So I’m here at SDForum in Palo Alto, listening to a whole host of people talk about virtual worlds.

Some common themes: VCs looking for ways to make money. Lots of talk about community. Lots of moving away from games alone. Lots of referencing MySpace as a virtual world. Lots of people talking about networks rather than individual world. And a few game guys defending games as a viable hook into virtual worlds.

It’s this latter point that I really wanted to drive home… people like content, and building a space just to have a space isn’t ever going to be what brings this sort of space to the mainstream.

Read More “SDForum & user-created content”

My XBox 360 is lonely. I know this not because I can glance over at its dust-covered carapace, single wistful power light blinking sadly at me, its drive mouth closed and set in a thin line of dismay, but because it’s blogging about it and sharing its sentiments with the world. “He better not have another console…” it whined. Considering that the Gamecube literally sits on top of the 360, this betrays a remarkable lack of self-awareness — while at the same time providing a great peek into the future of networked devices.

Read More “Metadatamania”

Not one, not two, but three virtual world related stories on the front page of CNet this morning. The first one to catch my eye: the Project Entropia ATM card.

Basically, a much more convenient and fluid way to convert their virtual cash into real cash, something that has always been possible. The article ends with a statement:

He said that MindArk had never been asked about the game by the Internal Revenue Service or U.S. law-enforcement agencies.

As was once said by someone at a conference I attended, “virtual item sales aren’t yet at drug dealer money, but they’re at terrorist money levels.” And what we have here, absent the level of control implicit in a bank’s fiduciary responsibilities, is a fantastic way to launder money.

Read More “Enter your VWPIN”