Video: Cyworld Officially Goes 3D with Mini Life Beta

Earlier this month CyWorld launched its 3D Mini Life application, and it might be on deck to be the most successful virtual world ever. The 2D version of Mini Homepages and Mini Rooms has attracted about 25 million users. And, from my brief recent trip to Seoul, the signs are everywhere--literally--with local restaurants proudly displaying their Cyworld URL on the store eaves. The social network has recently seen some decline, though, and executives are hoping that the 3D switch, announced last fall, and other services might serve as a booster. Video overview below.

Currently the service only runs on Windows and Internet Explorer, running on the Active X plugin. The service is just now in beta, though, so it might change. It also doesn't look like Mini Life is available in the US version of Cyworld yet, though it may come out after the Korean beta. While Cyworld hasn't taken off to the same degree in the US, many other sites here have followed the same trend. Just this year we saw WeeWorld and Meez evolve from avatar services with social networks into full virtual worlds.

For now it seems like a basic social service built on top of the social network. Avatars can chat with each other and customize their spaces with Mini Life running, it seems, in the Mini Homepage (or a hompy-size screen), instead of a full desktop.

There are already brands in the space, though. The image here comes from an LG-branded space. Then again, like Cyworld, LG is everywhere in Korea.

Comments

[Simon Newstead]

Nice post and vid - should help breathe new life into the service in Korea.

I wonder how much IE/Windows only will be a limiting factor in other markets like US where Firefox or Safari has good market share?