NCI’s “The Big Damn SL Glossary”
Version 1.1 (Released)
Updated 01-January-09
Edited by Becky Pippen and Carl Metropolitan
Definitions contributed by Becky Pippen, Candie Apple, SuezanneC Baskerville, Lindal Kidd, Marianne McCann, Carl Metropolitan, Yumi Murakami, Oryx Tempel, and Slack Zapedzki. Thanks to the NCI Land Officers and the Resident Answers Forum for fact-checking and assistance.
16m2 – adj, The smallest size of land parcel that can be created in Second Life. Often used for single prim servers or eyesore ads. Also see Ad Farm.
Abuse – n, A violation of Second Life’s Terms of Service or Community Standards. Also see AR (Abuse Report).
Access List – n, See Admit List.
Ad Farm – n, Clusters of rotating towers of advertisements, considered by many to be an eyesore, now restricted and regulated by Linden Lab.
Aditi – n, The name of the server network known as the Preview Grid, q.v. (formerly called the Beta Grid).
Admit List – n, The list of those allowed in an area that otherwise excludes everyone by use of a script, or enforced by land management tools.
Advanced Menu – n, A normally hidden menu in the Second Life client that allows access to extra debugging and advanced commands and settings. The Advanced menu can be toggled on/off by typing Ctrl-Alt-D (or Ctrl-Alt-Shift-D for Linux).
AFK – adj, “Away From Keyboard.” Describes a resident who has left his computer to take care of some task in Real Life (RL). Typing “afk” in chat sets your Avatar as “Away” and displays the word (Away) next to their name. After 30 minutes of inactivity, you will be automatically logged off Second Life. Also see Anti-Idle.
Agent – n, Geeky term for your logged-in presence on a simulator. While “avatar” refers to the shape mesh and its appearance and requires the cooperation of a sim server, “agent” refers to a successful login to the Linden Lab grid and does not necessarily require a connection to any specific sim or an avatar representation (e.g., for text-only thin clients).
Agent Domain – n, A set of Linden Lab servers that manage logins to Second Life, manipulation of avatar inventories, profiles, and other agent-specific information. Closely related to Agent Storage Cluster.
Agent Storage Cluster – n, The databases on Linden Lab servers that hold all residents’ inventories, profiles, login information, and other agent-specific data. Closely related to Agent Domain, q.v.
Agni – n, The name of the server network that contains the Main Grid and Teen Grid. (Compare with Aditi for the Preview Grid.)
Alpha – adj, Transparent, from Alpha Channel (q.v.).
Alpha Channel – n, A special channel of a texture file used to indicate transparency, marking which parts of the image should be clear and which should be opaque.
Alpha Ordering – n, Or, Alpha Sort Ordering, this refers to a quirk of OpenGL (which the client uses) that causes two surfaces with alpha channels (q.v.) to be incorrectly rendered as if the farther one were nearer the viewer. This is often seen when parts of hair, skirts, and shoes flash in and out of existence as the transparent areas in the scene move in relation to each other. (Also called Alpha Flicker or Alpha Blink.)
Alt – n, “Alternate Account.” Many Second Life residents have more than one account for a variety of reasons, including: keeping one’s business life separate from social life, role-playing, avoiding harassment, keeping track of L$ (bank alts), and being able to work uninterrupted by Instant Messages.
Animation – 1. n, A file or in-world inventory item that moves or animates your avatar. You can use animations to make your avatar walk, sit, clap their hands, dance, blow someone a kiss, and much more. 2. n, The automatic movement of a texture across the surface of a prim, initiated by a script in the prim and rendered by the client.
Anti-Idle – n, Refers to staying online for a long period without being automatically logged off. This is accomplished by wearing a scripted gadget or disabling the option at Client->Character->Character Test->Go away/AFK when idle.
AO – n, Animation Overrider; a scripted device that contains replacements for the default walking, sitting, flying, and standing animations of your avatar. Some also have other functions. Some AOs can be customized by loading your own animations. Some AOs must be turned off before engaging in poseball or other animations, since the animations can conflict with one another.
AR – 1. n, Abuse Report; a formal report to Linden Lab of a violation of community standards or SL terms of service. 2. v, The act of filing an Abuse Report (“I AR’d the guy.”)
ARC – n, “Avatar Rending Cost.” This is a number in the range of 1 to about 20,000 that is an approximation of how much processing power is consumed by a client to process and render an avatar, including all the avatar’s clothing, attachments, including scripted attachments. This number can be displayed in the standard client by enabling it in Advanced->Rendering->Info Displays.
Asset Server – n, The database that tracks all Second Life objects in-world and in inventory. Overloaded asset servers can cause search, inventory, rez, teleport, and Friends list failures.
Attach – v, To connect an object from inventory or in-world to a certain place on your avatar’s body, or in the case of a HUD, to some location on the user’s screen.
Attachment – n, An object (clothing, weapons, jewelry, shoes, HUD, etc) that can be connected to an avatar at a specific location, or in the case of HUD, to a location on the user’s screen. Typically the location is set by the creator of the object, but may be changed by the owner.
Auto-Return – n, A feature on land parcels in which objects that don’t belong to the land owner or group are returned to their respective owners’ inventory after a certain period of time. This helps reduce intentional and accidental litter on land parcels. The parcel’s auto-return time period can be set in the Objects tab of Preferences.
AV – n, Also “avi”, an abbreviation for Avatar, q.v.
Avatar – 1. n, The animated being that represents a Second Life resident in the virtual world; the digital representation of your virtual self in Second Life. 2. n, A “costume” or outfit; a full set of avatar body parts, clothing, and/or attachments that provides a specific look.
Avatar Imposter – n, A feature in the Second Life client where distant avatars are rendered as simplistic two-dimensional representations to improve performance in crowded areas. The distance threshold can be set in the Custom settings on the Graphics tab of Preferences.
Avatar Key – n, The unique identifier assigned by the SL database to each Avatar, the Avatar’s UUID.
AWG – n, “Architecture Working Group.” A group of Linden Lab employees, Second Life developers, and interested residents who are working toward a set of protocols that can be used to make the Second Life grid more robust and scalable while allowing interoperability with other grids.
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