There are more people playing World of Warcraft in the U.S. today (2 million) than had indoor plumbing 100 years ago. There are more people with blogs today (31 million) than had Internet connections 10 years ago.

Thomas Edison said it best, "Change happens with ball-flattening speed."

by David Wong

If you don't know what an "MMORPG" is, don't worry. It's a geek term, like "e-mail" used to be a geek term. For now, let's just say it's the most instantly gripping, involving and demanding entertainment technology ever invented. The addiction rate appears to be about twice that of crack. There are 10 million MMORPG users in the world and their population is doubling every two years.

Hold your hand about 3 feet above your monitor. That's where the graph will be in 2010. It's an infection, it's a tsunami, it's a volcanic eruption. All at the same time, waiting, like a nest of plague-infested rats next to a ticking hydrogen bomb in an underwater volcano. Or, something. What I'm trying to say is, it's the next big thing.

Some of what you're about to read will sound like science fiction. You'll be tempted to dismiss me along with those who for decades have been predicting sentient robot maids and hotels on the moon. But for every delayed technology there is another sudden and completely unexpected advance that jumps us from the shadows. For instance, none of the illustrations used in the article below were done with human hands. Each was rendered automatically by a remarkable piece of software called Nedroid, which can scan any piece of text, "read" it for comprehension and, incredibly, render artwork to match the context.

Did you even know that was possible before now? Truly, this morning's science fiction is this afternoon's science not-fiction.

So where will MMORPGs will take us?

In your lifetime ...*