Second Life & IBM: One Avatar for Many Virtual Worlds

IBM and Linden Labs, the operator behind Second Life, have announced plans to to allow users to have one avatar that can cross the boundaries of many virtual worlds.

The latest vision of the internet is a virtual market where flat web pages are replaced with video-game graphics and rich 3D virtual environments. In the name of interoperability the infant virtual world industry is already attracting hundreds of millions of dollars in investment to implement this world vision.

Eventually they hope to grant users the ability to navigate an open system with one avatar that retains all their customer data no matter where they are in cyberspace.

“It is going to happen anyway,” said Colin Parris, IBM vice president of digital convergence. “If you think you are walled and secure, somebody will create something that’s open and then people will drain themselves away as fast as possible.”

To read up on the details, visit Reuters.