SecondLife viewer guide
Hi, by the time you have finished reading and following this the final tutorial page in this blog, you will be able to understand the basics of using the viewer, you will know how to navigate the virtual world and communicate with the residents there.
This is a small description of the basics of the Second Life viewer, take note of each topic and try to identify each one on your viewer as you progress.
Help
The help option can be located in the tool ribbon located at the top of the viewer screen.
Every window has a help button (?) in the upper right corner.
The help comes in handy in case your confused, taking advantage of the Help option keeps the user confident as they learn each of the viewers processes.
Navigation
The ways of navigating through Second Life are:- Basic walking
- Flying
- Teleporting
You use the arrow keys to walk around and the page up or and down to fly or alternatively you can use the fly tab shown here in the tool ribbon located at the bottom of your viewer screen.
- Landmarks
This is a Landmark, these let you Teleport to locations and are good for keeping for future use, try saving a landmark and build your own favourite places to go.
- Mini map
- World map
This is an image of the SL world map.
Communication
This is a friends list, friends are listed to keep track of and also to help make communication management more friendly, friends are just that friends, many of these friends may be from around the world, many who do not even speak English, but with a good translator and with Second Life, communication with these people is simple.
The ways of communicating in Second Life:
- Text chat
Messages appear at the bottom left of your monitor in the viewer chat bar as they are received, you can get and send messages from here but maily for local chat, that to residents you are talking to in close proximaty, go ahead an try talking to somebody, dont be shy, just remember accepted behaviour and not everybody will be welcoming.
In the above example a group I have joined that is sending out a group message or group conference telling of a club party and are sending out teleport to their location window located top right.
- Instant messages
Alternatively you can open your communications window to manage your messages, this is used mostly for residents that are not close to you as well as for group conference chat.
- Voice chat
- Gestures
- Animations
- Note-cards
- Notifications
Notifications are sent to you form your groups informing you of current events and other relevant information.
Interacting with objects
Using the building tools the viewer provides, these tools allow you to create anything, with these tools and good code or scripting, you can create anything, the possibilities are only limit by your imagination, give it a go and rez a box, rez is a term used for loading something into the virtual world either by dragging from your inventory, wearing or loading up something.
You can interact with many things in Second Life by left or right clicking them and even by bumping or just walking by:
- Play in-world shared media
- Taking snapshots
Preferences
The Second Life viewer has a preference option enabling you to customise your SL experience.
Appearance
In advanced mode you can customise your avatars character and appearance, from shape height and look to hair and eyelash length.
Searching in Second Life
The Second Life viewer has a built in search capability which lets you search through out the virtual world for things but online as well:- Events
- Places
- Groups
- People
- Advertising
- Editors pics
The search tool in the viewer finds anything related to your search word, once the search tab is clicked the search engine retrieves every group holding that search word, in this example the search word is "Web design".
Linden dollars and shopping
The currency used in-world is called Lindens and can be used to purchase items like land and clothing, people working in-world are paid for their services by Lindens and this currency can be re converted back to your preferred currency and withdrawn from your local cash outlet.Buying and selling on Second Life
What is the Second Life marketplace
The official Second Life Marketplace site
In-world shopping
There are many different shops in-world where you can purchase merchandise, once purchased the item is sent to your inventory, from your inventory you can drag your purchased item to the ground where it will rezz (appear ) so you can open it, either by touching it ( left clicking on the item ) or opening it ( right clicking and choosing the open option ).
Inventory
Your inventory is the collection of items that you own in Second Life. The following articles explain how to get the most from your inventory:
Folders with folders with folders inside each other and each folder housing tens even hundreds of items, over time you may accumulate many items, a little hint? try to manage your inventory, keep everything in an easy to find system because if you don't? then you will end up with an inventory so messy that once you just throw something you have just purchased or been given or made your self in there, it may be lost forever.
Profile
Creating your profile helps others identify who you are and what you are like, try adding to your profile things such as a short description of your self and what your skills are.
Socializing
Second Life is an extremely social place, in-world you can find just about every type of social activity there is.
- Events
- Gatherings
- Meetings
- Fundraising
- Memorials
- Friendship
Groups
Groups allow you to share or find help with communities of similar interests people they are simple to find from the viewer search bar and easy to communicate with the chat bar or other message tool, using groups keeps these communities together allowing group messaging and notices.
This is a group BudoKa, its sole purpose was to teach others how to compete safely against each other and teach them basically what this blog teaches, but over time it became a trending events and fundraising support group as well. Once as many as a 100 plus were enrolled in it, since then I have scaled it down to only a few veterans and created a new group for the students.
This is a group BudoKa, its sole purpose was to teach others how to compete safely against each other and teach them basically what this blog teaches, but over time it became a trending events and fundraising support group as well. Once as many as a 100 plus were enrolled in it, since then I have scaled it down to only a few veterans and created a new group for the students.
Second Life has a detailed group system allowing you to network with up to 42 different groups of your choice.
Assessment
Please use this assessment to keep track of your progress and thanks you for helping to improve this blog.
References
- community.secondlife.com, 2016. Retrieved from: https://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/Second-Life-User-s-Guide/ta-p/1244857
- marketplace.secondlife.com, 2016. Picture from: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment