Virtual Greats and Gaia Online announced today the launch of the first wave of their licensed, entertainment-themed virtual goods. Items drawn from Snoop Dogg and The Incredible Hulk are now available to users to customize their avatars. More brands will be coming to Gaia and other platforms in the coming weeks, with WeeWorld as the next announced Virtual Greats partner. Goods are distributed in Gaia as part of Celebrity Snare [link not working yet], where users can vote on their favorite celebrities before "Gaia Online's resident celebritologist [ventures] to the Hollywood habitat to explore and observe the lucky stars and their wild habits." Then unique virtual goods will become available.
It's also worth noting that this press release says that Gaia Online has "more than 7 million monthly users," which is up from the last public number I'd heard of 5 million monthly users.
"Gaia Online is truly an extension of our users' real life interests and passions and Celebrity Snare is just another way we're enabling Gaians to customize their online persona and express themselves to the community," Craig Sherman, CEO of Gaia Online, said in a statement. "The same way fans hang a poster on their bedroom wall or wear a t-shirt with their favorite band on it, we're enabling our users to establish a connection with the celebrities they admire." [Image from WSJ]
The Wall Street Journal explains, though, that celebrity avatars won't be available to use right away. Instead Snoop will only show up as an NPC.
"What’s the worry? Well, someone as unique and marketing-savvy as Snoop wouldn’t want six million clones running around," blogs Don Clark. "And then there’s at least a theoretical possibility that a user in the form of Snoop might engage in activities that might be considered improper or undignified. A rapper wouldn’t want to take that risk."
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