Where does everyone go...?

[Stormflower823]

Hi! So, I just joined Second Life like... Yesterday. After a few hours of fumbling around, I finally managed to get my avatar up to snuff, and figure out how to move and such, and now... I'm totally lost.

 

Everywhere seems totally dead. Even the "recommended" destinations with traffic ratings in the tens of thousands are utterly empty. Is there some secret place I'm missing here where people go? I think the most people I've seen in one place were like... Three, and that was at a dance club.

 

Wurf. @_@

[Coby Foden]

Open the world map in your viewer. You will see lots of green dots on the map. Each green dot is an avatar. Zoom in for more closer look at the map. If the dots are still concentrated very close together then it's worth teleporting there to see what's going on there. Just click on the map near the dots and teleport.

If there is nothing interesting there, do it again on a different spot. Random teleporting to places this way will help in finding where the people are.

Anyway, Second Life is a very huge place so there are are lots of empty or near empty regions at any time of the day and night.

PS
You can also search for events. There are all kinds of events going on in Second Life. Maybe you will find something what interests you.

[markkemp]

Actually this was my experience of Second Life too when I joined. Even the places with green dots were lifeless bots.

But once you find people it seems like you can't avoid them. You just learn where to look.

My advice is to search for "sandbox" - that should lead you to some very populated places where creative people hang out.

[Perrie Juran]

I was perhaps a little outgoing when I started.

As I met people at the Hubs back then I'd ask them to show me their favorite place in SL. 

Not just give me the LM, but take me there, show me around.

I very quickly built up a small circle of friends that way and it made it much easier for me to find out where things were going on.

[lucagrabacr]

Try newbie welcome zones such as NCI Kuula, or builder-oriented zones such as Builder's Brewery. If you fancy dance hall with lots of people, try Frank's Jazz there are many more place with a lot of people, you'll most likely find them yourself after you put more time on SL.

[Randall Ahren]

Try Muddy's. It usually has a decent crowd. Second best would be Fogbound Blues.

[Amethyst Jetaime]

Everyone doesn't go to just a few places.   People go where there is something interesting to them going on. 

A lot of venues are busy during certain times of the day but not others.  So they may not have something going on when you are logged in.  Don't forget SL is an international community and some places cater to people in a particular group of time zones.  Seach Events for things going on that might interest you  during the times you are in SL.

Eventually you'll find venues that are to your taste and that have people there you can socialize with.

[Loralinda]

If I want to find someplace to go where people congregate, I usually go to the search window and select events and then select "live entertainment."  These are for the most part live performances (real music performers with avatars who actually stream their music performance, and interact with the audience).  Bring up the ones that are going on currently or just starting (usually hourly) and then click on the "find on map" option.  That way you can see how many people are at the event.  There are some great entertainers in sl. You can find pretty much any kind of music you prefer. There are friendly folk at these things

The other option, if you like clubs, join the club music groups, like "I love House Music" and similar groups depending on your preferences for music (do a search in the general search box for music groups).  You will receive notices for their daily and usually bi-hourly dj selection.  Again, check on the map to see how many others are there.  One very popular place is Frank's Place (the sim is called Franks Place) which is a formal ballroom.  There are people there at all hours.  But just a warning, you should try to pimp out your avi or you may get overlooked in the crowd and you must wear a formal.  Another popular club with various types of music is Ambrosia Dance Club (sim of the same name) which is a casual type house music club.  And there is Woods (sim of same name) which is a house music club as well as GOL (sim of same name) or Beachwood (also sim of same name).  Blackhearts is a nice little club with fairly standard pop music and friendly hosts  The Fairy isles are pretty friendly places too and there are usually some people around most of the time, more on weekends of course.

Of course there are other places to see people like welcome areas, but bear in mind some of those are full of hecklers who just enjoy arguing and tend to attract griefers who try to disrupt things with pranks.  But with that warning, I usually find lots of folks at  Ahern (a very tough crowd), or Nelsonia or Arapaima (just look for these on your map function).  Also Social Island has a welcome center, but again sometimes the Ahern crowd goes there just to gain a new audience for their squabbles and there seem to be a fair number of pretty young people there just dressing up and doing goofy things for fun.

If you like role play stuff, then you should look in the general search tab for the type of role play you like.  You will find sims that cater to role play of various types.

[Charlotte Holmeforth]

Second Life is live in real time so it tends to look less busy than it is. A forum with 100 visits a day might look busy, but a sim with that many could easily be empty when you go, especially if the owner isn't in your time zone. I would suggest looking for green dots, searching events, or join groups you can chat to, and don't stop looking.