Has there ever been an investment mania built on sketchier numbers than the fad for virtual worlds? Ever since Second Life captured its one-millionth so-called "Resident," companies have flocked to the metaverse hoping to cash in on what's thought to be the next big thing. Following the money, of course, is a gullible press corps. The San Francisco Chronicle does little more than glance at the headline-friendly statistics and point out that hey, there are a lot of virtual worlds out there. At least Redpoint Ventures partner Scott Raney, an investor in virtual world Gaia, admits that, "It's inevitable that there will be too many." And missing from the article?

An examination of, for example, spuriously concocted figures showing $1 billion invested in 35 tangentially virtual-world companies in the past year. Or a critical analysis of research firm Gartner's hyperbolic claim 80 percent of "active" Internet users will have a "Second Life." Or even a point that wouldn't require any financial-reporting skills: The observation that it would help if any of these virtual worlds were, you know, actually fun.

Contact information for this author is not available.