First, the disclaimer: I work for Village Voice Media. Village Voice Media runs the Westword. The Westword ran this story on science museums in Second Life. Yes, I'm practicing both partiality and blatant (semi)self-promotion. Now that that's out of the way...
As I reported over on Heartless Doll, we have here another feature piece on Second Life that gets derailed by the decadence factor. It can't seem to focus on the story at hand: namely, that science is finding a home in a world where the welcome lack of safety concerns leaves room for education. Specifically, the article highlights the creation of science museums, like the in-world branch of San Francisco's Exploratorium, that let visitors approach learning in the form of rides that would be too dangerous or costly to build in real life. In addition, there's talk of a replica nuclear reactor, which could serve as a practice tool for those preparing to work with the real thing.
That's all downright fascinating -- especially the part about the people who'll hold the key to our future nuclear safety looking for virtual analogs -- but this piece looses its focus from the beginning, spending its first eight paragraphs ogling a Second Life escort who happens to walk through one science center. Yes, she's "hot." Yes, she's wearing knee-high boots. But wasn't there a story being told here? Not to put down the Westword for their valiant effort, but it's about time that the hook behind virtual world coverage is no longer addiction, or crazy avatars, or sex. Not that I don't like sex, because you all know I do, but because there's more to talk about here than favors being exchanged for Linden dollars...