Plan and Build Your Virtual World

We understand that getting started in Second Life can be a complicated and daunting endeavor for most businesses and educational institutions. But we’re here to make the process as easy as possible. Here's a step-by-step overview to help you understand how you can set up your organization's virtual work or learning space.

Plan Well

First, it’s important that you clearly identify your project objectives and goals. Understand what you want to achieve, who you want to get involved, and the ROI you intend to yield. Also, we find that the organizations that have a high-level executive champion who can assign the appropriate level of attention, budget, and headcount over the lifespan of the virtual world project, have the most successful inworld experiences.

Understand the Technical Requirements

Many organizations have strict firewall policies that prevent Second Life from running on enterprise or government computers. As a first step, you should contact your IT department and find out whether your firewall will accept a UDP protocol. If not, then we encourage you to work with your IT department to authorize the Second Life stream into your network.

Additionally, Second Life runs best on newer computers with advanced graphics cards. To learn more about specific system requirements, go.

Join Second Life

Joining Second Life is easy and free. Just go to the join page and register. You’ll need to choose a standard avatar, an inworld name, and provide basic contact information before you can download the Second Life viewer—essentially your Second Life browser.

Learn to Work in a Virtual Space

Once you download the Second Life Viewer, you enter the Second Life environment on Orientation Island. This will be your first inworld experience, so understand that it will look and feel unfamiliar to you. The best and most current resource for beginners to SL is in the Support section.

Design Your Avatar

An avatar is a virtual representation of you. Using your basic avatar as a starting point--given to you when you join--you can then change nearly every element of your appearance from body size to hair color to clothing. To learn more about how to create your avatar, click here.

Find a Solution Provider

Second Life has a community of over 300 Solution Providers, or companies and individuals, who are available to help you plan, design, and build your environment in Second Life. To find a Solution Provider, just search our Solution Provider Directory

Purchase Land

Either you can have your Solution Provider purchase land on your behalf or you can purchase land directly. When we say land, we mean virtual land—or space where you can build your work or learning space. To find out more about the basics when buying land, go here or go directly to the Land Store.

Design and Build Your Space

Your Solution Provider partner will work with you to scope, design, and build your immersive space. Additionally, you can purchase items for your space in the Second Life Marketplace.

Explore a Secure Behind-the-Firewall Solution

We have a stand-alone, behind-the-firewall Second Life solution that is currently in alpha stage. If you are interested in becoming an alpha or beta customer, then please contact us and let's explore how a Second Life environment within your network might meet your security and privacy requirements.

We Are Here to Help

If you run into a snag, or have any questions, the Second Life KnowledgeBase and the Second Life Wiki have a wealth of information about how to create and run a business in Second Life. And, we’re always here if you need us. Just contact us directly and we can help.

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