SUNSET BEACH - On Tuesday night, “Law and Order: Special Victim’s Unit” aired a new episode titled “Avatar”. In this week’s investigation, the SVU detectives were shocked when someone took an online game, with remarkable similarities to Second Life, too far, resulting in the kidnapping and murder of another player.

The victim, Rachel, an art student, was active in an online community called Another YOUniverse, or simply A.Y. Her avatar, Vixy Platinum, was an insanely popular fourteen-year-old sex kitten avatar one who wore pig tails and owned an anything-goes sex club. Her avatar earned digital dollars entertaining in her virtual club, something not uncommon to Second Life.

The murderer, a 60-something-year-old-man who preyed on the women at the club, eventually met one of the women who who had seemingly fallen in love with him. He was disheartened to see that she didn't appear the same as her avatar.

In classic “Law & Order” style, the similarities between Another YOUniverse and SL are conspicuous. Like SL, Another YOUniverse was a virtual world, where people from all over the real world could come do whatever their minds could conceive. Avatars could buy and sell goods, services and even real estate. The A.Y. avatars could be or look like whoever or whatever they could imagine. Interestingly, during her interview of another player, Detective Olivia Benson asked, “If you can be anything at all, then why would you be prostitutes?” The player replied that A.Y. was only fantasy, not a crime.

That is where the similarities ended, however. Unlike Second Life, Another YOUniverse had a single creator, a Big Brother figure, who could trace and record the actions of each of his five million players. The A.Y. technology allowed him to look up any avatar’s personal data at will, and even allowed him to see who an avatar spent time with and how many times they had virtually met, with screenshots—a scary thought.

Like A.Y., Second Life offers endless opportunities for deep human interaction. But, for the episode’s criminal, the occasional virtual interaction was not enough. He wanted Rachel for real. Aside from the interesting similarities and distinct differences, this “Law & Order” episode offers sobering food for thought to all who enjoy life in the virtual universe.