Real Life Consequences

I just finished reading the article that DeDe sent around about the woman who was arrested in Japan for killing her virtual husband's avatar. I found it interesting in light of the converation we were having last week in class: most people were dissapointed with the lack of people within virtual worlds. So far, it doesn't seem like any of us have really been able to spend enough time in SL to be able to make any connections; however, this Japanese woman is proof of how much SL can mean to someone. She is also an interesting example of how SL can spill out into RL. 

I tend to think of the two as separate: you go about your RL, and in your spare time, you play around in SL. But the thing that links the two is the money. Once there is real money in a virtual world, virtual actions have real consequences. That can be hard to remember sometimes... that people can put a lot of money into SL. When we walk around some of these beautiful deserted spaces, it makes me wonder, "Why would anyone put so much time and money and effort into something that is so empty?"

Do people put so much money into SL that things in RL are neglected? Do they fail to spend money on their own appearance while buying Nike clothes for their avatar? Do they stop doing the laundry or cleaning the bathroom because they are busy building their virtual house? Obviously this is not true for the majority of SL users, but it could be true for a few people who find it much easier to escape into SL than to deal with RL. And that disconnect has the potential to make actions in the virtual world spill out into RL when we forget that they are very much connected.