Virtual worlds and the design enterprise: post-technological challenges and proposed solutions

For a decade, industrial designers using virtual worlds suffered from equipment costs that were too high and technology that simply could not perform up to expectations. Those problems have now been solved. But designers still have to deal with significant challenges inherent to the design enterprise, challenges made more pressing, ironically, by better, faster, and cheaper technology. In the end, with thought and effort, these problems will be resolved. The use of virtual worlds for the purpose of design will be democratized, become pervasive, and greatly increase shared understanding in businesses and agencies, and among individuals. The author highlights the more pressing challenges and suggests remedies for them, where these exist.