So what now?

Sorry if this is the wrong place for this, but wasn't sure where to go....

I get the basic concept of Second Life: a user defined universe, where objectives are whatever you want them to be. That's grand, but so far all I've seen in world are either 1) people looking for/advertising sex and/or 2) people coming to a virtuial world from their real life jobs to become manufacturer/enterpeneurs. As my fiance and I already have each other, number 1 holds no interest, and since I spend my days making a living off my computer art skills, number 2 is just more of the same, compounded by having to try to sell on top of it.

So where's the interesting stuff? As tiresome as the "hunting" grind is in MMO's, there's generally personal objectives ("oooh I want the zookeeper badge - where are those monkeys?!" combined with fantastical creatures and places to visit. If I thought this was more than just a glorified chat room, I might be inclined to contribute.

Is there a central zone or somesuch that one can explore from? So far, the most poplated places I've seen seem to be either sex farms or D/s dungeons. Outside of the Help zone, most of the people I've seen have been women running around in modified underwear with titles suggesting they're sex goddesses. Is that the extent of people's fantasies? Come on - you can have kinky sex in real life - and much more interesting at that. We are here in the mind's playground - can someone point me to where someone has done something worthy of it.

Sorry if I'm coming off snarky, but we're really looking for something cool to do, and Second Life sounded like the step that would break the paradigm, but so far most of what we've seen is people either replicating the outside world, or wallowing in their virtual Id.

So can someone suggest places, pretty please?

Cheerio.
Sarge

No worries, Sarge--let me move this into General Topics, where many opinions will be expressed! I know there are many fellow Residents who've got suggestions they enjoy to share with you.

A warm welcome to Second Life and the SL Forums too!

Uhhhmmmm.....

"Your World. Your Imagination."

Well, I can list the places I like to frequent. They aren't very populated, but I like'm.

Nexus Prime-Cool dirty city. Even better if you pop open a sewer lid.

Malibu Anomoly-City in the sky(more like 5th Element than The Jetsons) I live in the penthouse of the library building.

Chaos-Just another cool city. Find and shoot some Police Drones, explore the ruins beneath the streets.

Can't think of anymore offhand, I haven't been on in almost a week. Those 3 cities are all futuristic/cyberpunk/whatever you wanna call it.

There's a few clubs I like, but none really stand out.

My advice for someone new, explore. Alot. Go to Find-Places and type in "Runic". Something cool there, I just can't remember the name.

But there arent any Rikti Monkeys.

The fact that you can do and be whatever you want can make new people very lost. Some just fall into the havin sex with animals crowd, but if you look hard enough you can save your second soul!

Oh, god knows!!

Not true for me (and I'd assume many others). I build very little. I'm just happy being Arken, walking the world and doing whatever I want.

What do you know about Creating Starax? lol, JK, still looking for new stuff But in reply to the post, yes, its more about creating your own world how you want to have it. If you dont want to create your own world then you are stuck exploring the worlds that other people created. I am not good at building like Starax is, but i can take those objects that other build to suit my own needs by decorating with those other objects. if i cant find something i want, i use my imagination and try and build something close to what i want and either be satisfied or hire someone to do it for me. but really when it comes down to it, its your world to create, your fun, your whatever you want to do

Not true... I am sure there are a decent # of the population that don't creat anything, they just enjoy the enviorment and it's surroundings...

Well, I've started a group to set up a sim to experiment with artificial life. I think that's pretty neat.

Torley explores the metaverse and she thinks that's pretty neat.

Enabran builds bots. He thinks that's pretty neat.

A lot of people design clothing and they think that's neat.

Find something to do you think is neat. Make money off it, or don't. Have fun.

It's on you.

Yeah, I forgot about Bingtris!. I was getting into that game, I even thought I was getting good at it. Then I started seeing your scores everywhere. I gave up after that.

Solivar, go to the Welcome Area and get a copy of Pathfinder's picks and you will find many non-commercial places to explore. Also if you can find a SLPRS (Second Life Parks Registry) notecard giver somewhere you will find enough nice places to keep you busy for a good long time. If you can't find a SLPRS registry type Susieland in find/places and you will find one on my front porch.

At first glance SL may seem to be nothing but sleazy malls and sex clubs but there is really much more to it.

Before you were moved I went inworld and dropped landmarks on you, and made suggestions. You're going to be busy now!

If SL is too much sex clubs and casinos (and I agree it is), those people who want it to be more than that need to help add something to it.

Or you could organize a group and recruit people you find intriguing. Start a meeting or a salon.

These are a few thoughts I've had recently on the same subject you wrote about. I thought your question was excellent...

QK

... I'm so tempted to make a Rikti monkey avvie now. Right after... I learn to make skins... and build... stuff... >.>

I like to just wander around and shop and sometimes I even talk to people...

...

... just like real life.

Or Fire Imp followers! And Nova! And...I wish CoH diddnt suck anymore

Edited!? I sure hope you didn't spell anything in that sentence wrong!

Thankee - not sure I saw them go by - does it give an alert? I know I declined something - hope it wasn't you - thought it was spam.

Will do! Thanks! And I'm sure there is more - it's just the gorean posers and the underwear malls tend to get in the way.

Cheers!
Sarge

Not sayin it's not on me - was just lookin to see what the universe offers before reinventing the wheel. First thing I did when I entered the world was dodge back out to make my own skin, and built myself a fez to cap it off.

How are you experimenting with artificial life?

Thanks and all.
Sarge

Thanks! Been a pretty good welcome so far, and I've visited your website before when I was researching the game.. it was a hoot.

Cheers!
Sarge

Check out sim Devils Moon and wander around the city which is a recreation of the futuristic city in Bladerunner. Be sure to check out ALICE the AI bot while you are there. Then after buzz over to Gypsy Moon to see a fantasy build with caves and underground tunnels!

City of Heroes is awesome!

Let the man enjoy SL! *ASes Jarod, Placates, flees*

You say you understand the idea, and then ignore what it means in the very next breath. You are basically complaining that other people aren't doing what interests YOU. No kidding; they are doing what interests THEM. You are responsible for your own entertainment.

If you can't find it, you can make it. If you aren't willing to make it, then you can buy it. If you don't want to buy it, I don't know what to tell you. This isn't an MMO.



Based on what you've described seeing and how short a time you've been here, I strongly suspected that you hadn't even scratched the surface of what is available in SL. But if you haven't found any fantastical creatures or places to visit, you definitely haven't spent enough time looking around.

Try, hmm. Telador island. Transylvania. That new island with the dragons...

Badge hunting in CoH may be a personal goal, but it's still a very linear, handed-to-you on a silver platter style of goal. The only reason most people choose to do junk like Zookeeper as a goal is because there really aren't all that many fun alternatives; hunting 10000 monkeys seemed entertaining because ... actually, no, that particular badge never seemed entertaining (even though it has lower requirements now). But it was made available, and it was slightly different than the same-old-same-old (for the first ten minutes, anyway) so people did it.

SL is a lot more like real life ... you have to decide what your own goals are. And they can be almost anything. And you aren't going to necessarily enjoy what most people choose to do with that freedom, just like real life. Still, that's their choice, just as it's yours in CoH to spend a ridiculous amount of time on mind-numbing monkey-hunting (or not). Frankly, I find even virtual human sexuality a lot more entertaining than Zookeeper ever was. Or regular CoH missions after the first two dozen or so, for that matter.

If you like, I can give you badges for finding interesting places in SL. Would that make it more of a personal goal? Heck, I can even give you a special title for the badge, and it'll show up in-world and everything.

How about "Pioneer" for five interesting places, and "Magellan's Acolyte" for ten? "Gibsonian" for finding Nexus Prime? You can even unlock the "Time Traveller" badge if you find a certain victorian/steampunk country...

Actually, that might not be a bad way to encourage people to explore. A free attachment that scans for "historical society" signs or something, and if it finds them, makes an entry in your exploration guidebook. Then people can go forth and put signs wherever they think is interesting...



Everything on the internet is a glorified chat room if you squint hard enough. It's a communications medium; that's what it's for.




People replicate the real world because that's what they want to do. If you don't want to do that, do something else instead.

I knew it! The SL forums are PVP.

*egages Invis, runs after Elspeth*