Answer to question number 1...
"In World vs. Real World: How is the virtual society different than our real world society?"
It was funny but I had only two encounters with other avatars in SL and one was positive and the other was negative. The positive experience was with a female avatar who offered to help me navigate my way around once she found out that I was new to SL. The negative experience was described in my Wedding Crasher Blog which I was apparently an uninvited guest at a wedding beneath the Eiffel Tower. I guess the virtual world is similar to the real world in that you can encounter someone or something which does not always result in a pleasant experience. It could be a rude cashier at a convenience store or an obnoxious driver. There may be a particular server at a restaurant who really makes dinner a pleasureable experience. Like my Grandmother used to say, "it takes all kinds of people to make the world go round."