Art, music, gossip - it's (virtually) all there in my parallel universe

It has been quite a week for virtual worlds

The Chinese government, realising that virtual worlds are an unstoppable phenomenon, announced it was planning to impose a 20 per cent tax on profits earned within them

British couple who got married after meeting in Second Life are divorcing after the wife caught her husband chatting up another woman in the virtual world

Why do so many people do it? Why do we read books, or watch films? It is partly escapism, using our imaginations and partly about networking on a global scale

it is an opportunity to escape to taste a parallel life in which you can shape the rules

connect you in real time to anyone around the world who shares your interests - as opposed to your geography

IBM conduct real business meetings there

I have watched a ballet

dozens of universities have campuses there

by 2011 80 per cent of active internet users will have avatars