Morgan seems typical of those who get an account in Second Life, stumble around for a couple hours, try to find places to go, get fooled into going to what the search results return as "popular" places (venues that hire people to sit and do nothing so their places appear most "popular"), and leave wondering what it’s all about.

I did a profile on Morgan’s avatar, "Morton" and saw that Morton belongs to zero groups in Second Life. The group is the basic social unit, where you join with like-minded people to meet about almost any topic or binding interest. Through groups you co-create the kinds of experiences that are unique to virtual worlds; without groups you are stumbling around a vast space alone or subject to random encounters.

There really is an high attrition rate in Second Life, because there are steep challenges to the new-user experience: technological challenges of bandwidth and graphics hardware, challenges of user interface and control, social challenges when dropped into a cohort of newborn avatars, and challenges of objective in a non-game where everything is created by the users themselves. New, privately created orientation experiences are helping to reduce that attrition. The 40,000 users logged on when Morgan was there is small relative to the entire Internet, but compares to 4,000 logged on just a year ago.

When I first went into Second Life, I attended classes on how to build, to create, to animate, to program, to be part of the 60% of active users who are contributing by creating the world (compared to the 3% or so of active users of Wikipedia who actually contribute). When I went to a conference on Dr. Dobbs Island to see a panel of technology discussing virtual worlds and its social impact, I felt lucky that there was space for me in the crowded auditorium, I felt glad that these people from around the world did not have to burn real jet fuel getting to the conference, and I felt as much that I was there as I would have at a real conference. When I went to an ACLU workshop with Congressman Jerry Nadler or a Solutions Day workshop with Newt Gingrich at the Second Life Capitol Hill, with those real (and quiet different!) people running their own virtual avatars, I was with a group that spent time together in a place that – unlike a chat room or conference call – felt that they were in the presence of each other and the speaker in the same place at the same time. When I did something as simple as joining the group called "Things to Do" that sends out notices of real, interesting, entertaining things to do in Second Life, I didn’t have to rely on stumbling around or searching for "popular places"; I ended up meeting an amazing variety of people from around the world. Unlike Morton, I’ve never felt like there was "no one in Second Life at all."

When Morgan says: "frankly, virtual sex is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of a virtual world" he belies the fact that, frankly, sex may be the first thing Morgan thinks about, because there are plenty of others who are there for other pursuits. When Morgan, who confesses to playing computer games online, is actually called upon to co-create the experience, he turns tail and joins the chorus of naysayers who don’t really want to take the time to make this experience all it has the potential of becoming. I invite Morton back to Second Life for a less isolated view of the place. Kiwini Oe has offered friendship, Morton, so log back on and see what you’re missing.