Linden Lab has given us some official rules. These can be found in the Terms of Service and on the Second Life website. There are, however, some unwritten rules that can help us get along better with others. They aren’t engraved on a virtual stone, but are good to know.
When teleporting to a new sim, move from the landing spot. That place we arrive at? Everyone else does too! If we don’t move right after we land, others will teleport in on our heads, and possibly become stuck in a midair doing a cute little spider dance. This is why it’s polite to move.
We shouldn’t send unsolicited teleports to people we don’t know well. I don’t know of anyone who likes these. Ask permission before sending one!
We shouldn’t teleport to people in the sky unless invited. People go into the air for a number of reasons, such as to spend time with a partner, to have a private conversation, to build, change clothes, sort inventory…. Teleporting in without being invited is like going to someone’s house in real life and just walking in without knocking.
Always remove objects we rez on someone else’s land. So we found a place that allows rezzing, and it’s not a sandbox? Great! That land owner has given a bit of freedom to visitors. We can open boxes or show a friend a picture; maybe even rez a car and drive around! But we need to be considerate and remove those items before we leave. Rezzed objects count for prims, which that land owner pays for. Open rezzing does not mean we’re allowed to put things out permanently, and we should also be careful rezzing high prim stuff since that can cause other objects to be returned.
When contacting a store owner via IM, state our purpose immediately. Sending an IM to a store owner that just says “Hi” is tedious, and in some cases stressful. If we state what we want right away, things will usually be sorted much quicker. Note: I advise reading the profile of the store owner first. Guidelines for how to contact creators can vary. Some prefer notecards, and will not even answer IMs.
There are many more ways to be polite in SL, but these can vary. What works for one group, may not go down well with another. So, for now, I will just leave you with these. If you know of any more, feel free to share them!
