Chicago Tribune

In the massively multiplayer online universe, it used to be all you could do was shoot bad guys and slay dragons. Now you can zoom around in jet packs, float on hoverboards and buy with real-world abandon.

There.com and SecondLife.com are taking the Sims Online concept to the next level. As with the Sims, There and Second Life let you create animated characters -- complete with personality quirks, skills and body types -- and set them loose in the world to mingle with other simulated folks. Walk your character up to others and start typing to chat. There even lets you do back flips to indicate excitement or bat your eyelashes coyly to indicate interest. No simulated sex, however.

Where the Sims Online lost players' interest because there was little to do other than chat, There and Second Life offer a chance to attend concerts, play games and earn virtual bucks by winning contests or building attractions and charging admission.

Second Life will run you $14.95 a month. There has a limited-time special offer of $4.95 a month, plus a one-time activation fee of $19.95. Each is offering a free trial: Second Life's is for a week, There's is for two.

These places are not for the faint of computer. In addition to broadband Internet access, you need Windows XP or Windows 2000 and a processor of 800 mHz and 256 megabytes of RAM and a better-than-decent graphics card.

ARE YOU LINKED TO THE ELITE?

"There is clearly a technology elite in the United States," reports the Pew Internet and American Life Project (PewInternet.org), which says that only 31 percent of the population (Internet and non-Internet users alike) are the most voracious consumers of information goods and services. The Pew Project broke it down this way: "Wired Generation Xers" (average age 36) make up 60 percent of the technology elite. "The Young Tech Elites" (average age 22) make up 20 percent of the technology elite. "Older Wired Baby Boomers" (average age 52) make up the remaining 20 percent. Sixty-nine percent of Americans said they lacked time, interest and money to pursue tech services and gadgets.

Computers and the Internet are encroaching on the TV and landline telephone as important ways to share information, especially for those in their 20s. The Pew Project, a non-profit initiative of the Pew Research Center for People and the Press, also found that, of the 8 percent of Internet users who pay for online content, the Young Tech Elites and Wired GenXers are more likely to do so. The study was based on a survey of 1,677 Americans in October 2002.

KAZAA TAKES A HIT -- 2.4 MILLION OF 'EM

Download.com reports that, for the week ending Nov. 24, Kazaa remained the most popular downloaded program, with 2.4 million downloads that week. The software-sharing program has been downloaded more than 20 million times since the RIAA launched its lawsuits against file-sharers in September.

TODAY, IT'S NO LONGER CHILD'S PLAY

Man, I feel old. Check out this exchange among 12- and 13-year-olds playing Pong, as editors of Electronic Gaming Monthly watched:

Andrew: This is a lot like that game. Um, whatchamacallit -- air hockey.

Sheldon: Except worse.

Andrew: Blip. Blip. Blip. Blip.

Becky: I don't even see the point of having sound on this.

Andrew: Wow. The score is tied. It's so exhilarating . . . .

EGM corralled the kids to answer the question, "Would today's tykes tolerate the classic games you grew up with?" To read the