NYT's Take on VLES Shows Issue with Real-World-Inspired Virtual Worlds

The Virtual Lower East Side is a virtual collaboration between Vice Magazine and MTV, which already boasts a stable of successful virtual worlds. vLES is meant to represent the uber-hip real Lower East Side of New York City. Unfortunately the real-world denizens aren't buying it. “It’s not an accurate representation, but it could be a fun, entertaining thing, and if I guess if I lived in Nebraska, I would love to see it," Dick Manitoba, the frontman of the punk-rock group the Dictators and the owner of Manitoba’s, a bar on Avenue B told the New York Times. Chances are MTV wasn't aiming at Manitoba when it jump started the vLES project, but when MTV is selling hipster credibility, punk support wouldn't hurt.

MTV's other virtual world properties are mostly based on its shows (e.g., Virtual Laguna Beach and Virtual Pimp My Ride). Even though those are "reality" shows, MTV already set up that reality. So there's not a huge jump to convert into a virtual reality. But as the network looks to build new worlds out of a $600 million warchest, will it look to the increasingly popular "Second Earth" idea?

It seems likely that if Google gets into the virtual worlds game, it would build on Google Earth. Likewise, while Microsoft is looking for a cross-platform virtual worlds approach within the year, it's made large strides in user-generated content for Virtual Earth. There's plenty of new platforms taking a real-world approach as well: Journeys, Everyscape, and Twinity to name just a few.

Forerunners and leaders in the space like Second Life, There.com, or Habbo Hotel create entirely new environments, setting the mood and theme for each new space. But with a real-world influence, it seems like there's less freedom. There's also the chance of stepping on toes.

"Who gets to program the events in these digital spaces, MTV or the promoters and managers of the clubs?" asks Times author Dave Itzkoff. "And what happens if a virtual space is the host of an event that’s fundamentally incompatible with the spirit of the real-world establishment? (In other words, what happens when the avatar of Rihanna or Celine Dion wants to perform at the virtual Dark Room?)"

The answer is probably that the folks from Nebraska will come and watch Rihanna because they don't really care that much about a punk band they've never heard of. But when a horde of Playstation 3 players swarmed over a re-creation of the Manchester Cathedral in Resistance: Fall of Man, the Church of England didn't take it kindly. Of course there Sony hadn't cleared the use ahead of time, unlike in the vLES, but with worlds like Everyscape, Google Earth, and Journeys (apparently) pulling from a mass of photos and even Flickr, the legal issue will likely come up again.

The social front is a whole other question. The tech world is certainly excited about the possibilities of integrating virtual and real-world environments or using virtual worlds to simply explore the real. How will the mainstream react?