Meeting People
There is much seredipity in Second Life, and the people you encounter by chance can turn out to be your future collaborators, friends, business partners, or co-inspirationalists.
Remember that behind each avatar is a real person, sitting at a computer, with all of the expectations, socialization, and personal history that we we all have.
In general, RL ("Real Life") rules for interaction and politeness apply in Second Life. If a question or encounter would be embarrassing in real life, then it probably is in Second Life as well.
In traveling around, you may find a lot of places without many, or even any, people. Remember that there is a LOT of land in Second Life. At any given time, there are 65,000-75,000 people logged in.
That said, apart from happening to run into someone, there are some ways to meet people.
- Attend events. You can find a listing of upcoming events using Search and then filtering by Events, and then choosing events by a category, for example, Discussion, Live Music, Arts and Culture, etc.
- Join groups. You can find groups by using Search and then filtering by Groups. DO NOT join a group if there is a joining fee -- those groups will likely not be a good place for meeting new people.
- Some groups encourage chat among their members. Others strongly discourage chat. Some groups are primarily a means for publicizing events, such as the group "Art & Artist Network". But, events are a good place to meet people with similar interests, so event-oriented groups can be good.
- Some groups encourage chat among their members. Others strongly discourage chat. Some groups are primarily a means for publicizing events, such as the group "Art & Artist Network". But, events are a good place to meet people with similar interests, so event-oriented groups can be good.
- TP around a lot! You'll learn a lot about SL, you'll see lots of interesting things, and who knows who you'll run into.
- Hang out at places where you have an interest:
- General socializing: any of the Linden Welcome Areas, such as Nova Albion (SLURL). Welcome Areas can be chaotic, although Nova Albion is less so.
- Building: the Ivory Tower of Primitives (SLURL) or the College of Scripting Music and Science (SLURL)
- Locations listed as Popular Places
Making Friends
After you've met someone you can add them as a friend. This lists them in your Friends list. It's usually advisable to have at least conversed with a person before you add them. It helps to have looked at the person's profile first also.
To add someone as a friend:
- Right-click on their avatar and choose "Add Friend" from the menu, and then send the friend request to them.
- Or, click the "People" icon in the sidebar and then click the Global Search link to search for someone by name. When you have located them in Search, click the "Details" button. Their profile will appear in your sidebar. Then click the "Add Friend" button at the bottom right to send them a friend request.
There's only one list of "friends" and "friend" is the only category of contact, so it's common to add people as friends for a range of reasons, from actual friendship as we'd think of it outside SL to casual acquaintances to business contacts.
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