Overview
From SLIS Second Life Wiki
This is just a brief collection of thoughts on what appearance means in SL.
One of the biggest aspects of second Life is that you can be anyone and look like anything your imagination can gin up. There are very few limits.
On one of my first visits to SL I watched a transformer and a three headed dragon call each other out, and then brawl in the midst of curious onlookers.
Vernor Vinge in his TRUE NAMES novel practically created the idea of a MUVE and in it he said (to paraphrase) that cyber realities will always attract an element of those who find common reality simply too boring.
That would be me, but it doesn't have to be you. As Simon & Milo say, "Be as .... as you want to be" and just enjoy the ride through cyberspace.
[edit] Movement
Although you wouldn't think movement is part of appearance, in SL it is a big part of how you are perceived.
Set your movement controls to sit on the desktop and you can fly, walk around, or change direction more easily than with the mouse or keyboard options (this is just my opinion).
Do it like this:
Then when you come down for a landing after flying around (I have gone into SL many times just to fly) you can touch down gracefully without landing on your face, which sometimes happens. "Pulse" the up and down flying keys to make an error free return to Terra firma.
[edit] Option Maze
There are so many options to choose when editing appearance that the first impulse is to run away, or just leave the default "noob" look. Don't be afraid to change some small things over time. There's no hurry and in the interim you will be sailing past the magic three & one half hour barrier that hooks SL users.
That's right, if you stay for at least 3.5 hours you'll be there for a lot more. So, if changing your appearance turns out to be too frustrating at first, leave it for later and strike up a conversation with a winged-elf, or bespectacled gnome.
Chances are they'll give you some cool thing to wear to a rave.
But don't let the appearance dialog intimidate you, try stuff and click "revert" if you don't like the effect.
[edit] "SEE" Your Self & Take A Picture
Use the camera controls to view how you look when you're done, then take a "screen shot" (the print screen button to the right of the F12 key) and save it for later as a bitmap, jpeg, or whatever. I saved mine and made all these images in the Avatar Appearance section of this WIKI using the print screen function and Adobe Photoshop Elements...no big deal, technically speaking.
The above image was achieved by using the camera controls to place the POV on the ground at my feet. In the background is SJSU.
