I am of mixed opinion on the whole "steep learning curve" issue with virtual worlds such as Second Life. Talking with a student in Second Life that was taking part in a class project, he seemed to disagree with the issue. Obviously it all depends on ones comfort level with a technology but I think people can easily and quickly learn how to participate in virtual worlds especially with the large community behind the education of Newbies such as the NCI group. The real learning curve is simply creating artifacts (textures, scripting etc) which not everyone wants to do.