Scion, Whyville and virtual loans

Scion, Whyville and virtual loans. In April of this year, Toyota with its Scion brand entered the tween virtual world of Whyville. And, whilst the majority of brands that have entered the metaverse space decided to choose the older demographics of Second Life, this initiative of targeting younger segments appears to have worked well.

Accordingly to this New York Times article, the term ‘Scion’ had been used over 78,000 times in (obviously monitored) online chats. The overall traffic to the Scion venue in Whyville was also encouraging, with over 33,000 visits. Compare this to reasonably comparitive metrics for automobile brands in Second Life and the business case for younger virtual worlds starts to look compelling.

Whyville is positioned as a ‘Social Learning’ environment for the 8 – 15 age group and along these lines, Toyota Financial Services (TFS) recently announced the launch of ‘Scion Solutions’ in Whyville.

So what does this mean? It means that Whyvillians can now take out virtual loans with Toyota if they have insufficient clam balances (the in-world currency) to purchase the virtual cars outright. Scions in Whyville start from 15,000 clams, increasing up to 35,000 for a fully-loaded version.

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HiPiHi announces global strategy

HiPiHi announces global strategy. The Chinese 3D virtual world HiPiHi announced its global strategy on 20th August 2007 in Singapore?جº?íand has confirmed their strategic investors, including ngi group. Reported on .

3D Internet and virtual worlds are foreseen to be the next generation of Internet. HiPiHis global strategy is definitely a timely response to this forthcoming revolution. It aims to boost the ecosystem of the 3D virtual world and establish a world-wide collaboration in this market. Continue reading →

Mercedes Benz driving, of a different kind

Mercedes Benz driving, of a different kind. Mercedes has just launched virtual golf over on Mercedes Benz island.

Now, virtual golf in Second Life is not a new idea, but nevertheless, it makes sense for Mercedes Benz to use an initiative like this. I don’t have any hard and fast statistics on the correlation between MB drivers and golfers, but I’d bet my M Class and pitching wedge that it’s pretty high.

So, this is an exercise in further building the SL community of Mercedes Benz fans by offering activities complementary to the overall Mercedes experience.

You play golf via the HUD and receive a branded golf bag (of course), some clubs and a natty outfit. It remains to be seen if they hold any competitions, but expect this to happen sometime in the near future. And, the winner will receive a brand new real C Class – just kidding. Continue reading →

The ‘4 C’s’ for Playstation Home

The ‘4 C’s’ for Playstation Home. Speaking at the Edinburgh Interactive Entertainment Festival, Jamie Macdonald from SCEE was on the panel for the ‘Beyond Social Gaming’ session.

Sony is realising that the ability for people to create content in virtual worlds is a driving force for engagement. It’s also a useful way to resonate into older demographics, as this post explains.

Macdonald expressed Sony’s views on how social gaming will affect the vrtual world marketplace:

“There is a large untapped market for entertainment experiences for groups of friends and cross-generational groups. The term at the time I used was ‘Parlor games for the 21st century’, which now seems impossibly quaint….

….Users now are not just passive users of creative entertainment but they now expect to be able to customise content. They are also more receptive to a commercial relationship as well.”

He then went on to explain the 4 C’s related to engagement: Continue reading →

Scion goes There(.com)

Scion goes There(.com). In a similiar move to Nissan, Toyota has broadened its reach in the metaverse space by taking the Scion into another world, this time There.com.

Here’s a post about The Scion presence in Second Life, Scion City.

Michael Wilson, CEO of Makena Technologies is quoted (via their press release) as saying: Continue reading →