All in all, Second Life is a good attempt, and Linden Labs are to be congratulated for their attempt.
Having said that; Second Life is an idea well ahead of it's time and decidedly ahead of the support infrastructure available to it. It depends entirely on streamed data from Linden's computers (I sneaked a peek at it as I uninstalled it) AND if it were on a dedicated system, it'd be great.
It isn't, so it isn't.
The change from a literal Second LIfe to a chatroom with hard to use CG Characters is due (IMHO) to Linden's not policing things well enough. It was supposed to literally be a Second Life, where you could be who and what you are, under your skin; where you could become a Millionaire, or an explorer, or whatever...but Linden had to pay the bills and buy up more servers and more Mainframe time, and thus, Second Life has become what it is today.
The silly-sad thing is- it works this way! People don't buy up land, build their perfect home, and live a Second-more rewarding-Life. They stagger around and chat. That Island was supposed to be an electronic Disneyland, a place of fantasy and magic. Instead, it's hardly used as the inhabitants just talk, talk, talk and do nothing, for the most part. That "Fly" option in the movement pack wasn't supposed to be there; it was put in to try to get people to move around the island and see what was available...and even that didn't work.
Perhaps a new version, more to the original ides could be floated, but it would be expensive, moreso than the current version is, and too much talk winds you up in the BAR, with no money and a hangover...that would work.
Imagine WoW without the constant violence; where you could settle and have a family and live your Second Life your way...alas, the system just won't handle it. You'd have a Huge HomeLoad on your computer that was your gateway, and instead of streaming, you'd update as needed at speeds that wouldn't max out your systems.
Perhaps, someday, the concept behind Second Life will get a new chance...in a few years...under someone else. Linden is now wedded to the current dull difficult system because it's profitable...not necessarily fun.
But then fun is what the customer wants, isn't it? I guess these customers want to wear a bad GC and talk, talk, talk.
I used to get fussed at because I moved around, rather than talk. Too bad.
![Crying or Very sad :cry:](./images/smilies/cry.gif)
BTW, Vuldari: That Fox is good work. It shows what the game was capable of. Once.