Virtual or Real

I find it hard to understand what people mean when they say a virtual world. Do they mean the internet, because so many things on the internet are real. Maybe not physical, but real in the world. When I move my money from one account to the other, that is real. When I chat to people online through msn it is real, even if we don't meet in the physical world and the names we use are not our own names, and the stories we tell about ourselves are lies, the meeting is real.

Within Second Life, there is huge potential to build up a life and a reality parallell to the one your body lives in. You can make friends and build a house. Is it real? I think yes - yet it is not physical - it is in a virtual world. So being virtual doesn't mean that something isn't real, maybe it means that something isn't physical? However the money you earn within Second Life you earn them in Linden Dollars, which you can change into US Dollars or for the matter British Pound Sterling if you prefer. The virtual money becomes real money.
People also meet eachother online and build relationships. There are examples of people meeting online in virtual worlds like Second Life, get to know each other, decide to meet, meet in the physical world and some times they even get married. The relationship moves from the virtual world into the physical world. The relationship has been real all the time?
Some articles I have read on the subject can be found here: http://delicious.com/thirdlife_chitchat/realworld