“Older” Second Life residents would agree that some noob-like behavior in Second Life is funny at its best and downright annoying at its worst.

Agreed?

But how do they know, if nobody tells them?

If you are new to Second Life, read this blog post. It will help you to get settled much easier in the new environment you just joined and will help you avoid the most common pitfalls.

Promised.

Just get yourself a cup of tea and keep reading with an open mind! All of it!

For experienced residents: The individual tips are set on “click to tweet”. You can share them (the ones you agree to with) with your followers on Twitter. 

Let’s educate them noobs and help them to get better integrated in our world.

Let’s go:

First of all:

Second Life is not a game! 

It is a virtual social environment – a virtual World. The avatars you see are not just pixel dolls being put there for your own exclusive entertainment.

Behind each one of these avatars, there is a real person with real feelings, with real beliefs, real attitudes, and expectations that might differ from yours!

Many of the people behind those avatars do take their Second Lives pretty seriously. Some might have a business in Second Life, many have a virtual home and most have made friends and established other social relationships within Second Life.

Bear in mind that Second Life is not an “American only” thing. People from all over the world, from different cultures, races, countries, educational backgrounds, and languages are present in Second Life. 

This is what makes Second life diverse and interesting.

It also requires some sort of “etiquette”. Sounds weird to read this, doesn’t it? 

No, it only sounds weird,  if you are under the misconception that Second life is a game. This is so important to understand that it bears repeating:

Once you have accepted this little but all-important fact, you will understand that certain typical noob-like behavior is boring at its best and downright annoying at its worst, to regular residents of Second Life. 

We all have observed certain behavioral patterns of noobs over and over again and if you want to be taken seriously, accepted, and respected by other residents you better stop doing those things immediately.

Here a List of Tips For Noobs You May Share on Twitter:

Does anyone have some more tips for noobs? Please leave your tips in the comments. I might add them to the list.

See ya In-World. I am on the run for some screenshots of typical noob-like behavior 🙂

Do you like Caroline Takeda's articles? Follow on social!
People reacted to this story.
Show comments Hide comments
Comments to: Stop Acting Like a Noob! – Best 14 Tips to Get Settled in The Second Life Community
  • April 22, 2022

    This one\’s been around for a while but here\’s a few from me:
    1. Slightly related to the landigpoints and \”wanna fuck\”-types of advice; if you end up TP\’ing into a club, participate! Chat, dance, explore. You might get noticed by someone. It might even be someone that\’ll end up helping you pull your avie out of noob-dom (no guarantee, but there have always been kind souls around in even the most unexpected places on SL). On my very first account, long ago, I visited a futa place out of curiosity regarding whether it\’d be something I might enjoy or not, got hit on by a few people, and two of them ended up dragging my butt into a long winding tour of shops where they basically force-fed me all the outfits (and some furniture) that I as much as looked at for more than a second. Felt awkward, felt like I owed them big-time, but they insisted that I didn\’t. they just liked helping neww people get their barings. On top of that example, actually participating makes people see that there\’s an actual person wearing the skin of that noobie avatar.
    2. An extension to the \”not every female that refuses to dance/hump with you is a lesbian/male\”-thing; Being turned down sucks, but it does not, and I mean absolutely not, give you any right to throw a tantrum – or worse, to start a griefing campaign against everyone on the sim. If anything, that crap can get you banned from the sim or possibly even from SL itself.
    3. Don\’t just accept animations/objects/scripts from anyone. This is basic safety; yes, there are those who are genuinely generous or have other legit reasons to want to send you something, but there have also always been those who\’ve wanted to simply inflict as much misery on random people in SL. It\’s frankly a gamble that you don\’t want to take. You might be getting a cute teddybear, or you might be getting something that drains your L$ (if you end up consenting to debit permissions), trashes your inventory, or maybe makes a royal shitfest of your avatar – or makes you their little griefing puppet, so you might unknowingly be turned into a nuissance for other SL residents.

  • September 7, 2020

    Here\’s one for you Don\’t Do List for Noobies. If you see a person on their home/boat/plane dont just land there or sit in their vehicle. If they are on their land you might IM or shout to them something like \”Knock, Knock\”. If they say \”Who\’s There?\” resist the temptation to tell a joke and ask for permission to come in or on their land.

  • April 15, 2020

    While this goes for all people no matter how little or long they have been with Second Life, a piece of helpful advice would be to not plaster your politics everywhere. There are political groups with their own destinations. Keep it there.

    • April 21, 2020

      Sheree

      Thanks for the comments.
      I actually do very rarely see politics in Second Life.

      Carol

  • December 19, 2017

    I forgot you wrote this … it’s still very useful and actual!

  • November 10, 2015

    I’m far from new, but I /am/ new to the mesh body thing. I got the Maitreya one and while the posing visuals during erotic escapades are better than the flat butted olde tyme avatars, it distorts in other ways. Prompting me to ask a Noobish questions:
    a) what’s the best mesh body for such adventures (other poses for totally unrelated activities in SL may be similarly disatisfying, so it’s a general question really)
    b) am I just organizing the avatar wrong?

    As a female, the visuals aren’t the most compelling part. They’re cartoons after all. But still…

  • September 16, 2015

    I am new to SL and the only thing I know how to do is walk around. which is weird because i’ve always been good at gaming and simulators and stuff like that. Is there any way you could help me get started? I know nothing about SL but it looks fun

  • December 1, 2013

    Why are most of these aimed at males? There are plenty of females noobs that see a well done male av and the first words are “damn, you look good. Wanna fuck?”
    Same with all of your other thoughts..

    • April 15, 2020

      \”Why are most of these aimed at males? There are plenty of females noobs that see a well done male av and the first words are “damn, you look good. Wanna fuck?”\”

      Because they\’re men.

Write a response

About the Author

Do you like Caroline Takeda's articles? Follow on social!

Categories

sponsor