A coupe of examples: Sim -- from "simulator," a Linden term for a discrete area of "land," roughly 16 acres large. Poseball -- an object containing a script that causes an avatar to behave a certain way when he comes into contact with it. One online guide refers to a "slouch" chair, for instance, a chair that would put avatars into that posture.
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So the Second Lifers were in town last weekend, and when I wasn't wondering what's so bad about First Life that drives people to the virtual world, my thoughts turned, as they often do, to the site's linguistic tics. Why, I wondered, is "SL" the accepted abbreviation, rather than the much cooler (to my eye) "2L"?
You can, of course, learn a lot about a place by the words it invents or alters.
The List
Here's a list of site-specific terms I encountered, either at the conference or in researching it, and my best understanding of what they mean:
Rez: Short for "resolve" or "resolution," it refers to the process by which objects in Second Life become clear on your computer. "What I want to know is who is trying" to have sex in Second Life, an attendee at a session on that topic asked, "and still rezzing?" It also refers to the making of an object.
Resident: A unique avatar, or physical representation of the computer user, living in Second Life.
Prim: Short for "primitive," it refers to the 3-D shapes that are the building blocks of objects in Second Life.
The grid: The whole of the Second Life realm.
In-world: Signed on to Second Life, on the grid.
L$: Denotes Linden dollars, the unit of currency in Second Life, currently trading at 265 Linden dollars for US$1. Linden Lab provides the technology to run Second Life.
Sim: From "simulator," a Linden term for a discrete area of "land," roughly 16 acres large.
Poseball: An object containing a script that causes an avatar to behave a certain way when he comes into contact with it. One online guide refers to a "slouch" chair, for instance, a chair that would put avatars into that posture.
Griefer: An anarchic Second Life subculture that delights in messing with what others have built, including via notorious in-world attacks of "gray goo."
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