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SECOND LIFE INFO

What IS Second Life, anyway?
SL Policies & TOS (Because I believe in full disclosure)
Quickstart PDF (Quick reference for common things you do in SL)
System Requirements (Pay attention folks, they aren't kidding about them!)

Obligatory Statement:
Second Life™ SL™ and Linden Lab™ are trademarks or registered trademarks of Linden Research, Incorporated. No copyright infringement is intended or implied. No affiliation save as a user of the Second Life™ virtual world is claimed.

BUT IT'S JUST A GAME, WHY IS THIS SECTION HERE?

Second Life is:

  • Not a game, but you can play games in it
  • Not an MMO, although it's certainly Massive, Multiplayer and Online
  • Not a chat room, although you can chat with people all over the world
  • Not a business platform, although people and companies (such as IBM) do run business applications or PR outlets in SL
  • Not the web, although it's connected to it and shares many features

It's a virtual world, things can happen in it that would never happen in RL. People can use it as a form of therapy, exploring some of their past issues and learning to deal with them more effectively. People who are deaf can talk to people (via keyboard) on an equal basis. People who are wheelchair bound, or have other pain or movement problems in RL can walk, run and even dance in Second Life - for hours if they want. Antisocial people can socialize on THEIR terms (i.e., when they've had it with people for a while, they can just log off and take a break.)

This section is here because over the last year, a significant portion of the online vampire community has been dipping their toes into Second Life and discovering how much fun it can be (and, in some cases, how long it's been since they last upgraded their computers...) Some of us have gotten involved in DJ work, some in clothing design, and so on.

And, there's even vampire community outreach centers available in Second Life now.

OH REALLY? WHERE?

Here's a list - though you'll need an active Second Life account - and viewer - to actually visit these links:

The Sanguinarius.Org Community Center can be found in the Kitsuhana region:

 

LadyCG's Vampiric Library can be found in the Lunitarium region:

 

Taleisin Llewellyn's Liber Obscurum can be found in the Athan region:

 

House Rosa's Sanctuary can be found in the Bagheera region:

 

 

OK, SO HOW DO I GET STARTED?

Well, first you need to sign up for a Second Life account. You can do that [here].

I would advise checking/ticking the box for "Choose a Community", and in the following list, choose CALEDON. Their orientation center is THE best out of what I've seen on the grid, and it's regularly staffed by members of the Caledon steampunk community who can answer your questions about how to do things in Second Life. Plus you get really cool freebies there that you can't get anywhere else. :)

Once you sign up, you're given the option to download a viewer.
(Current official version as of October 6, 2009: 1.23.4.123908)

By default, you will be offered the [official client], however you may find this has an unacceptable amount of lag or crashes (Most people gripe about it, so you won't be alone!)

You do have other options available!

Since the viewer was made "Open Source" sometime in 2007, there are a variety of third-party versions to choose from - you can start with the [alternate viewers] page (which has details and specific features of each); however the four variations I've actually used are:

Nicholaz Versions Win Windows - Also on LinuxLinux and MacMacintosh
--- see upper right of blog for links
The original third-party viewer focusing on stability and reduction of lag. The older versions ARE still supported, but Nicholaz is not making any versions of the more recent clients.

Recommended for folks with very old (single-core CPU or low-end graphics cards) machines. It doesn't have all the "pretty" of the current viewer versions, but it's quite usable regardless.

Imprudence    WinWindows   Linux Linux  Mac Mac  
Emphasis with this viewer is on usability, and an effort to not depend on proprietary components - the fonts included with this version are VERY readable compared to some of the others, and definitely compared to the official client. The Imprudence team is attempting to maintain all three versions with the same feature sets, so even Linux users won't have to feel left out with this one.

Kirsten Viewer    WinWindows   Linux Linux   
An excellent up-to-date replacement for Nicholaz, in my opinion, if you want something more up to date. Also, the default viewer skin is dark orange on black - perfect for those of us with sensitive eyes. :)

The S16 series comes in two flavors - one for older machines (the "No SSE" version) and one for newer machines.

The S17 series is the first Shadowdraft (you can turn on avatar shadows) viewer, and has some additional features.

** The S18 series has the "httpget" feature included, as well as shadowdraft, for faster rendering of textures/images. It really does kill a lot of lag this way! However, for S18 you MUST MUST MUST have current hardware! And a specific microsoft patch referenced on Kirsten's blog.

Cool Viewer LinuxLinux - Also on WinWindows and MacMacintosh
This client focuses on stabiliy, with versions available (by different people) currently maintained for all three major operating systems.

This client also uses special code (which is NOT on by default) designed specifically for the BDSM community - "restrained life" - you have to manually turn it on in the preferences. Not having the restrained life code activated does NOT interfere with regular operation of the client. Just have to toss that out there for the folks who might otherwise panic... :)

There is also a "Rainbow Viewer" variation (the primary difference is cosmetics in the interface appearance - if you're new to SL, or haven't learned the client yet, this doesn't matter.) See the links on Boy Lane's blog (the Windows link above for Cool Viewer) for locations.

There is also now a "netbook" version, for lower powered laptops. If you have an older machine, this might be worth a try as well.

 

 

 

 

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