Turbine (Asheron's Call, Stormreach) and Korean internet company NHN Corporation have announced an agreement to distribute and localize Turbine's MMO The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar for the Korean market. The game is currently operating in North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

NHN operates the search portal Naver in Korea, which the company has previously claimed commands a nearly 70 percent market share in Korea - surpassing both Yahoo! and Google in that market.

NHN also operates Korea's Hangame online game portal, claiming 1 million concurrent users worldwide. The company is headquartered in Seongnam, South Korea, and has offices in Japan, China and the U.S.

Turbine President and CEO Jim Crowley said, "The Lord of the Rings is a powerful franchise with global appeal, and we are committed to bringing the game to fans around the world. NHN is a powerful force in the Korean gaming market and we are very excited to work with them to bring The Lord of the Rings Online to Korea next year."

German company Zweitgeist GmbH has introduced an avatar-based social program it calls Weblins. Users register, install the software and then create a profile and avatar, and can "adopt" websites and discuss them in proprietary forums. The Weblins site is currently very bare-bones -- hopefully it'll soon provide a more detailed FAQ -- but it describes itself:

Weblins is a forum that can be created for any webpage on the internet. A user would come on the site and type in the URL of the webpage he wants to discuss. If this website if found in the database, then he would go to a forum page that is dedicated to that webpage. If it is not then a script on our website would go out and make sure that that webpage exists. If it exists, then the website would hash it, giving it a unique identifier. Once this is done the owner would be given the option of adopting this web address. A weblins guardian would be able to manage the forum. They could also say that they don't want to own the site. In this case this weblin would now be an orphan. To own a website you must be signed in.

"One can just as easily roam the Net as a polar bear or as a fairy from an online role-playing game," says the company's statement. Polar bears and fairies, huh?

"Surfdaddy Orca" at the Seventh Sun recently went in-depth with HiPiHi, and has published an interesting travelogue of his experiences in what's been called "the Chinese Second Life." Some interesting observations:

A word of caution. Like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, you need to remember that you are not in Kansas when you visit HiPiHi (right, Toto?). As an “overseas visitor,” you are subject to the regulations of the People’s Republic of China. You are reminded of this in the HiPiHi Terms of Service: “Users of this community may not made remarks include which damage the Constitution and the law, undermine national unity, fabricated or distorted the facts, spread feudal superstition and obscenity, pornography, and other violations of the constitution and administrative laws and regulations of expression.”

There are interesting notes on every stage of the experience, providing a peek into the rather picturesque-sounding beta phase:

When I first logged in to HiPiHi, my avatar appeared as a headless, shadowy wraith. This turned out to be a language settings problem on my Windows XP computer (see the Installation Notes at the end of this article to properly configure an XP computer to handle Simplified Chinese).

After correcting the language settings problem, I logged in again to find my avatar standing in a bamboo forest wearing a white undershirt and underpants—the badge of being a overseas “newborn” in HiPiHi, I guess. I quickly looked around, but I didn’t see any pandas chewing on the bamboo.

Neat work, guys!

In a fledgling industry based on information sharing and the germination of new ideas, whether we're virtual world users, media or creators, we're all careful to embrace, study and tolerate all new ideas. After all, we're on equal footing at the threshold of a nascent industry, and while some important lessons are already beginning to solidify -- virtual goods are here to stay, self-expression is a key component in avatar-based interaction, social networking is part of play -- a "right," absolutely fact-based methodology has yet to surface, and it's doubtful that it will for some time yet.

Looking back ten, even twenty years from now, it's hard to predict which of the new products and trends we currently see will have left a lasting impression on the industry of online spaces, but it's a safe bet that some who are emerging as leaders now may fall along the wayside (remember the search engine wars?) However, a rather incisive new piece by Malcolm King of Australian debate journal On Line Opinion is unafraid to admit to the overhype of virtual worlds, lambasting Linden's "PR spin" around Second Life and calling it "intellectual trash."

He attacks the industry from an academic's perspective, and while comments like "[Kids are] going to be better off learning to play guitar, lacrosse, karate, cricket, soccer or chess than sitting alone in a darkened bedroom battling god-knows-what coming at them in 3D through their computer screen," are vaguely myopic, the resentment for what might be called an over-proliferation of virtual worlds hype and unsubstantiated PR fumes drives his exacting dismissal of the industry altogether.

It's interesting to read, because academia is one of the primary fronts in the evolution of virtual worlds, as many learning groups for both young kids and university students are looking at the possibilities of online worlds for the classroom, for simulation and education.

Terra Nova's Lisa Galarneau takes King on -- "I quite enjoy it when people get sick of hype and decide to rain all over the parade. The problem is that too often people do it when their annoyance causes any degree of balance and levity to flee," she begins, and while she also admits that King is "certainly right" about the overhype issue, she deconstructs his arguments handily.

And voila, an interesting and pull-no-punches discussion on the real potential and concrete, measurable value of virtual worlds appears at Terra Nova, making it clear we've perhaps begun to move into an era of honest criticism. Now, if only such grounded scrutiny could put an end to people using names like "Mistwalker" and "Dazzlestar" in their professional email signatures.

[Via Kotaku]

Here's an interesting reversal of the "real items, virtual goods" phenomenon -- former Microsoft Game Studios vice president Ed Fries and World of Warcraft developer Blizzard have partnered to announce the official launch of FigurePrints, a premium service that allows WoW's claimed 9 million subscribers to create 3D statues of their in-game characters.

Fries left Microsoft in 2004 after helping to launch the original Xbox and was instrumental in overseeing a number of Microsoft Game Studios hits including Halo, Age of Empires, Mech Assault, Crimson Skies and Project Gotham Racing.

Purchasers of the recently-announced Dell PS M1730 World of Warcraft edition notebook computer will receive a "golden ticket" which will allow them to print a World of Warcraft FigurePrints character at no charge.

Said Fries, “For the first time, we are taking this new technology and using it to bring objects out of a virtual world and into the real world through 3D printing. We are turning the actual characters that gamers play into something that is tangible and physical, no longer just online, and frankly we just think that is really cool.”

Singapore-based online game developer GigaMedia Limited has announced a partnership with Lineage developer XLGames, the studio founded by The Kingdom of the Winds creator Jake Song, to develop a new MMO.

GigaMedia has also made an investment in XLGames, which it says is a step in its plan to strengthen its pan-Asian online entertainment platform, which aims to provide a "one-stop solution" for game developers and entertainment providers addressing over 68 million registered users in the Asian market.

As part of the partnership, GigaMedia has made an investment in XLGames for an undisclosed sum, also obtaining board representation and unspecified strategic rights.

In addition to licensing and developing online gaming software, GigaMedia also operates Asian casual game portal FunTown, which it claims is the largest online MahJong game site in terms of revenue. Chinese casual sports game operator TCN also falls under the GigaMedia umbrella.

Said GigaMedia president Thomas Hui, "Jake Song and his team are superstars -- some of the world's greatest game developers. We are thrilled to partner with such a tremendously talented team and look forward to working closely with them on their new MMORPG, which should rock the world."

Free-to-play online game publisher and social portal K2 Network (Knight Online, Global MU Online) has announced the addition of Erick Hachenburg, CEO of video entertainment site Metacafe, to its board of directors.

Prior to joining Metacafe, Hachenburg was senior vice president of global online publishing at Electronic Arts and managing director of EA China, where he led the company's entry into the digital distribution of retail games. He supported the expansion of EA's Pogo casual games platform and business, which he founded and built prior to EA's acquisition of Pogo in 2001. Hachenburg also established EA's online production, operations and publishing capabilities in Asia.

K2 Network currently claims over 16 million registered users and offers War Rock, Knight Online, Global MU Online, RedStone and Sword of the New World: Granado Espada. the company operates in the U.S., Korea, and India, and Hachtenburg noted that K2 is facing "a great opportunity to grow their business into global industry leaders."

Said K2 CEO Joshua Hong, "Erick brings a wealth of experience in all aspects of the online world to K2 Network as we strive to differentiate ourselves by delivering what our gamers want through better community service and our Free2Play pricing model. Attracting key board members like Erick couldn't be more timely given his experience and insights gained from founding Pogo.com and building EA's global online publishing business."

Edward Castronova, Associate Professor in the Department of Telecommunications at Indiana University and developer of the Arden Shakespeare-themed world, apparently has some concerns about the impact of virtual life on the real world.

"My guess is that the impact on the real world really is going to involve folks disappearing from reality in a lot of places where we see them," Castronova told the BBC, discussing his recent book, Exodus To The Virtual World, on the same topic. He predicts that over the next decade, everyone will be involved in virtual worlds to some degree -- but that a group of individuals may "go and disappear," spending all of their lives there.

Castronova visualizes that virtual worlds may become a sort of "refuge" for those whose real lives are less appealing, but he still sees them as a step forward based on their ability to connect people globally for communication.

[Via BBC News]

The Tech is hoping to attract exhibition builders, craftspeople, museum curators to collaborate on the Tech's online platform. The platform will enable participants to find and work with others, access tools, participate in forums and view guidelines and tutorials.

The virtual Tech is accepting exhibits around the design competition theme of “Art, Film, and Music.” Additionally, the Tech plans to replicate a number of the winning exhibits in its real-world museum in San Jose. A panel of experts will review the virtual exhibits in Second Life and awarding prizes to the winning projects. The winners will be announced in connection with the 01SJ Global Festival of Art on the Edge, produced by ZER01: The Art and Technology Network, in June 2008. The Tech will also support the competition by running building and scripting tutorials in Second Life.

Tech museum president Peter Friess said, “This is a unique and exciting use of Second Life and we are excited to lead this new initiative to revolutionize the way museums create exhibits. The Tech is using Second Life as an open source platform for content development, tapping into creative talent worldwide. I am looking forward to seeing the ideas and contributions that exhibition builders, craftspeople, and museum curators create during the course of this challenge.”

Apparently, we were a little confused when we heard about Weblins, the avatar-based social web-surfing tool we heard about last week. There's somewhat of a confusing difference between Weblins -- the software that lets users "adopt" a website and discuss it in a user-moderated forum -- and Weblin, the program that creates avatars so that friends can see what websites you're surfing.

With Weblin, you choose an avatar that will appear to other Weblin users on all the sites you're navigating, and you can chat with other friends whose avatars will appear as they surf simultaneously to you. It also has a virtual currency, "Kala," and users can buy additional functionality or trade gift items with one another. Weblin users also earn points for their activity that can be used to unlock exclusive avatars, and show bronze, silver and gold medals that demonstrate your web-surfing proclivity.

Nexon has announced Christmas events for MapleStory Europe, beginning December 15th, 2007 and running until January 3rd, 2008. It introduces a special Christmas town, and a quest that sends players searching for special holiday items in order to prompt the snow to fall.

Said Nexon Europe director of international business development Calvin Yoo, "Forget the turkey and the mistletoe: with a whole new Christmas town to explore and an exciting new festive quest to take part in we’re certain that Maplers across Europe will be full of the Christmas spirit come the big day.”

NCsoft Europe has announced the release of its second content update for its free-to-play multiplayer online game, Dungeon Runners. Called Chunk 2, the update adds in-game advertising for non-members, more bank space for members and item trading, along with game balance refinements that include loot access and combat adjustments.

NCsoft, which recently announced it would be adding the advertising support through a partnership with in-game advertising agency Double Fusion, says the in-game advertising will help fund future development of the massively multiplayer online game and keep it free for players. The in-game advertising will be visible to non-members in loading screens, and in a banner that sits on top of the game window during play. Subscribers can avoid the advertising altogether.

Because of the ad support, free players will be able to access dungeons and valuable items they haven't been able to access thus far. Non-members will also have another page of bank slots to store more items. Through the new trade system, all players can now swap items amongst themselves (not including gold).

NCsoft producer and Dungeon Runners lead programmer Stephen Nichols said, “Chunk 2 unlocks an enormous amount of playable content for non-members that they didn’t have access to before thanks to the addition of in-game advertising. Our non-member players are very happy they can now use what was previously members-only loot, and our members are really excited about receiving additional bank slots to hold their items. These changes, plus our new secure trade system, make this update a win-win for everyone!”

Viacom has formed an ad group called Digital Fusion, which will design customized cross-media campaigns for MTV's many digital properties, focusing on emerging online media, social networking and virtual worlds.

According to AdWeek, Jason Witt, former MTVN global digital media senior vice president, will head Digital Fusion, and the group will develop ad campaigns across all of the company's web properties. Reportedly they'll continue maxing the customizability angle, emphasizing non-standard features.

"Our marketing partners want solutions that take full advantage of our greatest strength, creating innovative and engaging content," an official told AdWeek. "Digital Fusion will empower marketers to further tap into our iconic brands, and access customized digital marketing solutions with the same ingenuity and inventiveness as our music, entertainment, comedy and pop culture content."

[Via AdWeek]

Cory Ondrejka, who led development for Linden Lab, the home of the Second Life virtual world, left Tuesday, according to a statement from the company.

"As it grows, the needs of our company are changing, and the role of CTO, or technical lead, has also evolved," said Linden Lab founder and CEO Philip Rosedale, in a statement. "Therefore, Cory and I are in agreement that our paths, at this point in time at least, lie in different directions." Rosedale said Ondrejka left "to pursue new professional challenges outside the company."

The Linden Lab statement doesn't say whether Ondrejka quit or was fired. Rosedale added that he wanted to "publicly thank Cory for his tremendous contribution to the company and to Second Life."

Massively, a virtual worlds and multiplayer gaming blog, reported that it had obtained copies of internal e-mails from Ondrejka and Rosedale announcing Ondrejka's departure.. According to the e-mail attributed to Rosedale, "Cory and I have differences in how we think Linden should be run, differences that in the past few months have become irreconcilable. These are tensions that were more manageable when we were smaller, and there have been times that they have helped us do great work together. But now, as we change and grow as a company, I feel that we need a different set of strengths in engineering leadership. I strongly believe that this is the right decision, although not without pain, for both LL and Cory."

Ondrejka was the fourth person to join Linden Lab, according to the Massively comments attributed to Rosedale.

"It has been an absolute thrill working with all of you on Second Life," according to the e-mail attributed to Ondrejka. "When Philip looked across a rickety card table in November of 2000 and told me that we would do more than build a great product, we needed to build a great company, too, I knew it would be a wild ride."

He added, "I continue to believe in both Second Life and Linden Lab, but Philip and my visions for the future of Linden Lab are divergent enough that he decided to lead in his own way."

One of Ondrejka's accomplishments was creating the Linden Scripting Language, the programming language used by Second Life content creators to control the behavior of objects in Second Life. Ondrejka liked to tell stories about how he created the language in a rush. "[N]ote to self, next time spend more than one night designing language," Ondrejka quips in the e-mail attributed to him on Massively.

Around 11.3 million Second Life accounts have been created since the virtual world went online four years ago, with 474,000 logins in the past seven days.

As one of the technology heads of Linden Lab, Ondrejka was in the focus of controversy about Second Life. The service is notoriously buggy and unstable, prone to frequent crashes, slowdowns, and outages. Although the service has been growing more stable recently, it still has problems. Linden Lab took Second Life down Tuesday morning to add data center capacity; that outage, scheduled to run from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. Pacific time, instead extended past 2 p.m.

Linden Lab is working to improve Second Life stability and performance, upgrading the physics engine to Havok 4 and changing scripting to the Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) Mono platform.

Ondrejka could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

[This article was originally posted by Worlds in Motion sister site Information Week.]

Multiplayer Online Games Directory has coverage of the Consumer Technology Innovations event, which zeroed in on the issues that developers face in meeting the needs of today's consumer, and Yahoo!'s Vince Broady, Atom Films' Scott Roesch, and Disney Online executive vice president and managing director Paul Yanover. They discussed content integration within advertising and Web 2.0 concepts, both of which look like they're here to stay, and Roesch wondered how everyone can keep up and stay relevant against a brand like Club Penguin. Said Disney's Yanover:

As tumultuous as sorting through the business of online entertainment can be right now, what might the future hold? Yanover foresees an explosion of virtual worlds and massively multiplayer online games, while developers and investors will try to "crack the code" for paid content. Roesch agreed, adding that the on-demand experience for premium information is also a part of the future. Broady stated he's watchful for the company that can merge advertising with content seamlessly.

Based on the sum of the panelists' conjecture, the future of Web 2.0 will belong to those companies that can innovate quickly. Producing interactive and social networking-friendly content that's tailored to their individual customers' unique needs will also be key. The content will also have to be supported by non-intrusive and perfectly adapted advertising. To say the least, that is an enormous challenge worthy of any company.

[MPOGD.com - Decoding the Connected Consumer]

Fashion branding is a big draw for young people in online social spaces, and the R. Lilly Tuckerwear company has launched a virtual world called The Fashion Fantasy Game, which aims to teach business to 'tweens and teens through a fashion world simulation that lets users design and sell girls' clothes or own a clothing store. It's a bit of the departure from the usual dress-up-doll thematics of online worlds targeted at girls, and actually delves into the business of the fashion industry.

Users earn rankings from other players and by participating in competitions. Players start with a "Fashion Buckz" account, thereby continuing the trend of pluralizing everything aimed at young girls with a letter "z", and users can manage the Buckz to make real estate purchases, manufacture goods and promote their designs. Kids can rank their friends or buy designs from them, and compete together.

Founder and creator Nancy Ganz, who developed the Body Slimmers by Nancy Ganz shapewear line, said, "The idea behind this fashion game is to give girls a sense of accomplishment and a way to feel good about themselves, from the inside out." No word if the avatars can wear Body Slimmers to feel good about themselves.

A new article in The Economist runs down the promising business and entertainment developments in the virtual worlds space -- nothing we've not heard before, such as the Serious Games Institute's virtual learning program, Cisco's internal business development work, and the rise of virtual goods as a viable business model.

The article also runs down some of the challenges we know face virtual worlds today -- disputes surrounding the economics of virtual goods sale and trade, and the vulnerability of such commerce to scammers, and conflicts over unwanted content, like sex tools in Second Life. But the article reveals something interesting about how Sony Online Entertainment decided to regulate undesirable user behavior by decriminalizing it:

"That is the approach taken by Sony Online Entertainment (SOE), the company that runs “EverQuest II”, a fantasy world of dragons and busty blondes. It found that some 30-50% of customer-service calls concerned scams relating to real-world trade in virtual items. So it divided the game world in two and made trading legal in one part but not the other; players can choose which to play in. As a result, says Greg Short of SOE, the share of calls relating to scams is now less than 10%."

[Via The Economist]

Nexon's new KartRider multiplayer racing world is getting into the holiday tradition along with MapleStory, with its Artic Rim tracks showing off holiday spirit, featuring events, music and prizes in keeping with a seasonal theme.

The Shark's Fin, Penguin Town and Ice Cave tracks in the arctic rim are decked out with candy canes, santa penguins and jingle bells, and play Christmas music. In addition to the decorations, KartRider will hold a Holiday Marathon event, an endurance race where players can win prizes like laptops, iPods and other holiday gifts.

Interestingly, there's a MySpace crossover here -- users can leave comments on the KartRider MySpace page stating which item they'd like to receive from the Item Shop and why, and the best comments will have their wishes granted.

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.

Here are the latest postings for the first two weeks of December, encompassing the latest jobs posted on the site which are relevant to our readership of professionals creating online worlds:

- NCsoft (Various Locations)
Various Positions
("Makers of the world's most popular online game franchise, Lineage, NCsoft has also created many other award winning and groundbreaking products such as City of Heroes and Guild Wars. Soon, NCsoft will launch other massively multiplayer titles including Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa and Aion in addition to various casual games via its game portal, PlayNC.")

- Reloaded Studios (Seoul, SK)
Lead Concept Artist
("Reloaded Studios was founded in 2007 by industry veterans from Webzen, NCsoft, Phantagram and other top games companies in Korea. Based in Seoul, the company is developing innovative and exciting massively multiplayer online game powered by the award-winning CryENGINE2, which is for release in markets around the world.")

- 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.")

- Trilogy Studios (Santa Monica, CA)
Flash Multiplayer Game Developer
("Trilogy Studios is seeking a seasoned, Senior-level tools programmer, with a focus in Mel and with a strong C++ background. Interest or experience in the virtual world space is a major plus.")

- SilverTree Media (Pittsburgh, PA)
Flash Programmer
("SilverTree Media is an independent game studio and software developer located in the heart of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We are a small but growing team of designers, engineers, artists, and producers who aim to be the leading creator of imaginative, interactive worlds by merging unique artistic approaches, advanced technical expertise, and a passion for entertainment and new media. SilverTree Media is currently involved in the development of several high-profile projects using Adobe Flash and ActionScript 3, and we need more good people on our team.")

- 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.")

- Trion World Network (Redwood City, CA)
Multiple positions
("We have assembled many of the most respected names in the industry – with the backing of the world’s biggest media companies, Time Warner, NBC Universal, Bertelsmann, and of top venture capital firms, Trinity Ventures, DCM, Rustic Canyon – to fulfill the incredible potential that global broadband has created for games. With our innovative technology, we’re combining the best of online, gaming and traditional media to revolutionize the way connected games are designed, developed, and delivered.")

- 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.

Nokia has now announced it's offering new virtual pets for its N-Gage mobile games service, called Creebies. Starting with a trailer and some virtual cash, the Creebi and its home are customizable, and Nokia says that the pet will take on its own personality and appearance based on the attention it receives -- you can play with it, feed it when it's hungry and rest it when it's tired -- and it'll grow more independent with time.

Creebies can also interact with each other via Bluetooth -- users can play games together or even breed the pets, show off the newborns or put them up in a virtual adoption center. The virtual pets are expected to be available in 2008.

Dr Mark Ollila, director of Technology and Strategy and head of Games Publishing at Nokia, said, "Nokia as brought a quirky game to N-Gage that appeal to all ages. With Creebies anyone can have the pleasure of owning a pet without the trouble of cleaning up the mess."

Online game developer Majorem has announced Ballerium, a new free-to-play strategy game in conjunction with live games operator Sleepy Giant. The game features a real-time economy that lets players influence the in-game market, and gameplay hinges on resource gathering and army-building.

Explains Majorum:

Ballerium is a far off planet facing troubling times. For the first time in its history, the world of Ballerium has been experiencing a global crisis: an oncoming cataclysmic about to bring about the end of the world. Each player in the game controls an Avatar - a spirit of a great hero, and a group of followers (called "units") of that Avatar. Players are free to choose their own goals - whether they wish to try to reveal the mysteries of the gates, to simply amass power and wealth, or to conquer every city and become the ultimate Avatar in Ballerium.

To achieve success, users need to collect money and resources to build their army and then team up with other players, exploring the world in search of challenges. Interestingly, the company claims the in-game AI is capable of finishing combat for users that get logged off, and Ballerium incorporates community features coupled with low bandwidth requirements to lower the barrier to entry.

Linden Lab's Philip Rosedale has apparently been feeling pretty chatty, as he recently spoke to both the BBC News and the New York times about the current state of things in Second Life. Though the interview he gave the NYT was very basic -- sort of a "Second Life For Dummies," he talked to the BBC about Cory Ondrejka's recent departure:

"Our differences are more about how to run the company and how best we organise ourselves as a company going forward," he said. "We really do not have any differences in strategic direction."

"There's not a shift in direction in the company that I wanted to make or Cory wanted to make that was incompatible," he told the BBC News website.

(Fluff)Friends is a new Facebook app that lets users adopt a virtual pet to embed on their profile. It incorporates a virtual currency system, too -- (Fluff)Friends owners earn "munny" by petting or feeding the pets of their friends, or by filling out marketing surveys. So it's a gain for the surveys, but it also encourages social play, since you don't earn any munny for taking care of your own pet.

Munny can buy food and gifts for your pet or others', and taking good care of your pet raises its speed, which in turn raises the probability that it can win "races" against other pets for munny prizes. The more friends who accept your invitation to adopt a (Fluff)Friend, the more options you have for your pet -- you can customize them with backgrounds, mini-pets and other accouterments.