I agree with what you say, but part of it has to do with the *social* aspect of it. I, for one just don’t “get” the sitting at my computer watching a bunch of cartoons, including the one I control – “dancing” on a bunch of poseballs.

Yes, I know – it’s “social”. But the chat is lame, and I keep voice and streaming media (read: music) turned-off (because I don;t want to waste bandwidth and it helps cut any lag.)

So, what if that question were rephrased: “It’s hard-as-hell to find anyone on the grid – who’s not just camping or “dancing” or a traffic-bot.”

Search is poorly executed. If I’m looking to explore interesting architecture how do I find a list of locations? Any attempt at a popular places list has always been gamed.

How do you find new and interesting things to do?

And I adamantly disagree with the “UI is notoriously difficult” mantra. The basics were totally easy to use from day one; just takes practice to get adept at it same as anything else worth doing. The more complicated functions come with tutoring, practicing, and experimenting, which to me is part of the fun — learning something new.

I am completely in agreement with the adage “anyone who is chronically bored is just boring.” It’s true that in SL it’s a challenge to find things to do at first if your mindset is “Okay, I’m here — entertain me.” People with that expectation shouldn’t bother with Second Life in the first place, since they are not looking for a challenge they are looking for spoon feeding. Better they should just go watch TV and channel flip and give back their processor cycles to those of us who can make use of them. Less lag, too. Begone oh bored ones!

Last year I found myself logging in daily to keep up with the art community, the programming communities and the gaming communities. I did create my own content for a while (and sold it, made money on land, etc) only to find I had a second *job* and not something I did for recreation.

Lately I find myself logging in only once or twice a week to “catch up”.

So I have moved on to other (real world) pursuits and only log in to Second Life when something entertaining shows up. The thinking on display in this post seems to indicate that my lesser engagement recently is a defect on my part and not part of the (natural?) evolution of my interests and the engagement provided by Second Life.

Instead I would claim that is in very similar to someone who has been to Paris many times for extended visits. It just don’t hold the same charm and so I only go when something new is around. Virtual Ennui?

In my experience, the interface is rarely a major problem in the new user experience. It’s everything else.

Not everyone is comfortable with the idea of an open ended world with no fixed purpose. For those who prefer goal oriented / gameplay should they be told up front it’s not for them, or better guided into the parts of SL that offer that type of experience?