Virtual Worlds News

WeeWorld Survey: Teens Still Willing to Spend

Unemployment is on the rise. Housing prices are down. Flat is the new up.

Is there no place where the economy booms?

Look no further than your nearest teen-targeted online virtual world that encourages users to evolve their offline and online identities through the acquisition of virtual goods. At least that's what a recent WeeWorld survey suggests. 

NewsBrief: Organic Motion Heads South

Organic Motion, Inc., a New York City-based company with a Project Natal-like motion-capture technology that doesn't require a bulky bodysuit or system of sensors, says it will open a business development and sales office in Central Florida this summer. The goal is to tap the area's defense-training, entertainment and medical simulation industries -- relatively strong sectors in a geographic region less affected by the slumping economy. While the company's technology seems suited for use in virtual worlds, Organic Motion has yet to find a breakthrough partner. An Orlando TV station today posted a video report on Organic Motion.

NewsBrief: The Analysts are IN

Longtime advocates of the Immersive Web, the team at market research consultancy ThinkBalm are trying a bit of their own medicine. The principals, Erica and Sam Driver, will run an experiment for the next couple of weeks and hold "office hours" in a variety of "publicly-accessible immersive technologies." They invite skeptics and inworld neophytes to pick their "analytical brains" about Immersive Internet trends and technologies. More information is posted on the company blog.

QuickStat: Virtual Worlds Contrib Share of $2 Trillion Entertainment Economy

The numbers are astounding if not somewhat fuzzy. Still, they should fuel chatter around the water cooler or during one's happy hour. According to market research firm Research and Markets, the total entertainment economy "over the next few years" is expected to be worth more than $2 trillion dollars. The growth, says R&M, will be fueled by "a wave of growth in online video games, online gambling, music, social networking, user generated content, and online video." The group includes revenues derived from virtual worlds in the $2T pool. Other growth areas include travel, gambling, gaming, adult content and health services.

Quick Stat: Second Life Metrics Spike, Says Nielsen

Nielsen Games, a division of behemoth Nielsen Media Research, recently released its Top 10 PC Game Titles lineup for April 2009. Enjoying a spike in stats is virtual world stalwart Second Life. The Linden Lab title saw its sequential stats change as follows: average minutes played per week stood at 842 in April compared to 760 in March, percent of total minutes played of top 100 PC games was 5.62 in April compared to 3.20 in March, and audience share, or percentage of the audience measured that played the title during the month, climbed to 1.58 percent in April vs 0.99 percent in March. The title increased its total audience share by more than 60 percent, edging up in the rankings from eight to six (among the top ten games), says New World Notes.

Study: Number of "Social Networkers" on the Rise

The New York-based Conference Board, a not-for-profit research group focused on economic indicators and trend analysis, is notorious for its Leading Economic Index, a monthly roundup of leading indicators designed to forecast economic trends six to nine months ahead. But the group delves into all manner of data, including employment statistics, advertising trends, the trending of CEO confidence, and its proprietary Consumer Internet Barometer.

Today, the board delivered its assessment of the popularity of social media and social networks, pointing to both the "exploding popularity" of social networks such as Facebook, and a broad embracing of social networks across generations.

Report: Virtual Worlds Growth to Skyrocket

Market research firm Strategy Analytics today released its forecast for growth within the virtual worlds sector and to say it sees growth would be an understatement. Overall, the firm said it sees the global population of virtual world users growing from 186 million today to almost 640 million by 2015 -- that's almost one hundred million new players a year, a nearly 25 percent compounded annual growth rate. The fastest growing demographic is kids between the ages of 5 and 9 which the company predicts will grow 27 percent; the current largest segment of virtual worlds players, tweens and teens, should grow by some 21 percent, according to the company.

ThinkBalm Leads Visualization Tours

Erica and Sam Driver, the principals and founders behind research consultancy ThinkBalm, have come up with an interesting twist to breath additional life into data the company released last month. Complimenting the results of the firm's ThinkBalm Immersive Internet Business Value Study, Q2 2009, they developed the ThinkBalm Data Garden in Second Life and are leading in-world tours.

The garden essentially provides a 3D, immersive, in-world proof of concept experience for those who may doubt the effectiveness of an enterprise-virtual world marriage. The researchers call the garden "a data visualization experience" built around the study.

In-world Sound Gets Upgrade from Cornell Researchers

One look at the environment in Second Life, for example, and the conscious mind knows it is dealing with a virtual world; the same occurs while attending a virtual event. Still, developers do their best to enhance the in-world experience, using every trick in the book to nudge one toward a suspension of disbelief. Take sound. It helps that the Second Life servers manage VOIP as they do -- making it proximity based, tuning the vocals based on relative position to, and distance between, avatars.

The veracity of in-world sound -- at least when it comes to water and fluids -- may soon become even more realistic, due to the research of two Cornell University researchers, associate professor of computer science Doug James and graduate student Changxi Zheng. The two are scheduled to present their findings at SIGGRAPH 2009, just two months away.

Study: Runescape, Gaia, IMVU Most Popular With Teens

Habbo, which see more than 11 million unique users each month, today released its annual Global Habbo Youth Survey Brand Update. The study, says Habbo, explores teens' connection and interests toward individual brands and highlights their preferences in categories including consumer electronics, music, sportswear, and games. On the game/virtual worlds front, Runescape maintained its number one status among US respondents, followed by Gaia Online, IMVU, World of Warcraft, and Club Penguin. The full lineup of 10 most popular game and virtual world destinations, as well as top web sites, after the jump.