Getting Started

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Getting Started in Second Life

Go to http://www.secondlife.com. Click on the large button that says “Free Membership, Join Now.” You will be directed to a screen where you choose your avatar’s name (you will have to select from a list of last names if it is a free account) and enter your birth date and e-mail addresses. Follow the steps to create your account and password. Save this info!!

When you first run the program from your computer, you will be prompted to enter your character name (NOT your real-life name) and your password. Then, bingo, you will be at the opening to “Orientation Island.” You will be asked to select a sex for your avatar, which will then appear, back towards you. Then you will stand there, wondering what to do…

The importance of going through the orientation to Second Life cannot be overstated. For many people, the experience of navigating through a virtual world is not intuitive and requires a little practice. You should plan at least an hour to "gain your sea legs" once you have gotten into Second Life. The Orientation area contains a great deal of useful information, and residents of the broader Second Life community are on hand to answer questions.

At some point you will be ready to leave the orientation area and enter the world of Second Life, which is referred to as "the mainland." The mainland is much like any large city -- it has fantastic shopping and entertainment options, lots and lots to do and explore -- and also some options that are clearly niche or adult-focused. Read this article from the Phoenix Observer for background on some of the subcultures of Second Life.

There are also many "islands" in Second Life, and the NMC Campus is one of them. One reason to have an "island" is to be able to set restrictions on who visits.

The NMC Campus is set up to limit who comes to our campus to people with a legitimate interest in our work. It is an area meant to feel safe and commortable for all who visit. (See the Campus Code) As such, you must join a group to gain access to the NMC Campus. Once you do, you will be able to visit it whenever you like.

We encourage you to make the NMC Campus your "home location" using the World menu (found at the top of your screen), which will allow you to go directly to the Campus when you log in, or from wherever you may visit with single click.

[edit] Getting to NMC Campus

Once you are "in world," as the saying goes, you must join a group to gain access to the NMC Campus.

The best way to do this is explained to you when you join the NMC Campus through the NMC Campus Observer from the "Join" tab. That is the recommended way to gain access, as it also is the way to join the NMC Campus community. Once you enter your info (which must include your SL name, so wait until you have it before going there), you'll be sent an email that will explain exactly what you need to do.

You can also directly access the NMC Campus by searching the list of groups for one of two groups that will allow you to visit NMC Campus. To do this, log into Second Life and use the blue "Search" button on the bottom of your screen. It looks like a long blue jelly bean in a row of long blue jelly beans. You'll find it in about the middle of that row.

Click on the "Groups" tab in the window that pops up, and enter "NMC" inthe search window. A list of possibilites will pop up. You want to select one of two choices on that list of 4-5 -- only these two are open subscription.

The first group is "NMC Members" and is meant, as you might suspect, for people associated with an NMC member institution. The other open-subscription group, "NMC Guests", is for people who wish to visit the campus that are not affiliated with an NMC member institution.

Once you are in one of these two groups, use the map function (second blue jelly bean from the right) to find and teleport to NMC Campus. When you click the "Map" button, a large window will pop up/ About a third of the way down the left side is a search box with a blue button next to it.

Enter NMC in the search box.In the results area, NMC Campus will appear. Double clik on that name and you will teleport firectly to the welcome area on the NMC Campus.

From here, you'll need to know the basics of Second Life to get around (more on that below....keep reading), but if you use your left arrrow key (just hold it down), you'll rotate in one spot so that a map appears in view.

These maps are all over campus and are teleporters. Just right click (or option-click for you Macifites) to gain access to the "pie" menu. Every object in Second Life has one of these, and they are most useful. Select "teleport" by mousing over it and normal-clicking. It will take you to your selected spot on campus.

If you keep rotating around in that one spot, a robot will appear. Click on Robbie and he will give you an automated tour tool, called a HUD (Heads Up Display), and a note card with insiturcitons on how to use it. This HUD will take you around the campus and explain what some of the buildings are about. You'll find your "objects folder" in your "Inventory", which is the last blue jelly bean on the right.

If you keep reading, however, you won't need a tour HUD, because in Second Life, you can FLY!!!

[edit] Basics of Second Life

The Second Life Help menu at the top gives you pull down menus with instructions for various concepts and Second Life needs.

The “View” button at the top allows you to select movement and camera controls to display on screen, and also gives tips and commands for some other actions. The Toolbar at the bottom of the screen can be taken on or off display from this menu.

Inventory—your avatar comes with an inventory. This includes clothing and body parts, objects you have acquired, gestures, note cards, and your library. Your library is where you can store things that you create. You can access your Inventory by clicking the Inventory button on the toolbar, which then gives you a pop-up box with a basic directory and subdirectory structure for items.

If you want to go through the Second Life Orientation and you leave Orientation Island by mistake first, you can go to an Orientation Station for tutorials. Select Edit from the menu bar, Find from the pull down men, then pick the Places Tab and type in “Orientation.” This will give you some places to go and learn thing—just teleport to them!


[edit] Moving

In Second Life, you can move around an area by walking or flying. There are arrow buttons that can be used with the mouse, and also keystroke commands.

Right click on your avatar to display the small pie-like circle of commands: Go, Groups, Profiles, Appearance, Take Off, Gestures, Friends, and Stand Up. If you are already standing, Stand Up will not be high-lighted.

GO: Right Click on the “Go” command to make a small pop-up box with 8 arrows in it appear. You can also select “Movement Commands” from the pull-down view Menu. Note—you will be viewing your avatar’s back while you do all these. Hold the arrow down for continuous movement, click for incremental movement.

  • The straight arrow pointing to the left moves your avatar left.
  • The straight arrow pointing up moves your avatar forward.
  • The straight arrow pointing right moves your avatar right.
  • The striped arrow pointing up enables your avatar to move up.
  • The twisted arrow pointing left rotates the view so that the avatar is now looking to the left. It does not change the avatar’s position.
  • The twisted arrow pointing right rotates the view so that the avatar is now looking to the right. It does not change the avatar’s position.
  • The straight arrow pointing down moved the avatar backwards. If your avatar backs into a wall, you may lose sight of it and see the wall instead.
  • The striped arrow pointing down enables the avatar to crouch down.


You can also hold the left mouse button down after clicking on a directional arrow and move the mouse itself to change your avatar’s movement.

FLY: If you click the little button that says Fly, you can Fly! This is a good way to explore—you can look down on things instead of being obstructed by walls, trees, falling into the ocean, etcetera.

Flying movement is very similar to walking movement. If you hold the forward or backward arrow down, your avatar’s position will change from vertical to horizontal. Flying backwards in this case means flying toward you—you will be able to see your avatar’s face instead of its hair style. The jump and crouch striped arrows enable vertical movement.

When you are done flying, click the Stop Flying button on the menu at the bottom of the screen. Don’t worry—if you are up high, you will fall without damage, though the landing may look clumsy!

Keystroke commands for moving:

  • W or Up arrow—moves the avatar forward
  • S or Down arrow—moves the avatar backward
  • A or left arrow—turns the avatar to the left
  • D or right arrow—turns the avatar to the right
  • E or Page Up key—fly up/jump
  • C or Page Down key—fly down/crouch


F or Home is the command for toggling back and forth between flying and walking.

You can press more than one key at a time.

Moving takes some getting used to. Play around. If you fall in the water, you will have to fly out instead of jumping.


[edit] Viewing

Tired of looking at the back of your avatar? Want to see something from a different angle? Want to look at something without moving the avatar? Here are the basics.

Hold the Alt/Option key down to get a little magnifying glass.

With the mouse:

  • Left click on your avatar and hold. Slide the mouse from left to right to rotate the view and forwards and backwards to zoom in and out.
  • If you click on something besides your avatar, the view will recenter to whatever point the magnifying glass is on when you click.
  • Left click on your avatar and hold both the Control and Alt keys down to go into orbit mouse; as you move the mouse, the camera moves around the avatar at a fairly constant distance.
  • Left click on your avatar and hold the Control, Shift, and Alt keys down and move the mouse. This pans the camera left or right of your avatar.

This sounds easy but will take some practice. You can zoom and rotate the view out of a building altogether, behind rocks, all sorts of places that your avatar could not possibly see. In viewing, you are not moving your avatar, you are moving the “camera” around the Second Life area. You can quickly lose sight of your avatar altogether, or have it vanish behind some trees. To get it back/return to it, just click Escape or click on the up arrow in the movement box. (Keyboard commands will move the view but will not return automatically to putting the avatar in the center.)

For a humorous take on using your camera in Second Life, see the "Noob-be-Gone" video on using your camera from Natural Selection Studios.

[edit] The Area Around You

When you’re looking around in Second Life, you can use your right mouse button to click on something besides your avatar. This will give you another Pie Command list, which includes “Sit Here” (your avatar sits down), “Create,” “Edit,” and “More.” If you’ve clicked on an object which can be added to your Inventory, there will also be a “Take” command. If you’ve clicked on Land instead of an object, there will be commands related to the land.

“Create” is the command to start building an object. In some places in Second Life, the owner will have prohibited other characters from building on the land. However, if it is okay to go ahead and create, you will jump right into the building objects menu. See the building section under objects for more information.

“Edit” is the command to edit an existing object. Depending upon what you click on, you may or may not have edit rights.

“More” gives you another Pie Command list with at least three options to rate the item, delete it, or return it to the owner. If you leave things you have built or bought somewhere, they may be returned to you by someone else.

There may be additional options depending upon the object. All are fairly self-evident.


[edit] Chatting

Make sure your toolbar is on view at the bottom of the screen. Click the button that says “Chat.”

A button saying “History” will appear, next to a bar with a space to type. When you type, your avatar will appear to be typing on an invisible keyboard.

When you are done chatting, just hit escape. You must do this if you wish to use the keyboard commands to fly.


[edit] Appearance

Right click on your avatar, then select the “Appearance” piece of the command pie. You get a box with a list of body parts (shape, skin, hair, and eyes) and a list of clothing items. When you click one of these buttons, you get another list to the right with boxes that show how you can modify all the components of that feature. For example, when you click eyes, you then get a sub menu that allows you to change the color and the lightness of your iris. You can change the shape of your eyes, the position on the face, and so on by clicking the “eyes” sub menu which appears after you’ve clicked “Shape.”

Clothing can be similarly modified. You can create new clothing or modify the clothing that is in your inventory. You can select degrees of length, tightness, wrinkles, cut, and so on. To choose a new fabric, click the fabric button. Select “Library” for preloaded textures that come with Second Life, and “My Inventory” for any textures you’ve uploaded yourself. This will then give you folders and files of textures. Any texture will work on any object; you can texture your shirt like a shag rug or grout if you want. Click the color box to get a color picker.

  • Note—if the texture comes with a color of its own, the color picker might not give you the color you selected. Experiment.
  • Note—you can look pretty silly if you put a skirt on over a pair of pants. To take off clothing, click on the Take Off piece of the command pie and then select the desired item.
  • Note—you can “Wear” objects that aren’t clothes. If you click on something under objects, then select wear, you’ll likely end up with it over your head.


[edit] Objects

If you have an object, such as the NMC Welcome sphere, that you want to work with, click on it in your inventory and drag it to an area near you, then click on appropriate commands, such as “Open.”. When you are done with it, you can delete it from the 3D world; it will stay in your inventory unless you delete it from the inventory menu. Objects that have been created by other people may be freely available for you to copy or modify, or they may be restricted. Some may be for sale but not allow modification or further transfer of ownership after you have purchased them.


[edit] Building objects

Building a three-dimensional object takes some practice, both at conceptualizing what you want to make and at maneuvering your mouse and working with the extensive command menu. Select “Help” from the menu bar, then choose “Advanced Second Life Skills,” then scroll down the list of skills to “Creation 101.” Scroll Down again through the description of the lamp and select next to go through a Second Life Tutorial on building an object. Also, you can select “Second Life Concepts” from the Help pull-down menu, and then choose “Building in 3-D,” “3-D Terminology,” or “Building Tools” for an overview of the subject.

Second Life objects begin with basic shapes—spheres, cylinders, cubes, and so on—that can be modified along the X,Y, and Z axes to change shape. They can be distorted rotated, stretched, and overlapped. You select the object’s size, position, and rotation along these axes. You can also select building material, texture, and color. For precise movements, it is easier to use the keyboard to type in co-ordinates than in it is to try to position something with the mouse.

The X axis is represented with red lines, the Y axis with green, and the Z axis with blue.

For a humorous take on building in Second Life, see the "Noob-be-Gone" video on building tips from Natural Selection Studios.

[edit] Finding

Click Edit on the menu, then select “Find” from the pull-down menu. You can look for a number of things, including places (which includes shops to buy new clothes, hair, skins, and so on), events, people, and classified ads. The NMC Campus does NOT show up under places, however. To get to the NMC Campus, follow the instructions for “Getting to NMC.”


[edit] System Requirements

PC Minimum System Requirements:

Internet Connection*: Cable or DSL Operating System: Windows XP (Service Pack 2) OR Windows 2000 (Service Pack 4) Computer Processor: 800MHz Pentium III or Athlon, or better Computer Memory: 256MB or better Video/Graphics Card**: nVidia GeForce 2, GeForce 4mx, or better OR ATI Radeon 8500, 9250, or better

Mac Minimum System Requirements:

Internet Connection*: Cable or DSL Operating System: Mac OS X 10.3.9 or better Computer Processor: 1 GHz G4 or better Computer Memory: 512MB or better Video/Graphics Card**: nVidia GeForce 2, GeForce 4mx, or better OR ATI Radeon 8500, 9250, or better

Some graphics cards may not be compatible.

[edit] See Also

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