Another thing I have been doing to better understand the texture of virtual worlds is to read some of their media. Notable is the Second Life Herald, a blog journal of things ongoing in Second Life (SL). I would not recommend it if you have not experienced the virtual world itself, since it uses terms and descriptions that are at least mysterious if have not have not experienced it yourself. Other media examples, a weekly, the Metaverse Messenger and New World Notes.
Particularly interesting are descriptions of happenings that may be unclear to those experiencing them. For example, 'griefers', or participants who periodically harass residents and disrupt social activities. Also, scripts, or programs can be written to make objects seem intelligent in SL, they can also be used to harass or at least perplex visitors. I experienced both griefers and harassing scripts during my first month in SL. In fact I posted a complaint about one, and based on the serial number I was given, SL gets about 500 such complaints a day.
SL's infrastructure also continues to be shaky, the world slows down and does perplexing things. For example sometimes it does not replicate clothing and leaves characters grey and naked. This will have to be solved before it is business ready.
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