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When you read a book, for example, you go on a journey. There is a sequence imposed on you by the author. There is a beginning, and something follows from that – you are introduced to the characters, you begin to empathise with them, and so on. You have to read the book in a certain sequence, rather like a sentence itself, and the journey actually takes you somewhere. Contrast this with a computer game in which a child must rescue a princess. There is no real empathy for the princess, only the buzz of the rescue itself and the process of the game. There is no long-term significance to the characters, because any consequences are reversible. Children don't learn from their mistakes at all. Why bother when you can just click restart?

Use of virtual worlds is more common among teens than among adults. In September 2009 we measured virtual world usage among adults for the first time and found that 4% of online adults visit virtual worlds. Usage of virtual worlds is relatively consistent across age cohorts, with 4% of internet users under age 30 and 4% of those thirty and up visiting virtual worlds. Among adults there are no differences on virtual world use related to gender, race/ethnicity, income, or education.

Indeed, a recent survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that only 4 percent of American adults spend time in virtual worlds.