Sorry but no, not with this kind of over-reaching and broad implications. While this is popular in movies, there’s little point in shifting most of client computing over into a virtual world. A VW comes in as an additional GUI layer. What point is there to have an avatar in a virtual world doing office computing like text processing in there rather than having the user doing it directly on the screen? What advantage has the addition of the 3rd dimension to web searching? There are none.
Further, tomorrow’s battle in computing is drastically reducing energy consumption. Thin clients are making their second (technically 3rd) comeback. Professional computing will again strive to move to a model where the individual user’s system is unlikely to have the needed processing power to run a virtual world.

If there is no game there or incentive whats the reason to stay in the virtual world?

That the thing, exactly. If you just cut off the relative novelty effect and the overhype from SL, what is the compelling reason for the mainstream of tomorrow’s tech to happen in a VW? I can shop online on a browser, why would I want to have an avatar enter a modelized brick & mortar shop and pretend to be me shopping? Or, more accurately, why would a normal, lambda-class non-nerdy citizen want to?

The benefit I see in this for some people is that they can do these things, without leaving the comfort of their own home. A person can enter a virtual world and do something they wouldn’t normally do in the real world. Hiding behind a virtual avatar provides anonymity and I feel that’s a huge contributor to those that ruin experiences for others.

This is a huge topic and it’s going to become more and more of an issue as technology in the field advances.

Perhaps if we took what DDO did with it’s instancing, Guildwars too for that matter. The developers wanted a structured adventure experience that was specific for the individuals playing it. The trouble came about with how to mix that into a MMO model. The main town was the only MMO part of it and acted as a meeting place or “Social World” you then left the social world to play in the “Game World”.

How do you have a “Prisitine Gaming Experience” when you know that some griefer can come into your dungeon and train mobs on you and ruin your experience?

Virtual Worlds are totally going to be seperated out into particular niches. Fantasy, SCi-Fi, Pirates, Old West, etc… How do you fill an Old West virtual world with people so that small group of niche players get the feeling of community?

The most avid players in MMOG, the players that are the most vocal and always seem to logged in are always the ones stirring up drama in chat and are the ones usually most likely to turn player freedoms into a joke. The boredom just drives people to do it. When there’s nothing left to do, might as well grief or exploit.

Its funny that in an podcast episode of GFW the hosts actually went into Second Life to observe and grief. A very legitmate question was asked when the players came upon people laying on a virtual beach and chatting. Why not go to a real beach? If there is no game there or incentive whats the reason to stay in the virtual world?

When I say “virtual world”, by the way, I mean both the social worlds and the game worlds; I don’t mean just the social worlds. I realise that this is a losing battle, in that many people these days seem to think that because game worlds are MMORPGs, social worlds must be “virtual worlds”; however, until we get a replacement umbrella term that covers both of them, I’ll have to use “virtual worlds” to do that.

So, when I say I want a greater variety of virtual worlds, I don’t mean I want more SL clones; I mean I want more, different virtual worlds of all kinds.

Richard

It’s just a niche market. People want different things from virtual worlds, therefore we have so many of them.

Have you read the first line of the first book of that series?

Virtual worlds come in many shapes and forms, and will come in many more. There is room for all of them.

Richard

If World of Warcraft was like a “sandbox” world, then the story could not progress as richly and deeply as it should. For example, the Onyxia fight. It is uniquely scripted to provide challenge and fun. If someone were to build a little wall in the middle of the room, then the entire phase 2 of the fight would be pointless.

Maybe I’m taking all this the wrong way…