The aim of the present study is to examine factors affecting participation in telecollaborative language courses conducted in virtual world environments. From recordings of a course in sociolinguistics conducted in Second Life (SL), we determine degrees of linguistic participation (voice and chat), and triangulate these data with questionnaire responses and observations in order to elucidate demographic, behavioural, and contextual factors that may have affected the outcomes. Findings suggest that power relations in terms of educational level, the task design (creating engagement), the presence of the teacher (evening out participation), the medium--SL (both negative and positive) and technological issues (negative) are of primary importance.