As it turns out, the reason why Penny Arcade devoted a strip to Second Life's sign-up process is because co-author Tycho Brahe is exploring SL. (Hat tip: Adeon.) Tycho decided to finally try SL after watching Life 2.0, the acclaimed documentary, which puts a lot of focus on virtual sex in Second Life, so it's not surprising the avatar selection process made Tycho think zeppelin fetish. For many reasons, it's not immediately clear to gamers like him that much of SL actually has a lot of affinity with the modding communities that have sprung up around Garry's Mod and other 3D platforms. But rather than complain about his balloon sex bon mot (which was actually pretty funny) why not suggest to Tycho where he should go to see SL at its best as a gaming platform? Three points there:

It should be a SLurl link that drops him somewhere that'd be immediately impressive to a hardcore gamer -- as breathtaking as a Deus Ex: Human Revolution cityscape or a Skyrim hold.

The location should not require adding game attachments and HUDs before it becomes interesting. (Seriously, while a lot SL games are great, a new user can't be expected to go through the time-consuming, user-unfriendly installation task most of them still require.)

It should have a lot of mesh-based content -- preferably, all mesh.

My personal recommendation to Tychu might be Hangars Liquides, the Cyberpunk City (pictured above) which just opened up for roleplay. [Click here for SLurl teleport] Another candidate would be a mesh-enabled sandbox where gamers regularly hang out. Post your own recommendations in Comments with a short description and/or links to YouTube machinima or screenshots of the place. And hope that Tycho takes the time to teleport there.