VIrtual Worlds and what they are all about

My Sim, who is a cook, just came home from work and is checking her email.

Hey there. Last time I talked about different Blog platforms, out of which I liked Blogger and Tumblr the most. SquareSpace was also one of my faves, but it was a paid platform, so it lost out in the competition. I believe for $8/a month, you should be able to get "content", such as powerful graphics and videos, not just a platform - but that's just my humble opinion!

Moving on to today's topic, Virtual Worlds.

I don't know about you, but there's something captivating about being enthralled into a virtual space of wealth, beauty, and wishes-come-true. I have discovered 5 that are out there, my favorite being Sims 3. They are:
1.SIMS 3. It costs anywhere from $30-$60 and there's XBox and PC versions available for immediate download. I have both.
You might know Sims from downloading it on your iPhone/iTouch, but Sims are quite a journey! It's not fast paced, the world of Sims is whatever you create or whatever your alter ego desires to be. You can create a family/household, get married, have kids, and even have them grow up right away. You can have unlimited wealth. You can travel the world. You can learn "skills", such as cooking, fishing, and more. You can encounter death, Grim Reaper, vampires and ghosts. And, with "Medieval" version almost here, (you can pre-order it and get a free "Stuff's pack"), it's a make-me-happy game! One factor you should be aware of though, is Sims is not a social platform, so you don't get to meet "real" people - which makes it fairly safe for your kids to play!
2.SECOND LIFE. Oh.My.Gosh.
If Second Life didn't crash on my brand new touch screen computer, I would have loved it to death. First of all "think possibilities". Second Life IS a social platform, and REAL money takes place here(you buy the "second life money" for real money) - allowing you to buy a house, furniture, clothes, and much more. In contrast, Sims has a cheat code which allows you to have an "unlimited" supply of money! Well, money aside, Second Life is a HUGE world, largely contributed by it's users. You can walk, run, and fly. You can choose to play a virtual game or run an actual business. It seems very complicated, but very rewarding, so I highly recommend it!
3.World of Warcraft. You can get a free 10 day trial. First off, WOW doesn't run well on my 23" monitor, filling only 2/3 of my screen, so I didn't get to play around too much with it, but the graphics were definitely mind-blowing. The feeling is that of being in the movie - there's purpose, it seems out of this world, it is social role playing so you get to interact with other players (which maybe a good or a bad thing, esp if you have kids). Overall though, if you like Virtual Worlds, WOW will wow you and then some.
4.IMVU. Graphics are great but really teenager-like, so perhaps that's the intended audience for this virtual game. I felt a little confused about "what to do", and the game kept prompting me to buy virtual money. Perhaps if I did get the virtual money the game would be more fullfilling, but it wasn't for me. I got the basic house, and then invited someone to my "house". A person has changed his clothes right in front of me(no nuditiy, just put on a completely different style in one second) and just stood there, staring at my very bare chest (the game didn't give me ONE shirt that would cover "my big assets" up!). "Hi" - he said. I didn't respond. It was getting awkward, and I decided to give the visitor an "evil" facial expression. The stranger got the clue and disappeared.
5.Kaneva. Kaneva is very akin to second life, but with much less powerful graphics, so after seeing the "prettyness" of the other programs, Kaneva really missed out. It is a Social platform, though.

How about you, what platform do you enjoy the most and why? Why do Virtual Worlds inspire and take out our time in the real world - sometimes, and hour and sometimes, hours on end? There's no monetary reward, and with almost ALL platforms there's a learning curve and need to be "IN" the world, to get to know it.