"Second Life" or Trouble and Strife?

     Her name is "babybean" by default. She is wearing a suit, again by default. She has bangs and her hair is 1/2 up and 1/2 down, also by default. The sandals would not be her first, second, or tenth choice; but that is what she was able to get in the time she had.
The physical features and bodily attributes are not quite exactly what she wanted to present - but since she did not end up totally bald, or with hair like the comedian "Gallagher," and since she is not missing feet or any other appendage after  the few changes were made, she decided to "quit while she was ahead." It would seem that the owner of this avatar was hasty, or did not care, but that assumption would be very very wrong. In fact, this avatar is the result of several attempts over the course of more than a week of visits to Second Life. On the day this avatar was created, its owner spent more than 5 hours negotiating the pitfalls of this virtual world (of pain). There were no less than 3 other Avatars created before babybean came to "life," but they were riddled with problems and had to "die." The software was downloaded and installed at least twice, and is still glitchy and tempermental (all the while wreaking havoc on the precious Mac it infests).
     But enough of technicalities, as we have yet to discuss the experiential side of Second Life. All nine rings of hell are readily available without one ever having to die or journey deep within the earth. Limbo is up first as your avatar wanders aimlessly among superficially pleasing landscapes in confusion; dizzy, angry, and never actually touching or tasting a single thing of substance. Next up: Lust, as your avatar is visually assaulted with half-naked and fully-naked avatars left and right - seemingly without rhyme or reason. Though said avatar may frantically teleport in and out of location after location, it may never successfully avoid unsolicited invitations of a carnal nature. Next is gluttony. In second life, the addiction of choice is sex, sex, sex. Your avatar will meet other avatars all seemingly eager to "help out" by lasciviously offering new "skins" which will enable your avatar to don its birthday suit. The circle of greed is represented by the incessant shopping your avatar must do in order to "personalize" their non-person. Anger will most definitely ensue along the downward spiral at any one of the many unpleasant and unexpected twists and turns of Second Life. Heresy is a necessary part of the fabric of Second Life - if one takes it seriously enough. Violence is prevalent in many of the role-playing communities where one can engage in virtual war, become a gangster, or morph into one's favorite kind of demon. Babybean experienced the last two circles of hell at once (fraud and treachery) at the behest of a seemingly friendly stranger. Offering help with the myriad glitches in appearance editing, he presented himself as a good Samaritan: This fraudulent posturing was quickly exposed, as were his treacherous motives when he asked (after gifting increasingly suspect articles of clothing), "Do you want to look like a little girl?" Perhaps babybean should change her name.
     As for second life libraries, they are a modern-day "dungeons and dragons," meaning that they have a limited niche market. Nothing this complicated could have a real sense of mass appeal. Though Linden Labs may present figures that seem staggering, they are simply bloated in the extreme. Largely due to Facebook links, people sign up for the virtual world experience. When they realize it is nowhere near as fun and easy to use as Facebook is, they exit and never look back. The concurrent user number is a paltry 75,000. To invest time (which is money) in second life libraries is a self-indulgent waste of precious resources. Of course, to designate a small fraction of one web-librarian's time per institution to establish a bare-bones presence is fine - and perhaps even worth it. Anything more than that constitutes something more than a virtual crime, especially in light of nation-wide budget cuts and hiring freezes of late.