Terra Nova has an entry I intend to keep an eye on concerning the rapidly growing public awareness of virtual spaces. I suspect the comments might accumulate. Ren Reynolds starts off the entry (Link) with a definition:

WoW wave (noun): The phenomena of online gaming creeping in to the public consciousness evidenced by a deluge of exploratory contacts from journalists, marketing organisations, VCs, TV types, blue chip companies and random others asking what all this online stuff is all about, what it means, what they can do with it, and where the money is.

I suggest others stop in over the next couple of days to read comments. This could get interesting.

As an aside, my mother (the gaming grannie about whom I’ve spoken before) is bumming that her PC can’t run Second Life. We spoke yesterday and she informed me she had actually visited the Second Life website and used the interactive map hoping to (somehow) find my virtual residence. I installed XP over the holidays but I guess a new motherboard will soon be in order. I’d say she’s a noserider… unlike a whole lot of other, younger people I know.