9 unstructured thoughts and links that are collectively indicative of the emerging importance and future of 3D online functionality:

1) Mark Warner, a democrat exploring a race for President in 2008, had a town hall meeting in Second Life – future elections will clearly have a vital online component – as ideas can be shared and communities built online extremely quickly and efficiently!

2) Joi Ito: Prototyping new organizational structures within War of Warcraft
(free registration required)

3) W Hotels prototyping within Second Life – imagine testing products services or experiences online before massive investment in the real world.

4) American Apparel retail store within Second Life

5) MTV’s Laguna Beach community within There – this is something that relates to what I’ve talked about before on SHARKRIDE -there will be an extremely robust convergence of television and online activity, as people become participants and not simply passive consumers of media.

6) Amazon exploring opportunities within Second Life – imagine having an avatar that visits a virtual mall – ability to browse stores, try on clothes etc. and one click purchasing without the hassle of parking, check-out lines etc. of real shopping centers.

7) Real/virtual interactions and marketing opportunities – “Avatar-Based Marketing” (Harvard Business Review)

Dynamic communities, coupled with advancing 3-D display technologies, will blur the line between reality and virtual activity and revolutionize how we work and play and function as a society – education, political campaigns, government services etc. will be much more efficient. Imagine a 3 D Internet where you can learn, browse, buy, communicate and collaborate with business associates located around the world via a lifelike avatar.

9) WMJ IDEA OF THE DAY: A service that creates avatars that mimic your real body, and look EXACTLY like you, so your avatar can collaborate with business associates, try on clothes etc. – of course, the functionality to import avatars into online environments doesn’t yet exist, but it should, and will, as 3D environments evolve beyond simply fantasy worlds to an essential part of our real existence.

[UPDATE: 10) A Harvard Law School class will be partly taught in Second Life.]

[UDPATE 12-25-06: Check out this TechCrunch profile of Gizmoz a company with a site in private beta (not yet available to the public) that creates avatars from uploaded pictures, and a voice sample.  Cool!]