Virtual World Hangouts: So Many To Choose From
Mark Hendrickson
64 comments »
The avatars roaming many online virtual communities may be cartoonish and their activities inconsequential, but the recent sale of Club Penguin to Disney for $350 million (with $350 million in earn out) demonstrates that the business of casual immersive worlds, or virtual hangouts, is not entirely child’s play.
Virtual hangouts are where people can engage each other using imaginary characters in imaginary environments. They have been around and popular in Europe and Asia for years. However, they appear to be gaining traction in the United States as of late. Some commentators even believe that the type of experience provided by these destinations could very well become integral to the forthcoming Web 3.0 era.
The newly released MultiVerse platform, which is designed for the creation of online 3D worlds, certainly anticipates a future in which developers demand the tools necessary to build niche virtual communities because such communities have gone mainstream.
Currently, virtual hangouts differentiate themselves by targeting particular audiences and providing certain types of immersive experiences.
Destinations such as Club Penguin and Barbie Girls cater to children and pre-teenagers with their simple user interfaces, basic games, and cartoon graphics. Other immersive worlds such as Second Life and Habbo Hotel shoot for a broader audience by providing more advanced chat capabilities, more realistic simulations of reality, and tools to design objects and surroundings. Then there is Red Light Center (NSFW), which targets mature adults to give them an altogether more explicit breed of entertainment.
The worlds meant for children are designed with a concern for the safety and security of their users. Webkinz, for example, only lets users chat with a preselected assortment of phrases so no one can say anything inappropriate or share personal information. The services meant for general audiences lack such restrictions and theoretically can be enjoyed by all types of people, although this freedom often translates into behavior that would be utterly inappropriate for children. Second Life, for example, does not explicitly promote adult behavior but has become notorious for it nonetheless. Embracing the more voluptuous side of human behavior, services like Red Light Center are professedly all adult, all the time and encourage users to participate in explicit behavior.
Virtual hangouts range not only in the audiences they target but also in the level of immersion they provide. Some, such as Second Life and Active Worlds, put you in 3D-rendered environments with first person points of view in an attempt to approximate virtual reality. Others, such as Gaia (“the world’s fastest growing online world hangout for teens”) and Barbie Girls, use sprites (two-dimensional pre-rendered figures) to provide a bird’s-eye view of characters moving around in largely static settings. Even further down the immersion scale, the “worlds” of certain services such as Cyworld and Neopets are produced simply using HTML images and Flash animations.
Hangouts intended for younger audiences are generally less immersive than those meant for more mature audiences. Perhaps the only reason for this lies in a child’s inability to navigate more complex simulated worlds. However, children and pre-teenagers may also get something entirely different out of virtual hangouts than adults. While adults are presumably drawn to these services because they provide the opportunity for escapism, younger audiences may treat these products as interactive cartoons and toys. Thus, while all of these services provide a similar opportunity to hang out virtually, they may possess fundamentally distinct appeals for different demographics. The variety in immersion levels will probably continue to reflect these differences.
The chart in this post provides a basic comparison of these services to convey the range of virtual hangouts that currently exists. It should be noted that we tried to draw a distinction between online worlds where people hang out and worlds where people play role playing games, as is the case with World of Warcraft and Entropia Universe.
The following services are included in the chart:
- Active Worlds
- Barbie Girls
- Club Penguin
- Cyworld
- Dubit
- Faketown
- Gaia
- Habbo Hotel
- IMVU
- Kaneva
- Millsberry
- Mokitown
- Neopets
- Red Light Center (NSFW)
- Second Life
- There
- Webkinz
- Zwinktopia
We’ve still got nothing approaching the Metaverse of Snow Crash. Think Google will turn Google Earth into a virtual world hangout anytime soon?
first life is the best. ain’t that right, jay?
No Entropia Universe?
A chart with five rows and, let’s see, EIGHTEEN columns. And nobody at any point ever thought, “I wonder if this two-foot-wide chart might be more readable with 18 ROWS and five COLUMNS?”
Another community which would be worth tracking in the comparison chart is Chapatiz:
http://www.chapatiz.com
It is currently targeted to French-speaking pre-teenagers only, but, considering its rapidly growing popularity on its home market, its internationalization seems a fairly natural upcoming development.
There’s a team in Austin turning out something that will let anyone who can drag and drop create entire worlds (space, land, anything…) and share them with any number of other people for free forever. http://www.pocketrealms.com. Apparently it is gorgeous. People buy 3d stuff or make 3d stuff and sell it on their site. When you get the 3d file, you just drag it over the world and it falls in. Looks pretty cool, but we’ll have to see. Not out yet.
Voodoochat.com is another virtual world.
Another nice world is http://www.chaoslands.com
Amazing. No wonder our country is in such a mess. People living in make believe worlds and have no time for a real life. Everything important just flies right over their heads.
this article is shady
What’s amazing is that financial institutions are playing with Virtual worlds, not just tech companies.
Here’s some starting information for the Virtual entrepreneur
http://www.web-strategist.com/.....al-worlds/
The kids market is huge right now. Insane. There are probably two more toy companies launching virtual worlds in the near future, the Bratz dolls launched last week, and I can bet there will be more, because the offline/online component to them (buy the offline toy, get into the online world) is very lucrative for both manufacturers and retailers.
I think by far the youth market is the best use of this kind of technology, and they seem very into buying virtual things to put into their virtual world, so the commerce opportunity is very solid too. I think there are going to be some very exciting things with virtual technology, particularly with gaming, kids, etc. I know there are some interesting developments that’ll come to the market very soon. It’s going to be very cool
who put together the matrix?
Interesting chart, although pre-teenager connotes 8-12 to many people. If you look at sites like Gaia and Zwinktopia, they are 13 and up, i.e. not COPPA compliant. Even though their design looks younger, my guess is that the bulk of their users are 14-16, which to me would be just teenagers or general. You label Habbo as general, but that site is definitely mostly teenagers.
In europe Coca-Cola had its own branded community iniative from 2002 to 2004. It’s still online here : http://www.vzone.be
While we are on the topic of virtual worlds, another cool one I would recommend is:
http://www.citypixel.com
I really like what they are doing here, with their 3D isometric (pixel-art) city where users can stake a claim on some virtual real estate (apartments/office cubes) for free. I am definitely keeping an eye on their growth.
The article didn’t mention whether users are able to get liquored up in a virtual world, but the developers of a new site certainly are in their first life:
“New Social Network is Far Out, Developers Say”
http://www.kyle-am.com/new-soc.....opers-say/
That chart… did anyone think to see if that format was the best one? Wouldn’t it be better to have the comparison categories as columns and the companies as rows? I mean, didn’t the horizontal scrollbar throw you a little clue?
Am I nitpicking? Sure, but take it as a compliment since I (used to?) consider TechCrunch as something more than a crappy blog with no journalistic standards.
http://www.whyville.net
@4 Allen:
lmao you are so right!!!!!
Sorry about the chart being so wide. I actually made it first with the companies on the left, but we thought it would be more standard to put them on the top.
Why is there always skepticism with new products? I’m very enthusiastic about this. I can live in the real world and the virtual, and remarkably at 61, do well in both..
Regards, Dorothy from grammology
http://grammology.com
i like how the website says “Club Penguin is a kid-friendly virtual world where children can play games, have fun and interact with each other”, then looking at the game environment you see a Coffee shop and Night Club….Lord knows that every kid loooooves coffee shops and going to night clubs.
ya……i’m guessing we got a couple weirdo’s creating that site.
other than that, IT LOOKS AWESOME!
Addon ideas: throwing poop at each other in the game…
The list is a good start. For another virtual worlds list - more complete in some areas — missing some info in others - go to http://www.VirtualWorldsNews.com Virtual Worlds Matrix. http://spreadsheets.google.com.....abKCnRxcag
Also, FYI most of these guys are speaking at the upcoming Virtual Worlds Conference taking place October 10-11, 2007 in San Jose. http://www.virtualworlds2007.com
Thanks for the article Mark. Nice to see some deeper research into the more casual and accessible multi-user experiences. Faketown is actually generating revenue through both branded environments and virtual billboards (that stream in ad banners throughout the Fake World and earn a virtual revenue for the billboard owner based on the number of people who pass in front of it). We also sell virtual coins (via Paypal, credit card and U-Kash). Next week we are releasing integrated arcade games in FT that allow users to “play-to-win” by getting the daily high score… just another way to generate a virtual income beyond selling user generated assets created in Faketown.
I think only looking at the Virtual is myopic.
That’s no different than when people used to talk about “paperless” everything. The effect of the advances in the Virtual is on the Real (physical/material), and it’s always been that way.
We started traveling more after the telephone was invented, why?
I think it’s about VirtuReality for good reason. There is no this OR that anymore. It’s both.
Good post guys, helps expand the vision. To the first poster, Google does have many components to stitch together to drop a virtual world, including the maps/earth/sketchup/3d warehouse/ advertising game corp, etc.
I’m not a big believer in 3D = 3.0 or 3D web, since I think web things will port into (rather, ‘internet’ things) these spaces.
The next step is to bridge the social spaces on existing things like the video game industry as a whole. What would happen if Microsoft made a virtual world/social platform as one of the modes on a game like Halo (singleplayer, multiplayer, socialplayer, etc?) And the EA sports titles? My god the money that could flow.
We can’t leave video gaming out of virtual world conversations– we just make sure we are clear that yes, they are inherently different because of issues of top-down content vs. user-made content, and the presence of goals and objects vs. socialization.
This also helps keeping the conversation focused, because we’ll be able to predict the textbook snark that will ALWAYS come up, both from intellectuals and haters alike.
Mark, thanks for the overview and chart. Any sense what the cost is to develop a “virtual hangout” environment like Club Penguin?… My guess is it’s relatively inexpensive to build (under $500k?), and I wonder whether their success will bring a bunch of new competitors, like #12 says.
@Matt Some of the virtual worlds that use 3D are far more expensive than their 2D Ajaxian/Flash counterparts, mainly because the licensing of 3D engines. From open source to 50K to 300K a year… Second Life (the virtual world which is more fun to talk about the culture than the tech) is running Havok 1 (havok’s at 4.5), which is one of the most expensive engines to run, I believe.
There are people far more qualified than I to answer those specifics, especially regarding Aegis (sp?) and others. Maybe the Multiverse.net guys will chime in.
Some virtual worlds *could* be the democratization of gaming in a certain aspect. This conversation is farrrrrr from over and the worlds will not stop coming, from the indies and majors alike.
you should also take a look at http://www.hipihi.com/ which is the chinese version of second life and gaining traction here in China.
I stick with my old beloved mirc
I think these worlds are neat but question whether they will have mass market appeal anytime soon. Do most really have the time to hang out online? Maybe students and retirees but it’s hard to really imagine anyone else. I’ve used Second Life a bit and below are some of my experiences and thoughts.
http://www.bestcashcow.com/tec.....econd-life
Wow, cool sites I haven’t heard of before. Whyville is ok, hipihi looks cool (but I can’t read Chinese), citypixel has an awesome city!, any more out there?
Might want to add Papermint to the chart. http://www.papermint.at.
Kerry, Hipihi can be run on English Windows XP, see my blog and http://www.ideashape.cn for more info, also the English language info on the Hipihi site, at http://www.hipihi.com/index_english.html .
What do you guys think of http://www.taatu.com?
Seem to be for teenagers.
It’s an exciting time to be here watching the “virtual world” structure really take hold. It’s becoming known that a real revolution is happening.
For a deeper investigation into exactly what has happened I of course recommend the metaverse Manifesto.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/redir.....ative=9325
My kids are big into Nicktropolis from Viacom: http://www.nicktropolis.com. It seems more “produced” than some of the others like Webkinz. Their home page claims 4.5 million “citizens”.
The big issue I see is how many can they participate in? Right now they have 3 - Webkinz, Club Penguin, and Nicktropolis. We limit their computer time so they have to choose where they want to go. It seems like they have more fun on Nicktropolis but are compelled to return to Webkinz to “feed” their pets.
Thanks for the comparative chart!
I linked to it in a blog post at:
http://cis471.blogspot.com/200.....rtual.html
A few of many that are not mentioned:
3B.net
Nicktropolis.com
vmk.com (disney)
And some of those numbers ARE pretty mainstream. Not mainstream to whom? Your grandad? Maybe you mean a master one like Myspace?
Perhaps the level of immersion mean that’s less likely.
my opinion, if we are talking about the second SecondLife, you have to mention HiPiHi. It is Chinese only right now and also in the close test stage. But it is growing very fast in China and rumor says HiPiHi has the plan to launch japanese and english version. more information can be found http://www.hipihi.com/index_english.html and http://www.mobinode.com/index.php?s=hipihi
Great chart and great posts.
I have visited many of the sites listed here….
My favorites (for different reasons):
http://www.hipihi.com 8/10
http://www.nicktropolis.com 6/10
http://citypixel.com 7/10
http://activeworlds.com 6/10
I didn’t mention secondlife which is my favorite as everyone knows them….
It’s amazing how large some of these sites have become. We run FlashFlashRevolution, inc and now have over 1,300,000 registered members. We cater to the rhythm and music gaming crowd and as such have solidified our position as the #1 Rhythm gaming social network. What is odd is that we never intended to dive into social networking, it came to us.
Cheers,
James
“Ya, I have belonged to http://www.flashflashrevolution.com now for 3 years and I love it. There is nothing like it on the net.”
This is really cool discussion.
One of the thing that I know is, Mabinogi (http://www.mabinogi.com) which is currently available in Korea, Japan, china and Taiwan.
I’ve heard they are preparing English version for this summer for Xbox.
Some people said this is a role playing game but to me it is more like virtual hangout world.
Most players are doing nothing but chatting or performing concert in front of other players.
You can see these performances at Youtube.com by typing the keyword “Mabinogi”.
come on down–”in?” to the Lounge….
SKYBAR LOUNGE that is;)
http://www.starbasec3.com
Spamming multiple Virtual Worlds..;)
c3
Gaming is taking a new level, I can’t wait to see some new ideas for these Virtual Worlds come out, SecondLife is one of my favourites, but I have always wanted to run my own “Habbo Hotel” style site, just aimed at more mature visitors ;p
I’m curious to know. If people are afraid of getting rejected in this world, what happens 10, 20 years when these “virtual” worlds become so real that we’re afraid of getting rejected in them?
i can’t believe you guys left out puzzlepirates.com. one of the top MMOs according to this:
http://gigaom.com/2007/06/13/t.....ular-mmos/
Vmk.com is better than anything I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!WWWWWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
a virtual world for chinese kids has just launched too.
http://www.bb-bb.cn
Xivio.com Launched in April 2006 is a world for pre-teens to teens and has multimedia capabilties. The immersion is greater than cyworld as the chat is rendering 3D in flash in realtime, and there is an object based economy and scenes that allow for realtime interaction and chat. Users can design what they call a Hompy (homepage) that has videos, pics, and music . Theres a content ratings system to handle material for those underage too.
http://www.xivio.com
They’re releasing a big update soon after being in beta for over a year and never advertising.