First - apparently I was wrong about having to take a test on mesh. All I did was click that I had payment on file and I agreed with the TSO (redundancy is redundant.....)
Second, yes, a lot has changed in SL. There are mesh bodies and heads (I don't have a mesh head yet but I'll try to take a decent (PG) shot of my main avi with her mesh body later). As a matter of fact, mesh is the new sculpty. Everything is mesh. I have yet to do the tutorial, but it makes things look more complex and detailed. Bodies, clothing, hair, furniture, buildings, even animations and facial expressions - all have a more refined look to them in mesh. There are some hair creators fiddling around with mesh movement in hair similar to the old flexi hair (but without scripts in every prim). Even some of the starter avis had a mesh component to them. Mesh tends to make thing more expensive and apparently a lot of it has to be done off-game in Photoshop and other 3D programs - which is one of the reasons I haven't tried my hand at it. That's getting way more techy than I can handle.
And there are plenty of creators creating, performers performing, businesses doing all they do - even some of the educational organizations are operational (no pun intended since many are medical related).
Also, there are three levels of "mature" - General is for everyone, Moderate is PG13 and Adult where anything goes that isn't illegal or against the TSO (like child pornography). You have to verify your age to get into those "red light districts". The thing is - a lot of the skin and body stores are in the adult areas. LOL. Oh there are still the idiots who like to go for the shock value - I won't go into detail about the body part I found practically in my face when I TPed to the store I bought my mesh body from..... Derez, block and report are are your best friends.
I think everyone who used to "play" Second Life should at least give it a visit now. If you didn't delete your character(s) they are still there with all their (old and totally out of date
) stuff. You just need your log on info - I contacted customer service because I wasn't sure what email I had my main under and the nice person helped me get back in. I was surprised to find she still had 1000L$ in her bank since I thought I had cashed it all out (I suppose there were a couple extra stipend payments after I did).
The one thing that makes me sad is that I've only found one of my old friends in the game (and she's my landlord again) although I've come across a few aquaintances from back then. A couple of my guild mates came in this past month for a visit because most of us have our Rez Day in May, but that's been about it. I'm not very good at seeking out friends (that whole social awkward/introvert thing), but I enjoy interacting with people in a couple of my group chats.