This presentation speaks for ‘newbie’ teacher researchers who venture to embark on a challenging but rewarding adventure in 3D multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) such as Second Life (SL). Taking an autoethnographic approach, I illustrate how I plunged into SL teaching and research as a newbie, honed my skills in order to design SL-enabled, task-based lessons, documented what was going on and tackled ‘anything-could-happen-in-SL’, and critically reflected on the pitfalls in the virtual sessions and savoured the a-ha moments. Specifically, I unpack how teachers can also conduct research in SL, guided by pedagogically-sound, research-informed principles as in technology-mediated task-based language teaching. For instance, I exemplify how I developed a TBLT syllabus by capitalising on the unique 3D affordances that allow for real-world simulation, authentic communication, and a sense of telepresence and copresence. I also demonstrate how practitioners can carry out research in their virtual teaching by gathering multimodal data generated by SL, student task performance, ongoing participant observation, and a researcher journal. I end my presentation with lessons learned from this 3D MUVE trajectory, evidenced in my research outputs and hands-on resources for attendees to take away.