Gartner Predicts 80% Active Internet Users Will Live In Virtual Worlds by 2011

Gartner, of the famous Hype Cycle, released news out of their Gartner Symposium/ITExpo:2007 going on through tomorrow, that they are predicting 80% of active Internet uses will have some kind of a "second life" in a virtual world by 2011. 

Gartner also predicts that meaningful corporate use of virtual worlds will lag behind the influx of individuals into them, but that "the collaborative and social aspects of these environments will dominate in the future."

The Symposium is Gartner's premier annual event, geared to IT professionals, and it focuses on the emerging trends in business, technology and the economy.

According to their press release, Gartner is advising clients that virtual worlds is an emerging trend, and to go slow in investing until platforms are more stable the environments mature. 

Toward this end, Garnter offers five "laws" for participating in virtual worlds:

• Virtual worlds aren't games, but they aren't parallel universes (yet)
• Behind every avatar is a real person
• Be relevant and add value
• Understand and contain the downside
• This is a long haul

Gartner's "laws" and advice are not necessarily more insightful than the conversations going on within the virtual world community, but it does encapsulate them nicely.

It also lends Gartner credibility to virtual worlds for businesses and as an evolution of the web and social networks, for commerce and business operations. 

The gold quote from the release:

"Despite the concerns within companies, don’t ignore this trend. They will have a significant impact on your enterprise during the next five years.”
---Steven Prentice, Gartner vice president and distinguished analyst

April 25, 2007