[Posted on December 6, 2007 - 5:08 PM]
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DiggIt's one of the most gaping generation gaps on the Internet: Those who "get" virtual worlds like "Second Life," where users interact in a make-believe, yet highly detailed, online environment, and those who think the whole concept is just strange.
But when discussion at the AlwaysOn Venture Summit Thursday turned to the virtual world phenomenon, Benchmark Capital partner Bill Gurley said the real problem is simply that "We're all getting old." Addressing a group of investors, many of whom are wizened enough to have been around for the Web 1.0 boom a decade ago, Gurley noted, "A number of people past the age of 37 are completely like your grandparents who got offended when they saw Elvis on TV shaking his hips."
Indeed, in a nod to the growing, and probably lasting, importance of virtual worlds, the conference spotlighted Gaia Online as its top company of the year. Gaia CEO Craig Sherman equated participation in virtual worlds to teenagers' obsessions with the telephone or the mall in generations past, occupying them for hours on end, and mystifying their parents. -Andrea Orr
