I was listening to Edward Castronova's PopTech! presentation (Gold From Thin Air: The Economy of Virtual Worlds) today and had a scary thought.

I've never been into video games, but as I listen to presentation's like Ed's, I always feel like I'm missing something. Not the fun and adventure, but that the world is moving to a new place and I'm not following.

I've always prided myself on staying up with technology and not being stuck in the last decade, but now I'm not so sure. Maybe there's this whole world out there that I'm conveniently ignoring. For example, is gaming technology the right way to teach certain subjects or concepts? If so, I'd never know it.

I don't get the feeling that I'm alone. I think there's a large group of folks who don't play online games and so they are mostly ignoring what's happening in that space. What do you think? Is this a hole in my education that I ought to rectify?