I'm Just Not Getting the Lure of Second Life

I feel bad. I see myself as someone who catches on pretty quickly. I use all kinds of web 2.0 tools and apps, and usually get excited about how students could use them in the classroom. But had my first virtual experience today in Second Life by attending a conference and I have to say "it just doesn't rock my boat". Second Life has its own steep learning curve and I see that, first and foremost, as a big hinderance to its adoption. It's not as realistic in appearance as I'd hoped, and though it is interactive, the meaningfulness of many of the interactions is just not what I'd hoped for. We are told to "touch" this item and that, then we get information, clothes, etc. to put in our inventory. Why does a person want so much "virtual kitsch"? I took part in a virtual book discussion; didn't care for that. I like looking people, real people, in the face and connecting with what they have to say and indicating that back with real gestures. I heard a guestspeaker talk about how to promote self-written books in SL; not too interesting, though I was amazed to learn that some are making money selling virtual "stuff" in SL (again the "virtual kitsch" question). I went on a virtual field trip into Dante's Inferno. This ended up being more like a final project by the professor's students; they wrote the information, but their teacher did all the creation and backend scripting of the project. This appeared to be a nice assessment of their knowledge, but for someone who hadn't read Dante's work for about 26 years, walking thru the tour was, well, very random. The screenshot above shows me in the fieldtrip about Gothic Literature. I touch the sign and I'm told more info about Gothic Literature (and then can keep the card in my inventory -- why, I keep wondering). Couldn't I just make a web page for students with a hyperlink to a definition, to another supporting website, to a movie clip, to a sound clip, etc.?? You might be thinking, "you just don't get it because you're not a literature major". Oh, but I am. That's what freaking me out....

For now, I just need to step back and admit that I don't get it. I don't understand the hype about Second Life, nor its supposedly grand potential for educational use. I liked the idea of having an author come in to SL to talk with students about his/her work, but wouldn't that be more meaningful in Adobe Connect or Illuminate where students could see the REAL author in REAL time?? Would someone help me if I'm just totally off here?