Rez Day Experiences - then and now

[Brigitte Josephina]

My rez day was February 6, 2010. Back then I was allowed to choose a first and last name for my avatar, unlike now when all new avatars are given the last name Resident. I joined Second Life because it was a requirement for a class I was taking then. When I joined SL, I was given a selection of about five or six avatars to choose from. I chose a brunette with a pink polka dot dress. I remember starting out on Help Island in my rez day body and clothing. I learned the basics on Help Island, and then I teleported to the location where I met with other avatars from my class. We were all newbies except for the teacher. 

I am curious about what a rez day experience is like in the present day. What has changed over the years about a  rez day experience? I know that now all last names are Resident and it is hard to find a first name that has not already been used. Do you start out with a classic or mesh avatar? When you joined SL, were you given the option to choose your avatar from a variety of avatars with different appearances? Did you start out on Help Island that only new avatars can access? Where was the first place you teleported after leaving that island? And did you change from a classic to a mesh body and why? I still have my classic body. Please share your rez day experience!

Edited December 27, 2019 by Brigitte Josephina

[BelindaN]

My rezz day in June 2018 was really a non event. I had no idea what I was doing. I chose an avi, and don't remember much about where I first rezzed. I tp'd around some newbie sims. Most were empty or quiet. I never Im'd anyone. It all seemed baffling and pointless. 

And yet 18months later I'm addicted.

[Orwar]

4 hours ago, BelindaN said:

My rezz day was really a non event.

   Starts plotting Belinda's 2020 rezz day extravaganza. In secret, of course.

[MrsSeren]

I had my rez day 3 weeks and 1 day after my RL birthday which is 28th September and made this account in 2013; however one the clubs I work at as hostess put a cake out for my rez day but me personally I didn't celebrate my rez day.

[Cindy Evanier]

2010 - My first rez day - Ki decorates a whole sim, hires DJs and throws a huge party.  Buys me a pony

2019 - My 10th rez day -  2 days later Me:  Oh just realised it was my rez day the other day🤔  Ki:  Oh was it

😂

I know this is not what the OP asked but just amused me thinking how things change 

Edited December 27, 2019 by Cindy Evanier

[LittleMe Jewell]

I truly do not remember my initial rez day in SL........... way back in 2007. 

I pretty much never even notice my yearly rezday until days/weeks/months later.  I am really trying to get better about this because some stores give rezday presents.

I'm also not really a birthday celebration type of person in RL.

[Claireschen Hesten]

I can remember i had no idea where i rezzed in april 2008 as it never loaded up properly and what little that did looked like it could have been help island it wasn't a newbie exclusive area i don't think because a kind soul with more SL knowledge than me gave me LM's to Freebie Dungeon & Freebie Warehouse i opted for the "Girl Next Door" avatar there was another one with dark hair a dress and leggings, one fantasy style and i think one was an animal. The first place i teleported to was Freebie Dungeon where i tried getting to grips with SL it took me a while to understand that i couldn't pick and choose what i wanted out of boxes i had to buy the box to get the whole contents 

[CaerolleClaudel]

I actually remember my first rezz day very well, even though it was over 12 years ago. Some things are still similar (my most recent rezz day was less than a month ago), but SL is an extremely different place now.

Personally, I can hardly imagine starting now and knowing nothing. Really, though, every time they have made huge changes to SL, I felt pretty lost and felt like I was starting new again in a lot of ways, as there is never any organized guidance, and it is very hard to find simple, comprehensive how-to info. I suppose there are some things on YouTube and perhaps in the SL wiki, but everything is fragmented, and all assumes you know a lot of other stuff. But, I have to admit, I have not tried a search since I was upgrading to a mesh head a few months ago, which was a nightmare. And perhaps I just suck at finding useful info. I *have* seen like 3-minute-long 'getting started in SL' vids on YT, but they seem to just be how to set up a login and a few things like that, and perhaps basic system avi stuff, but nothing like what you need to really get something out of SL.

The worst part for me is how the social aspects have changed. I found interesting stuff almost immediately in SL, even knowing nothing about it, and found my 'tribe' in a couple of days, whereas now I log in and spend almost all my time just trying to find something of interest to do. OTOH, plenty of other people seem to find plenty to do (if you like rock or country or blues clubs and don't care about actually talking to anyone, you are set), so perhaps I have just spent too long in SL and need to move on to another interest.

Edited December 27, 2019 by CaerolleClaudel

[Maitimo]

My first account rezzed for the first time in 2006, though I don't remember the exact date and I deleted it long ago. The first place I was sent to on leaving Help Island was Braunworth Infohub. I don't remember how I looked on first rez; probably the "Boy Next Door" one with the grey and blue striped polo-shirt. But I very quickly changed it to this:

System skin, system hair, system everything. It was easy to "improve" your avatar when everyone else looked this bad too. 

One thing I do remember is how confused I was by the fog in Braunworth. I couldn't figure out what it was, and I thought something had gone wrong with my viewer because I didn't see any in Help Island. Braunworth has changed a lot since then; the station has been re-built and that park and cobbled road from the pic above are long gone.  I remember getting a ton of freebies from NCI, and searching for other freebie places. Yadni's sticks in my memory; I loved that one.  At some point in 2007, I found a gay sim called Manifesto, and that locked in my love of SL; I loved that place and made a lot of good friends, and I worked in the club there as a dancer/stripper.

Second time round, in August 2008, I don't really remember anything about that starting experience; I expect I teleported away as soon as I rezzed, and bought something decent to wear with the L$ I'd passed over from my old account. I don't have any pics of the first few days on this account, this one was taken about three weeks after.

Still in system clothes, many of which I made myself without any texturing at all, just using the clothing sliders to make them, but at least I had prim hair by then, and that skin was pretty good for those days.  Still also a regular at Manifesto on this account, up until the region closed down, which I think was in 2010.  Aside from a break of about 2 years in 2014/2015, when I got temporarily addicted to World of Warcraft, I've been active in SL ever since.

Haven't made a new alt in several years so I can't compare my 2006/2008 experience with the current one. And even if I did, it wouldn't be a fair comparison since I'd be coming in with 13 years SL expertise.  

 

Edited December 28, 2019 by Matty Luminos

[TatianaNikolay]

My 3rd rez day is tomorrow actually lol.  Nothing eventful happened when I first joined. Standard avatar at the island and went exploring. 

3 years later and a lot has changed for me. Mesh body and head, a sister, a partner (didn't expect that lol), friends, and blogging. I didn't do anything my first rez day.  Last year a few friends came over for a game night. Not sure what the plan is for tomorrow, but maybe I'll go out dancing. 

[Amanda Dallin]

My 13th rez day was last month.  I remember starting at some kind of help island that had stations that taught you some basics about SL.  Then a lady handed me some Newbie LMs and I was on my own.  First place I went a "really nice" man offered to show me around and took me to a very dark club where he wanted me to sit on his ball.  A word of advice, don't sit on a strange man's ball.  I eventually found my way to the Shelter which was and I believe still is a newbie sanctuary where I met some people and began to enjoy SL.  

[Chic Aeon]

My twelfth rez day is coming up in a few days.  I had some RL friends helping so I wasn't alone in a sense. I didn't stay around Help Island too long though. I remember having to find a torch in inventory and wear it and a few other tasks in order to move on and out into the world.   I think by then Help Island -- where my friends had learned -- had been replaced by a simpler "do this and then move on " test with quadrants. 

I know that later, there was a brief time when new folks were giving a simplified viewer and dropped around the grid.  I was living in Winterfell then and my house was VERY close to the drop off point so I ran into a lot of new folks.  That experiment didn't work at all though and eventually they moved to a portal system where people would end up in places like Caledon. 

There were also some sleek entrance areas made and aimed at other  languages than English. For a couple of days those places were open to the public so we could tour.   

 This is one of my first newbie photos. 

 

[Brigitte Josephina]

2 hours ago, Amanda Dallin said:

My 13th rez day was last month.  I remember starting at some kind of help island that had stations that taught you some basics about SL.  Then a lady handed me some Newbie LMs and I was on my own.  First place I went a "really nice" man offered to show me around and took me to a very dark club where he wanted me to sit on his ball.  A word of advice, don't sit on a strange man's ball.  I eventually found my way to the Shelter which was and I believe still is a newbie sanctuary where I met some people and began to enjoy SL.  

Hi Amanda,

I agree, never sit on a stranger's poseball or you might be unpleasantly surprised by what happens next XD. I also like the Shelter. 

[Cindy Evanier]

4 hours ago, Amanda Dallin said:

.  First place I went a "really nice" man offered to show me around and took me to a very dark club where he wanted me to sit on his ball.

Sounds like the first guy I met who started off as a self proclaimed mentor and then it was a tp to a very dodgy place after a couple of days.  Now older and much wiser I realised he was grooming noobs.  🙄 

[Syo Emerald]

I can't remember any of my rez days. I think I didn't even log in on this years one.

[Panteleeva]

I signed up 4 times ,like played 1 day and than forgot about SL.Then in March 2012 i started with Goth-vamp starter avatar , i visited many gardens and beaches ,and after 4 months in sl i had around 200 friends in friend list . And on my first rezzday i found my style)and in March 2019 was my 7th rezzday when i just grabbed some rezzday gifts from different stores))

[Catrie]

My rezz days tend to be like any other day.  Nothing special ever happens then.

When I first started, it was because a friend really wanted me to play. that lasted a month, maybe.  then,after all my friends, who started at the same time as me, left.  I wandered around a bit, but didn't know anyone else and quit.  I came back a couple of years ago, and have been playing pretty consistently since.  My rezz day usually gets overlooked, even by me, as I forget all about it until someone mentions their rezz day. 

 

[Zero Starchild]

My original avatar was named Rex Short born November 25th, 2007. I remember rezzing on an learning island with a winding road up a hill where you did tutorials and lessons and learned how to do things. There was a tall building where you learned to fly. I must have been there for a week and to this day have never learned to fly good lol.

There was a small road with scooters or cars that taught you to drive and hit rats on the roadway lol.

From there I went to Help Island and stayed for another week or more before learning about landmarks etc.

First time I saw a pixel ***** I could not believe my eyes that this existed in SL.

I spent hours on dance pads to earn Lindens and with my first 60 L I bought a T shirt and was so proud and happy lol.

[Fauve Aeon]

Feb 2008. I used to have a picture of the back of my head from day 1, complete with torch and no-AO flying animation. I had found freebie flapping wings and put them on my avatar, so...some kind of dark cyber-goth faery. Since I had experience with Daz and made some saavy SL friends, about a month and a half later I looked like this and had learned how to make a flexi-skirt. Photo and editing by a long gone friend. 

 

 

Edited December 28, 2019 by Fauve Aeon

[Nalates Urriah]

My rez day was March 2008. I remember rezzing in a tutorial area and walking through hallways learning to fly, dress, and prim build. I don't recall a choice of avatars. I started as the 2008 classic Ruth. Now we have the Test Female (Girl Next Door - The sort of pink pokadot dress) in place of Ruth. Ruth & Roth were the avatars built into the viewer. I suspect that is no longer the case.

To teleport out of the intro I was given some choices. I forget where I went. But, I was quickly looking for help and found the Help Islands, which no longer exist. The Lab's stats revealed those using Help Islands were not staying in SL as long as those that didn't... odd. But, that was the numbers and the End of the Helpers. Now those live helpers are found only in private entrances Like Firestorm's into experience.

Changes Since Then...

Every so often a blogger creates a new avatar and reports on what the new intro experience to SL is like. AFAIK that is the only way to know what all has changed since we cannot get into the new-sign-up landing areas. The intro is an ever changing as the Lab experiments and collects data on what does and doesn't work best. In November 2019 there were about 330,000 new signups... No data on how many are still logging in as December ends.

While the max-concurrent user numbers aren't climbing they do seem to be plateauing. The min-concurrent users has entered a climb. But, this number is very hard to track as SL outages drastically reduce this number. So, I assume the Sign Up and Intro processes are better.

The appearance of the intro area changes. As the moles get new features and Lindens experiment with them they upgrade the Intro area. So, its appearance changes but the content covered stays the same.

The starter avatars get updates. The Girl Next Door avatar is an old starter avatar. But, you can see some of the the new starter avatars in your viewer's Outfits (Appearance) panel. Firestorm and Linden viewers also have an Avatar button where you can see the various starter avatars.

These are the most flexible starter avatars to date. I can swap out parts and get better looks and still look like the starter avatar. You would have to see them side by side to notice why they look better.

I added my skin, Slink Redux Original body, and GA.EG Jennifer BoM head to a starter avatar. The jeans have a problem at the waist line. Otherwise it works pretty well.

I doubt they have added anything to the current Intro for BoM and I'm not sure they made any tutorial for the mesh-applier bodies. So, there may not need to be much change since BoM is more like the Classic avatar's way of doing things.

[Brigitte Josephina]

Thank you all for sharing your rez day experiences and photos! I was looking for more recent rez day experiences to see how things have changed, but I was happy to get so many replies and a variety of experiences.

I just read in a Second Life blog post that Premium account holders will be able to change their first name, last name, or both in early 2020! There is a one-time fee per name change, and I do not know how much this costs. The first name can be anything that is not already in use, and the last name will be from a list. This is great news for Second Life residents! But I think I will keep my original name for now.

[Parhelion Palou]

I joined in 2006. Newbies started on one island, went through tutorial sections, and then were teleported to an Infohub. I took it as quickly as possible, landed at the Infohub in Bear, and headed away from any dots on the map. I bought First Land a few days later (L$500 for a 512 sqm parcel, if I remember correctly), sold it to a neighbor for the same two weeks later, and rented a 2K parcel on one of Anshe's regions.

I have an alt I created in Feb 2016. Newbies start at an island that does the initial tutorials (how to walk, fly, jump, etc.) then go to one of the Social Islands. I created another alt in January 2017. The process was the same except the Social Islands had been updated. My latest alt was created in September 2019 ... in this case after going through what looked very much like the starter island that the other two had gone through, it ended up on Firestorm's Social Island. There's a Firestorm Orientation Island, but it doesn't look like what I saw. I've already explored the Firestorm Social Island so I teleported my alt to my region. The Social Islands still exist and are accessible to the public. The starter islands aren't open, but they do have newbie avatars created by some SL organizations that invite newbies to groups. I'd wondered how people could show up on a Social Island with group tags.

There are still two Help Islands on the grid: Help Island Public and Help Island Public2. There's still Orientation Island Public as well. Some newbies (first day in SL) still show up there somehow, which is unfortunate. Those regions are the same as they were in 2007 or so (I don't know when they started) and are filled with inaccurate information and teleports to locations that don't exist or are totally different than in the old days.

[manoji Yachvili]

On 12/28/2019 at 12:25 PM, Ziggy Starsmith said:

I spent hours on dance pads to earn Lindens and with my first 60 L I bought a T shirt and was so proud and happy lol.

wowww... you took me back in the past, i remember very well  😂

 

so, for several reasons this seems to me the right moment for this post.
I'm an italian old lady living in Tuscany.
I discovered Sl due to an article on newspaper.
I don't remember my rez day, I need to give a look on my profile, by the way the year was 2007.
I had a lot of fun the three years on sl doing a lot of things, taking a part of a italian sim that  did courses about learning.
For a while I've play as a photographer. I stopped my sl life for a long time till last year, I was in and out and now I've time to spent because I'm obliged to stay at home most of the day so... here I'm again, for fun and forget.
And also for write in English to improve myself.

[Amanda Dallin]

9 hours ago, manoji Yachvili said:

And also for write in English to improve myself.

My partner of 13 years  is German and I'm American.  When we first met her use of language was very obviously not that of a native English speaker.  After being with me for so long and hanging out with our English speaking friends, Her typed chat is almost like a native English speaker.  She's had a German speaker refuse to believe she was a native German speaker.  

Of course being American I've picked up almost no German from her, LOL.  

[manoji Yachvili]

3 hours ago, Amanda Dallin said:

My partner of 13 years  is German and I'm American.  When we first met her use of language was very obviously not that of a native English speaker.  After being with me for so long and hanging out with our English speaking friends, Her typed chat is almost like a native English speaker.  She's had a German speaker refuse to believe she was a native German speaker.  

Of course being American I've picked up almost no German from her, LOL.  

This means that I've to look for a English speaker as a new partner?
I'll tell this to my husband 😂

 

I wish both of you a peaceful  2020

Edited January 1, 2020 by manoji Yachvili