Thursday, October 16, 2008

Before you begin Second Life....

Make sure your computer meets the minimum requirements to run Second Life! This can be found at the official website, www.secondlife.com. You *can* run Second Life on a half gig of memory (I've done it), but your computer will freeze and/or crash often. Do yourself a favor - pony up the scratch for a memory upgrade. Your computer will thank you.

You will need to download and install the viewer - a program that runs Second Life on your computer. Linden Labs (the creators and owners of Second Life) frequently updates the viewer to promote stability and fix bugs that crop up here and there. Some people find that when they upgrade their viewer, it doesn't work well on their computer, and they have to reinstall the previous one. My suggestion: when downloading the installation files, use the Save option. When you're done installing, keep the files in a safe place. This way, if you find your system is allergic to the next upgrade, you will have the old one handy to reinstall.

When signing up for Second Life, keep in mind that you CANNOT CHANGE YOUR AVATAR'S NAME! Anything else about your avie, including species and sex, can be changed any time you darn well please, but the name is carved in stone, as it were. Make sure the name you choose is something you can live with! The only way to get a new avatar name is to make a new avatar, known as an alt (for alternate). Currently, the cost of an alt is $9.95 per alt.

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