Demo's SL noobie blog

[femak47]

Warning: advanced texturing can effect land impact

So I was all lah dee dah putting stuff in and changing textures, nothing new when all of a sudden I had things returned and I’m like, “wtf?”

I checked parcel details and I was down to 1 prim when I had only used 5 out of 28 I had before messing around. My first thought was two things: a griefer or an sl bug. There was one person nearby and they were apparently only on their own land. I relogged as my main (who owns the land I was on) to investigate further.

It turned out the prims I used for two cielings had skyrocketed from being 1 prim each to 42 each! I was totally flabberghasted. I checked what I could do and removing the advanced texturing sent them back down to 1.

So take this as a word of warning, if you want to do something big in advanced textures, keep in mind it effects land impact.

[demoslnoobie]

Reposted from my main blog.

[demoslnoobie]

Exploring route 9

Mainland exploring is one of the most under rated things in sl. Along with ban lines, abandoned land and dreadful sim crossings it does have good points. There’s miles and miles of lands meant to be...

Reblog from my main blog.

[demoslnoobie]

Beginner's Tutorial - Second Life - Customizing Your Avatar !

Beginner's Tutorial - Second Life - Customizing Your Avatar ! was created to assist individuals in the process of starting Second Life and creating a avatar....

This is one of the most thorough beginner tutorials I’ve seen.

[demoslnoobie]

“...it’s like trying to tell a stranger about Rock N Roll.”

The line is from the Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Do You Believe in Magic” but trying to explain Second Life is the same. Second Life is a lot of things to a lot of people so explaining it to a person that’s never experienced it can be difficult in real life and sl.

It came to mind today outside of SL at work when in casual conversation I pointed out that a lot my skills in using a gimp came from things I developed for Second Life. To most people “skills” in a “game” consist of gathering resources and taking those to make a predetermined item. In Second Life we can take things we make using a gimp (ie Photoshop or my beloved Paint Shop Pro), 3d modeling software (Blender, 3Ds Max), any number of posing and animation software to create things and load them into the world for personal use and/or selling. There are other skills that can be used and honed in sl as well including marketing, business management, djing and just about anything you can think of using in rl.

But if sl was all about skills it would be....boring.

The big question I always ask a new resident is “What have you always wanted to do in rl but wouldn’t or couldn’t?” This opens Second Life and gives a direction. Some people always wanted to fly but never could. Some people want to live in a certain time in history or role play something. Some just want to meet people and party while stuck at home. There’s something for everyone and some people do more than one thing or as the years go by (like me) get involved in a lot of different things.

Now money can be a factor. This doesn’t mean that there’s nothing great that’s free in sl because that would be lie. Everyone that helps noobies knows this site and I’m putting it down for those that don’t: https://fabfree.wordpress.com/  .  Clubs often have paid contests. There’s midnight mania boards and lucky letter boards and lucky chairs (adn for example always has a ton) all over sl. Let’s not forget group gifts at places like Gizza. The marketplace alone has a ton of good freebies (I buy Ls and I still look for cool freebies) There’s always a few free hunts going on in sl (http://huntsl.com/).

See the world through sl! Meet people from all over the world! I’m American but most of my friends in sl aren’t American; some of my closest friends are from Sweden, Portugal and Brazil.There are many people in sl that develop places related to their homelands. Universities hold online classes in sl (my besty Revy first came to sl for a class.) Japan has had a lot of influence on sl; common things you’ll hear in sl such as neko (short for nekomimi which translates to cat ears in Japanese) and gacha (short for gachapon which would be like a gumball machine in the US) found its way from Japanese sims to mainstream SL.

Want to meet the love of your life? It’s possible but don’t get your hopes up. A lot of people that come to sl hoping to find true love wind up disappointed. I’ve known, in 7 years in sl, 2 couples that met in sl that moved onto rl marriage. I’ve known much more people that get married in sl (weddings are a big industry in sl, not as big as sex furniture but it’s up there), break up and start over again within months along with people that cheat on their sl spouses using alts. If you become an exception and find true love to me it’s a beautiful thing because it’s so rare in sl.

So, in conclusion, what do you say to someone to explain Second Life? Tell them, like rl, it’s what you make it.

[demoslnoobie]

What is a Second Life avatar?

The short and simple answer to this is your avatar is a representation of you in a virtual environment. It can be anything, in Second Life that’s more literal since there’s a wide range of types of avatars. Your typical starting avatar is either male or female human but this is not the end all be all. You can be a male or female furry, an animal, an object, an anime character, a superhero, even the president of the united states (yes there have been places that sell Barack Obama avatars.)

In second life it’s not about who you are in real life it’s about who and what you want to be in second life. This is something that’s not necessarily decided as soon as you make your account or when you get off the rez pad the first time; it can take time. The big thing to remember is it’s up to you and what you want to be involved in.

There are some things to look out for however. You can’t decide to be Darth Vader or Luke Skywalker and go to a star wars sim and expect to be excepted as such. THe star wars or any roleplay community about a certain movie or book or whatever doesn’t work that way; instead they prefer you to learn and grow into a role. So instead of being Vader or Luke go and look for sith or jedi groups and fill out an application to join them and learn the ways of the force, it’s more fun. Now outside of the star wars community if you want to dress up as darth vader or luke skywalker no one’s going to say anything, it’s just an avatar.

Are you a guy who wants to be a girl or vice versa? Would you rather be androgynous? No one’s going to say anything. Again it’s about you. Many people in sl live out fantasies about being the opposite sex or a combination of the sexes in general and for sexual fantasies.

The one thing a new resident has to understand though is that Second Life experiences are mentally real experiences. We’re social, we interact and as we go through our second lives, like with rl experience, our pasts become part of who we are as avatars. When I was young in sl I was shy and sl was a scary place to me. I had no idea what I was doing and the world was culture shock since I was accustomed to having quests and goals and levels, also seeing penises sold in stores was rather odd to me. I was one of those people that quit after a week but I came back a couple years later when I was bored while stuck in bed with a severe case of the flu. I wound up meeting new people and opening up. I became a social butterfly and tried everything, even if it was something I wouldn’t get involved in EVER in rl just because it was there and since I was an avatar it was harmless. But all the things I did became part of me. Looking and acting like I did in sl inspired me to become similar in rl. My avatar, an expression of me, became my hero.

So in summary what is an sl avatar? It’s a new you.

[demoslnoobie]

What we see

To help myself understand things I switched to the default sl viewer. This helped me understand things better for new residents. The old saying “Walk a mile in someone’s shoes.”

The next pic is what I see. I use the firestorm viewer.

Being an older resident of Second Life, the firestorm viewer offers conveniences and flexibility I’ve gotten used to so, yeah not changing back to the main viewer in the near future.

Now for a bit of a history lesson:

When I was new, back when sl had what they call viewer 1 (the current version is considered viewer 3) I was peer pressured into trying a viewer called Emerald, all the cool kids were using it. I don’t remember that great of a difference between the Viewer 1 and the Emerald except for a few handy features and the legendary “booby bounce” you could set in the viewer. In the summer of 2010 a scandal over the viewer broke out and it along with some of the team that created it were banned while part of the team went off and founded the Phoenix viewer, later, in adapting to newer sl features became known as the Phoenix Firestorm or just the Firestorm viewer. (you can find an article on this here: http://blog.nalates.net/viewers/emerald-viewer/ ) Hence, having been an Emerald user I later became a Phoenix and then Firestorm user to enjoy my second life.

An interesting side note about the booby bounce in Emerald is that it was only a year or two later that Linden Labs introduced avatar physics which allowed for your avatars boobs (or butt, or belly) to actually move as you moved. I’ll discuss physics in more detail later.

[demoslnoobie]

GET OUT! Places for noobies 1, The Shelter

To quote Axl Rose, “Welcome to the jungle, we’ve got fun and games, we got everything you want honey. we know the names...”

For a new resident SL can be a scary place. You pick a starter avatar and your thrown out into a whole new world where you don’t know the rules and barely have an idea how to even move. You might get a pop up with a bite request or asked to join a group out of the blue, and this is just in the first 5 minutes. If you’re an average person (I wonder how an average person would discover sl but that’s another topic) some of the things that can be discovered in sl can be shocking but wait! There’s a shelter that helps adapt to the rages of the wild web world we call Second Life, namely the Shelter.

The Shelter provides many things to new residents including a helpful staff, games, events, changing rooms and a place to set as home. As far as places to first come in sl I’d say this is a good starting point. You’ll find a wide array of SL society at the Shelter including humans, vampires, and furries; many experienced SLers more than willing to help (including a certain blogging gynoid.)

Most likely you’re first taste of dancing and djs will come about at the Shelter. The main area is made for it and everyone on the dance floor will be more than happy to teach you to dance. This is actually a good thing not only for dancing but understanding animations in sl.

Regulars at the Shelter come in a wide range from all over the world and ranges in experience in sl. You’ll find a lot of good chat on many subjects ranging from what’s happening in rl to things in sl.

Established in 2004, the Shelter is still one of the nicest places to get your start in Second Life with some of the friendliest people on the grid. http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Isabel/44/223/81

[demoslnoobie]

Demo’s Q &A

So some of you will look at my blog opening images and say to yourself, “What is Demo supposed to be?” This first blog is to answer some common “wtf” questions about me and my qualifications to blog pointed towards Second Life new residents.

How long have you been in Second Life?

Well I’ve actually been in Second Life for 7 years. Demo is an alt account.

What are you supposed to be?

My primary form uses a Rikugou avatar and M3 Venus head, both from Utilizator. I’m a gynoid, a female android. In SL you can be and do just about anything you want.

How do you look like that?

Since my avatar is customizable I made my look distinct. My graphics settings are in mid high with advanced light settings to take advantage of SL normal map and specular map texture allowing. Without advanced light setting I just appear as a gray skinned avatar.

What have you done in Second Life?

Just about everything. I’ve owned a club, rented out apartments, done pvp combat using various combat meters, danced, built buildings and objects with prims, made clothes, made textures for Second Life, been involved in the SL adult entertainment industry, tried cheerleading for a time, roleplayed in the sl star wars community, roller derby, taken classes on scripting, visited historic SL landmarks, a ton of things.

What do you want people to take from this blog?

A better understanding of the world we call Second Life. A love of it that many of us older residents share.

Why do anything for noobs?

We were all there once and as time goes on things have gotten better but more complicated for people just starting in Second Life. As avatars Linden Labs has implemented incredible things but this has made getting basics down harder on noobies. My point is to give them the know how to take those first steps into the bigger world of SL.