 | HarbingersApril 3rd, 2006 |
Games are about to become a lot less relevant to the future of virtual worlds.
That’s where Electric Sheep comes in. The company, technically based in Washington D.C. but operating more often than not in the virtual world, has been booking six-figure deals from members of the Fortune 500 who want to engage their customers/communities… employees can find themselves hired by a client to customize an island, or what in “Second Life” is called a “sim”–a 16-acre piece of land that users can buy and do with what they like.
Your 3D I.D. Meez? They’re 3D identities that you create. Hairstyle. Clothes. Piercings. Everything.
And you can use your Meez all over. IM. Communities. Blogs. Email. It’s up to you.
– Meez.com
Avatar-based chat service IMVU has raised $9 million in Series B funding, a deal reportedly co-lead by Allegis Capital and Menlo Ventures. While IMVU bears some resemblance to virtual worlds such as There.com and Second Life, it is a much more focused affair, therefore the infusion of $9M will doubtless go further than investments in its closest competitors.
Cyworld US, the American version of the popular Korean social networking site, just launched a public beta.
Having used the Korean version of Cyworld in the past, I can attest that it’s a fascinating place. In essence, it’s a closed social network with some blog-like features and its own internal economy. Each user has a “mini-hompy” – a pixelled room that can be decorated with furniture, wallpaper and other items…. in September 2005, BusinessWeek reported that the company was making “$12.5 million on sales of $110.4 million”. It’s a high stakes game.
Second Life +is+ an OS… You can store files there. You can script things (there’s a whole API). In fact, it’s a platform. You can build a video game inside of second life. Or a music store. Or a dance studio. Or a city. Or a helicopter. Or a video screen that plays whatever content you want. Or fountain that spits blood. Or, pretty much anything you can dream up. And it already has a monetary platform so people are willing to pay for things you develop! Soon you’ll be able to blog inside Second Life. Soon you’ll be able to run more applications. This is why I think Microsoft needs to pay deep attention to it…
Skibinsky says that his big breakthrough was in 2004, when he realized that “instead of building a closed online game it’s possible to do the reverse.” In other words, he had an epiphany that web is the ultimate API. He put together a virtual universe which has rooms where folks can meet, meet, chat, exchange resources and items. What got me excited about Hive7 was that it allows anyone to customize the whole experience. You can take the code, and tweak it.
Looking at what Hive7 has built, I have just realized that the web has now gone 3D.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
[...] Comments [...]
[...] Bloggers Company-sanctioned RMT hits single-player games 2 hours 7 min old, Raph’s Koster Website Harbingers 4 hours 29 min old, Raph’s Koster Website Well fuck a duck, it’s link whore time 5 hours 17 min old, MMODIG – unbeliever Cowbell Shenanigans 9 hours 7 min old, Pitfalls – Krones Cruel, Unusual, Justified 10 hours 48 min old, AFK Gamer – Foton Lag is Good 11 hours 47 sec old, AFK Gamer – Foton Heroscape is cool 11 hours 9 min old, Amber Night Today’s example of “People Unclear On The Concept” is brought to you by the state of Michigan 12 hours 6 min old, BrokenToys – Lum Then His Head Asploded 12 hours 37 min old, AFK Gamer – Foton Update 22 (For Real This Time) 14 hours 49 min old, Aggro Me Design question: player leadership of game structures 16 hours 9 min old, Mischiefbox Age and (Lack of) Maturity 18 hours 6 min old, Moorgard (Steve Danuser) WoW Journal – 3-April-2006 20 hours 45 min old, Tobold Managing game design risk: Part I 21 hours 59 min old, Lost Garden – Danc My pre-Creative Commons content license 1 day 1 hour old, Mischiefbox Monthly Report, March 2006 1 day 4 hours old, Raph’s Koster Website New Web Site 1 day 7 hours old, Jeff Freeman – Dundee The Sunday Poem: Last Visit to the Poconos 1 day 9 hours old, Raph’s Koster Website Lets play a little game 1 day 13 hours old, MMODIG – unbeliever The Tally 1 day 19 hours old, Amber Night Bracing for Spring 2006 Quarter 1 day 21 hours old, Geldon What if Jesus really was a guild leader? 2 days 1 hour old, MMODIG – unbeliever Here Come the Ponies 2 days 2 hours old, KillTenRats – Ethic An Open Letter to Big Timmy’s Burger Palace 2 days 5 hours old, Moorgard (Steve Danuser) Casual Games Kill Hardcore Gamers 2 days 5 hours old, Nerfbat – Grouchy Gnome more [...]
Why games will still matter
Over on his blog, Raph posted a bunch of quotes trying to show how games will become less important in the future of online spaces. His argument boils down to the fact that non-game online spaces are getting more attention (particularly more investme…
[...] Pingback by Raph’s Website » Harbingers — April 3, 2006 @ 2:20 pm [...]
[...] http://www.raphkoster.com/2006/04/03/harbingers/ Avatar-based chat service IMVU has raised $9 million in Series B funding, a deal reportedly co-lead by Allegis Capital and Menlo Ventures. While IMVU bears some resemblance to virtual worlds such as There.com and Second Life, it is a much more focused affair, therefore the infusion of $9M will doubtless go further than investments in its closest competitors. YAAAAY so.. uhm.. after all the hard work us Devs do for you.. you get 9 mil we get…….. tokens.. YAAAY!_________________ [...]
[...] Pingback by Raph’s Website » Harbingers — April 3, 2006 @ 2:20 pm [...]
[...] Raph’s Website » Harbingers [...]
[...] » Add another social network into the hopper 2006-03-30 12:02:15 Raph’s Website » Harbingers 2006-04-03 15:20:56 GigaOM : » Will Cyworld Stop MySpace [...]