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No you don't have to pay in order to play second life. There are a lot of places and things that you can do without spending any of the in game currency (lindens) and still enjoy the game.
Yes, to join Second Life is free for basic membership. You will only need to pay for premium membership if you wish to buy Linden mainland or a private estate.
Type in 'freebies' in the search function, this will lead you to free clothes stores. There are also many free clothes available in SL Marketplace.
Basic membership of Second Life is free to all users and this allows full access to the grid. If premium membership is needed then payment is required on a subscription basis.
Second Life must be downloaded to access the main grid. There is an official Second Life viewer from Linden Lab and there are many third party compatable ones such as firefox, singularity and imprudence. Basic membership is free and premium membership requires a monthly payment.