Finding Events in Second Life


One of the most common questions Second Lifers who volunteer to help orient new members of our community hear is "What do I do here?" If this is your question, please don't be offended (or surprised) if you are answered with another question: "What do you want to do?"

Second Life is a vast digital world and there is LOTS to do in it, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. So, what do you want to do here? If you can dream it up, you can probably do it in Second Life!

One of the greatest strengths of this brave new world is its social networking capabilities -- and a great way to hook up with other people in Second Life and participate in some of the cool activities others are doing in-world is through a Second Life Event.

Events are taking place in Second Life, literally ALL OF THE TIME -- and they are easy to find. Here's how:

Click the Search button (bottom centre of your Second Life client).

Click the Events tab (third tab of the Search window).

Narrow your search by choosing an Event Category from the Category drop-down menu and/or

by entering a search string in the Name/Desc. box.

Choose to search for events on a specific Date or for all In Progress and Upcoming events.

Scroll through the results list and select your desired event. Details of the event you have chosen will now be displayed in the right-hand side of the Search window.

Check the date and time of your event! Events in the Second Life Events Listing are listed in SLT (Second Life Time). SLT is equal to the current time in California, USA (Pacific Standard Time or Pacific Daylight Savings Time, depending on the time of year). Second Life residents, however, live in many different time zones. Some of those time zones switch to and from Daylight Savings Time on a different schedule from California, some don't switch at all, and some are on the other side of the International Date Line. Make sure you know the correct date and time in Second Life before attempting to attend an event in-world!

Read the ENTIRE event listing. Use the scroll bar on the right to get to the bottom of the event listing if necessary. Many event listings will include special location information as part of the event description.

Use the Teleport button at the bottom of the Event Listing to teleport to the Landing Point of the parcel on which the event is located.

Note: Each land parcel in Second Life can have only one Landing Point set. A land parcel, however, may contain more than one event location. Therefore, the event host may or may not be able to set up the event listing such that it teleports avatars directly to the event location. It is a good idea to teleport to any event which you wish to attend a few minutes BEFORE the scheduled event start time to allow yourself time to find the exact event location.

Once you arrive at your teleport destination, take a few moments to allow the new location to rez in around you. If you are lucky, you will see and hear the event host -- a good indication that you are already in the correct place! If you're not there yet, scan around the area with your camera -- you might be able to see the meeting spot from the landing point.

In most cases in which you cannot see the meeting area from a land parcel's Landing Point, the event Host will put out a sign near the Landing Point, explaining how to get to the event.

If, however, there is no sign of an event (nor signage explaining how to find it) at the Landing Point, you can likely still find your way there using the Map or Mini-Map. The Mini-Map is especially useful for this as you can have it open while you are navigating the terrain around you and see your movement on the map at the same time.

The yellow dot is you. The green dots and Ts are other avatars. Each green dot represents another avatar who is at the same elevation as you. A green T represents an avatar who is at a higher elevation than you. An inverted T represents an avatar at a lower elevation than you. Chances are you will be able to discern the location of any nearby event by the density of green!

Note: You can also search for events by date and category on the Second Life web site and teleport via the SLURL embedded in the web site listing.

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