet it would be beneficial to people there who haven't found these forums... and something cool for us, too, to have the kind of higher interaction it allows.

I think that would be cool too. I don't have enough time right now to figure it all out, but if I ever did, that would be fun to have a second life PC home.

The only times I use Second Life is through work. We have been making a movie there using Machinima, which you can use to film scenes in Second Life. Our work group has a few jointly owned avatars and we have them walk through various scenes and film them, then we process it later and put in the voiceovers of actors we hire. I have been one of the scriptwriters. So far, it's been fun, but I do not have a good understanding of how the second life world works. There are various agencies and companies there from real life and we got permission from an agency to use their building and grounds in second life, since we had no idea how to build our own. They have a really nice building with a couple of rooms suitable for our purposes, and we use it at "off" times when the agency avatars themselves are not there, so as not to interfere with whatever they are doing there and also so they won't accidentally get in the way while we are filming. I guess we need to learn how to put up a sign on our room saying "filming in progress, do not enter," but we are not sophisticated enough to know how to do that.

We also sometimes use Second Life to have virtual meetings with our colleagues in different parts of the country. It has some features that are advantageous over having a conference call.

Does anyone else here use Second Life for work?