They toll not, neither do they spin

Life is a quest - making a living, setting goals, advancing.

Take that away and you're in for trouble, says Udeme Ekong, co-founder and CEO of the fledgling social website, Bloverse.

" (As) human beings, we need to produce value to feel a sense of worth. I think an environment where people don't have that (sense of worth) is very dangerous, via crime or suicide and mental health issues. If you go into your underprivileged communities, you have an e-gang culture. You have a lot of kids who don't have any identity, don't have anything to strive toward. Going into that gang life is a way of them feeling a sense of worth."

So it's clear enough that if people feel like they're worth nothing, are angry and depressed, they'll find something to do and the lid could blow right off.

One of the things behind the amazing success of computer games is that the player sets goals and with achievement gains promotion. That's why they're "bigger than the movies". They can give people feelings of self-worth that the movies can't. That's what led to the notion of "choosing" a life in virtual reality.

That led to another question. We asked the experts: what if we could have all those things that we have in computer games and build a "real economy", in a virtual world of living in Deep Space, or in Ancient History or exploring uncharted realms of imagination?