What will happen when virtual worlds collide?Wired has a interesting piece on the future of online gaming, and how predictions of the present have come to pass.

Sometimes futurists get the future right. Millions of us now commute to mass?ively multiplayer online games in worlds much like the metaverse predicted by William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, and the Wachowski brothers. We live vicariously through our digital avatars in lushly rendered virtual environments, building and bartering, chatting and flirting, even falling in love. The population of the computer-generated universe is increasing at a rate that rivals email¡®s growth 15 years ago. A decade hence, you¡®ll drop a reference to your virtual doppelg?ngers just as casually as you give out your email address today.

But virtual reality has failed to conform to forward-looking visions in one crucial respect. We don¡®t live in the Matrix, but in the matrices. Your World of Warcraft persona can¡®t visit a Stonehenge replica in Second Life. You can¡®t impress an EverQuest elfin hottie with Jedi skills honed in Star Wars Galaxies. If you want to buy an Ultima scepter with Therebucks, you¡®ll have to exit both worlds and consummate the transaction on eBay.

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