Virtual Convergence

Wired has an interesting article about the eventual convergence of virtual worlds.

From the article:

"Within a decade, then, the notion of separate game worlds will probably seem like a quaint artifact of the frontier days of virtual reality. You'll still be able to engage in radically different experiences - from slaying orcs to cybersex - but they'll occur within a common architecture. The question is whether the underpinnings of this unified metaverse will be a proprietary product, like Windows, or an inclusive, open standard, like email and the Web. (The Open Source Metaverse Project is currently working on such a nonproprietary platform.)

One way or another, consolidation is all but inevitable. A single, pervasive environment will emerge, uniting the separate powers of today's virtual societies. And then we really will have built the Matrix."

Also on Slashdot:

" This is one of the silliest things I've heard in a long time for a multitude of reasons. "
WidescreenFreak (830043)

" I seriously doubt it."
Shivetya (243324)

" Yet another person who needs to spend less time re-reading Snowcrash and more time in the real world."
winkydink (650484)

"It's called Real Life. Graphics and sound are EXCELLENT.

There's a lot of time spent mindlessly earning gold though, and the biggest problem with it is the lack of a save feature."
raehl (609729)

"So gaming worlds are going to coalesce just like instant messenger serviced did years ag... oh, nevermind

;-)"
MacDork (560499)