Oh, yes, this situation is sad. I have been trying to help other professors in my university enter the Second Life(R) world (hereafter referred to as "SL"). This usually requires that I orient them personally, since the Linden-based SL orientation experience is inevitably frustrating and confusing. I have found two of the non-Linden orientation sites to be better. Circuit City actually has a reasonable orientation area. There is also "Avatar Island".

In general, I have found that the best way to get new users to stay is to have another human being essentially shepherd them through the first few weeks. It seems to take at least three weeks for new users to lose their "newbie look" and begin to function independently. Even after several months, the risk of doing something discouraging, such as derezzing a wall of one's house, persists.

Clearly, there is a need to create a more user-friendly SL experience that does not seem to constantly punish people for being new.