Virtual MTV is quite an unusual MMO. When I'm researching the MMOs I'm going to cover in this Online World Atlas, I often find quite a lot of information on them online -- even if only on the MMO's own webpage. But Virtual MTV isn't like that at all. There are few references to it on other websites (other than the odd news story about it) and the website itself features very little in the way of information unless you've already signed up. By and large, it seems to be a mysteriously blank spot on the internet.

Yet somehow, the world seems active, an while I can't really comment on exact numbers, it does seem popular. The community just isn't talking about the world outside of it. Which is curious.

As a branded MMO, too, Virtual MTV is an interesting one. Based wholesale on the technology behind There, there is very little different about it from its parent world, yet, and this is a crucial difference, in that the world seems entirely more focused thanks to the resonance of the brand.

What that means is that people who choose to sign up for Virtual The Hills tend to be female, and orientated towards socialization and fashion, while the people who choose to sign up for Virtual Pimp My Ride are male, and interested in driving around in their cars. That's interesting because it (quite obviously) fits into the audience of each brand, but these different users all actually inhabit the same world as they're really just all signing up for the same MMO, but I bet they're not really aware of that -- they seem to cast their behavior based on the brand they signed up for, no matter what location they're in.

So that's a good thing, right? I should be singing Virtual MTV's praises. Well, I can't completely. First of all this concept -- of different brands sharing the same world -- is sound, but it's slightly flawed, as I don't think that the brands are always particularly well represented.

Take Virtual The Hills. Now I haven't really paid attention to this programme (I promise!) but there's more to it than just socialization and fashion -- and even if there wasn't, is including chat and fashion in an MMO really enough now? There are a multitude of game-like elements these kind of reality shows thematically imply -- from working jobs to social hierarchies -- that simply don't evolve from the basic tools users have, so do (in my opinion) need to be planned into this kind of world. This is a problem There had -- that sometimes it felt like a glorified chat room -- and it really isn't one that a brand as successful as The Hills should have to face. It's nice that the community currently is chatty and interesting in how "flirty" it is (I was propositioned a lot, and most clubs are just full of couples making out!) but there could obviously be more interactions possible.

This is underscored by what I have come to see as a core weakness of the There platform -- the reliance on the web in world to do almost anything. The fact that you can purchase user created clothes seems like a fantastic possibility to me, but that people can't really set up in-world stores or anything like that makes it feel "separate" from the main game.

It's no surprise that the areas aimed at boys are more successful. Virtual Pimp My Ride has the very game-like mechanic of allowing you to buy and upgrade an old car, but has an astonishingly high cost of entry. You have to pay $10 just to get a car, and then each upgrade costs even more in real-world money.

I don't begrudge MTV's attempts to recoup costs, but this isn't an easy or cheap way to get yourself hooked into the game. In most other worlds, it's the premium upgrades that would cost money and be the most desirable -- here, when a junkheap costs as much as an Xbox Live Arcade game, it's not a particularly thrilling prospect.

And one technical issue -- Virtual MTV retains a lot of assets which still refer to the game as Virtual Laguna Beach, which is just messy.

My complaints might seem a little petty, or even to ask too much. And I acquiesce that Virtual MTV does seem successful, is technically acceptable, and is enjoyed by its users. But much like its parent, There, it doesn't push the industry anywhere new or even useful, and by being backed by such a huge brand there was great potential to do more that has been completely overlooked.