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  • Joining and participating in groups


    Overview of groups

    Groups provide a way for you to socialize, share interests, and collaborate with others on projects.  With a Basic membership you can belong to as many as 42 groups at one time. Plus members can join up to 50 groups, while Premium accounts may belong to as many as 70 groups, and Premium Plus members can belong to a whopping 140 groups.  

    Regardless of how many groups you belong to, you may have only one active group at a time.  Your active group determines the title displayed by default above your avatar name inworld, as well as certain inworld functions like scripted objects or land parcel settings being able to tell that you belong to a certain group.

    Note: If you choose to downgrade to a different account membership, you can keep your existing number of active group memberships. However, if you wish to join any new groups and currently belong to more than your new membership level allows, you will have to leave some of your active groups in order to join a new one.

    Group members:

    • Can participate in group text chat and voice chat sessions with others in the group.  See Group communication.
    • Receive group notices to others in the group; certain members have the right to send notices, if they have the required ability.  See Working with group notices.
    • Can get group dividends and pay group liabilities.  Any Linden dollars paid to the group are paid out evenly to all group members each day.  See Group dividends and liabilities.
    • Can jointly own land, with each member making a contribution to help pay for the land's cost.  See Group-owned land.
    • Can jointly own objects deeded to the group.

    Access to land parcels may be restricted by group membership.  Also, scripted objects may be usable only by members of specific groups.

    This article provides an introduction to groups primarily for group members.  For more on groups, and for information for group owners and managers, see Creating, managing, moderating, and disbanding groups.

    Basic concepts: roles, titles, and abilities

    abilities3.jpg

    Each group has a set of roles that can be assigned to members.  Each role has an associated title and set of abilities that determine what members in that role can do. One person can have multiple roles in a group.

    By default, all groups start with three roles:

    • Owners: Group owners have full control over their group, and have access to all group abilities. This role can't be deleted, edited, or hidden.  The person who creates the group is initially the owner. Default title is "Owner."
    • Officers: Officers have more abilities than regular members, such as the ability to invite others to the group or eject members.  Default title is "Officer."
    • Everyone: All members in the group have this role that defines baseline abilities.  Default title is "Member."
    Note: The ability to change roles, titles, role visibility, and abilities is itself an ability. The group owner always has this and all other abilities. 

    Titles

    The title of your role in your currently active group is shown by default above your display name inworld.  For information on how to change your group title, see Controlling group titles.

    Abilities

    The abilities of your roles determine what you can do in a group.  There is a wide range of abilities available.  The owner role always has all abilities.  Abilities are provided to control group membership, roles, parcel management and object management.

    For more information, see Managing abilities.

    Active group

    Although you may belong to many groups, you have only one active group at any one time.  Your currently active group determines, for example, the title displayed above your name tag.  See Changing your active group and title for more information.

    Open and closed groups

    There are two basic types of groups:,

    • Open groups are available for anyone to join if they wish.
    • Closed groups require an invitation from an existing group officer to join.

    Either type of group may have a Linden dollar cost to join.

    Group visibility in your profile

    By default, others can see the groups to which you belong in your profile.

    To hide a group so that it does not appear in your profile:

    1. Choose Communicate > Groups or right-click on yourself and choose My Groups.
    2. Click the group you want to hide 
    3. Click Group Profile.
    4. Deselect Show in my profile.
    5. Click Save.

     Joining a group

    There are two ways to join a group:

    • A group member can invite you.  This is the only way you can join a closed group.
    • You can join an open group on your own initiative.

    Being invited to join a group

    You must be invited to join a closed group; you may also be invited to join an open group or you can join on your own.  

    When you are invited to join a group, a notification appears in your Viewer. If you wish to join, click Accept. If not, click Decline.

    Tip: If you do not know the Resident who sent you the group invitation or want to learn more about the group before accepting, click the Info button to see the group's profile.

    Finding and joining an open group

    group_search_001.png

    To search for a group to join:

    1. Click Search
      The Second Life Search window opens.
    2. Select Groups from the dropdown menu next to the Search button
    3. Next to Maturity, check or uncheck the boxes to filter your results as desired.
      Important: You must be at least 18 years old to view Adult-rated search results. See Age-restricted content for more information.
    4. Enter your search criteria and click the Search button.
    5. Browse through the search results. When you find a group that interests you, click the link for details.
    6. Click More Info to bring up the People window, which displays the group's profile information and indicates the enrollment fee (if any) in L$.
    7. To join, click JOIN NOW! 
      A message appears asking you to confirm that you wish to join. Click Yes.

    Inviting someone to join a group

    Note: To be able to invite others to join a group, you must have a role with the Invite People to this Group ability.  Depending on your role, you may not have this ability.

    To invite one person nearby inworld

    To invite someone to a group to which you belong:

    1. Right-click their avatar and choose Invite to Group
      The GROUPS window opens, displaying all the groups to which you have permission to invite people.
    2. Select the desired group
    3. Click OK.

    The person will get a group invitation.

    To invite multiple people

    group invite1.jpgTo invite several people into your group at once:

    1. Choose Communicate > Groups or right-click yourself and choose My Groups...
    2. Click the desired group. 
    3. Click Group Profile.
    4. Click the Roles tab.
    5. Click Invite.  If you don't have the required ability, the button will be disabled.
    6. Click Open Resident Chooser
    7. Select a person one of these ways: 
      • In the Search tab, type in the text field, then click Go. Click on the desired person and click Select. 
      • In the Friends tab, choose a friend, then click Select
      • In the Near Me tab, click on a person then click Select.
    8. Repeat for each person you want to invite, then click Close.
    9. Click Send Invitations.

    choose resi1.jpg

    Controlling group titles

    By default, you see others' group titles above their display names inworld.  To turn off the display of others' group titles,

    1. Choose Me > Preferences.
    2. Click the General tab.
    3. Under Name tags, deselect Group titles.
    4. Click OK.

    Image:kb_tagsResi_screenshot.png

    Changing your active group and title

    activate.png The title associated with your role in  your active group appears to others above your display name. Whenever you join a group, that group automatically becomes active. Your active group can also affect certain permissions inworld, such as the ability to create objects on group-owned land.

    To change your active group:

    1. Choose Communicate  > Groups or right-click on your avatar and choose My Groups.
    2. Right-click on the name of the group you wish to make active.
    3. Click Activate.
    4. The group name changes to bold to indicate that it is active.

    Changing your role's title 

    Each role in a group has an associated title. If you have more than one role in the same group, you can switch your active title within the group:

    1. Choose Communicate > Groups or right-click on your avatar and choose My Groups.
    2. Click the name of your active group.
    3. Click Group Profile.
    4. In the General tab, choose the desired title from the My title dropdown list.
    5. Click Save.

    Group communication

    As a member of a group, you can converse with other group members, both using text chat and voice chat.  The ability "moderator" provides special capabilities to control group voice and text chat conversations.  For more information, see Group moderation.

    Group IMs

    To start a group IM session with all group members currently inworld:

    1. Choose Communicate > Groups or right-click yourself and choose My Groups...
    2. Double-click the desired group.
      The conversations window opens.
    3. Type text that will appear to all group members. 

    For more information, see Group IM sessions.

    Group voice calls

    When you start a group voice chat call, you will be disconnected from local voice chat.  That is, you will no longer hear voice from people nearby and they will not hear you.  Those in a group voice call can hear each other regardless of their location inworld.

    To start a group voice call, follow the above steps then click Call Group.

    Or to start a group call directly:

    1. Choose Communicate > Groups or right-click yourself and choose My Groups...
    2. Right-click the name of the group and choose Call.

    For more information, see Group voice chat.

     




    User Feedback


    In the "How to change your role title within a group" paragraph, the "group role" link goes to the main page (should go to the specif paragraph) :)

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    The graphics in this article need to be updated to reflect the current viewer.

    There also should be a section devoted to group fees, such as a fee to join the group and roles having to pay group liabilities.  Many new people are not aware that they should pay attention when they join groups to see if there is a fee and to check to see if they are expected to pay for group liabilities.  If they are, they can leave the group to avoid these charges. 

    We get questions about this all the time in the Answers and Forums sections from new people that think their money was stolen.  It is important to newbs since so many have little to no money yet and some even log on and find they have a negative $L balance.  It's the kind of thing that can turn them off to SL and make them leave.

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