80% with a Second Life

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. 80% with a Second Life
This is the sort of thing I think is just ridiculous. According to the Gartner press release cited here by Dave Warlick, 80 percent of active internet users will "have a second life" by 2011 - that is, they will be participants in a virtual world. If they mean 'will have tried it once' then maybe there's an outside chance. But if they mean 'will be an active participant', then there is no chance. Like the 'five laws' for participating in virtual world they also offer, the statement is not grounded in reality. "Behind every avatar is a real person?" Ridiculous. More...