Virtual Worlds Forum

It's surprising that more real-world furniture retailers and designers aren't involved with virtual worlds and games. After all, if people are buying virtual furniture in these worlds, isn't there an opportunity for the retailers to get involved? And so it's proved, with a deal between IKEA and Electronic Arts for The Sims 2.

Disney Interactive Studios has launched an innovative project called DGamer, which it's describing as an avatar-based community for Nintendo DS, rather than a fully-fledged virtual world. But if it's not the latter yet, it's clearly a step in that direction.

That's the headline coming out of some new research by Gartner Group, which highlights the way many big brands have dived into virtual worlds, but then quietly slunk out within a year and a half when they don't meet their initial expectations.

Here's something to chew on if you've got an interest in virtual crime. Dutch researcher Bart Schermer has published a paper called 'Alan Turing and the Matrix: Intelligent Systems for Law Enforcement in Virtual Worlds'. It paints a picture of virtual law enforcement agents operating within virtual worlds in the future.

The headlines may have been in consumer usage of virtual worlds in the last couple of years, but there's an emerging sense that there could be genuine value in corporate use of virtual worlds. Now, the Association of Virtual Worlds has published its first Business Guide to Virtual Worlds, which claims to list more than 30 solutions, vendors and providers helping businesses go virtual.

Austrian virtual worlds firm Avaloop has appointed Thomas Bidaux as vice president of strategy for its Papermint virtual world. He's been tasked with driving the international expansion of the world, which was showcased at last year's Virtual Worlds Forum in London.

Trading marketplace firm Live Gamer has extended its relationship with Sony Online Entertainment, with the news that SOE will use its Live Gamer Exchange real-money trading (or RMT) platform in two upcoming MMOs.

Here's a quote to make your heart sink, from the CEO of gaming firm Rocketon, talking about how ringtones, online games and virtual world items can generate revenues from teenagers:

"Teens have a lot of money to spend but they are very careful what they spend it on. The idea for vendors is to make getting into it free. Then once you suck them in, you have to make it enough of a value so that they will part with their money."

Granted, this is a quote from a news report on HP's Teens Plugged In conference, and so may have been taken out of context. But with so much activity in the kidworld market, there are sure to be concerns if a bunch of startups dive in looking to squeeze as much money out of their young users as possible. In recent years, premium-rate mobile content vendors like Jamster have faced flak for overcharging teens. Could the virtual worlds sector follow suit?

Learning site Funbrain says more than 14 million children have used its Poptropica virtual world since it launched last September. I hadn't heard of it before, but it's proof that kids' appetite for virtual worlds is growing strongly - and is not necessarily restricted to the large existing worlds like Webkinz and Club Penguin.

The anonymity offered by virtual worlds is throwing up opportunities for the medical profession, particularly when it comes to encouraging patients to seek help or advice on ailments that they might be embarrassed about. The Spanish Society for Family and Community Medicine has launched a Second Life surgery targeting teenagers, for example.

If you're selling hooky Playboy items in Second Life, it must be a bit of a shock to have two Amazonesque Playmate avatars show up and start taking notes. However, that's what's happening in Second Life, with an investigation led by Playboy Island manager MSGiro Grosso.

Interesting news on a course in Second Life at the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden. It included a module titled 'Unreal Central Perspective' examining the representation of architecture within Linden Lab's virtual world, and how it's influenced by gaming, and the fact that it's unrestricted by gravity and materials.

We've had plenty of virtual worlds aimed at teens, tweens and pre-teens. Now Knowledge Adventure is setting its sights on even younger kids, with the launch of a new virtual world called JumpStart for 3-5 year-olds. Its full title is JumpStart Advanced Preschool World, and there's a firmly educational focus.

Metaverse developer Simuality has launched a donations drive within Second Life to raise money to aid the relief efforts in Burma, following the recent cyclone. Kiosks to take donations are being placed around the virtual world, as well as on Simuality's network of websites.

I wrote about Disney's plans to close its Virtual Magic Kingdom virtual world a while back, and judging by the number of comments from fans who found that post, the decision has caused outrage among many users. Now, the LA Daily News is reporting on some users' plans to picket the real-world Disneyland in protest.