In a fledgling industry based on information sharing and the germination of new ideas, whether we're virtual world users, media or creators, we're all careful to embrace, study and tolerate all new ideas. After all, we're on equal footing at the threshold of a nascent industry, and while some important lessons are already beginning to solidify -- virtual goods are here to stay, self-expression is a key component in avatar-based interaction, social networking is part of play -- a "right," absolutely fact-based methodology has yet to surface, and it's doubtful that it will for some time yet.

Looking back ten, even twenty years from now, it's hard to predict which of the new products and trends we currently see will have left a lasting impression on the industry of online spaces, but it's a safe bet that some who are emerging as leaders now may fall along the wayside (remember the search engine wars?) However, a rather incisive new piece by Malcolm King of Australian debate journal On Line Opinion is unafraid to admit to the overhype of virtual worlds, lambasting Linden's "PR spin" around Second Life and calling it "intellectual trash."

He attacks the industry from an academic's perspective, and while comments like "[Kids are] going to be better off learning to play guitar, lacrosse, karate, cricket, soccer or chess than sitting alone in a darkened bedroom battling god-knows-what coming at them in 3D through their computer screen," are vaguely myopic, the resentment for what might be called an over-proliferation of virtual worlds hype and unsubstantiated PR fumes drives his exacting dismissal of the industry altogether.

It's interesting to read, because academia is one of the primary fronts in the evolution of virtual worlds, as many learning groups for both young kids and university students are looking at the possibilities of online worlds for the classroom, for simulation and education.

Terra Nova's Lisa Galarneau takes King on -- "I quite enjoy it when people get sick of hype and decide to rain all over the parade. The problem is that too often people do it when their annoyance causes any degree of balance and levity to flee," she begins, and while she also admits that King is "certainly right" about the overhype issue, she deconstructs his arguments handily.

And voila, an interesting and pull-no-punches discussion on the real potential and concrete, measurable value of virtual worlds appears at Terra Nova, making it clear we've perhaps begun to move into an era of honest criticism. Now, if only such grounded scrutiny could put an end to people using names like "Mistwalker" and "Dazzlestar" in their professional email signatures.

[Via Kotaku]