Strange you don't mention 'anonymity' (for what that's worth on the internetz nowadays). I think for a lot of virtual folks this is still one of the main 'plus' thingies Second Life related. Be whatever you want, leave your past behind, pretend to be something you're not, explore new boundaries, or revisit old ones that were assumed to be wrong, be young again, or pretend to be mature, tell everybody you're a hotshot corporate something while you actually are what would normally clasify as 'a nobody', or pretend to be a nobody to get away from real life for a while... . I think it deserves a place in top 10 for sure!

That's true--anonymity is a huge plus for many people who regularly use SL.  You can be as forthcoming about your real life as you want to be--or not--and for the most part, that's a good thing.  It has weaknesses, of course; for example, some people forge very real relationships online with someone who isn't entirely honest about themselves or who they are... but that's a common problem with the internet in general, not just SL.  Despite that and other issues with easy anonymity (such as recurring, dedicated griefers), I see it as a good thing.  The other point you touched on, RightAsRain, I also agree with.  Second Life provides a HUGE amount of creative freedom in what you can create, what persona(s) you can adopt, where you can go, people you can meet, and even business you can make for yourself.  That isn't something a lot of other popular virtual worlds can lay claim to, if any.  Who you are, what you do, and what you make are 100% up to you.  You never have to spend a single penny in SL if you don't want to, but you're free to spend or make money if you so desire.

One other point I think is worth mentioning is independent music.  You did mention that SL provides a fantastic opportunity for all kinds of artists to create and express themselves, as well as attract a following; it's important to mention that this is definitely the case for musical artists as well.  You can market yourself and perform multiple concerts from the comfort of your own home and create a fanbase for a fraction of the time and cost of doing so in real life, although many artists I've seen in SL also have established themselves relatively successfully in RL too.

Also--charities.  I've seen some charities establish a presence in SL, and other times I've seen artists/content creators advocating one charity or another, which is a great way for them to raise awareness of whichever cause they're supporting as well as raising money for that cause.

There's a lot of great things that can be said for SL and what it's accomplished in the past five years, despite any lingering negatives.  It's nice to see you pointing those things out, RaR :)

Harley, in SL I don't really adopt a different personality or try to act like a completely different person.  I don't necessarily give out all of my personal information (which is arguably the type of anonymity most people adopt in SL, and for good reason), but in SL, I'm essentially the same person I am in RL.  The only way I differ in SL is basically my avatar:  I have lots of different av folders and I enjoy switching from one to another purely for my own amusement.  I don't act differently between one or another; I speak and act the same way regardless of whether I look like an owl, a crocodile, a robot, a Greenie, a scarecrow, Yosemite Sam, or an amorphous ball of light.

There are, of course, many people who DO pretend to be someone else in SL, and their reasons for doing so vary.  Some people use SL as a form of escapism for various forms of roleplay, some of whom come from gaming environments where roleplay is the norm.  Some people create a different personality for themselves in SL because they're unhappy with their real lives, which may or may not necessarily be their fault.  There are probably other reasons, but I haven't exactly done an in-depth psychological study of SL's userbase (might be a good project for any psychology students reading this).  While I myself don't roleplay in this manner nor have a need to, I generally don't like to judge people who do... ultimately, I know nothing about them, who they are, or their reasons for being in SL.  As long as they're not griefers or are doing something illegal, I'm content to let them be, and to take them as they are.

I do agree, though, that there are people who can damage themselves in real life by letting themselves get carried away with their Second Lives... but that's not something that only happens in Second Life, unfortunately.

Yeah, I'd be careful how wide you paint with that brush there, Harley. A lot of folks adopt a persona for the purposes of roleplaying - game-playing, in other words - without necessarily an intent to deceive, which is what you seem worried about. Then again, most roleplayers are fairly obvious so you can take that into account, too.
 

The great thing about SL for me is that I can misbehave as much as I want. I would be defrocked if my Archbishop found out.

I think your original point was clear the first time--my response to it was more for the sake of playing "devil's advocate".  :)

I agree with your last statement in your second post, Harley... very well-put.  I think anyone who has spent a reasonable (or unreasonable) amount of time in Second Life has met a few examples of people pretending to be something they're not, and people aspiring to become what they want to be.  It can be a little tricky to tell the difference sometimes, since you can't pick up on the same nuances and body language and inflection you could in real life; but there are definitely both types in SL.

I would say that there are a large number of people using SL to better themselves, become what they want to be, and enrich their lives in some way as being a definite plus, in favor of SL (and to bring the whole thought back to the main topic of the original discussion!)

For me the best thing about SL is the people and the realtime connectedness. The myth of connectedness provided by web2.0 just doesn't wash for me. On facebook I feel only remotely connected to people I've known for twenty years or more - the temporal disparity of it reduces folk you know to tiny mental footprints scattered about... it's like trying to hold a conversation using sms where minutes of real interaction gets spread over hours or days of partial attention.

In SL however folk I hardly know and will probably never meet can become quite close - they are present in a way that is very real. That sense of presence which is disolved by the rest of web2.0 into convenient bite sized chunks is instead visceral and immediate in SL. It may not be a great replacement for real face to face interaction, but it's a lot closer than any alternative I can think of. It's real and solid enough to form true friendships, and that's gold. :)

Anonymity is hard to fit with Community? I think this quandry is perhaps one of the fundamental flaws of the "Second Life" brand and message. How can you really trust people that are not sharing something real or hiding behind the digital haze to be insincere?

I think "Personas" is totally diferent--that is like  jacking up the volume on a part of yourself and seeing where it goes. And RP is also a different point 'cause really what makes RP work is that people give into to something that is interesting to their persona or they experiment with something unusual to them. And their is also an implicit agreement between RP'ers that there is some honesty within the RP. In fact, people seem to behave more honestly in RP environments, because they are freer and have a perceived sense that there is less risk.