how to make a sim

[123456gogo]

hi i was wondering how to make a Sim? I dont know if SIm is the right word for it but, I know you can make them cause I am on a SIm right now. But I want to know how to make one? It would be very greatful if someone can tell me how. thanks

[PeterCanessa Oh]

"Sim" probably is the right word, we think we understand you're asking about the area of land anyway :-)

A sim (simulator) is an area of virtual land 256m x 256m (65,536sqm).  There are about 30,000 sims in the Second Life virtual world (main 'grid'), although many of them are separate from any others.  Where sims join you can walk, drive, fly between them, otherwise the only access is teleport.  All the sims only exist in Linden Lab's (LL) servers and you can only rent one from them, not 'make' one.  The rent is approximately US$300 (three hundred) per month.  You usually get a sim by buying it from someone who wants to sell one of the ones they already have.  If you want LL to add a new sim to the grid for you, rather than buy an exising one, there is a one-off fee of US$1,000 (one thousand) as well as the US$300/month rent.  Residents who already own a (full) sim like this can also rent 'homestead' sims which are the same size but can contain fewer avatars (people) and objects (created things).

This land rent paid directly to Linden Lab is called "tier".

It is not necessary to rent an entire sim.  Sims can be sub-divided into a number of smaller, contiguous, regions called "parcels", each of which can be rented-out separately.  If you are a premium member you can get a 512sqm parcel of "mainland" (large contiguous continents of sims owned by Linden Lab) without paying tier.  A bigger area will require you to pay tier on a sliding-scale depending on how much land you own.  Non-premium members can't rent directly from LL but can rent from other residents who have land.

Land rented from other residents usually costs slightly more (because they still have to pay the tier) but almost always means better customer service.

And finally: if you do want to 'host' your own sim on your own server there is opensim, but that only looks like SL, it isn't connected.

[Rolig Loon]

You don't "make" a sim.  You buy one or rent one and then you reshape it to fit your own needs.  When you acquire a sim, you are buying space and time on a server farm, along wih the right to modify the landscape and add your own objects to it.  This is a very big topic, so here are a couple of Knowledge Base articles to get you started .....

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/Buying-land/ta-p/700043

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/Buying-Private-Regions/ta-p/700045

Onc you get past those, you'll want to learn about managing access to your land...

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/Managing-land/ta-p/700113

And terraforming the land ...

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/Editing-terrain/ta-p/700061

And then building ....

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/Build-Tools/ta-p/700039

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/Building-tips/ta-p/700041

If you are as new to this whole business as I suspect you are, it's probably best to go at it slowly.  Take some classes at a place like Builder's Brewery or Caledon University, make friends with other landowners and builder, and get some practice by working alongside someone else with more experience.  All of this can be great fun, but it can be daunting and even frustrating (and expensive) at first.

[Peggy Paperdoll]

You can make a sim.  It won't be connected to the Second Life grid but you can connect to other Open Sim Project grids.  You can also make a stand alone sim that is on your computer without connecting to any other sim or grid.  However, I think it's going to be a little advanced for you (strictly judging by the question you asked here).

http://opensimulator.org/wiki/Main_Page

Read through those pages and see if that's what you want.  Otherwise, you're stuck with purchasing a sim for SL.

 

[Lindal Kidd]

Oddly enough, even though you seem to have gotten conflicting answers, everyone is correct!

A "sim" (short for "simulator") is a region in Second Life, and also in other similar virtual worlds.  It's represented on the Map by a grid square.

You can't "make" sims in SL...but you can buy an existing one, or a piece of one (a "parcel" of land).  You can also order a brand new one direct from LL.  You can even give them a .raw terrain file and they'll create the region with your own custom land contours...or you can terraform it after it's created.

Whole sims are expensive, both to buy and to maintain.  Linden Lab charges a setup fee of $1,000 USD, and a monthly upkeep of $295 USD for a private sim.

But there is virtual world software, OpenSim, that you can install on your own computer, and create your own sims for free.  They won't connect to Second Life, but they CAN be made accessible to others, and connect to something called the "HyperGrid".  This is, as others have said, a pretty advanced topic for someone new to virtual worlds to attempt.  I suggest you follow a progression something like this:

1.  Get a Premium membership, and a free Linden Home.

2.  When you get tired of your Linden Home, abandon it and buy some land elsewhere on the Mainland, or lease a parcel on a nice private estate.

3.  If you find you enjoy virtual life, you may want to expand your land holdings...buy a bigger parcel, or multiple parcels.

4.  Once you have experience in owning land, and all the things that go with it...like building a house, landscaping, terraforming, dealing with griefers, setting music and media streams, customizing your sky and water appearance with the Environment editor...you may find that you want more land and prims than you can afford in SL.  Or, you want more control over who can visit your land, and when.  Then it could be time to look into OpenSim.