September, 2008

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Artesia at Mindtrek conference

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The Artesia team is attending the Mindtrek 2008 conference in Tampere, Finland next week (Oct 7th - Oct 9th). Our presentation, titled "A Value-added Methodology for Defining Virtual Communities for Enterprises", is scheduled for 2PM on October 7th at the Social Media track. We'll be presenting the SocialMatch™ methodology and talk about our experiences in building enteprirse online communities.

If you're attending Mindtrek, come and say hi!

Virtual world types: navigating the VW jungle

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
Google Lively

Habbo
Habbo hotel

Club Penguin
Club Penguin

WOW
World of Warcraft

SL
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, MultiverseProject Darkstar, OLIVE, WebFlock, Metaplace, OpenSim.

For more information about the business potential of virtual worlds, check out our whitepaper! It's freely available in our Library.

 

 

New content and Second Life office

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If you're reading this on the web, you have probably noticed that Artesia's web page got a face lift (if you're reading this in your RSS reader, come and check it out!). But the visual presentation was just the beginning of the big changes we made during this summer. Let me give you a quick overview:

1. More - and more useful - content

During last year, we have talked with a lot of people about user communities, virtual worlds and social media. We have discovered a need for two kinds of information: first, a general overview of selected topics - a kind of "Quick-start guide" that would present the basics and provide a few pointers, and second, a kind of radar that would showcase interesting news from these fields. While all this information is already present on the web, it's usually scattered over a myriad of blog posts - or extremely focused on a single aspect.

WhitepapersOur whitepapers aim to address the first need. For now, we have prepared two whitepapers - "Using online communities in business" and "Introduction to virtual worlds". Both give an introduction on the subject and include many examples to help you figure out the way you could use them in your business, too. They are available in our Library, with more content on its way.

 

Artesia spotlight"Artesia Spotlight"  is our answer to the second need. It's a bi-weekly review of key developments in the fields of social tools, user communities and virtual worlds and a showcase of interesting blog posts, videos or events. We'll sift the hundreds of RSS feeds and thousands of news items to find the few nuggets of gold - so you don't have to :) You can sign up for the newsletter by entering your email into the box below and clicking "Go" - your privacy is guaranteed (or by clicking here!)




Email privacy by VerticalResponse

2. New Second Life office

Artesia SL office

After a year in Second Life, we've outgrown our offices in Silicon Island. We've moved to a beautiful location (new SLURL) hosted by Beta Technologies, with whom we're cooperating in an exciting new VW venture - stay tuned for more information!

 

 

If you have any comments or suggestions regarding our whitepapers, Artesia Spotiight or the site redesign, leave us a comment!

Useful websites about Second Life

Getting started in Second Life can be difficult, but there are many web resources that can make the first steps easier and can also help you to keep in touch with the virtual world without having to be logged in. Here is our basic list of web links we often find useful when searching for help, news or interesting products and activities in Second Life:
 
Official information and tools

Second Life news

Other sites and tools

  • SLTutorials.net lists many useful Second Life tutorials and tips
  • SLCN in a television network with many interesting shows that cover different aspects of Second Life
  • OnRez is a web market for Second Life products
  • SLExchange is another web market for Second Life products
  • AjaxLife is a browser based Second Life client without the 3D graphics
  • Movable Life is another browser based Second Life client
  • Second Life viewer cheat sheet features useful keyboard shortcuts for some common actions in Second Life

Are there any other links that we should add to this basic list? Let us know in the comments!

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