I come to that question from a blog post, Playing with Pixels, by Jaen Wirefly.   (Of course, I got that post through the services of my Google Reader.)

And the phrase reminds me of a comment by the well-known Second Life artist, Juria Yoshikawa, about his experience in coming into Second Life. 

“…I started to rediscover the sense of play…”

To see the installation art of Juria and to hear comments by by Juria (Lance Shields in the outworld)  click this Link.

Installaton Art by Juria Yoshikawa

The comments are voiced over a video meditation of Ecstasy in Change

Lance characterizes his play as child-like exploration of "what if."    He sees his installation art as inviting people to play with the art – you can go into the art, walk around in it, play with it, experience it, be immersed in it and in the sounds that are part of it.   

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A view from my Vulcan side

The description above is not about Second Life.  It is about the participants.  The role of Second Life (or functionally similar systems) is as enabler.  It gives people the power to do something that they could not easily do without it. 

A reasonable use-relevant characterization of Second Life is 

3D animation development system with a user-friendly interface, WYSIWYG interactive display, and built-in features for collaborative development.

Those who use Second Life extensively might sometimes take issue with the expression user-friendly interface.  But probably not those who have also had to use Maya. 

The built-in features for collaborative development may be an unexpected result of the use of the avatar model adopted from the massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs).  These features go beyond the basic needs for collaborative development to create a strong subjective impression of presence (telepresence).

Both collaboration and presence are aspects of MMOGS.  But games are, by definition, directed towards goals that are not viewed as productive.  Second Life is merely an enabler of content.  Thus the activities and collaboration may be directed towards goals that are viewed as productive if that is the choice of the participants.

Some people seem to want to discuss whether Second Life is a game.  I can best comment by referring them to the widely circulated story of the

Six wise men of Hindustan
to learning much inclined,
Who went to see an elephant,
though all of them were blind …

If you don’t know the rest of the story, you can find it here (and all over the web)

Now about creative activity and play. 

The Vulcan speaking again:  In common use, the word play refers to an activity apparently directed toward no productive goal.  Play is regarded as appropriate for children, because of the general recognition that play contributes to learning.   If play is not appropriate for adults, the implication is that learning is not productive for adults.   

When we speak of adult activity directed towards no productive goal, the instance that immediately comes to mind is not play, but watching television.  As to whether creative activity is productive, that may be a judgment call.  In Juria’s view, creative activity is has discovery of the unknown as a goal.  In the aggregate and under historical view, discovery has proved to be quite productive for the development of human culture.   

What we are doing in Second Life is discovering what new abilities we have at hand with this enabling tool.   To anyone who disparages discovery, I would say,

If you need no more discovery, you must already know all you will ever know.  That viewpoint may prove to be less productive than play is. 

And to those who enjoy creative discovery, I would say,

Live long and prosper.