I go on SL pretty regularly!
It is a bit of a pain starting out as it takes around 20 bucks or so to get an avatar and a few things for it (20 at most, it'll get you a fair amount of in-game money). Once you figure out the better things to buy like mesh and so on and get a feel for the quality of in-game items and so on, and how to use them, it is a lot easier. It's just a bit of a learning curve to start out with.
SL itself is a pretty resource intensive application, too, so a lot of low range computers crap themselves while running it. If you have a newer mid range computer or higher with decent graphics you should be able to run it just fine.
As for places to hang out furry-wise you really only have a selection of 18+ clubs apart from a few other places which tend to be empty (because, you know, give furries 3D avatars of themselves and you know...)
Anyone feel free to add me, my username is just 'Kyriin'
