How to Play Lagos Life: A Beginner's Guide

Before you start

• You need to be 18 or older. That is the age limit in the official terms.
• Use the official site only: lagoslife.app or lagoslife.eliysites.com.
• Any modern browser works. On a phone you can add the site to your home screen for quicker access.
• Sign-up asks for a display name, a username, an email address and a password, plus a man or woman choice for your avatar. Your username and profile can be seen by other players.

Your first session, step by step

1. Open lagoslife.app and sign up. Pick a username you are happy for other players to see.
2. Check which starting reality you got. Players are randomly placed as Nepo (money and connections) or Lapo (microfinance and struggle), and some characters start with a loan to repay.
3. Look at your six needs: hunger, energy, hygiene, bladder, fun and social. Keep them topped up as you play.
4. Get a job. Work is how you earn Game Naira, and careers such as banking, technology and entertainment have levels you can climb.
5. Work, then eat. Working uses energy, and food restores it so you can keep working.
6. Pay your rent. Rent is paid weekly, so plan your spending around it before anything else.
7. Explore the city. Malls, clubs and other venues lift your character's mood, and they are where you meet other players.

Nepo vs Lapo: which start did you get?

You do not choose. The game assigns one of two starting realities at random. Nepo is the comfortable start, a nod to nepotism and family money. Lapo is the hard start, a joke about microfinance loans, and it can mean beginning with debt.

A hard start is not a lost game. It mostly changes your first weeks: repay what you owe, keep rent covered and avoid spending on luxuries until your income is steady.

Getting around Lagos

The map is a fictional take on Lagos. You will find places such as CcHub in Yaba, Eko Hotels & Suites, New Afrika Shrine, Ikoyi Golf Club, Naija Radio House, Amala Shitta and Quilox. There are several ways to travel around the city, and getting around is one of the things your Game Naira pays for, along with rent, food and entertainment.

Playing with other people

Lagos Life is shared with real players. You can chat in venues, send direct messages, form relationships and send virtual money to each other. Some players report strangers asking them for money, so treat requests like that the same way you would in real life.

The rules ban harassment, threats, hate speech, sexual content, scams and sharing other people's private information.

Things that get accounts punished

• Bots, scripts, macros or any automation.
• Exploiting bugs or duplicating money or items. In the first week the developer wiped hacked balances and restored only legitimate money.
• Making extra accounts to farm money, or buying and selling accounts.
• Selling Game Naira for real money outside the game.
• The game uses device fingerprinting to spot farming and abuse, so new accounts on the same device are easy to link.