I’ve been busy building these days, which is one of my favorite SL pastimes!  Over at the Anglican Cathedral on Epiphany Island, we are making plans to open up a New Resident Center (which will be a feature of the renovated community center I’ve been working on).  The idea is to have a place that new folks can use as a home base while they get adjusted to things in SL.  The parcel that the center sits on will be build-enabled, and equipped with dressing rooms, social areas, and useful info and landmarks.  As a result, I’ve been inspired to write up my own orientation guides to SL.  Since we will have dressing rooms, I figured the place to start was with how to get dressed.  I’ve been getting dressed in SL for so long (3 years next month!) that I often forget how confusing it is to someone just starting out.  Which explains the extremely long and detailed introduction posted below.  Share this with your friends, and let me know if I forgot anything!

Why am I wearing a box?  Getting dressed in Second Life

Getting dressed in Second Life can be a bit confusing at first!  Here are some tips that may help you.

You have two main folders in your Inventory: My Inventory and Library.  The My Inventory folder will contain the objects that you acquire, and the Library folder contains the items that are provided to get you started.

When you acquire new clothing, it will sometimes come in a box.  You have to open the box before you will be able to wear the clothes.  Here’s how you do that.

• First, open your Inventory window, and highlight the object in the box.  It will have an icon next to the description that looks like a tan colored box.
• Drag the item from your Inventory to the ground.  Note that you must be in a region that allows you to build.  Building in SL refers not only to creating new objects, but also to taking objects out of your inventory (also known as rezzing them).  If you are not in a region that allows building, you can do a Search on “Sandbox” to find a place that will.
• Right click on the box and select “Open.”  This will bring up a window that lists all of the items in the box.  At the bottom of this window you will see a button that says “Copy to Inventory.”  Click this button, and a folder will be created within your My Inventory folder, containing the objects in the box.  You may get a pop-up window if any of the items in the box are no-copy (more on that below).  Go ahead and say yes to this.

The items in your clothing folders will fall into two basic categories (aside from the notecards and landmarks that are sometimes included): clothing and attachments.

Clothing Layers: Your avatar has several different layers for clothing.  There are small icons next to each item of clothing that indicate the layer they are worn on.

You can think of the layers this way.  The first layer (closest to your skin) is undershirt, underpants, socks, shoes (more on shoes below) and gloves.  The next layer out is shirt, pants and skirt, and the outermost layer is jacket.

This system is not as intuitive as it first seems.  Not everything on the undershirt layer, for instance, is actually an undershirt!  It can be any item of clothing (or a tattoo layer) that you might wear on the upper half of your body.  Ok, let’s use a tee shirt as an example.  A tee shirt will most likely come as a shirt layer.  You might also see an undershirt layer of the same shirt in your inventory folder.  This doesn’t mean you need to wear both layers!  You simply now have the option to layer that same tee shirt under another item of clothing (say, a blouse) that you wear on the shirt layer.  You might even see that same tee shirt on a jacket layer.  Now, in addition to the layering options you have, there is a slight difference in how this tee shirt will fit on the different layers.  The undershirt layer is the most form-fitting, and the jacket layer is the loosest.  Sometimes a designer will only offer a shirt on a certain layer, as that is the layer that gives the desired look.  For example, a baggy sweatshirt would look best on the jacket layer, even though it is not in fact a jacket.

Same thing goes for pants.  Why would you wear pants on the underpants layer, you ask?  Well, underpants don’t have cuffs, so they tuck into boots very nicely.

You might also see that shirt on the underpants layer in the same folder.  What is with that, you ask?  Well, here’s the story.  The avatar shirt layer stops at your waist.  Many skirts and pants start below your waist.  So you would be left with a bare midriff.  Sometimes that works, and sometimes you want a bit more coverage.  Luckily, the underpants level works on this exposed area.  So, think of the underpants layer of your shirt as an shirt extender.

Another example of a shirt extender is the glove layer.  Sometimes, of course, a glove is just a glove.  But when offered as a shirt layer, this extends the sleeve further down your wrist.

Skirts: There are two kinds of skirts in SL.  The first kind is the one you wear on the aforementioned skirt level.  These skirts are not as common as they used to be, as often they do not provide the most flattering fit.  As I mentioned above, the farther a layer is from your skin, the looser it will be.  While this is fine for a shirt, the effect in the skirt layer is to make your hips and rear end larger than they normally are.  Of course I realize the idea that this is unflattering is a culture-centric thing.  In any case, you don’t come across these items that often anymore, though it does work nicely if you want to wear something like a pencil skirt.  If you do want to wear one of these skirts (also known as a system skirt), and you want to maintain your normal shape, there is an option.  If the shape you are wearing can be copied and modified, make a copy of your shape.  Then wear the copy of your shape along with the system skirt, and adjust your shape as needed (this usually involves trimming down your hips, backside and saddlebags).  Then label this shape as your “skirt shape,” and wear it when you wear these kinds of skirts.

The more common type of skirt comes in two parts.  The first part is known as glitch pants, and is worn on the pants layer.  The second part is an attachment.  You will know an attachment by the tan box icon that sits next to its name in your folder.  To wear an attachment, right click on the menu item, and select “wear” from the drop down menu.  Please be sure to wear both parts!  The attachment piece gives your skirt shape and movement, but does nothing to cover your skin.  When you sit down, you could end up feeling very exposed indeed!

You guys might see an item on the skirt layer in your attire folder as well.  No, it is not an actual skirt.  Well, it could be.  Who am I to judge your wardrobe choices?  But more likely, it is the bottom half of a jacket.  Remember, you can’t take layering labels at face value.

Attachments: As I mentioned above, some items in your clothing folder will have an icon next them that looks like a small box.  These are attachments.  Common clothing attachments are skirts, pant and sleeve cuffs and collars.  To wear these attachments, right click the item in your Inventory menu, and select Wear.  These items will then attach to pre-determined attachment points on your avatar.  You can change these attachment points, actually, but that is more graduate level dressing, and I don’t want to confuse you too much!  Maybe in a future post…

Shoes:  this used to be more of a “clothing layer” than it is now.  Being an SL old-timer, I remember system shoes.  <shudders>  Nowadays, it is most commonly used for a shoe base.  When your avatar is barefoot, your feet are flat on the ground, just like RL.  When you wear shoes in RL, the material of the shoes molds your feet a bit to conform to the shape of the shoes.  Since SL shoes do not have these physical properties, you need the shoe base.  This keeps your toes from poking out the front, and raises your heels if you are wearing high heeled shoes.  So, first wear the shoe base, then attach the shoes.  Sometimes there are additional attachments, just to make things more confusing!  If you are wearing boots, or your shoes have ankle straps, there may be extra attachments for these, which usually go on the lower leg attachment points.  You might also see invisiprims in that folder.  Sometimes the shoe base is not enough to alter the foot for a particular pair of shoes.  An invisiprim will totally mask that part of your avatar’s foot.  You might also see an alpha layer, which serves the same purpose using the latest 2.0 SL viewer.

Adjusting your attachments: Since there is no standard avatar size or shape, attachments sometimes have to be adjusted for your particular avatar.  The easiest way to do this is with the help of a pose stand.  A pose stand is an object you stand on to make your avatar stand perfectly still.  There are pose stands in the dressing rooms here, and can be found in most clothing stores.  Once you are on the pose stand, right click on the attachment you want to adjust, and select “Edit” from the menu.  You will then see arrows on your object, that will allow you to move the attachment up or down, right or left, and back and forth.  Make the needed adjustment, then close the edit window.  Then select “Stand Up” from the button on your main screen to get off the pose stand.  There are further adjustments that can be made on some attachments to get them just right.  Again this is graduate level stuff.  The best way to learn these is to find a more experienced resident to help you.  Please don’t be shy about asking for help.  Most people are very happy to lend a hand!

Permissions

You may notice that some items in your inventory are followed by the words (no copy), (no modify) and (no transfer).  These designate the item’s permissions.

Full permission:  You can make copies of these items, tinker under the hood with them, and give them away freely.

You will find these sorts of items on two ends of the spectrum.  Some items are made freely available to everyone by their content creators.  This is often done as a service to new residents, who don’t yet have any Linden dollars to spend.  Or they might be fun items that were created for the sole purpose of spreading cheer around the grid.

At the other end of the spectrum are items sold with full permissions.  These are typically bought by content creators, who use them as components of items that they will in turn sell or distribute to others.  These items are generally much more expensive than limited permission items.

Why is this?  Well, let’s say you invented a widget maker.  You invested time and resources into making this thing, for the purpose of making widgets.  You recoup that investment by selling your widgets.  You wouldn’t be inclined to include a free widget maker with every purchase, now would you?  If you did, the first person you sold it to could make all the widgets they wanted (in this case, with no investment in materials) and give them out to all of their friends, who could give them to their friends, etc.)  In this scenario, you would quickly be out of business.

So why sell full permission items in the first place?  Well, they are necessary for content creators.  A good example of this is textures.  Textures are what keep everything in SL from looking like plywood.  They are the pictures that are displayed on prims (the basic building blocks of items in SL).  If I want to make a chair and sell it, I need all the components of that chair to be full permission for me.  I need to be able to modify it, I need to be able to make copies of it, and I need to be able to give or sell it to someone else.  The item would be useless to me otherwise.  Now, these items are sold under the condition that they not be redistributed in their original form.  In other words, I can use the textures to make a chair, and sell that chair, but I can’t turn around and put the textures in a freebie box and start handing them out.  Well, to be clear, I have the ability to do this, but it would be both morally and legally wrong to do so.  Not that it doesn’t happen, sadly.  But it is theft, plain and simple.

Copy: You can make extra copies of this item.  This is useful in a few different ways.  You can make sub-folders within your inventory for different outfits.  If you have a shirt that you would wear with a few different outfits, you can put copies of this shirt in each folder.  If you want to store a spare copy outside of your inventory folder for safekeeping (more on that in a future post), you can do so.  If you want to (and are able) to modify the item, it is a REALLY good idea to make a copy first, so that you can go back to it in case you make a mistake!

Modify: In terms of clothing, being able to modify the object means you can tailor it to fit the way you want it to.  You can make the sleeves longer or shorter, make the cut of the pants tighter or more relaxed, etc.

Transfer: This enables you to give or sell the item to someone else.  If you want to buy someone in SL a gift, make sure that the item you are buying is transferable!  That said, I’ve found that most merchants are happy to help you out if the item you have in mind is only sold no-transfer.  They will often let you pay them directly for the item, and send it on to the recipient on your behalf.  Always feel free to contact them if you are interested in this.

Ok, that is enough for one go.  Hopefully you are not totally confused at this point!  Let me know if there is anything I missed here.

So, what’s with the ears and tail?

Those of you who have known me in SL for a while may have noticed that I’m sporting a new look these days.  So, what’s up with that?  Ok, here is the story.

My good friend Grizzy Griswold, owner of Grizzy’s Cafe, has a yearly event/social experiment, in which she and anyone who wants to join in assume a different avatar for a week.  I knew this was coming up, so I pondered how I might participate this year.  I figured it would be interesting, and would give me an excuse to try something new.  So, I considered my options. I had always been a bit intrigued by the nekos I have seen out on the grid, so I thought I’d give that a try.

A neko (the Japanese word for cat) is a human/cat hybrid.  Nekos make up a large (and growing) subculture within SL, one that I never really understood before.  So I made it a project (and I do love me a good SL project!) to figure this neko thing out.  I started with Google, which led me to Stacia Villota’s excellent Virtual Neko blog.  Along with some excellent background info on the history of neko, Stacia gives some great tips on where to obtain neko parts, and what to do with them once you have them.  Armed with this, I struck out on my neko quest.

Like I said, this was just going to be an experiment.  I had no real intentions of transmuting into another species.  But I gotta tell you, something happened when I put on the tail and ears.  They just felt right.  And then I felt my personality start to shift a bit.  Nothing dramatic, mind you.  But I felt a little more playful with my lovely tail and ears in place.  A little more sassy, too.  A little more tough.  Not aggressive, really, but a little more…. well, feline.  It’s a sensibility that is hard to define, but you know it when you see (and feel) it, I suppose.  Anyway, it seems to have taken hold now.  I’m looking forward to seeing where it may lead.

SL Residents raise thousands of US dollars each year in an annual grid-wide fund raising effort for the Relay for Life effort sponsored by the American Cancer Society.  Last night, a fund raising event was held at Grizzy’s Cafe, owned by my good friend Grizzy Griswold.  In just a few hours of good fun and socializing, we raised close to $200 USD for the cause!  I will add that Grizzy put more than just her Linden dollars on the line.  She pledged to dress like a showgirl (NOT her usual mode of appearance) for a period of time to be determined by the amount raised.  By the end of the evening, Grizzy was on the hook for four weeks of sartorial excess.  She apologizes in advance for any awkwardness this may cause at her weekly bible study and other events for which she normally dresses in a much more conservative fashion.  It just goes to show what a good sport she is!

The second incident actually exemplifies the best and worst of SL behavior.  First I will explain to non-Residents that Second Life is created and designed almost exclusively by its Residents.  Linden Labs provides the servers and the basic template, but the rest is created by us.  Often those who have mastered a particular skill will open businesses to sell their goods and services.  One of the best of the lot is Fatima Ur, owner of the collection of Antique Artistry sims.  Not only is she an incredible designer, she is a lovely person who goes out of her way to take care of her customers (a trait I encounter again and again in SL merchants).  As a result, she has very devoted customers!  Well, long story short, just after I left Grizzy’s event, I got a group notice to Fatima’s customers.  Seems that someone (from the sound of it, an unscrupulous competitor) was purchasing items from Fatima on Xstreet SL (a web-based vendor of SL products) and posting very negative reviews.  When Fatima read the reviews, she immediately contacted the person who submitted the review and refunded their money.  Which they immediately used to buy more items and submit more negative reviews!  So this was clearly more than a case of an unsatisfied customer.  Fatima send the notice to inform her customers of what had happened, and asked them to consider visiting the site to submit their own reviews and comments on her products, to hopefully negate the bad ones.  I will add that she specifically requested that people not spend any more of their hard earned Linden dollars on this, but just review things that they had previously purchased.  Well, as soon as the notice arrived, the group IM was flooded with good wishes and pledges of support.  Many of us visited the site to submit our reviews, and from the sound of the IMs that were flying around many more were very happy to have an excuse to buy even more of her products, and submit glowing reviews as well.

Some people who have never experienced the sense of community present in virtual worlds have an idea that they are cold, impersonal places.  They couldn’t be more mistaken about that.

Let me put it this way.  SL is a very big place, with something to offer for anyone.  Let’s call it your “dream location,” as there is a spot in SL to match any vision of paradise anyone has ever come up with.  So, you have this vision in your head.  For the sake of example, let’s say you always wanted to live in Paris.  Your vision of arriving in Paris is of landing right in front of the Eiffel Tower.  You are very stylishly dressed, and you picture yourself ambling over to the Champs Elysses for a cafe au lait with the locals, who will all speak fluent English, and be instantly charmed by you.

But here is how it really plays out.  You land at a small airport on the outskirts of the city, and end up on a bus, crowded in with all of the people who happened to be on the plane with you, most of whom you may have absolutely nothing in common with.  Many of them do not speak your language, and their customs seem odd to you.  You are very disoriented in this foreign place, and haven’t figured out how the money works, or how to ask where the bathroom is.  You are all taken to a rather seedy part of town and dropped off at a bus station, where you are accosted by many strange people, some of whom seem to be there to take advantage of the tourists.

Now, if you really had traveled all that way to see Paris, you would hopefully push through the strangeness and discomfort, and find your way to that cafe you had pictured in your head.  You probably wouldn’t just give up at that point and get back on the bus to the airport.  But many people become overwhelmed and discouraged when they encounter a similar experience when entering SL, and give up on it.

I encourage you to push through the strangeness and give it a chance.  Yes, you will feel awkward at first, and many of the orientation spots are overrun with people who apparently have nothing better to do than give newbies a rough time of it.  But keep at it.  Most of the people here are really very friendly, and are very eager to help you get the hang of things.  We all remember what those first days were like, so people will really go out of their way to help you out, and won’t mind that you keep walking into the walls, and can’t figure out how to get that box off of your head.  Much seem to be made of the more sensational aspects of SL, and it is often portrayed as a giant red-light district.  But it is so much more than that.  It is a reflection of every aspect of human (and fantasy) culture that anyone has ever envisioned.  There is something there for everyone.  Trust me.  It is worth the trip!

Speaking of identity, let me share with you the first bit of SL etiquette that you should learn.  Many people prefer to keep their RL (real life) and SL identity completely separate.  For that reason, when you first meet someone, do NOT launch into a lot of questions about their RL identity.  Even seemingly innocent questions such as “where are you in RL?” can make some people uncomfortable.  Respect this.  You can usually ask general questions, such as “what country are you in?,” but if they hesitate or ignore the question, back off and respect their wish for privacy.  This does NOT necessarily mean that they have “something to hide.”  It is really just a common desire in SL to keep their virtual experience separate from their day-to-day one.

You can choose to assume any sort of identity or appearance in SL that strikes your fancy.  You can create a look that mirrors your RL identity, or go for something completely different.  You are not bound by gender nor species.  You can be animal, vegetable or mineral here.  As a result, naturally, you can not make any assumptions about people based on their appearance.  This can be a very liberating experience for all concerned.  People tend to be very socialable in SL, and many report that they are more so in SL than in RL.  They are less self conscious about their appearance when they can fine tune it to project how they wish to be perceived.  This environment can also make other people are less intimidating to approach as well.  It really levels the social playing field, and opens up all sorts of opportunities to meet people that you might not have gotten an chance to meet in the non-virtual world.

Yes, you can assume another gender in SL.  Many people choose this option.  There is more of a trend for men to assume female avatars than for women to assume male ones.  There are a wide range of reasons that people choose to do this, and in my experience it has little correlation with one’s gender identity in RL.  Most of the women that I have met in SL that I know are men in RL are straight men who were just curious about how the “other half” lives.  And they have gotten some very useful insights this way!  I have met one man in SL who is a woman in RL.  He (I find it simplest to just refer to people by their SL gender) is in SL primarily for professional reasons, and reports that people tend to listen to him more when he presents a male avatar…  There is a very fertile field for sociological study in SL!  And of course, you can choose a non gender specific avatar.  Ok, now I’m going to backtrack a bit on my advice in my previous post about not worrying about what you will look like when you get here.  If you are planning on doing any gender switching here, you might want to pick a gender neutral name.  In a future post, I will address the topic of setting up your SL profile.  For now I will note that it is generally wise to mention your RL gender in your profile if you are presenting as the other gender in SL.  You will make friends here.  It is an accepted part of SL culture that you may be presenting yourself as another gender, so people won’t mind that you are doing so, but there is a strong chance that a good friend will feel deceived and betrayed if they find out down the road that you are another gender in RL.

There are wide variety of cultures within SL.  Rather than attempting to discuss them, I refer you to the excellent Second Life Wikia.  Members of these cultures may confine their activities to specific RP (role-playing) sims, or may choose to interact with the wider SL community in their chosen personas.

This brings me to the subject of role-playing within SL.  To oversimplify wildly, SL residents can be broken down into two groups: those who role-play in SL, and those who don’t.  Those whose sole interest in SL is as a gaming or role-playing platform may have little or no interest in presenting themselves in any way as they are in RL.  Those who approach SL as more of a social media network will tend to reveal more of their RL personalities within SL.  This is a fairly complex aspect of the SL experience, and I won’t attempt to get into the nuances of this here, aside to say that there are many points along the spectrum where any particular resident may wish to reside. Everyone has a right to have the SL experience that they choose, so each of these decisions is completely legitimate.  Just be aware of this, and don’t assume anything.  SL residents are generally upfront about this, so ask them about this if you are not sure about anything.

This is a huge topic, and I have really only scratched the surface.  Please add your own thoughts and experiences to the comments section here!

How do you get started? The first step is to go to the SL website and download the SL viewer. You will want to check out the page about the SL system requirements, to make sure your computer is up to running SL. I got my computer before I even knew about SL, so I didn’t get a “gaming system” with all the bells and whistles. It runs fine on my computer, although I did have to upgrade my graphics card, as SL is a very graphics intensive program.

Then you create an account. A basic SL account is free. You can get a premium account, but you won’t really need to do that, at least not at first. The SL experience is the same either way. The major advantages of having a premium account are the ability to buy land, and increased support options. So, I wouldn’t bother with getting a premium account until you know if this is something that you are going to devote some serious time to.

The first thing you are asked to do when setting up an account is to pick a name. Please, take your time with this! Your name is the one thing you cannot change later on! You might think, hey, I’m just going to pop in and see what this is all about, so it doesn’t really matter. But I’ve heard more than one person say that was what they had planned, but they were drawn into it anyway… and regret that they didn’t put more thought into it! You are going to spend all of your time in SL with that name literally hanging over your head. Make it a name you can live with.

How do names work in SL? You are free to pick any first name you like. Your last name is chosen from a predefined list. You cannot chose a first/last name combo that someone has chosen before. Beyond that, consider how the name will look. The last name has the first letter capitalized, so you might want to consider capitalizing your first name as well, unless the lower/upper case combo is a stylistic decision you have made. Also, people are going to be calling you by this name. Do you want everyone calling you Bob3214? You might think it would be funny to be called Sleezebucket. But won’t you get tired of that pretty quickly? And what if you end up using SL as a professional tool (which MANY people end up doing)? Think it through. Since most people communicate through text chat in SL, consider how easy it is to type/spell. If you choose one that is hard to spell, people will always get it wrong, and that will end up being very annoying. If you choose a long first name, people will invariably shorten it, to avoid all that typing. Think about that before you choose Asmodius.

The next choice you are given is the appearance of your avatar (your physical representation in SL). You are given three basic options: male, female, or furry (an animal avatar). Don’t sweat this too much right away, as you can totally change your appearance when you get there.

Once you have done this, you are ready to jump in! When you first log in to SL, you will land on Orientation Island. This is an area set up especially for newcomers, and has tutorials to help you get, well, oriented. It will take a little while to get your “SL legs” under you, so don’t get discouraged. There are loads of tutorials there, and mentors around to give you a hand and answer your questions.

Once you get a handle on things, go exploring! There is a built in search function to help you find lots of cool places to explore. There are also many, many SL blogs out there with reviews of interesting places. Don’t be shy! And please don’t feel self conscious about the fact that you can’t seem to quit walking into walls! Heck, I still do that pretty regularly! People in SL are very gracious, and we all remember what it was like to be a newbie. You will find that people here are very kind, as a rule, and eager to help you out and give you advice. So, have fun!

One more thing.  Second Life is for people 18 years and older (though there is a separate Teen SL grid for those 13-17 years old).  SL is a big, wild world, and just as you wouldn’t let your kids roam around a big city unsupervised, don’t leave them to their own devices in the adult world of SL!  But as in any world, the good aspects of our world far outweigh the more dubious ones.  I invite you to come along and discover this for yourself.  And look me up when you get here!

It was a very odd sensation.  I have been to many worship services, both in “real life” and in SL, but never in both simultaneously.  The folks gathered in RL didn’t quite know what to make of it at first, and there was a bit of nervous laughter to start, as they weren’t quite sure what was in store for them.  But as the familiar service began, everyone fell right into the rhythm of the responses.  Well, mostly.
You see, in a SL service, the pacing is a bit slower.  Ok, let me back up a bit and explain how a worship service works in SL.  The person presiding at the service typically leads in both voice chat and text chat.  The way text chat works is this: a person types what they want to say into a chat bar at the bottom of the screen, and that text is displayed at the bottom of the screen of everyone within 20 meters (as distance is measured in SL) of them.  The service leader will read a verse or passage in voice chat, then copy and paste what they have just read into text chat.  In that way, even those present who do not have voice enabled can follow along as well.  The people in the congregation respond only in text chat, so there is a pause between each section of the prayers and readings to allow time for people to copy and paste their responses into text chat (each person is given a service bulletin on a notecard that they can display on their screen).  As a result, the people in RL were responding at a regular pace, which did not always correspond to the pace that the service was taking place, which lent a bit of good natured humor to the proceedings!

I must take a moment and extend my thanks to the Rev. Gareth Edwards (SL name: Gareth Janus) for leading the service.  Gareth is a Superintendent Methodist Minister from South Wales, working ecumenically with Anglicans in SL, and a member of the Anglicans in SL Leadership Team.  He not only led the service, he filmed and edited it!  I attempted to film it as well, for backup, but sadly my system did not play nicely with the screen capture program, and not only did I not get any film, I actually crashed midway through the service.  So I am most grateful to Gareth for his ability to multitask!

After the service, I introduced myself, and gave a brief background on our ministry in SL, and then took a few questions from the workshop attendees.  The first question was, “Why did you choose to build such a traditional worship space in a virtual world?”  I shared that this was a very conscious decision made by the group leader, the Rev. Mark Brown.  In his research into postmodern trends in religion, he discovered that many younger people have a  real attraction toward the beauty of the old traditional forms and artifacts of worship.  Another person asked if there were “real people” behind all of the figures she saw on the screen.  Yes indeed, behind every avatar (the name for the visual representations of the SL participants) is a real person, somewhere in the world.

The next question was “how did you find the cathedral within SL?”  I shared that the SL viewer has a search function, which allows a person to either browse the SL directory, or do a key word search to find specific events, groups or locations.  I was then asked why I went looking for the cathedral.  I compared entering SL to moving into a new neighborhood.  After the first few weeks of learning my way around (and mostly learning how not to walk into walls), buying clothes and finding a place to live, I started looking around for community.  As in RL, one of the things that many people do when settling into a new area is look for a neighborhood church.  The urge to find community with like minded people is the same wherever you go.

The final question was my favorite!  “How do you pass the plate?”  After I explained it to her, she laughed and said that the question was totally tongue in cheek, and she never expected an answer!  Well, we are just like any other church in most ways, and we have financial needs just as any other church does.  I explained that we currently have two methods by which people can practice virtual stewardship within SL.  We have a donation box at the cathedral that people can pay (yes, there is currency within SL), and we also have a Paypal link on our blog which enables people to contribute.  At that point, I naturally invited anyone so moved to visit the site and explore this function!  I added that we are also pursing other funding sources.

The rest of the workshop was fabulous as well!  We then heard a presentation from a representative from Digital Faith.  This company has put together a web hosting system for ministries that enables congregations to harness all of the features of social networking, which will enable congregations to fully interact with their site visitors, and help people within these congregations network with one another.  We then learned about the advantages of social networking from Kendra Ramirez of Sales Konnect.  After lunch, we broke off into smaller workshop sessions.  For two of these sessions, I sat in with Nick Tepe, a fellow congregant at Trinity Columbus, as he led a workshop on how the two of us put together weekly podcasts of our Sunday sermons.  Then for the last session, Nick assisted me in a presentation on social networking tools such as blogs and Twitter.  Hats off to Nick for a tremendous job.  He made the presentations look so easy, and was a terrific help to me in my presentation, contributing much of his own experiences with these tools.

Finally, kudos to Richelle Thompson, Director of Communications of the Diocese of Southern Ohio, who put together this amazing workshop, and gave me the opportunity to be part of it!

I am SO not accustomed to getting up in front of a roomful of people and giving a presentation!  So a bit nervous about the whole thing.  But little by little it seems to be coming together.

So I guess what one does on a blog is talk about oneself.  And it seems the best way to start out the presentation as well, so here goes.  I am so not good at talking about myself!  It occurs to me that a good place to start is with the fact that I never thought I would be one of those “social media” people.  You see, I am hovering near the top end of the age demographic of people who frequent social networking venues such as Facebook.  Let’s just say that I am old enough to remember when a game of Pong made for an evening’s fun.  Besides, I was a bit wary of meeting people online.  Aren’t there dangerous people out there in cyberspace?  I would have no way of knowing who these people really were.  Plus, I’m a bit of an introvert at heart, so the idea of going to a big party full of invisible strangers was not my idea of a good time.  But here I am, in the thick of it.  How did that happen?  One step at a time.  Which, I am mindful, is what people say about addictive behavior.  And of course, that is one of the “charges” leveled at such pursuits as Facebook and Second Life.

Yes, social networking can become a very compelling experience, and I can see how those with a tendency toward addictive behavior could get sucked in.  But for me, anyway, it is also a very rewarding experience.