Leah:

Starting at the moment I entered the game, I (my character actually) couldn't walk two steps without a male character asking my age and location.  Clearly, lots of men are just using it as a dating site (or hoping to).  How can you escape the real world and go into a virtual world if people will not stop asking you questions about your real life?  They didn't want to know about the online character; they wanted personal information on me.  I got so fed up with it that I quit not long after I left Help Island, never even got to explore.  I don't know how those people in the article ever managed to avoid this problem long enough to create virtual alternate identities.

Leah, interesting to hear about your experience.  I would imagine that people who ask for your age and location are relatively new to the world and not its regular residents.  In any world, people like that do not get very far.  There are also people who offer online classes on any imaginable subject, perform in virtual concerts, create stunning virtual galleries, and offer a variety of services that would rival the real world.

One of my favorite radio program is Infinite Mind with Kurt Vonnegut.  It is usually broadcases on NPR radio, but I found this recording that was performed live in SL in 2006:

<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/crPrPpAaRXo" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/v/crPrPpAaRXo</a></p>

View original media here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crPrPpAaRXo