Category Archives: How to do….

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May 15 2013

Second Life Walkthrough: No Place Like Home

So you have a job, you’ve gotten used to the basic things in Second Life, but there is still one little thing missing. A place to Forrentset your home. Now when you log into SL now, you normally log in to the last location we were when you logged out again. If you had a home, that would be a set point for your log in.

So how do you find a place to stay? There are several rental companis in SL that sell parcels, skybox and such. Parcels are a little advance, that is when you are really interested in making a full commitment to Second Life, it also comes under LAND OWNERSHIP, which is something we’ll get into another time. Boy, is that totally complicated. There are two ways of finding a place to call home. They are:

Becoming a premium Second Life member.

Becoming a Premium Second Life Member opens a lot of perks and rights to you, such as getting a weekly allowance, and a place which is called a Linden Home. You are given a home, with a set amount of prims (Prim: the number of objects you can have in your home) and a space. It will also open premium areas. You will have to pay for the subscription, So you’ll have to check the website.

But you can also

Just look at an apartment that has cheap weekly rent

There are hundreds of rental offices in Second life that provide low priced housing. Most of these homes are either Skyboxes or apartment complexes. Something you will notice each difference which each virtual world you go to is the pay rent is paid. In Second Life whether it is an apartment, or a parcel, , rent is paid weekly and in Lindens (L$). Sim tier is paid monthly using real life currency. Land is another topic we will be covering soon, since it is a very important part of your Second Life, for now let’s concentrate on finding you a cheap place to call home.

Here are a few that we were able to find:

Sage Rentals

Sage provides different types of housing, from skyboxes to apartment complexes, their prices range from 20L$ per week to 199L$ per week. It is all within an affordable price range.

Crystal Towers

Crystal Towers offers apartments, cottages, and sky boxes from 50L$ per week.

Noobia

A rental place that provides free apartments for those up to 30 days.

 

These are just three cheap places in SL, if you have the time to look, check them out. Just search.

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Aug 5 2012

So You Want to Own a Business in Second Life – Land Sales & Rentals

In this installment of So You Want to Own a Business in Second Life, we will look at the land sales and rentals business in Second Life. The land sales and rentals business in Second Life can be one of, if not the most, expensive type of business to own in Second Life.

Before jumping into the land market in Second Life, decide how much you can afford to spend in Second Life, as costs can jump relatively quickly. Land in Second Life is divided into mainland or estate property. Mainland property is limited to 40 avatars, has no covenant, and you do not get estate rights with mainland property. If you own a private estate, then you can have a max of 100 avatars, your choice of a covenant, and you get the estate permissions.

Continue reading →

Jul 12 2012

Man Week– Jobs in SL: Photographer

Name:  Damion Theas
Job Title:  Owner of Captured Studio / Photographer
Rezday :  7/4/2007

How long have you been in Second Life? 5 years Damion 6-20-121

What is your job? How long have you been doing it? I’m the owner of Captured Photography, We’ve been opened almost 4 years now.

A little back ground of you place of work.  What do they do? How long have been doing it for?
It’s a photography studio, where we try to provide quality photos for SL citizens. We opened up in Nov of 2008.

Continue reading →

Jul 9 2012

Man Week Begins! – Male From Scratch.

Hi Folks

As you might know it’s man week here at the Torch and my mission was to make a male avi from scratch and kit him out for 200 lindens.

To be honest I didn’t think I was going to be able to do it, because lets face it, although second life has come on in leaps and bounds as far as men’s fashion is concerned they are still pretty under represented, especially in the cheap or free area but despite that I think I managed to put together a guy that in my personal opinion is kind of handsome. So without further ado I bring you Shad! 7 foot something hunk of man.

URLS to follow.

So the first thing that needed to be done was to find a good base, that being shape and skin and the hunt brought me to FILTHY at the Place Alexandra sim. While perhaps most well known for some gorgeous female skins and shapes. She also does a great range of men’s too and the best news for people with a limited budget is that the creator Alexandra Barcelos has some of her older skins still available for the incredible bargain price of 99ls! And that gents includes shape, a range of skin tones and separate hair base. What more could you ask for?

Filthy – Sid skin & shape – 99ls – http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Red%20Wing/24/198/32

The next stop was for eyes, This was a pretty easy choice for me to make because MAYFLY has some beautiful offerings in a variety of colours are all really realistic and cheap. But the best thing for the purpose of my mission is that they have a free pair. The London fog free eyes are a gorgeous piercing blue and you can choose if you want to wear the normal texture or wear them in a mesh version. They are stunning and definitely the kind of eyes a lady likes to get lost in.

Mayfly – London fog mesh eyes – 0ls – http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Noul/194/107/652

Onto clothes and my favourite subject shoes! For these I headed to Second Life marketplace and did a raid and in no time at all had come up with this, so sharp it could cut you suit from Savvy Avvy for just 50ls. I was surprised by the quality of this outfit, It’s detailed, smooth and perfectly textured, it’s a must have for any guy out there that wants a bit of elegant nonchalance, It can be worn in a number of ways, while I opted for the white open neck shirt, there is also a black open shirt and buttoned up versions with a tie too, so it’s perfect for a number of occasions.

Savvy Avvy – Business suit – 50ls – https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/savvy-avvy-Business-class-mens-suit-set-ONLY-50-L-FOR-ONE-WEEK-ONLY/362071

The shoes from HOC apparel are also off the marketplace and were also 50ls.  They are seamlessly sculpted with an impeccable finish, They go perfectly with the suit and the ability to change the texture via menu makes them adaptable enough to go with your favourite jeans too. You are definitely walking away with a bargain.

HOC apparel  – leather loafers – 50ls – https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/HOC-Apparel-Leather-Loafers/311559

Now suited and booted, last on the list was hair and I admit I was stumped on this. I mean I love hair but I had never really paid attention to mens, and seeing as I was down to the 1ls of my budget, I was stuck. I needed help and so I turned to my very stylish SL bro for advice and he pointed me in the direction of EXILE by Kavar Cleanslate, He does a wide selection of men’s hair and has a few free offerings too. I chose the Echo style because I like the rumpled, windswept look especially in contrast to the smooth style of the suit. It was the perfect finishing touch and brought it all together.

Exile – Echo hair – 0ls – http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Covet/134/113/33

1ls left and while I could have come in under budget I splurged and spent it on an animation override. It was another surprise find on the marketplace.  The Vista animations basic male AO is a good starting point as far as animation overrides go, It really is basic with only a few stands and a walk, but you can add animations into it as you go along  and it can be turned into something unique to you.

Vistaanimation – Basic male AO – 1ls – https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/VISTA-ANIMATIONS-BASIC-MALE-AO/298450

So that brings us to a close. 200ls dead on the nose and a complete avatar, with a little hunting and patience it can be done and with style. So get out there gents and shop your little hearts out.

Huge thanks again to the amazing Damion Theas for the picture.

Apr 28 2012

So You Want to Own a Business in Second Life – Part 3

In this installment of So You want to Own a Business in Second Life, we tackle the business of Affiliates/Franchises.  Think about all of the items you have in your inventory, you will probably find many by the same one or few content creators! Often these very same content creators that you love, may have affiliate/franchise vendors that you can either purchase or at time’s get for free and set up your own Second Life business! Below are a few tips to help you get started with this type of business:

  1.  Selecting an affiliate/franchise-this may be the hardest part with this type of business, as there are many affiliate/franchise opportunities in Second Life.  You can often find such vendors on the Second Life Marketplace, by looking in the business category.  As of 7pm slt (4/23/12), there are over 3200 affiliate/franchise opportunities in Second Life! To help yourself narrow them down, think of items you like to purchase or services that you use a lot in Second Life, then do a search on the marketplace.  Of course if you are within a budget limit, some of the costly affiliates/franchises may be out of your reach and you may have to choose one or several of the freebie ones.
  2. Read the terms, rules, and instructions-this is very important as affiliate/franchise businesses often have their own terms, rules, and instructions that can affect how you set up your business.  Often such businesses may require that you join their update or merchant group, so make sure you have group space available.  Some may have requirements such as how many can be located in a particular sim and where you can place the vendors. You should also check to see who is the customer support or your first line of contact in the event that items are not delivered to customers or if you have a problem with any of the vendors. You should also read the commission split, as this may determine if it is cost-effective to even rent property to set up the affiliate/franchise.  Some affiliates/franchises pay more than others, some pay very little.  Lastly read the terms to see if you can even use and set up the affiliate/franchise business, since some vendors have avatar age restrictions—you have to be a certain age for the vendors to actual function for you correctly.
  3. Location, location, and location-land rental can be costly in Second Life the same is for shops.  You will have to have a location to rezz and set up your affiliate/franchise business.  If you buy a complete affiliate/franchise that has many vendors, then you may need a much larger piece of property, shop, and prims to get set up everything.  Of course there are many affiliate/franchise businesses that just include a single multi prim vendor, that can be prim heavy.  Choosing a location is never easy either, you may not want to set up an affiliate/franchise that contains the same business that you have within the same sim.  You also would want to look for areas that are less laggy but busy enough so you can get some traffic to the shop.  Always look around a location before making a selection.
  4. Advertising, promotions, marketing-after you set up your affiliate/franchise, you have to promote the shop’s location.  You can do things such as looking at promotional rental groups, if you are leasing property and send out notices announcing the shop’s opening.  You can also hit social media or ask the sim where you happen to lease property, if they can do a profile on your new business.  Make sure you promote your business in any groups that you own or groups where this is allowed.  You should also put your business location in your profile picks and take out a small classified ad, if it is within your budget.  Also make sure the business is listed in Second Life search via the parcel.  Another idea is to talk to the creator of your affiliate/franchise to see if they have any advertising or promotional material that you can use to set up your store or if they have any events that tie into the business that you can be a part of.
  5. Update, update and update-if you have a good affiliate/franchise business, then you should receive product updates or notifications that vendors have been update.  It is important that you make updates to vendors or place out new items as they become available, this helps your store to stay up to date and you can have new material.  If you have an affiliate/franchise that does not offer much support or updates, you may want to contact the creator to see when updates may occur. Remember when someone purchases an item from your affiliate/franchise vendors, they will always message you first if there are failed deliveries or the item does not work correctly.

If you love this type of business, then you may want to consider leaping into the world of content creation, which will be our next installment of So You Want to Own a Business in Second Life.

Apr 2 2012

So You Want to Own a Business in Second Life – Part 2 (Clubs)

On our second segment of this series, we will focus on the club business in Second Life.  In case you missed the first part of our series on business owning in Second Life, you can view that story here.

If you are new to Second Life, it will not take you long to hear about clubs, events, or djing!  Owning a club in Second Life can be fun and rewarding, but it also takes a great deal of time, planning, and organization.

Since owning a business in Second Life, mirrors business owning in real life somewhat, I am going to employ a real life business concept—the SWOT Analysis.  No this is not MBA 101, but you should analyze your own capabilities before jumping into what can be a costly venture in Second life.  I have streamlined the concept of SWOT into four categories.  Please consider these five things, as they are the key to making or breaking your club in Second Life:

  1. Budget- Decide from the beginning, how much of your real life money you can put into a club.  You will need money to pay for property for the club, as well as for events if you decide to hold contests, and for advertising the club.  There is also the possibility of paying for special events, dj’s, or event hosts. You also have to budget for club equipment and the actual club building.
  2. Theme-Will your club have a theme? Is it going to be a rock, pop, top 40’s, country, etc type of club? You can also make your club appeal to a specific community in Second Life, such as goth, vampire, furry/neko, steampunk etc to name a few. What will the rating be? Adult, mature, or pg?
  3. Location-do you want your club located on the mainland or will you rent private estate land? Each type of property has it’s plusses and minuses.
  4. Staff-How will you find DJ’s and hosts? Do you have the time to host or dj yourself? Will you used managed DJ’s or will you simply send out in DJ groups?
  5. Time-Do you have the real life time to devote to the club? This is very important, particularly if you cannot find enough staff to keep your club going, you may end up hosting or DJing or at times doing both.

If, after considering the five things above and you still would want to own a club in Second Life, then keep reading! So let’s imagine you have a club set up, fully staffed, and you are ready to open for business. Before you throw open the doors, consider the following tips:

  1.  Consistency-It’s important that you have a consistent schedule, not only for your staff, but for our VIP’s.  People have routines in Second Life and if they know their favorite club is opened a certain time, they are more than likely to plan to go to your club.  Try to narrow down days and times that work for your staff and your VIPs.
  2. Advertising and Promotion-this is important so people know you even have a club in the first place!  Make sure your location parcel is listed in search, take out a classified ad, and put your club on your picks.  Encourage your staff to do this as well.  You should also strive to put events in the Second Life event’s listing daily. Of course promote your events in your group. Consider setting up a blog and tweeting events using the Secondlife tags.
  3. People-keep the drama out of your clubs, ensure that your club staff and the VIPs are happy! This means listening and paying attention to their wants and needs to ensure that your club can function without any real hassles.

Once you are ready to open and have considered everything on this list, the next steps is to keep your club fresh and a great place to be in, this means reevaluating things such as times, themes, genres, and even the location of the club. Of course paying attention to the trends of Second Life also helps.  Remember owning a club can be challenging and a lot of work, but it can be as fun as you want it to be!

Mar 21 2012

Raid the Mark- Um How Do I Open Items From The Marketplace?

Opening packages that have been delivered to you through Second Life’s marketplace is really hard, right?

Nope. It’s quite easy, although a lot of people have troubles with it, especially when you end up with a massive box attached to your avatar’s arm or whole body. Here is a step by step guide to opening a package delivered to you from the marketplace.

 

Step One: Drag the Item from your inventory on to the ground. This is known as Rezzing. Most items delivered from the Marketplace be transferred in the ‘Objects’ Folder in your inventory.

Opening Packets part 1

Step Two: Right click the items and go to open. Some items allow you to click directly on the package to open them. Vendors call the act of clicking on the box to open, ‘Touch’.

Opening Packets part 2

Step Three: When a box is ‘touched’, or right-click and opened, a window of content will appear on your screen. This will show  you all the items within the package. ‘Copy to Inventory’ will  transfer the items into your inventory.

Opening Packets part 3

Step Four: Your new items are now in your inventory ready for you to wear or rez. Remember clicking the Recent tab will show you all the items that have recently gone into your inventory. This tab only works from the time you log in until the time you log out. Once you’ve logged back into Second Life you will have to go Inventory diving for anything you need. If you remember the name of the item, you can use the ‘Search Filter’ bar to help.

 Opening Packets part 4

That’s it, I told you it wasn’t hard.

Oh, almost forgot, to delete the package after you have transferred your items, just right-click and delete, it will place the empty box into your trash folder. Keep rezzing areas prim free and clean for other residents!

Mar 1 2012

Age Verification

Oh boy, well,  we knew this day was coming and we knew you had to grow up sometime. So let’s have ‘The Talk’…. about Age Verification.

If you haven’t notice already there are some regions in Second Life that are adult themed, and protect the “innocent” minds of its users Linden Labs have put through the Age Verification policy. You must prove that you are 18 or older in real life to enter adult regions. To become age verified you must log in to your Dash board at www.secondlife.com, click on the Age verification tab and follow the instructions.

 

A Few Words of Warning

DO NOT TRY TO BECOME AGE VERIFIED IF YOU ARE UNDER THE AGE OF 18. If you are under the age of 18 and you are caught in Mature or Adult regions, the sim owner ( and his/her employees) have the right to remove you through banning, ejecting or kicking. They also have to right to report you through abuse report  (AR). Once reported the creators/ administrators of Second Life will remove your account from the game completely and permanently,   There are places in Second Life made specifically for residents who are under the age of 18. Don’t believe me?  Read the Terms of Service:

2.2 Age Requirements for Use of Areas of the Service.

(i) Users 13 to 15. If you are at least 13 years of age but less than 16 years of age, you may only use the Service if you are affiliated with a Sponsoring Organization, and your Account in Second Life is referred to as an “Affiliated Account.” A “Sponsoring Organization” means a User Organization (as defined in Section 2.4 below) that (i) maintains on the Service a “Teen Estate,” which is Virtual Land and Content that is appropriate for users between 13 and 16 and complies with the General Maturity Rating; (ii) has been approved by Linden Lab, in our sole discretion, to register Affiliated Accounts using our "Registration API" tool; (iii) limits the access of all Affiliated Accounts of users between 13 and 16 to the Sponsoring Organization’s Teen Estate; and (iv) requires all visitors to the Teen Estate to comply with the General Maturity Rating and any other rules that the Sponsoring Organization may impose as long as they are consistent with this Agreement. By accepting this Agreement in connection with an Affiliated Account, you represent that in addition to the representations of section 2.1, you are at least 13 years of age and less than 16 years of age, you agree that you will at all times comply with your Sponsoring Organization’s rules for the Teen Estate, and you acknowledge that you are only permitted to access your Sponsoring Organization’s Teen Estate and no other areas of the Service.

(ii) Users 16 and 17. If you are at least 16 years of age but less than 18 years of age (or the legal age of majority in your jurisdiction, if it is greater), then you may only access areas of the Service rated General in accordance with our Maturity Ratings. If you have used the Service under an Affiliated Account, you may continue to access your Sponsoring Organization’s Teen Estate, provided that the Sponsoring Organization permits you to continue such access upon reaching the age of 16.

For users 13 through 17 years of age, we have created Teen Safety Guidelines that we suggest you review with your parents.

(iii) Users 18 and Over. If you are at least 18 years of age (or the legal age of majority in your jurisdiction, if it is greater), then you may access areas of the service that are rated General, as well as Moderate and Adult, as provided in our Maturity Ratings and Section 2.3 below.

Your Accounts may be suspended or terminated immediately without warning or any refund or other compensation if we believe that you are under 13 years of age, if we believe you are under 18 years of age and you represent yourself as 18 or older, or if we believe you are over 18 and represent yourself as under 18.

To read the whole Terms of Service click here. If you would like to find out more about age verification check the Second Life website forums as well as the Age Verification information centre in world.

Feb 13 2012

So You Want to Own a Business in Second Life – Part 1

HandshakeWithBorder by Z - edited version of the handshake by Nathan EadyAs a multiple Second Life business owner, I am often asked the following questions:  How can I start a business?  What would I need to start a business in Second Life?  What are types of businesses in Second Life I could own?

To help answer these questions and to contribute to the Torch SL Guide, I will post a series of articles on the subject of starting a Second Life Business.  Each series will focus on a specific type of Second Life business and give you tips on how you start, grow, and try to sustain your Second Life business.  In this first segment, I will give you an overview of the types of businesses in Second Life:

Clubs:  Everyone wants to be a club owner in Second Life!  This type of business requires a lot of time, patience, but can be fun and rewarding to grow a club from the ground up.

Content Creation/Merchants:  If you have a skill such as making clothing, furniture, or event trees, then this type of business may be for you!  This type of business will require you to be familiar with some third-party design software programs and to have great customer service skills when dealing with potential customers.

Affiliate/Franchise Owner:  This type of business is related to the Content/Creation Merchant’s category., except you are not making the actual content.  You can find many popular brands in Second Life, that will allow you to be a franchise/affiliate owner.  This type of business requires you to have property and the ability to scout out great locations.

Land/Property Rentals:  This type of business can be time-consuming and very costly and involves you owning land directly or renting out private estate land to others.  This type of business involves much customer service work, time, and effort to sustain a reputable land/property business.

Everything Else:  This is the pot luck category.  Second Life is full of people who provide services, such as photographers, bloggers (such as myself!), event planning, modeling, and contract services for scripting or even building.  There is much to cover in this category and we will try to review all the possible options.

Look for Part Two of “So You Want to Start a Second Life Business” next week, where we will tackle the complex and fun business of owning a club in Second Life.

Jessi