I’m not entirely clear that Au answers his own question, but this does give a nice middlground to the SL euphoria/backlash binary. (Full disclosure: I think that SL will forever be niche, until more immersive physical interfaces are developed. Also, no one who is hot in SL is hot in real life).
W. James Au at etech08: Why Won’t Second Life Just Go Away, Already? - we make money not art