Problematic in all of the writings about "Second Life as desert" is the conceit that Second Life and it's residents/users are obliged to entertain visitors at all! My experience has been that if you develop your presence in SL, you discover places, and people, who make using the system worthwhile. If you expect the world to beat a path to your door, it will be a lonely experience.

I have been involved with SL for nearly three years now, have a list of friends that numbers in the hundreds, most of whom I see inworld at least once or twice a month, many of whom I have met in real life as well, and/or have phone or email contacts that allow us to communicate even if not logged in to SL. At this exact moment (840AM SLT) there are 30 of them online, including a current and former "landlord", at least five people connected with university projects, a well-known RL/SL architect, three non-profit activits, and the publisher of an in-world magazine. I may or may not talk to or share space with any of these individuals during this session, but I bet I will have some meaningful interaction with nearly all of them within the next month! They will share ideas, tip me off to new locations in SL I should visit, help me work out building or scripting problems, or just "hang out".

The point is that active immersion in the world of Second Life, or any virtual world in my opinion, is the key to turning it into a valuable experience, and is the responsibility of the individual user. The founding principle of SL was "we create space - you fill it" and this remains true today. Linden Lab makes it possible to create a world, but the individual users must take it upon themselves to make something of this world.

If you come to Second Life expecting to accidentally find the tremendous and widely-varied community experience that many of us have discovered here, you are likely to be disappointed. Outreach efforts exist, but in the end it is up to the user to find the people and places that make this an enjoyable part of life. No one is going to come hunt you down, but if you spend even a little amount of time, find groups and locations that suit you, be willing to introduce yourself to others, and stick around, you may be amazed at the results!

Coughran