I haven't spent all that much time in that second world but I am noticing a few things already.
The driving virtual economies in second life are:

fashion industry
sex industry
gaming industry

I would say in that order.

The clothes and styles are, I have to admit, very stylish and sometimes a bargain if compared to the first life ones. It's very easy to get lost in this by spending hours on end fixing your styles... maybe that's what women do while we wait in the car... spend hours on choosing different clothes and matching them with others, looking for a defined style.

The most populated areas in second Life are rated mature, where you will find everybody dressed in outraged clothing, some are virtually sexy if you ask, and all listening to loud alternative uncensored music.
All around these areas are scripts for sale that will animate your second life persona in any different postion of the kamasutra and then more.
Others sell high definition skin textures for your entire body. Most of them specializes in genitals areas only.

Just about everywhere there are slot-like machines that you can play for free or for a certain amount of Linden Dollars. Zyngo, similar to the bingo machines. Lingo, same with different rules. all of them have a payout timed at different moments of the day.. I won over 150 Linden Dollars like that in one evening (about .75 US Currency I believe). There are tournaments and so on.

I already spent 200 linden dollars on a black leather armband that Grahm is currently wearing. Now I feel like a virtual Michael Jackson! Cool looking if you ask, waste of time if you really wanna know.

Is it addicting? Like all things. I like football, I sit and watch it every Sunday and sunday night, sometimes Monday. Do I know the standings of my team and the names of the players and theyr current stats? of course I do!
I hardly now that much about second life and I hardly spend that much time in it. So I think I am more addicted to football than in second life...
Still, it can suck younger kids into a virtual spiral that is difficult to get out of, especially if you start making friends in that environment.

I still think there is much more to second life, so on my little free occasion I will log on to see if I can find more stuff.

Laurie brought up something very important, and something I am very interested in. If Second life can be a simulation of a life for people that cannot have a normal life because of ilnesses then it should be welcomed and adjusted for that purpouse. Look at it this way (and Art can relate)

Flight Simulation.
I love aviation, and everything around it. I wanted to become a private pilot license holder, but it turns out that an eye defect that I have closes that opportunity away from me. Only gliding or recreational flying for me...
well.. in flight simulator, and online, I have over 1000 hours of simulations in boeings, from 737s to 747s... and airbuses, from a318 to a340 (same type of rating you need to fly the new a380). Does that make me a pilot? hardly at all, but I enjoy my knowledge of pilot and flying procedures. When I hear the media shouting for disaster when a pilot needs to make an emergency landing I laugh when I see the pilot just follow common emergency procedures and perform a perfect belly landing.

So what has a virtual simulation done for me? It has given me what I have always dream about doing: flying. And actually even more.

It gave me a friend, Art. Yup it was through Flight Sim that we first met eachother and I thank that opportunity.
It gave me knowledge when I went out to a little airport in the valley and asked for an introductiory flight and shocked the instructor with how much I knew about the procedures (probably got an FBI file on me for that).

So if you are born with an extreme obesity prblem where you cannot move from your bed, or born with no legs or what would we define a deformation that would impede a NORMAL life, then virtual simulations might be the only way to make a poor soul feel happy again.
Now, with that said, Second Life needs ALOT more regulations than it has, but it does push Virtualization forward, and maybe one day it will really start to help people around the world... the real world... using a virtual world. =)

Daren aka Grahm Kondor