I'll be the first person to lock up a pedofile and throw away the key but as revolting as this (real world) crime is... don't you need a victim in order to be convicted of a crime?

Will this person get a virtual jail term in a second life prison??

Yes, that's a bit strange isn't it? Exactly why I lifted that sentence out of the article as well. On the one hand it certainly shows a person has a twisted mind, on the other hand, what is conviction for

although something could be said for it in this case (how about some serious therapy, sjeez), it makes you wonder what the boundaries for laws are...can you be guilty of a crime for thinking of it?

I used to spend a lot of time in Second Life. The age-play thing always kind of freaked me out, but in reality the existence of real child pornography in world is low (I've never seen it, thankfully) and this is the first time I've heard of an instance of it.

Most age-play stuff in Second Life doesn't involve abuse. It's more of a role-playing thing where one adult likes to pretend to be a child, and likes to be "taken care of" in a largely non-sexual way by another avatar that takes the role of parent. Every child avatar or "parent" I've met has said they don't have virtual sex at all and have no pedophilia interest in children. There isn't a large child avatar population. S&M style role-playing is much more prevalent.

You're supposed to be 18 or older to be in Second Life. There's a teen version, but you can't be over 18 to be in that world. I still can't completely wrap my head around age-play and I don't understand it, but if no one is being hurt I don't see how there could be a legal issue.

The article did say that the group advertised real child pornography. If these people uploaded real pictures of children into Second Life, yes, they need to be thrown in jail.