A virtual world that rocks

Despite my otherwise stellar (if I do say so myself) geek credentials, I'll cop to being something of a Luddite when it comes to virtual worlds like Second Life. I just can't get excited about the idea of wandering around a fake landscape with a bunch of other geeks having conversations and playing virtual dress-up. It all seems so, well, lame. I'm not particularly convinced that all the marketing that takes place in these worlds really does much to reach any particular audience.

But this is really cool. I could drive up to Vancouver for the New Music West Festival next weekend (it's only 3 hours from Seattle), or I can go online and catch some of the performances on Virtual-Vancouver. Well, that is, I could if I had a PC... (Sorry, Macs not invited.) I think there's a lot more promise in using virtual worlds to extend the reach of real events than trying to create real interest in virtual events. But that's just me...