Second Life 的目標
在 Second Life 裡可以做的事情範圍非常廣泛。Second Life 和其他線上遊戲不同，它沒有「等級」之類的限制。然而，因為 Second Life 裡面沒有 NPC (非玩家角色，Non-player Character)，如果您想要別人參與您正在做的事，千萬別忘了他們都是跟你一樣有血有淚有慾望的真人，給他們一個讓他們感興趣、進而參與您的理由。在 Second Life 中做的事情通常可分為以下幾類：
- 交談 和人們相遇、跳舞、談天、交朋友，向別人「學習」也包括在內。Second Life 裡面有很多與 SL 或真實世界相關的課程，而且 SL 也是能和不同工作領域、國家的人碰面的好地方。「角色扮演」(別人互動時扮演某種角色) 也包含在此類中。進階：交很多朋友、讓人們聚在一起、為大家帶來歡樂。到了最後，你可能會組織團體，甚至帶領一整個以角色扮演為主題的島。
- 玩遊戲 在 Second Life 裡可以玩各式各樣不同的遊戲，例如戰鬥、解迷、棋盤遊戲等，有些遊戲源自於真實世界的遊戲，有些則是專為 SL 設計的。進階：熟練這些遊戲所需的技能、贏得比賽。在這些遊戲中，有些的確包含該遊戲專用的「升級」系統。
- 探索 Second Life 是個由數千位居民所建造的廣大世界，您可以直接飛來飛去，或乘著汽車、船隻或飛機來探索這個世界。這也包括為您的化身或房子選購最新奇、最時髦的物品。進階：尋找新鮮、有趣的東西，然後告訴別人。到了最後，可能會有上百人尋求您的意見，或瀏覽您的部落格來尋找最新奇的地方來逛，或尋找最新潮的物品來購買。
- 創造 Second Life 的創造工具是完全開放給每個人使用的。您可以製作房子、物品、衣服、新化身、武器、工具，或者任何您想像得到 (而且有天份與才能來製作) 的東西。然後您可以把這些東西給別人，或賣給別人 (請參考下一段落)。即使您不想使用這些創造工具，還是可以使用從 Second Life 中購買的東西來創造。購買家具來佈置自己的房子、或者購買、混搭各種物品與衣服來創造您的完美化身。進階：提升自己的創造技能及經驗、學習全新的創造技能，以及為 Second Life 增添更多內容。到了最後，您可能會完全使用自己的設計來舉行一場時裝秀，或凝望著四周您創造出來的美麗世界。
- 做生意 您可以用 L$ 在 Second Life 購買或販賣商品，以及把 L$ 兌換成真實世界的錢。您可以販賣自己創造的東西 (請參考上一段落)，或販賣自己的服務。進階：擴張自己的生意以及賺錢，搞不好您還可以這些賺來的錢來買一個島，甚至在 Second Life 賺到真實世界的薪水！
(請注意：在 Second Life 中的生意都是真正的生意，這些錢絕對都不是能輕鬆賺來的錢。要在 Second Life 賺到真實世界的薪水，您工作的努力程度必須跟在真實生活一樣，甚至可能需要更努力。同時，進入 Second Life 的錢必須跟離開的一樣多，因此能兌換到 Second Life 的錢是有現的，這也代表能把 L$ 兌換成真實世界貨幣的人數也是有現的。請了解，這個限制並非為了阻止您在 Second Life 做生意，而是在真實世界做生意也有完全相同的限制。)
而您想做的所有其他事，一般來說都必須符合以上幾大項，才有可能在 Second Life 進行。以下為幾個範例：
- If you want to play a role that wins conflicts with others, such as a ninja, then you will be best advised to do this by playing games. There are games specifically designed for combat so that you can play out thing like this. In Second Life, you cannot be a ninja who wins every time and kills anyone he/she likes, because your targets are other real people and they probably would not enjoy that. Alternatively, you could simply ignore or "backstage" this aspect of the role. For example, you could join or create a ninja training school where you and other ninja players share stories of your successful missions (which were not actually played out in SL).
- If you want to play a role that has authority over others, such as a King or Queen, then you will need to give others a good reason to follow your authority. This is often gotten by Creating or Doing Business. For example, if you build an attractive medieval landscape in which others can come and live, they will trust in your authority to resolve disputes between them and to manage the area. Alternatively, if you just want to be a King so that you can have a big castle and fine living (and not actually do the kind of work that a king would do), then you don't need authority to have that in Second Life; you can simply obtain some land and buy a castle to build on it, then invite other kings and queens and princesses over to chat! However, for the same reason as the ninja example above, you can't be a King who just walks through the courtyard kicking dirt on the peasants.
- If you want to show off (by performing, or modelling, or similar) then you need to give others a good reason to want to watch. This is usually through Creation (they are watching you because you've created something good) or Chat (they're coming to see you because you have such a great personality). You don't have to create from scratch in order to show off; many models use avatars designed from a combination of purchased parts, and entire theater shows have been made using only purchased items. However, in both cases the real person also added their own creativity to the mix (by picking the combination of parts, or writing the script for the show). You generally cannot perform on SL simply by buying an avatar and basic animations and nothing else; so if you buy (for example) a ballerina avatar and animations, you can use them in chat, but simply standing on a stage and running the animations would not be a show that many residents would be interested in watching (although you may be able to make it into one by adding your own touch)
If you're not sure what to do first, I recommend going out to explore the world and attend some events and basic classes in the first week they are here. Click the Search button at the bottom of your screen, then the Events tab to see what events are going on today. All event times are listed as Pacific time, which is shown at the top right corner of your screen.
You can teleport to any location by clicking the Teleport button near the event or location shown. After teleporting, you will arrive near the location, but then may need to walk or fly toward the red arrow/beacon to get to it.