I tried playing Second Life a couple of times, but I couldn't really get into it. I always get curious how people can play it for hours and hours. I agree with you, right at the start, you're dropped in the middle of a plaza and not knowing what to do. The graphics are terrible, however whenever I've seen screenshots of the game, they show really beautiful graphics. I'm not sure if you have to pay real money to make your character look good or what. Also I could never figure out how to use all the controls, oh and what bothered me the most was having random guys chasing me around.
I kinda miss SimsOnline. It had bad graphics, but it was easy to play and you could have your own house, pets and tons of outfits