SecondLife, which looks like a cross between The Sims and MMORPGs, is supposed to come out with a Mac version by the end of the year. Although I never got hooked on either of the game's apparent inspirations, I might at least try it out. What looks intriguing about Second Life is that it enables players to build objects in the virtual world, which can be given scripted behaviors, can be traded or sold to other players, etc. If the environment works as advertised, this could be to MMORPGs what TinyMUD and the first MOOs were to MUDs — a sea-change from hack-and-slash treasure-hunt to player-constructed virtual world. The only downside seems to be that this is a commercial product (free trial and then a $15/month subscription). It remains to be seen if a new Pavel Curtis will step forward to create an open-source, user-empowering version of the core technology that could be used by educators like MOO was and still is.