How to level?

Guides say to get to Level 15, but seem to be light on how to do so. Unless it's literally just grinding the Gym? Is that all you need to do to get levels? I'm currently Level 3, completed the Tutorial quests, and am playing on Android, so I don't have access to the add-ons people mention. I also don't seem to be getting any XP, but I don't know where or how to check that.

Detailed guide, scroll down for leveling lists

 https://www.torn.com/forums.php#/p=threads&f=61&t=16034448

Download tornPDA from app store for your android to get the add-ons 

Is this really the game? Log in, throw yourself at a dummy character, hope they don't one-shot you, hope no one else comes in and steals your XP by killing them while you're trying to, wait out the Hospital timer, train, then repeat every 6 hours? And once you get to 15, just sit around flipping items on the player market to watch your money go up? Is anyone actually playing the game, or am I missing something? 

You can play it however you want. But the quickest way to level is attack and beat people for the XP that levels you up. By "playing the game" what is it you mean?

Doing the crimes, working through the progression etc. It seems like there are only a couple of systems being used, and the rest of the game apparently goes untouched.

For leveling explicitly attacking abandoned accounts is good. But level is FAR from the only thing in this game. Getting to 15 just opens the door further. You could stay at level 1 like Jesus did (yes someone on here named Jesus), and still reap benefits. Leveling up just unlocks basics. You could get into trading, focus solely on crimes, reviving, whatever you want to really

Is there any way to Level that doesn't require beating on an abandoned account? That's what I was originally asking, and just got the speedrun version. Do you only get XP from attacking? Because I am Level 3 and can't win a fight against a Level 100 who apparently has less than 20 Combat Stats. Am I just screwed until I can spend the month it seems like it should take to get to a point where I can beat these guys? And yes, I am aware that I'm basically showing off that I'm a loser because I can't figure out how to get a Level a day after having just opened the game for the first time 2 days ago.

yes, you're not required to attack abandoned accounts, it's "okay" to attack active people / accounts as well...

anything you do in the game contributes a bit into your "experience", you're not even required to attack, you can probably level up doing other stuff, like crimes, racing, etc (but wiil just be slower)

and yes you're right, the guides are mostly just a "speed-run" version of the game, you can play the game as fast or as slow as you want :)

Attacking gives the most XP. Everything gives some, but it will take sooooo much longer. Higher levels, like 100,  have much more health and usually millions or billions in stats and ultra weapons. Training stats in the gym helps with beating people. Joining a good faction is also an advisable action.

Hey I’m pretty sure someone on the forum posted a new player attack targets for leveling guide. Where they tell you the easiest abandoned accounts to get the most XP from. 

and no, you don’t have to do this - I never attack abandoned accounts as part of how I play except for missions. People do suggest it to get to lvl 15 for flying. You fly for maybe about a year for income and merits and then no longer is flying worth the money. 

lots of play styles figure out what is fun. Join a warring faction or make the game into FarmVille, make trouble, chase networth, up to you.. it’s a pretty fun game with lots of options

You can do anything and it'll contribute to xp, but realistically to get to 15 without attacking you're looking at probably 3-4 months vs a couple days to weeks :P

While not strictly necessary you're gonna wanna plan around drug addiction points, as without rehab you have limited options to reduced your addiction penalties (battle stats reduction, employee efficiency loss, edu kicks and no training unless you're on drug cd) - this can be anything from reducing drug intake (which will slow down your overall progress) to joining certain comps to making sure your faction has maxed out drug perks to timing Xan intake around decay tick instead of drug cd 

Levelling without attacking just makes it slightly more complicated to progress early, once you've unlocked all the basics it really doesn't matter anymore lol

Everything you do pretty much gives you experience.

The guides that give levelling targets are for "speeding up" those first levels to unlock game content and then basically to ignore the focus on levelling and just do it when it lets you.

https://wiki.torn.com/wiki/Level_and_Ranks#Level_Benefits

Apart from additional health and those first 15 levels worth of benefits, the only things you get from levelling up are merits and being able to bust out players from jail easier.

Part of the "level up on inactive accounts" is just the whole "consequences of your actions" thing :)

The guides are good for learning how to min max different parts of the game.  It helps you understand how things work.  But don't just think that's how you need to do things.   Take the information and use as much or as little as you want.  It's better to know how and why before deciding what .

Attacking is the largest single event you can do to level.  Also leaving them instead of mug or hosp gives the most.  You could do most anything to level but it will be a LOT slower.   

Torn is not a quick game.  People plan things in real life years.  Making goals and working toward them.  Torn is great for delayed gratification.   It's a fun game for some people but it's rather unique and definitely not for everyone.   The thing is it can be very simple and you just watch numbers go up every day or surprisingly complex if you take the time to understand a lot of the nuance.