Friday, September 5, 2014

2014 NEW: VIDEO: How to start in a virtual world, the video: Now see it on your browser

How to start in a virtual world, the video:  
Now see it on your browser.   
Scroll down for News and Notes 
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You don't have to go into a virtual world to get the basics.  Here they are on YouTube.  (For virtual worlds like Second Life and OpenSim.)
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Think of this video as a visitor's handbook on "Get ready for your first hour in the Virtual Villages."  

Starter plans for exploring the virtual village

Here are several ways people start exploring virtual worlds.  Choose one that fits you. Don't expect to find a game.  Expect to find new worlds to explore.  Worlds built out of someone's imagination.  Maybe someday you will build a world out of your imagination.  

Native guide

The best way to start in a virtual world is to know somebody who is already there.  Just like your trip up the Amazon.  You really want a native guide.  Your native guide will tell you about the equipment you need (I use Firestorm, but you listen to your native guide).   Your native guide will also want to start in her home village (grid, to us natives).  I have two home villages, Second Life and Kitely.  

A Community

Just like any world with people, the virtual worlds have many communities.  In fact, for most of us, that is why we are part virtual.   Here is a small sample of themes that virtual world communities focus on:  
  • Fashion
  • Architecture
  • Music
  • Photography
  • Theater and video
  • Health and support
  • Education and training
  • Games
  • Dance
  • Writing
  • Railroads
  • Sailing
  • Sex play (Age-verified Residents only)
  • Social Networking
  • Role Play  (Star Trek, Star Wars, etc.)
For more extensive information on community activities in virtual worlds, see this article:  
If you have a real world hobby or focus of interest, there may be a virtual counterpart.  To search in Google, use the name of the interest and add the word virtual to the search list.
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You may find that your interest is matched by a Google+ community run by a community in a virtual world.  If you find a community, ask for advice.  You may find a native guide right there.   

The quiet explorer: start by yourself 

You can start by yourself, learn how to do things, and maybe find a native guide later. Here is my suggested route.
  • Before you go, watch the video on this page.  Don't close the page.
  • Create a free account on Kitely  Logging on to Kitely or another grid.
  • You will arrive in Kitely Welcome Center, probably with no one else there. 
  • So you can review what you learned from the video without disturbance.
  • You won't remember lots of what you thought you knew.
  • No matter.  You can review the video.  You left that page open.
  • For learning to do something, you learn by doing it.
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  • When you can manage your avatar, you may want to fix your avatar.
  • Don't try to fix your avatar when you start.  Wait till you know how.
  • You can do a lot to customize your avatar, but you won't like most of it.  
  • There are free, ready-made avatars at the Welcome Center.  See here: Kitely Welcome Center  
  • You can also buy avatars (with Paypal).
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The bold adventurer

  • Before you go, watch the video on this page.  Don't close the page.
  • Create a free account on Second Life.  
  • You will then get to choose from a wide selection of avatars.  
  • Don't  sweat it.  You can choose another avatar later.
  • You will arrive at a beginner island, where you will practice the skills you learned about in the video.
  • You will then probably go to an orientation island.  There will be lots of people.  
  • Not all of the people will be nice.  If you don't like it there, try the starting places below.

Recommended starting places

Location Links. With a viewer open, click one to go there or drag one to the viewer screen: 

Resources for help

Web based

Use these links for armchair exploration before you go and as you are getting started.

Inworld classes and events

The web links are schedules.  Go to the inworld location for the event.
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News and Notes

  • OSgrid down 
  • More news in my blog roll (column on the right)

Events in the virtual worlds  

How to handle a Hypergrid address 

From any Hypergrid-enabled grid, paste the address into the address bar of Firestorm and press enter. Or paste it into the world map search bar of any viewer, search, and click Teleport when the destination is found. If it doesn't work, don't give up. Try again later.
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      Contests and dated calls/invitations

      Midtown Arts Museum is launching its first participation storybuild on Monday, 9.1.2014, Wear Your Goggles to the Goldrush. All elements are ready for visitors, explorers and amateur sleuths to plunder. A storybuild mystery is not an event that is attended. Rather clues and story are collected, assembled and written by the participants who journey through it. It is writing via pictures and conversation - - the natural, entertaining and effortless way. Oakes Valley blog. 
      Hypergrid address:  grid.kitely.com:8002:Oakes Valley  
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      The theme is 'TRANSCENDING BORDERS.' Artists & filmmakers can interpret the theme as they see fit. Whether transcending borders between time and space, past and present, one nation and another, one language and another, a culture or civilization or any other of the innumerable borders that present themselves as we navigate our lives. You the artist... You the machinimatographer...You decide.
      Entries Close at Midnight SLT 31st October 2014. Winners will be announced in December 2014.   
      UWA Art & Film Challenges 2014 with L$1.03 Mil in Prizes, early entries 
      And don't forget the many imagined borders, walls, that we make for ourselves.   Those are the worst kind.--TKR

      Newcomer Help in Virtual Worlds. 

      Education

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      Video-Machinima in virtual worlds
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