So, I spent two days soaking up presentations, viewing demos and talking to people at the Virtual Worlds Forum Europe conference in London last week. I'd label myself as an interested participant - I'm enthusiastic about the potential of virtual worlds - but nowhere near as steeped in their culture as most of the other attendees. With that in mind, I've compiled a list of 20 trends and ideas that I picked up at the conference, which seem to be the most important and/or interesting ones affecting the development of virtual worlds right now. They're entirely subjective, of course, but I think they're all valid points. See what you think... 1. Shedloads of virtual worlds will be launched in 2008. Although the conference saw a lot of discussion about Second Life, Habbo Hotel, Club Penguin and other existing virtual worlds, there's clearly more where they came from. There's a number of virtual worlds in closed beta, or still effectively technological demos, but they all seem to be targeting next year for launch.