SLCC Day Four

Linden Lab's Tom Hale at Day 4 of SLCC 2009
 

Day four of the Second Life Community Convention began with.Linden Lab‘s Tom Hale (pictured on the right) unveiling new features that are coming soon, and sneak peaks at wish list items we could see over the coming year. These include features such as searchable maps, pre-developed land for sale, a new registration form for new members (thank you, Linden Lab … I’ve had to guide several noobs through the confusing current registration procedure!), a new social website-like dashboard that integrates the various aspects of a resident’s Second Life existence, and a redesigned secondlife.com website. There were also mentions of plans to allow use of allowing the use of mesh for 3D modeling, allowing multiple media textures including Flash, interactive web textures that allow clicking on links, and collaborative text editing.

 
Scene from the machinima Orientation, made by Chantal Harvey
 

In the afternoon, machinimas from the 2009 MaMachinima Festival were shown. The next two pictures are from two of the machinimas shown. The first is from the machinima Orientation, which was made in Second Life at Virtual Holland by Chantal Harvey, with performance by Arthole (Arahan Claveau and Nebulosus Severine). The next one is from Erlkönig, based on the story by 18th century German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and made in Second Life by Cisco Vandeverre.

According to the Mamachinama website, these machinimas can all be viewed from within Second Life, but when I tried it, the SLURL was for an invalid location. DVDs were handed out to people at SLCC, which is where these images came from.

 
Scene from the machinima Erlkonig, made by Cisco Vandeverr
 

One of the most amazing workshops to me was the one in which Max the Virtual Guide Dog was demonstrated. Most people don’t know that there are blind people in Second Life, who join for essentially the same reasons that sighted people do – to have fun and to meet people. Max allows the visually-impaired to navigate through Second Life and be aware of where they are, where they are headed, and what objects and avatars are around them. You can learn more at the Virtual Guide Dog Project.

This was the fourth and final day of SLCC 2009. You can read about the preceding days of the convention in Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3.


SLCC 2009 Day Three

Day 3 of SLCC 2009
 

"When you are in Second Life, do you pretend to be someone you are not?" This is a question that a college teacher who holds classes in Second Life asks his students. This brings up a hugely important question in virtual worlds and depending on how he meant it, could indicate a fundamental misunderstanding of how virtual worlds work.

When a person adopts an avatar of a different race or gender, or a different persona than how he or she is known in the real world, is it pretending to be someone else, is it exploring different sides of ones’ self, or is it simply being whothe person feels most comfortable being? The question implies that it’s simply pretending to be someone else, but can be far more to it than that. In virtual worlds, it’s common for people to adopt avatars who are very different from their real life identities. It doesn’t have to be pretending to be what they are not.

.This was only one of a long list of issues raised on day three of the Second Life Community Convention.

 
Capn Kurka at Day 3 of SLCC 2009
 

One fascinating workshop was "Plastic Reality", in which a panel consisting of Kolar Fell, Capn Kurka, Filthy Fluno, Tuna Oddfellow, and Manx Wharton discussed virtual worlds, art, and mixed reality, and showed a video, Synthetic Masquerade, of a mixed reality art exhibit at San Francisco’s Somarts. The video can be seen on YouTube.

One point made by the panel was, "Saying that virtual life isn’t real life is like saying that a phone conversation isn’t a real conversation." The issue of how people outside virtual worlds perceive virtual worlds and their fear and/or misunderstandings were raised in several workshops.

 
Day 3 of SLCC 2009
 

Several workshops discussed ways that Second Life is being used for dealing with social issues; one panelist mentioned it being used for treating substance abuse, and two others discussed their work to create tools that will allow the homeless to gain skills using Second Life, and to provide a a place to call home for a person who doesn’t have one.

Two recurring themes of the workshops were of Second Life’s enormous power as a collaborative tool, bringing together people around the world who otherwise could not work together, or even meet, and as an educational tool. Dr Yesha Sivan showed a particularly amazing machinima for introducing students to Second Life that simultaneously shows what can be done in a virtual world and how virtual world concepts might (some would say "will") emigrate to real life in the not too distant future.

The keynote speakers were current and past Linden Lab CEO’s Mark Kingdon and Philip Rosedale, who discussed plans for coming changes in Second Life.


SLCC 2009 Day two

Ray Kurzweil at SLCC
 

Day two of the Second Life Community Conference went smoothly. Attendees arrived, were issued their badges and SLCC teeshirts, and proceeded to Grand Ballroom for the morning’s keynote speaker, the legendary technology visionary Ray Kurzweil.

However, Kurzweil wasn’t there. At least not in person. He was in Second Life, and delivering his talk via streaming media to the audience assembled in the St. Francis Hotel, who watched his avatar speaking on two large projections screens. He spoke of the exponential growth of technology leading to changes in society that are much faster than the linear growth frequently forecast by economic modelers and spoke about the six paradigms of the grown of technology The First Paradigm began with the 1890 census, the first to be conducted with the then startling new tecnology of punch cards. Kurzweil projects that the current Fifth Paradigm, based on Moore’s Law projecting the growth in power of computers, will end around 2020 and will be supplanted by the Sixth Paradigm, molecular computing.

Kurzweil addressed far more than can be covered here. For more information, go to his website www.KurzWeilaAI.net.
 

 
Beyers Sellers at SLCC
 

One recurring theme in several workshops I attended was privacy and whether or not people’s Second Life avatar names and real life identities should be freely linked both in Second Life and on social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Most people at the workshops appeared to be in favor of this, but some people try to keep them separate, for example entrepreneurs trying to maintain a distance between their business and personal identities. There were serious concerns about the privacy we are giving up in so many aspects of our lives, and that there has not been sufficient serious public discussion about how much is appropriate and acceptable.

Another theme was the use of Second Life in education, such as teaching the Native American Comanche language. Another fascinating application was Texas State Technical College, which has AA degree programs in which all coursework can be taken in Second Life. The college also has a YouTube channel.

 
Jeff Barr at SLCC
 

Jeff Barr of Amazon Web Services gave a fascinating talk – ok, fascinating to technical people – about using the Linden scripting language LSL together with PHP to collect data about objects in Second Life.

Wagner James Au, author of the authoritative Second Life blog New World Notes was at SLCC with his new book, The Making of Second Life. I haven’t read it yet but it looks interesting. His long involvement in Second Life gives him a historical perspective that few others possess.

The biggest problem at SLCC on day two was that there were so many interesting workshops, more than than any one person could attend. There are two more days of events – SLCC 2009 continues through Sunday August 16, 2009.


SLCC 2009 Day One

The Leviathan of Parsonstown in Second Life
 

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. The first day of the Second Life Community Convention was a day of controlled chaos and the halls of the ornate Westin-St. Francis hhandwritten being adorned with signs made from from pages torn notebooks. The chaos was so bad that members weren’t given name badges and weren’t even registered. Anyone could have walked in for free. The picture to the right, of the registration desk, tells is best.

There was only one printed schedule, which a Linden Lab employee was keeping a careful eye on, but at one point a Second Life member, furious at the chaos, took it from her, saying "I paid two hundred dollars and I deserve at least this!"

The two workshops I attended, "Building Community" and "Mixed Reality Presentations",
went well.

 
Space art celebrating the International Year of Astronomy
 

The "Building Community" workshop presented the experiences in creating communities in Second Life from four perspectives: people with disabilities, a corporate region (Nokia), and two social regions, Dublin (famous for its Blarney Stone pub), and Orange Island. The presenters were Gentle Heron, Han Rambler, Hydra Shaftoo, and Fabian Alexander. Kathleen Linden moderated the workshop.

Gentle Heron pointed out that although Second Life is often referred to as a "level playing field" for people with special challenges, it really is not so much level as more level than real life.

In general, the panel discussed issues involved in creating a successful community, such as having a clearly understood goal and rules, getting people around you whose judgment you trust and to delegate authority to them, and to be prepared for the unexpected.

 
Free space-themed textures
 

In Kenzo and Rhiannon Chatnoir led the "Mixed Reality Presentations" workshop, assisted by a team in making the workshop itseld a mixed reality presentation. People in Second Life were taking part in the workshop via streaming media and could see us while we saw them on a large projection screen.

SLCC 2009 continues through Sunday August 16, 2009/


International Year of Astronomy in Second Life

The Leviathan of Parsonstown in Second Life
 

Today we remember Galileo as one of the great early astronomers, but he spent the last six years of his life under arrest for astronomical observations that challenged the beliefs of his time, but which four centuries later are accepted scientific truths. Two centuries after Galileo’s death, the beliefs that caused his house arrest were commonly accepted and William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse built the Leviathon of Parsonstown, the largest telescope ever made; it remained the largest for seventy-five years, until the Hooker Telescope was constructed in the United States in 1917.

These and other events are commemorated in Second Life as part of the ongoing International Year of Astronomy, being celebrated in 140 countries. You can visit the courtyard of the house where Galileo lived under house arrest, and you (or at least your avatar!) can climb through the mammoth gothic stone arches and wooden scaffolding that housed the Leviathan of Parsonstown in Second Life. You see the Second Life version in the first picture.
 

 
Space art celebrating the International Year of Astronomy
 

In Second Life, the International Year of Astronomy is being celebrated in the Astronomy 2009 sim, which is in a cluster of science-oriented islands known as SciLands. There is a section devoted to astrophotography, with photographs on display that show both distance objects in space as well as scenes on Earth, such as two photographs from Iran, one showing the moon behind the surviving columns of the ruins of Persepolis and the other a striking long-exposure shot showing stars’ motion over a barren landscape.

In addition to astrophotography, there is a gallery of space art, often fanciful visions of the future and of space. One display is shown in the second photo. You can also watch podcasts about astronomy and a movie about the history of the telescope, though neither was working the day I visited.

 
Free space-themed textures
 

There are also over three hundred space-themed textures available for free; some of them are shown in the picture on the right.

Beginning in the fall of 2009, star parties at California’s Chico Observatory will be streamed into Second Life to the observatory area in Astronomy 2009.

Other features of Astronomy 2009 are the holodeck, in which you can materialize either the courtyard of the house where Galileo lived under house arrest or an urban street where you can experiment with different types of lighting.

Second Life members can experience the International Year of Astronomy by teleporting to slurl.com/secondlife/Astronomy%202009/130/215/32, You can also get on a list to learn of upcoming events by clicking on one of the informational kiosks that you’ll find all over Astronomy 2009.


Building Dreams

Building on the 512 contest entries

Second Life‘s Dreams is a place for people to let their imaginations play freely and learn new building skills in a supportive, friendly environment. In addition to providing building tutorials and a sandbox for members, it offers one-on-one support for Second Life members with challenges that prevent them from easily taking an active part in Second Life.

A popular Dreams event is its monthly building competition, "Building on the 512". in which competitors can build whatever they want, as long they use no more than 117 prims on a plot of 512 square meters. Prims (short for primitives) are the basic building blocks of Second Life Virtually everything is made from prims. Prims can be shaped, textured, and combined to form an object such as a house, a piece of furniture, a vehicle, or a tree.

In the current Building on the 512 contest, competitors began building on July 30, 2009 and must complete by August 9. Awards will be announced August 15. The first picture shows Hig Bing’s entry. The second picture is Tiger Duesenburg’s entry, and the third picture shows from left to right entries by Franja Russell, Thor Effingham, and Dahlia Jinx.
 

 
Building on the 512 contest entries

Dreams was founded by The Sojourner, a stroke survivor and one of Second Life’s early members, who also founded the group Shockproof, a support group for stroke survivors. A widely loved and respected Second Life member, her death in 2008 of cardiac arrest triggered a massive outpouring of grief. You can read more about The Sojourner and her memorial at New World Notes.

 
Building on the 512 contest entries

Today, Dreams offers tutorials, support, and encouragement to anyone who wants to develop building skills, regardless of what personal challenges a person may (or may not) possess. Second Life members can visit the Dreams store at slurl.com/secondlife/Dreams/161/71/27 and can visit the current competition at slurl.com/secondlife/Dreams/131/142/26. If you are interested in learning more or becoming part of Dreams, contact either Golda Stein or Dorie Bernstein in Second Life.

Here are more pictures from the competition:

   


Virtual Frank Lloyd Wright Museum

Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater House
 

Maybe because I’m blessed to live in what might be the only county with a civic center designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, his architecture has always fascinated me. Our civic center is probably the only public building I really enjoy visiting, but I live on the West Coast and most of Wright’s buildings are back East, so visiting them has never been convenient… until last week, when the Frank Lloyd Wright Museum of SL opened in Second Life. Finally anyone anywhere can wander through some of his finest buildings.

Born in 1867, two years after the U.S. Civil War ended, Wright lived until 1959 and left a legacy of unconventionial architectural designs that stressed blending into the environment and in 1991 was declared "the greatest American architect of all time" by the American Institute of Architects.

The first picture shows what is arguably his best known design, the house called Fallingwater (aka Edgar J. Kaufmann Sr. Residence), which was built over a waterfall but which because of leaks, humidity, and mold, Kaufman was known to refer to as "Rising Mildew."

 
Frank Lloyd Wright's Seth Peterson Cottage
Seth Peterson Cottage

In 1958, Seth Peterson asked ninety year old Wright to design a cottage on a bluff overlooking Mirror Lake in Wisconsin. Peterson died before the cottage was completed and Wright died in 1959. Today the cottage is part of Mirror Lake State Park and is one of only a handful of Wright-designed buildings that can be rented. It’s available for overnight stays for up to four people; you can get information at www.sethpeterson.org.

This picture shows the main room of the cottage, looking out over the lake. The kitchen area is behind the fireplace.

 
Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House
The Robie House

The Robie House, designed in 1908-09 and located in Chicago‘s Hyde Park, was one of Wright’s earlier designs, but came close to demolition four decades after construction. The Chicago Theological Seminary had bought the house in 1926 for use as a dormitory and dining hall but in 1957 announced that they planned to demolish it, prompting Wright to quip, ""It all goes to show the danger of entrusting anything spiritual to the clergy." An outcry ensued and the house was saved. The University of Chicago used it until 2002, when it was donated to the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust.

There’s a lot more to see. Several more of buildings that Wright designed are reconstructed at the museum, and there are photographs and other information about him. There is also a shopping area, where you can buy textures and fixtures.

You can learn more by joining Second Life’s The Frank Lloyd Wright Museum of SL Group, and you can teleport there at slurl.com/secondlife/DiLemma%20City/51/201/22.


Second Life 101: gateway communities – Australia, Ireland, and Turkey

Community Hut in Pondling's Camp
 

Today we’ll explore Australian, Irish, and Turkish gateway communities in Second Life.

Like Australia itself, the Australian-themed Big Pond gateway community is vast, comprising 16 sims with names such as Ponderama, Pondune, Pondessa, and Pondune. Big Pond is far to large to cover in this article, which will be restricted to the area for new Second Life members.

When you first land at the orientation area, you are given the choice of going to the training area or to Ponderama. If you’re new to Second Life, start by going to the training area. Be sure to join the Pond Orientation Group first; you are given the option when you first land in the orientation area. The training area is open only to members of this group.

Once in the training area, there are signs telling you basics of functioning in Second Life, and you are given free vehicles, including a horse. After you have acquired some basic Second Life skills in the training area, you can return to the starting point and go to Ponderama. You’ll see a small airplane waiting for you. Sit on it and it will take you on a tour, both flying through the air and underwater, finally landing at Pondling’s Camp. The first picture on the right shows the Community Hut in Pondling’s Camp.

At Pondling’s Camp, you can set your Home to there, giving you a home base in Second Life, where you can meet other new members, and from which you can explore the rest of Big Pond and Second Life. To teleport to the Big Pond orientation area, go to slurl.com/secondlife/Pondessa/126/165/31.
 

 
Virtual Dublin's Blarney Stone Pub
 Dnncing in the Blarney Stone

Dublin in SL is a gateway community for newcomers, but is also a place that many Second Life old timers will love. Like Big Pond, is too much here to cover in these few paragraphs. You can learn a lot more by going to its website www.dublinsl.com. In Dublin in SL’s three sims you’ll find Dublin famous pubs, such as the Blarney Stone, pictured here on the right, a pool hall, a soccer stadium, regular music performances, and a literary pub crawl.

In the landing area, newcomers will find tutorial Second Life signs and a line of about a dozen free avatars that you can choose from if you want an easy way of changing your appearance. There are classes about Second Life on Tuesdays and Thursdays; for more information, login to Second Life and send an IM to Elwe Eldrich or Ginger Marseille. There is also a guided flying tour of Dublin, though the instructions may be complex for people new to Second Life.

You can teleport to Dublin in SL’s orientation area by clicking slurl.com/secondlife/Dublin/234/146/25.

 
Virtual Bosphorus Bridge
The Bosphorus Brige

The Bosphorus is a waterway separating Europe from Turkey. In Second Life, it’s a gateway community, Virtual Bosphorus. The orientation area is for Turkish speakers only, but this should not deter English speakers from visiting. The rest of Second Life’s Bosphorus has signs that are mostly in English.

When you leave the orientation area, you are on the Bosphorus Bridge, which is an extension of the orientation area. Most English speakers will find it more productive to fly from the bridge to the left, where you will find a Turkish bath (complete with free tradional bath clothing and pose balls for both male-female and same sex massage!), a large shopping area, venues for music performances, and two museums. The Ataturk Museum contains extensive information about Turkey’s revered early twentieth century leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. The Ottoman Museum contains historical artifacts of the Ottoman Empire, Turkey’s seven century long empire. The museum contains no information about the items in it, limiting its usefulness.

There are some technical glitches to be aware of. If you left click the teleport signs, you are teleported without warning and if you right click, the word "Teleport" never appears in the pie chart. You have to click "Sit Here" to teleport. If you try to teleport from the Turkish Bath to the Ottoman Museum, you’ll end up in a retail store instead.

You can learn more by joining Second Life’s Virtual Bosphorus Group, and you can teleport there at slurl.com/secondlife/Bosphorus/25/243/36.

Previous articles in this series were Holland, Avatar Island, Benelux, and China, and Gateway Communities and Renting.


Second Life 101: gateway communities – Holland, Avatar Island, Benelux, and China

Virtual Holland

This is the first in a series of articles about Second Life gateway communities, which were discussed in the last Second Life 101 article, Renting and Gateway Communities. Today we’ll examine four gateway communities: Virtual Holland, BeNeLux Community Gateway, 3Immersions, and Avatar Island University. One is English language, one is Chinese, one is Dutch, and one is multi-lingual.

When you land in the Virtual Holland Future Nederlandse Gateway, you are on a tiny island, surrounded by instructional signs in Dutch to help new Second Life members. Although there is nothing here for non-English speakers, it is part of a cluster of scenic Netherlands regions with names like Virtual Holland Village Noordzee and Nederland. Even though you may not understand the language, you may enjoy visiting this mini-Netherlands in Second Life.

The teleport link for new members is slurl.com/secondlife/Virtual%20Holland%20Future/176/35/21. Flying is not allowed on the island, but you can walk underwater to the adjacent islands, where flying is allowed. The picture on the right is from one of the Virtual Holland islands.

 
Avatar Island University

Avatar Island University is for new members only. If you’re already a Second Life member, you’ll be ejected if you try to enter. The description they give of it is:

"Make Avatar Island your first stop in Second Life. On Avatar Island you’ll find all you need to create and accessorize your avatar before heading out into SL. You can even use a photo of yourself (or anyone else!) to make a truly unique avatar!"

The setting is beautful, a collection of structures on an open sea, which you can see in this picture. I wasn’t able to enter it, however, so I can give no further personal observations.

 
Selecting an avatar name
Choose a different first name

The Benelux Community Gateway offers a comprehensive series of tutorials for new members in three languages, English, French, and Dutch. It’s open to existing Second Life members as well as new members. When you land there, you follow a series of arrows on the ground to a series of areas ringed by tutorial signs int three languages. When you get to the end of the tutorials, there is a large shopping area.

You can learn more by joining the Second Life group Benelux Community Gateway, and you can teleport there at slurl.com/secondlife/ZoHa%20Islands%20N/212/149/26. This picture shows some of the tutorial signs, and boxes of freebies.

 

 
Chinese Learning School in Lenovos

My first visit to the 3Immersions, on the Chinese island Lenovo, conjured up unpleasant police state images when an avatar dressed in a police uniform and with "Police" in his group title ran up to me and demanded that I wait. "What kind of place is this?" I wondered, but it turned out that he had no connection with Lenovo, and just wanted to know where he could buy a gun!

Although 3Immersions is a gateway community for Chinese speakers, the primary purpose seems to be to teach the Chinese language (Mandarin) and culture to non-native speakers. I found it fascinating, and if I had the time to study Chinese, I’d sign up for classes.

You can teleport to 3Immersions at slurl.com/secondlife/Lenovo/169/207/2.


Second Life 101: gateway communities and renting

There are two more important things for prospective and new Second Life members to consider: gateway communities and renting land.

Communities

Like our physical world, Second Life is a vast place, with much variety, and a wide variety of languages (Second Life members hail from over a hundred countries!). It can be very bewildering to a new member who doesn’t know people already here who can guide them around. Second Life’s Gateway Communities offer new members an opportunity to have their initial Second Life experience among people with common interests and a common language. When you first sign up and you’re choosing your avatar appearance and name, you can check a box that will give you a choice of communities to land in when you first log on. This doesn’t commit you to joining any groups; it’s just an opportunity to hopefully be with people who share some of your interests and speak your language. As of today, communities are available in thirteen different languages! You can find out more about these communities before signing up for SL by going to Second Life’s Community Gateway page wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Community_Gateway. Some of the Gateway communities you can choose from are Dublin (Ireland), Australia, London, the Fashion Research Institute’s gateway for training & development entry for apparel industry personnel, steampunk, a faery world of dark forests, and a support community for people with disabilities or chronic illnesses.

Renting Land

It’s not necessary to have a premium account to have your own house or land in Second Life. If you want to buy land, then you’ll need a premium account, but you can save the expense of a premium account by renting a house, apartment, or land. A basic account also allows you to buy a house and place it on land that you rent. If you want to learn more about renting, a good place to start is Second Life’s “Land renting advice for new Residents” page, wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Help:Land_renting_advice_for_new_Residents. This page gives some reasons you might want to rent rather than own, even if you have a premium account:

  • You might want to open a business in a popular area where buying the land is either too expensive or simply not possible
  • You want to live in a zoned community, that is a community with a defined set of rules
  • You need or prefer to pay in Lindens (the Second Life currency) rather than dollars
  • You want the flexibility of being able to move whenever you want without having to find a buyer for your land first.

Event though I’ve had a premium account since my second month of Second Life membership in 2004, I have sometimes rented land in addition to the land I owned. The reason was that I needed the land for building. Everything you build in Second Life consists of "prims" (primitive building blocks), and the number of prims you are allowed to put on your land is directly related to how large your land parcel is (there are some other details about how your prim allotment is calculated, but let’s ignore those for now!). The larger your parcel is, the more prims you are allotted. On several occasions I temporarily needed a lot more prims than I had available on my land, so I rented additional land for my building projects.

When renting, you need to be aware of whether the land is on the Second Life mainland or on a privately owned island. If it’s on the mainland, some considerations are:

  • Is the land zoned PG, Mature, or Adult? These determine the kinds of activities you and your neighbors can and cannot engage in.
  • How many prims will you need? Your house, your furniture, even trees and flowers on the property will eat up your prim allowance. Generally a 512 square meter plot is the smallest size people build on, and on the mainland gets you 117 prims (which isn’t as much as it might seem).
  • Are there clubs, racetracks, or similiar activities in the area, it could enduce "lag", a situation in which response times can become very slow or erratic. They can also attract more visitors, which you may not want.

If you’re looking at rented land on a private island, the above considerations still apply, except that in some cases, you may get more prims than you would for the same size parcel on the mainland. An additional thing to be aware of on private islands is the covenant, which can restrict your activities. To learn whether there is a covenant for land you’re considering renting, and what the covenant contains, right click on the land and when the pie chart pops up, click "About Land" and then click the "Covenant" tab.

There are three ways to find land for rent:

  1. Ask friends. The best way to find a good place to rent is to ask your friends if they know of any good places to rent. Most of the time they won’t know of any good places, but occasionally they will. It’s worth asking.
  2. Use Second Life Search. The picture at the top of this column shows the result of a search for land rentals. Click "Search" at the bottom of the Second Life window, then click either the "All", "Classifieds", or "Group" tab, and then enter what you’re looking for in the box after "Find:". Depending on what you’re looking for, somethings you might enter are "land rental", "house rental", "apartment rental", or "shop rental". Then click "Search". A list of rentals like the one in the picture above should come up. Note: the search window in Second Life is by default smaller than in the picture above. You can enlarge it by left-clicking on a corner of the window and dragging it out.
  3. On the internet, use Google or another search provider. Enter a search term such as "second life rentals".

Be sure to read the Second Life land renting wiki that I mentioned earlier for information I didn’t have room to include here. For many or most new Second Life memebrs, renting land is the best option for getting started, and even for old timers, it often makes sense.