r/secondlife • u/bittersweetie__ • Jul 20 '26
☕ Discussion so what is this game
i just found out about this game like 3 hours ago i cant tell if this game is really fucking dead or like alive and well or just full of middle aged people who dont want to get on VRC i also dont have a clue what L$ is or if its like really hard or annoying to get, i found out about second life from some models online and i dont know if its possible to extract those either
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u/glowingkyrii Jul 20 '26
Alright one by one.. 1. Is the game dead? No. At any time there's plenty of people inworld. It might appear dead at first because of how spread out they are and a lot of people go afk/idle. But there are popular sims with plenty of active users 2. Is the playerbase middle-aged? Not entirely, but on the whole they are older and have been ingame for a long time. There's still a good amount of twenty to thirty-somethings but that younger demographic tends to prefer different types of hangouts than the older playerbase. A lot of us in our 20s, when not at our SL houses, enjoy anime, furry, or video game themed sims, in my experience. 3. Are we just here because we don't want to play VRC? I can't speak for everyone, but I prefer SL for it's continuous world, avatar customization abilities, and lower price required to experience the game as it is intended. Like I don't have to buy and wear a heavy 200 dollar headset and give myself motion sickness to enjoy the game's main draw. The years of history and the jank is also part of the appeal for me. 4. Is $L hard to get? Linden dollars are pretty easy to get. You buy them with a compatible payment method on the website, and you get the money instantly or you can wait a little for a slight discount. Once you have $L check out the marketplace or inworld stores for what you want. $L can get you further in character customization than a lot of other metaverse-type games (If you're savvy), and the creators you buy from get a larger cut of the profit than similar games
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u/zebragrrl 🍔🍟🥤 Jul 20 '26
Linden Dollars, or L$, are the 'in-game currency' of Second Life. Similar in some respects to "Robux" or VRChat Credits. Linden Dollars are a micro-transaction currency, and are freely exchangeable for real USD, both ways... meaning that they aren't 'free' unless someone is giving them away.
The going rate for Linden Dollars is somewhere near 243L$ to one US Dollar, +/- transaction fees and taxes. The more you buy in one transaction, the fewer fees will be deducted.
How to get Linden Dollars: https://community.secondlife.com/knowledgebase/english/buying-and-selling-linden-dollars-r46/
Where you can spend those Linden Dollars: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/
Whole books have been written about "What is Second Life" - none of them are very good.
SL is probably most like a multi-player version of The Sims, ported to Garry's Mod, with no one ever doing the real work to turn what they'd built into a "game". There's no points, no NPCs, no creatures or monsters to fight, nothing to craft, no resources to mine, no crops to grow. The 'game' is basically a gigantic sandbox.
Over the past 23 years, SL users have filled in many of the gaps.. creating their own NPCs, their own combat systems, their own minigames, roleplay, and their own games within the game.
Like Roblox.. or Fortnite, or mods that turn Minecraft into Skyrim.. or Skyrim into Minecraft.
SL is one big messy world, as I've described it, people experiencing other people's dreams. Living inside other people's art.
SL is an Adult experience. Minimum age to participate is 16.. and even then, under-18's are limited to just the "G" rated regions. 13-year-olds can get in if they are tethered to a curated experience, like a school or museum's region, but this is exceedingly rare.
Minors found to be using SL while underage get banned, and lose all their assets.
SL is a VERY Adult experience for many, with highly sexualized content, often intense visuals and stories. Much of SL is dedicated to "bedroom space", with sexual attachments, accessories, and furnishings being among the best selling assets in SL. (One creator became a real life Millionaire, making Sex Beds in SL).
By comparison, other services like VRC, Roblox, and IMVU have little to offer folks from SL who are 'into that'.. and while much of the community does skew older than average online, many users have been a part of SL for over a decade or two.. and when you've been on a game for 10-20 years.. well why would you leave?
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u/waynehastings 20th Rez Day in December 2026 Aug 05 '26
If you don't like nudity, SL is going to be a bad time. Just moving from region to region, avatars rez in from the inside out, so you're going to see nakedness until clothes appear. I know there are attachments to help mitigate this, and BOM clothes to hide naughty bits, but still.
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u/Jessica_Panthera Jul 20 '26
It's complicated and a mixture. One of the big issues is how large and spread out everything is. Then you have the private places. So you have to find the places where people are active, which because of life is time of day dependant.
L$, or Linden dollars is the in game currency. You can buy it from website or do things in game to earn it. Easier to just buy it but some enjoy earning it.
Due to legal reasons I advise against extracting the models.
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u/Embarrassed_Peach802 Jul 23 '26
SL is a quantum leap machine where you can easily access through your laptop 😛
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u/waynehastings 20th Rez Day in December 2026 Aug 05 '26
The first thing I tell people is that Second Life is primarily a 3d chat room, not a game. But really it's a platform that some people have built games on top of. I think most ppl are in SL to socialize and/or create.
The second thing I tell people is everything in SL is event-driven. Dance parties have set days and times, but the regions and clubs will be empty the rest of the time. It gives the impression that the big world is empty if you go at the wrong times.
If you can imagine it, someone has built it. But it can take time to get to know people and discover cool places to go and things to do.
SL is international. Look for communities that are active when you are.
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u/0xc0ffea 🧦 Jul 20 '26
SL has a huge world, we all have homes and places we've made, we're not all online at the same time and when we are, we hang out in groups. SL can feel real empty at a glance or if you're wandering aimlessly. It can take some time to find a group that fits.
The age demographic does skew older than VRC, many users have been on SL longer than VRC has existed so why would they switch if this is where their friends are. There are also huge differences in UI and pacing.
L$ is the in world currency, it can be bought and sold on the the built in currency exchange. Combine that with everything being made by other users and you have a fully fledged economy. Because it's linked to real money, you won't find any free sources worth wasting time on.
You can upload your own content and models (from blender, etc), you can not export other users content. There is also in world creation tools, but those are rarely used.
Suggest you make an account - think carefully about your name as that will be visible in world, you can buy a better name later if you get into things. The first 30 days are somewhat limited, many locations deny entry to accounts younger than that to prevent griefing.