Is joining a virtual world worthy?

I read about virtual world the other day and I think its an awesome way for social networking. I have not tried out any of the systems myself but I am curious about joining "Second life". In the stressful reality world, I sometime have problem meeting other people. In a virtual world, I would be able to meet "fresh" people that are not in my circle or people I probably would never talk to in real life. Therefore, it could be a new way for me to entertain myself and socialize. Sounds awesome! However, I wonder if such an interesting world is time worthy. Online meeting can be very time-consuming and probably will not leave any actual friendships. Unlike social networking websites such as Myspace, virtual world systems let me create my own avatar and control the way I am perceived. As interesting as it sounds, I might not want to actually meet these "friends" in real life because we might not connect as well as we are online. Therefore, participating in a virtual world might just waste my time and internet bill. Another worry of mine is the potential privacy nightmare that an online system might face. Although these virtual worlds claim to be private, there still might be ways to track down users such as through their IP address. Therefore, a virtual world can leave room for stalkers or criminal acts. I think company needs to figure out a way to improve this problem and prove me that they are worthy. Otherwise, virtual world might just not worth to join