20 trends defining virtual worlds – Techdigest part 1

Techdigest did a good job in live-blogging the recent Virtual Worlds Forum event in London and (like most tech-based media outlets) appear to be devoting more column inches to the metaverse space.

Of course, there’s a lot of land-grab going on at the moment, everyone keen to position themselves as thought-leaders in this sector. Techdigest has just published their ’20 trends defining virtual worlds’, basically a summary of some of the key drivers and hot discussion points. Full article here.

Here’s their first 10….

1. Shedloads of virtual worlds will be launched in 2008. I guess that depends on the definition of shedloads. There’s certainly going to be a few – and I’d hazard a guess that some of these will fail. The K Zero presentation from Virtual Worlds Fall covers the important elements critical to new world growth, falling into the market development, product development and diversification categories.

2. Teen-focused virtual worlds are huge. Indeed they are. And the residents of worlds such as Club Penguin, Habbo and Whyville are the leaders of tomorrow in terms of virtual worlds. K Zero forecasts for 2008 growth of these worlds (and others) can be seen here. As I write this post, two of my three boys are logged into Club Penguin and number three is wrestling to kick them off.

3. Brands still get it wrong. True dat. However, some brands are getting it right and for (almost) every brand making mistakes, there’s another one creating success. Let’s not forget here that Second Life gets the lionshare of media attention. Brands are present in other words as well and doing well. Projects involving There, Kaneva and Whyville (to mention just three) are worth reading. Two key things to remember when considering virtual world marketing: The importance of having a plan and using media planning to determine the right world for the brand, product or service.

4. There’s a problem with communication. This refers to the terminology used to describe and explain metaverses as opposed to in-world comms. I’d agree that there’s a lot of terminology but a necessary ‘evil’ (probably too strong a word) bearing in mind that technology is the backbone of these worlds and the sector although still small, is growing in several different directions.

5. There will be big growth in corporate use of virtual worlds. Totally agree. And, already there’s some major companies promoting the use of virtual worlds for corporate use. However, it’s still surprising how many large companies prevent access to virtual worlds from the desktop. For my money, 3D intranets (intraverses) will be a key growth area, particularly for companies with operations in more than one country.

6. Virtual items will be a big moneyspinner. Techdigest is refering to Metabrands. For companies looking to generate revenue streams from marketing activity in virtual worlds, metabrands are the way forward

7. Mobile is a bit of a wildcard. I see mobile devices being used to supplement, not complement virtual worlds. The key problem here is size – screen size – the lack of it. As we’re seeing with projects like Vodafone Inside Out, it’s possible to use mobile devices to create and offer augmental services for virtual activity.

8. Governments are waking up to virtual worlds. This is true in several areas. Government organisations are starting to use worlds like SL for marketing purposes (the Second House of Sweden for example), as well as for candidate promotion and as ‘outposts‘ for debate. Some of these debates have turned a little feisty.

9. Is it an online game or a virtual world, or both? A good point. By definition, the vast majority of virtual worlds are not games, they are environments. Games need rules, have points and winners and losers. However, some worlds are being created that combine both elements – these are called Metammogs, Football Superstars being a prime example.

10. China is getting into virtual worlds. Of course, we know about HiPiHi, the Chinese equivalent of Second Life. The Chinese government is currently planning the Bejiing Cyber Recreation District.