Second Life was essentially hyped PR spin that was latched on to and parroted by reporters that knew nothing about the internet. Anyone who was actually involved with virtual worlds or social networking dismissed Second Life immediately.
http://secondlife.com/statistics/economy-data.php?d=2009-12-...
Although I don't use it any more, the vitriol and scorn that SecondLife engenders amazes me. I've no idea where it comes from. At heart it's basically a huge 3D chat room, albeit a fairly sophisticated one.
I think the vitriol directed at SL is somewhat justified - its creators have cast it as some kind of world-changing social experiment, but in reality it's a glorified 3D chat room. We in the tech community generally dislike this sort of unsubstantiated hype.
What a testament to the exponential growth of things like Facebook and Twitter that an app that has garnered millions upon millions of users in just a few years can be described as "extremely niche" with a straight face.
And though I used to agree with you, I think SL will be remembered as a somewhat paradigm-shifting social experiment, in that it first introduced many people to the idea of virtual worlds, especially in terms of virtual economies where people make real money.
There's a lot of possibility in SL, it's a shame that interacting with it is so clunky and awkward.
OTOH there's WOW, which is better looking and easier to get started in. They're heading for 12-million users, which at $15/month makes SL look like Woolworth's.
But the ability to design objects, do shows et al means that for Maker-types the equal of SL exists nowhere else (that I know of).
Let's just be nice and say SL was a couple decades ahead of its time.