A recent commentor here, Pasmith, said:
I dunno, to me Second Life is like some kind of exclusive club and I’m not cool enough to get in. And if I do get in, I’m handed a dorky jacket I have to wear that screams “idiot noob incoming!’, and then I find out all the cool places are hidden away and you gotta know someone to get the coords to teleport to them.
This comment struck a chord with me, because I used to feel the exact same way. The concept of virtual worlds has always fascinated me, and I’ve always wanted to be a part of one. For the first 5 times I logged in to Second Life, I was disappointed. I was ugly, lost, lonely, had no idea what to do or where to go. I had no idea how big the world was, where the people were. The UI is clunky, hard to understand, and simple concepts I was familar with in gaming (like right click being mouselook) were completely alien in this new world.
At some point – something clicked. I started to “understand it all”. I now find it intriguing, baffling, interesting, fun, and completely new and fresh. I’ve had a few people ask me how I did it – how did I make the transfer from frustrated spectator to community member. So here goes.
Disclaimer: I am still a noob. I’m simply explaining *my* personal experience here, which may not work for you. I don’t claim to be an expert on SL at all, quite the opposite in fact! Also, I do work for Metaplace. Originally I checked out Second Life as market research, now I’m enjoying it as a pastime. I think there are just as many differences between MP and SL as there are similarities – and both are equally fun experiences for different reasons. In Second Life – I’m a voyeur and explorer. In Metaplace, I love to create. Your mileage may vary! And, I am completely uninterested in sexual experiences and dating/intimate relations in any virtual world – so if that’s the kind of fun you’re looking for, this guide won’t help you.
Here we go!
Before we start
Throughout this guide I will link to places that I found helpful, using SLURLS. SLURLS (Second Life URLS) are direct browser links that allow you teleport directly to a location in Second Life if you have the client installed. Note that installing the client is quick and easy, as it’s 22mb.
Also, a lot of the good stuff in Second Life is found by browsing the web. It does seem a bit disconnected, but there are many great resources on the internet to help you find fun things to do. So don’t hesitate to subscribe to some RSS feeds with new and interesting content.
Connecting with my avatar
The very first thing I realized is that until I customize my avatar, I will not enjoy exploring. I will not be able to stand looking at myself and therefore won’t be able to connect with the environment. But how was I do shop without any money? That’s when I discovered FREEBIES. There are many many places in Second Life that have freebie items to help you deck your character out. Something helpful to know is that skins determine how your skin color, makeup, shading, and naughty bits look. Your shape is your actual structure, your face shape, your body, your height, weight, etc. Customizing your avatar requires changing your skin AND shape from the default in order to look good. You can find freebie skins, hair, shapes, and animations. Here is a short list of some freebie places that helped me out!
Sarah Nerd’s Freebie Paradise
Noob Island
You can also search for freebie places by clicking the search button on the bottom, and opening the places tab and search for “freebie”.
One other tip is the freebie blog sites. Many blogs on the web are dedicated to finding freebie (or dollarbie) deals. Here are a few:
There are plenty of places to go for fashion on the cheap. Remember: you can buy things in stores by right-clicking on the sign and clicking “Buy”.
Finding Places to Go:
Showcase Tab
There is a LOT of content in SL. So much, that veterans from the beginning of SL time haven’t even come close to seeing everything there is to see. Thankfully, Linden Lab does a decent job of finding beautiful content in a variety of interests for you. To access these, click on “Search” (it’s the best button on the UI, imho) and click on the “Showcase” tab. Here you’ll see lists of places to enjoy separated by theme. There are educational, art/culture, fashion, hot spots, and music. This is how I got started. I went through and visited every single sim listed on the showcase tab. New places are added here pretty frequently as well – so that’s great.
Search
The search button on the bottom of your screen is key. Use it, then click on the places tab and search for where you want to go. Looking for steampunk clothes? Search for steampunk. Want a vampire roleplaying area? Easy. Want to find house rentals? Search for them. This tab is a godsend, and helped me tremendously. (Important note: I suggest checking the PG and Mature boxes. Some areas are marked mature when there isn’t anything inappropriate there at all.)
Profiles/Picks
When you find other people in the world, one thing that helps you find other places is by reading their profiles. You can right click on a person and then then click “Profile”. I like to check out what groups they’re in, and then I always go to their picks tab to see what their favorite places to go are. This is a great way to hop from place to place by clicking on people and seeing what areas they like. (Discretion advised, of course!)
Groups
Groups are similar to guilds, with the exception that you can be in many of them. (25 total, I believe). A group does a few things for you:
- Lets you recieve bulletins from the group, which you can have sent to your email so you get them offline.
- Allows you to open an IM (like a chat channel) with group members.
- Lets you display a tag above your name that indicates something about you. For example, I’ve joined the Metaplace group in SL so my name always has “Metaplace” above my head.
There are groups specifically for helping you find things to do. There is even one called “SL Things To Do” that I find very interesting. Another one that is great is “Impossible IRL” which finds truly spectacular places and broadcasts them to the group. For special interests, there are groups around just about anything. Everything from educational activities, music events, roleplaying, fantasy events, you name it. A lot of the artists in Second Life (like Grace McDunnough, who is fabulous) have groups you can join to stay up-to-date on their concert schedule as well, or fashion designers let you join their group to hear about new sales or releases. You can always find a group by clicking “Search” and then clicking on the “Groups” tab.
Events
If you click on “Search” and then “Events” you can search for events that are going on now. If connecting with other people is your desire – you can find concerts, DJ events, lectures, and meetings here. If you’re looking to learn how to build, you can find building classes under here. Note that you can sort by what category of event you’re looking for. I find this helpful when I’m interesting in being social or want to take a class or attend an art show.
Social Networking
Two sites that have been immensely helpful for finding things to do are Koinup and Flickr. Koinup is a virtual world social network that is an awesome place for photography and machinima in Second Life (and other virtual worlds too!). Koinup has groups for photographers and also scenery and other types of categories. Some times I will visit a place because I see fantastic pictures of it on Koinup. Flickr has groups as well and people upload some great images from SL.
Koinup – Second Life Explorers
Flickr – Second Life Architecture
Blogs
The final way that I find neat things are by reading some fantastic Second Life blogs. There are many blogs that highlight great places to check out regularly. I subscribe to a few of these and check out the places they recommend as they come up. Here are just a few blogs I’d recommend following for exciting places and events to visit.
~*~*~
So that’s it! If this guide was helpful to you – let me know in SL as Cuppycake Cyberstar, or in Metaplace as Cuppycake 
I’m always glad for new friends in new places!
Tami Baribeau is the Associate Producer for Metaplace, Inc, currently working on Island Life. She is also the Lead Editor of feminist gaming blog The Border House, and the National Facebook Games Examiner for Examiner.com. She can be reached on Twitter or by email.
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Thanks so much, Cuppy! This is exactly the sort of thin I've been looking for.
This is a great explanation for newbies on how to get started exploring. Thanks so much for linking to Not Possible IRL as a source, too.
If any of your readers are interested in well conceived and realized 3D art, architecture, landscaping and avatar explorations that would not be possible in Real Life (in my opinion, the most interesting part of what virtual worlds have to offer!), I hope they will join our in-world group Impossible IRL. (stands for “Impossible in Real Life”).
It's free, and open registration, and over 2700 members can't be wrong! We share landmarks, new installations and cool info with our members at least once a week.. and the group notices go way way way beyond the blog in terms of new landmarks and tips. For that matter, I hope you are a member, too!
Excellent! When I saw your blog come accross my feed, and not having heard of you before, I thought I would have quite a bit to offer, but you covered most of what I would say. The blogs, social groups, events, etc. There's quite a bit of research out there on avatar identification and what's needed for “immersion”.
I would add:
Get an igoogle desktop, and the addon “Google Reader”, put the blogs in and quickly keep up with what's going on. Blogging is also a way of building a sense of community. My favorite is New World Notes. I have found that there is quite a bit of difference between people who do other MUVE's and SL. SL is not a game, although you can play RP, etc. there. People who are active in things such as WoW, are operating a character. SL is a social networking environment operating within a virtual world. It has helped to communicate that idea to others you meet in SL, there are many people who think it is a “game” and our social rules do not have to apply. I have met many people that I consider to be close friends that I care about and care about me.
http://dusanwriter.com/ (RL virtual applications)
http://freebietelegraph.wordpress.com/ (freebie blog)
http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=b2i2nk... (a TV guide approach to events)
The group “Fabulously Free in SL”, sends notices of free stuff, and it's fun to meet up with people who TP to pick up the latest. It is run by the same bloggers of that blog.
I am adding you blog to my reader, and saving this post to give to new people I try to help out.
Awesome! Thanks so much for writing this, Cuppy!!
Maybe this time SL will 'stick' for me.
Thank you so much for linking to my blog! There is a lot to do and see in Second Life.
At the beginning it is a bit hard to get used to SL. The interface can be confusing and since the world is a wide open space where it can be hard to find friends. I encourage new folks to stick with it for a while. We all were new at one time and most people are friendly so don't be afraid to ask for help. Reading blogs and joining groups is a great way to meet people. Soon enough you will feel right at home.
Don't be shy. I spent two months standing around waiting for other people to talk to me, now I talk to anyone and I enjoy myself.
You can read my story at http://www.profileslive.com/secondlifeblog.asp?...
I appreciates ya sharing your experiences across virtual worlds, Cuppy. Dayum, “Cyberstar” is a nice last name.
Also on an official note, don't forget to visit the Support Portal — you can visit the Second Life Knowledge Base @ http://secondlife.com/kb , and there's also fun video tutorials some multiple-personalities-at-the-same-time avatar did @ http://secondlife.com/video =)
Should you ever feel a burning need to chat with Linden Lab's Documentation Team in-avatar, we hold office hour chat sessions. Details @ http://tr.im/docteam
HAVE AWESOME TRAVELS!