SECOND LIFE The Official guide of Second Life makes an ideal book for those interested in Linden Lab's fascinating Second Life virtual world. It explores in detail every aspect of Second Life's rich and multilayered virtual world, explains how it works, and offers a wealth of information and practical advice for all Second Life residents. The book is split into these sections : "Getting a Second Life," acquaints potential and new players with the Second Life world. It describes the metaverse's geography as well as its society, explaining its written and unwritten rules. "Living a Second Life," deals with the practical and economic aspects of Second Life: creating and customizing an avatar, building objects, scripting, and making money. "Success in Second Life," discusses ways to enjoy Second Life more. It includes profiles of successful Second Life residents, discusses fascinating in-world events, and examines how some are using Second Life for business, training, and other purposes. The book closes with a glossary and a quick-reference appendix. A special feature is the book's CD which includes special animations, character templates, and textures created by Linden Lab exclusively for this book. The disc also guides new users through the installation and includes a code that grants a special object the first time they enter the metaverse. This exclusive guide offers a wealth of tips, analysis, and information about living in Second Life, the rich, multi-layered 3D virtual world inhabited by nearly a million residents. You'll find out everything from how Second Life began and where it's going to the truth about earning a real-world income and what's needed to enjoy the metaverse's vices and virtues. Authored by Second Life experts and featuring contributions from Linden Lab employees and Second Life residents the world over, this official guide is the perfect companion for anyone who wants to create his or her own reality in Second Life. The Second Life Guide includes: Avatar appearance advice: Customize your look with ease. Places to go: Take a grand tour of interesting Second Life locales. Things to do: Check out some of Second Life's resident-created in-world events. People to meet: Get a taste of Second Life's diverse social scene. Building info: Learn how you can create everything from sandals to spaceships. Scripting info: Make your projects move, talk, spin around, and more. Learn how to script in Second Life from the creator of the Linden Scripting Language himself. Economic info: See how you can get the job of your dreams and turn L$ into US$. Second Life: The Official Guide is perfect for helping you enjoy the world's geography, economy, history, social etiquette, and the range of behaviors and interactions possible. Master the skills that let you create anything you can imagine   SECOND LIFE BACKGROUND Second Life is a privately owned, partly subscription-based 3-D virtual world, made publicly available in 2003 by San Francisco-based Linden Labs, and founded by former RealNetworks CTO Philip Rosedale. Users can visit this virtual world, almost as if it were a real place. They explore, meet new people, participate in individual and group activities, and, if they decide to visit often, they learn new skills and mature socially. Residents are the users of Second Life, and their appearance is their avatar. A single person may have multiple accounts, and thus appear to be multiple Residents (a person's multiple accounts are referred to as alts). Also, a single Resident may have multiple avatars. This is, his or her appearance in SL can vary dramatically from day to day. One of the distinguishing characteristics of Second Life is that the residents, not Linden Lab, create most of the content of the world. The resident avatars are one example. There is a 3D modeling tool in SL that allows any resident with the right skill to build virtual buildings, landscape, vehicles, furniture, and machines to use, trade, or sell. This is a primary source of activity in the economy. Any resident can also make gestures from small animations and sounds from the standard library. Outside SL, users can use various graphics and sound tools to create more elaborate items, and upload them into the world. Note that once the creation is in the world or SL, the system makes many efforts to help protect the intellectual property of the content creator. Second Life also includes a rich and powerful scripting language, called Linden Scripting Language, or LSL. This is used to add behavior to many of the objects in SL, such as doors that open when approached. Thus, almost all scripts and 3D content are created by residents, not by Linden lab. Second Life has its own economy and a currency referred to as Linden Dollars (L$). Residents actively create new goods and services, and buy and sell them in the Second Life virtual world. This economy is vibrant and growing rapidly. There are also currency exchanges where residents can exchange US$ or other real world currencies for L$. These exchanges are actual open markets, except that Linden Lab sometimes buys or sells Linden dollars to attempt to keep the exchange rate relatively stable. Premium members also have the ability to own land (up to 512m2 without additional fees). Owning larger areas of land incurs an additional fee (what Linden Lab calls "tier") ranging from US$5 a month up to US$295 a month for an entire 65,536m2 of land or individual island. It is possible to join SL for free, and quite common. A free account has almost all the rights and obligations of a paid account, lacking primarily the right to own land (and pay "tier" tax). There are many activities in SL that are free. However, there are also many things in SL that cost money (in Linden dollars), and are independent of Linden Lab, and are part of the Economy of Second Life.   INFO COURTESY WIKIPEDIA