Blogging Virtual Worlds Fall: Virtual Worlds in China
“2008 can be considered the year of China,” said HiPiHi Founder and CEO Xu Hui said through a translator, “With events like the Beijing Olympics, we see increased attention and opportunities in China. We hope to be a part of that.” In a panel on Virtual Worlds in Asia, HiPiHi outlined where virtual worlds had come from in China and where they believed they were going.
One of the major goals of HiPiHi, Hui said, is to allow Western users to experience the world of China.
“I’ve been interacting with the users,” he said. “And when I meet those not from China, they’re surprised at how the virtual world replicates the real and how much they’re learning from just a 30-minute walk in the virtual world.”
That goal, along with bringing international business to China, is supported by the China Recreation District, a group seeking to create a national infrastructure for virtual worlds that HiPiHi is working with.
“Most people only experience China through products made in China,” said Hui. “That’s not the best way. There are around 1.6 billion Internet users in the world, but virtual worlds could be the best way to experience the Web. I was one of the early founders of ecommerce in China when there were only a few million users. The content wasn’t diverse, and people complained, but things have changed since then.”
He then outlined three ways that the speed of development and its quality in virtual worlds can catch up to the real world.
First, the land sales that occur in virtual worlds follow the basic real estate model of the real world. Second, the industrial revolution of the virtual world is the creation and sales of virtual goods. Third, the creation of a service industry to support banking, development, and more will follow suit.
“With time virtual worlds will mature as mainstream society increases in understanding,” said Hui. “We will collaborate with industry providers and content providers to make that happen. We have a large market and a great desire for globalization.
One of his goals is simply to make the virtual world easier to access.
“In terms of improving the operation of client software, by lessening the load of demand on the servers is to make it more client heavy in operating the world,” said Hui. “The long-term solution is that we’re beginning a conversation with hardware providers to see how they can help us improve the operating efficiency of virtual worlds.”
Part of the development is the addition of a mobile component, potentially Flash-based, that will allow users to interact with their friends lists and properties inside the virtual worlds without the fully graphical environment. The goals aren’t all for business, though.
“The great hope for virtual worlds is in Asia and how Asian virtual worlds will cut out the social ills of others,” said Hui, who compared this first wave of virtual worlds to Pandora’s Box, providing both positive and negative experiences.
HiPiHi, unlike some other Southeast Asian worlds, is meant for an international audience. In fact, 15% of HiPiHi users originate abroad. The servers, though, are only hosted in China, but they will be expanded to around the world, potentially hosted by third parties like the ngi group in Japan.
Importantly, the laws for business and interaction will change according to the location. Due to some of China’s laws, HiPiHi’s economic development is still in development.
“We will launch our own virtual currency in the future. But we won’t manage this brokerage. We want to encourage existing financial services from the real world to come in. Brokerages are not run directly by the government. So we will use that real world model to replicate them in virtual worlds.”
HiPiHi doesn't want to be in the business of regulation at all. When it comes to preventing fraud and griefing, it will be more strict, it seems, than something like Second Life, but the power will be in the hands of the users.
“We will be focusing on tracking down the identity of avatars in the virtual world,” said Hui. “They won’t be able to be changed easily. Your address and information will stay with you throughout your virtual existence. Second, we don’t intend to be a government in the world. We don’t operate in that kind of top down fashion. We will operate in a more self-policing mechanism. The community and users will flag unacceptable interactions. The third part is again on the self-policing mechanism. We won’t have any strict rules for all users to follow. We will have a guideline that is currently in development.”
Some of Hui’s goals, though, aren’t about the modern world.
“Virtual worlds are also useful for experiencing the past,” he said. “China has a 5000 year history. It’s not just a 3D Internet. By replicating historical objects, you create a virtual world in 4D.”
Much of HiPiHi revolves around historical re-creations, both from China and the West. Hui sees these creations as a n extension of the human self.
“I am of the belief that the modern soul can be partitioned into two parts,” he explained. “One is the real self, and one is the avatar. We spend so much time creating identity online that is can’t even really be considered a virtual identity anymore.”
Just had to remark that I am downloading the latest installer. 48.4 MB, downloading at around 4.3KB/s... I will leave you to do the math. I am looking forward to seeing this improve somewhat!
Posted by: Aleister Kronos | October 10, 2007 at 02:43 PM
@ Aleister, as mentioned at the VW session, all Hipihi servers are located within China, which means access speeds outside of CHina will be slow. The medium-term goal is to host downloads on third-party sites, just to list one option.
@ VWN blogger, this sentence below is misquoted:
"We want to encourage existing financial services from the real world to come in".
The actual meaning is:
... to encourage existing financial service models from the real world to (come in)/ be modified for virtual worlds.
Posted by: Bjorn | October 10, 2007 at 11:42 PM
the video showcasing HiPiHi object creation tools , as shown at the session today is at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTwH0uZMyPc&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fforums%2Ehipihi%2Ecom%2Fread%2Dtopic%2D66%2Dff808081154b45e2011588c207a70977%2D0%2D1%2Dindex%2D1%2Dff808081154b45e2011588c207a70977%2Ehtml
Posted by: Bjorn | October 11, 2007 at 12:09 AM
@bjorn
HiPiHi itself runs at a perfectly respectable speed. It's just the download site that sucks.
Posted by: Aleister Kronos | October 12, 2007 at 01:04 PM