It's usually the big brands whose virtual world activities make headlines, Worlds in Motion recently spoke with Dick Dillon of Preferred Family Healthcare, who is using the Second Life platform to extend non-profit mental health activism and awareness to a new audience. He talked to us about his experiences and how he's finding success in the virtual world.

So tell us what you're doing in Second Life.

I spend most of my time working with nonprofit ventures. My own organization, Preferred Family Healthcare, is a RL provider of mental health counseling, specializing in substance use disorders. PFH is represented in SL with an office at Plush NonProfit Commons, an office on Commonwealth Island, an informational display on Healthinfo Island and an art gallery and meditation garden on the Tawny sim. The art gallery displays representations of actual art works created by young people in our therapeutic arts program, known as ARTC (Achieving Recovery Through Creativity)

I am also actively involved with the development of the Non Profit Commons project, and very supportive of activities and growth at the other locations as well. There is a lot of good collaboration going on in SL among a variety of not for profit groups. We recognize our common cause pretty easily.

Why did you choose Second Life as a medium for your message?

I learned about Second Life just as an interesting interactive experience, but soon after getting here, I began to see the potential for bringing valuable information to a wide audience. I have been exploring the options ever since.

I think SL has a tremendous potential for the delivery of both information and possibly services to a lot of people in a very cost effective way.

How does the activism role work in Second Life; what methods do you use to get your message out there?

Currently, I have a variety of resources at my offices, including slide shows, note cards, links to websites, etc. I have held some discussion groups and given several interactive lectures. I have two major goals over the next three months. The first is to begin recruiting volunteers so that visitor can summon a person to my sites when they visit for more interactive information exchange. I can't be here all the time!

I also want to start some regular groups to serve as a form of low level intervention for people who may be concerned that they have an emerging substance use disorder problem, or for their family members and friends.

How has the response to your work been so far?

Good. Visitors seem interested. I have had several conversations with people in real time that have resulted in sharing some advice and help to point them towards resources they might be able to use. I have met and established good relationships with a few professional colleagues, which should result in some collaborative efforts over time. I have received the donation of one plot of land (The Tawny location) and several hundred Linden dollars --- doesn't add up to a lot yet, but it is a start.

All of a sudden we're hearing a fair amount about Bella Sara, the trading card game with a virtual world component. Featuring pretty horses and unicorns, it's targeted at young girls. Last week, we reported that Bella Sara's parent, Hidden City Games, raised $15 million from Rustic Canyon Partners and Trinity Ventures -- two VCs who are fans of virtual worlds. Right now, Bella Sara cardholders can play with a virtual horse online unlocked by their card's code, but they can't trade or play with their friends' horses.

The New York Times looked at the Bella Sara phenomenon and talked to Hidden City founder Peter Adkison, who's already seen success with Magic the Gathering cards, distinctly preferred by boys, and unisex Pokemon cards, and discusses the challenge of making this product specifically for the gals:

The cards, called Bella Sara, are clearly more girl-friendly than the latest set of hockey cards or Dragon Ball Z cards. They have pastel colors, fanciful pictures of unicorns and virtual horses to groom, along with girl-power sayings like “Have the courage to trust yourself” and “Use your love to bring peace to the world.”

But history is against Mr. Adkison. “Is it possible a trading card product could catch on primarily with girls?” said Alan Narz, a columnist for Card Trade magazine. “Yes. Has it ever been done? No.”

There are challenges other than history. Bella Sara cards are not used as part of a competitive game, where having a rare card can mean the difference between triumph and defeat.

Whether or not Bella Sara launches a "true" virtual world (though with the unlockable online horse interaction, it definitely falls into the sphere of relevance) it looks as if there will be some interesting lessons to be gleaned about digital toys for girls.

A number of news sites and presences have popped up around virtual worlds -- not virtual versions of real-world news bureaus, but news bureaus established to report on happenings within the online world itself. Now news giant CNN has launched a Second Life hub, as it explains:

There, CNN will look to those most familiar with the virtual world -- the Second Life residents themselves -- to determine what constitutes news "in-world."

Developer Linden Labs opened Second Life to the public in 2003. According to its Web site, Second Life is inhabited by millions of "residents" from around the globe. However, traffic at any given time hovers around the 40,000 users. Photo See the many views of Second Life. »

Just as CNN asks its real-life audience to submit I-Reports -- user-generated content submitted from cell phones, computers, cameras and other equipment for broadcast and online reports -- the network is encouraging residents of Second Life to share their own "SL I-Reports" about events occurring within the virtual world.

"The thing we most hope to gain by having a CNN presence in Second Life is to learn about virtual worlds and understand what news is most interesting and valuable to their residents," said Susan Grant, executive vice president of CNN News Services.

The Second Life hub will apparently work just like its real-world one, where SL users can submit video and tips on what they find newsworthy in-world.

[Via CNN.com]

A new study by Alloy Media and Marketing and Harris Interactive examines what friendship means to today's teens and 'tweens, in an era where online interaction and social networking are a part of their lives. The study showed that teens today, in some cases, connect more intimately online than offline, that they're "more at ease" through virtual communication, and "more likely to reveal their true selves and to share more personal information with friends online than face-to-face."
Impact the life of one child today

According to Suzanne Martin, Ph.D., research manager for youth and education research at Harris Interactive, "The Internet plays an increasingly important role in kids' friendships. Social networking websites aid in youth development by providing an arena to build meaningful relationships, establish independence, strengthen their identity and become connected to a community that is not limited to their physical community."

Kids aged 8 through 12 prefer to spend time with their parents than their friends, according to the study (58 versus 31 percent), but the preference, as might be expected, appears to reverse dramatically by the teen years, with 56 percent of teens preferring their friends to the 22 percent who prefer to be with Mom and Dad.

Teens are also much bigger IM users than 'tweens are (74 versus 26 percent); when it comes to text messaging, it's regularly used by 37 percent of teens versus 9 percent of 'tweens. While young people still prefer face-to-face contact over all -- 53 percent of teens responded this way -- when you look at the fact that 81 percent of 'tweens prefer person-to-person contact, it still sends a message that kids go steadily digital for their social lives as they grow into their teens.

Interestingly, young people reported having more friends when the word "friend" was put into the context of an online profile or IM buddy list -- which means that young people have more friends online than in their face-to-face lives, but it also indicates kids draw a distinction between "Facebook friends" and "real friends." 36 percent of teens -- more than one third -- reported having a "friend" they'd never met in person.

Samantha Skey, SVP, of strategic marketing for Alloy Marketing and Media, commented, "Today’s teens look to their friends above any other influence for guidance and approval. The extensive accessibility to ‘friends’ in the current media environment and the evolving definition of ‘friend’ affords peer networks greater import than ever. The shift extends to brands endeavoring to reach this influential audience as advertisers look to use the power of youth connectivity—and the evolving definition of ‘friend’—to enable online propagation of their messages."

Online voice services provider Vivox has announced that it has secured $7.8 million in a second round of equity financing led by Benchmark Capital and supported by the company's existing investors, Canaan Partners and GrandBanks Capital.

Benchmark Capital general partner Mitch Lasky, who also took a position on Vivox's board as part of the funding agreement, cited the proliferation of online games and virtual worlds as a clear draw, calling it a "tremendous opportunity" for Vivox. Lasky's background includes roles with Disney, Activision, Jamdat and Electronic Arts.

Proceeds from the round will fund product development, sales support and marketing for the company's offering, which also includes an integrated platform and service management. It also builds custom-branded desktop communications clients for its partner games and worlds, allowing users of those products to IM, chat and stay connected even when not logged in to the online world.

Vivox customers and partners include online game and virtual world companies 1GPN, Inc., Alpha Innovation, BigWorld Technology, CCP Games, The Electric Sheep Company, FWD International, IBM, Icarus Studios, Illusion Factory, K2 Network, LanguageLab.com, Linden Lab, Monumental Games, Pixel Mine and Wizards of the Coast.

GrandBanks Capital general partner and Vivo board member Ryan Moore commented, "Vivox’s technology and operational expertise have established them as a unique service in the market. We see first-hand the positive impact Vivox has on online games and virtual worlds with operational excellence and innovative functionality and have no doubt they will continue to play a major role in shaping online communities.”

Speaking as part of an in-depth report on EVE Online's Fanfest held in Reykjavik, Iceland, CCP executive Hilmar Pétursson has been discussing how the complex economy and new elected 'Council of Stellar Management' bring structure (and therefore focus) to the PC space trading MMO.

When discussing why the EVE Online community, which has grown steadily to over 200,000 active subscribers, is so invested in the game, Pétursson suggested:

"I would say what ties it all together is the economy. The economy of the game is very much controlled by the players. All prices are decided on the market, CCP doesn't set a price on it... And then the game very much focuses on [the fact] that you're always at risk in terms of all the players attacking you or taking something away from you. So that creates very interesting interactions between war and the economy."

Though the economy in EVE Online is much more complex and modeled than many other MMOs, Pétursson suggests this leads to a more interesting and competitive game:

"War and economy is something that has created a lot of events in human history. That is essentially what we maybe have put in place to drive the storyline. But then, the players have used those systems to create something much more spectacular than we could ever have envisioned in the beginning. So I would say, the economy is the tool to create this."

Interestingly, Pétursson also discussed how to easily garner feedback from the increasingly large player base of the game, revealing that the company is adding an officially elected council to exchange feedback between CCP and the community:

"For soliciting community feedback, we have used various methods throughout the four years. And we're trying to evolve those as our world has evolved. You use different methods for a community of 50,000 players than you do for a community of 200,000 players. Especially when all those players live in the same world. It's different when you have sharded worlds down to smaller shards, and you just have more shards. And you have to tackle the community of each shard. Then you can use the same method, but scale it up.

But when the community fundamentally grows as it has in our case, then you have to adapt and evolve your method of soliciting community feedback. And we're now, at this Fanfest, introducing a new idea which we call the Council of Stellar Management which involves allowing the community to elect representatives for a council. And we'll do this through voting. So this council will then be a venue for exchange between the community and CCP so that it is a more meaningful discussion than us talking in a non-structured way with 200,000 people which... um, achieves very little in its current form."

You can now read the full report on the subject at Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra, including full coverage of the Fanfest itself, as well as more comments from the CCP CEO on the state of the game and technical and design plans for the future.

The Build-A-Bear retail franchise lets kids (of all ages) assemble, personify and accessorize their own stuffed animals, from stuffing and fluffing to dressing and naming, complete with a naming ritual and accompanying birth certificate. It's not such a stretch to see how these elements make it ideal for a virtual world -- and now, apparently, that's just what they're doing.

Now kids can take home a code along with their furry friend at the store by talking with the "Virtual Bear Builder Associate," and can sign up to take their avatar online in Build-A-Bearville. Users also can create an avatar of themselves in the virtual world, where they get a "Cub Condo" they can decorate. They've got an in-world currency -- Bear Bills -- and can play minigames with their virtual animal pal.

The virtual world isn't quite ready yet, but seems like it could launch every day, already complete with FAQs, a trailer, screenshots, and, of course, the essential "Parents' Info" section.

[Via Heroine Sheik]

The Gartner analyst group has released some research on what it calls "Generation V" (Generation Virtual), and says that in 10 years, the largest influence on all purchases will be the virtual experience associated with them. Gartner states that by 2015, more money will be spent on sales and marketing online than off, with this Generation V driving the trend.

Said Gartner analysts, "Generation V is the recognition that general behavior, attitudes and interests start to blend together in an online environment. The idea of Generation X (and later Generation Y) was conceived as a way to understand new generations that appeared not to have connections to the culture icons of the baby boomers. Marketers use the categories of baby boomers, Generation X and Generation Y to segment the population for targeting products and services with a focus on age."

However, Gartner notes that this generational divide breaks down as more tech-savvy baby boomers are going online at the same time and in some of the same spaces as their younger counterparts. "Customers will hop across segments at various times of life for various reasons and are likely to act like several generations at any given time," the analysts add.

Gartner principal analyst Adam Sarner explained, "For Generation V, the virtual environment provides many aspects of a level playing field, where age, gender, class and income of individuals are less important and less rewarded than competence, motivation and effort. For example, an 11-year old individual can be the leading "go to" person for advice on how to upgrade/hack a digital video recorder (DVR) for more recording space. An unpopular office worker can be a highly revered, accomplished 40th-level half-elf in World of Warcraft. The opportunity for reputation, prestige, influence and personal growth provides a powerful social draw for the masses to spend more time in a virtual world."

With the amount of time spent by all age groups online, Gartner recommends, "Companies will need to shift from collecting personal data about individual customers toward collecting more-complete and more-relevant data around online customer behavior and influence on others," Mr. Sarner said. "Companies will need new processes, new skills and a restructuring of how data is collected and used as they shift from demographic to psychographic insight. If companies follow a truly persona-centric approach, they can use the highly relevant information the persona leaves. Although the real person may never be known, far more intimate information of the persona's actions, personality, lifestyle habits and attitudes can be collected and exploited for business goals."

With that in mind, Garner concludes with some recommendations for marketers targeting Generation V:

Companies should organize their products and services around multiple online personas.
Sell to the persona, not the person. A persona will show you how it wants to be treated.
Create virtual environments as a way to orchestrate customer exploration toward purchases.
Shift Investment from known customers to unknown ones. Focus on the influencers within the meritocracy.
Develop and retain or outsource new skills to attract, connect, contribute and gain insight from Generation V and its virtual environment

Dr. EyjoG says the QEN "is intended to help inform pilots in EVE about the status of the economy and to make it easier for others to understand the level of complexity in the EVE universe."

He adds, "In fact, with more than 200,000 players, the economic system of EVE is becoming so vast and complex that it is possible for the virtual world of EVE and the real world to learn from each other."

This issue of the QEN covers three key areas this time around: demographics, which covers population, skill points and security status; the macroeconomics of EVE Online, which focuses on the monetary supply, and price levels, including measurement of inflation/deflation in the EVE world.

Some interesting findings in the report: it claims 195,000 accounts, representing 433,000 characters, or 2.2 characters per account. It also estimates EVE will reach 200,000 by mid-Q4 2007 and will be well into 210,000 by Q1 2008. 40 percent of characters are female, and 60 percent are male -- although EVE's player base was pegged at about 95 percent real-world males in early-to-mid 2007, and the character demographics don't indicate whether this has changed. This gender divide was believed to be one of the key reasons driving EVE's decision to add human-form avatars, as opposed to just ships, in an effort to appeal to both sexes. (*)

Says Dr. EyjoG, "CCP was among the first companies in the world to offer a single-shard solution, placing it at the forefront of computer game technology. With this first Quarterly Economic Newsletter, CCP is once again a leader in gaming innovation by offering an unprecedented level of detailed universe information that players can use to enhance their online experience."

[*CORRECTION: The article originally confused in-game character demographics with real-world user demographics.]

As part of its continuing series of special events based on major European cultural festivals, MapleStory has announced a fireworks festival for the game in that region based on England's Guy Fawkes celebrations. The in-game events are set to run from November 15th to 29th.

To take part in the free-to-participate event, players must first join together with friends to form a party, before hunting down seven secret letters hidden across the special Guy Fawkes map. Once these have been collected, players must work together to defeat a special MapleStory Europe version of the infamous Guy Fawkes himself, earning special in-game items and prizes.

MapleStory Europe’s cash shop is also offering a Guy Fawkes-inspired mask, special accessories that set off fireworks around the character avatars, and England flag face paint as character decor.

International business development director for Nexon Europe Calvin Yoo said, "Fireworks night is a fantastic time of year and now people can enjoy all the fun of Guy Fawkes for a few weeks more courtesy of MapleStory Europe. As with every special event in MapleStory Europe, we’ve worked hard to ensure that the unique spirit of Guy Fawkes night is truly captured for everybody to enjoy. Maplers will love it; just don’t forget to bring your sparklers!”

Silicon Valley-based Aeria Games has announced a closed beta in North America for Asian MMORPG Shaiya, set to begin November 26th. In the test phase, players will have early access to various maps, monsters, and over a thousand quests, item, armor and weapons.

Shaiya is a fantasy MMO set on "a distant planet" that puts players in the middle of a longstanding war between two rival factions battling for control of the continent. The game offers a variety of combat modes, lets players sell items to the enemy, and complete quests that impact the outcome of the war.

Online entertainment studio Pileated Pictures has announced it's the developer behind Hasbro's recently-announced virtual world based on their line of Littlest Pet Shop toys. The Pileated team built and is maintaining the entire virtual world app for Hasbro, titled Littlest Pet Shop VIPs (virtual interactive pets).

Pileated Pictures president and CEO Michael E. Levine commented, "Littlest Pet Shop VIPs shows our commitment to browser-based virtual worlds. Hasbro’s support and collaborative spirit allowed us to make a ‘next-generation’ product and we look forward to expanding Littlest Pet Shop VIPs in the months to come."

Worlds In Motion is pleased to present a new weekly 'Worlds In Motion Jobs' post, highlighting the top jobs related to online worlds posted on our sister Gamasutra Jobs website.

We'll be updating every week with the latest jobs posted on the site which are relevant to our readership of professionals creating online worlds:

Realtime Worlds (Dundee, Scotland)
MMO Game Designer
("We are developing revolutionary new software technology, which will have widespread applications throughout many industries. As avid game players, we believe the future of video games lies in massively multiplayer online gaming. Constantly evolving worlds with real players and communities offer an unrivaled experience that many players have yet to enjoy.")

- Sierra Online (Issaquah, WA)
Lead Mission Designer
("Sierra Online is seeking experienced candidates to assume the role of Lead Mission Designer in creating a casual MMO that could use your unique technical expertise and storytelling style.")

- Makena Technologies (San Mateo, CA, Laguna Beach, CA)
Multiple positions
("Makena Technologies is the parent company of There.com, a fully interactive, 3D online virtual world where members can customize and create their own 3D character, meet and hang out with friends in real-time using voice and text chat, build their own virtual homes, participate in events ranging from car races to paintball to fashion shows and even create and sell their own virtual items.")

- Trilogy Studios (Santa Monica, CA)
Multiple positions
("Our studio members come from all parts of the globe and have built some of the most successful games, ever to hit the market, including Medal of Honor, Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-earth, NASCAR Racing and many, many others. Our expectation is not to repeat that, but to move beyond it….to become one of the preeminent developers of interactive products in the world.")

- YNK Interactive(Orange County, CA)
Systems Engineer
("Based in Orange County, CA, YNK Interactive is a U.S. subsidiary of YNK, Korea, one of Korea's largest online game developers, publishers, and distributors of award-winning MMO games for the PC such as Seal Online and R.O.H.A.N. We have a newly established office in Irvine so this is an exciting opportunity to get in on the ground floor of an expanding organization and directly impact the direction of its growth.")

- Gravity Interactive (Marina Del Rey, CA)
Multiple positions
("In December 2005, having established the success of Ragnarok online in the U.S., Gravity Interactive launched R.O.S.E. Online that currently has a half million subscribers. Gravity Interactive Inc. is to diversify its lines of business across multiple platforms and endeavors to become one of the major publishers of interactive entertainment in the western hemisphere not only providing existing online games but also developing, publishing, distributing exciting new entertainment contents for North American users.")

- Areae (San Diego, CA)
Multiple positions
("Areae is on a mission to revolutionize virtual worlds and MMOs. We are a venture-backed company in beautiful San Diego, and our investors share our passion and vision for the future of online gaming. Our core team includes veteran MMO developers with deep experience from online leaders like EA, Sony Online, and NC Soft, and we have developed and launched some of the world's most successful online games to date including Ultima Online, Star Wars Galaxies and EQ2.")

- "Stealth Startup" (Redwood City, CA)
Multiple positions
("We are a stealth Virtual Worlds startup that has just received a large A round financing from some of the most respected VCs in the world. We are redefining the future of the Virtual Worlds and the way end users will experience a wide range of consumer facing brands and services on the web.")

- Extra Large Technology (Los Angeles, CA)
Multiple positions
("Extra Large Technology is located in the heart of Hollywood and is looking for talented game programmers to join us in creating the next generation platform for massively multiplayer experiences.")

Worlds In Motion will endeavor to round up all the online worlds-related jobs posted at Gamasutra Jobs every week and re-post them here. If you have posted a job at Gamasutra in the last week that you feel would be directly relevant to our audience, and do not see it posted here, please contact the Worlds In Motion editors and we will add it.

The BBC is reporting that a Dutch teen has been arrested for furniture theft at Habbo Hotel. The concept of virtual property being swiped isn't a new idea by any means, but the crime may be getting a high level of media attention for a couple of reasons -- first, the teen was arrested. Second, even though Habbo furniture, or furni, is relatively inexpensive in real-world dollars (see our "Designing Habbo on $10 Per Card" feature), the amount of the teen's alleged theft is 4,000 euros -- just over $5,000. Not a pittance. Five other kids are being questioned in connection with the theft.

Another interesting thought is that while the general population may understand online theft in concept, World of Warcraft gold, Second Life intellectual property, or weapons and artifacts in MMOs still sound a little farfetched to the average consumer, perhaps. Bedroom furniture stolen from a hotel is something anyone can understand.

A Sulake spokesperson told the BBC, "In Habbo, as in many other virtual worlds, scamming for other people's personal information such as user names has been problematic for quite a while. We have had much of this scamming going on in many countries but this is the first case where the police have taken legal action."

[Via BBC News]

How did the idea for Dance Party 3D come about?

Hannah: The idea first came about because we were looking to extend the gameplay in the world of Kaneva. But we also wanted something that allowed players to connect and share their media in the world, just as they do on the Kaneva web site. We also knew from our community that dancing was one of the most popular and well-liked activities inside the World of Kaneva and we wanted to extend it further. We realized that a 3D dancing game would be a great way to create fun gameplay while also allowing players to customize their avatars, their music, and their world through the game.

Dance Party 3D is a lot more than just a dance game -- it's a true MMO game inside an immersive 3D world. It takes the whole idea of collaboration on the web and puts it into a 3D world. It supports unlimited number of players for simultaneous play through instancing Players can also create their own dance clubs using whatever theme and music they want. You can create a country dance club one day and then change it to a punk rock club the next day. The variety of clubs already in Kaneva is astounding! The game is also part of a larger virtual world and includes the ability for people to socialize during the game through 3D chat, be a spectator and explore the many other places inside the World of Kaneva.

How does Dance Party 3D's dancing system allow players to differentiate themselves from other players?

Hannah: Players get better dances the better they are at the game. So if a player is doing really well, they'll perform cooler moves more frequently. In the near future we're adding the ability to earn unique clothing, animations, titles, and trophies for playing Dance Party 3D. So a player could be walking in the Kaneva Mall or the city wearing a really cool shirt that they won from playing Dance Party 3D. The best dancers in the World of Kaneva will definitely stand out from the crowd.

Can players 'practice their moves' anywhere in Kaneva just for fun, or is this mini-game only playable on the dance floors of Dance Party 3D?

Hannah: Players can place a dance floor in their Kaneva home or hangout if they want to practice. Many players take it a step further and create their own dance clubs with their own music and invite others to play Dance Party 3D with them. That's one of the really unique aspects of Dance Party 3D, the whole thing takes place inside the virtual world. You can design your own dance club, use you own music, and host dance competitions. You can play Dance Party 3D in a different dance club every virtually every night. You aren't limited to the spaces we've created, although they're fun to dance in as well.

Could you talk a bit about the "Prepaid Party Cards" that you'll be making available at Target stores, and what they will be used for?

Hannah: The Dance Party 3D cards allow players to get credits without having to use a credit card. Credits can be used to purchase all kinds of things in the world from clothing to televisions. The cards also give your avatar unique dance clothing that you can only get by redeeming a Dance Party 3D card.

Of the nearly 750,000 registered members of Kaneva, can you say roughly what percentage of those members log in regularly?

Klaus: While we're in beta, we are seeing our activity growing, users staying longer, people spending more time inside the world of Kaneva. At this stage, we believe there's a large opportunity to improve the overall Kaneva experience to further make an intuitive and immersive experience for all users.

What is Kaneva's strategy to compete with the other personalization-focused social worlds, and what sets it apart?

Klaus: Our strategy is to build the best modern day 3D world that reflects entertainment, hanging out with friends and having a good time. We are the number one most integrated media virtual world in the market. We've simplified integrating in video, music, photos, live TV channels, along with content and spaces from strong partners like Turner. Turner provides a full TBS headquarters experience that captures their shows in a 3D community. We are the first to bring social networking tightly architected into a social entertainment world where navigating and managing your friends and hangouts has been drastically simplified.

What kind of things can we expect in the near future for Kaneva?

Klaus: We initially focused on building out spaces inside our Kaneva world, and now have many places for people to meet friends and socialize such as cafes, clubs, theaters, malls and stores. In the near future, we are significantly expanding these locations to provide a comprehensive full world that includes both inside and outside locations. The outside represents a much more contiguous experience from place to place and allows for exploration beyond just simple 3D chat rooms. We are extending the outside spaces to go from full cities to fields to beaches and even private islands.

How do you see the state of virtual worlds in general right now?

Klaus: We believe we are in the infancy of this exciting new industry and are excited about the many opportunities to innovate and bring humanity together in ways that several years ago would only have seemed like science fiction!

[Patrick Murphy contributed to this report.]

At Toronto's Future Play 2007 educational seminar for game production professionals, Dr. Constance Steinkuehler, assistant professor in the Educational Communication & Technology program for the University of Wisconsin-Madison, argued that MMOs and online worlds are good "push technologies" for education, rather than threats to it.

Her presentation was titled "Massively Multiplayer Online Games as an Educational Ethnology : An Outline for Research," a deceptively straightforward talk about Steinkuehler's research findings on what constitutes gameplay in MMOs and virtual worlds, and how that research might be applied to education programs.

Why did Steinkuehler write a dissertation that was a two-year ethnography on virtual worlds? "I needed to find out what in the world would be productive from playing these games," she explained, describing how she played Lineage, Lineage II and World of Warcraft for research.

"I was a siege princess leading a huge guild through massive battles, I learned more about military tactics in those two years than I ever wanted to,” she recalled.

The Literary Scare

To establish the point of her studies, she described what she called the “The Literary Scare” in America: “There’s a huge fear that kids will no longer read and write because of video games – before that it was television, before that it was telephones, or something."

As examples, she cited a book titled "A is for Ox," about "the collapse of literacy and the rise of violence in the electronic age," and quotes from CNet, the New York Times and the National Endowment for the Arts, which called electronic media "torpid... and invite inert reception," or claimed games and the internet "foster shorter attentions and accelerated gratification."

She noted that the final quote was interesting, because their study on the loss of literacy didn’t actually investigate any video games -- but blamed them anyway.

Steinkuehler argued that within games, there are in fact multitudes of literacy practices – games are full of text, she asserted, to say nothing of the entirely text-based fandom communities online that take place in forums, blogs and social networks.

Language Complexity

In-game chat in MMORPGS is described as sub-literate nonsense, but Steinkuehler used examples to illustrate that it's merely shorthand for in-game language -- the sentence structure, she asserted, is perfect.

“it’s far from an impoverished form," she argued. "You could consider this more meaningful – you’re having to cram in more information in less text.”

She described how, within a world like Lineage, players like to perform “orally delivered narratives” – telling each other the lore of the games as if they were text box minstrels. And letters between guilds in Lineage are usually written in pseudo-medieval English, which is complex to write.

Elaborating on the unofficial online fan communities -- people prefer player-generated content, Steinkuehler says -- she noted they provide a great deal of space for collective, player-written intelligence in databases and wikis, clan sites and discussion boards, and, her favorite example, MMO fanfiction.

She highlighted a fan fiction writer she came across in her studies named "OrientKnight," whose works were so popular in the community that sites that could get early access to publish it were part of the "cool club." "But he was failing basic literary tests and English because he hated school," she added.

Continued Steinkuehler, “Many of these communities actually value this level of intellectual labor. If you can write a good story, you’re cool.”

Moreover, she continued, “If you compare them to things like the national reading standards, many of these practices not only meet the national reading writing and technology standards, they exceed them. But when you ask these kids if they like to write… They claim they don’t!”

She related a story about talking to a player who was planning to write a long story about his Lineage character over the months of summer break. Teachers would never be able to persuade students to take on such an assignment, Steinkuehler points out.

These observations are clearly relevant to the educational disciplines of reading, writing and english, but what about science?

Studying Stats In WoW

A year ago, Steinkuehler started to run a study based on her earlier ethnography about World of Warcraft forum discussions in which people were getting together and running statistical comparisons of their characters. Randomly selected, they looked at the priest forum: 2000 posts over 85 threads.

Her motive? Steinkuehler wanted to know to what extent people in the forum were doing things that you could describe as scientific research – in other words, approaching things with a “scientific mind.”

She built an analytic framework: Do they use data to back up their research? Do they use model based reasoning? Are their discussions productive? Steinkuehler found 86 percent of the forums were "social knowledge construction" – problem solving and discussion or ideas – “not things like 'your mom' jokes.”

Only eight percent was "banter," she noted -- although six percent was "literally nonsense." A third of the discussion built on other ideas, and a third used counter-arguments. 28 percent used data and evidence to back up their ideas. 12 percent also gave alternative explanation of data, and 7 percent gave references to outside resources.

"These numbers look a little bit low... but these can all be combined in as much as one post,” Steinkuehler pointed out. She demonstrated discussions about character statistics that were so mathematically complex as to be incomprehensible to the conference attendees, concluding that comprehending the stat-based rules at the core of the average MMO's play system both required and developed advanced skills.

The Third Space

She moved on to discuss the modding community – how gaming encourages users to move on and create. Mods are hugely popular, and valued culturally in the online community. Certain mods are even considered requirements for joining guilds.

But, posited Steinkuehler: Why are people willing to “work” so hard in games? Creating statistical models, writing stories, and creating mods? It's because, as she says, MMORPGS are now the “third space” between home and work -- “Cheers” became World of Warcraft, as she says.

“In American culture, bonded friendships – those between best friends and family, are valued far higher than bridged friendships." However, she argued, MMORPGs are working to challenge this perception.

She now runs an after school gaming club for at-risk youths, attention deficit-disordered who are failing English, or otherwise struggling students. In her club they explore collaboration by working in a guild, and work on reading, writing and art in forum discussions and fan art and fiction production in the context of online play.

Concluded Steinkuehler, “There are so many ways this could fail. I hope these kids will use what they’ve learned to not fail English a second time – but ask me in a year and I’ll tell you how they did.”

[The preceding event report originally ran at Worlds In Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

Technology and media services company Exponential Interactive, which is owned by ad network Tribal Fusion, has released a report examining online advertising trends for 2008, with the aim of identifying some top trends. Among key marketing opportunities, unsurprisingly, Exponential's highlighted the virtual worlds space, and also credits "the massive proliferation and adoption of social networks."

Dilip DaSilva, Exponential's founder and CEO, noted that "Focus on issues such as transparency and privacy will continue to be a consideration," but feels "industry credibility has now been achieved and advertisers are embracing all of the possibilities for online marketing."

The report says that the popularity of virtual worlds will increase in 2008 -- "but it won't be Second Life," it adds."Instead, users will increasingly shift towards specialty worlds more closely associated with their lifestyles or interests. For Marketers, this means an opportunity to create whole worlds around products, or to customize environments inside specialty virtual environments."

Exponential parent Tribal Fusion claims Neopets and Coke Studios among worlds in its network. DaSilva added, "These are a few of the key topics we think will be consistently discussed during the conferences and industry events in 2008. We look forward to engaging our industry peers and business partners in the discussion; and to the ways these shifts and innovations will impact the next phase of online advertising."

MTV Networks, cosmetic and beauty company Elizabeth Arden and Ford model management agency have announced they are launching a campaign to find the world's first-ever "virtual supermodel." The three brands will scour MTV's virtual worlds to find an avatar who'll be the virtual face of Mariah Carey's new "M" fragrance in MTV's Virtual Hills, the virtual world based on MTV's The Hills TV property.

The campaign kicks off November 19th, when viewers can go to the model search landing page to create an avatar for the competition. Participants will also be able to meet in-world with a roster of Ford Models' experts who will provide beauty and styling tips for the contestants that they can also use on their real looks outside the virutal world.

Contestants also get a virtual bottle of the Mariah Carey fragrance -- complete with a spray animation -- and a virtual Ford Models portfolio book to carry throughout the virtual world. Ford Models' branded digital video, offering more fashion tips, will also be available for 24-hour a day viewing content containing similar fashion and beauty insights will also be available 24 hours a day for viewing -- just in case you can't get enough fashion tips.

As part of the campaign, a series of events in early January will ask digital models to show off their virtual acting capabilities by posing with the bottle and acting out a commercial for the fragrance. They will also be asked to walk a virtual runway and compete in a virtual dance contest. Representatives from Ford Models, Elizabeth Arden and MTV will conduct the judging.

The avatar who comes out on top among three finalists will become Ford Models' "first-ever virtual world model", the fresh new face of a marketing campaign for MTV's virtual worlds, and the star of a :30-second Elizabeth Arden/MTV co-branded spot.

MTV Networks music and logo group VP of digital music Courtney Holt said, "Our viewers are accustomed to expressing personal style in all facets of their lives, and that extends to their virtual world personas as well. With Elizabeth Arden and Ford Models, we're tapping into their twin drivers of fashion and beauty and creating a social campaign where they can seek status and project a confident sense of self with others."