In their evolution, virtual worlds have become more persistent. Their three-dimensional (3D) objects are more easily ported and interoperable between 3D repositories and may eventually be portable between synthetic world systems. If trend-lines continue, these synthetic spaces will become more integrated into the fabric of virtual learning and research, community-building, socializing, and digital information archival. Their continuity-in-time adds fresh capabilities for learning (human actualization, long-term virtual collaborations), digital resource protection (digital artifact preservation, long-term and evolving simulations, virtual ecologies), human relationship management (customer relationship management and branding, digital governance), and information exchange and management (international exchanges, and immersive long-term 3D libraries and knowledge structures). However, this immersive persistence must be balanced against the needs of temporality, transience, and forgetting.