How do I find places that are populated now?

[Fmeh Tagore]

I used to be able to use the destination guide to do this, but now the destination guide is just a useless piece of advertising that does absolutely no good whatsoever in finding places that are popular currently, currently as in the time that I'm getting on Second Life--it doesn't matter if a place is popular during the times I'm not coming on Second Life.  I really would rather not spend hours teleporting to empty locations (or places with maybe 3 people there) simply because some piece of official Linden Lab advertising took me there.  I might as well use forums or something to find places if that's going to be the case, which means I'm probably not going to log on much.  I really want to get back into Second Life, but this makes it hard.

Maybe someone can clue me in on how to find places that are populated.  I really would rather not go back to 2006 where I'm having to use the map and spend hours visually scanning places to find locations that have a lot of people at them, usually just to find they're all bots.  That's a complete waste of time.

If I can't find places that are popular at the time, what's the point in me coming on?  How am I going to find anywhere that actually CURRENTLY has people at it?

Thanks.

[Sephina Frostbite]

I just asked the same question lol

[Fmeh Tagore]

Yeah, I just saw your post:  I mean, what's the point of getting on Second Life if there's no way to find anywhere that people are at?  I mean seriously?  What is the point?

Now that my avatar has been what I've wanted it to be for years, what am I supposed to do in an empty world?  What's the point of an empty world?  It's empty until I find places that have people at them, and if I'm not given the option to find people, it's an empty world.  Again, what's the point of that?

[wonderland23]

YESSSSSS

 

PREACH

 

i am so tired of walking around and literally talking to myself due to the lack of people.

I can go to 10 randon sims and only 1 of those places would be populated. (and by populated i dont mean tons of people, im talking about 2 or 3 avis, and usually, not one of them are active) 

I dont want to go to places like safe hubs, cause usually those places are overly active, i can't even hear myself via mic.
Im looking for an active communitry in second life.

so hard. 

[Lewis Luminos]

 

hey! Fmeh! Long time no see, how are you doing dude? 

What I tend to do is search Events, not places.  Also if you find places that look promising but are currently empty, join their VIP group so you will get notified of their events (even ones not in the official listings).

There are very few places that are populated when there are no actual events running. NCI Kuula is one, the Shelter is another (and though they are geared up for newbies they're not *just* for newbies. 

The Blarney Stone in Dublin is another long-running place that has people hanging out there most of the time.

Another of my favourites is Commune Utopia; be warned its Adult so you will see nudity and you may see people having sex, but on the whole it's more a hangout place than a sex place.

Then there are the big clubs like Franks and Sweethearts for jazz, Ohana or Wet Willies for rock. Junkyard Blues for blues. The 80s club. 

[Fmeh Tagore]

Hey Lewis, definitely long time no see.  I'm doing great, moved in with my.... well, we're not ready to call ourselves "boyfriends" quite yet, we're great companions, but it's great.  Things are great

Thanks for the info.  Unfortunately it looks like it's just confirming what I was afraid of:  This really will be the end of Second Life.

I know I'm definitely NOT alone in this:  I don't look at whether clubs *will* have shows going anymore, I just care whether, when I log on, that I can find a place that has people at it--and if one place doesn't have a group of people that are having interesting conversation, I move onto the next place.  If I have to teleport to dozens of places just to see if someone *might* be there, that's not much fun, that's a waste of time, honestly.  I can't count how many hours I'd waste trying to find somewhere with people *before* they offered the Destination Guide, before it was crippled like it is now.

Since the Destination Guide was started, I had used it to find places that had people at them--it was the primary redeeming feature about the guide.  Basically it would list all the clubs/hangouts/places that the MOST people were at, list how many people were there, and I could choose from that list which one I'd want to check out.  Now that's been completely eliminated and I guess I'm supposed to use Legacy methods to find anywhere, like using the useless search options that give results that are totally inaccurate, or like using the map and spending 4 or 5 hours just trying to search for a place with a lot of green dots.

So basically, they really HAVE removed the options for doing this in a reasonable way.  Very disappointing.  I can't see Second Life lasting more than 2 more years at this rate.  If new users can't easily find places where there are people, other than infohubs that are mostly populated with griefers and bullies, they're clearly *not* going to stick around.

Second Life's new motto/tagline should be:  Your Empty World

[Pussycat Catnap]

Yes it pretty much comes down to events and the map.

And once you find a place you like, put it in your Picks, and make screenshots of it on your feed - thereby encouraging others to go there as well.

Destination Guide is more about places the lindens have found to be 'of interest' - which is not the same thing as popular.

 

[Fmeh Tagore]

Yeah, thanks.  There's no reason for me to go on Second Life anymore unless someone invites me.  I'm clearly not going to spend 5, 6 hours in front of the computer just searching for somewhere to go where people are actually going to be.

Not.  Worth.  My.  Time.

Period.

LL has effectively killed Second Life by crippling this basic function.  I give it 2, maybe 3 years unless they bring that kind of basic necessity back.  People just don't have that much spare time to do absolutely nothing.  That's as pointless as an RPG now, sitting there for 80 hours building up a character just so you can see the next area.

No thanks.  I've been on Second Life since 2006, and this is pathetic.

I bet club owners were complaining that THEIR clubs weren't getting people in, so LL probably got rid of the option to list clubs/venues via how many people are CURRENTLY there so that no club would feel like they're getting special treatment.  It was probably great for them, but it screwed over everyone else.

Good job LL, good job, you've killed Second Life.  New users certainly won't go through learning the interface and spend money just so they can teleport around to random places in hopes they'll actually have people there.

[Sephina Frostbite]

This is why to each their own. I love second life although I have seen a decline. I think its still enjoyable however I believe this is because I am not always searching for someone. I do agree that it is hard for new people but if we all had a negative outlook there would be no one on sl. Thank goodness for people who still enjoy it. I would want new people to be greeted by warm and inviting people. I think people have been saying sl will go down in two years since it came out. 

 I am sorry you angry at second life and I hope one day you come to peace with it. 

To all the others, thank you for your suggestions.

[MizzKittenzz]

maybe I'm wrong, but I believe It has to do with a dwindling population... It seems like most places I go to but a couple are barren, I can just see the tumble weed rolling by and crickets chirping.

 

Here's my opinion why SL is dwindling notice I said my opinion... I feel it has a lot to do with everywhere you can possibly go has a club on that location, its like all SL has turned to lately is sex related. SL is so beautiful and full of endless possibilities but instead its wasted on clubs alone, clubs aren't bad but life is more than just clubs and sex... Also all the malls usually sell is sexual related attire there is hardly anything remotely classy.

[Randall Ahren]

---

MizzKittenzz wrote:

life is more than just clubs and sex...

---

What else is there?

[Tari Landar]

---

MizzKittenzz wrote:

maybe I'm wrong, but I believe It has to do with a dwindling population... It seems like most places I go to but a couple are barren, I can just see the tumble weed rolling by and crickets chirping.

 

Here's my opinion why SL is dwindling notice I said my opinion... I feel it has a lot to do with everywhere you can possibly go has a club on that location, its like all SL has turned to lately is sex related. SL is so beautiful and full of endless possibilities but instead its wasted on clubs alone, clubs aren't bad but life is more than just clubs and sex... Also all the malls usually sell is sexual related attire there is hardly anything remotely classy.

---

You are missing out on a HUGE portion of sl if that is all you see. Granted not every place, or even most will ever be populated at the same time and there certainly aren't as many people logged in at the same time as there once were.  However sl is still a pretty vast place and it is not that difficult to find places that are not clubs, not related to sex and even places(including malls) that sell attire that is classy. I'm not sure exactly where it is in sl you are wandering around, but I can assure you I have no difficulty finding things to do in sl, if I want to.  I don't go to sex related places, as I have no need or even interest in them. I also don't really go to clubs, because I can't stand gesturebaters that never shut up. They annoy the dickens out of me.

Why you stick around if you think sl is "wasted on clubs alone" is beyond me, lol. My guess is, you don't actually think that but are perhaps frustrated because you can't find better places than that to go to yourself. If that's the case, asking others for recommendations is always a great idea.

Personally I wouldn't know where to find the most populated non-club areas, because I don't go looking for them. But I can find a TON of things to do in sl that have nothing to do with sex, or clubs. I've even posted a crap ton of slurls to various places in at least a few different threads in the last 6 or so months. So if you're looking for fun things to do, that may or may not actually be populated, do a search on the forums and you'll find those threads. Or, you can send me an im in-world and the next time I log in I can send you a notecard chock full of fun places to go. For highly populated places though, you'll have to ask someone else, lol. I tend to do fun things with my hubby and friends, but we don't really go to heavily populated places on a regular basis unless it's a charity event of some sort. We're odd ducks in that we enjoy some nifty places when we're likely the only ones there-they're way more fun with less people. Like golfing(put putt in sl, is awesome-and rather interesting), amusement parks, museums, beautiful sims, places we can go surfing/hang gliding/driving vehicles/flying aircraft/sailing/parachuting, zoos...all sorts of things. You're only limited by your imagination and if you can think it, it's likely in sl somewhere

 

I forgot to add bowling...because that's awesome too

[Nova Fhang]

I was just talking about this with my partner also. It seems SL is really getting more & more deserted. LL has done a lot to de-populate SL. They stopped the educational discount, causing a lot of schools to close their online sims. That caused a sharp decline in users logging on. Homestead sims can now only be owned by those that already have a full sim, and the PRICES! OMG. Stores are closing up all over. The tier is high & the marketplace is free. Each week I get a notice of 1-3 stores having their final sale before they close up for the marketplace. Sex has little to do with it, LL moved that to one continent. (Zindra I think?). (Setting your viewer for PG areas only will keep you out of adult areas) LL did this to partly to court business, but most business could not be bothered with the long learning curve or expense of land when they can have tele-conferences free with skype. LL also closed the teen grid, putting teens in with the general SL population. Many of my friends stopped logging in because of this. They told me They have their own teens at home to put up with & don't want to put up with them in their off time. They also said the trolling & griefing went up a lot more, since the teens are on the main grid. There are a lot of factors involved in SL's slow death spiral. I don't see it coming back unless LL reverses all those bad decisions they made since 2010, but I doubt it. LL is putting it's resources into other games now.

[Pombokom]

Six and a half years have passed and now I am asking the same dang question.

It would be simple for Linden Labs to add a couple three enhancements to improve the experience. Where are people right now, for ex.

[Lewis Luminos]

The main difference between 2014 and 2020 is the "What's Hot Now" section of the destination guide tends to be fairly accurate these days, so if you're looking for a place that currently has 20+ avatars present, you can find at least some of those places there.

My list of clubs that I posted is still relatively accurate - the Shelter recently closed, Commune Utopia is quiet/dead most of the time and the 80s club is re-branded as "I ❤️ the 80s" but the others are still going strong and still popular. If you're looking for a place that's more "hang out and chat" then you might also try Burrows Coffee shop.  If an adult hangout is more your thing, "Naked!" seems to have filled Commune Utopia's niche.  In addition there's also The River (rock), Muddy's (rock/blues) and Fogbound Blues. Bray's Place is up-and-coming popular place with activity going on most of the day.

It's nice to know that 2014's predictions of "the end of SL" did not happen though.

[Lindal Kidd]

The standard viewer (and Firestorm too, I think) used to have a feature at the login page called "What's Hot Now".  It was like the Destination Guide, but showed places that had a fair number of people there at that moment.

I hardly ever used it, so I hadn't noticed...is that gone now?

[Randall Ahren]

Quote

 

Fogbound Blues and Muddy's are always busy. Search events for live music. Any live music event featuring Max Kleene as the singer will have a crowd.

 

[VeritasMcMaster]

Fmeh, I have only been here  a little over 2 years and always have places to go that are well populated. I did make a friends groups and members post their events so I don't have to depend on the destination guide. Events is a good place to look, as said. The Aussie/Kiwi places are packed in the late night hours. New Babylon, formerly Babylon Berlin is packed. Where live singers are usually have big crowds. I went to two Seth Regan events today, one was to capacity. It depends a lot on what you are looking for. Get networked with some friends and groups so you are not searching alone. No way SL is dead or dying. Many of us are consciously working toward a new and better SL in terms of how people treat each other. 

[Rob Huntsman]

6 hours ago, Lewis Luminos said:

The main difference between 2014 and 2020 is the "What's Hot Now" section of the destination guide tends to be fairly accurate these days, so if you're looking for a place that currently has 20+ avatars present, you can find at least some of those places there.

My list of clubs that I posted is still relatively accurate - the Shelter recently closed, Commune Utopia is quiet/dead most of the time and the 80s club is re-branded as "I ❤️ the 80s" but the others are still going strong and still popular. If you're looking for a place that's more "hang out and chat" then you might also try Burrows Coffee shop.  If an adult hangout is more your thing, "Naked!" seems to have filled Commune Utopia's niche.  In addition there's also The River (rock), Muddy's (rock/blues) and Fogbound Blues. Bray's Place is up-and-coming popular place with activity going on most of the day.

It's nice to know that 2014's predictions of "the end of SL" did not happen though.

Thanks for the necro thread jesus, however "Whats hot now" is honestly full of bot regions, skill gaming, clubs, and some stores. Most the regions that are advertised in "Whats hot now" are pretty garbage hangouts.Hence why all the communities tend to come to forums and complain that their enjoyment of SL is dead or gone.

There needs to be more variety in "Whats Hot Now" and categorization...For example gaming regions should list the best chess, capture the flag, etc, and list the traffic/avatars. There also needs to be done about traffic with bots. For example, add a anti afk or something if they aren't responsive for every 30 mins.

[cunomar]

It's a no win situation for LL , if they promote high traffic areas then they also promote the use of alts and bots .

In my 3 years of SL there has never been any guide map worth looking at i just click the links in peoples profiles though you can expect to be left in free fall because the place ceased to exist years ago 9 times out of 10 . 

People are lazy about updating alts only used for malicious manipulation .

Edited September 11, 2020 by cunomar

[Amanda Crisp]

I work sort of an overnight shift, so my experience has a split personality. 

I make it on for 2 hours un U.S. Prime Time (GMT-6) @ 6pm SL and have people around, then come back after work for a little bit at about 3pm GMT and find a “differently” populated SL 🙂

Maybe if you tailor your venue-search by RL geography?  

Where possible, look for Euro-run events when Europe is on Prime Time, ditto for the US and the Pacific

I *really* like hanging around with Australia (GMT+15) when I can work out the times and not be at work or asleep 🙂

[Paulsian]

LL do love their mazes. Seek the originals you will find what your looking for. Follow the yellow brick road. 

Tip: I've had the same problem. Here's what i've found join groups you are interested in. You will often get party invites through the group chat. I only have groups to get party popups never use for general conversation. I've made so many friends in the past week doing so. You'll meet a lot of cool people and will find exactly where you belong at just the right time. Have costumes for every occasion or event by saving appearances, get creative. So far i've been to MissSL2020, Burn2, Fantasy Faire, so many different events. 

Hope this helps

Edited September 12, 2020 by Paulsian
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