For all the talk of usability, orientation, and coming virtual world winters, the next phase of virtual world growth might not come from the design of the worlds, but rather the devices used to interact with them.

First, mimicking stereoscopic images on a 2D display:

Next, the Emotiv headset, scheduled for release in the coming months. Included in the launch, a new game in which you’ll have “supernatural power”.

Then there’s Mitch Kapor’s 3D camera:

And now, 3D monitors – yeah, just like the old days with 3D glasses, but imagine Second Life on a monitor like this:

Of course, it only works if the glasses are cool:

Or how about being able to carry around your avatar in the palm of your hand:

Or the ability to interact with virtual worlds from the real world, as shown in this work from Georgia Tech:

Combine with the ability to augment reality with an avatar and you start wondering whether by viewing virtual worlds as being solely desktop or phone-based whether we’re missing the next source of growth: