M is for Myg

Welcome back kids to our next installment of “How to be new.” Today’s feature is something dear to my heart, “How to act.”

(Get a load of the lovely and talented Arteer and pal doing a hula back at SL4B. The perfect spokesmodels for SL etiquette!)

Getting along and having a good time in SL is, for me, mainly about the relationships you create with the people you find there. So if you want to know how to get along, I strongly advise you take the following helpful tips to heart.

Tip #1: Don’t be a DICK. If you’re not sure what that means, please refer to our riveting series, “Portraits of SL Assholes.” There are some shining examples of how not to behave therein. Since this tip is difficult for some to master, let’s break it down into little steps:

1. Don’t ask anyone for money, ever. There’s a ton of shit on the net on how to get Lindens in SL– Google it for Phil’s sake. That said, unless you’re in business here, the best way to get money is to BUY IT. As Zoe and October pointed out in a comments thread here, $4 US will get you like $1000 L. You can have all kinds of shopping fun with a grand in SL. If you don’t want to do that, then do the work to figure out how to get money in-world yourself and don’t go around asking others for it. It’s damned obnoxious.

2. Don’t shoot people or otherwise use your weapons on them when you’re not in a combat sim or sandbox. Unless you have a really good reason, and if you’re new, you probably can’t actually discern whether it’s appropriate yet, so just don’t do it.

3. Don’t walk around naked in non-public sex areas. Don’t ask random people for sex. If you’re male, don’t walk around with your cock out. Also, if you’ve been having sex, remember to get dressed or put it back in your pants. Failure to do so can lead to embarrassing moments when you log back in and don’t look at the front of your av before tp’ing to attend some mixed reality event with your RL boss.

4. Don’t randomly add people you don’t know to your friends’ list. Talk to someone for awhile and then ask if you can add them if you think you’d like to contact them later.

5. When in doubt, ask yourself how you’d act around people in real life, and do that. Unless, of course, you’re psychotic. And I know some of you are.

Tip #2: Go ahead, talk to people you don’t know. Just be nice. Say hello. Don’t interrupt a conversation rudely, but don’t be afraid to type, “Hi. I’m new here, would you mind helping me out?” Because most of us will be perfectly happy to. Especially if you’re following etiquette tip #1.

Tip #3: Don’t camp in Topgol. EVER. Just promise me you won’t. And if you don’t know why or what that means, I refer you back to this specific edition of “Fight for Topgol” for review.

Tip #4: Read all of the “Oh Snap” posts by SL Mean Girls as well as this handy “do’s and don’ts” list. Those girls will never, ever steer you wrong.

Got all that? Good. Now you’re ready to hit the most trenderiffic spots in all of the virtual paradise and not be ridiculed or photographed and blogged by yours truly under the dreaded (or, highly sought after in some cases) Portraits of SL Assholes.

Now, go on and get some.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 6th, 2007 at 5:43 pm and is filed under How to be new, Second Life.