Dancing on Second Life's Virtual Grave

There is a great article in Ad Age this week that discusses the deterioration of Second Life.
Wheaton Rants: I Told You So, Second Lifers

I recall working when I worked for a large pharmaceutical firm that we discussed possibly bringing our brand into Second Life when it was getting a lot of exposure (e.g. 60 Minutes even covered it) and it seemed like we could possibly use the virtual world to promote better healthcare through educating consumers about our products. That was until we actually started to use Second Life and see what it was really about. There was quite the chasm between the marketing hype of Second Life and the reality. What many of us found was a world consumed by virtual "hooking up" and a lot of people trying to be either cool or destructive. It was more about being hip through the virtual bar scene, clothing, and most of sex appeal. All of which seemed ridiculous.

We learned right away that most of the brands out there that were not liquor, designer clothing, or similar luxury trinkets did not get any activity in Second Life. And we couldn't really come up with a compelling reason a virtual person would visit our "island" unless we marketed erectial drugs as recreational but that was really against the goals and perception we wanted to create either online or in the real world, so we abandoned the play.

It is not surprising now to see Second Life wither away. So did anyone else look into this medium or try it? Anything work? Any funny stories?