I couldn’t resist – and it’s hard to say if this is a virtual world, per se, but it’s touted as one. From Ad Age:

“Guinness is offering U.K. drinkers a personalized virtual-reality experience in a partnership with Google Earth that lets people create their own worlds and then invite friends to join them via Facebook.

The Diageo-owned stout is best known for its epic TV commercials, but Guinness is moving its marketing online in order to build a more interactive relationship with drinkers. Users can select their own area of the planet and then create a bespoke landscape for their territory, modeled on the terrains of Brazil, Australia, Japan, Canada or Nepal. Through Facebook, they can then ask friends to contribute their own kingdoms, until an entire planet has been created. Users are also required to download and install the Google Earth plug-in.

The more diverse the planet, the more water droplets Guinness will embed into the world they are building. When users discover a certain number of water droplets, they get the key to unlock a “golden pint” and win a case of Guinness to share with friends. The ultimate winner gets a year’s supply of beer. “

The question is: how come the folks in the UK are the only ones allowed to get virtually drunk? Is there something wrong with the rest of the world? Or is this a reward of some kind for the, um, proficiency with which they do so in the real world?