Rufferta

To me, Second Life consists of two kinds of 'virtual land' - The Mainland, which contains large continents and some smaller bits, and the 'islands' - or sims that are privately owned. Sometimes there is a cluster of 'islands' that may look like a large continent, but they are still separated from the Mainland by what I call "The Great Nothing" which looks blue but isn't water, land, or air. As you've mentioned, the only way to get from 'islands' to the Mainland is to teleport. Once you've got to the Mainland; however, there are systems of roads and waterways that you can use to get around within continents. You can find information on roads on the SL Wiki, and there are sailing and flying groups that maintain maps showing waterways and airways. The SLGI Geography Institute is also a great resource. Anyone is free to rez a vehicle to travel the Mainland roads; however, it is not an option that ever seems to be promoted on the Destination Guide. One problem has always been sim crossing - since the Lindens started the policy of leaving sims inactive when no one is there (like turning off the lights when people leave a room) you may have to wait at a sim crossing for the next sim to be turned on before you can proceed. There is a proverb "Never go faster than your guardian angel can fly" and my version of that is "Never travel faster than Second Life can rez". As far as I know, no other virtual world has the same travel network as Second Life. For that, I think we can credit the foresight of some of the early Lindens, and the hard work of the Linden Moles, who often had to work around the fact that sometimes the Lindens would sell parcels that were supposed to be right of ways. I agree with you that it would be great if we could fly everywhere in Second Life, but for now I am grateful that there is such a lot of Mainland I can explore.

Welcome! There is a steep learning curve to entry in Second Life, but once you've passed that hurdle you may find you enjoy it. If not, you can at least tell everyone that you've experienced "virtual reality". Once you are here, check out places like Helping Haven, NCI, and the Caledon Oxbridge learning center. You can IM (that's sending an instant message) me inworld and I can send you a more complete list of landmarks or answer any questions I can.

I pay a premium membership in Second Life for the same reason I pay my taxes in real life - it makes me feel as if I am supporting something in a small way, and I feel it gives me more right to complain. On the other hand, whatever you choose, you are still enriching Second Life just by creating things and by renting from others, so perhaps you are a better resident than someone who just pays their membership and then expects everything to be given to them.

Never fall in love in Second Life. Yes, sometimes it works out, but more often it ends in heartbreak. It is too easy to imagine the other avatar to be someone he or she is not. I've had my heart broken a few times and I know it hurts. Someone once said "The price of love is the pain of love." We are what we are. Know me for my soul, not for my transient external shell.

Reply to Prokofy Neva: Thank you for the info on "How not to buy land." I will add it to the next revision. As I explained in more detail in a notecard to you, I abandoned the property rather than sell it to someone who would cut it up and re-sell it. Silly of me, I guess.

Dear Marketplace Merchants: Could you please check your listings and remove any links to "Inworld Store" or "See Item in Second Life" that are no longer valid? I understand why many merchants have moved from "inworld" to "Marketplace only" stores, and I also know that changing Marketplace listings is tedious and time-consuming, but just think of your potential customer who clicks a link and ends up in an abandoned lot or (worse) ends up on a parcel whose new owner has put in a short-fuse security orb. Thank you.

A well-written and well-thought-out response. Thank you!

According to Linden Labs terms of service, regarding "Adult" content: "Linden Lab will conduct proactive monitoring and rely on abuse reports that identify adult content or conduct that is promoted or advertised publicly. Where adult content or conduct on a region is publicly advertised or promoted, that region must be designated as Adult (or such content must be removed). We will re-designate such regions if adult content is not removed." If I'm reading this correctly, then Linden Lab relies on abuse reports to let them know if something offends us. Now, I have seen a lot in my life, having worked in probation, child abuse, and as an aide in a psychiatric facility, but I am still offended by some of what I have seen in the Moderate regions of Second Life, for example, most recently couples having pixel sex on Torley's Island and in the Lionheart Train Station. I would like to promote Second Life to people in my, the AARP, generation, but I'm afraid to because I'm afraid they will be turned off by what they see. As for the childrens' clothing - I saw nothing inappropriate in the first few pages, but a few of the models with adult faces were a bit creepy.

Callum Meriman wrote: Prokofy Neva wrote: I think some of the famous child avatars could explain the difference between fembois and the *children* in these ads who are not fembois. Ignoring the first and last pictures, which are clearly not porn and something you could see real kids wear at any beach - let's focus on Frodo's pictures, the middle two. Because I think those are the ones giving you the greatest confusion. (At least I hope so, because if you are having conniptions about boys in speedos you need to see a psychiatrist, fast) Why do you think they are *children*? Seriously, please explain why you think the middle two femboys are children? He doesn't look like an SL kid to me, heck just that treasure trail and pubes is a dead give away - and knowing who they are they don't even act anything like a child either. They are an adult in SL, they act like an adult in SL and they look like any number of other androgynous adults in SL - and of that there are plenty - it's a huge community. Prok as you are clearly a very old person it's going to be very difficult to explain why the middle two ads ad look nothing like SL Kids. To do that would need you to have an understanding of Androgony. But despite the almost impossibility of this task let's try and frame what a Femboy is. (1) They are generally not children. Urban dictionary's most appropriate definition is: A femboy is a person, typically under the age of 30 years, who is biologically male. However, this person will often present himself in a very feminine manner. This behavior may be exhibited part of the time, or all of the time. Femboys are not to be confused with ladyboys, who are a type of Asian male to female transsexual. Femboys are also different from cross-dressers. Despite being feminine, femboys do not necessarily wear clothing designed for females, but this is very common. The fact that one is a femboy says nothing about one's sexuality. Femboys may be straight, gay, bisexual, pansexual, asexual, or of any other sexuality. It is also not necessarily indicative of one's gender identity. A femboy may still identify as male, or he may wish to be identified as female. However, it is common for femboys to be bigender. In 1960s terms the English model, actress and singer Twiggy was androgenous, early David Bowie was androgenous, A lot of pop singers from the old days were if my research is right.  The only way you will be able to grow is to head out and look. Prok, I suggest you crawl into a realistic sized avatar (182cm tall) do an inworld search for Femboy and head to some of the topmost venues returned in search. You will see the SMB mesh body worn by clear adults and you will see clothing like these middle two ads. Edit: You will also see a lot of Futa avatars, and that will be even more fun to explain than androgeny! OK, I'm not Prok, but I took your suggestion and searched for 'Femboy' and the first search result was "*NEW* Filthy hole - BROTHEL & STRIP CLUB *NEW*" and I'm not going there.

Thank you. I will add that. The Main Tourist Office is now in Cecropia and it has the most information (not much) - the one in Leafminer just has a giant molehill..

Thank you for the kind remarks. So, if no one has found any glaring errors I will go ahead and make a notecard for the Tourist Information Center.

I tried to explain Second Life to a 99-year old and she said "That sound's very nice, but be sure to come back."

I've written a blog article over at http://thesecondlifetourist.blogspot.com about "How Not to Buy Land in Second Life" based on my own expertise and a lot of the things I've read on these forums. I'm hoping if anyone has the time to read it and make corrections before I put it on a notecard to be distributed at one of my Unofficial Tourist Information Offices. Thanks.

I agree with your article in part, but I don't believe in giving bad reviews to freebies because - well, I give out freebies, and I would be crushed if someone told me they thought they weren't very good. I also think that if a merchant gives you an especially nice freebie - something you really like or that you can actually use - you should send a thank-you note.

Thank you both very much. Some practice on the sim taught me that while it took me only a few seconds to make high towers and deep holes, it took me the greater part of an hour before I figured out how to flatten it out again. I shall try to be very careful...

The reason I'm asking is because I used to live in Mocha and one of my neighbors apparently used terraforming to create the walls of a large structure (he raised a large block, then hollowed out most of the interior). Later, when I had the chance to buy the parcel, I found that in what seemed to be the same spot, when I had lowered the land to a certain point I ended up with a square hole that wouldn't go away until I had raised the terrain a bit. Perhaps he was making use of a 'feature' that was already there? Now I have a small parcel in Chartreuse and I would like to make some holes and towers to show others what you can (and can't) do with terraforming, but I don't want to wreck the terrain. Any thoughts?

Actually, there are games in Second Life. You can find some Linden-supported games through Portal Park, and there are hunts and quests galore. There are some pay-to-play games - MadPeas is one example, although I wouldn't pay for more than the cheapest package until they've fixed some of the glitches*. Perhaps the best 'game' is cosplay - trying on different avatars and different personas. Myself, I like to explore - the creativity and talent of most Second Life residents never ceases to amaze me. Have fun! *MadPeas games are well-done, but not for the faint-of-heart or the impatient. I quit playing the games after a glitch prevented me from completing all the prize levels and even the help desk couldn't help me. .

BloodyKitty230 wrote: I'm a newbie at the whole land buying or whatever you'd like to call it so besides some information I was thinking about having a home for myself since I have a bit of cash flow now with a RL & SL job. I was wondering what you guys would recommend to me? I don't want anything to big, maybe just a small home one or two stories (or small land that could fit a house like that), that isn't too expensive. Not sure if that made sense, so if you want more clarity I'll try my best to further explain. My advice would be to look online for articles about "buying and renting land in Second Life" as this is a popular question. You might want to attend Lindal Kidd's class on "buying and renting land in Second Life" which is usually at 5pm on Fridays at Caledon Oxbridge. Myself, I have made every mistake in the book: - not knowing the difference between rent and tier - not understanding what different terms like "protected", "you can sail to Blake Sea from here", "oceanfront", "sunset view" etc....really mean - not knowing how to determine if a plot is actually land, or just a raft or big sculpty placed over water - not knowing how to check for nearby land owners - not sitting on the plot long enough for all the neighborhood builds to materialize - not remembering to check the area for breeding farms or popular nightclubs or other activities that might affect your bandwidth or even your ability to enter the sim - in fact, my biggest mistake has always been not having the patience to wait and study the property thoroughly. Good luck!

Vania Chaplin wrote: (First, I have to admit that I didn't read all topic) As a sailor in SL, we commonly face these issues: ban lines or orbs that instantly send you home. Our approach as a community has been for years to contact the parcel owner, explaining our issue (our not theirs) and ask them to give a minimum time to get out of their parcel when inadvertdly we enter one. Most respond well, changing their devices, others don't. Well, we have to live with this. So, for a communal cruise, we make charts as this one, with ban/orbs marked in red (cyan for rez places in case of returning from a crash). Even with this, sailing in a narrow channel as in NW in the map, it is easy to enter the red forbidden areas, but is the best we can do.  It would be nice if the regular Linden Map included the security orb information. Banlines I can see, and usually avoid, but I never see the security orbs until they are right over me.

Teagan Tobias wrote: There was a time I would use the MP to find things and then go in world to buy them. But I have been dropped off in to many peoples houses where the store no longer exists. Also, on the MP I can enter maximum amount I am able to spend and get only items that I can afford. There is no reason for me to look at clothing that cost 300L when all I have to spend is 50L. I enter on the left side a low amount of 2 (keep out some of the demos) and a high amount of what I have to spend, could be 50L, could be 25L. That way all I see is the items I can actually purchase and not things that are over priced and out of my monetary range. I agree with Teagan that it is annoying to find that the "See this item Inworld" or "Inworld Store" links are leading to a piece of abandoned property, or worse, lead to someone's private space. I hope that Marketplace merchants fix their listings (I will have to do that myself). Good suggestion to set price limits in the Marketplace browser. I will try it.

Security orbs come in all flavors: Sometimes they give you adequate warning, sometimes they don't. I ran into one yesterday (someone who bought land that had once been an inworld store that had moved to Marketplace) that just said "You are not welcome here." but didn't kick me off right away. That was cool, because I tend to freeze when I get a warning, or head the wrong way in panic. What I would like, instead of an outright ban, would be some kind of app that would allow me to block access to my tiny parcel to anyone who sets up a security orb with less than a ten-second warning. I realize that is a pretty pathetic revenge, since I suspect the folks who own the security orbs would never want to visit me, still, it would make me feel better.

All things being equal, I prefer to shop inworld, but I tend to buy on the Marketplace if I have the option. Buying on the Marketplace gives you the chance to review a product you've bought there, and to see other people's reviews. I like to go inworld when I can, because I like to support the merchants who are still here, although I understand that time and economics can make many merchants become "Marketplace only". Going inworld to shop also lets you get a better look at products. Often I've found an inworld merchant who had a wider selection of merchandise inworld than in their Marketplace store, and I've found the reverse to be true as well: Merchants with a wide selection on the Marketplace but very little in the store. Another reason for shopping inworld is the problem that merchants don't always use the same terms to describe things. Yesterday I went looking for a coffee maker, and on the Marketplace I got different results when I searched "coffee maker", "coffee dispenser", "espresso machine", and "coffeepot" - but I when I was inworld later on I found that I should have also searched for the term "coffee brewer". (I guess I shouldn't expect the Marketplace to be any better organized than my Inventory...)

wherorangi wrote: yes. Hopefully thats been referred to the other LL team and they will fix I actually got an email from Michael Linden that they are working on the sim buffers. Wow! That restores a lot of my faith in the Lindens. I'm not going to press my luck by asking for anything else for a while, since I am just a tiny fish trying to swim with a school of much bigger fish, but it was very nice to be heard. Thanks again, everyone who helped, and Thank You, Lindens.

Thanks for the clarification. To me "tier"="rent" but it is probably better to differentiate between "rent" paid to a private landowner who is paying "tier" to the Lindens, and "tier" being the payment you make for having the use of Linden land, paid directly to the Lindens. Hope I got it right this time.

Welcome to Second Life. I would like to add that besides the weekly stipend, Premium members get either free rent in a house in a Linden subdivision, or free rent on a 512 piece of land. You may also get periodic 'premium' gifts, and the chance to use some sandboxes and testing areas that are exclusive to premium members. As far as 'dumb questions' goes, I've been asking stupid questions in these forums for years. Only recently have I remembered to check the Wiki/Wikias and forum archives first. From the forums I've learned about secret places in Second Life that aren't on the Destination Guide, the best way to deal with griefers, where to find the Suggestion box....and so much more. I pay my premium membership by the year, and I count it as 'entertainment' expense on my budget. Pardon me if someone has already said this in a previous forum post.