I believe that Virtual Reality is a communication tool first and a means of escapism second, despite what films like The Matrix would have you believe.
It seems to me, though, that communication in SL is rather hampered, since it incorporates a tiny subset of communication. Consider the phrase,'you are being SO funny!'. From this sentence you can see that I think you are an amusing person....or do I? Am I, in fact being sarcastic? So what's missing in our communication? Facial expression, body language, hand gestures. I believe these options exist in terms of canned animations you can purposefully trigger. This is a step in the right direction, but it is kind of mechanical. I have a freind whose avatar shakes with laughter upon 'saying' Lol, but it is the same animation no matter if, in RL, they really are rolling around on the floor with tears of laughter running down their cheeks, or just mildly amused.
Now, there is a company called OC3 (website oc3.com) who have an upcoming technology called FaceFX Live, which will 'work in realtime online, enabling players to talk into their microphones and see their game avatars aping their words, complete with lifelike animation'. I can see ways in which we might add to this technology to enhance our communicative abilities. How's about incorporating some way to monitor the stress patterns in our voice, so that the avatar adjusts its body language and facial expression to fit? How's about a system that understands that phrases like 'look over there' are a cue to track the directional gaze of the user and have the avatar point in that direction?
Once we have sucessfully incorporated body language, cadence and facial expression into our VR worlds, what's left to be adressed in terms of human communication? Well, ever felt there was something missing from a hug or..(if its the kind of thing that floats your boat) sex in a VR world? There is no physical contact. No firm grip from a handshake, no warm snug feeling of two bodies in an embrace. I suspect that this level of intimate communication may not be on the cards for a few updates yet, but perhaps we should be debating the social consequences of this level of communication betwixt two or more people in a VR world?
Would it matter if some people never met others in RL if SL allowed the full range of human-human interaction?