There are a few obvious differences between real life and “Second Life.” For one, you can fly. You don’t have to eat or sleep. And you can instantly “teleport” to literally anywhere on the map.

Need to buff up? Slide a button on the computer screen to make your pecs bigger. Need to lose a few pounds? Change your waist to make it smaller.

To gain a better understanding of virtual worlds, I joined “Second Life” and assumed the alter ego “Scoop Rofflecopter.” (Residents can pick their first name but must choose from a list of last names.)

New residents, or “newbies” as they’re called, arrive on an “orientation island,” where they find instructions on how to use keyboard controls to move around, pick up objects, build items, sit down and adjust their screen view.

Residents “talk” with one another by typing words into a form on the screen, which become visible to anyone in the immediate area. Or they exchange instant messages.

Longtime residents have found ways to transform themselves into other creatures. Walking around the world, I ran into a dragon, a foul-mouthed fox, a scantily clad stripper, and a man with black angel wings who was wearing a firefighter hat and wielding a large handgun.

Rofflecopter participated in an online poetry slam, danced at a dance club, stopped to read a news headline at the virtual bureau for Reuters news service, tried out a bed at a furniture store and stopped to listen to a street musician.