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Merged realities: events and issues for virtual worlds

February 6, 2009 by Leave a Comment

Two of our more popular features each week are our weekly mainstream news roundup, The Watch, and our weekly does of machinima, Weekend Whimsy. The former runs Mondays, the latter Fridays.

We’ve decided to add a new feature that will run in the middle of the week, called Merged Realities. It will be a handful of links to virtual world events, real-world events and non-mainstream coverage of virtual worlds issues. If you have an event that you think will be of interest, contact us with details. Either use our contact form or DM us on Twitter. If it’s Second Life related, feel free to IM Lowell Cremorne.

Onto the inaugural edition:

1. Mandy Salomon, Senior Researcher at the Smart Services Cooperative Research Centre, is giving a presentation on Second Life to the Women in Information & Communication Breakfast Series – if you’re Canberra based this is worth checking out.

2. Metaplace are having a stress test of their platform. If you’re a beta tester, you should have received an email with the details, otherwise log in to Metaplace to find out more. The stress test starts at 1pm PST on Thursday Feb 5th, which is 8am Friday the 6th of February AEDT.

3. Dancing Ink Productions have released the findings from their Understanding Islam through Virtual Worlds project, conducted in partnership with the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs. I particularly like the graphic novel option for the findings.

islam

4. The Synthetic Worlds Initiative at Indiana University is out its Greenland world into open beta:

To test some ideas, we have prepared a browser-based game of kingdoms, trade, diplomacy, and warfare in the stone age. The world is called Greenland and it enters open beta today. We invite those interested in such things to help us by testing the environment and contributing reactions and criticism to the forums.

To enter Greenland, go to http://greenlandgame.com/ and choose the Mercator server (the other two servers are closed for internal testing).You will need a code to register for the server; it is GLOPENACCESS.

5. Check out this superb video of avatars as music-makers (via New World Notes):


Bandbots – Second Life Musical Avatars from Chantal Harvey on Vimeo.

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

2009: the year the ATO wakes up?

February 5, 2009 by 2 Comments

In recent weeks over on Terra Nova, Julian Dibbell has raised the issue again of taxation and virtual worlds. It’s worth a read purely to gain some insight into the complexity of the issue. As Dibbell states, it’s a lot more than the concept of taxing the sale of virtual goods, although that’s likely to be the driving force of any actions by governments.

linden-exchange

On the Australian front, back in October 2006 the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age reported on advice from the Australian Tax Office (ATO), which was:

People trading in virtual worlds should consider very carefully whether they are conducting a business or a hobby

Since then, there’s been no real change in approach from the ATO – I’m not aware of any campaign to enforce taxation on earnings in virtual worlds. One assumption would be that enforcement is so fraught with difficulties that it remains in the ‘too-hard’ basket, and rightly so. Even in the two or so years since the ATO made that comment, there are even more complicating factors, not least of which is the continued growth in virtual world platforms. Imagine trying to audit a virtual world entrepreneur who makes money in Second Life that he /she partly cashes out in US dollars whilst keeping the bulk in-world in Linden Dollars. If they then operate their business on an OpenSim grid with a different virtual currency, you can imagine the compliance nightmares for the entrepreneur, let alone the ability of the ATO to make any sense of the whole operation.

That said, in a real-world environment of shrinking tax revenues and the growing focus by the US Government on the issue, it’s hard to imagine the ATO are going to continue to sit on their hands for another year. A sensible start would be an inquiry into the challenges of virtual taxation, with the opportunity for virtual world users to provide submissions on a way forward. It would be potentially disastrous if a heavy-handed approach eventuated, that impacted on the multitude of small business people operating successfully in worlds like Second Life now.

The hobby/business continuum has always been a grey area – the only sensible approach for those operating business in virtual worlds is to assume they have a business, not a hobby. With that approach, whenever regulation does eventuate the transparency is already established. Increased regulation seems an inevitability – it’s how that regulation is implemented that will need to be watched closely.

What are your thoughts – can you see the ATO getting more active in the area or is the cost of ensuring compliance too great for the potential returns?

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

Companies and 3D Virtual Worlds: one detailed analysis

February 4, 2009 by Leave a Comment

stavros There’s an ever-growing pile of books on virtual worlds available, ranging from tour guides to detailed ethnography.

One publication that slipped under the radar for me at least (it was published in May 2008) is Companies and Virtual 3D Worlds – Analysis of Business Model at the Example of Second Life. Written by Stavros Pechlivanidis, a Managing Consultant and IT Specialist for IBM Global Services, this book is actually a Masters Thesis for Pechlivanidis’ MBA studies, and it shows. I mean that in a positive way, in that it’s apparent a lot of research has gone into the final product. That said, this isn’t a book for the faint hearted and is probably only suited to people working in business who are taking an in-depth look at the applicability of virtual worlds for their enterprise. Publisher VDM Verlag kindly provided me a review copy, so read on for my thoughts below.

What has impressed me with this book is the strategic view it takes. There’s plenty of information on the macro environmental factors impacting virtual worlds (political, social, economic and technological), including some great evaluation of these factors:

Other aspects covered include virtual world industry segmentation and their individual success factor, and a business model overview for virtual worlds. This leads directly into the guts of the thesis: analysing the different business models within Second Life. Everything from Anshe Chung to currency exchanges are examined in the context of the research literature on business models more broadly. Three broad categories are cited: C-Business (creative business models), I-Business (interconnectedness between real world and virtual world or between different virtual worlds as a way of doing business) and V-Business (virtual business occurring solely in a virtual world). It provides Pechlivanidis a springboard from which to analyse the strategic opportunities for business across all three spheres.

Overall, this is an extremely comprehensive book that is aimed squarely at business. It’s breadth and rigour make it a desirable reference source as business shows more interest in virtual worlds. It stands out for its provision of new information rather than just summarising information found elsewhere, which isn’t unexpected given its academic underpinnings.

You can buy the book from our bookstore by clicking here or if you’d prefer we not get a (very small) cut, the direct Amazon link is here.

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

The Watch – virtual worlds in the news

February 2, 2009 by Leave a Comment

1. Escapist (USA) – World of Warcraft: A Religion? “To say that hardcore WoW players are fanatics is one thing, but to call them religious is another. That’s what a graduate student at the University of Colorado is arguing, though. Citing the French sociologist Danil Hervieu-Lger’s definition of religion, Theo Zijderveld argues that though World of Warcraft isn’t a religion proper, it certainly contains the four key ingredients: community, ethics, culture and emotion. The communal aspect, Zijderveld says, comes from playing with people and making friends within the game. As for the ethics, the rules of the game (and presumably the rules of the community) constitute that.”

2. PC World (USA) – Second Life Profitable Despite Interface Woes. “In exclusive interviews with The Industry Standard, Linden Lab’s two top executives have confirmed that the company is still profitable and Second Life is continuing to grow users and expand its enterprise services. However, Linden Lab founder and chair Philip Rosedale and CEO Mark Kingdon admitted that the in-world experience still takes too long for new users to master, an issue that will require significant amounts of technological work to rectify.”

3. CBC News (Canada) – Strangers in Paradise. “Around the world, millions have gone on-line to create a virtual life for themselves — a simulated fantasyland where the economy booms, the sun shines and everyone looks gorgeous. For many “second lifers,” the game is just that, a game. But, for others, it takes on a life of its own. Hana Gartner introduces us to two women who fell in love with their fantasy life and lovers. They gave up everything, husbands and children, to meet the man behind their fantasies. Find out, if the real thing measured up.”

4. Second Thoughts (USA) – Stranger Than Paradise: Is Second Life Really Like This? “Having gone over to the CBC to watch this, I have to say: no, SL isn’t like this. I haven’t seen a guy with nose-rings and eyes that bug open like that waiting at the bottom of a waterfall that I jumped off — well, ever — ROFL.”

5. LA Times (USA) – ‘Heroes’ hops on to Habbo’s virtual world. “If you haven’t heard of Habbo, you’re probably older than 16. Among younger teens, Habbo is one of the more popular virtual hangouts on the Web, with about 2.8 million unique U.S. visitors in December, up 110% over a year earlier, according to ComScore. That’s why NBC Universal struck a deal with Habbo’s Finnish developers, Sulake, to drum up interest in the show “Heroes.” NBC is introducing a new spin-off character there named Syn Anders. Though she doesn’t appear on “Heroes” itself, she’ll be Habbo residents’ virtual guide to the series, assigning players with quests and puzzles that mirror the show as it continues into its third season.”

6. Israel21C (Israel) – Getting the kids to save the world. “When was the last time you saved the world? Now, there’s a challenge. Ekoloko, a new, green-themed virtual world not only gives kids a chance to chat and play games, they can also help to save the world from destroying itself. “All of the content is around the environment and social awareness,” says Guy Spira, CEO of Ekoloko. “We feel passionate about the mission. Kids can get involved with the adventures, have a total fun experience and at the same time absorb values and knowledge.”

7. CNET (USA) – Daily Tidbits: $594 million for virtual worlds in ’08. “Virtual Worlds Management, a company that provides research on the growth of online virtual worlds, said $594 million was invested in 63 virtual worlds during 2008. Gaia Online and PlayFish were two of the most prominent recipients of venture funding during the year. That said, investments in virtual worlds declined as the year wore on. In the first quarter of 2008, virtual worlds received $184 million in funding. By the fourth quarter of that year, investments dropped to $101 million. Virtual Worlds Management expects a further decline in funding in virtual worlds during 2009.”

8. TMCnet (USA) – Linden Lab Bolsters Leadership Team. “Linden Lab, creator of the virtual world Second Life, announced the appointments of Brian Michon as Vice President of Core Development and Judy Wade as Vice President of Strategy and Emerging Business. Reporting directly to CEO Mark Kingdon, Michon and Wade join a recently expanded executive team that will help drive Linden Lab to the next level in 2009.”

9. The Industry Standard (USA) – Second Life continues global expansion, but China remains on the back burner. “Linden Lab CEO Mark Kingdon says that growing Second Life’s presence in certain international markets is a strategic goal for the company. However, he said that expansion in the country with one of the world’s largest Internet populations — China — is not a priority. In an interview with the Industry Standard at the company’s San Francisco headquarters, Kingdon described the company’s recent efforts to localize Second Life for residents who do not use English.”

10. WebWorkerDaily (USA) – Conferencing and Market Research Services Get Second Life. “Depending on who you ask, Second Life is either an early pioneer in what promises to be a brave new virtual world of peer-to-peer interaction, rife with business opportunities, or a non-starter that got way too much hype way too early and won’t live up to any of it, no matter how long we wait. I believe my fellow WWD writer Aliza Sherman is very much on the former side of the fence. I’ll only say that Second Life’s rise hasn’t been as meteoric as Twitter’s, for instance, but that I still see potential for it to grow.”

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

Growth predicted in virtual events for enterprise

February 1, 2009 by 6 Comments

on24 A survey released a couple of weeks back by virtual event solutions provider, ON24, shows again the momentum in virtual worlds for enterprise. ON24 surveyed ten thousand or so enterprise executives – no details are provided on the survey sample demographics or method. We’ve contacted ON24 to clarify that and will update this story with any response they provide.

Update: ON24 have responded with the following: “The survey sample included 10,000 decision makers of corporate events and marketing within the Fortune 2500 segment in North America. The sample included all industries.”

ON24 provide four key results from their survey on trends in meeting attendance:

42% expect participation in physical trade shows to be down by as much as 50%
64% expect to have fewer physical sales kick off seminars – or none at all
60% expect training, management and other internal events to be down 20 – 50%
A full 76% said their company has already begun using virtual events (53%) or plans to begin using them (23%) to supplement some of their physical events in 2009

The promising findings in regard to views on virtual meetings were:

While 61% said they would miss seeing people in person, less than half felt they would miss traveling to other locations (34%), enjoying the social activities (36%) or seeing speakers in person (20%). Respondents found several aspects of virtual participation to be particularly appealing:

75% appreciated that there is no travel required
64% liked that they can attend the virtual sessions on their own time schedules
58% found it useful to be able to “forward” to their colleagues virtual sessions that they thought would be of interest to them

More than one third of respondents cited the social networking benefits of virtual events, including the ability to see a list of all attendees in advance (35%); to contact other attendees online throughout the event (40%) and to get information on people (32%) and companies (34%) they meet electronically.

Essentially, the argument is that the economic difficulties business faces at present will make virtual events more desirable from a cost viewpoint. This is a very valid argument, but one that needs to be made in combination with a well-integrated virtual meeting solution. Those are already hitting the marketplace, so perhaps virtual worlds for enterprise will continue to defy the economic trends in the real world.

Locally, Ross Dawson’s Future Exploration Network is running its Enterprise 2.0 Executive Forum again this year. I had the pleasure of facilitating a small-group discussion on virtual worlds and business last year and I’m looking forward to doing something similar again this year by facilitating a 20-minute mini-workshop.

Thanks to VW News for the heads-up on the ON24 survey.

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

Weekend Whimsy

January 30, 2009 by Leave a Comment

1. Second Life: Text-Based Badminton (Part 1)

2. Chakryn Forest

3. open simulator project: my stand alone sim

Filed Under: General News, User-generated, Virtual Worlds Tagged With:

Australian classification of MMOGs

January 29, 2009 by 6 Comments

Massively’s Tateru Nino has written a fascinating piece on the issue of games classification in Australia. Specifically, she’s confirmed with the Federal Attorney General’s Department that:

“Where a sale is within the jurisdiction of the relevant State or Territory legislation,” Heffernan informed us, “it is a criminal offence under those laws to sell unclassified computer games. Enforcement of those laws is a matter for the States and Territories.”

There may be no surprise in that to many people, but Tateru’s discovery is that most MMOs have no displayed evidence of having applied for Australian classification. After doing some digging for the story, she believes it’s a case of oversight combined with governmental miscommunication.

Personally, I find it hard to believe that the major MMO publishers wouldn’t understand that Australia had a classification regime. The claim is that such publishers were advised in the past that MMOs didn’t need to comply, which is plausible given their nature in comparison to a standard 1-person game at the beginning. Now, MMOs are so widely used it’s a problematic argument to uphold. Behemoths like Blizzard’s World of Warcraft and its expansion packs aren’t labeled with any Australian classification – an unusual thing unless historic advice has been provided to say local classification wasn’t required. WoW in particular has nothing to fear from classification given how innocuous its gameplay is and its well implemented moderation options.

crigil-westfall

It’s more an issue of principle: the government only assesses applications made to it, there’s no proactive work done on ensuring new releases are classified. There’s an obvious problem here – if a less responsible publisher arrives on the scene to release an MMO that would rate R18+ , it can still hit the shelves if that publisher doesn’t apply for classification rather than being refused classification if they did apply. As Tateru mentions in her piece, Australia has the farcical situation of having no R18+ or X18+ categories for games, so everything at that level is refused classification. Add to that the fact that State governments are responsible for enforcing the law and it’s not hard to see how this situation has arisen.

Essentially, the current voluntary application process combined with no ‘adult’ games ratings and the old Federal / State blameshifting actually fosters an environment where a non-ethical publisher would be mad not to release their MMO product unclassified. If they’re ever caught (which seems unlikely unless the MMO is beyond the pale), there’s a growing precedent of other MMOs selling tens or hundreds of thousands of locally unclassified copies. I’d have thought that would be one hell of a defense.

Hopefully the Australian Attorney General’s department has another look at the issue, particularly the lack of adult game classifications, because the status quo is becoming more untenable as MMOs continue their growth in popularity. The risk is that a crackdown will occur without an expansion of the classification options – that would be nearly as bad as the status quo.

Update: Tateru Nino has posted a follow-up story on the issue

Filed Under: Australian News, Gaming Worlds, Government policy, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: , ,

Linden Lab gain two more executives

January 28, 2009 by Leave a Comment

Read all about it here in CEO Mark Kingdon’s post, but the upshot is that Linden Lab have gained a VP of Strategy and Emerging Business (Judy Wade) and a VP of Core Development (Brian Michon).

Both positions aren’t unusual in a growing company. Both will be tested in coming months in an environment of improving infrastructure and the need for a coherent growth (or maintenance) strategy. I’d say both new positions will actually be spending a little time together as it’s hard to imagine there being too big a gap between the overall strategy and the primacy of effective infrastructure.

Filed Under: General News, Virtual Worlds Tagged With:

The Watch – virtual worlds in the news

January 27, 2009 by Leave a Comment

1. VentureBeat (USA) – iMafia, a social game for iPhone with new virtual goods model. “Social games have taken off on networks like Facebook, and now mobile platforms like the iPhone. One of the newest examples is the iMafia game from PlayMesh, which has found a clever way to integrate virtual goods — a challenge for most iPhone apps. Social games like Mob Wars are already hugely popular online. But Charles Ju, co-founder of PlayMesh in San Francisco, believes the time is right to migrate the concept to the iPhone, which is capable of supporting the same features that draw audiences on the web. The result, iMafia, was released on Friday and already ranks No. 88 in the Apple AppStore.”

2. The Industry Standard (USA) – Virtual worlds getting a dose of reality. “Virtual worlds, at least those looking for funding, are meeting the all-too-real world of the worsening economy, according to a new report. Prepared by Virtual Worlds Management, a provider of market research and events related to the virtual worlds industry, the report says investments in 63 virtual-world related companies declined by 58 percent from 2007 to 2008, shrinking from $1.4 billion to $594 million. This year will see more contraction, Joey Seiler, editor of Virtual World News, told The Standard. ”

3. VentureBeat (USA) – Updated: Game and virtual world fundings top $885 million in 2008. “In 2008, VentureBeat chronicled lots of game and virtual world fundings. Our updated list shows 93 game companies that raised more than $885.6 million worth of venture capital and angel funds. That’s nothing compared to the $4.1 billion that went into U.S. deals for clean tech, according to the National Venture Capital Association. But it’s certainly a big chunk of the $2 billion that went into 407 media and entertainment companies in 2008. It’s probably one of the biggest years for venture investment in video game companies. Many of these companies may shut down because of the recession.”

4. BusinessWeek (USA) – Architect Designs Sony’s Virtual World. “Back in July 2007, architect Kenji Ikemoto got an unexpected call from a contact at Sony Computer Entertainment, Sony’s (SNE) video game unit. Was he interested in designing an online virtual world for the company’s PlayStation 3 gaming console? Ikemoto, 37, was intrigued. The founder of Jota Associates had worked on residential and commercial buildings around Tokyo, but had no experience in video games and no clue why Sony would want to hire a real-world architect for such a project. The offer began to make sense when he met with officials at Sony Computer Entertainment’s office: They wanted to create a virtual cityscape rivaling hip areas of Tokyo.”

5. Web Worker Daily (USA) – Enhance Live Events With Virtual Ones. “I’ve talked about live blogging events as a way to enhance and promote a real world event, literally as it is happening. But lately, I’ve been asked to host virtual world events simultaneous to real world events. Mike Gunderloy and I also included planning and hosting virtual events in our 10 More New Ways to Make Money back in August. The virtual events I hosted recently were both held in Second Life. Clearly, Second Life is not dead.”

6. Ars Techica (USA) – New cafe space coming to PlayStation Home. While the original iteration of Home was very light on content, Sony is attempting to remedy that with the addition of more spaces for users to socialize in. Following the release of Red Bull Island, Sony has announced a new cafe space for the virtual world. Unfortunately, it looks to be just as devoid of content as the rest of Home. A batch of screens for the new space were released on the PlayStation.com message boards, which show off the modern looking cafe area. While no details have been released, the early images don’t show much promise for additional activities.”

7. PC World (USA) – Teleconferencing will be Big in 2008, Gartner Says. “Current economic conditions are set to drive uptake of video telepresence in the next three years, with the travel industry losing out, according to Gartner. The analyst firm predicts that high-definition-based video meeting solutions will replace 2.1 million airline seats annually, costing the travel and hospitality industry US$3.5 billion per year. This is one of the firm’s top 10 predictions for the year.”

8. Times of India (India) – Virtual 3D worlds or Web 3.0? “While the world debates over what Web 3.0 could actually comprise, Sudhir Syal explores the virtual 3D World and realises that it could well be a serious contender. It was in the summer of 2004, during a conversation between internet evangelist Tim O Reilly and MediaLive International that the now inescapable term Web 2.0 was first coined. Just after the dotcom bust, Web 2.0 was meant to signify the resurgence of the World Wide Web and it was to reinforce this that the Web 2.0 Summit was first held. ”

9. Scoop (New Zealand) – Virtual Islam: Peace, Love, and Some Understanding. “In these times of rockets and bombs exploding in Israel and the Gaza Strip, Islamophobia alive and well in the homeland, an uptick in anti-Semitism in Europe, a lively Rapture Index, and the economy still in a shambles, it may be worth your while to step away from these realities and enter conversations that haven’t yet gotten as much attention and support as they may deserve. Dozens in Egypt, Morocco, Italy, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, France, and the United States gather to protest the recent attacks in the Gaza Strip; American University in Cairo launches a Virtual Newsroom with James Glassman, the US Undersecretary of State of Public Diplomacy, in conversation with eight Egyptian political bloggers who covered the 2008 US presidential campaign; people from around the world join in a pilgrimage to Mecca and witness a burning synagogue depicting Kristallnacht.”

10. Massively (USA) – Linden Lab arrivals and departures. “The lineup of staff at Second Life virtual environment developer/operator, Linden Lab changes on a month by month basis. There’s been a bit of motion since the last high-profile hire. Judy Wade, formerly Entrepreneur-in-residence at Kapor Enterprises Inc, has been hired as the vice president of Strategy and Emerging Business. That’s the same Kapor as Mitch Kapor who has a seat on the board of directors as the Lab.”

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

Announcing: Avatar Dog t-shirts

January 26, 2009 by 2 Comments

avatar_dog2

I’m really thrilled to announce we’ve got some t-shirts for sale. The primary purpose of the t-shirts is to raise money for Kiva, our charity of choice. Kiva provide funds to small businesses in developing countries and to date well over 57 million dollars have been lent, with over 97% of that repaid so that it can be reinvested in other businesses.

Here’s how it works. Buy one of our Avatar Dog or Real Life Avatar t-shirts, and 50% of the proceeds go to Kiva. To clarify actual amounts – each t-shirt generates 20% commission, of which half goes to Kiva. The other half goes to us to assist in meeting our costs (paying writers, hosting, cost of t-shirt design etc). So on a standard t-shirt purchase, a minimum of $2.50 goes to Kiva.

There’s a number of variants on offer including:

– Avatar Dog in colour, no text
– Avatar Dog in black and white, no text
– Avatar Dog in colour: “What’s a metaverse? I call it home”
– Avatar Dog in colour: “Furry for life”
– Avatar Dog in black and white: “It’s an avatar’s life”

We’re selling the t-shirts through Red Bubble, an Australia-based company that ship worldwide (they have offices in the UK and US as well). Their shipping costs are very reasonable: one t-shirt delivered to the USA is $29 US dollars shipped at present (only AU$36 or so delivered within Australia). There’s a choice of up to 22 different colours and four t-shirt styles.

Most importantly, I’d like to give major kudos to the artist we commissioned to create the Avatar Dog. His name is First Dog on the Moon, and he provides a daily piece of brilliance for Crikey – read First Dog’s blog to see more of his excellent work. I’ve been a fan ever since seeing his work appear in Crikey and I was rapt when he accepted the commission.

Comments welcome – we will be uploading further t-shirts (same design with different text) in coming months, and if popular enough we’ll also be commissioning First Dog for a second design. Enjoy!

Filed Under: Australian News, TMJ Site News, Virtual Worlds Tagged With: ,

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