Over at the Guardian, the always-on-point Aleks Krotoski has pegged one of the bigger trends to come out of the recent slate of virtual worlds events lately -- universal accessibility. Real item tie-ins may be useful tools for marketing to kids, but as shown with the popular cell phone Moshi Monsters, having a real object as a touchstone for virtual play might have broader relevance beyond the children's space.
Mobile access is also a big one. Mobile virtual worlds, or components of virtual worlds that are portable, will likely continue to see increasing relevance. On one end of the spectrum, large-scope virtual worlds can be time-consuming, and the idea of being able to do a small portion of gameplay -- like checking auctions or developing MMO character levels -- on the go is appealing to many people, a concept Christian Müller told us was on his mind for the upcoming Empire of Sports MMO. On the smaller side, there are ideas like Ironstar's MoiPal, where a virtual pet can be played with either on the cell phone or online.
As Krotoski points out, the big message that's emerging is that developers are getting creative with the concept of user engagement, offering multiple avenues for accessibility as game-like concepts permeate our real lives more and more.
