This one is pretty interesting folks – just illustrates the future growth expected in the social media and virtual world spaces. From the article:
Currently, PlaySpan powers virtual goods marketplaces across 1,000 video games, virtual world publishers and social networks. …
As virtual goods becomes a booming business, PlaySpan has reaped the benefits of technology and media companies looking to incorporate virtual goods into their platforms.
via Visa Buys Virtual Goods Monetization Platform PlaySpan For $190 Million In Cash.
Going through the archives, and found this article from 2007. Ok, not by “now”, but by the end of 2011. We remarked back then on how extreme an 80% saturation level would be, although we were admittedly a little caught up in it too. According to Wikipedia, as of November 2010, SecondLife had a (mere) 21+ million users. Nothing to scoff at for sure – that is a huge accomplishment in its own right. But they’re not even 5% of Facebook’s user base.
Cheers,
Eric
http://emagazine.credit-suisse.com/app/article/index.cfm?fuseaction=OpenArticle&aoid=277909&lang=EN
http://secondlife.com/support/downloads/?lang=en-US
Lego joins the ranks of WebKinz, Bratz and other toy brands with an online counterpart to their real-world toys. I am firmly in the camp that believes Lego bricks are one of the Great Joys of Life, so this is all good.
Cheers,
Eric
According to Philip Rosedale, today, SecondLife is potentially better able to police activities and maintain law and order than real life. Really? Hmm. Regardless of the venue or subject matter, remarks like that always seem a bit reckless to me. SL is intrinsically gameable (no pun intended) – switch avatars, create a new account, use someone else’s login, etc. It is subject to the same categories of fundamental weaknesses as any online, connected system. I would suggest that any superiority SL may have in this “policeability” is primarily due to lack of scale compared to real life.
With that said, however, SecondLife does present fantastic and interesting opportunities to conduct behavioral experiments, codify exhibited player behaviors into patterns that can be monitored and tracked (for things like in-world crime or terrorism), and much more. Lessons from those kinds of activities could be highly valuable in modeling real-world events.
Cheers,
Eric
A friend recently sent a pointer to me about Open Croquet …. a highly immersive VR environment built with an open source ethic. http://www.opencroquet.org/index.php/About_the_Technology. Apparently there is also a commercial version that’s recently been launched, at http://www.qwaq.com. Looks pretty slick.
Cheers,
Eric
FT.com / Home UK / UK – Gamers hone hypercapitalist skills online
One group, the Guiding Hand Social Club, infiltrated a corporation, assassinated its chief executive and carried out a heist. Another staged a successful IPO to raise money to build space stations. Investors lost everything when the outposts were attacked and taken over by a rival.
I want to join Eve Online!
Reuters/Second Life » Gartner sees 80 % virtual world penetration by 2011
I’ve always thought this was the trend, but 80% penetration is remarkable. I wonder what penetration is on social networking sites, as of now. Perhaps virtual worlds will be seen as a next generation of social networking, with usage/penetration trends following.
