help.secondlife.comSecond Life Quickstart - English - Second Life Community

Jump to content Existing user? Sign In Home Forums Forums People Places and Events Creation Technology Commerce Land International Knowledge Base Blogs Blogs Featured News Community News Inworld Tools and Technology Commerce Tips and Tricks Land Answers Grid Status Activity All Activity More More Everywhere This Category This Knowledge Base Article Topics Blog Entries Pages Knowledge Base Articles Members English All Activity Home Knowledge Base English Second Life Quickstart Followers 0 Second Life Quickstart By Rand Linden September 14, 2011getting 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 without paying a fee. 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 and to ensure that Second Life can send you important emails like password help and receipts. 2. Choose your membership level Choose a free Basic account or sign up for a one of Second Life’s subscription memberships for additional benefits. For example, with a standard Premium membership, 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 alwaysThe first time you log in, you will be in an area known as Welcome 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. For example, you can right-click on a chair and choose Sit Here from the menu to have your avatar automatically sit on the chair. 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 turns into a hand when over an object, you may be able to interact with the object by clicking on it. In some cases, clicking performs an action (such as turning on a light switch); sometimes, the object displays a special menu that lets you select from a variety of actions. When you hover your mouse cursor over an object, you may also see an information box, for example as illustrated at left. Click on the icon for more information about the object. Finding out more about nearby people To find out about those nearby, mouse over their avatars and click the icon that appears. You’ll get an information box with: Their avatar name and how long they’ve been in Second Life. Profile "biography" information (if they’ve added it)....