Lost in Second Life

It was a bit over a year ago, when a friend of mine tried to explain to me that he was selling virtual real estate for a living - I just could not understand what he meant, and why anyone would want to buy something that is not there. In the meantime I have learned a bit more about Second Life - a place online where you can (re)create yourself as an avatar, build and create whatever you have in mind.. play God for a little while and impress the other avatars with your interesting creations and looks. You can change your appearance, but if you want anything else but the standard avatar look (in my case plain old jeans and a purple shirt - see the snapshot of my avatar on the picture above) you will start paying for it.
My friend told me today the number of residents in Second Life reached one million.
It makes me wonder - why are one million people are looking for a virtual place to re-create reality?
I really can't understand... but I went to visit. And I have to say, when my friend showed me around and "teleported" me to a German Biergarten I was almost ready to create myself a pair of "Lederhosen", and imagined how great it would be to meet my german friends there and have a little reunion party, saving me a lot of money on airline tickets.
But when I went back today, I got completely lost and could not find that Biergarten anymore. Instead I tried to fly away from all those avatars and got trapped under water until my computer told me that I had to log out because I had left the area..

In yesterdays San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub writes, that Reuters has assigned a Reporter to Second Life - my husband pointed out Jon Carroll's response to that in todays SF Chronicle.

And for my german friends (YES Second Life is big there, too): Read the story in der Netzeitung.

There is also an interview with Phil Rosedale (founder of SL) on Andrew Keen's
After TV podcast show.