Virtual worlds: a real life leadership incubator?
May 9, 2008
The mainstream media cops fairly regular criticism for its sensationalistic coverage of virtual worlds and rightly so in some cases. A very impressive exception to this rule is an article published this week by the Harvard Business Review.
It’s a detailed look at the role gaming worlds like World of Warcraft and Lord of the Rings Online play in the development of leadership skills. It’s well worth a read and the authors have a good grasp of their subject.
Popularity: 5% [?]
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‘The Blue Book: A Consumer Guide to Virtual Worlds’ released
April 26, 2008
The Association of Virtual Worlds has released a free publication for download called ‘The Blue Book: A Consumer Guide to Virtual Worlds’.
You can get it here and it comes in at 41 pages. The bulk of that is a listing of the more than 250 virtual worlds launched or in development. Lists like these already exist, but the relatively new Association is committed to keeping it updated and its format is useful - although a full online version would be a great future addition.
The publication’s release isn’t all about altruism - there’s plenty of links to the Association and virtual news website iViNNiE - the same site that touts itself as the ‘Number One Virtual Worlds News Network’. I think there’d be a site or twenty with greater traffic and equal output and commitment to quality that may disagree with that claim. That said, the guide is a commendable addition to virtual world information out there.
Popularity: 7% [?]
vBusiness expo gains momentum
April 23, 2008
Clever Zebra are holding their vBusiness Expo later this week.
35 speakers are confirmed from organisations such as Gartner, Forrester Research and IBM, with the key focus being “what is the practical purpose of virtual worlds?”.
Registration is free and there’s still places available. We’ll bring you key debates and issues as they occur.
Popularity: 6% [?]
Report: over 100 youth-oriented virtual worlds
April 12, 2008
Virtual Worlds Management have released a report showing more than a hundred youth-oriented worlds are either live or in development. The data was compiled from their own news site and a full list is viewable including links to further information.
Seeing such a list further emphasises the faith business has in the virtual world platform but given that it’s still early days for virtual worlds, I’d expect a significant number on that list to struggle to gain a significant foothold in the face of such widespread competition.
Popularity: 5% [?]
VastPark, Twofish Elements and TurboSquid
April 4, 2008
The announcements keep on coming out of Virtual Worlds 2008, with Australian-based VastPark using the fourm to announce some further developments.
The most interesting announcement to me is the license agreement with Twofish, Inc. They provide an economic platform for ‘online entertainment properties’ called Twofish Elements™ . It’s an ecomonic engine that claims to be “an exclusive technology that powers online economies by allowing partners to simply and dynamically control banking and inventory policies”. That’s obviously not a lot of detail but it certainly does add another string to VastPark’s bow, allowing end-users to create their own real cash or virtual currency economies. Settings such as pricing, scarcity and product information can all be tweaked by the user.
The second announcement involves the establishment of a relationship with 3D model provider, TurboSquid. VastPark users will be able to insert content directly from TurboSquid’s catalog of nearly 200 thousand 3D models, presumably for a price.
During our interview with VastPark CEO Bruce Joy last weekend, he alluded to some of these developments and like any such announcements, it’ll be fascinating to see them actually come to fruition. What looks particularly encouraging is how comprehesive the VastPark offering is looking. If the interface allows for realitively easy content creation, this is likely to me a successful business model.
Popularity: 4% [?]
Nickelodeon enters virtual world fray
April 4, 2008
Reuters are reporting the entry of Nickelodeon into the virtual world market with a wide-ranging announcement to coincide with Virtual Worlds 2008.
When you have SpongeBob SquarePants up against the Disney franchise in the virtual worlds market, it’s fair to assume there’s some confidence in the future growth of virtual worlds.
Popularity: 4% [?]
Telstra responds on first anniversary in Second Life
March 18, 2008
Today I was contacted by Craig Middleton, BigPond’s Group Manager, Corporate Affairs, after seeing our story on Telstra’s first anniversary in Second Life. He’s provided his list of Telstra BigPond’s achievements in Second Life:
“ACHIEVEMENTS
~~~~~~~~~~~~
* We have built and maintained a leading position as the most popular real life brand presence in SL in the world, which has continued to reach record levels in early 2008.
* Approximately 85,000 registered users through the BigPond.com registration process.
* We have continued to grow the estate creating the opportunity for the community to take up residence and have recently added a further residential island called ‘Pondune’ which will be available for rental shortly.
* We hosted an in world extension of the Samsung advertising campaign for their new mp3 player during November 2007 (also reported in B&T)
* We have moved from a limited in-world support model to a more organic model made up of volunteers from the community. The community is now monitored 24hours and there is always help at hand. Further, a User Forum was launched on March 10 providing community members the opportunity to share knowledge between themselves and other members of the BigPond and Second Life community.
* We launched SydSIM - a virtual Sydney CBD - in late 2007.”
It’s now over to you - what would you add as far as further achievements or other observations on Telstra’s first year?
Popularity: 4% [?]
