What is an alt?

[Art Stickfigure]

Is there a way to have a second avatar on the same account?  Are there really such things as "alt" avatars, or are they just additional accounts owned by the same person?

[Dante Tucker]

An alt is just any additional accounts held by someone. The account you use the most is commonly known as your "main".

There is no way to have two accounts linked to eachother right now. LL has suggested that they plan to add this in eventually.

Edit: reworded and formatted for clairity as suggested by Void

[Honey Puddles]

Dante beat me to it... but yes, "ALT" stands for "ALTernate Account".. and it's just another SL account created and controlled by a single person. Often Alternate accounts can be handy for doing things like testing next-owner permissions in products you plan to sell (you can SEE the permissions yourself by logging in as the alt, instead of trusting a friend to know what correct permissions should look like). Alts are also good for compartmentalizing different roleplay experiences. For example, if you have interests in both adult roleplay like Gor or BDSM, but have times when you prefer to seek refuge in innocent, non-sexual age-regression.. You might create a special Alternate account on which to build a child avatar... keeping all traces of adult group affiliation away from your child alt. Alts are also good for situations in which people wish to compartmentalize their lives in other ways.. whether it's a dedicated alt for a certain kind of roleplay, or an alternate account to sell items that wouldn't make sense being sold by your main.

 

From managing business assets and advertising costs, to running automated "bots" to send group invitations and store newsletters.. Alternate accounts have proven extremely useful to many people in Second Life. Because of their ability to be used to "hide" certain aspects of your SL life, many people have become quite obsessed with trying to discover or "link" multiple-account holders in some fashion.

 

In the end though, an alt is just another face you use to log into Second Life.. just like having multiple journals at Livejournal, or multiple GMail accounts. What you do with your alternate account(s) is what makes them useful to you.

[Dante Tucker]

So detailed, you should post that as an answer.

[Honey Puddles]

• Dante said I should post this as an answer instead of a comment on his answer.... sooooooo :smileyvery-happy:

Dante beat me to it... but yes, "ALT" stands for "ALTernate Account".. and it's just another SL account created and controlled by a single person. Often Alternate accounts can be handy for doing things like testing next-owner permissions in products you plan to sell (you can SEE the permissions yourself by logging in as the alt, instead of trusting a friend to know what correct permissions should look like).

Alts are also good for compartmentalizing different roleplay experiences. For example, if you have interests in both adult roleplay like Gor or BDSM, but have times when you prefer to seek refuge in innocent, non-sexual age-regression.. You might create a special Alternate account on which to build a child avatar... keeping all traces of adult group affiliation away from your child alt. Alts are also good for situations in which people wish to compartmentalize their lives in other ways.. whether it's a dedicated alt for a certain kind of roleplay, or an alternate account to sell items that wouldn't make sense being sold by your main.

 

From managing business assets and advertising costs, to running automated "bots" to send group invitations and store newsletters.. Alternate accounts have proven extremely useful to many people in Second Life. Because of their ability to be used to "hide" certain aspects of your SL life, many people have become quite obsessed with trying to discover or "link" multiple-account holders in some fashion.

 

In the end though, an alt is just another face you use to log into Second Life.. just like having multiple journals at Livejournal, or multiple GMail accounts. What you do with your alternate account(s) is what makes them useful to you.

[Honey Puddles]

Okiedokie. :smileyvery-happy:

[Void Singer]

psst Dante,

unless you are talking about just the account name (which display names break) then most people coming from other platforms and games would consider the ability to completely change your appearance at whim as having multiple avatars on the same account. might be worth pointing out;)

[Dilbert Dilweg]

Alt in short = Alternate account

[Irene Muni]

Additional info in the Linden Lab Ofiicial document about Alternate accounts: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Alt_Account_FAQ

[rotpaulette Carter]

Alt in german mean old.

I think now an alt is just an old  avatar, no?:smileytongue:

[Vick Forcella]

 

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Art Stickfigure wrote:

Is there a way to have a second avatar on the same account?  Are there really such things as "alt" avatars, or are they just additional accounts owned by the same person?

---

 

Answer to your first question, no. Accounts are not linked with each other.

Second question is a matter of opinion.

Some will say there are no alts since it's the same behind the keyboard so it's just another account.

Others will tell you they have a Main avatar, and some alts to do different tasks.

I once met a Mistress with a handful of slaves. Took me some time to realise she was on her own with several accounts running at the same time. She was quite disturbed.

[Cabbage Acanthus]

To answer your question, there is no real way to have two avatars on the same account.  One avatar, one account.  Of course, you can have as many outfits as you like and you can change your screen name.  If you want a true second identity, then you will have to sign up for a second account.  There is no limit to the number of accounts you can have.

"Alts" are as many have said an alternate account.  You "sign up" again making a second (or third, or fifth, or twentieth) account.  For the most part, these are treated as separate entites by SL.

Most people use their alts for perfectly non-disruptive reasons.  For example, someone wants to test their creations before distrubuting them to make sure that all the permissions are set correctly.  Or, someone has a "serious business" account but still wants to be "silly".  Or, well the reasons abound really. 

Some people do use alternate accounts to do their "dirty work" ie, harass, get revenge, or "grief".  This can work to a limited extent but be aware that significant violations of the TOS can result in IP based banning and the like. 

There are many people that want there to be a limit to "disposable" accounts, since their abuse is so common.  So far, LL has not placed any restrictions on account creation nor are they expected to do so.