Welcome to Second Life!
This guide is meant to take you through the first somewhat confusing moments you might experience as a beginner.
Need more help? Contact me
1. Joining Second Life and creating your Avatar
The joining process that starts here (https://join.secondlife.com/) will take you through a form where you'll be asked to fill in a number of fields.
- First choose not to join a community if you feel you don't need to at this stage, by clicking "Skip this step"
- Then fill in the username, last name, birth date and email address
- Choose an appearance
- Enter your real name, password and visual code and agree to the terms of service
- Choose a paying Premium account or "Skip this step"
- Go to your email inbox and click on the link to activate your account
2. Downloading the software
To enter Second Life you now need to download the software, which you can do here
(http://secondlife.com/support/downloads.php)
- Choose between Windows, Mac and Linux and save the *.exe setup file
- Install the software on your computer
3. Opening Second Life
Now that you have joined and created an Avatar + downloaded the software, the last step is to open the software and log in.
A the bottom of your screen enter your First Name, Last name and Password.
You're now in!
4. Moving around
The main commands you will be using are the four arrows on your keyboard.
Use the up arrow to walk forward, the bottom arrow to walk backwards and the left and right arrows to turn around. If you simultaneously hit the up arrow and the left arrow for example, your avatar will move forward but also to the left.
To fly, hit the “Page Up” key on your keyboard. The longer you hit it, the higher you will fly.
To “land” back on your two feet again, hit “Page Down” as long as necessary.
Once you are up in the air after hitting “Page Up”, you can use the arrows to fly forward, backward, or to the left and right.
5. Going places and finding people
You can move around but you still feel stuck? Now’s the time to talk about SL’s “Teleporting” options. Indeed, you can easily travel from Dublin to Singapore and from UNI’s global union house to IBM, for example, in only a few clicks.
First open the Search menu, by clicking on “search” at the bottom of your screen. Then choose “Places” and enter a keyword, such as "Union Island". Choose the option from the list that seems to correspond and click “Teleport”.
Maps
The map option is great to have a better view of the island you are on and the surroundings. Also, green dots indicate the presence of people. Double click on or next to a green dot to Teleport to the location and meet people.
This illustration shows you the map of the Commonwealth Island, where UNI global union owns a house. You can type Commonwealth Island next to the Search button on the map to teleport to locations as well. See the two green dots? There are two people active on the island.
6. Right-clicking
Sometimes when you right click on objects in Second Life, you’ll be offered more options. If you click on other Avatars, you will for example be offered to become friends with them. Since it can be tiring to walk and fly all the time, try clicking on different areas to see if you can sit down. Use the right-click on your mouse and you’ll see the left-click option to sit down! And hit the blue button “Stand up” to get back on your feet.
Full Screen help
History
To talk to people on Chat, type your text in the field to the right of the History button.
The dialogue will appear on your screen when you hit "Enter". Once it disappears, you'll find it by clicking on "History"
Communicate
The Communicate button will take you to your list of friends if you've added them there already.
Search
Use the search button to look for people, places and events
Map
The Map will enable you to teleport to different locations by opening it up and double-clicking on the area you wish to move to.
Type "Dublin" or "IBM" next to the Search button for example to show the corresponding maps.
Inventory
Clicking or Right-Clicking on objects for sale or for free will give you the option to "Buy" them which adds them to your Inventory.
Open your inventory when you wish to find an object you've acquired. Once you've found it in the list, use your right-mouse button on it and choose "Wear".
If you don't want that object to appear on your Avatar anymore, go back to the Inventory, find it in the list, right-click it and choose "Detach from yourself".
Talk
If you've chosen to enable Voice in Second Life and have a mike and headphones, you can use the Talk option.
Meet someone who also has it enabled (avatars with white dots above their heads) to see it work. You need to hold your Talk button down as you speak for it to work. If you let go, people won't hear you.
NEWS: "Real" success for "Virtual" IBM Protest - 27.09.207
PRESS RELEASE: Union protest goes virtual tomorrow - 26.09.2007
NEWS: IBM protest in Second Life to take place 27th September 2007 - 26.09.2007 (in Portuguese)
NEWS: Second Life TV reportage on IBM protest - 26.09.2007
NEWS: IBM virtual protest: what's up? - 21.09.2007
NEWS: Media storm over UNI's IBM virtual protest in Second Life - artícoli in italiano - articles en français - artículos en español
During the talks to renew IBM’s Italian internal collective agreement, the works council, supported by the majority of IBM Italy employees, asked for a small salary increase. IBM responded by cancelling their "productive results benefit", resulting in a loss of €1000 per year for each employee. For a company that wants to lead in corporate social responsibility, this is unacceptable.
RSU (Rappresentenza Sindacale Unitaria) decided to organise the first virtual protest ever in Second Life with the help of UNI (Union Network International). It is time for IBM, a company with one of the highest profits, to share some of the fruits with its workforce. More info here in Italian: http://www.rsuibmvimercate.it
|