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General information Information for landholders and other stakeholders How venues and content are selected Editors' picks Destinations floater Newcomer friendly Adult-rated areas Submission guidelines Image specifications Text specifications Contact the Linden Lab editors General information The Second Life Destination Guide highlights some of the best inworld locations and Resident creations. For new and existing Residents alike, it is the place to go to explore and discover what's most exciting in Second Life. Linden Lab keeps the Destination Guide fresh with regular updates, so check back frequently! The Destination Guide is available in several different ways: See all destinations listed on the guide directly on the Web at http://secondlife.com/destinations. In the Second Life Viewer: Click in the toolbar, or Destinations under the World Menu (it opens the destinations floater in the viewer). The DESTINATIONS floater displays a few categories of destinations that are hand-picked by our Editorial team. Click to open the Second Life Search window. Then check the Destination Guide box and search or peruse the incredible variety of locations and events! Information for landholders and other stakeholders Currently, the best way for a Resident to promote a venue, event, or business is through inworld search or the classifieds. We encourage all venue owners to review the guidelines at the Search FAQ for information on how to maximize your presence using inworld Search. Venues and content featured in the Destination Guide are not paid placements. However, we welcome Resident suggestions for cool spots to feature. Some entries included in the Guide are also surfaced on the website for Residents exploring SecondLife.com for the first time. You can submit a venue for consideration on the Destination Guide Suggestion Page. Be sure to follow the submission guidelines below. Note: By nominating a venue, you authorize Linden Lab to use its content. Journalists, publishers, filmmakers, and others interested in Second Life often contact Linden Lab for images of Second Life. Linden Lab may direct these parties to the Destination Guide for promotional shots. How venues and content are selected Selections for inclusion are at the sole discretion of Linden Lab. Criteria favoring selection: The venue is a high-quality implementation of the Second Life experience. The venue appeals broadly to the Second Life community, including new Residents. The submission includes a compelling and visually interesting screenshot. The submitted description text accurately describes the location. Criteria weighing against selection: The venue has been warned for failure to comply with some aspect of the Terms of Service. The venue and/or submitted screenshot appears to contain unlicensed, copyrighted, and/or trademarked content that may not be authorized by the rights holder. The venue is currently violating the Terms of Service through use of bots, campers, illegal gambling, or mainland Adult content. The venue is not open to the public and Residents must join a group to enter. The submitted screenshot contains photoshopped text over the image. The submitted description text is not in complete sentences or third-person voice and includes lists of keywords and/or incoherent or inaccurate text. Editors' picks Editors' Picks features fun and beautiful destinations selected by our Editorial team. It is rotated every couple of weeks to give other destinations a chance to be featured. To increase your chances of having your Destination featured in Editors’ Picks, consider whether your venue meets some of the following criteria: Is it newcomer-friendly? Does the region have scripted kickers, age limits, or other payment info restrictions set in place that would restrict access or reduce a quality experience for newer users? Are all areas of the destination open to the public? In an effort to make Editors' Picks more new user friendly, we are not considering any Adult rated regions for it. Please note that you cannot request to be featured in Editors' Picks. Who is featured, when they are featured, and for how long they are featured is up to the discretion of the Editorial team. Destinations floater The destinations featured in the Destinations Floater in the viewer are just a small selection that are picked by our Editorial team and are often rotated (except for the "What's Hot Now" category, which is auto-generated.) To increase your chances of having your Destination featured in the floater, consider whether your venue meets some of the following criteria: Is it newcomer-friendly? Does the region have scripted kickers, age limits, or other payment info restrictions set in place that would restrict access or reduce a quality experience for newer users? Are all areas of the destination open to the public? In an effort to make the floater more new user friendly, we are not adding any Adult rated regions or categories to the floater. The "What's Hot Now" category is auto-generated by the system and is not controlled by us. It randomly features any destinations listed on the Destination Guide that currently have 20+ avatars on the region. Newcomer friendly The destinations featured in the Newcomer Friendly Spots category of the Destination Guide are part of our Community Gateway Program or have been picked by our Editorial team because they may meet some of the following suggested guidelines: Is the landing point (and any immediate surrounding areas) optimized for new residents? For example, is it set correctly so arriving visitors land at the right spot? Also, do navigation tools like teleporters route people to the right place? Avoid use of "insider" language or instructions that may be confusing to someone accessing Second Life as a new Resident. Is the venue arrival experience free of unsolicited group invites, excessive notecards, and other inventory offers? These notifications are confusing to many new Residents, who are unfamiliar with how groups and inventory work in Second Life. Are there clear pointers to get further help with Second Life? For example, a link to our Support Portal or the Second Life Answers community help. Does the venue have an active and welcoming community within close proximity of the landing point? Are there Residents available to give guided tours? The region must not have scripted kickers, age limits, or other payment info restrictions set in place that would restrict access or reduce a quality experience for newer users. Adult-rated areas Second Life’s Destination Guide aims to include a wide variety of communities and venues, including those in regions with Adult ratings. However, as a globally available service, Second Life is subject to many regional restrictions that prohibit advertising or promotion for some types of content and services, such as escorts and explicit content, including nudity. Because content listed in the Destination Guide can be seen by users of all ages and in all territories, no descriptions — regardless of rating — should contain explicit or overtly sexual language or imagery. Linden Lab’s guidelines for inclusion of adult-rated content in the Destination Guide aim to be consistent with the search-industry standards for advertising and search-engine promotion, as seen in these published guidelines by Google, Microsoft and Yahoo: Google AdWords Adult Content Guidelines Bing Ads/Microsoft Adult Content Guidelines Verizon Media Adult Content Guidelines As with all Destination Guide submissions, each entry is subject to review and editing by Linden Lab editorial staff. For more information on Second Life and Maturity Ratings, see Second Life Maturity Ratings page in the Knowledge Base and the Adult_Content_FAQ in the wiki. Submission guidelines You may suggest a destination using the form if: You personally own the parcel. You belong to the group that owns the parcel. You are on the access list of the Private Region that contains the parcel. The parcel belongs to Governor Linden and is set in ABOUT LAND > OPTIONS tab as a Hangout. The parcel belongs to a friend and is set in ABOUT LAND > OPTIONS tab as a Hangout. The parcel is 512m2 or larger. Suggested venues must comply with all of the following: Community Standards Trademark Guidelines Terms of Service DMCA policy Snapshot and machinima Policy Warning: Do not suggest content that is copyrighted or otherwise subject to another party's proprietary rights (including privacy, publicity, trademark, and trade secret rights) unless you own the rights or have the owner's permission. Content determined to infringe upon intellectual property rights is removed from our website and services. Residents are limited to two suggestions per month. You can also email the Destination Guide editors your suggestions. Please include a link to your image that meets the submission criteria below: Image specifications The quality and aesthetic composition of your image helps persuade Residents to visit your suggested inworld location, so submit a well-composed screenshot that captures the creativity, community, and/or aesthetic beauty of your venue. Do not photoshop, layer, and embed any text or logos on the photo itself. It should be a clear image of the inworld location. The Destination Guide submission form asks you to include a link to a web-hosted screenshot of your venue. Your image can be hosted on any photo-sharing or web-hosting site, such as Flickr. Use JPG format with the dimensions of 657 width by 394 height, in pixels (657x394 has a 5:3 aspect ratio). For example (see on Flickr) Be sure to include the full URL to the web-hosted screenshot for your listing. Please note that the Destination Guide user suggestion form may reject images that do not meet this exact criteria. In some cases, Linden Lab editors may re-shoot images to improve visual clarity or composition, but we strongly prefer you submit quality images to begin with. Note: If you receive a form error when you try to submit your suggested destination, please email the Linden Lab editors. Include the submission suggestion and the info requested in the form (title, description, SLurl link) along with the image as an attachment. Text specifications On the submission form, aim for a description under 400 characters and a title under 25 characters Destination Guide uses third-person voice, so avoid the use of first-person language (such as I, we, our, us, and my). Also, refrain from using adult language, overly-hyped or promotion-heavy language, or advertising job vacancies. Destination Guide entries should be informative rather than overtly promotional. Lists of keywords are not acceptable as descriptive text, please use complete sentences. Linden Lab reserves the right to edit material for length and clarity. Contact the Linden Lab editors For questions or update requests to existing entries, or to report an error — like a wrong SLurl or place that's gone — contact the Linden Lab editors via email. Please note that we are not able to respond to every inquiry, however, we welcome all comments, feedback, and suggestions.

Posting events Finding events Destination Guide Featured Events Community Events page Resident-run websites Following the crowd Hosting events on group-owned land More information See your Second Life Events page for an overview of current and upcoming events in Second Life. For more general information on events, see Events on the Second Life Wiki. Posting events Important: We charge a fee for each event you create. Please see the events page. To post an event: Go to the Events page. Click Submit New Event. Read the rules, comply, and post. If you have a Premium or Premium Plus membership, you can post a repeating event: Set the Repeating dropdown to Weekly or Monthly, and set the Number of repeats dropdown to the desired number. Remember that you will be charged the event creation fee for each repeat of the event. See also our Guide to Large Event Technical Considerations. Finding events Second Life is thriving with all kinds of vibrant events! Here are tips on how to find the ones that interest you. Destination Guide featured events The Destination Guide showcases an ever-growing collection of amazing Second Life places, both submitted by Residents and hand-picked by the editorial team. Major events with broad appeal get a category of their own, Featured Events — a quick, convenient way to get some highlights. More: Destination Guide FAQ. Destination Guide Featured Events. You can also browse the Destination Guide from the Viewer's FIND window: In the search bar (upper-right), click the magnifying glass. Click the Destination Guide tab. Click View All Destinations. Use the dropdown menu under Category to view Featured Events and more. You can also filter your results by typing keywords in the Search field. Community Events page The Community Events page is the general events listing. As expected, it tends to be crowded, but try it and see if you discover something of interest. There's also a searchable alternate view. Like the Destination Guide, the general events listing can also be browsed in the Viewer's FIND window, under the Events tab. Resident-run websites Many Resident-owned blogs cater to specific community groups and niche interests. For example, fashion blogs report on events organized by participating stores. If there are certain creators you appreciate, check to see if they have a news feed listing upcoming events. Here are some specific examples: Chestnau Rau's Choices on New World Notes ProfileSLive.com's Second Life Events Calendar Virtual World Trivia Following the crowd A mass of green dots on the World Map window means many avatars are in one spot. Often, this means there's a hot event going on — it could be a formal happening or a spontaneous gathering of friends — and you can easily find out by double-clicking the map location to teleport. Hosting events on group-owned land To host an event on group-owned land, you must have the "event host" role in the group. You can also add this ability to an existing group role. To create an "event host" role, follow these steps: Select Communicate > My Groups. Mouse over your group name, and then click Group Profile to display details for the group. Expand the Roles section. Click the Roles tab. Click New Role to create a new role, as shown at right. 6. Enter A Role Name A Role Title (for example, "Event host") A Description (optional) 7. Under Allowed Abilities, select the Allow 'Event Hosting' on group land checkbox. 8. Click Save. Allowing others to post events for your estate Estate owners are allowed to post events on their estate by default if the estate is visible. If you would like other Residents to have the same ability, simply add them to your Allowed list in the Estate tab of the Region/Estate window. More information For more information on groups, see: Joining and participating in groups Creating, managing, moderating, and disbanding groups Group-owned land

Prerequisites and setup Configuring device settings Technical requirements Enabling and disabling voice Testing voice Overview of voice in Second Life Voice-enabled land Voice dots Using toggle-to-speak mode The Conversations window Blocking people Speech gestures Nearby voice chat Volume and camera position Listening distance Controlling speakers' volume Individual voice chat Ad hoc conference call Group voice chat Voice settings for landowners How to enable or disable voice Maturity ratings and voice Troubleshooting Reducing background noise Voice morphing How to preview a voice morph How to get voice morphs How to use a voice morph This article describes Second Life's voice chat features and how to use them. Prerequisites and setup To use voice chat you need a: Computer that fulfills the System Requirements. Broadband (DSL or cable) connection to the Internet. Headset (strongly recommended), or a microphone and speakers for your computer. Using earphones avoids potential issues with feedback or disruptive echoes. Configuring device settings Your device settings determine the microphone and speakers that Second Life uses. To configure your device settings: Choose Me > Preferences. Click the Sound & Media tab. Click the Input/Output devices button. Click the Input dropdown to select a device for your microphone Click the Output dropdown to select a device for your speakers. In some cases, you may need to exit and restart the Second Life Viewer. If you prefer, you can change the default input and output devices on your operating system. See your operating system documentation for more information. Technical requirements Voice requires at least 32kbps upload and 64kbps download bandwidth, regardless of the number of speakers. UDP ports 5060 or 5062 must be open. For information on using voice behind a firewall, see Configuring your firewall. Enabling and disabling voice By default, voice is enabled in the Second Life Viewer. To turn it off: Choose Me > Preferences. Click the Sound & Media tab. Deselect Enabled next to Voice Chat. Voice is disabled immediately, and all of the voice settings will be grayed out. This means you can't hear anyone talking nor be heard yourself. Testing voice Second Life has a special region set up for testing voice chat -- Voice Echo Canyon. When you want to test your voice chat and check how you sound, teleport to Voice Echo Canyon and start talking. Whatever you say there will be repeated back to you on a slight delay so you can test the quality of your voice. No one else will hear anything that you're saying, so it's an easy and private way to troubleshoot your voice chat's sound. Overview of voice in Second Life There are the following types of voice chat in Second Life: Nearby voice chat among people in close proximity inworld. See Nearby voice chat. Individual voice chat (also called a voice call), a private conversation between two people. See Individual voice chat. Group voice chat among members of a Second Life group. See Group voice chat. See Group voice chat. Important: You can only participate in one type of voice chat at a time. For example: If you're talking to people around you in spatial chat and then start an individual chat, you won't be able to hear those around you anymore in spatial chat, nor will they hear you. Voice-enabled land To use voice, the land you are on must be voice-enabled. If the land you are on does not have voice enabled, the Speak button is dimmed and you can't click it. To check whether the land you are on is voice enabled, choose World > Place Profile. This window shows On next to Voice if the parcel has voice enabled. Voice dots Voice-enabled avatars have white "voice dots" floating above their heads (including your own). Green or red waves radiating from the voice dot indicate someone is speaking. This is the voice intensity indicator, and also indicates their volume: green indicates the volume is within normal range; red indicates the volume is too loud, potentially causing distortion or clipping. Important: If the voice intensity indicator turns red, then either: You're speaking too loudly. The microphone is too close to your mouth. Your microphone's volume control is turned up too far. Adjust these things until the voice indicator stays green when you speak and seldom flickers to red. Using toggle-to-speak mode In toggle-to-speak mode, you turn and off your voice chat microphone by pressing a certain key. To configure toggle-to-speak: Select Me > Preferences > Sound & Media. Select Toggle speak on/off when I press. Click Set Key. A popup prompts you to Press a key to set your Speak button. Press the desired key and click Set Key. Click OK to save your changes. Now pressing that key toggles the microphone on or off. The Conversations window Click the Chat button to display the Conversations window that displays the people in your current chat, either spatial, group or individual chat. People who are talking are shown at the top of the list. To control the speaker's volume: Mouse over their name in the Conversations window Click . Use the slider to set their volume. Blocking people Block someone to silence their voice chat, instant messages (IMs) and text chat: Right-click their avatar choose Block. Alternatively, right-click the Resident's name in the the Conversations window to block them. This should always be your first step if someone inworld is irritating, attacking, or griefing you. For more information, see Blocking. Speech gestures Second Life speech gestures are animations that automatically play as you are speaking in voice chat. The speech gestures are randomly selected from nine different animations in your Library's Gestures folder, based on the intensity of your voice. There are sets of gestures for low, medium, and high-intensity speech volumes. To enable speech gestures, drag the folder labeled "Speech Gestures" from your Library on to your avatar. To disable them, right-click the Speech Gestures folder and select Take Off Items. For more information on gestures, see Gestures and animations. Nearby voice chat Nearby voice chat is when you are talking to someone you can see inworld. It is sometimes referred to as spatial voice chat. If you're on voice-enabled land, simply walk up to another voice-enabled avatar and click on the Speak button at the bottom of the Viewer window to talk to them. When others speak, you see their intensity indicators and hear their voices as they hear yours. As you walk around someone speaking, you'll hear their voice move around in 3D. For example, if you turn toward someone and move closer, for example, his or her voice grows louder. Volume and camera position By default in nearby voice chat, a speaker's volume depends on how far the avatar is from your camera's position. For example, if you walk up to someone who is speaking, their voice becomes louder. As you move away, the voice becomes softer, until you can't hear it at all. Use the camera controls (Alt-mouse zooming, for example) to create a momentary "audio focus" on a given speaker. This is helpful to pick a voice out of a crowd of talking avatars without moving. You can set whether to listen from your avatar's position or your camera's position as follows: Choose Me > Preferences > Sound & Media Click Listen from: Camera position to listen from the camera position. Click Listen from: Avatar position to listen from your avatar's position. Click OK. Listening distance The listening distance for nearby voice chat depends on a preference setting. You can hear voice chat up to 60 meters from your listening position. Therefore, if you selected : Listen from: Avatar position, you can hear voice chat up to 60 meters away. Listen from: Camera position, you can hear voice chat from up to 110 meters away (because your camera can be up to 50 meters from your avatar, plus 60 meters from your camera). Group voice chat and indivdual voice calls have no distance limitations. Controlling speakers' volume To adjust the volume of people in nearby chat: Mouse over their avatar Click . Adjust the slider at the bottom of the window or click on the speaker icon to turn off someone's speaking volume altogether. Alternatively, you can control volume using the VOICE SETTINGS window as explained below. Individual voice chat You can talk to another person directly, no matter where you are inworld. This is sometimes referred to as a private call or private voice chat. If you're using IM to talk to someone and they have voice enabled, you can click Call to initiate a individucal voice chat session. To start a individual voice chat session with a friend: Click at the bottom of the Second Life window. The PEOPLE window opens. In the NEARBY or FRIENDS tab, mouse over the person to whom you wish to talk. Double-click on their name. In the window that opens, click Call A pop-up advises you that you'll be leaving nearby voice chat; meanwhile the person you are calling sees a pop-up asking if they want to accept your call. If they do so, your private conversation starts. If not, then you are returned to nearby voice chat. Ad hoc conference call An ad hoc conference call is a private conversation among a set of people you choose. They don't have to be your friends or in a group. To start an ad hoc call: Click at the bottom of the Second Life window. The PEOPLE window opens. In the NEARBY or FRIENDS tab, Ctrl-click on the people to whom you wish to talk. Right click on the selected people and choose Voice call. An ad hoc group conference starts among the people you chose. Group voice chat To start a voice chat session with a group: Click at the bottom of the Second Life window. The PEOPLE window opens. Click the GROUPS tab. Double-click the name of a group. A new window opens. Click Call. In general, when you're talking to a group, the window works exactly like it does for nearby chat. It: Displays a list of everyone in the group who's talking or typing Tracks the volume of individual speakers Displays the group text chat history Offers individual volume and mute controls Voice settings for landowners Voice is available by default across all of Second Life, but you must be on land that has voice enabled and with other Residents who have voice enabled. As a landowner, you can enable or disable voice for a single parcel and for an entire estate. To use voice, it must be enabled for both the estate and the parcel you are in. How to enable or disable voice To enable or disable voice for a parcel you own: Stand on the parcel. Right-click the ground and select About Land or choose World > About land. Click the SOUND tab. Select (or deselect) Enable Voice. To restrict voice to the parcel, select Restrict voice to this parcel; those outside the parcel won't be able to hear those in the parcel talking. To enable or disable voice for a whole estate you own or control: Go to a region within the estate. Choose World > Region/Estate. Click the Estate tab. Select (or deselect) Allow Voice Chat. Maturity ratings and voice If you are in an Adult region, you can speak in nearby voice chat only with other Residents who are also in Adult regions. See Maturity ratings for more information. Troubleshooting If you are having voice issues, check the following: Make sure you've downloaded and are using a Second Life Viewer that has voice chat. Voice is part of the standard Second Life Viewer, but some alternate viewers may not include it. Make sure Skype isn't running. Even if you're not engaged in a Skype call, having Skype open can affect your audio settings. This may apply to other VoIP (Voice over IP) apps as well, so if you're having problems, it's worth closing those programs while you're testing for issues. Make sure that your computer has a microphone enabled and that it can receive sounds. For Windows, see How to set up and test microphones at Microsoft's Support site for instructions on how to set up microphones in Windows. For Mac, see Change the sound input settings at Apple's Support site for further assistance. Check your Viewer preferences: Choose Me > Preferences. Click the Sound & Media tab. Make sure the Enabled checkbox next to Voice Chat is selected. Check that the Voice Chat slider is at a good level (it's halfway by default) and not muted. Click Voice Input/Output devices and confirm that the Input is set to a microphone that your computer recognizes and can hear. You can also adjust your Mic Volume in this section, if others say that you sound too quiet. Ensure the estate you are on is voice-enabled: Click World > Region / Estate. Click the Estate tab. Check that Allow Voice Chat is selected. Ensure the parcel you're on is also voice-enabled: Click World > About Land > Place Profile. Make sure Voice is On. If your volume works but some people can't hear you, your microphone: May be too far away. May not be working properly. Settings may be incorrect or have changed for some reason. If you've followed all these steps and voice still doesn't work, make sure your headset and/or microphone are set up properly as detailed above. Also check whether your headset or mic has a mute switch and it is off -- many headset microphones have a mute switch that's easy to accidentally toggle. The same goes for mute settings on your computer. Reducing background noise To reduce background noise when using voice chat: Use the toggle-to-speak feature. By only "transmitting" when you have something to say, you won't inadvertently broadcast any ambient noise or side-conversations happening around you. Make sure the room you're in is as quiet as reasonably possible: close doors to noisy rooms, turn down loud music and ask your friends and colleagues to quiet down. No amount of noise-cancellation will filter out a wild party! Get a computer headset with a noise-canceling microphone. Using a headset ensures that you won't transmit the sounds made by your computer's speakers, and a noise-canceling microphone can filter out unwanted ambient noise from your surroundings when you speak. Voice morphing Voice morphing transforms your natural voice into something bigger, smaller, bolder, or completely different. As you speak, the technology seamlessly modifies the pitch, speed, tone, and other key attributes of your voice. Depending on which morph you choose, the effect can be subtle or quite dramatic. Since the system is not a text-to-voice synthesizer but instead builds on your own voice, you can continue to speak naturally into your microphone while your new, morphed voice is heard inworld. How to preview a voice morph You can preview what your voice will sound like with any of the available morphs before you decide to subscribe to a Morph Pack: Choose Communicate > Voice morphing > Preview from the top menu bar to open the Voice Morphing Preview window. Click Record then speak a sample phrase into your microphone. The Record button turns into a Stop button. Click Stop. Click the name of a voice morph in the list to hear your sample phrase under the influence of that morph. How to get voice morphs Premium and Premium Plus members Voice morphs are available as a Premium and Premium Plus member perk at no extra charge. To activate your voice morph perk, visit the Premium Voice Morphing region and select your preferred voice morph pack by clicking on the pillar in front of the sign. ⚠️ If you see a green L$ button on the pillar, do not click it! You might be in the non-Premium voice morph region, Voice Island. The Premium Voice Morph vendors do not have a green button; all morphs are available in the Premium Morph Services region at no Linden dollar cost. You'll receive a link in your viewer's Chat window asking you to click to activate the new voice morphs in your viewer. Once you've clicked, your viewer will send a message confirming that you have new voice morphs available. Non-Premium members Voice morphs are available exclusively in themed Morph Packs. Non-Premium members can subscribe to a Morph Pack in 30-day increments by paying a scripted vendor object inworld: Choose Communicate > Voice morphing > Subscribe to open your web browser to: https://secondlife.com/destination/voice-island. In your web browser, click Teleport to teleport to Voice Island. Find a voice morph vendor that contains a voice morph you like. Be sure to preview each voice morph before subscribing, as described above. Click the vendor. How to use a voice morph Choose a voice morph from Communicate > Voice morphing. When transmitting, your voice is now altered by the selected voice morph.

Using text chat How to stop the typing animation Text chat emotes Text chat distance limits Automatic text chat translation Sending instant messages (IMs) How to start an IM conversation Offline instant messages and group notices Group IM sessions Ad-hoc conferences IM backlogs Scripted objects limit Chat and IM logs Log files Changing log file location Additional chat log settings There are several types of instantaneous text communication in Second Life: Local text chat, where everyone nearby inworld sees what you type. Instant message (IM), where only the recipient sees what you type. Group text chat, where everyone in a group to which you belong sees what you type (if the moderator allows it). Note: Text chat and instant messages are not encrypted. This article explains text chat and IMs. For more information on group text chat, see Group moderation. Using text chat To text chat, click the Chat button (by default in the lower toolbar) or choose Communicate > Chat How to stop the typing animation By default, when you type text chat, an animation plays so that your avatar appears to be typing in mid-air with an accompanying typing sound. To stop the typing animation and sound: Choose Me > Preferences Choose the Chat tab. Deselect Play typing animation when chatting. Text chat emotes You can add emotional nuances to text chat by using emotes. The following emotes affect text chat. /me Begin a line of chat with /me to phrase it from your perspective. For example, if your display name is "Professor Doc" and you enter: /me feels delighted to emote It appears to everyone as: Professor Doc feels delighted to emote /shout Type /shout before text chat to "shout" something. The text will be seen by everyone within a 100 meter radius. You can also shout by completing your line of chat with Ctrl + Enter ↵. Additionally: The text in the Conversations window is preceded by "shouts:". Your avatar plays a shouting animation. For example, if you type /shout Hello, world! The Conversations window shows: shouts: Hello, world! /whisper Type /whisper before a line of text chat to "whisper" something. The text will be seen only by those within a 10 meter radius. Additionally: The text in the Conversations window is preceded by "whispers:". Your avatar plays a whispering animation For example, if you type /whisper Hello, world... The Conversations window shows: whispers: Hello, world... Text chat distance limits How far away your text chat is seen depends on the type of chat and whether you use an emote: Normal text chat has a range of 20 meters; that is, you must be standing within 20 meters of the source to hear the chat. To use normal text chat, input your text into the chat field, then press Enter. Shouted text chat has a range of 100 meters. Whispered text has a range of 10 meters. Instant messages, group chats and friend conferences have no distance limitations. The recipients will see the text regardless of where they are inworld. Automatic text chat translation You can set up the Second Life Viewer to automatically translate text chat into the language of your choosing. You must set up an account with Google or Bing to enable text chat translation. Previously, Google provided free translation services, but this has now ended, and you must establish your own account with Bing or Google which may incur a cost. Choose Me > Preferences > Chat, then click Translation to display the Chat Translation Settings window. Sending instant messages (IMs) Instant messaging (IM) is a private way to communicate with individuals or groups to which you belong. You can IM any Resident, no matter where they are, inworld or offline, at any time, in contrast to local chat which is limited to those inworld at the same time. How to start an IM conversation Start an IM conversation with a person in any of these ways: Right-click a nearby avatar and choose IM. Click the People button in the toolbar, then in the Nearby or My Friends tab: Double-click a person's name. Alternatively, right-click the person's name and choose IM In a person's profile: Click Choose IM. Click to open the Search window, then: Select People in the dropdown. Enter your search term and click Search. In the search results, click IM under the desired person. To put more than one person in the same IM conversation, see Group IM sessions. Offline instant messages and group notices By default, if you get an IM and are not logged in, Second Life emails the IM to you offline at the verified email address specified in your contact information. You can change this preference in your Second Life dashboard or the Viewer. (If you haven't yet verified your email address yet and would like to do so, please see Verifying your email address for instructions.) To enable offline IMs on the Web: Log in to your dashboard. On the left, click Account, then click Change Email Address. Check or uncheck I would like to receive offline IMs via Email. Click Save Changes. In the Second Life Viewer: Choose Me > Preferences. Click the Chat tab. Select Email me IMs when I'm offline. Offline group notices Just like instant messages, group notices can be sent to your verified email address while you are offline. By default, this setting is unchecked, as group notices are available in-world on the Group Profile page for up to 14 days after they're sent. (For more information about working with group notices inside Second Life, please see Creating, managing, moderating and disbanding groups.) To enable group notices to be sent to your email address while you're offline: Log in to your dashboard. On the left, click Account, then click Change Email Address. Check or uncheck I would like to receive offline Group Notices as email. Click Save Changes. Replying to IM emails If you reply via email to an IM, the original sender receives an IM. You still receive the forwarded IMs the next time you log in (up to 15 on a Basic account, 80 on a Premium account, and 160 for a Premium Plus member), but you do not see any replies you've made via email. When replying to an IM by email, the message is limited to 1023 characters, and you must reply within five days. Group IM sessions As a member of a group, you can send IMs to everyone in the group. To do this, double-click your group's name in the People window to open an IM session with all online group members or choose Communicate > Groups. For more information, see Group moderation. Ad-hoc conferences In addition to individual and group IMs, you can also create an ad-hoc IM conference among a set of your friends. To start an ad hoc IM conference: Click the People button on the toolbar. Click the Friends section. Use Shift-click or Ctrl-Click to select friends for your IM conference. Click the dropdown and choose IM or Call. Type something in the IM chat box to start your IM conference. Press Enter. Note: Ad-hoc conferences are limited to no more than twenty participants. IM backlogs If you receive an IM and are not logged in, the IM goes into a "backlog" that appears as a set of notification icons in the upper right of your Viewer when you log in. The backlog can contain up to 25 IMs for Basic accounts, 80 IMs for Premium accounts and 160 for Premium Plus members. This includes inventory transfers, group invitations, and group notifications. If someone gives you an inventory item (generating an IM message), the message lands in your inventory's Trash folder, and you can rescue it when you return. If a scripted object sends the inventory, it is deleted immediately. Second Life retains IMs in the backlog for 31 days. If you do not log in within 31 days to view your IMs, they are no longer available. Scripted objects limit An object may send up to 5000 IMs per hour. Chat and IM logs By default, Second Life automatically saves local chat and IM conversations to log files on your hard drive. Log files Log files are saved to a location that depends on your operating system. If you've installed your viewer to a different location on your computer, this folder information may not be accurate. For more information on finding your installation folders, see Backing up your user settings and preferences. Windows: C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\SecondLife\chat.txt Mac OSX: Users/Username/Library/Application Support/SecondLife/Avatarname/chat.txt Where Username is your computer system's account name and Avatarname is your Second Life username. Important: Some operating systems hide technical folders like Roaming and Application Support. You may need to enable your file browser's ability to view hidden files to access your chat logs at their default location. Changing log file location To change where chat log files are stored: Choose Me > Preferences on the menu bar. Choose the Chat tab. The Location field shows the path to the chat log file. Click Browse to change the location. Click OK. Note: This does not change the location of your existing log files. To keep appending to your current logs, move them to the new location. Additional chat log settings In this window, you can also set the following options: Save - Choose from the dropdown to save the nearby chat log, IM transcripts, both, or none. Clear log - Clears the nearby chat log. Delete transcripts - Deletes IM transcripts.

How to block a person or object How to block someone How to block an object Disabling chat popups Allow only friends and your groups to call or IM you If someone is abusing you through voice or text chat, the best response is to block them. How to block a person or object When you block another Resident or an object, you cannot: See text chat, hear voice chat, or receive IMs from that person or object. See particles emitted by the blocked avatar or object. Receive items from the blocked object. Likewise, a Resident on your Blocked List cannot hear or see voice or text chat or receive IMs from you. They are also unable to purchase items from your Marketplace store, if you have one. How to block someone There are several ways to mute voice chat inworld: Right-click on the avatar and choose Block. Select Communicate > Nearby people, right-click the person's name and choose Block/Unblock. Click the Chat button at the bottom of the Viewer window to open the Conversations window, right-click the Resident's name, then choose Block Voice and/or Block Text. Either option also visually mutes the Resident's avatar. Note: If you IM with, Pay Linden dollars to, or give inventory to someone you muted, that person is automatically unblocked. Chat history informs you of what's happened. How to block an object After you block an object, you cease to receive messages or items from it. First, locate the offending object. If the object is making noise, you can find it easily by selecting the following settings in the View menu: World > Show > Beacons. Then check Sound sources in the Beacons window. Objects that are making noise are highlighted with a yellow beacon. To block the object, right-click on it an choose Manage > Block. Disabling chat popups To disable incoming chat popup notices: Choose Me > Preferences > Chat. For Friend IMs, Non-friend IMs, Conference IMs, Group chat, Nearby chat, and Object IMs, you may choose a behavior from the dropdown menu. To prevent popup notices, choose No action and make sure that Play sound is not checked. To disable notices from a specific group: Choose Communicate > Groups. Right-click the group and choose View info. Un-check Receive group notices. Allow only friends and your groups to call or IM you To allow calls or IMs only from friends and groups to which you belong: Choose Me > Preferences. Click the Chat tab. Check Only friends and groups can call or IM me and click OK. Note: Non-friends won't get any acknowledgment that you haven't received their message. You may want to note in your profile that you prefer not to be bothered. This can be an alternative to selectively blocking specific Residents, and can be used in tandem with busy mode.

When to file an abuse report How to file an abuse report What happens when an abuse report is filed Retracting an abuse report Abuse through voice chat In other languages: Deutsch Español Français Português Italiano 日本語 Türkçe Pусский When to file an abuse report Abuse occurs when someone violates the Second Life Terms and Conditions (ToS) or the Community Standards (CS). Every Resident agrees to abide by these rules upon joining Second Life. Some special areas, such as Infohubs, have additional restrictions called the Welcome Area Guidelines. Whenever you see one of these rules being broken and you believe it to be intentional or malicious, everyone present at the scene should file an abuse report. If there are multiple incidents, file multiple reports. File reports on any abuse you witness in addition to abuse that targets you personally. Not every Resident is aware of the abuse-reporting system or remembers to use it, so please help out your fellow Residents! Reports from multiple people underscore the seriousness of an incident. More tips: If you're being pushed or thrown around by scripts, right-click on an object and choose Sit Here. This stops you from being moved. On combat/damage-enabled land, shooting someone with a weapon is not abuse. Look for a little red heart in the menu bar, which indicates your health. If you can see it, you're in a valid combat zone, and weapons fire is permitted. Your avatar can't die permanently: even if you lose all your health, you will simply be teleported back to your home location. Using weapons on non-combat land is usually abuse unless the landowner has clearly allowed it, for example in a role-playing game. If a friendship has gone sour, block the person and remove him or her from your friends list. This will also remove any permissions you may have granted them, like the ability to track you on the map. How to file an abuse report To file an abuse report, do any of the following: Choose Help > Report Abuse from the menus at the top of your Viewer window. To directly report another Resident, right-click their avatar and choose Report To directly report an object, right-click the object and select Manage > Report Abuse. The REPORT ABUSE window opens, displaying a snapshot of what is onscreen at that moment and the relevant identifying information if you selected an avatar or object. If the snapshot helps clarify the issue, check Use this screenshot. Screenshots can be very helpful visual evidence; include them whenever appropriate. If the report is about an avatar or object , click the button to fill in the relevant information automatically. Click Select category and choose a category. If you don't see a category for the particular incident you're reporting, select the closest option you can find and explain in the Details field. The Location of Abuse field is filled in automatically with your current location. Change to specify a different location. In the Summary field, write a concise, one-line summary, much like an email subject line. Be brief yet precise. Use the Details field to give as much pertinent information as possible to help Linden Lab assess the incident. Be specific about this incident, with times and locations if possible. Click Report Abuse to submit the abuse report. Tip: If you don't know the offender's name, please choose "Governor Linden" as a placeholder and explain in the report details. What happens when an abuse report is filed You receive an automated response by email. If you need to add more information after submitting a report, please submit a new report. We try to resolve abuse issues as quickly as possible, but response times vary depending on the number of backlogged abuse reports. For privacy reasons, we are unable to share the details of an investigation into an abuse report. Once your report has been submitted, we'll take it from there. Often all it takes to curtail an issue is an official warning. In most cases, a Resident who violates our Terms of Service and/or Community Standards is given several opportunities to rectify his or her behavior before banishment occurs. In all cases, the Resident's disciplinary record is reviewed to determine an appropriate response. Serious abuse may result in account suspensions or permanent bans. The length of a suspension is determined by the nature of the abuse, previous violations, and how many people are affected. Tip: If abusive behavior is persistent, file abuse reports for each incident. The disciplinary process works only if we are made aware of ongoing abusive behavior. Retracting an abuse report If you file an abuse report and later realize that it was made in error, file a new abuse report stating that you do not want the initial one investigated. Provide any other information you think might be useful. Abuse through voice chat If someone is harassing you through voice, the best solution is to block this person. You can file an abuse report, but it's difficult to provide concrete evidence in such situations, since there are no IM or chat transcripts. For commonsense reasons, we cannot accept recordings of voice chat made by other programs or by holding an audio recorder up to your speakers. There are a couple of ways to mute voice chat inworld: Right-click on the avatar and choose Block. Click the People button at the bottom of the Viewer to open the PEOPLE window. Open the NEARBY tab, select the avatar, and choose Block/Unblock. A small red icon will appear next to their name. Note: If you IM with, pay Linden dollars to, or give inventory to someone you have blocked, he or she is automatically un-blocked. For more information, see Blocking.

What is abuse? Reporting abuse Merchant fraud and other scams Setting privacy preferences If the person is nearby inworld If you are being physically pushed inworld If you are being harassed by an object Finding the object with beacons Finding invisible objects Finding underground objects Other tips Dealing with the object If you are being animated Preventing abuse on your land If you are a parcel owner If you are a region or estate owner / manager Additional tips In other languages: Deutsch Français Español Português Italiano 日本語 Türkçe Русский What is abuse? Abuse occurs when someone or something intentionally harasses or bothers you in violation of the Second Life Terms of Service (ToS) or the Community Standards (CS). Abuse is also sometimes referred to asgriefing. Fortunately, in Second Life you control many aspects of your environment: You control your avatar and what it experiences. The best way to prevent harassment or abuse is to use your settings to control your environment and who can interact with you. Important: When you are the subject of abuse or harassment, stay calm and follow the steps outlined in this article. Don't panic! Reporting abuse Although it won't stop an ongoing incident, please report cases of abuse. Choose Help > Report Abuse to file an abuse report. Provide as much detail as possible. For more information, see Filing an abuse report. Tip: You can report a person or object for abuse by right-clicking on them and choosing Report Abuse. Doing this automatically logs the subject's name and exact location in the abuse report. Merchant fraud and other scams In addition to inworld griefing, be on guard for shopping fraud and other scams, both inworld and in Second Life Marketplace. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. See also: Tips for safe shopping Scams Phishing FAQ Transactions and disputes between Residents Setting privacy preferences You have a lot of control over what others can see about you in Second Life. Doing this can help to prevent unwanted intrusions and harassment. To set your privacy preferences in the Second Life Viewer: Choose Me > Preferences Click the Privacy tab. Set your preferences. Click OK. For more information, see: Privacy concerns. Online Safety Guidelines If the person is nearby inworld First, simply ask the person to stop their abusive activity. If that doesn't work, try leaving the area. You may wish to put a a safe location in your Viewer's favorites bar for quick access. Finally, you can block the person: Right-click the offending avatar and choose Block. See Blocking for more information. Blocking stops voice and text chat and any visual interference from their avatar and their objects. If you have enabled avatar impostors in your graphics preferences, blocking an avatar also replaces it with a flat gray outline (an "impostor"). Choose Help > Report Abuse and file an abuse report about the incident. Provide as much detail as possible. See Filing an abuse report for more information. If you are being physically pushed inworld If someone (or something) is pushing you or physically assaulting you inworld, sit down! Sitting prevents most physical forces from affecting your avatar. Simply right-click on the ground or something else nearby and choose Sit Here. If you're being harassed in voice chat If someone is harassing you in voice chat, mute them as follows: Choose Communicate > Voice settings... to open the VOICE SETTINGS window. Mouse over the listing for the person you want to mute. Right-click their name and choose Block Voice. If you are being harassed by an object Finding the object with beacons If you are being griefed by an object emitting particles or sounds, do the following: Select World > Show > Beacons. The BEACONS window opens. Under For these objects: select Sound sources andParticle sources. Now objects emitting sounds are shown in yellow and objects emitting particles are shown in blue. Click the ?button in the BEACONS window for more details. Finding invisible objects If you see the beacons but not the source object: Choose World > Show > Advanced Menu to enable the Advanced menu. Chooose Advanced > Highlighting and Visibility > Highlight Transparent or press Ctrl-Alt-T. Doing this makes invisible objects visible and highlighted red. You can see many particle and sound sources with this tool. Finding underground objects To see objects stuck underground: Choose Advanced > Rendering Types Deselect Surface Patch or press Ctrl-Alt-Shift-5. Doing this hides the ground so that you can see beneath it. Other tips The following may also help: Choose Advanced > Disable Camera Constraints, to let you to move the camera beyond normal parameters. Deselect Advanced > Limit Select Distance, to let you to select objects normally outside your reach. Dealing with the object Once you locate the griefing object, block it. This stops all sound and text chat from the object: Right-click on the object. Choose Manage > Block. Tip: To hide bothersome particles, choose Advanced > Highlighting and Visibility > Hide Particles or press Ctrl-Alt-Shift-= You can also try to contact the owner of the object. Right-click on the object. Choose Object Profile. Click on the owner's name to view their profile. Click IM button in their profile and ask them to remove or edit the object. If you are being animated If you are being animated against your will, choose Me > Movement > Stop Animating Me. Preventing abuse on your land If you are a landowner, there are a number of things you can do to prevent abuse and harassment from occuring on your land. Both parcel and region owners can restrict entry to people who are at least 18 years old. For more information, see Age restriction parcel and estate management features. If you are a parcel owner If you have the necessary rights, you can restrict who can enter your land, and freeze, ban, or eject others from land you own or control. For more information, seeManaging other Residents on your land. It's good practice to deselect Object Entry. This stops people from dropping or shooting objects onto the land, and prevents moving objects from crossing into it from a neighboring parcel. You can also restrict who is able to build on your land: Choose World > About Land or just right-click on the ground and choose About Land. Click the OPTIONS tab. Deselect Allow other Residents to: Build. If you are a region or estate owner / manager As a region owner or an estate manager, you have even more control over who can access your land and what they can do on it. As an estate manager, you can restrict access to certain Residents or group members, ban specific Residents, kick out a specific Resident, and so on. To access these controls: Choose World > Region / Estate. Click the Estate tab. As a region owner or manager, you can block people from editing terrain (terraforming), flying, pushing, and so on. To access these controls: To access these controls: Choose World > Region / Estate. Click the Region tab. Additional tips If you are experiencing a griefing attack, and need time to kick and ban troublemakers: Choose World > Region / Estate. Click the Debug tab. Select Disable Scripts and Disable Collisions. Note: Disabling scripts will temporarily stop all scripted objects in the region from functioning. However, as soon as you re-enabled scripts for the region, they will resume normal operation again.

What is Premium Wilderness? What do I need to access Premium Wilderness? How do I get to Premium Wilderness? I tried to teleport to Premium Wilderness but got the error message "You do not have access to that region" What's there to do? How do I get the best visual appearance? Troubleshooting Fishing How do I report griefing or other issues? A note for content creators How do I get more help? What is Premium Wilderness? Premium Wilderness is a high-quality jungle experience created by Linden Lab. Its Amazonian river stretches across six regions of lush greenery, waterfalls, and mystic ruins. Premium Wilderness provides premium account holders with opportunities for social interaction and potential friend encounters. In addition to jungle hiking and river boat exploration, Premium Wilderness provides numerous social hubs with activities and rewards. What do I need to access Premium Wilderness? You need two things to enjoy the Premium Wilderness regions: A Second Life premium account. Upgrade to a premium account if you don't already have one. See Premium membership for more information. A mesh-capable Viewer, such as the official Second Life Viewer. Download the Second Life Viewer. How do I get to Premium Wilderness? Use the following SLurls to teleport to any of the six Premium Wilderness regions: Piranha Caiman Capybara Gecko Tapir Leech You can also find links in the Second Life Destination Guide. I tried to teleport to Premium Wilderness but got the error message "You do not have access to that region" Make sure you have an active premium account and use one of the SLurls above or the Destination Guide. What's there to do? Aside from exploring the lush, mysterious jungle trails on foot, you can: Ride the riverboat that stops at all the docks and tours the entire Wilderness area. Try your hand at fishing. See Fishing. Swim or scuba dive in the river. Enjoy social activities such as playing guitar around the campfire, grilling, drinking at the bar, alligator wrestling, dancing, and so on. Additional fun activities include competing in a goat race, charming rats with a magic flute, capybara herding, playing fetch, riding around on guided mounts, and various mini-games. Here's a map of the Premium Wilderness regions. How do I get the best visual appearance? To see Premium Wilderness as it is intended, with misty atmospheric fog and subtle climate changes, enable region environment settings: Choose World > Environment Editor > Environment Settings. Choose Use region settings. Click OK. Then, set your graphics settings to get the best results. Higher settings are more richly detailed, at the cost of performance. If your computer is powerful enough, set your graphics to High or Ultra: Choose Me > Preferences. Click Graphics tab. Click High or Ultra. If your Viewer runs too slowly, choose Mid, or Low. Click OK. Only powerful computers exceeding the System Recommendations can show Ultra graphics comfortably. However, your jungle-exploring fun will be significantly enhanced, with trees and wildlife casting shadows. Troubleshooting If you experience any graphics issues, follow these steps: Return to your home location. Log out of Second Life. Log in again. Return to the Premium Wilderness region. Fishing You can fish in several areas of Premium Wilderness. To go fishing, you need a fishing rod. Once you find a fishing rod: Wear the fishing rod to use it. Click on the rod. Choose Cast to fish. Wait a while. It may take some time to catch something! In addition to standard fish, you may catch some special Premium Wilderness fish. For more information, see the notecard that comes with the fishing rod. How do I report griefing or other issues? Premium Wilderness is subject to the same rules, regulations, and guidelines as the rest of Second Life. In the Second Life Viewer, choose Help > Report Abuse to report abuse. For more information, see Filing an abuse report. A note for content creators Our teams used many of the new Second Life pathfinding tools to bring life to and create activities in the Wilderness area. We will start rolling out these pathfinding tools in a Viewer beta release soon and plan to share with Residents some tips and tricks learned while building this exciting experience. How do I get more help? If you tried the troubleshooting steps above and were not able to resolve your issue, please create a support case on the Second Life customer support site. If the issue is particular to a specific inworld location or object, please provide the name of the object and location.

Overview Uses Hiding avatars How to hide avatars for a parcel Restricting sounds to a parcel How to know when you are on a parcel with hidden avatars LSL Restricting avatar sounds How to restrict avatar sounds Overview Second Life provides several features to provide parcel owners: Ability to hide avatars on a parcel from those outside the parcel and vice-versa. This feature enables you to hide avatars and their activities and conversations from those outside a parcel and vice-versa. Ability to restrict sounds emitted by avatars on the parcel. To set these features for a parcel, you must use Second Life Viewer 2.8 or later, or a compatible third party viewer. However, if a parcel has hidden avatars or has restricted avatar sounds, you are affected regardless of which Viewer you are using. Uses Hiding avatars on a parcel may be useful for: Meetings and classrooms - when you want to meet with people without being observed or overheard by others on the region. Home dressing rooms - you can experiment with clothing, skins or avatars outside your neighbors' view. Store dressing rooms - retail establishments can provide areas in which customers can try outfits, skins and avatars without exposure to other shoppers. Warning: Adult activities are not allowed on parcels in General regions, regardless of whether the parcel has hidden avatars. On Moderate land, such activity is only permitted privately, behind closed doors. For more information, see Maturity ratings. Restricting sounds on a parcel may prevent them from disrupting an immersive experience or being used for griefing. Enabling this feature is analogous to muting all cell phones in a theater. It may be used to minimize unwanted distractions in performance settings. Hiding avatars The owner of a parcel (or, for group-owned land, a group member with the necessary rights) can hide avatars and their chat from those outside the parcel. By default, parcels DO NOT have hidden avatars. When enabled: Those outside the parcel can't see avatars on the parcel and vice-versa. Other objects are not affected (EXCEPTION: vehicles ridden by hidden avatars are also hidden.) Those outside the parcel can't see nearby text chat from those on the parcel, and vice-versa. Group text chat is not affected. To be clear, when a parcel has avatars hidden, anyone outside the parcel cannot see (or communicate with) those on the parcel; conversely, if you are on the parcel, you can't see (or communicate with) anyone outside of it. The communication restrictions apply only to nearby (regular) chat, not group chat. The world map and mini-map are unaffected. LSL sensors function normally, and detect the presence of avatars on parcels with this setting enabled. How to hide avatars for a parcel To hide avatars on a parcel: Choose World > Place Profile > About Land or right-click on the parcel and choose About Land. Click the OPTIONS tab. Clear the Allow other Residents to / See and chat with residents on this parcel checkbox. By default, this checkbox is selected. Restricting sounds to a parcel Hiding avatars on a parcel does not affect voice chat, nor does it affect gesture and object sounds. To restrict these sounds to a parcel: Choose World > Place Profile > About Land or right-click on the parcel and choose About Land. Click the SOUND tab. To restrict gesture and object sounds to this parcel, select Restrict gesture and object sounds to this parcel. To restrict nearby voice chat to this parcel, select Restrict Voice to this parcel. How to know when you are on a parcel with hidden avatars An icon in the navigation bar shows the status of this setting for the current parcel: The icon appears when you are on a parcel with hidden avatars, and will not be displayed otherwise. The Places Profile window displays the same icon. LSL Pass the PARCEL_DETAILS_SEE_AVATARS parameter to llGetParcelDetails(), and it will now return an integer flag indicating if the avatars are hidden for the parcel. Restricting avatar sounds This release also adds the ability to restrict avatar sounds emitted on a parcel, which include sounds from: Gestures Sounds played from inventory Scripts on attachments You can set a parcel to allow sounds to be played by everyone (the default), only by group members, or by no one. Note: This feature actually "mutes" sounds (prevents them from playing), in contrast to the procedure described above in Restricting sounds to a parcel, which merely restricts them to the parcel. How to restrict avatar sounds To restrict sounds from avatars on a parcel: Choose World > Place Profile > About Land or right-click on the parcel and choose About Land. Click the SOUND tab. By default, avatar sounds are not restricted, and the Everyone checkbox is selected. To permit sounds to be played by No one: Clear both the Everyone and Group checkboxes. Group members only: Clear the Everyone checkbox, leaving Group selected.

Adding snapshots to your activity feed Emailing snapshots Saving snapshots to your inventory Saving snapshots to your computer Advanced options 360 snapshots (Project Viewer) Taking a 360 snapshot Viewing 360 snapshots Disabling snapshot sound and animation Snapshot Tips Antialiasing Other graphics settings To take a snapshot in Second Life, click the Snapshot button (shown at left), choose World > Snapshot, or press Ctrl-Shift-S. The SNAPSHOT PREVIEW window opens. You can then: Post the image to your Second Life profile feed. Email the image. Save the image to your inventory for a L$10 fee. Save the image to your computer. With any of these options, click to display advanced options. Click ? in this window for additional help information. When you take a snapshot, your avatar performs a picture-taking animation and makes a whirrr-click sound effect. For instructions on how to disable the sound animation, see Disabling snapshot sound and animation. Note: If you don't see the Snapshot button, you can add it to your toolbar as follows: Right-click on one of the Viewer toolbars (left, right, or bottom) Choose Toolbar buttons... Drag the Snapshot button to the location you want it. Important: When taking snapshots inworld that include other Residents, please be sure they have given you consent to take their photo. See also the Second Life Snapshot and machinima policy. Adding snapshots to your activity feed Click Post to My Profile Feed to post the snapshot to your Second Life profile feed. You can also add a caption and the location of the snapshot if you wish. Emailing snapshots Click Email to email the snapshot to one or more people. The maximum size for a Send via email snapshot is one megabyte, or a little over 1,000,000 bytes. If you go over that, File size will turn red and you won't be able to send your email. Adjust the file size of the snapshot using the drop down menu; the manual Width and Height settings; or lower the Image Qualityslider. Saving snapshots to your inventory Click Save to My Inventory(L$10) to save a snapshot to your inventory. You will be charged L$10 for this option. Snapshots are saved to the Photo Album folder, and named based on the location where you take them. Saving snapshots to your computer Click Save to My Computer to save a snapshot image to your computer's hard drive. Tip: To move snapshots from your computer to your inventory, choose Build > Upload Image (L$10). The image is saved to your Inventory Textures folder. Large textures can affect region performance. For best results use textures of size 512 x 512 or smaller. See the Intro to Textures video tutorial to learn more about textures. The Capture advanced option is available only when saving snapshots to your computer. The options are: Colors: Takes normal pictures with all the color information you are seeing with your settings. Depth: Gives the per-pixel depth information of a scene. You can use this information when post-processing images in an image editor like Photoshop to create distance blur in an image when combined with the color information. Advanced options Interface: The user interface of Second Life includes the Toolbar, menus, windows, and other things you use to interact and change things in the world. Select this option to show the UI in snapshots, which can be useful for making tutorials like teaching others how to build, or diagnostic purposes such as illustrating a bug. HUDs: Heads-Up Display objects are useful, but can get in the way of picture-taking. Select this option to show HUDs in the snapshot. Keep open after saving: This keeps the Snapshot Preview window open after you've saved a picture; useful if to take multiple pictures in rapid succession and pick out the best later. Freeze frame (fullscreen): Provides a fullscreen preview of the snapshot. You may notice ithe screen flashes and may look a little blocky, especially at a high resolution. Don't worry; this is just a preview, not the final result. You'll also notice the rest of the user interface (toolbar, menus, windows) disappears; the world is "frozen" and you can't move around. Don't worry about this, either: if you click the Discard button, everything will go back to normal and you can click Snapshot again. While in Snapshot Preview, the cursor turns into a magnifying glass with a + on it, so you can click-and-drag to get better shots. (It's the same as normally holding Altand clicking the mouse button.) Another important thing that might be confusing at first: whenever something changes within the "scene" (for instance, if you zoom to a different angle) and the snapshot requires an update, the screen will appear to drop away with a cool visual effect, like a Polaroid. Select Auto-Refresh to have the snapshot image automatically refresh instead of using the Refresh Snapshot button. File>Take Snapshot (and its shortcut Ctrl-Shift-S) will behave like Refresh Snapshot if the Snapshot Preview window is open. Depending on the method you selected for saving your snapshot, click Send, Upload, or Save to save your snapshot. Click Discard if you don't like this snapshot and don't wish to pay for it. The snapshot will be discarded. 360 snapshots (Project Viewer) Note: This feature is still in development and is only available in a Project Viewer, available on the Alternate Viewers page on the Second Life wiki. For current tips, workarounds and known issues, visit the 360 Snapshots page on the wiki. 360 snapshots allow you to capture a series of images that face all directions at once. When placed on a website with some HTML and Javascript, the image can be stitched together and panned to provide a full 360 degree view of the location where the snapshot was taken. Taking a 360 snapshot You can take a 360 snapshot using the Snapshot window: Find a location where you'd like to take a 360 snapshot, then slowly look in every direction until you see that the world has fully loaded. Choose World > Snapshot or press your snapshot shortcut key. In the Snapshot window that appears, select the 360° Snapshot checkbox. Click Save to Disk. When 360° Snapshot is selected, all other options are disabled. Under 360° Capture to file, select Small, Medium, or Large to choose an image capture size. Click Save to save your 360 Snapshot to your computer. Viewing 360 snapshots At the current state of development, viewing a 360 snapshot requires you to download and use a web viewer and a web server. For up-to-date information about viewing 360 snapshots and setting up a temporary local server on your computer, see the 360 Snapshots page on the Second Life wiki. As development continues, we will update you about 360 snapshot hosting solutions as well as other 360 compatible features. Disabling snapshot sound and animation To disable the "whirrr-click!" sound and snapshot animation that happens whenever you take a snapshot, follow these steps: Enable the Advanced menu: On Windows, press Ctrl + Alt + D. On Mac OS, press Ctrl + Opt + D. Choose Advanced > Quiet Snapshots to Disk. Snapshot Tips Use the shortcut key Ctrl-` (sometimes the ~ key, located next to 1 and above Tab) to save several snapshots of something quickly and easily. Then, choose File > Upload Image to upload the best shots to Second Life. This way, you don't have to pay for shots you don't want, and don't have to decide which images to keep while you're still taking pictures. Antialiasing Antialiasing is a way to smooth the jagged edges you sometimes see on curved surfaces inworld. Antialiasing improves overall image quality in Second Life. For an example see the two images below. By default, antialiasing is off in the Second Life Viewer if you are using Low or Mid quality graphics; with High and Ultra quality graphics, it is on at x2 by default. Most graphics cards today support antialiasing. To enable antialiasing: Choose Me > Preferences > Graphics. Click Hardware. Click the Antialiasing dropdown and change it from Disabled to 2x or greater. Click OK. Restart the Second Life Viewer. Now compare the graphics: the difference should be subtle yet noticeable. Note: If you don't see a change after you restart the Viewer, it's possible your graphics card drivers are overriding Second Life's own antialiasing. Higher levels of antialiasing provide better results, but can reduce overall performance unless you have a very powerful graphics card. On slower graphics cards, antialiasing may cause a noticeable loss of performance, or even bugs or crashes—so experiment to see what's best for you. Other graphics settings See Lighting and shadows for information on other graphics settings that may be useful when taking snapshots.

1.1 What is an Infohub? 1.3 Finding Infohubs 1.2 Official Infohubs What is an Infohub? An Infohub (also known as a Welcome Area) is a place where Residents congregate and socialize, and where there are usually kiosks providing Second Life information. Infohubs can be fun places for new Residents to hang out and learn about the world. Official Infohubs are owned by Linden Lab and mostly built by Residents, but some Residents run their own, unofficial social spaces which they also call Infohubs. Infohubs are represented on the World Map with blue i's, like this: To show them, make sure that Infohub on the right-handLegend is checked. If you find an infohub that you really like, you can set it as your home location. Finding Infohubs All the official Infohubs are listed below. You can also find Infohubs using search: Choose Search > Places tab. Change Any Category to Linden Location. Search for "infohub" (not case-sensitive). This shows most of the Infohubs, although some are listed using other keywords. Official Infohubs First generation Ahern (Ahern Welcome Area) Ambat Infohub Anzere Infohub Bear Infohub (Bear Dream Lodge) Bonifacio (Ahern Welcome Area) Braunworth Infohub Calleta Infohub (Calleta Hobo Railroad) Clementina Infohub (Governor Lindens Mansion) Dore (Ahern Welcome Area) Gukyeol (Hanja Welcome Area) Hangeul (Hanja Welcome Area) Hanja (Hanja Welcome Area) Hyles Infohub (Hyles Swamp) Idu (Hanja Welcome Area) Iris Infohub (Temple of Iris) Isabel Infohub Korea (Korea Welcome Area) Mahulu Infohub Mauve Infohub Miramare Infohub Morris (Ahern Welcome Area) Periwinkle Infohub (Railroad Station) Ross Infohub Violet Infohub Warmouth Infohub Wengen Infohub Second generation Moose Beach Degrand Bay City Municipal Airport Boardroom Castle Valeria Hyannisport Helfell Zebrasil Zindra Arapaima Nelsonia Oritz Ungren Vilania

Creating a notecard Sending a notecard Receiving a notecard Embedding items in a notecard How to stop notecard spam Creating a notecard In Second Life, notecards are a way to deliver detailed information that won't fit in a single IM (Instant Message). Notecards are often used as product manuals by merchants, but your inventory window's Notecards folder can also be used like an email box to send and receive long messages. In My Inventory, simply right-click anywhere and select New Notecard, or click the + button at the bottom of the window and select New Notecard. The New Note will pop up. Now, you should write something appropriate. When you're done, click Save and close the notecard by clicking the X. To rename the notecard, right-click it in your inventory, select Rename, and type in a more personalized title. Sending a notecard Now that you've written your notecard, you may want to send it to someone. If that person's avatar is standing nearby, simply drag the notecard from your inventory to the avatar. Otherwise: Right-click the notecard in your inventory and select Share. The CHOOSE RESIDENT window opens. If the recipient is your friend, click his or her name under Select a person. If the recipient is not on your Friends list, click the Search tab, type the name into the search field, and click Go. Click on the correct name in the list of search results. A window opens asking if you are sure you want to share your note with the Resident you've selected. If you're sure, click Ok. If the recipient is online, the notecard is received immediately. If not, it is stored to the person's inventory. Receiving a notecard Check for new notecards when you log in by opening the inventory window's Notecards folder. You can read any notecards inside by double-clicking on them. Embedding items in a notecard You can attach nearly any type of inventory item to a notecard. Attached images and landmarks can make a fabulous addition to informational notecards, and notecards-within-notecards can provide you with some interesting options for organizing your text. To attach an inventory item to your notecard: Open a notecard you own or create a new notecard. Make sure the item you wish to attach is fully permissive. The next owner permissions must allow copy, modify, and transfer. For more information, see Permissions on objects. Drag the item from the My Inventory window onto the Notecard window. You can drop in any kind of inventory item, excluding calling cards. The item appears as a hyperlink in the notecard. Tip: If Second Life does not allow you to drop the item into your notecard, make sure to check the permissions on the object. If applicable, also check the permissions on any inventory items contained inside the object. A notecard will only accept fully permissive attachments, so it is not a good idea to attach anything you do not want other people to copy. How to stop notecard spam In rare instances you may get spammed with notecards, so that notecard after notecard pops up on your screen. If this happens to you, select Block Owner from the dialogue box that offers you the notecard. Notecard spam is often caused unintentionally by scripting errors. However, intentional notecard spam constitutes abuse and is considered "Disturbing the Peace" by Second Life's Community Standards. If you believe you are being spammed deliberately (for instance, because the content of the notecards is vulgar or threatening), please use Help > Report Abuse to send an abuse report. See Filing an abuse report for more information.

Adding someone to your Friends list How to accept or decline a friendship offer Friendship etiquette Partnering How to make someone your partner How to end a partnership Partnership history Letting friends edit your objects The group method The friend method A few things to note In other languages: Deutsch Español Français Italiano Português 日本语 Adding someone to your Friends list There are several ways to add a friend: If you are near the person inworld, just right-click their avatar and select Add Friend. If you are not nearby or if the person is offline, click the People button at the bottom of the Viewer window and select the FRIENDS tab. Then click the + button to open a search window and type in your friend's name. When you add a friend, the Add Friend window enables you to enter a custom message. Use this space to explain why you would like to be friends, or to remind the person how you know each other. Once a friendship offer is accepted, your names appear in each other's FRIENDS lists. All friendships are bidirectional, so if you delete a friend, you no longer appear in that friend's list. How to accept or decline a friendship offer When another Resident offers friendship to you, a dialog appears in the upper-right corner of your screen. The dialog also appears in the Conversations window as an instant message from the sender. If you click Accept, your new friend receives an onscreen notification that you accepted the friendship offer. Click Decline to cancel the offer. The other person receives onscreen notification that you declined the friendship offer. Friendship etiquette Completing your profile and reading other Residents' profiles provides ample opportunity for conversation. If you get along well, feel free to offer friendship. For unofficial Resident tips about socializing and making friends, see SLetiquette. Partnering Second Life couples can make their relationships official. Whether you're married or just connected, you can designate your partner on your profile inworld and make your relationship visible to the rest of the community. Note: Creating a partnership costs each partner L$10. Partnership is a vanity display for social purposes only. It does not alter inworld permissions, group abilities, support benefits, and so forth. For example, if you are on a Premium account and your partner is on a Basic account, he or she does not receive any Premium benefits. Partnering also does not affect your Second Life username. Nor does it entitle you to share your partner's Second Life account. For more information on our policies regarding sharing accounts, see Permitting Others to Access or Transferring Second Life Accounts. How to make someone your partner To make someone your partner, follow these steps: Go to the Partners page. Enter your Partner's username. Type in your Proposal to your to-be partner. It can be a love letter, song lyrics, or whatever suits the both of you best. Click Send Proposal. Your potential partner is notified at the email address linked with their Second Life account. He or she has seven days to accept. Once the proposal is accepted, your names appear in one another's profiles. The partnership email should be received in seconds. Please check your spam folder and other email filters to make sure it isn't being hidden. If you receive a partnership request you wish to decline, you can do so on the Partners page. How to end a partnership The person who initiates the "divorce" is charged L$25. Follow this procedure to dissolve a partnership: Open the Partners page. Select "I, (your name), would like to dissolve my partnership with (your partner's name)." Click Submit. Your partnership is dissolved and your now-ex-partner is notified. Once you have dissolved a partnership, you can recreate it by following the procedure previously outlined and paying the L$10 again. Partnership history Your Viewer profile does not show you the date you started your partnership, so keep your original partnership request (sent via email) if you wish to have a record of the date. Letting friends edit your objects There are two ways to enable a friend to edit your objects in Second Life. This is often referred to as collaborative building or collaborative creation. It's a useful way to let groups of people collaborate on a building project together. The method you choose depends on whether your collaborator is in a group or whether he or she is your friend. The group method To enable a member of a group you are in to edit your objects: Right-click the object and choose Edit. The object editor opens. Click on the General tab in the editor. If you can't see the tabs, click on More. Click on the Tool icon to the right of Group and assign the object to the group your friend is in. Click OK. Select the checkbox next to Share. Any other group members will also be able to edit the object. Group members can only edit objects that are shared with the group. Note: If you want other group members to be able to take copies of your object, make sure you set the next owner permissions (Copy, Modify, Resell/Give away) appropriately. The friend method To enable a friend to edit your objects: Click in the toolbar. The PEOPLE window opens. Click the FRIENDS tab to open your friends list. Mouse over your friend's name and click to view your friend's profile. In the profile page that appears, click and choose Permissions. Under Allow (friend's name) to: select Edit, delete or take my objects. Click Save. Important: Doing this gives your friend the same rights that you have to edit all of your objects. Be careful with this permission! ⚠️ As of January 2021, Friend Permissions has a known technical issue. You can currently set Friend Permissions via the my.secondlife.com website portal only. To enable a friend to edit your objects at my.secondlife.com: Go to my.secondlife.com in a web browser. Log in to your Second Life account, if necessary. Click the PEOPLE tab to open your friends list. Locate the friend you'd like to grant permissions to in the list and click the gear icon . Choose Permissions. Under Allow (friend's name) to: select Edit, delete or take my objects. Click Save. A few things to note There are a few things you should be aware of: Your collaborative partners can only edit objects you've rezzed. Nobody but you will ever have access to your inventory, so if you want someone else to edit an object that you own, you need to rez it inworld first. Your collaborative partners can't edit the next-owner permissions on an object they've been granted access to. It isn't technically possible to link two objects together if they have different owners, even if the owners have given each other edit permissions. Your collaborative partners cannot edit your objects if they have Select Only My Objects enabled under Build > Options in the top menu bar.