gimme a v for virtual

as of today, i'm member number 2,456,679 of second life.
to those of us firmly anchored in the real world: second life is the virtual community that allows people to have a life online, complete with virtual property, business and career opportunities, and virtual money (linden) to pay for it all.
clearly, everyone has a better life in 2 dimensions, more money, better looks, a different gender (anyone who appears to be a disco girl is probably a married man and father of 3 in real life), and who knows, instant virtual fame?
my question is: now that i'm a member and i have no desire to lead a different life, what do i do with it?
will it be another pointless registration exercise a la open bc, which resulted in me being spammed to death by newsletter and business opportunity pushers?