Concert Tips & Etiquette
Enjoying live music in
Second Life is one of the best ways to kill a few
virtual hours and it's always exciting. Here at the
Freudian Slip we observe an atmosphere of fun and
frivolity, but if this is your first SL live music
experience it may seem a bit daunting.
As with any other type of scene, the crowd at the Slip
can be a diverse cluster of folks, and all of us know
that one of the most compelling aspects of Second Life
is freedom of expression. However, when live performers
are involved, there are certain gestures of politeness
and etiquette that will enhance your enjoyment and keep
those around you from wanting to beat you with sticks.
I. Enable Your Settings
A. Enable Preferences - First, you need to make sure
that your Second Life Preferences are set up to allow
you to listen to live music streams. To open your
preferences, press Control + P or use the drop down from
the Edit menu. Once your preferences are open, select
the Audio/Video tab. Look beside "Streaming" and make
sure there is a check mark beside "Play Streaming Music
When Available." Then click "Apply" and "OK."
You may also want to turn off your sound effects so that
the only sound you hear is the music. To do this, you
set the Sound Effects slider all the way to the left.
This will nullify any ambient sounds (water, birds, the
obnoxious person beside you, etc). You can also do the
same with your wind and footsteps sound controllers.
B. Enable Music Controls - Once your settings are
enabled, you'll see the music controls appear on parcels
where streaming music is available.
These controls appear as a small box above the chat
field with a slider (for volume control) and two buttons
(stop and play). They default to the off setting and
look like this:
In order to hear the music, you need to press the round
button with the right-arrow. It can take a few minutes
for the stream to buffer depending on the speed of your
Internet connection (high speed connections only take a
few seconds). When the music is on, the buttons should
appear like this:
Once the music controls are on, they'll stay on until
you turn them off.
Troubleshooting
Sometimes, for reasons only Linden Labs knows for sure,
individual players will experience problems with
streaming audio. If you're not hearing music and it
seems like those around you are, first check to verify
that all your settings are enabled by following the
above steps (sometimes SL restores defaults just to keep
us honest). If you still don't hear anything, try
turning them on and off and then re-logging. This solves
99% of all problems. If you still don't hear anything,
there's likely little we can do to help, but you are
always welcome to IM someone on the Freudian Slip staff
to see if we have any further information, or you may
even want to contact SL Live Help. Please DO NOT IM
performers for help with technical matters.
II. Gestures & Sounds
A. Negating Typing Sounds - When live music is playing,
the last thing you or anyone wants is to listen to that
little tap-tap soundtrack which signifies SL
conversations. There is an easy fix for this, however.
To negate the typing sound (as well as the motion of
typing) you simply type a slash "/" in front of your
conversation.
B. Gestures - The second most frequent faux-pas at SL
concerts are people who use gestures and sounds to
annoying effect. When people are performing, there is a
thin line between expressing enthusiasm and being a
dweeb. In order to be considerate toward your fellow
listeners and the performer, it's best to stick to
modest cheer and clap gestures at the end of songs. A
simple clapping gesture is included in your SL Library.
Simply navigate to it by opening the Gestures folder and
then the Common Gestures folder.
When you find "/clap" just right-click it and choose
"Activate." To clap, you need only type /clap in the
chat field. With many gestures, activating them will
also put them in your quick-gesture box. This appears in
the bottom-right of your SL screen and just says
"Gesture" with a down arrow.
To clap, just left-click the word "Gesture." You'll see
the /clap gesture listed and if you simply click on it,
your av will clap.
Obviously, once you know how to use gestures better, you
can shop around and choose the gesture that best
expresses your own feelings. However, keep in mind that
your gesture sounds override the live music stream and
will be heard over the musician for those who do not
have their sound effects turned off. The best rule of
thumb is to keep gestures brief and to use them
sparingly at the appropriate times (generally, at the
end of a song). You should also consider alternating
your tokens of appreciation between gestures and typed
feedback. Clapping might be nice, but letting an
entertainer know you enjoyed a song allows them the
ability to gauge what their audience is responding to.
Several performers go back and look over room chat
following their performances and reading input about
songs that were enjoyed will likely have much more
resonance than just "X Claps."
Concert HUDs are also popular these days and are, of
course, welcome at The Slip, but please use them in
moderation, as they can generate a great deal of chat
spam.
C. Talking Objects & Other Chat Spam - If you have
objects that talk, we ask that you turn them off during
performances and/or leave them at your virtual home.
It's nothing personal, they're just annoying and we hate
them. People at concerts are generally there to listen
to music and enjoy the room interaction; few want to
hear virtual parts blathering. Likewise, while we are a
friendly lot, live music venues are not the place for
long, involved personal conversations. Extensive typing,
dramatics, and/or chat spam is rude. Please keep private
conversations to IM and keep room chatter appropriate
for the group as a whole. Thank you.
III. Dancing
There are a few dancing options provided at the Freudian
Slip. While our dance tools are provided on the Dancing
Deck, you are certainly welcome to wiggle your virtual
hips anywhere you like except the stage.
A. Dance Balls - Our couples' dance balls can be found
on the dancing deck. Dance balls are typically in sets
of two - one blue-themed (masculine dance steps) and one
pink-themed (feminine dance steps). In nearly all cases,
the dance animation will not trigger if only one person
climbs on, so it's best not to try them if you're not
wiling to scare up a partner. If you have a partner, you
merely right-click them and choose "dance" or "sit."
Depending on the length of the animation, there might be
a slight lag in the start of the dance. Give it a second
or two. Also, dance animations can get out of sync. To
re-sync, one of you needs only to step off and back on
while the other remains in place and the animation will
restart.
B. Dance Animators - Our dance animators are also on the
dance deck and provide different single dance options
for your masculine side and feminine side. A single
left-click will generate a dialog box which asks if our
dance animators have permission to animate your av. If
you want to dance, click "yes" and in a few seconds the
cartoon you will begin its jam.
To stop dancing, just left-click again and your av will
stop moving.
C. Personal Dance Animations - If you really like live
music and find that you prefer bopping on the dance
floor instead of taking a seat, you can purchase dance
animations, HUDs, and machines from a variety of places
on SL. The OWENIMATIONS Chimera is very popular, but
there are many choices out there. We highly recommend
HUDDLES animators which allow you to manage so much more
than dancing.
IV. Tipping
A. Tipping Performers - It's always a kind gesture to
tip L$ to a performer if you're enjoying the show. Some
performers will rez a tip jar beside their av while they
play. You can pay the tip jar or right-click on the
performer themselves and select "pay." The amount is
completely up to you. Many people on free accounts or
tight SL budgets tip small amounts here and there for a
few songs during the set. Others prefer to make a single
large tip at some point during the performance.
Depending on the SL economy, a USD generally equals
L$250 - L$300. Figure what you'd expect to tip a live
performer in a RL situation and let that be your rule of
thumb.
B. Tithing the House - It has become the custom to tithe
the house after a performance you really liked. Our
venue tip box is the life preserver located just below
our schedule board. While we appreciate any tips
provided to offset the costs of our server stream, we'd
prefer you tip performers generously rather than
splitting your funds with our venue.
V. A Note About Lag
One final note about streaming music and lag. Just like
the delay of satellite television, live music streams
often experience a 20 to 90 second lag. It's possible
you're applauding a song that the performer has moved on
from (another reason typing words of praise is better
than sound gestures). Don't be surprised or discouraged
if the performer takes a few minutes between playing to
address comments made in the room, or if there's a delay
in the ability of the performer to respond to actions
taking place at the venue. Also, some performers are
playing in home studios and aren't able to keep track of
the room at all while they're performing so keep this in
mind.
Above all, just enjoy the music, have a good time,
demonstrate kindness to those around you as well as
respect for the performer and you can't go wrong. |
