I really want to get into Second Life, but...

[JoeyPiknik]

It just seems so incredibly empty. I'm trying out the recommended locations but even those have around ten other people at most, and the majority of those are AFK. The concept behind Second Life sounds extremely appealing in theory but I'm left wondering if I'm doing something wrong in finding a decently populated area, or if membership is tanking so hard SL is turning into the world's biggest ghost town. My question is: AM I doing something wrong? Is there really populated areas that are somehow escaping my attention? If there are how many decently populated areas are there?

[JoeyPiknik]

It just seems so incredibly empty. I'm trying out the recommended locations but even those have around ten other people at most, and the majority of those are AFK. The concept behind Second Life sounds extremely appealing in theory but I'm left wondering if I'm doing something wrong in finding a decently populated area, or if membership is tanking so hard SL is turning into the world's biggest ghost town. My question is: AM I doing something wrong? Is there really populated areas that are somehow escaping my attention? If there are how many decently populated areas are there?

[Tex Monday]

Welcome to SL...

I have a couple of suggestions...

go into the search function and type in one of your interests..whether it be dancing, music, sci-fi, whatever....then find a group that meets this. Join it and then send out an IM and see if you can get any responses. The people in the group should let you know where the busy places are. If not, just chat. You'll develop friendships and then can find locations from there.

Another suggestion might be..and I might not be describing this right so bare with me, when you go into the search and you get a list of suggested places, in the right hand corner on some of them there should be squares with avatars on it. This is supposed to show the busy and popular places. You can see if that helps.

Hope that makes sense...good luck

 

[JoeyPiknik]

Thanks very much for the welcome and the suggestions. I'll have a look and see how I go!

[Ren Toxx]

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JoeyPiknik wrote: [...] I'm trying out the recommended locations [...]

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The usual reasons for those being recommended are quite varied, and not all that often imply actual crowded activity. Many are of scenic / explorability value -which can be enjoyed just as well alone; some are shops, at which one arrives, finds what one is seeking, and goes. And yes, some are social venues, but even at those, constant 24/7 activity is hard to maintain, so most of them have a certain planning in the form of events... meaning, the seemingly empty place you just departed from, might become chock-full of people just half an hour later, whena DJ or live musician stages a performance that attracts many who were aware of it -through the Events page, or the sim's own internal calendar, or the venue's group notices-. In fact, at such moments it might get so crowded that you'd actually have trouble getting in (due to the sim's avatar limit) or, if you manage that, in moving (due to the lag caused by so many concurrent avatars).

 

Keep visiting places, looking around, searching... try the Events listing, which is a more reliable indicator of where and when people gather around (and to stay there and do something specific)... eventually you'll join groups and see places which clearly indicate those events you seek... or others with a more steady income of visitors willing to socialize :smileywink:

[Syo Emerald]

There are more places than people to fill them ALL at the same time. Also some places will be empty or nearly empty by nature, because they are designed for wandering around or they contain just stores. Other places will be empty because they are specialized on events and others will be empty because the usual crowd visiting lives on another timezone.

[PeterCanessa Oh]

Start by going to NCI (Kuula sim - it's usually so busy my computer can't cope with it!), Caledon Oxbridge, Builders' Brewery or one of the other in-world helper organisations.  Not only will they provide you with help, advice and freebies but they run regular classes and other events for newbies that can attract quite a crowd.  Finally, you'll meet people who can recommend other places to visit and at what times they are likely to be busy - a lot can depend on the timezones the owners cater for.

[JoeyPiknik]

Thanks a heap for that! And to all others who have provided some advice. It looks like I may end up subscribing after all.

[PeterCanessa Oh]

Don't pay anything to anyone for anything until you know you'll be staying!  There are millions of good-quality freebies of all sorts, a lot of land to explore and all the building tools and entertainment you could want for free before you start committing real money.  The only thing that you'll have to pay for, if you decide you want it, is land,  Without it you can't leave something permanently 'rezzed' in-world - like a house - but for everything temporary there are public 'sandbox' areas (all the helper organisations I mentioned offer sandboxes so people can learn to build things).

If you do find something that grabs you and decide to stay in SL for a while you'll probably want to rent some land and/or a house (on land).  Getting a premium subscription is only one way to do this - the helper organisations you visit will be able to explain all that too.  Have fun :-)

 

[Czari Zenovka]

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JoeyPiknik wrote:

Thanks a heap for that! And to all others who have provided some advice. It looks like I may end up subscribing after all.

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I would strongly advise remaining a Basic Account until you've been in SL a bit longer.  There are entire threads in the forums on Basic vs. Premium account but if you are still looking around SL, imo, it's better to stay Basic until you *know* you want to stay.

As for people, I go to a well-known jazz club that regularly has 40+ people at most times.  Last time I was there 76 avatars were present.  As others have said, it's a combination of some places being more popular than others, some being more populated depending on the time zone, sometimes there are special events being held that draw a lot of people (ie. events like fairs to showcase hair, fashion, home furnishings, holiday-themed events), etc.

Welcome to SL and enjoy!

[Lexii Lungu]

 It might have just been a bad day for second life residents.. I would suggest you do searches.. the most traffic tends to have the highest amounts of activity or at least nice things to look at!!

Sometimes you just might wander into an empty place.. second life is HUGE and because of that.. residents are spread out EVERYWHERE at every time.. the joys of second life.. you just have to find the crowd.. be patient and have fun!