MSN and ActiveWorlds etc. What's the difference?

Indeed besides the bleeding obvious that one is 3D and one isn't. I dont think that there is all that much difference in what is actually taken out of each experience. I mean on MSN, you use it primarily to chat and you can add colours to your font, use emoticons ( cute little grapghics that express certain types of feelings). Have group chats create profiles etc.

Now I realise that on things such as Activeworlds, You can create yourself physically inot an image and environment, that is of a 3D nature, thus creating a virtuasl space for you to temporarily, live and breathe whilst meeting and talking to people. But I believe that the experience is no more rewarding or no less fulfilling than if compared directrly to a basic IM service such as MSN or ICQ etc.

These online virtual communities are somewhat of a phenomonen, and in turn have proved very popular, with people even paying money for virtual furniture, for their virtual house, for their virtual existence. Some people clearly, enjoy this type of activity, I just think it is too extreme, considering, IM started out to serve a single purpose, which was the ability to message, frinds, family and colleagues in real time, enabling a real conversation. But like most technologies this has been taken to another level and embraced somewhat by a core group of the internet community.