When I was little... like 14, stupid, and not knowing that I should be capitalized, I tried second life. I was on an incredibly slow laptop then so after a couple hours I quit because flying around at 1fps isn't what I'd call fun. There was an alternative I tried back then, though, that was free, and had a great community. Kaneva. I don't know if it's up still and I long quit in my search to quench my virtual bloodlust of the time now knowing that talking to people and customizing a house could be fun too, but if I was looking for a place to hang out, I'd definitely revisit Kaneva. Also, Moove seemed like a good engine-- more open ended, less user friendly of course, and well... I didn't get a chance to know the community in the hour I played (See: Framelag.)
Honestly, man, I've had my fair share or problems as of late too. Life's a ***** with a barbed whip sometimes. Where I've been with my problems, personally, is, aside from msn contacts, the Complaints Thread on my local writers forum. It seems that most F2P MMO Communities aren't really... friendly.