*Ethics may vary by timezone and personal standards.
Have you ever wanted to sneak around Second Life as an alt without your BFF finding out and dragging you into another 5-hour shopping trip for “just one more perfect pair of jeans”? Of course you have. We’ve all been there. Whether you’re creating a fresh identity to escape the drama, roleplaying as a Victorian lizard, or just want to perv profiles in peace, sometimes… You just need a secret life.
Here are my Top Tips for Being an Alt Without Your Friends Knowing (and possibly disowning you)!
Pick a Name That Doesn’t Scream “You”
Your alt should not be named Saitlin Cobias or CaitTobias.Resident or anything that might make your friends squint and say, “Wait a minute…” Try something generic, like DustyPineapple84 or HotSauceGoblin, something nobody sane would associate with you.
Bonus points if it sounds like a bot.
Avoid Your Own Signature Moves
You always wear black latex and hover 5cm off the floor? Time to become a barefoot hippie in linen. Your alt should walk differently, dress differently, maybe even stand differently. Your usual typing style of “LOL” in all caps every 10 seconds? Gone. On your alt, you now communicate only in passive-aggressive ellipses…
Avoid the Inventory Tell-Tale
That rare hair from that 2015 gacha event you’ve often worn? Don’t even think about dragging that into your alt’s inventory. If your friend sees someone wearing that exclusive GlammaWeave™ ponytail, they’ll know. And they will confront you. With receipts. Probably via a notecard.
Different Friends List, Different Life
No mutuals. Not even that one chill person from your photography Discord. Start fresh. Do not send your alt a friend request from your main “just for convenience.” That is not convenient. That is how you end up in a group call with your alt, forgetting which one of you is supposed to be a cyberpunk dragon.
Do Not Cam Yourself
Yes, you’re curious. Yes, you want to see if you look better from the outside. But camming your main avatar with your alt while idling together in a sandbox is just asking for trouble. If your friend catches you, there’s no good excuse.
Except maybe: “Oh, that? That’s my cousin. Visiting from RL. They try Second Life. They love flexi hair.”
Prepare a Backstory
Eventually, someone will get suspicious. Have your alt’s lore ready. Are they a French poet who just discovered Second Life? A time traveller from 2006 logging in via dial-up?
Whatever it is, make it so confusing that your friends decide not to ask again.
Accept That You’ll Get Caught Eventually
But when you do, act shocked. Say things like:
- “Nooo, I swear I’ve never heard of Caitlin Tobias, who is that? Sounds iconic though.”
- “I think you must be thinking of my other alt, I mean… uh… my neighbour.”
So there you have it: a totally foolproof** guide to alt-ing undercover. Use it wisely, or chaotically, I’m not your Second Life mom.
** Except it’s not foolproof. You’ll slip up. We all do. But hey, at least it makes for a good blog post, right?
I have just one alt, whose only purpose in Second Life is to hold down a private group so I can have a title of ‘👽’ above my head. (They get ‘👾’ of course.)
For the first few years of their existence, they were a stock system avatar with minor customisation. I switched them over to a Senra body, which looked slightly less awful, until last year when I spotted the Midem Prototype avi from Cryptid (who sadly closed down a few months ago.) That got customised with PBR textures, and will probably stay like that in perpetuity.
I did upgrade it to Premium Plus briefly, both for the extra stipend and to change its name, but now it’s back to Basic and honestly I doubt I’ll need to change that.
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I know about a dozen (or three) people who could have used this golden information years ago! I do like the ellipses idea…
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Hmmm. Like pretty much everyone on Second Life, I’ve made an alt. Actually three, a man and two women. I don’t use them, however, for going incognito. I’ve no such need, but sometimes I do need extras for photoshoots.
I’ll compare them to your guidelines:
Pick a Name That Doesn’t Scream “You”
Check. For all three.
Avoid Your Own Signature Moves
Again, check – for one of the two women and the guy (obviously). They walk, stand, move, in manners that are not me. Except for the other woman, who has a few outfits with AOs configured exactly like mine and Goddess’ for reasons I’ll explain later. As for how they speak, in the few occasions they need to interact with others, I make sure they speak in a different way than I do, without my personal mannerisms.
Avoid the Inventory Tell-Tale
Check – for the guy and one of the two women, at least. The guy obviously had to not look like me, and I wanted the women to look completely diferent than me in every possible way. The other has her own trademark appearance, but she also has several outfits that are exact duplicates of mine and Goddess’, for those occasions when Goddess or I want to do a “twins” kind of photograph (such as this).
Different Friends List, Different Life
Being mere extras for photoshoots, they don’t need to lead any kind of life. So, their friends lists are just the members of the group for the land I rent.
Do Not Cam Yourself
I have the LookAt thingie deactivated anyway, so there.
Prepare a Backstory
Done that, although it’s not like I have any intention to take them out for socialising or flirting or whatever. However, I’ve made sure their profiles do give them a somewhat distinct personality.
Accept That You’ll Get Caught Eventually
Meh. Who cares? They’re just photoshoot extras. After all, my closest friends here in SL already know.
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You missed an important one: Buy Lindens.
If you don’t make at least one transaction in your payment history, your profile says “No Payment info on file”. Just adding the payment method doesn’t remove the message.
When I see a 17yr old avatar shopping at an event, I know they have a main acct giving them the cash.
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oooh, good one!
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