What is there to do in SL?

I began to comment on Darius’s posting about there being nothing to do in SL now that gambling is out, but it turned into the sort of rant that needs to be a posting all of its own. It makes me pretty sad when people imply that there is only sex and gambling in SL. It simply isn’t true.

It’s really hard to advise someone coming into SL about what to do, because what you will enjoy depends very much upon you and your interests. Many of my friends in SL are creators, making things to sell, and this encompasses a huge range of possibilities for people who want to create. You can make objects, build, script, upload sounds, make textures, make animations… there is a wide range of activities which involve creation in SL.

If you want to learn a new skill to help you create, you will find support groups and tutorials in-world and online. If you want to ask for help, or need assistance, then there are people willing to help, whether through the various SL forums, or in-world through the volunteer groups.

If creation isn’t your thing, there is a lot of world in SL to explore, and a lot to discover. There are role-playing sims, sims where you could have contact with people of another nationality, where you might be able to learn a new language, sims with information about particular subjects, game sims, places with certain challenges. There are the famous subcultures of SL, like the furries, goths, the Gor people, the Trekkies, and the elves.

If making money is your main concern, then there are things which almost anyone could do. Making directories, offering shopping services, looking on the help wanted section of the SL forum, there are a large number of jobs requiring people who need not have any particular skills. As more and more commercial companies enter SL, these jobs are likely to become better paid and more like RL.

If making money isn’t your concern, explore! Give people feedback about their sims if you find things you really like, or have suggestions about how things can be improved. Find one of the best of SL sites and visit the top 10… or just find random sims by clicking the map. Or play SL connections, which is one of my favourites: you go somewhere and click on the profile of the first person you find with picks, and go to the top pick in their profile (top pick which is a place, I should say. some people have people in their picks). If possible, find someone at that location and look in their profile for picks, or if not, look up the first person in search and go to their second pick. If you go to the third pick without having met another person, go back to your first location and pick another person.

You can track down different periods in history on SL sims, Roman, Tudor etc. Visit a known location for the period (like Roma for roman) and then collect landmarks from things in the sim for people making objects from the period, to clothes and shoes etc. You can track down different countries in SL, and make up notecards with landmarks as you go.

If exploration isn’t your thing, meet people! Of course, it is possible to simply look on the map and follow the green dots, but that isn’t usually a great way of meeting people. Either go to a class or an event, or choose a location where there are likely to be people you would like to meet. The other way of meeting people is to help them - there are usually a lot of new people at the welcome areas around SL, such as Ahern etc. There are also new people around the freebie sites like Stillman bazaar and Yadni’s - they’re full of people who would welcome someone who has some experience in SL and can help them to find their way about. I have found this a very rewarding way to meet people, and one which often gives you a different slant on SL, seeing it through new eyes. At one time I had a collection of landmarks for new people which included places like Gnubie Store where new people can get free or cheap things. You could do the same - or develop theme cards for the things you like.

If creating things, exploration and meeting people aren’t your thing…well then maybe you’d be better off in a game which has a structure and gives you something to do which you don’t have to think about.