Learning about HiPiHi, "China's answer to Second Life," we've seen a bit of how cultural differences result in different approaches for virtual worlds. "Meet-Me," the virtual Tokyo by digital marketing company Transcosmos, hopes to leverage these cultural differences to make its product competitive in a Japanese audience.

Kunimasa Hamaoka, who oversees Meet-Me, told the Associated Press that the Japanese audience would prefer a more predictable, secure and socially proper environment than the anything-goes Second Life world provides.

Meet-Me's avatars have a softer, cuter and more fantastical look than the realistic bent popular in Second Life and in Western games like TheSims. In place of fantasy teleporting, Meet-Me is navigated via walking, running or vehicles like trains, much as in real Tokyo. Additionally, the world runs on Tokyo time in terms of when it's night and day.

"This will be a place where people can enjoy themselves with a sense of safety — like Disneyland," he said. "There's total freedom to act in 'Second Life,' which requires individual responsibility. It's very American. Almost everything is OK, including evil." By targeting the sensibilities of a strictly Japanese audience, Hamaoka hopes to achieve greater penetration in the Japanese market, often difficult for Western games, MMOs and virtual worlds.

When Meet-Me opens in December, it'll have cyberspace shopping, entertainment, games and Christmas lights. Like Second Life, visitors will be able to buy virtual plots of land, housing and furnishings, and customize their avatars' appearance, hairstyle and gender. Hamaoka also hopes to add virtual outposts for real retailers.

But unlike Second Life, Meet-Me will be under strict control by Transcosmos, with more policing, filtering and measures to prohibit profanity and obscenity in the hopes of keeping the peace. "apanese aren't going to take to the culture of Second Life," Hamaoka told the AP. "It's the kind of place where you can get shot in the back as soon as you log on."

A Linden Lab official told the AP that it sees Japan as a key market and hopes to continue building Japanese language services, adding that Japanese alternatives are more like video games and not in competition with outlets for creative expression.