Part 6 - Second Life?

I remember when everyone used MSN Messenger. In my school, everyone used it. I added people even if I didn't know them just to get more friends (just like Facebook). We never talked, but it was still cool having loads of people on there.
Alot of my American friends used AIM (AOL messenger). I didn't like it as much, but the noises are cool.
Then, along came IMVU! I used that for over a year, getting up money to buy awesome places to chill out and more outfits to wear to look hot. People could customize their character to whatever they liked. Me and my friends could talk in one room and talk on a sofa together, dance to music or lie in bed with one another. We could look at the stars at night or chill out on the beach. We could do whatever we wanted! Of course, this was the lazy way to hang out, but it was something to do while it was after school, we were procrasinating doing our homework and we lived to far away to meet up to actually hang out.
Of course, I talked to people whom I didn't actually know. I went to the "nightclubs" and danced with a few randoms before we decided to chill out somewhere else. You could be anyone you wanted on there and no one would know for sure! You could block them or just leave and they wouldn't be able to find you again.

During the tutorial at uni, I spent most of the time in ACTIVE WORLDS. So awesome. There were many different environments and you could fly! The graphics were so bad and hilarious. Me and my fellow uni mates just spent the time saying weird stuff to randoms. :) It was epic.
I am all for 3D virtual chat, but its just not for me to talk to friends. It's unsafe and so many weird people out there. I feel like you expose more of yourself on there than with just basic IM. Just text and a display picture is just fine. Virtual Worlds are too much effort and cost so much money to get yourself to look decent and have decent things. All I want to do is talk to people and catch up with what they are doing. Swimming, playing pool, sitting together on a couch, is definately not the same as doing it in real like. What is the point?