Hi! I'm newbie and...

[CaelumSixsmith]

... I'm completely lost :/ I had an older account, made around 2-4 years ago, but I never even moved around cos my previous computer couldn't quite support the application. Now I wanted to give it another try, but there are a few things bugging me...

First of all, how do I edit my avatar? I chose one of those pre-made that the website gives us when we create an account (I remember nothing of my old account and don't care to look for it), but it seems I can only edit body properties. I also wanted to change the face (entirely, since I want to make my OC), take off those tattoos, maybe change the hair (I remember that when I tried to edit my avatar on the older account, I had an option to select hairs right away). Unfortunately I have no money to exchange for L$, so would be nice if I could make my OC w/o it... Which takes us to my next question!

Since I have no money irl, I thought I could work or do something to get L$. Is it possible? I really didn't want to do those surveys I saw around SL when looking for skins or w/e would let me change my face. 

Ah, I got some freebies in two or three places, equipped them and everything, but the face of my avatar didn't change at all :/ It's really frustrating not being able to be who you want on a world you're supposed to be who you want :(

[sven Homewood]

1. The starter avatars are full meshbodies (that is kinda on top of everything else) and to change everthing you will need to choose one from the classic line (menu on top: Me-Choose an Avatar -Classic tab).

2. No money is not realy any issue, because you will get many things for free. Open your search and type in freebie. But you should be aware that using freebies only will take some more time. There are also some cool help island around to go, with tutorials and helpers around to ask questions. Also the seach will help you to find one. Or try the Destinations (World-Destinations - Newcomer friendly). You can also try the "Linden Realms" to collect some L$. Or trying for jobs. The SL wiki has a pretty good article about: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Guide_to_Jobs_in_Second_Life.

3. leads to 1.

[CaelumSixsmith]

omg tyvm!!! And I thought I could edit right from those realistic avatars Oh wells, it's fine Thx a bunch!

[Ren Toxx]

You're probably wearing one of the new starter mesh avatars; these can look somewhat more realistic but, as a downside, are much less flexible; while some of them can in fact change (their texture, making it look like a different skin, or a different tone), those provided by Linden Labs cannot. If you tried wearing another skin and / or shape, those are actually “hidden” beneath the mesh avatar covering that you see unchanging. So, go into appearance edit, locate and take off the mesh avatar (it will be represented as a cube icon), then its accompanying alpha layer (represented as a white shirt icon), and after a few seconds you should see the underlying base avatar that you were trying to change. Wearing a different skin (from those freebies you found) will change your skin tone and overall looks, and may even appear to change your shape (though this is only a visual effect due to the shading and features painted in that skin); then you can actually modify your shape, to make you taller, shorter, bulkier, larger or smaller nose, etc. Skins and shapes work together to give you a personalized look... but mesh avatars are a whole different story, with their pros and cons respective to the older, skin+shape system.

[Tari Landar]

A great website to keep an eye on for free and really cheap items is http://fabfree.wordpress.com/

Not my site, I gain nothing in sharing it, but it's a fantastic blog. THey also have their own area on a sim where you can pick up lots of free(especially great for starters, in many cases) items. You can find that place here...

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Car%20Wash/92/225/24

(if you cannot click on that to get a teleport sent to you inworld, just copy/paste it to your local chat, and go from there)