'Virtual' worlds luring children
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Children have always built their own fantasy worlds. These days, the Internet is making it easier -- perhaps too easy, some say.
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Researchers in England and Switzerland use video cameras and virtual-reality goggles to make subjects observe "themself" from elsewhere in the room. They learn: "The brain can trick itself."
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By 2011, more than half of the population of kids online will be residents of a simulated  world of animals and avatars.
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Technological skills, like maneuvering a mouse, are becoming part of a childâs developmental milestones.
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By Anne D'Innocenzio  As kids keep getting plugged into the Internet, toy makers are following them online.
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Forget Second Life. The real virtual world gold rush centers on the grammar-school set.
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âGrowing Up Onlineâ asks an increasingly important question: What does it mean to be part of the first generation coming of age steeped in a virtual world seemingly outside parental control?
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By The Associated Press  NEW YORK - As kids keep getting plugged into the Internet, toy makers are following them online.
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By David Crow  With adults and teenagers increasingly well catered for by social networking sites, children are the new growth market. But with the danger of online fraudsters and, even more disturbingly, paedophiles, the industry has to move carefully.
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Vendors collaborate to avoid naked avatars and other incompatibilties among virtual worlds.
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Some users of the new operating system are having a tough time connecting to the virtual world.
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Second Life, the fast-growing online   site where hundreds of thousands of people play out fantasy   lives online, has suffered a computer security breach that   exposed the real-world personal data of its users.
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Orderly, pornography-free and safe for children, "meet-me," an online interactive virtual Tokyo, is Japan's answer to "Second Life." Or so its creators hope.
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Internet-ready schools do little to protect kids from seemingly safe sites whose only reason to exist is invasive marketing aimed directly at young web surfers. These corporate-sponsored 'advergames' look interactive but the endgame is 'buy.'
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Inhabitants of virtual worlds are giving the games they play real economic power, a study has found.
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BBC Radio 4's Click On programme explores how virtual worlds are helping people overcome real-world fears.
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A "safe, secure" virtual world which children can inhabit and interact with is being planned by the BBC.