Second Life where you do not go to "get a life"

I confess I have been cynical before I undertook a few of the 23 things tasks. I have since posted some items about how I have been surprised at the excellence of many of the programs. My willingness to overcome suspicion has led me to be more open, but not to atavars…
I read the wiki entries and scoffed at several items:


"• Residents can explore, meet other Residents, socialize, participate in individual and group activities, create and trade items (virtual property) and services from one another.
• The stated goal of Linden Lab is to create a world like the Metaverse described by Stephenson, a user-defined world in which people can interact, play, do business, and otherwise communicate.[6] Second Life's virtual currency is the Linden Dollar (Linden, or L$) and is exchangeable for real world currencies in a marketplace consisting of residents, Linden Lab and real life companies.
• Second Life also offers the opportunity for artists to go beyond verisimilitude, to create spaces and explore ideas that don't exist or are actually unknowable and unverifiable in the real life, such the depiction of Purgatory as a train station in which souls await reincarnation in Thursday's Fictions in Second Life
• The modeling tools from Second Life allow the artists also to create new forms of art, that in many ways are not possible in real life due to physical constraints or high associated costs.. [29]"
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This is make believe and it is NOT REAL and it has to be done over the internet, sitting at a computer. What about real exercise or interaction with people, the ones who you see everyday? I watched the Murdoch University SL introduction. It reminded me of an introduction to activities at kindergarten for new parents and the children get to wear wings.
I understand the possibilities for learning as distinct from mere escaping. I accept that for all time, people have removed themselves to other places to escape dealing with humans, as in hermits. To escape for my generation, we went to the movies then came home and read. The rest of the time we played hopscotch, travelled the lanes looking for fruit trees overhanging, to pick/pinch apricots or almonds. We even went to imaginary land via Monopoly. Some of the above descriptions in Wiki reminded me of playing Monopoly - buying real estate with fake money, which we fought over and even stole from our successful competitor’s pile, sister usually.
The real difference for me is the interaction on SL is without a human face, though the human mind is very obvious.

Then I watched the introduction to Ohio University’s SL: .video

I am impressed with Ohio University’s use of SL as another platform for learning. I tried to look at the gallery of artworks, but could not locate the exhibits. I think they are real ones. Some of Ohio’ s games are designed by MIT and are used to encourage group learning and the study of difficult science concepts:


"• The VITAL Lab at Ohio University is working on enabling tools and technologies to help instructors and students be more effective in 3-D online learning environments. Our initial successes include the now publicly accessible Ohio University Second Life campus and a number of learning aids for college, high school, and middle school students. We look forward to expanding our portfolio of learning tools to cover more classes for more students.
• Ohio University educators are holding classes in the virtual world. Katherine Milton, director of the College of Fine Arts' Aesthetic Technologies Lab, teaches an experimental media class that meets once a week in the real world and once a week in Second Life. Mostly new to this virtual world, the seniors and graduate students are examining it as a both a venue for performance and art, and as a platform for creative expression.
• Milton says the goal is not to recreate our "offline" environment, but to find ways to create dynamic content and experiences that reach beyond it. "Second Life has elements of the physical world as reference points, but the real opportunity is in creating viscerally evocative and emotionally immersive works, experiences and environments specific to this platform," Milton said.
• OUWB created its island to give users of its online graduate degree programs and certificate programs another way to access learning content. The group is also researching how virtual worlds can be more effectively used to create engaging learning experiences.
As part of a $1.7 million National Science Foundation grant, Russ College graduate students are working with area middle school science teachers to design interactive video games that will help children grasp hard-to-learn science concepts. "

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So Ohio University has showed me the glories of SL and I did not see a wing, though I did see people flying