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Content titles and body Content titles only English All Activity Home Knowledge Base English Second Life Quickstart Followers 3 Second Life Quickstart By Rand Linden September 14, 2011 -- getting started Before you start Registering for and installing Second Life Your first steps inworld Basic skills Finding cool stuff to see and do Doing more Moving on In other languages : Deutsch Español Français Italiano Português Türkçe Русский 日本語 Before you start Important: You must install a standalone program, the Second Life Viewer , to enjoy the rich 3D content in Second Life. The installation process is quick and easy, but your computer must meet the System Requirements . Second Life will not run on systems that fail to meet these requirements. Registering for and installing Second Life Follow this quick three-step process to register for and install Second Life . 1. Choose your starting avatar and provide your account information Your avatar is how you will appear in Second Life. You can choose from a wide selection of avatars, and if you change your mind later, don't worry—you can select a different avatar any time you want! Once you learn Second Life, you can also customize your avatar to your heart's delight, or pick from a vast selection on the Second Life Marketplace . Your username is the account name that you use to log in to Second Life. It has to be unique, so you may not get to choose a simple or common name. Later, you can also choose a display name that everyone sees in addition to your username. For more information, see Usernames and Display names . Warning: Choose your username carefully! Once chosen, you can't change it. Although you can designate a "display name," your username will still be visible, and others may use it to refer to you. Fill in your remaining account details including your email address, date of birth, and password. Make sure to use a memorable security question in case you forget your password! Note: When you create your account, you will receive a message in your email asking you to verify your email address. Verify your address in order to receive offline messages from other Second Life Residents. 2. Choose your membership level Choose a free basic account, or sign up for a premium account for additional benefits. With a premium account, you get your own private Linden Home (if you're at least 18 years old), virtual currency rewards, exclusive virtual goods, and many other benefits. For more information on premium accounts, see Premium membership in the Second Life Knowledge Base. If you choose a basic account now, you can always upgrade to premium membership later. 3. Download and install Second Life To enjoy the rich 3D content in Second Life, you must download and install the Second Life Viewer , an application that runs on Windows and Mac OS. Most web browsers will download the installer automatically; if that does not happen, just click Download & Install Second Life . You may need to run the installer program manually after downloading. Your first steps inworld Now that you've registered for Second Life and installed the Second Life Viewer, you're ready to start your adventure in the virtual world—or "inworld," as we call it. Logging in Start the Second Life Viewer and then log in to Second Life by entering the username and password you selected when you registered. If you have problems logging in, see Login failure in the Second Life Knowledge Base. The first time you log in, you will be in an area known as Learning Island, set up especially for new users. Follow the signs and simple instructions to learn the basic skills you'll need. The following sections describe the most important parts of the Viewer and how to get the most out of your experience. To help you get going, I'll give you a quick introduction to the Second Life Viewer , the program you use to experience Second Life. Basic skills Some of the first things you'll want to learn how to do include: Walking Flying Changing your view Text chatting Changing your avatar Interacting with objects Finding out more about nearby people Controlling inworld media Walking There are four ways to make your avatar walk: Click to walk . Simply click on the ground at the point to which you want to go. If your mouse pointer turns into a hand instead of an arrow, you won't move but will instead interact with the object under your mouse pointer. See the Interacting with objects section. Use the arrow keys . The up-arrow ↑ and down-arrow ↓ keys walk you forward and backward, respectively. The left-arrow ← and right-arrow → keys turn you left and right, respectively. Use the W, S, A, and D keys . The W and S keys make you walk forward and backward. The A and D keys turn you left and right, respectively. Make sure you click inworld first so that the chat field doesn't have focus. Otherwise, you'll be typing chat text instead of walking. Click the Walk/Run/Fly button to open the Movement controls. You can click which direction you'd like your avatar to move, as well as toggle between walk, run, and fly modes. Running To run forward, simply double-click the W or up-arrow ↑ key. To run backward, double-click S or the down-arrow ↓ key. Flying Flying in Second Life is really fun, and it lets you move around much faster than you can by walking or running. To fly, press and hold the Page Up key or the E key. Press and hold the Page Down key or the C key to land. Use the same keys to move through the air as you do to walk. Note: Some regions don't allow flying. In these areas, you'll see this icon in the location bar and you won't be able to fly. Keyboard shortcuts See Keyboard shortcuts for a quick reference guide. Changing your view By default, your view is from directly behind and slightly above your avatar. However, it's often useful to see things from a different viewpoint! There are several ways to change your view: To rotate your view, click and drag anywhere on the world. NOTE: If your mouse pointer turns into a hand before you click, then you'll interact with the object instead of rotating your view. To zoom in, press and hold the Alt key, then click and drag your mouse; or use your mouse wheel. To orbit, press and hold the Alt and Control keys, then click and drag your mouse. Click the View button and use the controls, shown at left. To return to the default view, press the Esc key. Text chatting . Click the Chat button (by default in the bottom toolbar) to text chat with people nearby. Everyone within twenty meters of you will be able to see what you type. To shout, press Control-Enter instead of Enter after typing your chat text. Everyone within 100 meters will be able to see what you type. Click the triangle icon in the chat field to show recent chat history. Mouse over names in chat history and then click the icon for more options. Changing your avatar Click Avatar to change your avatar to one of the free provided avatars. You'll be able to choose from a wide variety of avatar looks. For information on customizing your avatar, see Editing your appearance . Interacting with objects To interact with any object you encounter, right-click it and select from the menu of actions and tools, as shown for example above. Some objects (such as furniture) automatically provide a "sit" icon when you mouse over them. Simply click on the object to sit on it. To stand up again, just click the Stand button that appears near the bottom of the window. If your mouse cursor turn...