New, broke, and discovering...

[Ithilwen36]

A whole new world of bright lights, fabulous clothes and wonderful people... mostly. A co-worker told me about this 'game' she played and showed me a picture of her avi (which I now know means avatar). She was gorgeous, full lips, exotic eyes and the clothes...flawless. I knew I had to join, but I wasn't going to half-ass it. I looked up videos, google searches and found out what I needed to look as lovely as the avi I'd seen. 

 

As you can imagine, I spent an obscene amount of money and took quite some time to set up my avi just so. And she's lovely. I was feeling quite proud. Until I saw the next gorgeous avi. (Talk about envy!) Fortunately, the people I have met since starting are incredibly supportive, helping me find shopping events, stores and great places to hang out. I started to understand no matter how shiny and new you look, or how classic, you are you and what people will remember more than how sexy your avi looks, is how generally kind you are. 

 

Made friends with a few of the kind ones and look forward to paying that kindness forward to the next new person... but for every 10 great people, there seems to be one jackass or pervert. Understanding the ratio helps you to understand that Second Life in a lot of ways is like real life. You take the rose with the thorns. 

 

And now after all the shopping and dancing and beaches, I'm now discovering more beautiful places and really fun roleplay. There's several places I'm looking forward to exploring, and a lot more fashion I intend to acquire. Here's to being new, broke and discovering here in Second Life.

[BelindaN]

Welcome aboard the fantasy express! Shopping, dancing, beaches are a huge part of SL for many people, but it's also rewarding to find an obsession here and there is so much to explore.

Anything you need to know, is available right here from the Forum experts, and the occasional jackass.

Just ask, and yeah just as you have found, there are pervy people in world...........

[Laurel Aurelia]

Welcome to the fun! The best advice I can give you right now in your fashion journey is to start organizing your inventory ! Don't wait for a decade like some of us (me) . Make sure to take some pictures of your avatar for posterity as your look will most likely change over time. 

[Rowan Amore]

2 hours ago, Ithilwen36 said:

A whole new world of bright lights, fabulous clothes and wonderful people... mostly. A co-worker told me about this 'game' she played and showed me a picture of her avi (which I now know means avatar). She was gorgeous, full lips, exotic eyes and the clothes...flawless. I knew I had to join, but I wasn't going to half-ass it. I looked up videos, google searches and found out what I needed to look as lovely as the avi I'd seen. 

 

As you can imagine, I spent an obscene amount of money and took quite some time to set up my avi just so. And she's lovely. I was feeling quite proud. Until I saw the next gorgeous avi. (Talk about envy!) Fortunately, the people I have met since starting are incredibly supportive, helping me find shopping events, stores and great places to hang out. I started to understand no matter how shiny and new you look, or how classic, you are you and what people will remember more than how sexy your avi looks, is how generally kind you are. 

 

Made friends with a few of the kind ones and look forward to paying that kindness forward to the next new person... but for every 10 great people, there seems to be one jackass or pervert. Understanding the ratio helps you to understand that Second Life in a lot of ways is like real life. You take the rose with the thorns. 

 

And now after all the shopping and dancing and beaches, I'm now discovering more beautiful places and really fun roleplay. There's several places I'm looking forward to exploring, and a lot more fashion I intend to acquire. Here's to being new, broke and discovering here in Second Life.

I'm glad to hear your experiences have been, for the most part, positive.  I think getting past the "build an avatar" part is the biggest hurdle so now it's all about exploring.  Places, people, RP, shopping and as @Laurel Aureliajust mentioned, STAY ORGANIZED.

 

[Nalates Urriah]

Welcome!

SL is a reflection of RL with some twists I would like to take back to RL. I often think it would be wonderful to have a mute-button in RL. But, there is a reason America's founders ensured free speech. We need to hear things we don't like to stay in touch with reality. And the eject-button... love that one. WAY fun. But, it probably would be way abused in RL.

After my years in SL I thought I had seen a good portion of what's in here. Then I started flying helicopters (Shergood's are really good simulations of a RL heli). There is so much of SL's mainland you will never find any other way. But, that will never get you to the island regions. Many of which are amazing builds. The best I have found for finding those is the Destination Guide on the website.

As to avatar looks... we have a Christmas shirt somewhere that is a poke at SL vanity. It has a picture of a totally buff, chiseled Santa. We play with our dolls. While you can buy a look you like, SL is also about making things, including awesome looking avatars. Much of one's look is their talent and eye in shaping and dressing their avatar. There are some threads here where some of us show off. Check out Forums->People Forum->Your Avatar->How does your avatar look [today/now] (there are two different similar threads). You'll find loads of envy content. And post your pictures so we can get our eye-candy dose.

If that isn't enough, a bunch of us post images on Flickr. You'll find everything from high-sugar-content-cute to max-heat/lust-porn. It is well separated. You can follow people and join groups that suit your tastes. You'll see many of us have a Flickr link in our forum signature. Others place it in their avatar's profile.

Be sure to fill out your profile, if you haven't. Noting your languages, limit or extent, makes it easier for others. Some, like me, use idiom and slang that messes up translators. So I try avoid them and write in sentences when I know English is not the other person's native language. It also lets you warn-off or welcome sexual advances. It is not highly effective, but it helps with that.

You've met some of the jerks. SL has more than its share of jerks, mental midgets, narcissists, masochists, sadists, vigilantes, fascists, and others you probably won't want to have around. (Masochists can be handy when your having a bad hair day and need to vent.) So the block and mute buttons are handy. For the really annoying there are Abuse Reports. It is good to know how to do both before you need to use them.

SL is a wonder and seems to have no end... lots to explore and do. Again, welcome.

[Janet Voxel]

On 2/1/2021 at 7:05 AM, Ithilwen36 said:

A whole new world of bright lights, fabulous clothes and wonderful people... mostly. A co-worker told me about this 'game' she played and showed me a picture of her avi (which I now know means avatar). She was gorgeous, full lips, exotic eyes and the clothes...flawless. I knew I had to join, but I wasn't going to half-ass it. I looked up videos, google searches and found out what I needed to look as lovely as the avi I'd seen. 

 

As you can imagine, I spent an obscene amount of money and took quite some time to set up my avi just so. And she's lovely. I was feeling quite proud. Until I saw the next gorgeous avi. (Talk about envy!) Fortunately, the people I have met since starting are incredibly supportive, helping me find shopping events, stores and great places to hang out. I started to understand no matter how shiny and new you look, or how classic, you are you and what people will remember more than how sexy your avi looks, is how generally kind you are. 

 

Made friends with a few of the kind ones and look forward to paying that kindness forward to the next new person... but for every 10 great people, there seems to be one jackass or pervert. Understanding the ratio helps you to understand that Second Life in a lot of ways is like real life. You take the rose with the thorns. 

 

And now after all the shopping and dancing and beaches, I'm now discovering more beautiful places and really fun roleplay. There's several places I'm looking forward to exploring, and a lot more fashion I intend to acquire. Here's to being new, broke and discovering here in Second Life.

That was really nice. It's really great to hear from someone that's not being negative all the time. It seems like Second Life is a good fit for you and you've accepted it for what it is! Kudos and good luck out there!

[Semirans]

Seconding the "organize the inventory" comment.  And then there is gacha and events and freebies and hunts.  The SL world is overflowing with pretty things. yeah. pervs and jackasses, but it is easy to block them.

[Ithilwen36]

Thank you to all who responded to my post. I came across this blogging thing accidentally when shopping on Marketplace and just came back to it to see these wonderful responses. I'm so glad to have another avenue of education for SL. There's still so much for me to learn and I'm glad that people give their advice so willingly. I feel fully welcomed to this wonderful world we are in.