IBM and Linden Labs - the people behind Second Life - hope to allow players to take a single character across multiple virtual worlds. Really, the idea is just that, an idea. However, it is something analysts in the article believe is either inevitable or impossible, depending on who you ask.

Currently, people who create a character, or avatar, in one virtual world cannot take that identity into another service.

Designing a detailed avatar can take well over an hour, so a closed system discourages customers from abandoning that investment. But it is also a barrier to growth since few people bother to start the process anew in multiple virtual worlds.

Read more here.