Monday 25 February 2008

Getting to i.s.i. ..... for COMPLETE beginners

It's been suggested that I post guidance here on how to get to the International Schools Island .... (a highly sensible suggestion) ... a guide for complete beginners who have ZERO experience of Second Life ... so here goes.
If you've never used Second Life before then you will need to ...
a) fasten your seatbelt
b) visit www.secondlife.com where you should
i) register yourself (all free ... no need to upgrade to premium)
ii) choose a name for your Avatar, you have a choice of a surname from a set list
... but you can choose anything for a first name (cannot change this later .. so be creative)

iii) choose an initial look for your Avatar from the standard ones offered
(can be completely changed later)

iii) download the S.L. viewer (PC or Mac)
c) Fire up the viewer (see comment below about graphic cards)
i) sign in with your Avatar name and password
ii) go through the orientation that has been designed for 'newbies'
d) play / explore
... remember that you are in the S.L. Main Grid for all of this .. which is for 18 years and above

To get to Int.Schs.Island there are several options including
i) put this address in the chat window (bottom left corner in S.L.viewer) http://slurl.com/secondlife/International%20Schools/64/90/24 (press 'say')
ii) it then comes up in chat history as a live hyperlink ... click on this ... then you should get a button to teleport to the island ... click
OR
i) Open up the S.L. viewer and log on (in?)
ii) put the above URL (actually called an SLURL) into your web browser (computer may start moaning at this point if old) ... a blue box should come up over a map of the island ... click 'teleport' ....
iii) a blue (teleport) button should then come up in your S.L. viewer .. click that and you should be teleported direct to the area next to the Towers on International Schools Island
-------------------
Some points to note ...
a) initially 'nubies' in Second Life usually communicate only with Chat and Instant Messaging ...the menu for this is bottom left of S.L. viewer
b) if you want to use voice (which I'd encourage) .. plug in headsets .... and enable chat .. top left of viewer Edit=>Preferences=>Voice Chat .. tick the box 'enable voice chat'
c) techni note ... some graphics cards are just not up to the job of displaying S.L. ... if you have an old machine or Intel graphics card then this might be a problem. (sorry)
.. and that's it. ... only 1.023 more skills to learn before you get a certificate
Have fun !

2 comments:

MaggieMarat said...

Hey Chris - Just a suggestion: ISTE has created a "portal" from which new comers to Second Life can sign up and avoid the nightmare that is Orientation Island! Create your avatar here: https://secure-web23.secondlife.com/join/ISTE/ and you will "reaz" on ISTE Island with just a short (and easy) orientation that leaves you at ISTE headquarters. From there you can teleport to many educational locations. Can't wait to hear more about your Speaker Series!---Peg Sheehy/ Maggie Marat in SL

Marcia Barham said...

This web address doesn't appear to be working.
https://secure-web23.secondlife.com/join/ISTE/

Anny suggestions?