Second Life had many problems:

• ahead of its time, like Apple’s Newton
• allowed anarchy
• porn and gambling reigned
• it played like Monopoly

It was big for quite a while, and could’ve been the next thing. Jim Blascovich and Jeremy Bailenson in their book Infinite Reality say this:

“But even Second Life does not represent the ultimate example of social networking addiction. Instead of using a keyboard, joystick, Wii, Move, or Kinect-based device to navigate a future version of Second Life or Facebook, imagine donning a headset and beaming yourself into a 3-D immersive social-networking site, meeting people, building a home, going to clubs, engaging in almost every activity known in grounded reality. If avatar movements are generated by one’s corresponding physical movements, and if one’s perceptions are expanded beyond sights and sounds to also include touches and smells, then one’s “second” life will be a whole lot more like their “first” one. Given that everyone’s movements can be tracked, rendered, saved, and replayed in virtual reality, one can relive an experience or even “change the past.” Had a great virtual tryst? Play it again. Interrupted? Pause and continue later.”

That was 4-years ago, but spot on for now – Second Life is the future, it just needs to be more immersive and more relevant.