  The necessity of supporting more and more social interaction (and not only
the mere information sharing) in online environments is the disruptive force
upon which phenomena ascribed to the Web2.0 paradigm continuously bud. People
interacting in online socio-technical environments mould technology on their
needs, seamlessly integrating it into their everyday life. MUVEs (Multi User
Virtual Environments) are no exception and, in several cases, represent the new
frontier in this field. In this work we analyze if and how MUVEs can be
considered a mean for augmenting communities (and more in general people) life.
We trace a framework of analysis based on four main observations, and through
these lenses we look at Second Life and at several projects we are currently
developing in that synthetic world.
