Virtual world types: navigating the VW jungle

Submitted by Jan Isakovic on Thu, 09/25/2008 - 12:20

Virtual worlds

The number of different virtual worlds grows almost daily, and with $345 million of VC investment in 39 companies developing virtual worlds in H1 2008, it does not seem like it will stop any time soon. Their technology, feature set and target audiences are very different and it's sometimes hard to make sense of it all.

Association of Virtual Worlds' reference resources are a good source for basic information about most virtual worlds, and KZERO does a great job of tracking user numbers and company presence over different virtual worlds.

This guide does not go to the same depths; instead, we want to present our virtual world categories with examples and links.

Google Lively

Habbo
Habbo hotel

Club Penguin

WOW
World of Warcraft

Second Life

vside
vSide

Twinity
Twinity

Opensim
OpenSim

Social virtual worlds

Social virtual worlds focus on enabling conversation among users and are often compared to 3D chatroooms. They often include virtual goods that users can buy, and some enable users to create and customize their own virtual rooms or spaces.

Examples: Kaneva, There, Lively, Vivaty, IMVU.

Casual gaming virtual worlds

Casual gaming virtual worlds are very similar to social virtual worlds with the difference that they also focus on users playing smaller, casual games within the virtual world.

Examples: Club Penguin, Habbo, Neopets, Dizzyworld.

Role-playing virtual worlds

Role-playing virtual worlds or MMORPGs (Massively multiplayer online role-playing games) encourage players to assume a role in a themed world and progress through the game by competing with or against other players in a variety of quests in the fictional environment. MMORPGs also include some sort of in-game culture and provide different tools for players’ social interaction and even team work. MMORPGs often have a living economy that is based on virtual goods that can be bought and sold with an in-game currency.

Examples: World of Warcarft, Age of Conan, Ultima Online (fantasy themed); EVE Online (science fiction themed); Gaia Online.

Virtual worlds for content creation

Virtual worlds for content creation enable users to create their own content and in some cases also sell it to other users. Due to the user generated content, these worlds can be used for a variety of purposes - from chat and gaming to education and even business.

Examples: Second Life, HiPiHi.

Educational virtual worlds

Educational virtual worlds aim to educate their users about a certain topic. Most often these worlds are targeted at children and offer similar features as the casual gaming virtual worlds.

Examples: Whyville, Handipoints HandiLand, MinyanLand.

Interest focused virtual worlds

Interest focused virtual worlds are focused around users’ real world interests, such as sports, fashion, music etc..

Examples: vSide, Stardoll.

Branded virtual worlds

Branded virtual worlds are created around a certain real life brand and can include elements of other types of virtual worlds. Some branded virtual worlds require or encourage users to purchase a real world product to be able to enter the branded virtual world.

Examples: vMTV, Webkinz, Barbie Girls.

Mirror worlds

Mirror worlds are built to mirror the real world. They can be used as 3D maps or to promote tourism.

Examples: Unype, Twinity, Amazing Worlds.

Virtual worlds platforms

Virtual worlds platforms are software frameworks that enable users to create their own virtual worlds. Some (mainly open-source) platforms even enable users to host virtual worlds on their own servers.

Examples: Active Words, Croquet, Multiverse, Project Darkstar, OLIVE, WebFlock, Metaplace, OpenSim.