[Each day, Worlds in Motion will be taking a closer look at individual virtual worlds. We'll start with a nuts-and-bolts overview, then move on to an in-depth tour, to be followed up with a conclusion-- all with the aim of bringing you all the essential info and details on each world in the rapidly-developing virtual landscape.]

We spent the last couple of days in Nicktropolis, collecting blobs, playing minigames and exploring in Nickelodeon's online world for kids and 'tweens.

The UK's Edinburgh Interactive Festival, set for August 12-14, 2007 at the Royal College of Physicians, is focused on "expanding the creative culture of games." To that end, they're planning keynotes, debates, panel sessions and cross media industry discussions to examine gaming's impact on consumers and entertainment companies as well as traditional media.

Recently, the Festival's lineup has been expanded to include virtual worlds, with EVE Online creator Hilmar Petersson and Linden Lab's Jim Purbick joining the discussions. Purbick will participate in a 'Developing for Second Life' strand of panels on the 14th, while Petersson will head up ‘Exploring EVE Online’ on the 13th, and will also contribute to the ‘Virtual Societies’ discussion on the 14th.

In his welcome statement on the Festival's homepage, Chairman Chris Deering said, "For our delegates, partners and speakers, Edinburgh offers one thing in particular above all other industry events - a unique networking opportunity for those who are truly passionate about games. It also offers a stimulating and challenging two days of conference, debate and discussion that brings together people from all tiers of the worldwide games and interactive industries."

[Via MCV]

Faculty and students at Bowling Green State University and Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland have created a program that transforms the standard GPS display-- showing a person's position on a map-- into a 3D virtual representation of their surroundings that changes as the user moves.

The program, called Pocket Virtual Worlds, is still in the prototype phase, but project directors Larry Hatch and Jared Bendis are currently working with 239 special photographs they took about a year ago at the Alamo battle shrine in San Antonio. Taken through a mirrored, three-dimensional upside-down cone, the resulting circular images can be unwrapped to create a panorama. Next, the photos are connected in a sequence of paths plugged into a computer program, resulting an image display that changes with the user's direction-- thereby allowing a user to explore the Alamo in the display of a GPS device simply by walking around.

"We had 20 to 25 people surrounding us when we were taking pictures," said Hatch. "They were wondering what in the world we were doing."

"It's really hard to show people the 'wow factor' if you show them the building you work in," Mr. Bendis said, figuring that the nationally-known Alamo site, which not everyone has the opportunity to visit, was "a good place to start."

Hatch and Bendis hope to advance the program into an interactive learning gaming system, with the goal of eventually using the technology to let classroom-bound students take "virtual field trips" of locations like the Amazon rainforest, with classroom projects and discussion launched from what they "see" around them. Since the program can use digitally-created images as well as photographs, students could also theoretically explore outer space or locations in history.

"We lock them into a desk all day, and they don't like it," said Hatch of the average school day.

The group is currently using PDAs as a display unit, but the goal is to have a company interested in the software create a handheld device like the Nintendo DS, wherein students could switch between virtual worlds within the same device as they would switch games.

And like switching games to play, it'd be possible to swap virtual worlds in the same device, Hatch said.

According to Hatch, the team hopes to perfect Pocket Virtual Worlds and have it ready for corporate consideration in about a year, and is heading to Austria with four students from BGSU's Digital Media Research Group to tweak the program at the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences.

[Via ToledoBlade.com]

Washington-based casual MMO developer Thinglefin, Inc., has announced the completion of a Series A financing round led by California Technology Ventures.

The new financing will provide Thinglefin with the ability to self-fund development of their unannounced massively multiplayer game. According to Thinglefin, the game will run in a Web browser and be free-to-play.

"In all seriousness, there will be modestly priced premium features that we hope people find attractive, but they are certainly not required to play the game. And honestly, we expect the vast majority of our audience will play for free," said Thinglefin founder Toby Ragaini on Thinglefin's blog.

"To that point, we’re not going to create a free-player 'ghetto' by segregating the paying and non-paying audiences," Ragaini added. "As a gameplay experience, our customers will benefit from all the people playing, whether they are paying customers or otherwise."

Ragaini also added that Thinglefin is developing a casual game-- which, from his perspective, means accessibility.

"Accessible refers to the fact that you don’t need to purchase, download, or install any software. You can play it in a browser whenever you’re interested enough to come check it out," Ragaini clarified, also touting the game's "shallow learning curve" as "a fancy way of saying its easy to play. There are no complicated inputs or instructions. If you can use a mouse, and manage an AIM buddy list, you can play our game."

Ragaini also envisions a multiplayer game that will "reward any amount of time that players can afford to spend playing it. If you can spare 5 minutes, you will have fun. If you want to invest more of your time, the game will reward you with increasing layers of depth and replayability."

“We have high expectations for our investment in Thinglefin. The audience for Web-based casual games continues to expand, creating enormous opportunities,” stated Alex Suh, Managing Director of California Technology Ventures. “The Thinglefin team has a compelling vision for how to reach new audiences and retain those customers with a combination of accessibility and engaging gameplay.”

“We’re going to be creating a dialogue with gamers,” said Ragaini. “We’re looking forward to receiving feedback from our audience when it’s the most actionable: during development.”

Hit the jump for the full release.

Interesting article from the LA Times' Alana Semuels, profiling some companies whose virtual outposts in Second Life might be losing their appeal-- if not their viability altogether.

Online retailers in Second Life are finding that users, already spending $6 a month for premium citizenship, just aren't prioritizing shopping to the degree that was anticipated-- making some marketers take a second look at their Second Life investments.

According to the article, other companies, like Best Buy, Sun Microsystems and Dell Island are also finding their virtual outposts going empty, devoid of visitors and staff. American Apparel's virtual store apparently now posts signs that it's closed up shop.

Advertisers have found a variety of problems in Second Life. Firstly, avatars don't have human needs, like food and drink; transportation is accomplished by teleportation and even clothing is optional. According to the article, Ian Schafer, chief executive of online marketing firm Deep Focus, said his recent tour of Second Life turned up empty retail outposts-- and packed casinos, brothels and strip clubs. Schafer said he found in his research that "one of the most frequently purchased items in Second Life is genitalia."

Another problem for some is Second Life's smaller userbase: "You're talking about a much smaller audience than advertisers are used to reaching," said Brian Haven, a Forrester Research analyst, who notes that despite its much-touted userbase of 8 million, only about 30,000 to 40,000 users are logged on even at peak times.

Additionally, many corporations have incurred the backlash of angry residents resentful of traditional storefronts and what they perceived as a prioritization of publicity rather than a genuine interest in virtual life.

With that in mind, the article says, companies like IBM Corp are expanding from Second Life into other virtual environments, like There and Entropia Universe.

Millions of Us, a consulting firm that helps brands enter virtual worlds, previously worked exclusively with Second Life-- and recently announced that it had formed a partnership with teen-targeted Gaia Online, a site popular with teenagers, and CEO Reuben Steiger said that more partnerships are expected in the future.

"It's not about whether Second Life is good or bad," Steiger said. "It's just that there are a lot of alternatives."

[Via LATimes.com]

Germany-based startup Game Domain International (GDI), creators of online world A World of My Own (AWOMO), is set to list in London at a value of €1bn (£670m), and is currently drawing up a prospectus prior to seeking a dual listing in London and Frankfurt.

Roger Walkden, the former European head of Activision, has been appointed chief executive of GDI.

AWOMO presents a PC game delivery channel in the format of a 3D virtual world; recently, they partnered with UK social networking site Bebo to invite Bebo users to participate in beta-testing their service. According to the article, it's believed that GDI already has agreements to distribute 100 games from 18 publishers on the AWOMO platform.

Currently, in-world locations lead to online retailers, but GDI's backers believe that eventually consumers will prefer to buy and download all their games directly in digital form.

Virgin Games, a subsidiary of Virgin Group, has a 20 percent stake in GDI. "We believe that AWOMO will do for PC games what iTunes has done for music," said Simon Burridge, Virgin's chief executive, also a non-executive director of GDI.

AWOMO's full commercial launch is set for year-end, with a flotation of GDI penciled in for the first quarter of 2008.

[Via The Independent]

[Each day, Worlds in Motion will be taking a closer look at individual virtual worlds. We'll start with a nuts-and-bolts overview, then move on to an in-depth tour, to be followed up with a conclusion-- all with the aim of bringing you all the essential info and details on each world in the rapidly-developing virtual landscape.]

Last time, we took a thorough look at Nickelodeon's Nicktropolis, a playspace for kids and 'tweens. Next, we turn to Disney's Toontown-- targeting the same audience and estimated by comScore to have a similar-sized userbase (though Disney's as mum as can be on its numbers), Toontown could be called Nicktropolis' biggest rival. So let's start with an overview!

We've all heard the old adage, "cheaters never prosper." But maybe cheaters can affect the prosperity of online worlds, too.

A new book just out this week, "Exploiting Online Games," plans to address this very issue. It's written by security researcher and Cigital CTO Gary McGraw and his colleague Greg Holgund, who look at the ways online games (which, following the client/server model, store data like avatar locations on a server in realtime) might be vulnerable to malicious types who could manipulate the world, or users' investments therein.

The gaming market's expected to reach $12 billion in annual revenue by 2009, and with most virtual worlds now creating their own in-world economies founded in real user dollars, online game developers have got a lot on the line. "These software companies are installing spyware to make sure gamers aren't cheating," McGraw told Information Week-- adding that World of Warcraft has a similar tool in place called The Warden.

McGraw and his colleagues created a piece of software in response called The Governor, in order to suss The Warden out. McGraw found that The Warden also reports on gamers' computer data not necessarily related to WoW-- like what version of Windows the player uses, and even what they're writing in their IMs.

The idea of a virtual economy-- now, for all intents and purposes, a reality-- opens up the same crime opportunities that a real one does, from money-laundering to fraudulent investments, but it seems McGraw's book is mainly concerned with the farther-reaching implications for enterprise defense of distributed software. "If you think about the kinds of security issues tied in with MMORPGs, they're an indicator of things to come as we adopt SOA [Service-Oriented Architecture]," he said.

[Via InformationWeek]

Sparter recently launched a global platform for virtual currency exchange and virtual goods trading, supporting a variety of worlds-- World of Warcraft, EVE Online, MapleStory and Runescape, to name only a few. They call it Gamer2Gamer-- and gamers are something the latest member to join their team has a bit of experience with.

According to their announcement today, Sparter is welcoming Yoshi Maruyama, former GM of the Xbox division of Microsoft Japan, to its advisory board-- the man responsible for bringing industry heavy-hitters Hironobu Sakaguchi (Final Fantasy) and Akira Toriyama (Dragonball Z) to work on upcoming Xbox RPG Blue Dragon. Prior to working with Microsoft, Maruyama was also senior VP and and COO of Squaresoft Inc.

"Yoshi is a visionary and well respected veteran of the gaming industry. We know that his expertise in the sector, his experience in working as a publisher, and his keen sense of the global market will be invaluable to us as we continue to improve Sparter’s platform and services," said Dan Kelly, Sparter CEO. "More importantly, Yoshi understands how vital it is that we as an industry support consumer interest in trading virtual items. I am incredibly excited that a publishing executive of Yoshi’s stature has agreed to work with Sparter in creating a workable solution for both gamers and publishers.”

No question-- Maruyama as an advisor is a good get for any organization working in the online game space. But Sparter's mission is a bit controversial, since many virtual worlds actively discourage, if not forbid outright, the buying, selling and trading of virtual money and goods, or any out-of-world RMT (real money transactions). Is it or isn't it "Chinese gold farming"?

Not necessarily. "In our judgment, the problem is that consumers need something, they want something, they see value in the ability to trade, and the industry isn't supporting it," Kelly told 1UP recently. "What's happening is, [gold-selling site] IGE is serving our customers because the industry is not. They're charging a huge amount of money for taking something from one gamer and moving it to another gamer. That money is coming out of the pockets of our consumers. In effect, IGE has imposed a tax on the purchasing power of our consumers, and every day they're taking money out of their pockets -- willfully, the consumers value the service, otherwise they wouldn't do it -- and it's leaving the industry. What we'd rather see happen -- our belief, and ultimately the problem we decided had to be tackled -- consumers want this, it can be good for the industry, so what we want to do is keep it between gamers. That's how we keep it good and not require that gamers go to B2Cs."

As co-creator of the original MUD (Multi-User Dungeon) set up on the PLATO system at the University of Essex, Richard Bartle has an interesting perspective on the current state of online worlds. In an interview with the UK Guardian's Keith Stewart, Bartle shares his thoughts on a variety of relevant topics -- whether social interaction in online worlds can be compared to the real-world (Bartle says yes), the evolution of computer-controlled NPCs (versus the volunteer altruists Bartle remembers) and on the power of virtual worlds in light of their relatively limited individual shelf lives.

Stewart asked Bartle, "If you could take over control of one major MMORPG - which would you choose and what would you do with it?" His answer?

I'd take over World of Warcraft and I'd close it. I just want better virtual worlds. Sacrificing one of the best so its players have to seek out alternatives would be a sure-fire way to ensure that unknown gems got the chance they deserved, and that new games were developed to push back the boundaries.

Er, I would get to do this anonymously, wouldn't I?

For more from Bartle, including thoughts on social networking and the "Web 3D" idea, check out the interview!

[Via GuardianUnlimited]

Doppelganger Studios got its start with virtual music club The Music Lounge, and soon moved on to its next project-- building the ultra-hip Lower East Side of Manhattan into an online world, Virtual Lower East Side (VLES).

Now, as InformationWeek reports, Doppelganger's ready to add some intriguing new city hotspots to its slate, with Tokyo's Harajuku and Shinjuku districts, Paris' 7th Arrondissement, and Milan, in addition to planned communities like Seaside, Florida all tentatively slated for an August 2007 release. Since its launch in May 2006, Doppelganger's only signed up 150,000 members-- so it makes sense that they're looking to expand their reach.

"We wanted to base it on a real world city because that's the environment the average user is familiar with," said Andrew Littlefield, the company's chief creative officer and founder. "And it gave us an opportunity to insert advertisements."

Advertisements clash with fantasy environments like the World of Warcraft, explained Littlefield. But teens readily accept them in a world with more verisimilitude.

"In a focus group, 90% of teens preferred commercial-rich environments because they felt it was more real," Littlefield said.

But Littlefield believes a light touch is necessary. "Teenagers today have really been the target of the most sophisticated media campaigns since they were born," he said. "They're very, very used to ads so one of the things we wanted to do was introduce these things with a very light touch, so it didn't feel like ads being jammed down their throats."

[Via InformationWeek]

We'll probably be talking more here at Worlds in Motion about the great blogs to watch for ideas and discussion on the virtual worlds space, but for now, let's peek in on the personal blog of Raph Koster, whose intriguing Areae project is still under wraps. As a designer and director with exposure to the multiplayer and online worlds concepts since the early nineties, Raph's experienced point of view on the space is invaluable-- game guru Tycho of Penny Arcade fame calls him a "prophet."

Raph can also be relied on for snippets of inside info:

I just got an anonymous tip that the figures reported for BarbieGirls.com are not only accurate, but that there is internal concern that the servers won’t handle the load once the toy MP3 players with virtual item asset codes hit the stores.

With those figures-- 3 million users in 60 days while still in beta-- Raph's informant could very well be spot-on.

Another good blog-to-watch is Nabeel Hyatt's Brinking. Nabeel is the founder of Conduit Labs, a venture-backed group of gaming and entertainment vets putting together an as-of-yet unnanounced online social networking/virtual world project. He moderated the "Why Virtual Goods Matter" panel at the recent Virtual Goods Summit, and, according to his site, was nominated by MIT Technology Review in 2004 as one of the "Top 100 Innovators Under 30." Currently on Brinking, some thoughts on how Nielsen's new attention-based web metric boosts social networking sites, as well as a discussion on CyWorld's $80M virtual goods biz.

One more today-- Adrian Crook's FreeToPlay, subtitled "alternate revenue streams for digital entertainment." Crook currently heads up Relic Labs, an internal group at THQ developer Relic Entertainment, where he develops new game concepts using emergent themes like casual gaming, Web 2.0 and free-to-play business models. His latest tells readers "10 Things You Didn't Know" about surprise dark-horse Shockwave hit Sherwood Dungeon by Maid Marian Entertainment.

We'll be taking a closer look at some more neat gems from all of these important sources in the future!

GoPets, an online world established in South Korea in 2004, lets users explore, play casual games, and create and customize virtual pets. Now, Microsoft Casual Games has announced it will partner with GoPets to launch the game on Windows Live Messenger, integrating the virtual world with its instant messaging service.

The service is now available via IM to Messenger users in the U.S., Australia, Japan and Korea-- but Microsoft says it'll expand it to more than 30 countries by the end of 2007.

“GoPets is an online community where anyone can adopt a pet, customize it to their liking and interact with other pet owners anywhere in the GoPets virtual world at any time of day,” said Erik Bethke, CEO and founder of GoPets Ltd. “With direct access through Windows Live Messenger, it will be even easier for pet fans to make friends all over the world through common interests and shared experiences, such as chatting and playing games on the Windows Live Messenger and GoPets platforms.”

GoPets' basic membership is free, with special access for premium membership, and goods and currency-- "gold shells"-- for sale. Currently in an open beta phase in fifteen languages and eight territories around the world, GoPets recently surpassed 640,000 registered users, but that number is likely to grow, since Windows Live Messenger's userbase is pegged at nearly 260 million active accounts worldwide.

Erik Bethke, CEO of GoPets, recently spoke at the Casual Connect gaming conference in Seattle, on his online worlds philosophy. He'd rather use the word "citizen" than "user," for one.

"I believe that when we sell something with virtual currency, people believe it's theirs," Bethke said. "They should be able to buy, sell, trade and everything."

Our sister site, Gamasutra, ran an announcement Nickelodeon Kids and Family Group president Cyma Zarghami made at this week's Casual Connect conference in Seattle. According to Nickelodeon, it's committed to invest $100 million over the next two years in development, distribution and creation of casual gaming titles, sites and platforms.

According to the company, the investment is a part of MTV's strategy to secure a leading role in the gaming space -- including casual, console and handheld games, as well as related media, which includes virtual worlds. Of the initiatives announced, Nickelodeon also says it'll use some of the money to add new multiplayer games and tournaments to Nicktropolis.

The investment will also support the expansion of AddictingGames to include casual MMOGs with the introduction of AddictingWorlds. AddictingGames recently partnered with Habbo, adding another virtual world to its existing partnership with sister site Neopets. According to the article, increased emphasis will be placed on user-submitted games on the site, including more prominent upload capabilities and game-making engines.

Also announced was the upcoming transformation of Neopets into Neostudios, which will focus on developing new virtual world gaming experiences online while continuing to grow and evolve the existing ones. The first of these will launch at the end of 2008 with the goal of launching a new game every other year.

"Particularly in the kids' space, with more than 86% of kids 8 to 14 gaming online, we see great momentum for online casual gaming," said Zarghami. "This investment will not only benefit our audiences, but also our marketing and distribution partners."

[Each day, Worlds in Motion will be taking a closer look at individual virtual worlds. We'll start with a nuts-and-bolts overview, then move on to an in-depth tour, to be followed up with a conclusion-- all with the aim of bringing you all the essential info and details on each world in the rapidly-developing virtual landscape.]

Today, let's take a tour of Toontown, and hit the streets of Disney's animated 3D world.

Montreal-based Weblo.com announced that it's secured $3.2 million in VC funding from VantagePoint Venture Partners. VantagePoint managing director Geoff Mott will also join Weblo's Board of Directors.

Weblo's virtual world puts up virtual duplicates of real-world properties, real estate and digital domains for sale. Asset websites within Weblo are member-owned and developed, earning revenue through advertising and property sales.

Weblo says it'll use the new funding for global marketing and continued technology development.

"The Company is addressing a unique opportunity in the rapidly growing
virtual world market by creating the only parallel universe based on the real
world," said Mott. "The Company has already achieved significant momentum and we believe it
will continue to appeal to a wide range of internet users providing them with
an innovative new way to have fun, create value and earn money online," he added.

Gala-Net (Rappelz, Space Cowboy Online), who makes its games available through the gPotato portal, has announced that its latest gPotato title, Upshift StrikeRacer, has entered open beta. According to Gala-Net, the beta will showcase 10 of the racing game's available customizable vehicles, with a total of 18 upcoming.

Upshift StrikeRacer will be free to pay (requiring a client download and installation), and Gala-Net says it'll feature social networking elements along with weapon-equipped, destructive multiplayer racing battles. Eight StrikeRacers can compete against one another at one time, in various different modes (time attack, player-versus-player, etc). Community tools will also be available -- Club web pages, for example, where users can upload music, photos, and blogs.

John Young, Gala-Net's vice president and producer, says the game can be enjoyed by "anyone with five minutes to kill," who enjoys combat racing. “The game’s unique mix of head-to-head racing and social networking in a multiplayer environment will appeal to both solo and group players looking for a quick and exhilarating gaming fix,” he exhorts.

Upshift StrikeRacer’s open beta period will run until the game officially launches in August.

[Each day, Worlds in Motion will be taking a closer look at individual virtual worlds. We'll start with a nuts-and-bolts overview, then move on to an in-depth tour, to be followed up with a conclusion-- all with the aim of bringing you all the essential info and details on each world in the rapidly-developing virtual landscape.]

We've spent some time this week riding the playground trolley and taking anti-Cog missions from Toontown HQ as we toured Toontown. So what's the verdict on Disney's world-- and how does it compare to its competitors for the hearts and minds of kids and 'tweens?

At BrokenToys, the blog of Scott "Lum" Jennings (also most definitely another "blog to watch"), veteran multiplayer game designer currently of NCSoft, he provides a valuable perspective on some of the features most frequently-demanded by players of multiplayer online worlds and how feasible they really are-- or aren't.

Notably, Lum comments on the idea of an in-world economy driven 100% by players. In-world economies can sometimes work on a very steep curve (see Entropia Universe); thus Lum theorizes (accurately, I think) that games need some NPC-backed economy, at least initially, to "establish a floor of inherent value for in-game items."

Lum also discusses the precarious balance between high-tech environmental rendering and real-world physics and the all-important smoothness of the client-server relationship. "Smoothly supporting that trumps working ice floes," he adds.

Other concepts explored in Lum's article are the ways in which ultra-realistic features-- like weather that affects the avatar-- could be perhaps too bleak or frustrating, and an environment that allows the player too much control could cause organizational problems for world-builders. "That being said, in moderation, player impact on the game world is a good thing - arguably a necessary thing. Players want to feel as though they matter. Placing their stamp on the world is a path to this. The key is in limiting it so it doesn’t overwhelm the entire world," Jennings says.

Some interesting ideas, too, about in-game items and how the balance between the rare and readily available-- and the ways in which they're obtained-- can affect the player's experience, a particularly relevant idea as virtual goods gain in value in the space in general, and microtransactions and trading are the norm.

[Via BrokenToys]

World Market Watch's 3D Mailbox is a peculiar idea-- it takes the regular email client and transforms it into a 3D world with avatars, representing the different types of email, hanging out in a glamorous house that looks more like the set of a reality TV show than anyone's inbox.

Funny thing is, the app populates the avatars based on certain characteristics of the incoming mail-- for example, whether a message is male or female depends on the sender's name. Locations like your trash bin or sent mail become areas for the avatars to hang out. Strangest of all, messages designated as spam become obese people with the word "SPAM" tattooed across their chests, and when deleted, they swim out into the nearby ocean where they get eaten by sharks.

Sounds bizarre, and apparently it doesn't work too well. In a screed on the app's home site, 3D Mailbox's creator proudly embraces its designation as "Worst. Software. Ever." Maybe there is a limit to the usability-- and practicality-- of the whole 3D-web concept!

[Via Webware]