A history of virtual worlds – what was good about different platforms, what wasn’t, and some nice photos to boot, to at least remind us how far we’ve come.

The blog’s author (I’d give more details but I had eye strain with the 100 badges and widgets) has this sharp commentary on Second Life:

Well a game like this appeals only to certain age group. You know… 30-60 something year olds who are actually REALLY sick of their first lives. Bad marriages, stressful jobs. A place where they can get away and be who ever they wanna be. But not everyone has the money these adults do to have a “second life” and that’s what makes it difficult.

So, OK, I won’t even get started. Calling it a game is always the first sign isn’t it?

But otherwise, this is a useful piece of work, reminding us how visual improvements aren’t the only success factors for a platform, they need to be coupled with unique approaches to content development or social tools, which we’re reminded of by the block-like Habbo and it’s success:

Or even There.com:

But I’d add a few images I think, a taste of future platforms, and ask the question that is the extension of his summary: is it visual richness that makes a world?

I mean, there’s the forthcoming Sony Home, but then it probably won’t include a lot of user-created content.

Or maybe Blue Mars, based on the Crysis engine:

As the author points out, however, “it’s the community, stupid” making the point that even though SL attracts lonely older folks with some bucks in their pocket (by his estimation anyways):

“To be quite honest, it’s one of the main reasons Second Life gets so much attention is because like The Palace, the Community creates the world.”

He then goes on to plug VLES, in which is company has a stake, but makes the following intriguing claim:

The creators control the environment, the avatars, and the actions. And of course the reason being is that vSide appeals to a certain age group unlike Second Life, so it has to be more controlled.

I guess you can’t trust kids these days to make, um, appropriate content! Guess the Lindens have it wrong – they’re worried about avatars that look like kids, while actual kids, like those on the Teen Grid, are the ones we should really worry about. Or at least that what “From Istanbul” would have us believe.