Updated: Virtual Worlds 2008 Wrap Up

Virtual Worlds 2008 has come and passed. My only regret was that I couldn't be in more places at once. I'll be posting plenty more stories this week following up on announcements and introducing some pretty interesting new people, companies, and technologies--that's only the stuff I can print now. You'll just have to take my word that the next year is going to see some very, very exciting announcements. That's not to say this last week wasn't amazing, though. In case you missed it, below I'll round up all my stories on announcements and sessions, a few posts from other people about events I missed and their takes on the whole affair, and whatever else I get down over this week. If I miss anything you think is particularly important, please feel free to throw a link in the comments or trackbacks below. [updates at bottom]

Overview:

• The Wall Street Journal had a pre-show writeup focusing on the emerging business applications of virtual worlds, which, as the announcements below show, many of the participating platforms were focusing on as well.
• Cisco's Christian Renaud has a similar take, although, as is typical, he's speaking from an industry insider's perspective and looking fairly and intensely at both the maturity and flaws of the space.
• Cory Ondrejka, former CTO of Linden Lab, offers a slightly more pessimistic approach. He's proud of what Linden Lab is up to, but sees the rest of the space taking a more timid approach.
• Prokofy Neva, and more than a few others out there, seem to feel similarly. The wave of corporate applications and entertainment-focused worlds seems to be off-putting for some of the early adopters,
  
  • Personally, if I can editorialize, I'm a little more willing to look at it as industry-wide iteration. And, like I said, some of the things I've heard have me more excited about virtual worlds as a medium and business than ever before.
• Reuters turned way from the enterprise to look at the many kids worlds out there and prepping to launch, a trend that Digado has some interesting explanations for.
  
  • Also, to be fair, while we're excited about the booming kids market and the shift towards more mature enterprise applications, there were a few other tracks and sessions with very different content. My guess would be that while people are noting the trends at the show, that's also a little bit of self-selection. We see the trend we're looking for. [Something, to be clear, I'm more than occasionally guilty of.] I do think it's worth noting that, as an industry, we seem to have a fascination with the kids worlds and the enterprise.
• Giff Constable of the Electric Sheep Company put together an interesting post on how both trends tie together in the coming year (literally as I was pulling this list together).
• Ian Hughes (ePredator), metaverse evangelist for IBM, is more optimistic, looking at three of his favorite new(ish) companies as well as the growth of the industry.
• Wagner James Au, most frequently of New World Notes, put together his thoughts on the show--and the real money that seems to be coming into the industry--over at GigaOM.
• Valleywag made fun of us (though mostly through its new, loving embrace of Metaversatility's Chadrick Baker).
• And, of course, Twitter was fairly active. I'll admit, though, that I'm a bit behind on Twitter. No one in my personal life uses it, so my account has languished since SXSW last year. Everyone in my professional life seems to be pretty hardcore, though, so if anyone wants to give me a crash course on how to scan, post, and functionally use Twitter without getting overwhelmed, I'd welcome the advice.

Announcements:

• We were happy to announce that we'll be taking our efforts overseas, Virtual Worlds London, a conference and expo, to take place October 20-21, 2008 at The Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre. For those of you that don't know, I'm a big Shakespeare buff. I couldn't be more excited.
• Millions of Us off-handedly announced that it was working with Sony on PlayStation 3's Home. They didn't make a big deal out of it, but I think this will see some exciting results.
• Multiverse unveiled an addition that lets users run 2D worlds on the platform's normal backend, united with 3D experiences.
• Spurring some of the new interest in enterprise work, IBM and Linden Lab announced that they would begin running the Second Life Grid on private servers for IBM's use.
• The Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, a new online, open access, peer-reviewed, transdisciplinary, academic journal focusing on virtual worlds issued a call for papers.
• MTV announced a partnership with Garnier Fructis to launch the "I Want My Music on MTV."
• SceneCaster announced that it was releasing SceneWeaver, an addition designed to let users tie their individual spaces together and link back out to the Web, creating a network of interactive 3D environments and 2D elements.
• Doppelganger announced its full launch of vSide as well as partnerships with Double Fusion and Blast Radius to add advertising and Web connections to the youth-oriented virtual world.
• Millions of Us also announced a partnership with  Sulake, Gaia Interactive, Metaplace, SceneCaster, Doppelganger, Vivaty, WeeWorld, and more to commission a study from Forrester Consulting to study engagement metrics, and ROI in virtual worlds.
• Numedeon, the maker of Whyville and SportsBLOX, partnered with the Foundation for Innovation of BankInter and the Autonomous Regional Government of Galicia, Spain, to create Whyworld S.L. and begin worldwide expansion.
• Journeys, the upcoming travel-based virtual world, announced that serial entrepreneur Mark Friedler has joined the board of directors.
• FIX8, an avatar chat tool that animates expression based on webcam input, announced that it had received $2 million in Series A financing from SK Telecom. It will also develop apps for SKT's mobile users.
• Nickelodeon announced that it would be developing worlds for SpongeBob SquarePants and an original IP tentatively called Monkey World. I followed up with the company (more to come), and they clarified that these worlds are in the concepting phase. Like Nick's TV programmers, the virtual worlds designers are coming up with concepts right and left, though some may not see the light of day.
• On a more certain note, Nickelodeon's Neostudios announced World of Neopia, a more immersive experience built off the concept of Neopets.
• Rivers Run Red was one of the many developers looking to branch out into enterprise, announcing its Immersive Workspace Platform.
• Multiverse took a similar approach, announcing support and services aimed at making its platform more suitable for work.
• FlowPlay, a newer developer, launched the public beta of its first world: ourWorld, a platform tying together virtual worlds, MMORPGs, and casual games.
• VastPark announced that it would be working with TwoFish to provide virtual good economies in and around its user-created worlds.
• Metaversatility announced that it would offer a new service, prototyping virtual worlds in 6 to 8 weeks for a budget of between $40,000 and $60,000. The worlds also have some interesting enterprise uses.
• Weblin discussed plans to bring its Web-based avatar service to the U.S., allowing users to take their avatars across any website they want.
• Sulake opened up some of the findings of its Second Annual Global Habbo Youth Survey.
• Stardoll announced a partnership with Spreadshirt to let the virtual world's users take their clothing brands into the real world.
• VastPark also announced a partnership with TurboSquid, creating a marketplace for 3D objects used to populate the virtual world.
• Freggers, a neat youth-oriented world based in Germany, announced a new engine for its world along with several new features.
• There.com and Paramount partnered to distribute VooZoos, video-based emoticons to the virtual world. vMTV is coming up next.
• Metaversum, the company behind upcoming mirror world Twinity, announced that it had received "a significant multi-million-Euro investment" from Balderton Capital.
• Second Life also got a few updates for its platform, improving the look and feel of the virtual world.

Sessions

• I moderated a session on "Virtual Worlds By The Numbers: Today and The Future." I don't know how Roo Reynolds moderates and blogs at the same time, but I'll happily supply Ravi Mehta of Virtual Goods Insider's seven great posts on the topic. For those interested, here are Nic Mitham of KZero's slides (and one of the best summaries of current numbers out there) that I presented.
• I attended a session on The Evolution of Games and Social Networks: Virtual Worlds Everywhere with some very interesting announcements. IBM's Roo Reynolds, the excellent moderator, put together his take here.
• MTV and Neopets presented a keynote with a lot of information and numbers about their platforms and demographics pulled into one space.
• MIllions of Us CEO Reuben Steiger's keynote reminded the audience and himself "Why We Love Virtual Worlds."
• Sibley Verbeck, CEO of The Electric Sheep Company, gave what many took to be a more pessimistic keynote, explaining that we're about to hit a technology plateau that will last for some time before we see another boom in business. I wasn't able to make the speech, but the detailed slides are available.
• Mattel's keynote took a look at how to make children's worlds safer and more appealing. The company presented facts and figures and also announced that it will be shifting towards a subscription model.

As I said, my biggest regret of the show was only being able to be in so many places and talk to so few people (still a bunch). Likewise, there were many more announcements made in advance of the show, but we've focused here on those made directly at the event.

If you have any coverage of  Virtual Worlds 2008 as a whole, particular sessions, or announcements, please do include references and summaries below. I've pulled what I can from some of the blogs I keep up with, but I'm sure many others slipped my mind (many apologies for that!).

On a final note, if you were trying to get together with me at the show to discuss an announcement or just to say hi and I missed you, feel free to reach out now. My schedule's less hectic, and I'd love to hear from you. Sorry to anyone (I can think of too many to be comfortable with) that I wasn't able to touch base with.

Updates:

Sessions:

• Giff Constable, COO of the Electric Sheep Company, moderated a panel on Branded Virtual Goods. He's, apparently, one of those talented few who can moderate and take quality notes. If nothing else, it's worth it for the stat-shot Craig Sherman presented of Gaia.
• John Swords, Executive Producer for the Electric Sheep, presented a platform shootout, addressing the pros and cons of developing with different technologies. The slides  (in PDF) are available at his blog.

News and Announcements:

• I followed up with Charles Scothon, General Manager & SVP Girls Mattel Brands, and Rosie O’Neill, Senior Brand Manager, Barbie Tech, about BarbieGirls.com and the decision to switch focus from selling toys to developing content.
• Code4Software, creator of virtual worlds metrics app V-Tracker, released SlippCat with virtual worlds developer Simuality in a 5-year exclusive license. This one just slipped by when I was putting together the wrap-up.

Comments

[bunnyhero]

I, too, wish I could have been in more places at once. I had to miss the MTV/Neopets keynote, so I am especially grateful for your writeup.

[len]

I repeat what I wrote to CR:

RE Collada: That is it. Language standards create portable data. Portable data is the low hanging fruit. Somewhere between Collada and X3D is the sweet spot where all the energy pushes the market instead of the hand holding the bat.

Keep this in mind: Data is portable. Systems interoperate.

Learn from the markup tribe that has been over this ground hundreds of times over four decades of work:

"Nothing happens until a byte changes state." Dr. Charles Goldfarb (IBM Almaden)

X3D also has legs. Note however, that VRML97 remains the largest format for export of choice in commercial editors. For a failed format, it keeps on keeping on and that may be the most important lesson to learn: the power of survival over being the biggest lizard in the jungle.

1. 3D On The Web is a creeper technology. It is difficult and costly to build anything compelling. Utility wise, libraries do well. Otherwise, rent space for short term events. But don't expect a big Thing event. The flash of last year was not driven by Second Life but by the IBM announcements (mostly FUD as it turns out) and the billion dropped into the market by the VCs (mostly evaporating like fresh rain fescue seeds that aren't in the ground yet).

2. Don't expect any platform or format to dominate now or perhaps ever. The "sensible" engineering approaches were tried and as it turns out so far, this is not a "sensible market". Blame SillyWood for that. Entertainment and engineering are like music and politics: a bad brew.

3. The interoperability forums are a bust. Why? No one is actually there to promote the market except for themselves and you need a real standards organization to manage it. They manage process and in the long run, that is what solves the next problem. The geeks such as the Forterra CTO keep pushing a local technology solution instead of understanding that standards are only one fifth technical solutions.

Standards come about as a result of the market requiring them as a means to create scale and so far, the market has none. Until it does, interoperability forums are mostly chest thumping.

4. The folks like Vivaty have it right for now. Consumer services with virtual worlds as part of the solution are the market to chase for viral adoption. The virtual world as enterprise widget has a ways to go. Artists aren't usually communications engineers despite claims to the contrary. There isn't enough practice to yet say we have a practicum and too much dogma to say we have pragma.

Because it is a creeper market, don't expect a big flash. One day you look in the screen and it is just there, somewhat like old age.

[Dusan Writer]

Len - Nice summary. And while I have a pronounced SL bias, primarily because that's where I landed when I arrived in virtual worlds, I came to a similar conclusion at the Virtual Worlds Conference:

http://dusanwriter.wordpress.com/2008/04/05/is-the-metaverse-less-real-if-madison-avenue-says-it-aint-report-from-the-virtual-worlds-conference/

The "metaverse" will just sort of appear one day. There's enough 'stuff' going on under the radar because it's NOT a killer app, a big fish, and it's all these small incremental gains that a universe doth make (he said pragma-atically).

[len]

Right, and then some destinations will wax and wane in popularity the same way bars and resorts do. The Country Clubs or walled membership gardens may be more sustainable and for the same reasons. Others will stay up a long time because they are business applications just like your local courthouse.

That is the real problem of the interoperability forums. VWs are in the same sub optimum minima that once held document systems interoperability in check. The reasons to share information weren't that compelling for those who could afford to own the systems. With the advent of cheap memory and cheap processors, reasons emerged but even then, complex document format wars are still going on. It is the brain dead formats (eg, HTML) that emerged with degrees of interoperability and then because sharing was precisely the reason they were created.

Data and behavior exist along a continuum of complexity that limits portability and interoperability. That is why X3D has profiles and almost any other standard for this will as well. It's the corrolary of "do the simplest thing that could possibly work".

Consider as noted that VRML, "The Failed Format" has the largest share for import and export format support. X3D is better mostly because of profiles and multiple-encodings including XML. Interoperability testing for those system is 'pretty good' but not perfect and that is good enough.

Complexity of a world may be arbitrary (eg, the artist's vision) or functional (eg, the enterprise meeting room supporting multiple services). We do have to think about how to procure these such that we get the interoperability we pay for without betting the money on a dead horse. VRML/X3D refuses to die and Second Life may get a new infusion of cash as Linden Labs migrates toward industrial applications. Other worlds such as in the Disney story on this page die a natural death as their popularity fades.

The 3D Web is here. It simply turns out that text is still the most compelling data type and talent and ideas are still the most scarce resources.