When did one life stop being enough?

The internet has been responsible for taking the idea of a computer or video game to the next level. Digital characters and avatars are enabling users to become a part of a different world, have a different appearance and different friends. Mark Meadows discussed the idea that within these virtual worlds people "build things, use them, sell them, trade them and discuss them". He also explored the similarities between the virtual and the real, the way in which rules, roles and a "structured method of interacting" are used. So do these similarities override a fundamental difference? I can't help but wonder why the people who create an avatar in an application such as Second Life, interact with other people, develop relationships with them and even make money from buying/selling stock, developing land or designing clothes, dedicate so much time and effort towards something that is virtual when the real thing is right outside their front door. Is it escapism? so they become someone else? or to avoid judgement?

Meadows explained his reasoning: "when another person confirms what I am seeing, places value on it, spends time working to pay for it, buys it, keeps it, uses it, talks about it, gets emotional about i, and then sells it - this tells me there is something real happening. The suspension of disbelief has become a grounding of belief". I question whether or not something real is actually happening. It might be fair enough to talk about an emotional or mental connection or correlation between what is happening in a virtual world such as Second Life and what happens in reality, people do get involved in this with similar feelings. At this point you could argue that shared experiences create a sense of reality. However, a sense of reality is not the same as actual reality and you can't just ignore the lack of physicality. There will never be a real physical interaction in a virtual world, you will never be able to feel a handshake or a hug or a kiss. For this reason I find it hard to agree with Meadows' statement that 'there is something real happening'. I just don't think we can say that what happens in a virtual world can be the same as reality, that the experiences are the same. It's great that Second Life offers someone something that they can't have or achieve in their everyday life but at the end of the day, the person behind the avatar is someone sitting in a chair in front of a computer.