What is there to do in SL?

[Orwar]

   I keep seeing people claiming that there's nothing to do in Second Life, as well as that LL need to get better at presenting things to newcomers to do for the sake of retention. So I was just thinking we could compile a little resource here, and with SL being so large and diverse I couldn't possibly list everything on my own, so keep those activity ideas flowing!

   But to get the ball rolling ..

• Board games: Greedy, Hand & Foot, Skippo, Backgammon, Othello, Mah-jong, Ludo, etc; there's no shortage of board games in SL, and there are several venues dedicated to them (some of which have very active communities).
• Physics-based games: bowling, pool, mini-golf, etc; playing bowling or pool with friends (or strangers that may become friends) can be a very nice and relaxed pastime - or quite intense, if you're competitive! 
• Sailing: another activity which can be very relaxing, exploring seas, lakes, and navigable river around the grid - or join a boat race and test your seamanship against others!
• 'Puzzle' adventures/questing/murder mysteries/escape rooms: whilst I haven't played any for a while, I know there are a fair few out there with a wide range of activities within them, solving puzzles or riddles, finding items, dodging boulder traps and snakes, or unravelling mysterious plots.
• Social/party games: Truth or Dare, quizzes & trivia games, Pictionary-type games, etc; great activities for both large and small groups of people.

   So, share some of the things you enjoy doing in SL, and when those Debbie-Downers come a-knocking we'll have a thick, solid piece of nope to bonk them over the head with! 

[Ayashe Ninetails]

Who would I be if I didn't say:

• Photography
• Shopping
• Landscaping & Decorating

 

And as for things I don't do:

• Attend events
• Roleplaying/roleplay sims
• MyStory & BeYou-related stuffs
• Attend skill classes for building, scripting, language learning, etc.
• Create machinima
• Visit the numerous art galleries and installations
• Horseback riding
• Ice skating
• Rollerskating/blading
• Fishing
• Something about wrestling?

Edited July 15, 2023 by Ayashe Ninetails
Added stuffs

[Rowan Amore]

Do they have bicycle and horse rezzers at the welcome area?  If not, they should.  There should also be rezzers in place around the Belli regions.  Easier than vehicles.and something I've enjoyed since early on.

[Ayashe Ninetails]

5 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said:

Do they have bicycle and horse rezzers at the welcome area?  If not, they should.  There should also be rezzers in place around the Belli regions.  Easier than vehicles.and something I've enjoyed since early on.

Not sure, but it IS a lot of fun. There are great horse rezzers at one of the Calas Galadhon regions you could use to explore with. Behaved pretty well, fairly easy to use, HUD-based, etc. Mirromere, I think. That's where they are.

[Marigold Devin]

Giant Snail Racing is the most hilarious fun with the loveliest eclectic people, and they have regular parties too.

I keep meaning to try roller derby.

There are book clubs.

Skills gaming can be fun.

Coffee houses with live acts and quizzes.

Attending gigs for tribute bands OR be a member of a tribute band!

I shan't mention testing weapons in the weapons testing sandbox

Challenge friends to find as many lighthouses as possible.

Visit Ahab's Haunt (is this still there?) and the historic builds Lost Gardens of Apollo for Tai Chi and The Galaxy

Scuba dive in Blake Sea - Siren's Isle and the surrounding regions which have interesting corals and fish under the water

Dance on The Titanic, and enjoy *that* pose with yourself, a friend, or a random stranger

 

 

Edited July 15, 2023 by Marigold Devin
for adding bits as I think of them

[Scylla Rhiadra]

These are all great! This thread is a terrific idea!

A somewhat odd omission, given how popular it is, is club-going and dancing. I spend about 4 hours or so a week doing this. It's partly about the music, of course, but even more about the social scene and the communities that have developed around particular clubs and/or DJs and live performers.

I love my horses, and go exploring on one of them probably once a week. Just finding a nice nature sim with trails that you can gallop along is wonderful -- and there's at least one large group of regions (12, I think?) that is entirely devoted to horses, and includes stables, and vet's office, paddocks, and trails.

21 minutes ago, Ayashe Ninetails said:

Something about wrestling?

So weird, but yes. I've never been but I have a friend who used to attend regularly. The sh*t-talking from the wrestlers on Twitter is hilarious.

Related, sort of, is working out and body building. I have another friend who does this -- she goes to gyms, and there is, I think, a HUD system that makes it more "realistic" and quasi-competitive. (My friend is ripped AF.) I think again there is a sort of community build around this.

Oh, and going to Linden-created regions to spot things wrong with them so that I can dis them here. MAJOR fun!

[Scylla Rhiadra]

Oh, addendum on "exploring" in boats, on horseback, etc.

It's also a social activity. I usually go riding with three other friends.

And I gifted another friend a couple of large working vehicles -- a transit bus and a hippy van -- that he often crams with friends for mishap-fraught but very funny adventures.

[Randall Ahren]

4 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

A somewhat odd omission, given how popular it is, is club-going and dancing. I spend about 4 hours or so a week doing this. It's partly about the music, of course, but even more about the social scene and the communities that have developed around particular clubs and/or DJs and live performers.

The number one activity is parking an avatar at a club, either dancing or sitting on a stool, and then going AFK while doing some other activity, watching Net Flix, shopping at the Market Place, arranging photos on Flickr, etc.

Another popular activity is congregating at Infohubs and harassing noobs.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

3 minutes ago, Randall Ahren said:

The number one activity is parking an avatar at a club, either dancing or sitting on a stool, and then going AFK while doing some other activity, watching Net Flix, shopping at the Market Place, arranging photos on Flickr, etc.

Is that why you've never responded when I've said hi to you at Fogbound? 😏

Depends on the club you go to! YMMV!

4 minutes ago, Randall Ahren said:

Another popular activity is congregating at Infohubs and harassing noobs.

I wonder if it might be fun going to an infohub as a noob and being harassed?

I should try it, and report back!

[Ayashe Ninetails]

10 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

So weird, but yes. I've never been but I have a friend who used to attend regularly. The sh*t-talking from the wrestlers on Twitter is hilarious.

You won't believe this (or maybe you will, LOL), but the sole reason I know wrestling exists is because I once got approached to join some team or another...AS a wrestler. That's what I get for running around in fantasy avatars (if I'm not mistaken, there's a fantasy-based wrestling team out there somewhere I guess?). I couldn't wrap my head around the idea of roleplaying getting my wig snatched in a ring, so I politely declined. 🤣

 

[BelindaN]

There's a big wrestling scene. I only know because a friend was really into watching it. 

There are also arranged vacations and cruises. And a recent Barbie party. Don't ask me about any of this. I just have an old friend who knows stuff. 

[Love Zhaoying]

"There's nothing to do in Second Life" sounds like something a sullen teenager would say!

 

[Gwin LeShelle]

And there are things you can only do in SL.

Like things we all did. Bible Guns, furniturezookas...but also building, playing with physics.

Me and my best friend (he was always a frog in SL) kept fighting against eachother with nukes missile launcher in our infohub birthplace....I recently got a message that my 13 nuke are sent back to inventory...13...THIRTEEN years after we last did that xDD sweet memories ❤️

Or you dress up as a tiny frog with one missing leg in a wheelchair and visit a paris themed sim, telling everyone who don't wants to know how dangerous of a country france is for frogs  Ah man I miss those early days with my friends in SL haha

Have fun, use the sandbox features of SL, meet people, the biggest mistake is seeing SL as a dating or adult game, thats maybe nice too but you miss out on all the crazyness  don't limit yourself and SL will be fun ^ ^ maybe I should talk to people more again, this thread is a nice reminder ❤️

[Rolig Loon]

My idea of "fun" rarely involves going to a club or a crowded music event, but I do get together with a group of friends a few times a week to dance or loll around on a beach. I'm much more likely to have fun by spending hours writing a tricky script or fiddling with the landscaping around my home. I really like the two lists that Ayashe posted near the top of this thread because they are a nice balance between ways to be entertained in SL and ways to entertain yourself. One thing that appealed to me about SL from the start was that I could find both, depending on my mood.

[Persephone Emerald]

2 hours ago, Rowan Amore said:

Do they have bicycle and horse rezzers at the welcome area?  If not, they should.  There should also be rezzers in place around the Belli regions.  Easier than vehicles.and something I've enjoyed since early on.

They do have a bicycle rezzer. I've also seen a couple of newbies using the starter avatars that have horses connected to the avatars.

[Randall Ahren]

1 hour ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Is that why you've never responded when I've said hi to you at Fogbound? 😏

No, it's because you had too much of your politics in your profile. I could see that would likely lead to trouble, so I didn't reply.

[Robberinthemuseum]

27 minutes ago, Randall Ahren said:

No, it's because you had too much of your politics in your profile. I could see that would likely lead to trouble, so I didn't reply.

[Rowan Amore]

3 hours ago, Randall Ahren said:

The number one activity is parking an avatar at a club, either dancing or sitting on a stool, and then going AFK while doing some other activity, watching Net Flix, shopping at the Market Place, arranging photos on Flickr, etc.

Another popular activity is congregating at Infohubs and harassing noobs.

You've mentioned this before and my experience is completely different at clubs.  9 times.out of 10 if I message someone, I get an almost immediate response.  If someone messages me, I always respond as soon as I pop open the profile and give it a quick once over.  

Edited July 16, 2023 by Rowan Amore

[Love Zhaoying]

3 hours ago, Gwin LeShelle said:

Or you dress up as a tiny frog with one missing leg in a wheelchair and visit a paris themed sim, telling everyone who don't wants to know how dangerous of a country france is for frogs  Ah man I miss those early days with my friends in SL haha

 

[Love Zhaoying]

34 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said:

9 times.out of 10

You, however, are a 10/10!

[Rowan Amore]

Just now, Love Zhaoying said:

You, however, are a 10/10!

[Robberinthemuseum]

50 minutes ago, Rowan Amore said:

You've mentioned this before and my experience is completely different at clubs.  9 times.out of 10 if I message someone, I get an almost immediate response.  If someone messages me, I always respond as soon as I pop open the profile and give it a quick once over.  

I have a similar experience. There just isn't a lot of local chat. People are very open to meeting new people as long as you respect the boundaries they set.

[Lindal Kidd]

4 hours ago, Rowan Amore said:

Do they have bicycle and horse rezzers at the welcome area?  If not, they should.  There should also be rezzers in place around the Belli regions.  Easier than vehicles.and something I've enjoyed since early on.

Bicycles, yes. I've heard it said that the Welcome Hub bikes are the best-riding bicycles in SL. Since there is a Linden Home-centric Welcome Hub in Bellisseria, they are available in Belli, too.

Horses, no.

[Walelu Summerwind]

Karaoke bars are a blast and artsy places too .. there are poetry reading clubs, pg rated and some good erotica poetry too. There is something for everyone in SL. Just use your imagination. Its like going to the circus! 🤪

[Yukiko Yeshto]

5 hours ago, Rowan Amore said:

Do they have bicycle and horse rezzers at the welcome area?  [...]

Today, I stumbled over the P.A.T. rezzer at the Welcome Hub. The rezzer is next to the train station and brings you to the BelliHub. I hope they offer more destinations in the future. I think it's a nice and comfortable way for newcomers to start travelling and exploring.