Virtual Worlds 2008 - The Evolution of Games and Social Networks: Virtual Worlds Everywhere

It’s certainly not an edgy prediction to say that the lines between social networks, virtual worlds, and games are blurring, but these are the people that are erasing it. Andrew (Roo) Reynolds, Metaverse Evangelist, IBM (moderator),  Sean Ryan, CEO, Meez, Christian Lassonde, President & CoFounder, Millions of Us, and Susan Panico, Senior Director, PLAYSTATION Network, Sony Computer Entertainment America gathered to talk about “The Evolution of Games and Social Networks: Virtual Worlds Everywhere.”

It’s certainly not an edgy prediction to say that the lines between social networks, virtual worlds, and games are blurring, but these are the people that are erasing it. Andrew (Roo) Reynolds, Metaverse Evangelist, IBM (moderator),  Sean Ryan, CEO, Meez, Christian Lassonde, President & CoFounder, Millions of Us, and Susan Panico, Senior Director, PLAYSTATION Network, Sony Computer Entertainment America gathered to talk about “The Evolution of Games and Social Networks: Virtual Worlds Everywhere.”

“I look back on my days at Ultima and my days at Linden, and the core technologies are more similar in DNA than chimpanzees and humans,” said Lassonde. “Where they branch off is that virtual worlds focus less on the story of the world on more of the people. That’s such a critical piece of DNA code that’s different.  They can be combined. At Millions of Us, we’re trying to do that.”

Sony has more of a background in games, but with the upcoming launch of Home for PlayStation 3, it’s poised to make a big entrance into virtual worlds.  The PlayStation Network’s goal is to enhance the game experience, but it’s also a lifestyle brand. There’s a store and PlayStation.com, but Home, currently in a private beta is the community arm.

“It puts a human face on the community aspects the network provides,” said Panico. “It’s basically a community for gamers by gamers made to enhance the community experience.”

It offers user-generated content, “but it’s not like what everyone else might think. That’s a separate goal we have. We are as PlayStation experts, experts in the gaming space, but we are newbies in the social networking space. With that said, all the virtual worlds around us are based in the Web-based worlds. These services are trying to build communites and keep users. One of the things they use to increase the stickiness factor is games. For us it’s the inverse.”

For Sony’s audience, gaming is the point. The virtual world community is an extension of their usual activities.

“For us, PlayStation Home acts as that connective tissue,” she said. “People can launch into that game and come back and talk about whether they axed somebody or whatever they did.”

Users can customize avatars with clothing, facial, and body options, though, as well as the simpler games like pool or bowling.

“The primary reason though is to connect and talk about games,” she said.

Millions of Us is working with Sony on Home, though, which offers a different perspective.

“Certainly I think in the future, console manufacturers will get into user-generated content,” said Lassonde. 

Part of the expectation is that security is easier to manage on consoles, with hardware tracking and banning.

Meez offers an avatar-based social network, virtual world, and game network. It also owns Tringo, the first game developed in a virtual world (Second Life).  Meez focuses on simpler games than MMOs, though.

One element Ryan has his eyes on are the problems that rise when looking to play with friends. Until the install base and use is higher for most social networks or virtual worlds, synchronous games are difficult to implement, he said. Asynchronous games, like those on Facebook, offer an alternative.

Another question that’s risen up for many users is the question of interoperability and the ability to shift identities between games.

“With games you have a narrative as opposed to purely virtual worlds,” said Ryan. “in a lot of cases the walled gardens are a because there’s a narrative or theme. If you look at the rise of open platforms on Facebook, MySpace, or OpenSocial, it has gotten much more open. What you’re seeing now on all the large social media networks is that the developers without sharing any revenue can basically ride the system.”

For Sony, they own the closed platform, but the Internet is still out there and so is the desire to stay connected to their friends.

“We want to make sure they can calendar and invite and check in with their friends when they are in other space, whether that be on Facebook ro MySpace or what have you down the road,” said Panico.

Likewise, most virtual worlds see virtual currency, as Reynolds puts it “as lubricant.” The currency in Home is the dollar.

There’s a long ongoing debate, though, about microtransactions and virtual goods’ value in MMOs and games.

“Currency is key, but it doesn’t have to be paid for,” said Ryan. “There’s kind of an obsession in Silicon Valley right now with microtransactions. What it all comes down to is status. A guy comes down in World of Warcraft and it means three things: one, he’s fast than you, two he looks cooler than you, and three he’s a higher level than you. They’ve done a great job communicating status without tying it to a purchase.”

In PlayStation’s store, what they’ve noticed is that 5-10% of the users are the powerbase. There has to be a free element of the experience that offers engagement, to make the experience worthwhile.

Q&A
[I missed the first two questions]
Q: Giff Constable asked if we’re seeing user adoption of asynchronous communities adopting synchronous tools embedded into them (e.g., Metachat).

Ryan: No. What you’re seeing now is the early days of that. If you want to talk to strangers, there are ways to do that. From a I-want-to-get-online-at-the-same-time-as-my-friends that’s coming this year. Those are well understood problems, so it’s a matter of time.

Lassonde: You see people using tools that you wouldn’t have expected for this communications. You build all these tools

Ryan: [Meez sees very many posts, mbut many are being used as chat for synchronous communication and roleplaying games.] “Cleary what the means is we need to give them something more compelling.”

Q: How are virtual worlds playing out in social networks? Are the two integrating?

Lassonde: Absolutely yes. We’re already seeing virtual worlds with a lot of social networking features. From the social networking side of things, what we’re going to see in 2008 is a lot more avatarization. Third parties have seen the opportunity to create the avatar for Facebook and the avatar for mypsace

Panico: Home is exactly the convergence of those two things. It’s creating the avatar in the Home universe but bringing that together with social tools that bind us together like chatting or your gamer profile.

Q: Is it a vw or social network?

Panico: We’ve been struggling with this internally. It’s a gaming community that has functionality in a virtual world space.

Q: Will there be a Web- viewable profile or only within the Home universe on the PS3?

Panico: Our initial goal is focusing on the community in the console space. It’s definitely on the product roadmap to extend that to the Web.

Q: Where are things going in the next 5 years?
Ryan: The move is towards a more graphical system. You’ll finally see that on the Web and a download system. But you’ll see a move from the flat system. I do not believe everyone’s going to live in 3D next week, but over the next year you’ll see more 2.5D. Certainly in 5years, you’re not quite in the Holodeck, but it’s a much more immersive system.

Panico: Obviosuly the hoyl grail is the convergence of all your social media, networks, and friends residing in one place that you can take with you and access from whatever communicatiosn device you have.

Lassonde: You won’t talk about virtual worlds and social networks as separate things. And 3D on the Web will be just as compelling as 3D on downloads today. My third prediction is we’ll see a lot more linking of content. Intellectual property holders are going to get this and come in wholesale.

Reynolds: I’d say there’s always going to be space for 2D. By five years, we’ll be getting there, but there’ll still be a lot of 2D. The idea of all this blurring with the physical world and augmented reality is where it’s going to be very interesting.

Ryan: The key is the avatar. It’s the ringtone for the young generation. The ringtone does two things: it tells you I’m a country guy and it makes me feel good.  One of the first big thigns we did was add additional body types to more fully represent our users. I have something not as personal as a photo, but more flexible. That’s the core from my point of view. Whethere it’s a social network or virtual worlds, it’s your identity.

Lassonde: Your avatar will follow you into games. Not just games published on the Web, but games pblisehd by EA, Activisiion ,Ubisoft--

Panico: Sony

Lassonde: Sony, of course.

Comments

[Eric Rice]

I was interested in defining the different genres of virtual worlds (social vs. sandbox) but as virtual worlds have actually boosted my involvement in gaming, I'm starting to less and less differentiate between a world and a game by way of 3D spaces where people can interact at a social level and with varying levels of creation (from wide open building capabilities in SL to limited modification capabilities in Halo 3's FORGE).

[Avatar]

Instead of survey of VW evolution I think I read a PR on Sony's Home

[Joey Seiler]

Sorry, there was definitely more in there from the other folks as well. I lost a little bit of time trying to scan to see whether the Millions of Us and Sony relationship was news--it is.

My apologies to everybody else.

[lucy]

omg this is crap how do ya playon the virtuals???