Chinese virtual world HiPiHi recently announced a 3-way partnership with Hollywood-based Centric, an interactive agency focusing on social media and virtual worlds, and Japan-based virtual world service provider 3Di, to focus on creative arts inside HiPiHi. Centric has said it plans to leverage its Hollywood position to bring new projects into HiPiHi and promote it as an international platform for creative media.

Worlds in Motion spoke to Jason Stoddard, Centric's managing partner of strategy, about the company, the partnership and his perspective on the industry.

First off, could you give us a capsule history of how Centric came to be what it is today?

The short answer is that we're an agency working in "social spaces and virtual places," that has grown from a conventional branding and marketing background. The slightly longer answer is that I founded Centric in 1994 as a marketing agency, but my background in technology quickly pushed us into the early internet revolution.

We were developing sites in 1995 and rode the Web 1.0 wave, adding leading-edge services along the way, such as some of the first integrated internet marketing programs. Today, we're continuing the push into new realms of marketing--specifically social spaces such as Facebook and Mixi, and virtual places such as Second Life and HiPiHi--because we believe that the emotional connections created here are much more powerful than the online tools of the Web 1.0 days, and will catalyze change that is larger than the entire internet revolution to date.

"Agency of Change" is quite an interesting slogan; how do you apply that attitude to your work in social virtual worlds?

We took the tagline of "Agency of Change" in early 2006 to reflect the accelerating change we were seeing in social spaces, virtual worlds, and mobile development. For us, it serves as a reminder that the only constant is change. No matter how much our clients want to put on the brakes and stay with what is tried and true and comfortable, we need to move forward into new realms. It keeps us on our toes. And, in every space we work in, we start by asking, "How can we change this?"

This is one reason we have not built one standard corporate monument in virtual worlds, or deployed one standard fake-friending program in the social spaces. People forget how much change we've been through in the last 10 years--Google didn't exist in 1997. eBay was still selling Pez dispensers. Cellphones were big dumb objects. Most people didn't have a personal email. Only 60 million people worldwide were on the web. Hell, people forget the largest Web development agency of the day. USWeb, once with a multibillion-dollar market cap, disappeared completely and without a trace.

Centric holds offices in Hollywood, Shanghai, and Tokyo; could you talk a bit about marketing on today's multi-cultural internet?

Certainly, not all things work across all regions, and that is being reflected in much more localized content in international marketing. Social spaces and virtual places are even more than multi-cultural; we believe they represent a different culture entirely. These are areas where most people congregate on an entirely voluntary basis. There are many places in the real world where you have to be in close proximity to people you wouldn't normally choose to meet, to interact with.

On the web, you can avoid interaction. In a virtual world, you're there to interact. You don't have to eat, don't have to drink, don't choose a car for transportation. Everything is instead about image and interaction. This is a fascinating switch, whereby people around the globe choose the locations, ambiance, and objects they want to be surrounded with when interacting with others. The opportunities for a true mixing of cultures is huge.

So tell us about what Centric is doing with HiPiHi.

HiPiHi is very interested in being a portal between China and the rest of the world. We are working closely with both HiPiHi and 3Di to develop strategies for extending HiPiHi's reach globally, while at the same time working with companies to develop experiences in the HiPiHi space. We have a focus on entertainment due to our main office's location in Hollywood, but it's more than that. We believe that entertainment properties offer the most viable cross-cultural opportunities for virtual worlds.

Ultimately, everything we do in any virtual world is about storytelling, about people, and China has a rich cultural and storytelling background. It's a perfect space to bring in Western stories and film properties, for example, and allow the community to bring in their experiences with Chinese stories and film to create something entirely different. This collaborative environment will also work both ways, and we feel it will allow for some experimentation with the storytelling process.

How did the partnership come about?

We went to Beijing in April of this year specifically to meet with HiPiHi. Though we didn't know a lot about them at the time, we were excited about the possibilities presented by a virtual world in China, and we were eager to get involved early in this opportunity. As HiPiHi's first Western partner, we explored possible ways to bring clients and users into this new virtual world. Now that the platform is moving toward public beta, we agreed to extend our partnership, along with 3Di, in order to fully realize the collective goals of all three companies.

Has the Shanghai office had the opportunity to do creative marketing work in Chinese social virtual worlds yet? If so, could you give an example?

We're currently exploring opportunities to bring projects into Chinese social virtual worlds, but don't have anything we can talk about at this point.

How do you see the state of social virtual worlds in China today, especially in contrast to America?

Social virtual worlds in China are really several different beasts. There's huge participation in MMOs, of course. Graphical chat clients are definitely on the rise. In addition to free-form virtual worlds like HiPiHi and Second Life, upcoming social virtual worlds like novoKing and uWorld will attract more people into virtual environments.

That said, most of the social virtual worlds are yet to be fully developed. To an extent, the massive QQ 2D social network is a social virtual world. Profiles, groups, and chat are its primary functions, but the network has its own virtual currency, its own avatars, and shows signs of moving toward the virtual world medium. The mobile component here is huge. In contrast, the U.S. is barely scratching the surface of mobile-based social-networking, let alone mobile's use in virtual worlds.

What sort of creative process does Centric go through when working with a client?

We drink lots of tequila and talk crap about their competition. Well, maybe not.

Seriously, great creative is about understanding the clients' goals, their position relative to the competition, the opportunities they have open to them, and the available budget. We start with that, then we do the research on the relevant platforms that they might play in, whether it's a social space or virtual place. Then, based on that understanding, we develop overall creative ideas, themes, and tactics that can be used to achieve their goals.

For example, a limited-budget campaign we're doing for an entertainment company, with the goal of engaging as many fans as possible, has resulted in a Facebook-only game application. A large-budget campaign for a Fortune 10 company, with the goal of creating an extensible platform in multiple social spaces and virtual places, has resulted in a proposal that covers multiple virtual worlds and social networks, and encompasses application development, gaming, virtual presences, smart objects, and artificial intelligence.

Which platforms are you currently working on, and are there specific advantages to one over the other, depending on the situation?

We focus on categories, rather than platforms. We're working in three categories: First, virtual worlds. Specifically, free-form and user-created virtual worlds such as Second Life and HiPiHi. The reason we concentrate on free-form virtual worlds is that they tend to aggregate the creative and technical users who are early adopters, rather than just a general audience. We want to touch the influencers of the future.

Second, social spaces. Specifically, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr, Mixi. We cut across a broad range of these, because the right venue depends largely on the type of campaign. Facebook is great for one demo, MySpace is great for another.

Third, mobile. We're starting to deploy a lot of web applications and mobile components, especially since the addressable market is 3X that of the PC space in China, and American teens think phones are more indispensible than computers. And yeah, we also do a lot of "conventional interactive" development--a descriptor that raises a lot of eyebrows among people who are still trying to digest the interactive space.

Are there any trends or technologies on the horizon for social virtual worlds that you hope to see more of in the future?

Wow. There are so many things that are not more than a factory in China away from commercialization. But let's start with the basics: UI and controller. Get Apple (or Nintendo) on these worlds, ASAP. The UI needs a lot of work (yes, even the OnRez browser). And we need a dedicated controller. It's amazing that so many people have been able to suspend their disbelief using a keyboard and watching these worlds on a small screen. But beyond that: markerless facial expression capture, and markerless gestural capture.

These technologies are here, right now, and they're very close to being commercialized. Real-world heads-up displays, either immersive or overlay, will absolutely change the game in terms of computing and virtuality both--they'll make virtual worlds mainstream. And we're very close to that technology as well. True immersion, whether it's in the form of a bodysuit and playroom, or a brain-machine interface, is much farther off--but how far, once we've accepted augmented reality displays in daily life?

Sony Pictures Television and Warner Bros. have each signed a licensing deal with Gaia Online that will bring films to the teen-and-'tween virtual world. The agreement also gives Sony a minority stake in Gaia -- which in its announcement claims nearly 3 million unique visitors a month, or more than either Second Life or Habbo gets.

The new Gaia Cinemas is open for business, and users can watch free films in-world, beginning with Sony's Gattaca and WB's The Matrix -- both futuristic tech flicks, appropriately enough. The big question -- how's the content getting monetized? Apparently through advertiser skins surrounding the film screen. Said Sony senior executive VP Sean Carey, "I think it has the ability to create an incremental revenue source with more potential than just solo viewing."

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the studios will also have flexibility to alternate between the ad-supported model -- which will also give them a cut of virtual goods revenue -- and ad-free pay-per-view, for which Warner will charge $1.99 per ticket for 24 hours' access to the purchased film inside Gaia.

The agreement provides for 50 library titles each from Sony and Warner to Gaia -- Spider Man, Batman Returns and Ghost Rider, to name a few. Sony will reportedly begin supplying other programming in the future, like the television "minisodes" it has designated for digital platforms. Though there are currently no plans to show current releases in Gaia, it can't be ruled out depending on the success of the format for older titles.

Another interesting tidbit picked up by the Hollywood Reporter --while Sony wouldn't discuss its stake in Gaia in specific terms, "the company is believed to be one of a number of investors participating in a Series B round of funding totaling $15 million."

[Via Hollywood Reporter]

A thorough new piece over at ZDNet Australia is examining some myths and facts about business in Second Life, which it calls "poster child and whipping boy for the virtual world movement." Among the points raised -- business use of Second Life primarily focuses education and simulation, not for virtual brand outposts and stores, and privacy is a possibility:

What you can do with that is use a series of estate tools to give you full control over that island and who can access it. You can deny specific people or groups, or just make it completely private. Sun and IBM both have public and private presences. There's quite a number of companies that do have a private presence and don't have a public presence at all.

"The other thing they can do as well in controlling who registers in their private area. The registration API allows you to be able to register people for Second Life yourself, and you can send them to their starting location so when they first log in they go to the right place."

Other, trickier topics includes accessibility -- what's being done to improve broadband accesssibility, and do Second Life avatars have a bigger carbon footprint than real people?

"We conduct a lot of company meetings in Second Life. With us being able to hold virtual meetings, our carbon footprint is a lot lower. Every Friday, we have an internal staff meeting and about 60 to 80 people show up -- people from all over the globe."

OK, it's time to ask about virtual terrorism and, more specifically, how to defend your business against flying penises thrown by virtual vandalas. (An interview held in the Second Life presence of ZDNet Australia sister site CNET News.com earlier this year was disrupted by just such an outbreak of airborne genitalia.)

As you can imagine, there's a brief moment of uncomfortable silence when I raise this issue, but Collins eventually takes the bait. "I think again it comes down to the first point we discussed. With your estate tools you have the ability to say who can create things at your location, so you need to turn that off. It's an educational process."

[Examining Second Life Myths For Business - ZDNet]

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've fallen a bit behind in our weekly updates recently, but here are the latest postings for the week ending November 30th, encompassing the latest jobs posted on the site which are relevant to our readership of professionals creating online worlds:

Areae (San Diego, CA)
Senior Server Programmer
("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.")

- BioWare (Austin, TX)
MMO/Online Community Manager
("BioWare Austin is searching for a Community Manager to lead community efforts for BioWare Austin. The Community Manager position is based in Austin, Texas and will manage the community team and all community efforts for a massively multiplayer game.")

- Sierra Online (Issaquah, WA)
Content Designer
("Sierra Online Seattle Studio is looking for a Content Designer to create and document a rich online game world that is full of life and ground-breaking experiences for players.")

- 31337 Recruiters (Vancouver, BC)
Flash Multiplayer Game Developer
("Our client is a recent addition to the Disney family of companies. They were acquired because they are the best at what they do and are currently the leading company in their market space. Although this role is located in BC, because of their affiliation with Disney many other opportunities are made possible such as the opportunity to work for Disney’s online division and work on properties like Pirates of the Caribbean online.")

- Makena Technologies (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.")

- Utherverse Digital (Vancouver, BC)
Software Engineer
("The Utherverse concept is so compelling, that when people ‘get it’ they realize that it is an inevitable evolution of the internet. The effect is so profound that Utherverse has been able to attract a dream team staff with the best of the best at every level in the company. At the top levels of management, the team are also the owners and investors – having invested many millions in cash, and millions of dollars of value in the form of labor and support from companies they control.")

- Realtime Worlds (Dundee, SL, GBR)
Multiple positions
("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.")

- NCSoft (Aliso Viejo, CA)
Senior System Programmer
("NCsoft North America, the U.S. branch of NCsoft, the world’s largest independent developer and publisher of online computer games is seeking a talented Senior System Programmer to work on upcoming PC MMO at their Aliso Viejo, CA studio.")

- 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.

Server-based game publisher and developer Trion World Network has announced the hiring of former Xfire marketing head Frederic Descamps as senior director of worldwide marketing, supporting the company's global publishing efforts and rolling out European operations.

At Trion, Descamps will also spearhead core online marketing responsibilities, which will include maximizing Trion’s next-generation social network platform.

In his four years at Xfire, Descamps executed various online marketing campaigns for brands including Blizzard, Cadbury Stride, EA, Fox, Intel, Pepsi and Unilever and according to the announcement, helped grow the company’s user base to more than 8.5 million.

Trion World Network is led by former EA global online VP Lars Buttler and Might and Magic creator Jon Van Caneghem. Earlier this year, the company announced a partnership with Hewlett Packard to develop the technology infrastructure for a dynamic, multi-platform content delivery system, and raised 30 million dollars in investments for their endeavors.

Most recently, the company opened a new studio in San Diego, and confirmed to Gamasutra in an interview that it has a server-based MMO game title in development in its Redwood City studio.

Peter Matiss, vice president, marketing and sales said, "We are excited to have Frederic join the senior ranks of Trion’s marketing team. His hands-on experience implementing highly successful online marketing campaigns and his deep understanding of growing online communities provides Trion with the right expertise to launch our groundbreaking new capabilities and content on a global scale.”

MindArk, parent of Entropia Universe, has announced it is planning an initial public offering, which is likely to include an offering of newly issued registered shares as well as existing shares. The company intends to use the proceeds from the newly issued shares to implement its growth strategy -- planning to expand its market position and pursue acquisition opportunities globally. The company has tapped Credit Suisse to help it plan for the IPO and suss out strategy.

Jan Welter, CEO of MindArk, said: "As a publicly traded company MindArk will be able to acquire intellectual property and make strategic acquisitions that will enhance and expand Entropia Universe as the leading Virtual platform for Entertainment, Commerce, Education and Avatar Development. The IPO will also give us an opportunity to substantially expand our development team and to further develop our many current virtual systems and user tools employed by users to engage in commerce, as well as to develop new ones."

We recently reported on the partnership between Nexon America and retailer 7-11, through which the store would carry Nexon Game Cards and in turn have a virtual outpost inside MapleStory. Apparently Nexon will do the same with Best Buy, CVS and Duane Reade, along with Target, which has been carrying Nexon cards for some time.

Nexon says it will feature themed quests to co-promote both the availability of the Game Cards in those real-world stores along with the retailer itself. The special quests will prompt users to visit the in-game chains to earn a virtual Nexon Game Card, which will provide Maple Points.

John H. Chi, Nexon America president and CEO, said, "We're now able to provide a new and unique avenue for major businesses to reach consumers. Nexon creates the exclusive, branded content, retailers receive a powerful, direct line of communication and our players get a new, rewarding gameplay experience. High visibility through new content and interactive rewards makes it a win for everyone!"

CDC Games has announced that its CDC Games International business unit plans to launch Lunia Online, an MMORPG based on manga comic art, for commercial availability in the U.S. during the first quarter of 2008.

The company says Lunia Online is played like an action arcade game, allowing players to move around using arrow keys rather than a mouse, and it's also compatible with the Xbox 360 console controller. The game is played in stages like a video game also, with the player character accompanying three main characters who assign them quests.

“We are looking forward to launching Lunia Online for the U.S. market,” said Jeffrey Longoria, president of CGI. “With our planned addition of Lunia Online, we will soon have games operating in three major markets: China, Japan and the U.S. We intend to continue working aggressively to expand our commercial portfolio further this year and in 2008, as we plan to launch many exciting new games in the coming months.”

Forterra Systems, whose OLIVE platform is used to develop business and academic virtual worlds, has launched developer programs designed to enable consultants, system integrators, resellers, independent partners and education and business organizations to work with its platform, including a price-adjusted model aimed at production deployments for a smaller user group.

Forterra will offer three different programs focused on training, product development, testing, demo, prototype and pilot for stakeholders ahead of production deployment -- the Basic, Standard and Premium programs also include a non-production developer license of OLIVE that works over a LAN, WAN, and the Internet. Additionally, each package includes various 3D content assets from existing packs. Forterra can also host the development server.

The Forterra Developer Programs are tiered to adjust the support services and benefits according to the company's investment and relationship with Forterra. Tools and resources available through the Developer Programs include: education, developer services, technical support, hosting, account management, and marketing. Forterra adds it has invested heavily in support, training, and documentation services to assist its customers and partners. Learning technology company Vcom3D is one of Forterra's early development partners, and is using OLIVE to develop multi-lingual, culture-specific, virtual communicator characters for situation-based learning.

“The 3D Internet is a disruptive force of change that is transforming how businesses, the public sector, and educational institutions train, research, practice, and collaborate,” said Dave Rolston, Forterra’s CEO. “Our Developer Programs and new pricing allow our customers and partners to participate in this powerful market trend more easily through the creation, delivery, and marketing of 3D content, value-add plug-ins, and complete applications based on the OLIVE platform. The Developer Programs are designed to provide cost effective means to develop and pilot a 3D application, and to accelerate time-to-production. Our goal is to create a vibrant partner ecosystem and marketplace of industry specific, serious virtual world solutions that benefit our customers, and provide new revenue and profit streams for our partners.”

There.com parent Makena Technologies announced a partnership with Coca-Cola that has migrated the Coke Studios virtual world to the There.com platform, unveiling a new community called CC Metro.

The CC Metro environment will offer activities focused on music, gaming, sports and entertainment, including a hoverboard skate park and a theater presenting Coca-Cola videos. There's also a "music mixer" tool that will let users develop their own music, and users can chat via text or voiceover IP. The avatar characters are called v-egos and are presented in a cute style (as opposed to high realism); add in the isometric 3D look and the package calls Habbo to mind.

Other brands associated with Coca-Cola, like American Idol, NASCAR and the Olympic Games, will also be part of CC Metro. The virtual world will also integrate Coca-Cola's My Coke Rewards online rewards program, allowing users to trade reward points for virtual items at a designated online store in CC Metro. Members can also customize their avatar and obtain property, pets and vehicles using Therebucks, the There.com in-world currency.

The companies say this new virtual environment will initially be focused on U.S. consumers, but may expand to other countries, highlighting the global availability of There.com's platform, which would allow different markets to customize CC Metro for regional consumers.

Worlds in Motion spoke to Carol Kruse, vice president of Global Interactive Marketing at Coca-Cola, about the evolution of MyCoke.com and the new endeavor.

Can you tell us about the previous incarnation of Coke Studios, and why you chose to migrate it into There?

“Coke Studios,” the first Coca-Cola virtual environment originated almost five years ago (January 2002) as CokeMusic.com. Coke Studios is a popular, interactive virtual community where people can connect with each other through personalized avatars. Coke Studios is primarily focused on music related content and activities.

Coke Studios was a pioneer in consumer product virtual environments when it launched, but as the digital world has exploded, virtual worlds have become incredibly sophisticated. Recognizing this, we wanted to take Coke Studios to the next level and create a more life-like, multi-layered experience for our members.

To evolve Coke Studios we needed a digital partner that offered technology and capabilities that we didn’t have. Working with There.com we‘ve built “CC Metro,” a richer, proprietary Coca-Cola virtual experience where people can connect and have fun. There.com’s digital platform offered more flexibility and creativity to develop a more lifelike world through which we can deliver greater and more varied content.

What might you advise from your experience on the benefits of a major brand having its own disparate virtual world as opposed to being part of an existing one?

The answer to this question isn’t really an “either/or” answer. We’ve seen benefits from our own virtual world with Coke Studios, but we also see benefits in joining an existing virtual world. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t be launching our new community, CC Metro, within There.com. While we learned a great deal from Coke Studios, moving forward we‘ll see even greater benefits through our virtual world within There.com.

Ultimately we knew we wanted to create a better virtual experience for our members. Bringing together our experience and brand expertise with Makena’s technology and the flexibility and creativity provided through There.com, we think we will have the best of both worlds.

Why does a virtual world presence appeal to Coke right now, and do you see the brand's role in online worlds persisting?

Since we’ve had a virtual world presence for almost five years, it’s not about whether the concept is appealing to Coca-Cola right now. Based on our experience, we already know that virtual worlds can be successful. Our focus for right now is taking the experience we’ve gained with Coke Studios and our marketing expertise and collaborating with a partner, in this case There.com, to take our virtual world to the next level.

And, yes, we see our role in virtual worlds persisting. We’ve had a virtual world presence for almost five years, and we have several other virtual worlds in other countries like Spain. Plus, we’re launching a new and improved virtual world with CC Metro. We think all that speaks to our focus on continuing to use virtual worlds a way to connect our brands with consumers in the digital space.

What made you choose this particular way of integrating with There, as opposed to simply putting, say, Coke vending machines inside the world and rewarding users for using them, or using realistic in-world ads like virtual billboards or video spots?

We have learned from our experience with Coke Studios that a virtual world must be experiential, interactive, offer a variety of activities, and provide people with multiple ways to connect within the community. While more traditional “advertising-type” tactics can deliver a message they don’t provide an experience.

With CC Metro, our focus is on offering an experience rooted in the uplifting, optimistic attitude of the ‘Coke Side of Life,’ which is our core brand focus. Choosing to live on the Coke Side of Life – in the real world or the virtual world -- is choosing fun and CC Metro reflects that attitude.

Following the recent announcement that Coca-Cola had migrated its brand presence onto There.com's platform, Worlds in Motion spoke to Ben Richardson, vice president of business development at Makena, about why huge brands like Coke -- which has had a virtual world presence since 2002 -- and MTV are so drawn to opportunities in online worlds.

Redefining Brands

Gaining those both of those heavy-hitters is definitely a big gain for Makena, but we asked Richardson the big question -- what about the users, and their gain? "This is a very large topic of discussion among advertisers," notes Richardson. "The reason there’s so much positive discussion has to do with opportunity. Specifically because virtual worlds are allowing brands to redefine themselves completely by providing new types of experiences around their brands. It's completely immersive and real-time, and that allows the brand to provide any type of compelling user experience that it wants to associate itself with. It becomes anything but advertising."

So the advertiser's goal of providing meaningful interaction associated with their brand presents an opportunity for the platform, also. Both users and advertisers are looking for engagement and a positive experience, and the challenge for virtual worlds like There.com is to provide them to both sides.

Richardson discussed the extensive campaigns that Toyota's Scion has been doing in the There.com world, which he says is a successful example of meeting the needs of advertisers and users at the same time. They built full-sized nightclubs based on the Scion cars, and created activities through which users could customize and present their own art designs on the clubs. "It's a campaign we've been running for almost 6 months, and it's still delivering great numbers to Scion," Richardson says. "That's an example of how a brand can completely redefine how consumers are interacting."

The Beginning Of The Big Migration?

"Coke gets this," Richardson asserts. "Five years ago they launched Coke Studios. They were one of the leaders in the space. And it was very successful, it met their goals at that time, and then they made the decision that they wanted to step to the next level in virtual worlds. They wanted to make it 3D and immersive and introduce new functionality that would let their users do more things in the world."

Richardson feels Makena's partnership with Coke will grab the attention of other advertisers, paving the way for continuing advertiser participation in online worlds. "I think there are a lot of advertisers that are watching the virtual worlds growth rate exponentiate – it’s really growing very significantly – and there are a lot of advertisers out there saying, 'we need to be in there, how do we get in?' Seeing such an establish brand come in not just for a campaign, but acknowledging that virtual words are a core part of their strategy going forward."

Since virtual worlds offer advertisers opportunities to interact directly with their target audience, do they learn from user behavior? "There’s no doubt about it," agreed Richardson. "And there are definitely do’s and don’ts. And there is learning, and it’s not just advertisers learning, it’s everyone -- because our users are telling us what kinds of interaction they respond to."

He continued, "Basically, what we're learning is that advertisers that essentially force their campaign, they don’t give the user a choice to participate in their offering, are ending up with negative awareness, which is not a good thing. And advertisers that don’t spend enough time thinking about a totally unique kind of campaign don’t do as well as advertisers that introduce something completely fresh into the world. What we do know besides that is that brands who have significant cache in the real world absolutely translate into a virtual context."

Case Studies

"We have done a number of case studies that resonate that as well," Richardson added. "So we looked at some past relationships we had with Nike and Levi, and we looked at the value of the virtual Nike shoes we have for sale, and the virtual Levis jacket we have for sale—they're selling for up to $200 for a virtual version of the item. What it tells is us that people who have affinity for these brands want this same identity in the virtual worlds space. And that’s pretty powerful, and this isn’t widely available info because there haven’t been a lot of case studies done for advertisers in the virtual world."

Makena did another case study, following the brand extension that Capitol Music Group built in There.com. Over the course of two months, four artists on the Capitol label -- Korn, Mims, the Beastie Boys and Yellowcard -- participated in in-world events centralized around a designated Capitol Music Club virtual night club, The Tower, in There. "We looked at, over the course of that 2-month period, how much time people spent inside that nightclub. It was 2600 hours total, and when we netted that out to the number of minutes per visit, it netted out to almost 8 minutes per visit. Additionally, the CMG campaign clocked 42,774 visits to interactive kiosks, 17,463 visits to The Tower, 4,363 attendees to four live events, 2,616 hours spent in The Tower and 1,258 pieces of virtual band merchandise sold.

Eight minutes, and all of those numbers -- so what? Is that good? Richardson admits that at first, it was hard to tell, as benchmarks for virtual worlds advertising metrics are still a new idea. But Richardson said he had a place to start, looking at online advertising media provider PointRoll's data from 2006. "We did some research on the average amount of time consumers spend interacting with all the different types online advertising – rich media, surveys, videos, reminders, all those different interstitials, all of the different online ad vehicles. And there were about 30 different kinds -- and within the entire verticle, the average amount of time they spend is 12 seconds. So you've got 12 seconds versus 8 minutes -- that’s like a 6000% increase in the average amount of time that you have per interaction."

That is the absolute underlying key metric that advertisers are understanding, or are starting to understand," Richardson said. "It’s time spent interacting with your brand -- and why is time spent important? Time spent is engagement, and that leads to influence, which ultimately leads to a transaction or a change in brand perception... things like CPMs and click-throughs, those kinds of things are irrelevant in a virtual world. You want to reach as many people as possible, obviously."

We recently reported on the ways California-based Pure Verticals is aiming to monetize user-generated content, giving individual users more control over the ad display method and the substance of the ads themselves that can be run alongside or integrated with their own content. When it comes to UGC, monetizing it is one hot topic -- moderating it is the other.

A San Francisco company called Keibi Technologies believes it has a solution for moderating and classifying UGC, with a subscription-based software "Moderation Suite" capable of analyzing images, animation, text and videos to identify content that violates a publisher's specific terms of service so that it can be moderated.

It incorporates prior content decisions the more it is used, with the aim of improving its scoring performance over time (sounds like Google's image labeler). Solutions like these are sure to become more prevalent as the industry continues to mull the big questions of enforcing behavior standards versus encouraging complete user freedom -- therefore a solution that publishers can customize to their own definition of problem content is a promising idea.

Said Paul Remer, Keibi CEO, "Keibi's holistic UGC classification and moderation solutions deliver significant value over point solutions that simply use an image grader or text dictionary. Keibi looks at a variety of signals that indicate potential violations, including behavioral patterns and correlations across multiple content types and users, in order to more accurately identify problem content."

Australia-based middleware developer BigWorld Technology has announced that Sierra Online has licensed its BigWorld Technology Suite for the development of an upcoming PC online game targeting a mass-market audience.

The BigWorld Technology Suite provides the tools and technology to develop cutting-edge, next-generation online games. The suite is comprised of the BigWorld Server Software, Content Creation Pipeline, 3D Client Engine Package, and Live Management Tools & Instrumentation. BigWorld says it aims to provide a complete MMOG solution designed for companies producing next-generation MMOGs or virtual worlds.

BigWorld has specialized in licensing its 3D MMO technology to Asian markets, but has also announced more than one deal with Western firms, including John Romero's Slipgate Ironworks for an unannounced MMO in progress, and Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment for its upcoming MMORPG, Stargate Worlds.

Said Sierra Online studio manager Judith Hoffman, “Sierra Online continually evaluates its development technology and is always looking for solutions that will help us develop world-class, innovative titles. BigWorld’s powerful online middleware Technology Suite will provide the flexibility to develop an upcoming online game that will take the gameplay experience to the next-level of functionality and sophistication.”

[The preceding article originally ran at Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

EVE Online's recently-announced Trinity upgrade seems not to have gotten off to a smooth start. True to its usual form of being transparent with its players about technical issues, EVE parent CCP Games released a statement explaining what happened:

Trinity was released for download at 22:00 GMT on Tuesday, December 5. Shortly after the deployment of the update, CCP became aware of an issue involving the Premium graphics content download whereby a small percentage of our users may have been affected and now need to make repairs to system files. We immediately set to work to identify the cause and resolve it. A new build is now available and is safe for all users to download and install. Users who are running Microsoft Windows versions other than Vista, with multiple hard drives (or multiple partitions on any hard drive) and began downloading the Premium graphics content before 04:00 GMT on Wednesday, December 6, should visit this link and follow the instructions given to correct any potential system issues.

Speak to any EVE community member and they'll tell you that this sort of communication from CCP is highly appreciated, and adds value to their experience. Earlier this year, EVE's game servers went down for a bit because of a security breach, and at the time CCP went into full-disclosure mode, also.

Uptime is always the priority, and of course it's preferable that a program doesn't damage the operating system on which it runs. Resolving issues quickly is key -- and letting users, who have lots of time (and often, lots of money) invested in that world, know what's going on is another essential component.

3D virtual community Worlds has announced that it has added former Sony Computer Entertainment of America and Sega exec Bernard Stolar to its board; also joining the board are Entertainment Marketing & Communications International CEO Jay Coleman and Robert Fireman, former Director and General Manager of SmartSource Direct.

Worlds, which was founded in 1994, says it's preparing to released an updated version of its 3D platform, with a new rendering engine and micro-economy platform. Worlds allows users to navigate avatar-based 3D worlds, both proprietary and user-generated via a peer-to-peer network. the company says its' also building on existing formats to improve its entertainment, socializing, and marketing capabilities in the online environment.

According to the company, Worlds actually received its first US patent for multi-user server technology for 3D applications in 2001. It recently received another patent in 2001 as a continuance, providing for a scalable architecture for a 3D graphical, multi-user interactive virtual world system.

Said Thom Kidrin, Worlds CEO, "This is an exciting time for Worlds. I am happy to have these seasoned veterans in their respective fields join the Worlds.com board to assist the company in positioning itself to take advantage of the recent growth and media attention in the 3D market place. Collectively, the new board members bring a diverse and well-rounded expertise in the area of marketing, advertising, video games, and stored value products to further drive creativity, expansion and development in 3D virtual worlds."

We're pleased to announce more of the speakers who'll be participating in the upcoming Worlds In Motion Summit! Multiverse's Corey Bridges and Rafhael Cedeno, MindCandy's Michael Smith and Turbine's Jeffrey Steefel will be joining the event; previously-revealed speakers include Areae's Raph Koster, Relic Labs studio head Adrian Crook, Nexon's Min Kim and Millions of Us' Reuben Steiger.

The Summit, which is organized by the editors of WorldsInMotion.biz, will be held on Monday and Tuesday, February 18-19th 2008, as part of the 2008 Game Developers Conference. The Summit will focus on the intersection of online worlds and games, and the official description of the event is as follows:

"The Worlds in Motion Summit is a definitive event tailored for the growing number of industry professionals and Fortune 500 companies developing interactive online spaces for both entertainment and commercial purposes. Discussion forums will delve into online worlds, social gaming and media and player created activity.

These will provide insight for developers of all backgrounds into how the game industry is collectively building socialization into games and integrating personalization and player-generated content into gameplay — while widely accessible Web and networking tools are looking to the game industry for their way forward."

In addition, following its initial announcement, the inaugural Worlds In Motion Summit is expected to debut many more speakers over the next few weeks. Now joining the event will be:

- Multiverse's Corey Bridges and Rafhael Cedeno
(Executive producer and founder Bridges, along with CTO and co-founder Cedeno, will showcase their Multiverse platform for 3D virtual world development, offering a "from the field" demonstration with a new era of end-user in mind, one seeking social media and low barrier to entry.)

- MindCandy's Michael Smith
(Already virtual worlds are beginning to look at mobile as a new frontier in virtual worlds -- specifically products that have several points of access to let the user customize his or her experience from any direction. MindCandy's Moshi Monsters virtual pets are one such idea, and interactive entertainment pioneer Michael Smith will share the method to the monsters and his forward-thinking perspective on the space.)

- Turbine's Jeffrey Steefel
(Lord of the Rings Online developer Turbine has been quietly implementing some best-of-breed virtual world and social networking elements into its fantasy MMO for some time, and the company's passionate about evolving the multiplayer experience based on lessons on user engagement, connectivity and user-generated content that have come out of the virtual worlds movement. Executive producer Jeffrey Steefel will provide some exciting examples of how users in any sphere can respond to and invest in these innovative ideas.)

The Summit is available to attend via several different Game Developers Conference 2008 passes, and more information on the event plus the speakers announced so far is available on the Worlds In Motion Summit webpage.