Perhaps this should go in frustrations instead. I don't know.
I've been playing for, oh, probably about a month know. I've made some stupid mistakes in the beginning, and am now on my fourth character. (One was mauled by a bear, two drowned).  
 
But recently, I've been wondering...  
I've walked around on the overland map a lot, explored all the cities I found, read some books, did a lot of hunting, butchering and skinning. I've talked to two or three other players,  (seriously. Are there ever more than six people online at the same time?), mostly about inconsequential things. But, well, it's getting a little boring, I must admit.  
 
So, what do other people do in this game? Exploring, I think, gets boring pretty fast. Ever forest I've seen so far has the exactly same description, as does every mountain and stretch of prairie.  I've found a few landmarks, but either I'm too stupid, or there's nothing to do in any of them. After your fifth deer, killing animals gets a little boring as well, and I've learned to avoid wolves and bears by now. I've bought a few new items, earned some money, leveled a few skills, but, quite honestly, I can't see where I'm going with my character. I can't think of an interesting goal to set myself or my character that seems achievable in this world as, actually, it does seem quite empty. Lifeless, if you will.  
 
Therefore, after one has gotten over the initial phase of being disoriented by the game engine and the world, what does one do?

We're in a transitionary period.
 
We've had a lot of walk-outs over the past two years due to administrative changes and, yes, an OBSCENE amount of player griefing.  This will not be tolerated any longer.
 
There is usually at least one main story arc going on, but you've joined the game right as our last one died, and everyone's kind of standing around going, "So.. yeah."  My suggest is to latch onto a mentor or two and weasel your way into one of the RP groups to see if anything is being planned to start a new one.

The key is to get involved in another story and weave your characters story with it.  Exploring and skill grinding get old fast, this game is not great for those reasons, it's great for the amazing rp potential.  If you read some of the player logs you should be able to see why we all stick around.

I suggest you introduce AL to some of your friends to play the game. I introduced AL to my gf for example (still our chars' paths rarely cross ).  It might work out for you
 

Edan,
 
What you've brought up here is right on the money.  In fact, this is one of the biggest frustrations right now for our creators.  The few players who have made it through the games struggle are not sticking to central HUBs.  They are still playing the game as if it was well populated.  Lets face it, this is a MASSIVE world we play in.  Players (specifically those who have stories that could enhance the stories of others) should be mindful of this.  That's right, what I'm saying is that right now the game needs players to think OOC for a moment and figure out ways for their IC story to lead them towards popular area's simply for the sake of the games benefit (or even survival).  I promise you, no lightning will strike you down for acting on that ooc knowledge.
 
Let me just say it, for the sake of clarity... Forest Heart has naturally become the games HUB.  Why? Probably because it's in a central location.  Everyone who's worth a darn needs to head there.  Thanks.

Hey there.
I'm farely new, I've only been on AL for eight or nine months or so, playing seriously for about half a year now, probably less. In the beggining, I had problems, too. I more or less hated the game, the Mud and everything, no people around, nothing to actually do, no idea on what can even be done, big dangerous world and things. I didn't really even take the time to try to make my char realize she's in a town, full of npc's, watching her run around and stick her nose into things that weren't her business. Europe time didn't make it any easier, cause nearly all the players were offline.
 
The thing that got me seriously playing was actually reading the helpfiles thoroughly for once and not just glancing at them, the second was the RP suggestion board and the third was the habbit of 'having to know everything', which my second char makes very easy, and has also helped me to get involved at all. It's not easy estimating the time people will be online, finding something to do and, rather more difficult, someone to be. But until you get to know some chars you'll go hunting and exploring with, you need to restrain yourself sometimes from just waiting for that to happen. It's not difficult making a RP with your IC wife or friend you've known for a few years there. It's the RP when there's no one around and no straight goal to fullfill that makes you a Player.
 
Make town maps, world maps, store lists and craft manuals, find libraries, talk to all NPCs, smart enough to even say something rather than just growl at you, estimate the timeline difference and budge into every PC and their conversation you can stumble upon by praying on places they hang out, make your char his own personality, oppinions and goals about things, happening around. Take a day or two to make your history, your family, your reason for being there all alone, clumsy and unknowing, eating poisinous herbs you never saw in our life before, writing poems and fairityles your sister told to you when you were a little human/halak/anything else. Make the story that your char will carry in his heart, learn from, shape his personality on, tell to the world and continue in the folowing five or two hundred years to come. Nothing wrong with adding a few words, reactions, emotes and personality disorders that make or char unique. And the day you'll find yourself half addicted to playing AL and feeling heartbroken when your best friend there dies under the paw of a bear with no fetish and you rush till you're system shocked to kill the bear and remove your fetish to save him, that's when you'll see what this game is about. Being Someone there, too. Either someone you always wanted to be in real life, or someone that has been born in the deepest pits of your imagination, just living in another world.