I must say that initially, reading this post and listening to Professor Crawford lecture on virtual worlds today left me sick to my stomach. I could only imagine a real world where real people wasted real hours in on-line virtual worlds. A self-imposed Matrixworld. Stuck in the cab on the way home, it hit me...in class we discussed how these things always matter more when commerce is involved...and that's it, commerce is the key. I realized that virtual worlds are NOT necessarily a waste of time. I think back to all those times when I have needed to do five things at once, but the real world prevented me from doing so. The internet has made it possible to multitask in some ways (such as e-mailing while on the telephone). However, virtual worlds and the ability to take on multiple avatar personalities and robotic avatar representatives of yourself seems to have the potential to be the ultimate multi-tasking tool. Well the ultimate multitasking tool has great commercial potential. Commercial potential means wolves knocking at the door. Who is going to protect the little pigs from those wolves and by what means is left to be seen.