Quick Start Guide
What is a graphical chat?
A graphical chat is not just a text-only chat (like AIM®) you control an image of your character on a background scene, such as a forest or a meadow. This image is called a "pose" or "avatar." You can explore the world and interact with other users by chatting and changing "poses" to make your character do different actions and express your mood. You can get or make your own poses of your own unique character to use on Totem - but more on that later.
How to get started
To enter the chat World, first you need to sign up for a free account and activate it (the activation link will be sent to your email address.) Once you've activated your account, click on the "World Map" link in the navigation bar.
Remember, if you're ever having technical difficulties signing up or using the chat, you can use our technical support forum – and if worse comes to worst, use the Help > Contact Us link to get in touch with our official site support.
The World Map
This is the first thing you will see once you click on that link (The World Map)
(Mouseover this icon 
wherever you see it to learn about what everything is
and what it does.)
Vantage Point
Click here to see a list of the people who are online and which rooms they're in.
Islands of Creation
This is where you can see and enter all of the private rooms that users make themselves and upload
Legend
The little dots next to the room names lets you know whether the room is empty, has people in it, or if it's full.
Room
Click on a room name to enter that area of the map.
Inside A Chatroom
Here's a screenshot of a typical chatroom, where you meet other people, show off new poses, and talk about anything you like!
(Mouseover this icon wherever you see it to learn about what everything is
and what it does.)
Pose
A pose is your "avatar" – the image of a character that represents you in the chat world
Username
Your username appears below your pose and also in the scroll bar
Scroll Bar
The scroll bar keeps track of what everyone says
Chat Bubble
When you type into the chat bar and hit send (or enter) then it appears in the scroll and above your pose
Chat Bar
The chat bar is your way to interact with the other users of Totem
Show Time & Scroll
Checking the "show time" box puts a timestamp on scroll messages. If you want to turn scrolling off, uncheck the "scroll text" box.
Away Message
You can set an away message by clicking the "Away" button on the chat bar
Face Left or Right
This is how you change direction
Change Poses
This dropdown menu is how you change poses
Map Button
This exits the room and takes you back to the chat world map
Help Button
This button will take you to the Contact Us page in case you have any questions or need assistance
Away Button
This allows you to set an away message that will appear under your username
Whisper
This is how you can privately talk to other users in the room you're in or even if they're in another room – just make sure your browser doesn't block pop ups
Who's Online
This window brings up a miniature version of the Vantage Point so you can see who's in the world in other rooms
Who Do I Ask For Help?
Our users are very friendly and most of the people you meet will be more than happy to give you some tips and help you get your bearings around the site. However, if you need immediate help - like if someone is harassing you in a chatroom - you need to talk to a member of our Administration. Click on Who's Online and then whisper anyone whose name is red – they're a Chat Moderator and they're officially trained to help you with your problem.
Our official website support staff is divided into three sections: Chat Moderators, Art Review, and Forum Moderators. The Chat Moderators are the team who deal specifically with problems in the chat world itself, the Art Review team are the ones who review all of the user–submitted art to make sure it's appropriate before it goes on the site, and the Forum Moderators watch over the forum to make sure that everything is organized and nothing gets inappropriate.
For more help, click this link to skip to Still got questions? down at the bottom of this page.
Chatroom Etiquette
There's a couple things to know about common graphical chatroom etiquette that you may not know from anywhere else. The concept of "personal space" is something unique to graphical chats – it's polite not to position your avatar too close to someone else unless you know them very well. It's also not polite to spam by either clicking everywhere in the room or typing lots of nonsense into the chatbar. Role–playing, however, is just fine – in fact, lots of users love to role–play. There's no designated area for role-playing (unless you want to make your own private room – read below) so just be polite to the other people in the room. If they were there first and they don't want to participate in your story, just move to another room.
How Do I Get My Own Poses & Rooms?
Poses can be any animal you like – real, imaginary, or some combination. You can have all of your poses just one species, or mix it all up for variety. The best way to learn about poses and rooms is to read our guide to submitting art.
There are several ways to get new poses and your own private rooms, and once you find a pose or room you would like you can go to our pose uploader and room uploader to submit them to the site. You'll have to wait a little while - but no more than a day - because our Art Review team has to check every single pose and room to make sure that it's okay to use on the chat (read our guide to submitting art to find out what they're looking for.)
*You could draw your own poses or rooms...
User submitted art is a staple of the Totem experience. Read this helpful guide on how to submit art to learn about what types of requirements your poses and rooms need to meet in order to be used on Totem. For instance, your pose does not need to be shaded, but it does need to be a certain size.
*You could use free art that other people have (very nicely) donated to the community...
But you have to be very careful to only use art you have permission to use. Some artists and free stock photo websites give out things completely for free with no strings attached. You could browse through our freebie forum, or perhaps request a free piece of art (or help with your own art) in the free art request forum or use a site that releases usage rights, like the Free Stock Exchange.
However, a lot of the images you'll find in a Google image search, or on Flickr, or even around on our website, are not free to use and you could get in trouble if you try to upload something that's not yours. There are lots of resources out there, just be cautious on what you pick to upload.
*You could pay someone else to make you some, or offer a trade...
There are always artists who do freelance art as a way to earn money, and you can find a lot of them advertising their services in our artist market forum. There are also lots of users who would rather barter art for art (or something similar) and you could try setting up something with them – check out our trading post forum.
Other Things To Do On The Totem Lands
*Need help with a sketch you're working on or want to show off something that's a work in progress? We have a Totem Sketchbook section set aside just for that. Artists help other artists by offering critiques and encouragement of anything you have to show.
*You can participate in one of our year-round art contests – check out the current art contest here. We switch the contests up every month or so (to give people time to create fabulous art to be proud of) and winners not only get prizes but they also get featured on our home page!
*Discuss ideas about animals, totems, spirituality, and lots of other things not specifically related to our theme on our forums.
*You can show off your rooms and poses in our rooms and poses forum section or any other animal-related artwork that you make in our other art gallery section.
*There always lots of user-sponsored art activities happening in our artistic adventures, activities, and acrobatics forum section. Anything from mini-contests to design the most unique character, to users scheduling a themed chatroom party in their private room.
*You can roleplay a character or storyline in our roleplay forum section. Lots of users start up their own stories after posting a "ref sheet" in the character reference section. Role-playing is a fun way to explore, imagine, and create.
Still Have More Questions?
Here's some more helpful links to get you thoroughly beefed up with Totem Lands encyclopedic knowledge:
- Our Guide to Submitting Art is a very important page for you to read if you plan on submitting art to use on The Totem Lands.
- There's always the Ask A Question forum section where you can draw on our user knowledge base.
- If you ever need official site support or help, just go to Help > Contact Us where you can get in touch with Technical Support, the Art Review, the Chat Moderators, the Forum Moderators, or the owners of TheTotemLands.com.
