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March 2010
The Archives
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03.31.10China Quintuples U.S. Spending in VWsCNN is reporting that, according to research firms, the sales of virtual goods in China topped $5-billion in 2009, more than five times the estimate for the US. One of the main reasons for this surge in sales is that click-through rates for advertising take up a much smaller slice of the revenue pie, according to researchers. Another reason is that China is replete with game designers, and though monetization is a difficult challenge, selling virtual goods has been of the bright spots of the industry. The piece cites the success of Tencent, a company that offers QQ Instant Messanger ...
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03.31.10Micazook Aims to Bridge Virtuality, Google MapsMicazook, a maker of 3D games based in the UK and Poland, will soon launch a beta of its "mirror earth" 3D virtual world, currently called Project X but soon to be launched under a proper name. The company claims, despite having launched its site, that Project x "is probably the planet's largest MMO virtual world to date." It's probably best to ignore that hyperbole and instead focus on what the world aims to do: "to make mirror earth possible as a viable world and to map the entire planet earth in 3D." According to the Micazook blog, the MMO will be ...
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03.27.10There.com Spawns UtherverseUtherverse Digital Inc., a company based in Vancouver dedicated to growing the "virtual world web," has created ThereNewWorld.com, a takeoff of There.com that has captured 800-plus former users of There.com and bills itself as "a new 3D virtual world for all ex There.com users", according to Business in Vancouver (BIV.) One of There.com's competitors, Second Life, was also quick to welcome so-called 'Thereians' into the fold, as Blue Linden recently wrote about over on the Second Life blog. SL created a landing page for displaced residents and Blue also noted that some SL residents helped the Thereians make the transition ...
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03.24.10SLife in Las Vegas: Virtual Worlds EverywhereAfter a few days there's a sort of low-grade hum that seems to tackle you from the back of your skull, and that's without wandering the casino floor - somehow those bleeps, the thrum of the air conditioning and the sort of muffled quality of - well, of everything, really, whether the clicks of poker chips or the way that people's voices sort of get trapped in the over-scaled spaces, it all just becomes part of your experience of the place. Wandering through my hotel, the Venetian, I can't help but think that Second Life builders could take a few lessons ...
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03.24.10Virtual Reality Reflected in New SyFy Offering CapricaAs has been stated ad nauseum, the success of the film ‘Avatar’ has firmly cemented (at least the concept) of what an avatar is within the minds of a global populace. And of course the penetration of 3D worlds is ongoing, seeping more and more into spaces and subcultures (stamps, anyone?) than ever before. Avatar was more of a presentation of the avatar concept rather than a comment/critique on virtual worlds, but there’s a new show on the SyFy channel that is aiming to take a more thought-provoking look at what it means to be an avatar and what effect virtual ...
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03.24.10Religious Groups Claim Space in Virtual WorldsOne of the main objectives of any religious group is expanding its flock. Whether this has been achieved through the non-violent approach of missionary work or through more violent recruitment, the ultimate goal is outreach. The Bridge Church, a small outfit in Jacksonville, Florida, believes that a virtual world can help to reach new members. It will use space in the larger Universe of Faith (UOF) virtual environment in order to connect with people in South Africa, Africa and the Caribbean while supporting relief efforts and training church leaders. At the same time, the ministry will try to broaden ...
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03.23.10Virtual Worlds in Business: Summary from Metaverse EIC’s ReportThere seems to be an assumption among those looking into the crystal ball of business operations that virtual worlds will take their place as a regular component of company technology. David Holloway, as most of you probably know, brings an Australian perspective to this thesis as the editor of The Metaverse Journal. Holloway recently put together a succinct (read: only 6 pages!) overview of how virtual worlds and business will interact over the coming year, opening with the assumption mentioned above: If you work for a business and are reading this, you are likely just exploring the concepts around virtual worlds ...
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03.19.10Virtual Worlds and the Military AmputeeProviding peer-to-peer support for the military amputee through virtual world technology is one of those natural "of course" things where the use and the tech matches nearly perfectly. While I've written about this before, our project in partnership with Virtual Ability Inc. continues to be both a powerful demonstration of how virtual worlds like Second Life can provide support environments (whether for the military amputee, patient groups, or around specific interest areas) and a source of insight beyond the technology. The Amputee Virtual Environment Support System (AVESS) was the subject of a brief talk I gave earlier this week on Virtual ...
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03.18.10Tom Boellstorff on Anthropology, Virtual Worlds, Culture and ChangeFollowing the jump is my interview with Tom Boellstorff, author of Coming of Age in Second Life at the recent Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education conference. As always, he was amazing although I'm the first to admit I'm a gushing fanboi when it comes to Tom. His comments in particular on techne versus episteme and the role of ideas in a virtual world really struck home. While it may seem like 45 minutes is a lengthy chunk of your day, I can pretty much guarantee that the following is well worth watching. Continue Reading...
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03.17.10Family Unity: Virtual Worlds, Games and Auntie Em in the KitchenTom Higgins, the evangelist for Unity3D appeared on Metanomics today and confessed after that he's also called The Preacher - to which I'd add carnival barker, pep squad leader, coach, and school yard razzer - "bet you can't climb that wall, I bet ya, come on, climb it, bet ya can't, come on." Leaving aside Unity3D itself, of which I'm a big fan, what struck me about Tom's appearance, aside from Robert Bloomfield going off again on the Serenity Prayer and telling us that we need wisdom in order to accept the Lab (um, OK, now I really DO need a ...
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