The use of 3D worlds on the Internet has been evolving from the gaming sector to a more expansive leveraging of the technique.

Last week I wrote about how Citzalia, a site I am working on as editor, uses virtual 3D as an innovative means of navigating through information and for social networking. Companies, non-profits, government and other entities should also consider using the concept of creating 3D virtual worlds as a means of attracting and engaging visitors. Above all, they should keep in mind the idea of allowing users to have fun.

The use of virtual worlds by businesses and organisations has been around for a relatively long time on the internet. For example, in 2000 I signed up to the Albourne Village, which bills itself as a "virtual alternative assets community" and currently claims "over 65,000 residents". It mimics a virtual world by creating a map-based village. It also has a virtual currency called 'apples', which residents exchange among themselves for information, products or services.

I have not signed in for almost a decade but it seems that the concept has withered on the vine by not being developed further into a true 3D world. Perhaps the founders, a hedge fund consultancy, want it to remain that way - as a simple online forum for discussion and doing business. Still, I bring up the example, as it was an early try at a virtual world for a business sector.

Meanwhile, others have melded virtual worlds with 3D with much success. Such worlds create a concept of space and use avatars to represent identities, whether real or created, and participants are visible to each other.

The big boy on the block is Second Life, which has become the next new thing, as indicated breathlessly to me by a reporter who was interviewing me (www.secondlife.com). I explored to find an incredibly detailed and well though 3D world with a big fan base.

Second Life was launched on the Internet in 2003 by Linden Lab. It is more than a networking forum in the sense that residents can explore, meet other residents, socialise, participate in individual and group activities.

Here (in the virtual sense of the word) you can also create and trade virtual property and services for real or imaginary money. Some people are apparently making a mint out of creating and developing virtual property and accessories for avatars, of which there are about 18 million registered.

While entering and exploring Second Life is free, to do anything, such a owning land, you need to pay about $72 a year. For that price you also start receiving an automatic stipend of virtual currency to use in the world.

Businesses have also plunged into this new world with gusto. At the basic level are companies set up to provide the community with services such as those describe above. Those services result in real US dollars.

At another level are those companies who want to promote themselves or sell real life goods. Second Life allows them to do so without having to start from scratch. According to Computing magazine, some have failed, including the Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council, which spent £36,000 to rent a virtual island from its creator. The local government scratched project after 14 months, citing a "lack of any measurable benefit".

Others have stayed, including IBM and PA Consulting, which uses the place to show videos and as a forum for staff discussions. Others use it for scientific research, collaboration, and data visualisation. Members in this category include SciLands, American Chemical Society's ACS Island, Genome, and Nature Publishing Group.

Second Life encourages such participation. It is how it plans to make real money for its founders, by allowing companies to create virtual workplaces for meetings and events, hold events, corporate communications, conduct training sessions and prototype new products.

Wikipedia notes that churches are also participating by opening campuses in Second Life.

FarmVille is another virtual world of note, one which I know only though the many requests I get from friends to join. Believe it or not, people want to be farmers in this simulation game, which is available as an app on Facebook and on the iPhone.

Players spend their time earning virtual money by doing the usual business of farming, from growing and harvesting virtual crops, to tending livestock.

It now looks like Google and others are looking at these virtual worlds. Google this week announced it was acquiring Jambool, a virtual currency company. Now what is the company up to?

Send any comments to Ahmed at elamin.ahmed@gmail.com