Second Life Terminology
A collection of the idioms of Second Life for those newcomers to the Dragon Isles who are also newcomers to SL itself and wish to know more without having to dig through the Official Second Life Knowledge Base.
Contents |
The Terminology
The list begins here:
Build Tool
The build tool is the window that pops up when you either click the "Build" button on the SL client toolbar or when you right-click on an object and choose "Edit" from the PIE menu.
Contents, Object Contents
Objects in SL have their own simplified version of an inventory, similar to the one your avatar has. You can view this inventory by looking at the "Contents" tab of an object on the on the Build Tool. In order to see this tab you generally right-click on an object, choose Edit from the Pie Menu, then click the More button on the Edit window and then click on the Contents tab.
IM
Short for Instant Message, which refers to sending a message to someone in world either via the "IM" button on the client toolbar or from the button on their profile or on the Search window.
In-World
This refers to something that exists or takes place in the 3D virtual world of Second Life, for example an in-world clothing store would be a shop that exists inside SL or an in-world rock concert would be a music event that takes place inside SL.
Object
An object is usually considered to be a collection of primitives linked together to form some kind of structure, such as a house or a walking stick or a hat. Confusingly an object can also consist of a single prim.
The PIE menu is the circular menu that appears when you right-click on objects or the ground in-world.
Prim or Primitive
A prim is the simplest shape one can build in SL, be it a cube or a sphere or a cylinder. Every time you create one of these shapes with the Build Tool you are creating a prim.
Rez
To rez an object means that you bring it into being in-world. This can mean using the Build Tool to create a default prim shape, or dragging something out of your inventory and dropping it on the ground.
SL
The short form of the name "Second Life"
SL Time, SLT
A measure of time from an in-world point of view; see SL Time for a more in depth discussion.
Touch
In a Second Life context, to touch something - especially an object - usually means to click on it with the left mouse button.
Wear
To wear something in SL is to find it in your inventory and then either right-click on it and choose "Wear" or right-click on it and attach it to a specific point on the avatar's virtual body.
Useful Links
A collection of other useful help pages:
More will be added as we find them!
