Life (part deux) online?

Okay, I didn't know about this, I guess I'm just not very tech savy or savy at all (although cannibals might think I was savory?) but I just learned about an online web world called SECOND LIFE.

I'm all for the SIM's, but this goes a bit farther than I imagined it would.

I learned about this world just yesterday when I received an e-mail from my Deparment Head who had received news that they were looking for French Teachers to teach at their virtual acadamy. It would consist of creating an Avatar, logging into the Virtual university, going up virtual stairs into a virtual classroom, and teaching the Virtual students who were attending said University. Apparently people are paying for that kind of thing, which used to be called Distance Learning, and used Real People with Webcams.

But why use real live images when you can teach people who are dressed as death angels, dogs, nude sunbathers, etc?

I guess I just don't get it.

The part that bothers me the most is that people are willing to purchase and continue paying for large islands of space (16 virtual acres) upon which they can do whatever they wish. The cost for an island? $1695. That's US dollars. Plus a monthly $250 upkeep fee. Huh? For a virtual island? For virtual rent?

That's what I want to do on the first of the month. Wake up and think, "Oh dang, I need to pay my virtual rent today or I'll get virtually evicted."

SIM's took it far enough when they invented the concept of having to go to work, WITHIN THE GAME. Only there was no real money involved. Here, people are spending upwards of $1 million a month in transactions and trades, and there's NOTHING THERE! It's PIXELS people!

I'm going to go calm down now... I need to chill out, because this place is just virtual anyway. I just can think of a few places (Asia's Hope) that could use money more than a virtual castle in the virtual Mediterranian Sea.

A+