Have avatar: will travel
p2pnet news | Games:- With international travel restrictions getting tighter and tighter, especially where the US is involved, the virtual world is offering a way for people to move around without ever leaving their PCs.
Second Life’s Linden Labs says it’ll work with IBM and nearly 30 other companies to build a layer of interoperability across all online virtual worlds, says Read/Write Web.
In other words, avatars will be able to move from one virtual world to another.
“It’s a logical next step for the medium of virtual worlds and one that could cause their number and size to grow substantially,” says the story.
“It could also lead to bitter, if sometimes humorous, conflict between users identified primarily with different sites.”
The project, initiated by IBM and Linden Lab, “aims to create a universal character creation system so people only have to create a digital double once,” says the BBC.
“While the character’s appearance may change depending on where it is taken, its basic characteristics, such as looks and underlying personal data, would be retained.”
Linden Labs has a new open forum called the Architecture Working Group, “where some of the more tech savvy Second Life citizens can help create a roadmap for the project,” says InformationWeek, adding:
“Other virtual worlds that Second Lifers could potentially connect to include Dreamville, There, and The Sims Online.”
Let’s hope the online world doesn’t become too much like the real one 
Also See:
Read/Write Web – Interoperability in Virtual Worlds: Experts Discuss Possible Futures, October 10, 2007
BBC – Universal avatars bestride worlds, October 11, 2007
InformationWeek – IBM Teams With Second Life To Build Portable Avatars, October 11, 2007
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