Saturday, April 21, 2012

Second Life. I'm in. Now what? (Part I - Get Help)

I posted about how people were asking me how to get into Second Life here.  Now I figure I ought to make mention of a few standard "once you're inworld" things to know.

I'm no expert, I'm no "helper" and everyone enjoys their virtual experience their own way.  These are just a few tips based on my own experiences and observations.

1.  Get help.

The learning curve in Second Life is huge.  Worth it, but huge.  Get help.

There are plenty of places and people from which or from whom to get help, but I'd advise you to spread it around.  Some people log into Second Life, find a generous soul who helps them with a few basics and then latch onto them and bleed them dry of all good will.  Helping new people when you have a hobby you love is a pleasure.  Feeding a leech who turns your hobby into a grinding job is a special kind of hell. Don't be a thoughtless leech.  Find multiple resources and spread your questions and requests around.  Besides, I guarantee you there are some questions you are going to ask more than once and if you can ask it of multiple different people you will feel like less of a forgetful dork.  Either that or people get fed up and bail before they even know what they are missing.  Don't be that guy either.

Where can you get help?  Good question.  There are LOADS of places to get help.  That and the payoff in terms of Second Life enjoyment make being a n00b worthwhile.

There are multiple forums offworld that include Resident members who have been in Second Life for 5 or more years.  Many of those forums have Answers or Guide sections and people willing to give of their time and knowledge to answer questions for you. Start with the official Second Life forums and then try SLUniverse, the largest of the third-party forums.  Branch out from there and you may even find a forum community you want to be a permanent part of, or at the very least, bookmark for the occasional question.

Youtube has video tutorials.  Inworld clubs, groups, schools and volunteers have blogs.  Lots of Second Life hobbyists and even Second Life professionals have blogs.


You should also check out the Second Life Wiki.

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Main_Page


Here are some helpful links:

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Answers/qac-p/Answers
http://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/Second-Life-Quickstart/ta-p/1087919
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD237D0E11AC1F341&feature=plcp
http://www.nci-sl.info/blog/

Here are some forum links:


http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Answers/qac-p/Answers
http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Forums/ct-p/Forums
http://www.sluniverse.com
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD237D0E11AC1F341&feature=plcp
http://www.rletc.com/forumdisplay.php?7-Second-Life&prefixid=guide
http://www.rletc.com/showthread.php?3128-Downloading-and-Getting-Started-in-Second-Life
http://www.rletc.com/showthread.php?2799-Second-Life-Help-for-New-Residents
http://leeherevw.blogspot.com/2011/06/virtual-world-theme-sites-blogs-forums.html


There are GREAT Second Life tutorials on Youtube and beautiful Second Life machinima too.

There are also inworld help centers and help groups in Second Life with volunteers devoted to helping you through that big learning curve I mentioned.

Pull up the Search menu on your viewer and type in "Help" and see what comes up.  You could also look for:

Help at Caledon Oxbridge University Community Gateway, Caledon Oxbridge (92, 197, 27) - General
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Caledon%20Oxbridge/92/198/28

Help Island Public, Help Island Public (119, 115, 26) - General
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Help%20Island%20Public/119/115/27

White Tiger Help & Learning Island. New Resident Services., Lawst Paradise (138, 18, 21) - General
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lawst%20Paradise/141/26/22

NCI Dream Seeker New Citizens Incorporated - Help/Classes, NCI Dream Seeker (44, 198, 23) - General
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/NCI%20Dream%20Seeker/45/199/24

The Shelter, Isabel (34, 226, 81) - Moderate
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Isabel/35/226/81

There, that should get you started.

Enjoy!


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The Shelter


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White Tiger Help Island


ETA: From Void Singer via Sy Beck on the SL official forum...

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/Your-Avatar/New-to-SecondLife-and-completely-Lost/m-p/1502255#M19020

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/General-Discussion-Forum/Official-Resources/m-p/1212519/highlight/true#M35623

Void Singer's post:


I had a thought to compile a list of official resources, available from Linden Lab, as a go to source for official information regarding problems one might encounter in SL.
The list I'm attempting to compile is of only the LL direct sources, since most of the informal sources (such as these forums) are fairly well known and often suggested, but not everyone is aware of all the official sources...
so to jump start this list, I'm going to throw out some categories, and populate a few of them, and would welcome any suggestions for Official LL Resources only (which I'll do my best to update into this post)
UPDATED Dec 16, 2:58 PM (PST)

Information on current events and changes within SL:
Basic Information and Common questions:
  • @SupportLinden (A twitter account that redirects users to the likeliest resource)
  • Knowledge Base (a collection of preformated questions and answers on a variety of topics)
  • Video Tutorials (collection of video detailing how to do many basic tasks and showcasing SL content)
  • SL Wiki (only some information found here is official)
Basic support:
  • Quickstart Guide (something to get you started if you are new to SL)
  • Billing issues (can't save your payment info? got overcharged by LL, go here)
  • File a Trouble ticket (AKA Support Portal, for problems that you are personally experiencing, should be logged in if possible)
    • Live Chat Support (must be premium member and logged into the website, limited hours)
  • Jira(find out about known bugs, possible workaraounds, and keep updated on the ones important to you)
Active Focus Groups:
  • Server Betauser group (meets on beta grid [aditi] focuses on upcoming features and fixes)
  • Server/Sim user group (meets twice weekly on main grid [agni] focuses on current server limitations and workaraounds)
  • Scripting user group (meets weekly on main grid [agni] focuses on scripting bugs and new features)
  • Content Creation user group (meets week on main grid [agni] focuses largely on mesh)
  • Community Tools user group (focuses on webside resources for SL) - Closed
I only gathered some of the obvious links, it could used fleshed out with contact phone numbers, emails and other direct LL supported resources (one in which an employee of linden lab either directly answers, or can point you to the correct resource)


Additional comments (see linked thread for posters):


wiki ?

If you're gonna list Rod's Tweeter feed, why not list his SL profile feed as well?

Thanks much, Void. I have just one suggestion to add to your list: Billing Support? Oh, and maybe a link to the Quick Start Guide?


May I also suggest under basic info the video tutorials:


Colleen's link leads from the SL Feed:


https://my.secondlife.com/leehere.absent/posts/4f9369f156cc970001006a4e
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