Virtual Worlds News

MyTurn - Bootstrapping 101: How To Make Your Virtual World Thrive In A Recession

My Turn is an op-ed feature at VirtualWorldsNews.com, solicited and unsolicited, from industry professionals. If we haven't reached out to you already and you feel like you have an insightful, argumentative opinion to publish, please get in touch with me at joey [at] showinitative [dot] dom. Last time we heard from Remy Malan, VP of Enterprise at Qwaq, on what it to takes to make a successful virtual team environment for work. This week begins a series on bootstrapping your virtual world from Cartoon Doll Emporium Founder and CEO Evan Bailyn.

A common thread among all of us in the virtual world business is the desire to delight the imagination, to enhance people's lives with  a new kind of freedom that facilitates socialization and enriches their entertainment experience.  In essence, we are given that iconic blank piece of paper and charged with creating the next big thing online.  And while idealism should be the driving force in our line of work, economic realities should be on our minds every day - especially now.  The good news is most of the principles that keep companies in sound financial shape are simple common sense.   

For those who are just starting out, or those who have been in it long enough to forget the basics, here are the fundamentals of bootstrapping:

MyTurn: Remy Malan - Three Keys to Enhancing Virtual Team Collaboration: Speech, Gesture and Sketch

My Turn is a new op-ed feature at VirtualWorldsNews.com, solicited and unsolicited, from industry professionals. If we haven't reached out to you already and you feel like you have an insightful, argumentative opinion to publish, please get in touch with me at joey [at] showinitative [dot] dom. Last time we heard from Michael Wilson, CEO of Makena, on marketing in virtual worlds. This week Remy Malan, VP of Enterprise at Qwaq, shares his thoughts on what it to takes to make a successful virtual team environment for work.

The distribution of virtual teams is global and substantial. For example, Intel Corporation reports it has virtual teams active in 290 locations in 45 countries.

While there are plenty of benefits, working virtually introduces communication and efficiency challenges. Virtual teams require new and better ways to communicate than the traditional methods of email, phone calls and Web conferencing. They need to be able to interact using several communications modes simultaneously, in the same way they would if they were in the same physical location. In addition to voice, which is just one of the ways we normally express ourselves, other non-verbal communication methods, which are often overlooked in online and virtual team collaboration, are essential for effective problem solving and teamwork.

My Turn: Michael Wilson - Measurement and Engagement: Virtual World Marketing Lessons from the Dot Com Boom

My Turn is a new op-ed feature at VirtualWorldsNews.com, solicited and unsolicited, from industry professionals. If we haven't reached out to you already and you feel like you have an insightful, argumentative opinion to publish, please get in touch with me at joey [at] showinitative [dot] dom. Previously we heard from Richard Gottlieb, an expert on the toy industry, about the rising trend of virtual world-enabled toys. This week's column comes from Michael Wilson, CEO of Makena.

In 1995, the world watched as a whole new industry -- the Internet -- created itself before our very eyes. And, along with that industry, a whole new way for companies to convince customers to buy, or continue buying, their products cropped up. This manifested itself into all kinds of new ad models, ranging from banner ads to pop ups to interstitials, which in turn begat things like traffic deals, click bartering, and a whole host of business models of dizzying variety.

My Turn: Richard Gottlieb - Virtual Play: Advantage Toy Industry

My Turn is a new op-ed feature at VirtualWorldsNews.com, solicited and unsolicited, from industry professionals. If we haven't reached out to you already and you feel like you have an insightful, argumentative opinion to publish, please get in touch with me at joey [at] showinitative [dot] dom. Previously we heard from Ginsu Yoon, VP Business Affairs, Linden Lab, about platforms and white label worlds. This week's column comes from Richard Gottlieb, an expert on the toy industry.

I am a citizen of the toy industry, and for me, it has long been obvious that play had been split into two worlds: Virtual and traditional. There were those who engaged in traditional play (dolls, radio control cars, puzzles, and so on) and they were our (the toy industry’s) customers.  Then there were those who engaged in virtual play and, well, they weren’t our customers.   

My Turn: Ginsu Yoon - Platforms, White Labels and the Growth of Virtual Worlds

My Turn is a new op-ed feature at VirtualWorldsNews.com, solicited and unsolicited, from industry professionals. If we haven't reached out to you already and you feel like you have an insightful, argumentative opinion to publish, please get in touch with me at joey [at] showinitative [dot] dom. Previously we heard from Corey Bridges, Multiverse Executive Producer and Co-Founder, about the diversity of the industry. This week's column comes from Ginsu Yoon, VP Business Affairs, Linden Lab.

Over the last year or so, social networking sites and other Web-based businesses have enjoyed a great conversation about what it means to be a true platform on the Internet today. When you view the virtual worlds industry as an extension or evolution of the World Wide Web, it’s clear that our industry can also offer up powerful lessons about what it really means to be a platform and about the broader context of competing products and services in our space.

My Turn: Corey Bridges - No Time to Go Wobbly - Don't Mistake Second Life's Woes for Industry Instability

We're proud to introduce My Turn, a new op-ed feature at VirtualWorldsNews.com, solicited and unsolicited, from industry professionals. If we haven't reached out to you already and you feel like you have an insightful, argumentative opinion to publish, please get in touch with me at joey [at] showinitative [dot] dom. This week's op-ed comes from Corey Bridges, Multiverse Executive Producer and Co-Founder. Let us know what you think.

"This is no time to go wobbly," Margaret Thatcher once famously said. That's especially pertinent advice right now. Second Life and its owner Linden Lab are going through tough times. And, nascent as the virtual world industry is, many people confuse it with Second Life itself. To the less informed (and even to some people in our industry who should know better), Linden's current difficulties speak directly to the viability of the medium of virtual worlds.

They're wrong, of course; for those of us who work on other worlds and platforms, business has never been better.