My first moments in Second Life. I remember it well. Do you?

[Hippie Bowman]

I was thinking way back to 2006 when I first logged on to this crazy and wonderful world of Second Life!  I remember my first moments clearly.  I was rezzed August 09, 2006, at the old orientation Island.  There I stood, in my new newbie clothes, knowing not a thing about this world.

 

 

I looked at the signs, and tried some to the tutorials.  Walked up to the parrot, and said hi to it!  Tried to move the physical ball and put it on the table.  Failed a that!  LOL!  Then the flying.  You had to fly over the ravine, to the small pavilion, at the end of orientation.    Took me a bit to get over there.  I was not a good flyer.  I did notice that there where lots of people, and some willing to help too!  I received free clothes, and LM's to Free shopping!

 

At the end there was a sign to exit the island and enter into Second Life proper.  I went back to look at more of the tutorials that I had not looked at.  I then flew back to the pavilion at the end and clicked the sign to get into SL.

 

This is where it gets just a bit foggy.  I believe I ended up at Ahern Info hub.

There a very nice lady took me in hand and showed me around a bit.  Her name is Belize (Last name left out for TOS reasons).  I was so confused.  I stumbled, and bumbled about, just like any good noob should!  If not for Belize, I may not have stayed in SL.  She showed me how to shop, dress, walk, dance, sit, and more!  I have sense tried to contact her, but have never been able too.  I am forever grateful to her for showing me the ropes.  I never saw her again, after that.  I wish I could, to thank her!  Sigh!  Thank you Belize, wherever you are.  I am all grown up now, and I want to thank you for it! 

 

The next few days I spent exploring.  Taking in all I could, in my very newbish ways.  One place I found was Help People Island!  I never knew, that in the future, I would be a part if this fine organization, and become a building teacher there.  The place has closed now just a couple of months ago.  And we have re-banded into a new group called Helpers Haven!  Great people ready to help!

 

Okay!  How about you good people!  Can you remember your first moments in Second life?  Your post is welcome here!  Dig?  Far out and groovy!

 

Peace!

 

 

 

 

 

[Charolotte Caxton]

There was a parrot in my beginning as well! That was June 2010.

I spent my first few moments adjusting my clothing.

Then I made a friend and we became sisters, since we were both new and had the same birthdates.

I am glad there is no limit to the friends list, if there is, I intend to find out!

Peace  

[Hippie Bowman]

---

Carholotte Caxton wrote:

There was a parrot in my beginning as well! That was June 2010.

I spent my first few moments adjusting my clothing.

Then I made a friend and we became sisters, since we were both new and had the same birthdates.

I am glad there is no limit to the friends list, if there is, I intend to find out!

Peace

 

---

:matte-motes-oh-rly:Oh yes!  I intend to find that out too!  My Friends list is very large, and I have only de friended a couple of people!  Thanks for the post  Carholotte!

 

Peace!

[Deltango Vale]

How can one forget Ahern? For several weeks, I lived in a nearby lake. I used to return to the bottom of the lake to log out. Y'see, I thought our bodies remained inworld when we logged out, so I would try to find a hiding place for her.

Yup, that's me sitting on the bottom of the lake.

Eventually, I discovered a deep well in another sim from which to log out. The sim owner must have thought I was mad because he filled in the well. I ended up buying the sim from him - and placed a marker where the well had been. The marker remains, five years later.

[Charolotte Caxton]

That is so cute!

It's a good thing you weren't in the well when he filled it in!

[Canoro Philipp]

i remember login in for the first time, there was a place with 4 ways to go, i went to a tower where i got a medieval shirt and a torch i think, i climbed up some the stairs on the side fo a castle and there were signs how to edit your shape, after thinking a little bit what can i do with the sliders, the first thing that came to mind was to make myself, i didnt do a very good job, i ended up with huge eyes and a big forehead, and with no idea how to balance them. it was ok, at least i was original.

i remember going back to that sort of plaza and went to the left, where i climbed a small mountain and talk with the parrot, and then i went back and saw some high buildings, in the streets you had to kill some rats with a car or something like that, and i spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to fly, i was almost ready to give up until i did something and it worked.

the next thing to figure out was how to get out of there. i walked around looking at things, walking between the other confused people, i didnt ask for help because i was sure the others knew as much as i did, so i had to solve that by myself, finally i think i got a landmark and teleported to a place with less people, maybe because they couldnt figure out how to get out of there either, then another person teleported after me and i had my first friend, just to test that thing, i examined the objects around, a white bridge, a little house in the corner if i remember well, and somehow i found a way to the rest of second life.

cant remember all the details, but i still can see in my memory some of those places, moving the sliders, walking with the torch, the high buildings with arrows pointing to where you had to fly.

when you are born, is one of the greatest memories one can have of Second Life.

thanks for bringing me back to that special moment Hippie!

[Marcus Hancroft]

I surely remember Orientation Island as well!  The first photo with the round pavers pointing to the next section brought the memory to  mind vividly!  I remember the parrot as well.  Getting the free clothes at the pavilion.  I remember it all.  Luckily, I had a friend already in SL and he sent me a teleport and helped me get started. 

That was over 3 years ago now! 

So much has happened since then.  Too much really to go into here, but, it's been a helluva ride so far!

[Jo Yardley]

I rushed trough orientation island, having no patience and thinking I'd be able to figure it out on my own.

I explored SL for a few days and thought it was just about virtual sex, shopping and chatting.

Not my cup of tea.

Of course I also bumped into all sorts of perverts, naked, vulgar and rude people.

So SL was not for me.

I left.

 

Years later I returned to try my new computer and just before leaving again because SL still was stupid, I tried search to look for something I am interested in; history, vintage, retro, etc.

Then I discovered a scene with people I actually liked doing stuff I was actually interested in.

Not much later we discussed what kind of sim to build... within weeks of re-joining SL I started the 1920s Berlin Project and the rest is history.

[wiked Anton]

i first rezzed in help island, I walked around and felt my way through. I asked lots of people questions and got no replies ( they were probably new too) and so first thought SL is full of ignorant people. I even came across a group of people that contantly spoke in voice, heard them talking about how there inventories were up to 60,000 Items and decided they these people would help m eget off this damm Island. Alas they were REAL ignorant assholes that never even bothered to answer my IMs or chat. eventually, after about 2 weeks, i came accross a helper that had come online while i was online and they told me about TP's. I was so happy to get the hell of that island. since then my experience _nearly 3 years) hase been wide and varied, Sl is still full of ignorant assholes, but i ignore them and talk to nice people. I first learned of SL in a CSI episode, wondered about it, and after a year decided ti check it out, unfortunately my graphics card wasnt up to it and it took my another few months to get around to urgrading it. I have upgraded it a couple of times since then.

[Ry0ta Exonar]

Yep. I was rezzed in a small room at a hotel in a Japanese info hub which has gone for quite some time. They had several such rooms for newbies to be born in and we were supposed to go through some tutorial in that hotel, but what I did first was not taking the tutorial but playing around with my appearance. I think I spent a few hours in that room tweaking the sliders cuz I wanted to make a hot avatar. lol  Below is the outcome. This pic was taken 4 days later though.

After I was happy with how it came out, I started the tutorial. One of the first things I learned in the room was how to buy pajamas and a pair of mules to go out of the room. At the end of the tutorial was a freebie section. I still have some of the items I got there. *_*

 

[Willow Danube]

My boss told me to get an account in the company's official SL registration site so I could explore the new buildings that would be used as a demo and virtual meetings in the future. It was a trial phase and he wanted to get people whom at least had played The Sims before to try out this place and give their feedback.

I logged in and materialised in the company's sim. There was no Orientation Island for me nor Welcome Areas. So I kinda roamed around in that sim not knowing what to do and just left, double, right clicking on stuff to see if it was interactive. Of course, I got bored after half an hour. I thought maybe I should just focus on my avatar and see if I could change her makeups and hair.

And, I did... I had my avatar stripped to her granny's underwears, her brows was as thick as Mario's, her face looked like a clown, her hair was detached about 1 meter from her now bald head. I was getting upset for not being able to figure out why I wasn't able to get her completely naked. What I didn't know was that, whatever I do in the open everyone will be able to see it.

That was when James, the cute shy guy from the graphic department logged in. My avatar was only within eyesight of the TP area. He saw me, moved near me without as much as saying Hi or Welcome. He stood there for a few minutes (probably laughing at his desk in RL) watching me before walking away into the building. At this time, I was still thinking that I was in an invisible mode and he couldn't see what I was doing.

About 5 minutes later, I managed to get my underwears to the skimpiest numbers... remember I was trying to get her naked. It was then when I saw at least 5 more avatars tp'd in! They saw me and came circling my avatar, again, without saying anything. I thought it was the strangest thing I've encountered in any games I have played.

That was when I got a pager from James in RL to get the hell out of there. I rang him up to ask and he told me that those guys were executives who wanted to have a look at the demo themselves. They were using skype to communicate and I was currently the hot topic! They thought I was a bot and I was part of the live demo and that they were actually impressed by it.

I was quite embarrased, logged off, cancelled that account and created a new one. Since that account was strictly for RL work, I couldn't use it for casual activities. So I created my third account under SL's official website and went through all the usual orientation and tutorials.

[Six Igaly]

My first memories are from October 2006, LAG and a awful lot of GREY.  What a miserable PC I had back then ahah. I stood there on orientation Island, alone as far as I knew. Then, when I started to walk, I learned I was not alone at all, bumping in to several invisible people (and obstacles). After hours and hours of rubber banding and bumping in to invisible obstacles I found the way out. What a torture it was and what a torture was ahead of me. My first week was a week of grayness and a lot of crushed toes when I arrived somewhere new. Then somewhere in my second week I stumbled in to Dusty's at Peace, how miraculous, right after that Simi was crashed. A totally deserted camping place, a room filled with well paying bean bags. This became my 'home' location for about 2 months. 'Earned' my first 2k there and learned a lot about SL just by hanging around and getting paid for it too. I just have one image left from those first weeks, I had bought me my first clothes. This image was my first profile pic. (note the details of the surrounding LOL). BTW, it was me in the RL way of speaking, the AV on the image 'died' early 2007.  Six arrived after that (Skipping orientation island straight in to a skin/shape/hair store.)

[Phil Deakins]

A family friend introduced me to SL. As soon as I was created, she TPed me elsewhere so I didn't go through the "pleasures" of Orientation Island. I was only checking SL out to see if it was going to be interesting enough to buy a suitable graphics card, which I did soon afterwards. Until I got it, all avatars were black - silhouettes - although everything else was as it should be.

So nothing interesting, I'm afraid.

[Coby Foden]

---

Deltango Vale wrote:

I used to return to the bottom of the lake to log out. Y'see, I thought our bodies remained inworld when we logged out, so I would try to find a hiding place for her.

---

You have not been alone with that idea. I once met new guy sitting on a hill top facing nice scenery below. We had a short chat, then he said that he must log off. He said "I always come to this spot to logoff". "Why's that?" I asked. He replied "You see, I want that my avatar has something nice to look at while I'm away."

Well, there was a time in my youth when I was wondering where are all the logged off avatars hiding. They surely just cannot vanish at logoff, can they? There must be some hidden place where they are transported during log off. :smileytongue:

[Maitimo]

On my first day I landed at Braunworth infohub. I don't remember much of what I did though. It was a long time ago.

[Hippie Bowman]

---

Deltango Vale wrote:

How can one forget Ahern? For several weeks, I lived in a nearby lake. I used to return to the bottom of the lake to log out. Y'see, I thought our bodies remained inworld when we logged out, so I would try to find a hiding place for her.

Yup, that's me sitting on the bottom of the lake.

Eventually, I discovered a deep well in another sim from which to log out. The sim owner must have thought I was mad because he filled in the well. I ended up buying the sim from him - and placed a marker where the well had been. The marker remains, five years later.

---

Oh that is so cool!  I would love to visit your "well"!  LOL!   Thanks for sharing Deltango!

 

Peace!

[Hippie Bowman]

---

Charolotte Caxton wrote:

That is so cute!

It's a good thing you weren't in the well when he filled it in!

---

LOL!  :smileysurprised:

 

Peace!

[Hippie Bowman]

---

Canoro Philipp wrote:

i remember login in for the first time, there was a place with 4 ways to go, i went to a tower where i got a medieval shirt and a torch i think, i climbed up some the stairs on the side fo a castle and there were signs how to edit your shape, after thinking a little bit what can i do with the sliders, the first thing that came to mind was to make myself, i didnt do a very good job, i ended up with huge eyes and a big forehead, and with no idea how to balance them. it was ok, at least i was original.

i remember going back to that sort of plaza and went to the left, where i climbed a small mountain and talk with the parrot, and then i went back and saw some high buildings, in the streets you had to kill some rats with a car or something like that, and i spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to fly, i was almost ready to give up until i did something and it worked.

the next thing to figure out was how to get out of there. i walked around looking at things, walking between the other confused people, i didnt ask for help because i was sure the others knew as much as i did, so i had to solve that by myself, finally i think i got a landmark and teleported to a place with less people, maybe because they couldnt figure out how to get out of there either, then another person teleported after me and i had my first friend, just to test that thing, i examined the objects around, a white bridge, a little house in the corner if i remember well, and somehow i found a way to the rest of second life.

cant remember all the details, but i still can see in my memory some of those places, moving the sliders, walking with the torch, the high buildings with arrows pointing to where you had to fly.

when you are born, is one of the greatest memories one can have of Second Life.

thanks for bringing me back to that special moment Hippie!

---

What a great story Canoro!  Thanks for sharing here!

 

Peace!

[Hippie Bowman]

---

Marcus Hancroft wrote:

I surely remember Orientation Island as well!  The first photo with the round pavers pointing to the next section brought the memory to  mind vividly!  I remember the parrot as well.  Getting the free clothes at the pavilion.  I remember it all.  Luckily, I had a friend already in SL and he sent me a teleport and helped me get started. 

That was over 3 years ago now! 

So much has happened since then.  Too much really to go into here, but, it's been a helluva ride so far!

---

Oh yes Marcus!  It has been a great ride so far!  BTW!  You can still go the the original Orientation Island.  Well,  copy of the island that is, as you may know, you can not return to your birthplace.  Ever!  Thanks for sharing here!

 

Peace!

[Hippie Bowman]

---

Jo Yardley wrote:

I rushed trough orientation island, having no patience and thinking I'd be able to figure it out on my own.

I explored SL for a few days and thought it was just about virtual sex, shopping and chatting.

Not my cup of tea.

Of course I also bumped into all sorts of perverts, naked, vulgar and rude people.

So SL was not for me.

I left.

 

Years later I returned to try my new computer and just before leaving again because SL still was stupid, I tried search to look for something I am interested in; history, vintage, retro, etc.

Then I discovered a scene with people I actually liked doing stuff I was actually interested in.

Not much later we discussed what kind of sim to build... within weeks of re-joining SL I started the 1920s Berlin Project and the rest is history.

---

Great story Jo!  Yes!  Sex, drugs, and rock and roll, is what SL is about to a lot of people!  But there is so so much more!  Your 1920's Berlin Project is so cool and far out!  It is one of my favorite places in SL!  Thanks for sharing Jo!

 

Peace!

[Hippie Bowman]

---

wiked Anton wrote:

i first rezzed in help island, I walked around and felt my way through. I asked lots of people questions and got no replies ( they were probably new too) and so first thought SL is full of ignorant people. I even came across a group of people that contantly spoke in voice, heard them talking about how there inventories were up to 60,000 Items and decided they these people would help m eget off this damm Island. Alas they were REAL ignorant assholes that never even bothered to answer my IMs or chat. eventually, after about 2 weeks, i came accross a helper that had come online while i was online and they told me about TP's. I was so happy to get the hell of that island. since then my experience _nearly 3 years) hase been wide and varied, Sl is still full of ignorant assholes, but i ignore them and talk to nice people. I first learned of SL in a CSI episode, wondered about it, and after a year decided ti check it out, unfortunately my graphics card wasnt up to it and it took my another few months to get around to urgrading it. I have upgraded it a couple of times since then.

---

Great story Wiked!  Thanks for sharing here!  Far out!

 

Peace!

[Hippie Bowman]

---

Ry0ta Exonar wrote:

Yep. I was rezzed in a small room at a hotel in a Japanese info hub which has gone for quite some time. They had several such rooms for newbies to be born in and we were supposed to go through some tutorial in that hotel, but what I did first was not taking the tutorial but playing around with my appearance.

I think I spent a few hours in that room tweaking the sliders cuz I wanted to make a hot avatar. lol  Below is the outcome. This pic was taken 4 days later though.

After I was happy with how it came out, I started the tutorial. One of the first things I learned in the room was how to buy pajamas and a pair of mules to go out of the room. At the end of the tutorial was a freebie section. I still have some of the items I got there. *_*

 

---

Great story Ry0ta!  And what a wild look 4 days later!  Thanks for sharing here!  Groovy!

 

Peace!

[Hippie Bowman]

---

Willow Danube wrote:

My boss told me to get an account in the company's official SL registration site so I could explore the new buildings that would be used as a demo and virtual meetings in the future. It was a trial phase and he wanted to get people whom at least had played The Sims before to try out this place and give their feedback.

I logged in and materialised in the company's sim. There was no Orientation Island for me nor Welcome Areas. So I kinda roamed around in that sim not knowing what to do and just left, double, right clicking on stuff to see if it was interactive. Of course, I got bored after half an hour. I thought maybe I should just focus on my avatar and see if I could change her makeups and hair.

And, I did... I had my avatar stripped to her granny's underwears, her brows was as thick as Mario's, her face looked like a clown, her hair was detached about 1 meter from her now bald head. I was getting upset for not being able to figure out why I wasn't able to get her completely naked. What I didn't know was that, whatever I do in the open everyone will be able to see it.

That was when James, the cute shy guy from the graphic department logged in. My avatar was only within eyesight of the TP area. He saw me, moved near me without as much as saying Hi or Welcome. He stood there for a few minutes (probably laughing at his desk in RL) watching me before walking away into the building. At this time, I was still thinking that I was in an invisible mode and he couldn't see what I was doing.

About 5 minutes later, I managed to get my underwears to the skimpiest numbers... remember I was trying to get her naked. It was then when I saw at least 5 more avatars tp'd in! They saw me and came circling my avatar, again, without saying anything. I thought it was the strangest thing I've encountered in any games I have played.

That was when I got a pager from James in RL to get the hell out of there. I rang him up to ask and he told me that those guys were executives who wanted to have a look at the demo themselves. They were using skype to communicate and I was currently the hot topic! They thought I was a bot and I was part of the live demo and that they were actually impressed by it.

I was quite embarrased, logged off, cancelled that account and created a new one. Since that account was strictly for RL work, I couldn't use it for casual activities. So I created my third account under SL's official website and went through all the usual orientation and tutorials.

---

HEHE Willow!  Great story!  We all try to get naked I know!  But not in front of the Boss!  HAHAH!  Love it my friend!  Thanks for shaing here!

 

Peace!

[Hippie Bowman]

---

Six Igaly wrote:

My first memories are from October 2006, LAG and a awful lot of GREY.  What a miserable PC I had back then ahah. I stood there on orientation Island, alone as far as I knew. Then, when I started to walk, I learned I was not alone at all, bumping in to several invisible people (and obstacles). After hours and hours of rubber banding and bumping in to invisible obstacles I found the way out. What a torture it was and what a torture was ahead of me. My first week was a week of grayness and a lot of crushed toes when I arrived somewhere new. Then somewhere in my second week I stumbled in to Dusty's at Peace, how miraculous, right after that Simi was crashed. A totally deserted camping place, a room filled with well paying bean bags. This became my 'home' location for about 2 months. 'Earned' my first 2k there and learned a lot about SL just by hanging around and getting paid for it too. I just have one image left from those first weeks, I had bought me my first clothes. This image was my first profile pic. (note the details of the surrounding LOL). BTW, it was me in the RL way of speaking, the AV on the image 'died' early 2007.  Six arrived after that (Skipping orientation island straight in to a skin/shape/hair store.)

---

Great story Six!  Thanks for sharing it here!

 

Peace!

[Hippie Bowman]

---

Phil Deakins wrote:

A family friend introduced me to SL. As soon as I was created, she TPed me elsewhere so I didn't go through the "pleasures" of Orientation Island. I was only checking SL out to see if it was going to be interesting enough to buy a suitable graphics card, which I did soon afterwards. Until I got it, all avatars were black - silhouettes - although everything else was as it should be.

So nothing interesting, I'm afraid.

---

Ahh!  SL is a great reason to get a great graphics card! /me is hoping Santa will look kindly on me this year!  Thanks for sharing your story Phil!

 

Peace!