Not literally, of course — actually, somewhat — this is one of those things that defies description, and for now, that's going to be class. I've heard the following piece of software (to call it that sounds mere) described as "beyond The Matrix" and "like the Metaverse" (from Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash, which I'll have to get around to reading), but I haven't tried it out for myself. Yet. It piques my curiosity. The official site says:

Second Life is a 3D digital world imagined, created and owned by its Residents.
A new frontier, where limits are obsolete.

I like that 2nd sentence. And the first is good too. Sounds appealing to me. I'm surprised I didn't hear about it until lately, where earlier it may have been drowned out by the marketing explosion of The Sims Online. I'm not an ardent devotee of computer entertainments like Brother Zephos (who is an RPG expert), but I like to see the more wide-reaching effects that MMORPGs and the like will bring.

Of course, there is only so much that is "virtual". You are talking to very real people, making connections, and it's important to recognize that while the avatar is not the same as the human behind behind the screen, the very definition of Avatar calls to mind how technology need not be without soul. I myself call it the Incarna (as in the music track of the same name). Things you do online can, and in some cases, inevitably will have offline consequences. It's all connected and it can be dangerously addictive as well.

But?for every bad obsession, there's a good one.