You are here: Home / Archives for Virtual Worlds / General News

Body image and virtual worlds: call for study participants

January 12, 2010 by 5 Comments

Jon-Paul Cacioli is a Doctor of Clinical Psychology student at Deakin University, and he’s currently conducting a study on body image in virtual worlds. In his words:

“I am looking for participants, male and 18+ to complete a survey regarding both their real world and virtual world body images and psychological states.”

He needs 300 or so participants to take the survey. It’s a fairly intensive process, which takes around 15-20 minutes. If you have that time to give, then go make a contribution toward the increased understanding of how we perceive ourselves in the virtual and real worlds.

Link to the survey

Filed Under: Education, General News, Health, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: , ,

The reverse argument for virtual worlds in the enterprise

January 11, 2010 by 1 Comment

With thanks to Tateru Nino for the heads up, this machinima just about perfectly encapsulates the tug-of-war within the enterprise in regards to adoption of virtual worlds as a collaborative tool. It’s an incisive piece that strips bare some of the stereotypes and barriers put forward by business as ‘arguments’ against utilising virtual worlds in their operations.

It’s the sort of piece that may be useful after some initial discussions have been had within an enterprise. It would probably make some people defensive if used up front, but its power is likely to be found after the stereotypical arguments have been made by those less convinced of the opportunities virtual worlds provide.

Watch and enjoy:

Filed Under: Business, General News, Humour / Satire, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: ,

The Watch – virtual worlds in the news

January 10, 2010 by 2 Comments

1. The Guardian (UK) – Why playing in the virtual world has an awful lot to teach children. “What does playing computer games do to us? A YouGov poll has stirred up familiar worries about the effects of new media on children’s communication skills, saying that one in six children under the age of seven in England has difficulty talking – a problem that will have many worried parents looking at games consoles and wondering how far their children’s onscreen delights are implicated in this decline. Anyone who has played video games, or watched their children playing, will know that they are an exceptionally compelling medium. As Jean Gross, the government’s new communication champion for children, noted, overbusy parents can spend dangerously little time talking to their children. Far easier to plonk them down in front of a mesmerising screen.”

2. Virtual Worlds News (USA) – Data Provides Insight into Virtual Worlds, Goods Business Models. “Three data points released this week — which on their face didn’t appear to offer a boatload of value for individuals or companies with a stake in the virtual worlds and virtual goods industries — can be parsed for insight into how the markets are responding to some existing virtual world/virtual goods products, as well as how markets might be anticipated to respond to future business initiatives.”

3. Gadget (South Africa) – CES 2010: How kids play today… in the real and virtual world. “The line between the way children play in the real world and connect in the virtual world is becoming more and more blurred; this is according to the Build-A-Bear Workshop which extends its social interaction from the physical store through to the virtual world. Build-A-Bear Workshop, the interactive entertainment retailer of customised stuffed animals, announced new data that supports an evolution in how kids play and connect in their real and virtual worlds.”

4. Metro (UK) – The augmented reality helicopter drone you pilot with your iPhone. “The Parrot AR.Drone – a four-bladed ‘quadricopter’ with a range of 50m (165ft) – features two tiny video cameras which send real-time pictures to the phone’s screen, so you see what it sees. Interactive ‘enemy’ fighter planes are then layered over your view of your neighbourhood, using technology known as Augmented Reality. It takes current applications, such as superimposing photos on to Google maps’ satellite images, to another level.”

5. The National Law Journal (USA) – Social media permeate the employment life cycle. “Social media are any type of Internet-based media created through social interaction in which individuals primarily produce, rather than consume, the content. In the workplace, the prevalent social media are video-sharing Web sites (YouTube), social networking Web sites (Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter), online multiuser virtual worlds (Second Life, World of War craft) and personal or corporate blogs. The increased use of social media in the workplace, by employees and employers alike, presents both opportunities and risks for employers because social media now permeate the entire life cycle of employment: during pre-employment inquiries, throughout the period of employment and after separation from employment. Employers must consider and address the use and misuse of social media at each stage.”

6. Kelowna (Canada) – Virtual meetings come cheap; Thought delivery. “Virtual reality is a growing technology in Canada that small businesses can use to cut travel costs and expand markets because its immersive nature allows training and networking to be done in ways teleconferencing can not match. Mingleverse, a Vancouverbased virtual reality provider, is seeing a burst of consulting businesses looking to offer their services to a larger market, said Daniel Ruscigno, marketing co-ordinator. “We really expect online teaching, training and coaching to take off.” Launched in September, the company offers an experience similar to Second Life but with less downloading, Mr. Ruscigno said. Rather than one big virtual world there are several small virtual worlds you can embed in a website, he said.”

7. New York Times (USA) – The Children of Cyberspace: Old Fogies by Their 20s. “My 2-year-old daughter surprised me recently with two words: “Daddy’s book.” She was holding my Kindle electronic reader. Here is a child only beginning to talk, revealing that the seeds of the next generation gap have already been planted. She has identified the Kindle as a substitute for words printed on physical pages. I own the device and am still not completely sold on the idea. My daughter’s worldview and life will be shaped in very deliberate ways by technologies like the Kindle and the new magical high-tech gadgets coming out this year — Google’s Nexus One phone and Apple’s impending tablet among them. She’ll know nothing other than a world with digital books, Skype video chats with faraway relatives, and toddler-friendly video games on the iPhone. She’ll see the world a lot differently from her parents.”

8. Internet Evolution (USA) – The Internet in 2020: A Look Ahead. “Now that we’ve closed the book on the first decade of the 21st century, the real question is, What radically new Internet technologies will we be celebrating at the beginning of the century’s second decade? Ironically, imagining 2020 is really the business of the historian rather than the futurist. As David Edgerton argues in his brilliant 2006 book, The Shock of the Old: Technology and Global History Since 1900, the most radical new technologies are recycled from the past. To look forward, therefore, Edgerton suggests that we look backwards.”

9. AFP (USA) – Lego expands its universe with online game. “Danish toy maker Lego is seeking to build a presence in the world of multiplayer online games with the release of a new videogame called Lego Universe. “Think World of Warcraft, Second Life and Club Penguin all wrapped into one,” said lead producer Chris Sherland of NetDevil, the Colorado-based game development company behind Lego Universe. The PC-based game will incorporate many of the features of the iconic interlocking, studded plastic bricks that have delighted children — and parents — the world over for years. Lego Universe, which is to be released in the second half of the year, was unveiled at the annual International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas which closes on Sunday.”

10. PC Pro (UK) – Whatever happened to Second Life? “It’s desolate, dirty, and sex is outcast to a separate island. Barry Collins returns to Second Life to find out what went wrong, and why it’s raking in more cash than ever before. Three years ago, I underwent one of the most eye-opening experiences of my life – and I barely even left the office. I spent a week virtually living and breathing inside Second Life: the massively multiplayer online world that contains everything from lottery games to libraries, penthouses to pubs, skyscrapers to surrogacy clinics.”

Filed Under: General News, Virtual Worlds, Virtual worlds in the media Tagged With:

Merged realities – events and issues for virtual worlds

January 5, 2010 by 1 Comment

1. Forterra have fallen upon hard times, laying off around half their workforce, according to an email we’ve received and as reported here. It’s a shame to see any company lose so many employees – her’s hoping Forterra are able to continue their work ongoing.

2. The dynamos at Kzero have updated a couple of their forecast charts. Active virtual worlds users is one of the most interesting ones:

3. A prim has been rezzed at the highest ever altitude in Second Life – here’s the proof.

4. The first machinima to be presented to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has been produced by Pooky Amsterdam. It was produced for Alissa Moreno, who performs her song ‘Every Day’. Have a look for yourself:

5. The University of Western Australia’s Second Life activities continue to expand, with a machinima competition announced:

WHAT: MachinimUWA : The UWA Machinima Challenge

WHEN: Submissions are open 18th December 2009 – 31st January 2010
All entries will be displayed on the University of Western Australia (UWA) Second Life Blog. http://uwainsl.blogspot.com

Winners will be announced during a ceremony in February

WHERE: In front of Winthrop Tower (Main SIM of the UWA presence) & starting point of all Machinima

THEME: Architecture, Teaching, Research & Arts on the UWA sims

THE CHALLENGE
Create a Machinima between 2 and 5 minutes in length that captures the 4 main elements thats make up the heart of the University of Western Australia SIMS. These elements are the RL architecture, the teaching, the research and the arts. The purpose would be to show that UWA’s presence in SL is comprehensive and covering all these areas, creating true bridges between SL & RL for prospective students, current students, staff, alumni & the community (this is the snapshot – more details below). Note that there are 3 SIMS making up the UWA presence, namely UWA, Uni of WA & WASP Land, and this challenge covers all 3.

Method of Entry:
* Load the Machinima anywhere, and provide the link to both Jayjay Zifanwe & White Lebed (co-hosts of MachinimUWA)

Closing Date:
* Midnight 31st January 2010 (winners annouced in Mid-Feb 2010)

Filed Under: Events, General News, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: , , ,

The agenda-setting challenges for virtual worlds: a discussion paper

January 4, 2010 by 3 Comments

The past couple of years have seen virtual worlds start to get on government agendas worldwide. From a policy perspective, agenda-setting is a widely researched area and it’s very pertinent to virtual environments. To that extent, I’ve written a discussion paper that analyses the challenges to date in ensuring virtual worlds do end up as a policy priority for governments.

It’s an expanded version of a piece written in recent months as part of my MBA studies – it has not been published elsewhere and nor will it be.

Who’s the paper for?

If you’re someone interested in the policy aspects of virtual worlds, you may find this paper useful. If you’re an experienced policy analyst you’re going to find the paper very broad, but otherwise it’s a good overview of the challenges and progress to date.

Sample

The introduction to the paper is replicated immediately below to give you a taste of the language and approach:

Virtual worlds have grown in popularity to an extent that they pose a range of policy challenges at both an organisational and governmental level. This discussion will examine the inherent challenges in agenda-setting for those attempting to establish governance structures in virtual worlds, and the growing interrelationship between events in the virtual and real worlds and the related policy conundrums they pose. The work by Kingdon (1984) will be used as the framework for describing the interplay between political factors, policy formulation and any previous approaches to problem resolution. Examples of current policy debates in regards to virtual worlds will be explored within that framework, to illustrate the level of government involvement with this policy arena to date and why there has been a relative lack of response from government in the Australian context.

What does it cost?

The cost of this discussion paper is up to you. When you click on the ‘Add to Cart’ button below, it will show the suggested cost of $9.95 (Australian), all of which goes to our charity of choice, Kiva. If you cannot afford that price, you can manually adjust the cost to whatever amount you want, including zero – we’ll let your conscience determine that 😉

Feedback

Please don’t hesitate to provide any feedback on the paper. By their nature, policy debates are far from black and white affairs and this one is no different. I’d also like to thank Ren Reynolds for responding to a query on the analytical framework prior to writing the paper.

Click below to purchase the paper:

Add to Cart

—

Or – here’s the direct link for the download service we use.

Filed Under: Australian News, General News, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: ,

The Watch – virtual worlds in the news

January 3, 2010 by Leave a Comment

1. Mashable (USA) – Man Pays Record $330,000 for a Virtual Space Station. “We’re not even sure what category to file this story under. We’re utterly baffled by this one. Earlier this year, the Crystal Palace Space Station went onto virtual auction in the Entropia Universe massive multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG). Entropia Universe is well known for its “real cash economy,” where $1 can buy you 10 PEDs (Project Entropia dollars) in the virtual world. The Crystal Palace is a huge virtual space station that orbits the Planet Calypso.”

2. The Escapist (USA) – Why We Need to Ditch the Word “Virtual”. “From “virtual reality” to “virtual worlds,” the “v-word” is something we gamers and techheads know well. But real things happen in virtual worlds, and virtual reality is a reality all its own – which is why we should consider ditching it.”

3. BBC (UK) – Mobiles offer new view of reality. “Virtual Reality has been a mainstay of sci-fi for decades but 2010 could see a pared-down version become mainstream. Augmented reality (AR) has had a quiet launch on mobile handsets but it is set to explode next year, experts say. AR is a technology that allows data from the web to be overlaid on a view of the physical world. Although a relatively small sector at the moment, analyst firm Juniper Research predicts that AR will generate incomes of $732m (£653m) by 2014.”

4. Mashable (USA) – WOW: Fugitive Caught via World of Warcraft. “Police have been known to use social media like Facebook and Twitter to track down thieves (the IRS, too), and careless Facebooking can quickly get you arrested. But if you’re on the run from the law, there’s another online territory you might want to consider avoiding: World of Warcraft. Howard County, Indiana Sheriff Department Deputy Matt Roberson tracked down fugitive Alfred Hightower via the hugely popular massively multiplayer online game. Hightower was wanted on several counts of drug dealing but had fled the country to Canada.”

5. Mumbrella (Australia) – Twitter and LinkedIn neck and neck, while Bebo and Second Life lag behind. “Twitter and LinkedIn are neck and neck behind Facebook in their respective number of users, according to a new survey. The Mumbrella Industry Snapshot found that around 94 per cent of respondents have a personal Facebook account, compared to 72 per cent on Twitter and 71 per cent on LinkedIn, the social networking site for business professionals. The once dominant MySpace came in much lower with over 21 per cent, while only 7.3 per cent use Second Life.”

6. The Guardian (UK) – Virtual reality is coming of age. “I’m standing outside a branch of Diesel and a colourfully dressed man is dancing the robot in front of me like Peter Crouch on steroids. Browsing through the items on offer in the window, I spot a pair of jeans that I like the look of. The price tag says £1.59. A licensed, authorised, branded pair of Diesel jeans for £1.59. The only catch is that they’re made of pixels, not denim, and they belong in a fictional universe that could be the future of advertising, social networking and gaming combined. Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of PlayStation Home.”

7. Gamasutra (USA) – Curse.com Gets $6 Million For MMO Add-On Manager, Portal. “San Francisco-based MMORPG community add-on manager and portal Curse.com revealed that it raised $6 million in a second round of funding in early 2009 from new backers Ventech Capital and SoftTech VC. AGF Private Equity, which previously led a Series A round in 2007 that invested $5 million into the company, also participated. Originally founded in 2005 as a repository for World of Warcraft add-ons, Curse.com has since transformed itself into a network of blogs, databases, forums, wikis, and more for a variety of titles such as Age of Conan, Aion, Final Fantasy XIV, Diablo 3, and several others. The site also offers a PC and Mac Curse client for managing plug-ins for World of Warcraft, Warhammer Online, and Runes of Magic.”

8. The Globe and Mail (Canada) – Teen found after meeting his 42-year-old online ‘soulmate’. “n Tuesday evening, 16-year-old Andrew Kane nonchalantly asked his mother and father if they would drive him from their Barrie, Ont., home to a hotel in nearby Midland, where he planned to meet a 42-year-old woman with whom he had been having a secret relationship over the Internet. His stunned parents refused and the teen calmly returned to the computer, telling them he would let the woman know he wasn’t coming. At 2 a.m., Marlene Kane heard her front door open, and found her son gone, leaving behind a troubling trail of web chats that led to Houston, Tex., and the World of Warcraft.”

9. The State Journal-Register (USA) – Virtual reality simulators to help Guard train for war. “Virtual reality simulators are helping the Illinois Army National Guard prepare soldiers for service in Iraq or Afghanistan. The Guard is in line for $8.8 million in federal funding to buy three simulators, which are designed to train soldiers how to work in convoys and respond to attacks or roadside bombs. About $2.4 million will be used to buy two systems that simulate a caravan of four Humvees. Another $6.4 million is going to another simulator that trains soldiers on a larger, armored vehicle called a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle.”

10. Chicago Tribune (USA) – What will life be like 10 years from today? Here’s a glimpse. “OK, seriously this time. Several weeks ago I offered an end-of-decade list of expert predictions of all the changes in store for us (“Ten years from now …”). The surprise ending was that the predictions were all actually from late 1999 and early 2000, and the point was that the future tends to make fools of those who presume to predict it. Nevertheless. My 2020 vision may not be 20/20, but I’m guessing that 10 years from now …”

Filed Under: General News, Virtual Worlds, Virtual worlds in the media Tagged With:

Metaplace – final concert

January 2, 2010 by 1 Comment

As discussed last week, Metaplace is closing its doors. That closure comes into effect in the next few hours, and as a farewell founder Raph Koster is holding a farewell concert. It’s just started, with REM’s ‘End of the World’ the opening song. How many virtual world execs would get up in front of an audience of people who are losing their world and put it on the line musically? Not many, but I’m not surprised that Raph Koster has done so.

If you want to spend some time in Metaplace, now’s the time to do it. The concert location is here.

Update: I managed to hang out for the majority of the show and it’s an understatement to say Raph Koster out his heart into his show. As one audience member stated, he should consider performing as a musician in Second Life. I captured one song, Dire Straits’ Money for Nothing, which shows the passion of the performance:

Filed Under: General News, Virtual Worlds Tagged With:

Virtual worlds predictions for 2010

December 29, 2009 by 15 Comments

Having completed our review of our 2009 predictions, we’re back for another round for the coming year.

1. OpenSim will continue or even improve on its growth trajectory – the momentum will continue, although a handful of larger grids are likely to have the lion’s share of that growth, with all the challenges that go along with it.

2. Australia will have its first government funded virtual environment – a proposal is already underway to see this come to fruition. Education will be the focus, but the foresight of the proposal’s facilitators is likely to ensure it involves business, education and government in a collaborative partnership.

3. Closures – it’s not a desirable prediction to make, but unfortunately it’s also a fairly safe one. There’ll be company and/or platform failures. Some may be bought out, but like Metaplace in the past week, there’s going to be some outright shuttering of some environments. I have some specific ones in mind but don’t have the data to support naming them specifically as being on a ‘death watch’.

4. Intellectual property disputes – The Eros vs Linden Lab action is likely to be resolved during 2010 and it will generate a large precedent in regards to virtual goods. Linden Lab will probably defend the action successfully, but the playing field will still have changed considerably.

5. Integration – Whether it be Second Life or Habbo Hotel, the level of integration between virtual environments and social media services will increase. Whether it’s a Facebook Connect sign-in or the ability to Tweet from Second Life, that functionality will move from the plugin / add-on phase to core architecture more commonly.

6. ABC in Second Life – I don’t have any inside knowledge on this, and I really hope I’m proved wrong, but I can’t see the ABC continuing to fund its Second Life presence beyond 2010. For the past year, the majority of the activity on ABC Island has come from its tight-knit community, with support from ABC staff. With the burgeoning ABC Online continuing to grow, there’s always the risk that the Second Life component will be squeezed out. Please, prove us wrong on this one.

7. The mandatory ISP filter – If the legislation passes during 2010, there remains a real possibility of adult content in Second Life and elsewhere falling foul of the filter. There were some gob-smackingly naive acceptances of Linden Lab’s claim they’d heard nothing about being affected by the filter and therefore were not concerned. There’s a chance everything will be fine but given the blacklist isn’t defined, nothing is certain at this stage. Our prediction: Australia-specific verification mechanisms will need to be put in place for Second Life and other environments where content creation occurs.

8. Taxation of virtual goods – 2010 will see the United States further formalise taxation arrangements in regard to virtual goods. I doubt the Australian Tax Office will make any substantive rulings in the coming twelve months.

9. Gaming worlds – 2010 is going to see the largest MMO launch since World of Warcraft: Star Wars The Old Republic. It won’t eclipse the incumbent but it will become the solid number 2 player in the short-term, with all bets off in the longer term. The second half of 2010 also sees the launch of the next World of Warcraft expansion, called Cataclysm. Head-to-head clashes in the MMO industry don’t get much bigger, and it’ll make for some fascinating times.

10. Social games – this year saw social games like Farmville take off in a big way. There’ll be some significant fatigue from users with these platforms, but there’ll also be further innovation to make them more engaging and with easier integration of virtual goods without the spam-like accompaniments that plague people’s Twitter or Facebook timelines. Overall: continuation of exponential growth, albeit not at the same level it has been the past six months.

—

Again, over to you. What’s in your crystal ball for the coming year?

Other sites with some interesting 2010 predictions:

Eddi Haskell
Daniel Voyager
Adam Frisby
Living on a Prim (some damn funny ones here!)
All Virtual (focused on virtual events)
Second Sins (NSFW)
Tateru Nino
Adric Antfarm

Filed Under: Australian News, General News, Op-ed, Virtual Worlds Tagged With:

2009 predictions review

December 27, 2009 by 4 Comments

Twelve months ago we published our ten predictions for 2009. Below is the report card on them.

2009: how accurate was our crystal ball?

Prediction 1: OpenSim grids will bleed Second Life users – this may seem a very obvious prediction given the growth of OpenSim grids, but what I mean here is that the exodus will be obvious. It won’t be a migration that will affect Second Life’s viability (other issues may achieve that), but there will be a solid, committed population of OpenSim users choosing those grids over Second Life’s one. Put another way, new users will see OpenSim grids as an equal option to signing up to Second Life.

Pass – the growth in adoption of OpenSim has certainly grown and at the expense of Second Life. People aren’t abandoning Second Life for OpenSim en masse but there’s plenty of content creators and educators dividing their time between the two environments. Here’s one small example of that switch.

Prediction 2: Virtual worlds will appear as normal daily life in TV / Movies – To date, most appearances of virtual worlds in TV and film are either documentaries or as a central part of an action / geek film. US comedy The Office and CSI have both featured Second Life but essentially in a sensationalistic way. 2009 will see more insertions of virtual worlds into daily life scenes in shows. A disclosure here: I’m particularly confident on this one as I’ve had the pleasure of helping out on a film project that features a virtual world in a day-to-day context. More on that in the first few months of next year.

Pass – We were up front that this was an easy prediction due to our then under-wraps involvement with Beautiful Kate.

Prediction 3: There will be a net increase in Australian business in virtual worlds – Second Life won’t see any significant growth in Australian businesses entering Second Life and there may actually be a decrease. The gains will come in worlds like Twinity, customised worlds created on platforms like VastPark and possibly even some entry into enterprise worlds offered by entities like IBM and Forterra. Any increase will be driven by the increasing awareness of virtual worlds as a cost-effective business collaboration tool.

Fail – The withdrawal by Telstra from Second Life significantly reduces the level of overt Australian business presences on that platform. That said, the level of interest in virtual worlds has grown, albeit only slightly. The gains have come around collaboration and meetings. Most of the growth in interest hasn’t translated to dollars invested, but that’s on its way. Aside from Second Life, no specific platform is gaining significant traction locally from a business viewpoint.

Prediction 4: Virtual worlds will remain a political no-go zone – Australian political parties have had zero presence to date and it’s extremely unlikely to change in 2009. Any planning being done by the major parties for the 2010 Federal Election is unlikely to extend beyond services like YouTube and Twitter. Things may stretch to sites like Barack Obama’s Change site, but forget anything 3D.

Pass – As predicted, there’s no momentum politically with virtual worlds in Australia. Why? You’ll find out in coming weeks when we release our virtual worlds policy paper.

Prediction 5: Metaplace will be a game-changer – Metaplace’s simple, web-based interface combined with some impressive content creation tools will ensure a launch with impact and significant growth. There’ll be some obvious poaching of users from services like Habbo Hotel but also from content-creation havens like Second Life.

Fail – We couldn’t have got this one more wrong given Metaplace has announced its closure. Closures are expected in a competitive environment but this one was a real surprise.

Prediction 6: Virtual sex will lead to legislation – Linden Lab’s gambling, ageplay and banking clamp-downs were an early start to the reality of increased regulation and governments worldwide are increasingly scrutinising virtual world activities. Sexual exploits (aside from ageplay) have remained unregulated. For better or worse, this won’t remain.

Fail – no significant legislation has eventuated, although the proposed Australian internet filter will likely cover ageplay-related content, but that legislation hasn’t passed as yet.

Prediction 7: Australian Universities will fall further behind in incorporating virtual world training tools – Australia has some leading lights as far as virtual world and education go, something highlighted by AVWW 2008. In the wider university sector, US and UK universities are integrating virtual world training simulations in a range of areas including health and engineering. Australian universities on the whole haven’t begun thinking about this in a widespread way, even with the talented educators putting the case locally. 2009 will see the gap widen further as key universities overseas start to demonstrate significant education outcomes.

Pass – Australia has continued to lag, although the cohort of innovative educators involved with virtual environments has continued to grow and some impressive outcomes demonstrated (one example here). The lag to date comes from governing and funding bodies rather than at the grass roots level. That said it appears to be ending with some excellent, Australia-wide proposals in the works in regards to virtual worlds and tertiary education.

Prediction 8: Second Life will remain a frustrating experience – the announcement of standalone servers may prove this prediction wrong, but 2009 is unlikely to show an enormous improvement in the Second Life user experience. The user interface will certainly improve and the stability of the platform may improve exponentially. The ongoing frustration will be the same issue that’s plagued Second Life to date: regular, crushing lag. This is one prediction I’d particularly like to be proven wrong on. A sub-prediction here too: the Teen grid will continue to decline and may even close altogether.

Pass – Teen Second Life is likely to be merged into the main grid, there is somewhat of a decline in user concurrency in Second Life and although some user interface improvements have occurred, the main improvements are yet to be seen. Things are still looking very positive for Second Life overall, but the evergreen usability challenges remain.

Prediction 9: Growth, growth, growth – every metric and market research report points toward ongoing growth in the number of people spending time in virtual worlds. The new entrants will assist this growth but the incumbents will also grow. Habbo Hotel will most likely retain is dominance in raw numbers but children’s worlds like Barbie Girls, Hello Kitty Online and Club Penguin will provide an enormous userbase as well. Add to that the promising growth of Sony’s Home and you can see this is a safe prediction, but worthy of a mention.

Pass – As we said at the time, it was a no-brainer. In June 2009 the estimated number of virtual worlds users was around 186 million by one forecaster and it’s certainly grown since then.

Prediction 10: Virtual Goods will boom – the interest from business in virtual goods as a money-maker has accelerated significantly in the past six months in particular, and 2009 will see that continue. Second Life has been a leader in that aspect, followed closely by children’s worlds and gaming worlds. Goods will get more sophisticated, with much more real-world marketing efforts behind them. 2009 may also see some virtual goods out-rank popular real-life items in terms of sales and revenue.

Pass – driven by social games on platforms like Facebook, there’s been an explosive growth in the use of virtual currencies to purchase in-game goods. One industry study found that virtual currencies were the most traded virtual goods during 2009.

—

Seven out of ten correct isn’t too shabby, although there were some fairly easy wins amongst them. Our 2010 predictions will be published in the coming week. In the meantime, what are your thoughts on how 2009 played out compared to how you thought it would?

Filed Under: Australian News, General News, Op-ed, Virtual Worlds Tagged With:

Metaplace announces its closure

December 22, 2009 by 8 Comments

In what can be pretty comfortably considered a shock move, Metaplace has announced it is closing in January 2010.

The announcement alludes to a lack of uptake as a reason for the closure, but no significant details are given. A FAQ has been provided and founder Raph Koster has confirmed refunds for December subscriptions and stated that a website for Metaplace residents to continue communicating with each other is on it’s way.

He’s also appealed for the last few weeks of Metaplace’s existence to be one of celebration. It’s hard to imagine there’ll be wall-to-wall joy given the enormous effort the user community have put into creating content on Metaplace. 2009 has seen the platform evolve significantly, and given that the open beta has only been in place a few months, this really does seem like a premature decision. The announcement does say that Metaplace Inc will continue operation and that they have “big plans” – let’s hope those plans are able to bear fruit because the damage of closing a service like this so early on can’t help any company’s credibility. Having interacted regularly with the Metaplace crew over the past year, the decision won’t have been taken lightly but it doesn’t take away from the impact it will have on the user community.

The biggest shame of it all is that Metaplace is an engaging, complex virtual environment that offered enormous content creation options. That this is lost when there are so many cookie cutter 2D worlds with limited creative options is sad, but the history of virtual environments is littered with examples of promising developments that didn’t reach their full potential. Metaplace is one of them now, but hopefully the technology behind it appears in another form in the future.

Filed Under: General News, Virtual Worlds Tagged With:

Previous Posts