Welcome friends and colleagues.  Fantastic to have you join me!

Having spent this past year immersing myself in the world of virtual worlds, I thought I’d share some of my learnings, fascination, and excitement about “virtual worlds.”   My intention is to explain this stuff as I have been doing all year to my non-techie friends and family – in layman’s terms and spread over several posts. 

In this first post, I’ll start with broad definitions – the “what are they?” descriptions.  In subsequent posts, I’ll talk about

• the technical issues (from a humble marketer’s POV) that’s influencing the mass-adoption of virtual worlds
• new technologies that can/may help drive mass-adoption
• I have a huge and ever-growing list of virtual worlds for kids
• references for super cutting-edge virtual technologies
• virtual world resources

This is definitely a work-in-progress document so feel free to chime in anytime.  And keep checking back as I’ll add the links to the facts and other references mentioned as I find the time.

Discovery.

My personal fascination with virtual worlds started very skeptically with Runescape, a medieval-themed MMORPG (that’s a Massive, Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) that my son was so interested in playing.  After the usual parental list of don’ts, don’t you dare, and heck-no’s, I paid and let him play.  Fortunately for me, the fascination didn’t last long for him but it did for me. 

Shortly thereafter, my daughter was introduced to Club Penguin and I was hooked!  My kids were too of course, but as a parent, I thought Club Penguin absolutely brilliant.  There were so many parent-friendly, kid-friendly features in this thing, I was amazed.  Deservedly so, Club Penguin took off and was good, clean fun, eventually being acquired by Disney (the KOD, imho – more about that in another post).

Definitions.

Dictionary.com defines virtual worlds as a

This definition doesn’t quite cover it for me.  The “perceives themselves to be…” seems to me to more aptly apply to an immersive virtual environment (see below).  So while still a noun, my definition of a virtual environment is a bit looser:

a computer-generated, three-dimensional-like representation of a place.  The place itself - what it looks like, where it is, and what you do there - is up to the creators. Virtual representations of yourself in these worlds are called Avatars.

After attending FountainBlue’s Virtual World panel early in the year, I was surprised at how broad the virtual world space actually is.   After trying to explain what I’ve been doing and what I’ve been learning to people, I’ve found that the easiest way to describe virtual worlds is by their most common applications:

• Consumer entertainment sites for kids/teens and adults.  Generally organized around games and social networking. 
  • Examples of this are Second Life, World of Warcraft, Club Penguin, Sony PlayStation Home, There.com, GaiaOnline.com
  • The number and pace of virtual world launches for kids is absolutely dizzying.  I’ll publish my what-has-to-be-only-a-partial list in another post.
• Virtual goods.
  • A growing, billion dollar industry in its own right comes from the sale of virtual goods.  I view this really as a subset of consumer entertainment but it’s poised to make more money than most existing consumer-oriented virtual worlds, if not already.  The bulk of Second Life’s revenues are from the sales of virtual goods and SL predicts that transaction figure to be in the ballpark of $450 million for 2009.
  • Companies include Virtual Greats.com, Xstreet SL (Second Life)
• Enterprise-level programs.  Places for distributed workforces or people to meet, congregate, share, and/or collaborate.
  • This would be things like internal meetings with people and their Avatars from all over the globe in real time.  Forterra’s OLIVE, Second Life Enterprise, Sun’s Wonderland.
  • Business conferences.  InXpo, ON24, Unisfair.
• Trainings.
  • Role playing and education. 
  • Big when combined with the  augmented reality or immersive experience (below).
• Virtualization for education and research.
  • NASA’s virtualization of the moon.  Virtualization of how things work.  Not necessarily or always a virtual environment for Avatars to roam around in but a big and important part of the virtual world special interest group (or SIG).
• The flip of virtual worlds are augmented, immersive experiences – bringing virtual data to the real world in real time.  [Update:  This is different than 3D immersive experiences which I'll talk about in my next post about virtual world platforms.] 
  • Wearing augmented reality headsets to physically experience the virtual environment.  Space trainings, military trainings.  Simulators.
  • Nokia is working on overlaying real time geolocations with virtual data through web-enabled cameras or camera phones to enhance your immediate experiences.  Send a photo of where you are and get all sorts of information about your immediate surrounding area:  historical or architectural references to the best place for sushi.

These are broad applications and this is where the bulk of the work – either research, start-ups, or revenue-generating companies – is happening.

Comments, corrections, suggestions, thoughts? 

Hello PEOPLE VISITING MY SITE! ITS TIME FOR PROJECT REBIRTH! I AM GOING TO

Remake kora12 and all its compoents plus more on this game

http://www.whirled.com/welcome/2160570/world-s3825670

To help donate, all you need to do is click that link.  You will then be redirected.  From there simple click connect to facebook if you have one and are logged on, log onto facebook then click it, or sign up

When 3 members have signed up to it the group for kora12 will be done

The groups name will be kora.

The game requires no download; I have to switch to it because some features i now use arnt available at wordpress.

I will give you cheats

partys

emulators ( free games for your computer)
codes for

Action replay

Gameshark

And codebreaker!

There will be awesomness!

So ill cya on the other side! This may be my last post to wordpress EVER!!!!

.hack//Juwols

This tha kid .hack//Juwols, and I been on tha hunt for tha hottest MMORPG’s out there(Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games).

Of course there’s the giants like Warcraft and Maple story(for some reason that game is beasting….and it’s 2d), and the newbies, which are typically downloadable off of Brothersoft.com/games.

But I just wanna know whats tha hottest Online game, something that’s free, doesn’t take up a lot of space on my harddrive, and doesn’t rhyme with Runescape.

Comments please…..

Bliss Dubrovna is my avatar and she is a hottie.  I admit it, I am a bit addicted at times with Second Life.  Second Life is that game where many people from all over the world decide to create avatars and have adventures in a second life.  While my first life indeed rocks, my second life does too.  Bliss has learned some lessons while “in world” ( the name for when you are in the world of Second Life playing)  Second Life is a MMORG which stands for :

(Massively Multiuser Online Role Playing Game) A role playing game on the computer played by many people. An MMORPG differs from a regular computer role playing game because its environment is perpetual. People log in, join the game, take on their role and leave whenever they wish, but the game continues

My avatar Bliss

So what if anythings has Bliss taught me in the RL (Real life)?

• There are a ton of interesting people in this world who I might not have met had it not been for this blog, Second Life, Twitter, etc.  These kind of things help you meet those folks.
• Bliss takes risks and does things out of wanting to have an experience and I have learned that is the way to live my life too
• Bliss and I both dig HOT guys.  Enough said…
• I am sorry but if you have problems with written communication then neither Bliss or myself will be that into you.   I love words and so does my Bliss.
• Take a chance. Bliss walks up to people all over the place while in Second Life and meets people.  Some she really likes and others “not so much.”
• Creeps are creeps!  They are out there.  Bliss has met the guy on Second Life who gives you a shot of his penis and makes you very uncomfortable.  In RL (real life) there are those kinds too.  Stay far away from them.
• Bliss has taught me that I love writing. Whether I write in my blog, online in the game, or in conversation I appreciate the written language far more than I ever thought.
• Bliss and I are hotties in both worlds.  Just deal with it, I am the brains behind Bliss and as you know I am just that cool.
• Life is short. Live it and love it. Take it like Bliss does, when the game gets boring or upsetting you can turn it off and start over again later.  We can too. The next day is a chance to start off anew with all kinds of possibilities.

There are my simple life lessons that Bliss has taught me.   If you set up anaccount (which is free ) at Secondlife.com look me up as Bliss Dubrovna.  See ya in world I hope soon.

As a side note I have to include this clip of a video from the actors of the web series called The Guild called “Do You  Wanna Date My Avatar?” is hysterical.  Watch it for a chuckle…

Blue Beams of Happiness

I really need to get my second two miners into tech II ice harvesters.  The one character I have using tech IIs outpaces them by a large amount.

Habe heute zum erstenmal auf Ö1 das Technikmagazin “Matrix” gelauscht…muss sagen, war wirklich interessant. Es ging heute unter anderem um Online-Rollenspiee, wobei das Thema von mehreren Seien beleuchtet wurde.

Also, wer mal reinhören möchte: Jeden Sonntag 22:30 auf Ö1.

Es war auch wieder mal schön, im Dunkeln zu sitzen und Radio zu hören..so wie früher

Im übrigen habe ich beschlossen, heute zur Abwechslung mal keine Angst vor Montag zu haben..mal sehen, wie es läuft!

Gute Nacht Euch allen!

Link to this post: http://2009.MMIF.org (active soon)

update 20090302 20:20 CET

[MMIF 2009 impression machinima by Larkworthy Antfarm]

Thanks very much to everybody involved in MMIF 2009: All the volunteers, the participants and the visitors! It was a great success, much busier then we had expected, and overal a great atmosphere in SL as well as in NL!

[Snapshot taken at the MaMachinima Theatre during the screening of ... by CallieDel Boa]

Over FIFTY machinima films were screened at MMIF 2009, the average quality was actually quite high and very talented. MMIF participants ROCK!

[Snapshot with SL interface, taken at the MaMachinima Theatre by CallieDel Boa]

The Rasta Views sim in SL was almost contineously full for the entire 6 hours of the festival. Some could hardly move because of the lag, at the beginning of the event it was a real issue. The sim limit had to be lowered to 75 avatars by RastaViews sim manager TributeTim Kwak. There were some technical ‘infant illnesses’ with the synchronisation of the machinima for the audience at RastaViews (SL) as well as the audience at PLANETART in Amsterdam (NL) .

[Snapshot with SL interface, taken at the MaMachinima Theatre by PookyMedia]

For many of the volunteers in the MMIF 2009 organisation, this was the first experience with such a big event. We learned a lot about logistics, software and hardware and so, valuable experiences  we can use for MMIF 2010.

[iPhone photo of the MMIF 2009 screening control in Amsterdam by mobile twittering visitor cycus aka Richard Pyrker]

Despite modest publicity, also the public screening at the PLANETART Medialab Artspace in Amsterdam (NL) was full at a certain point, we had to arrange extra chairs last-minute. Some people actually brought their laptop to be even more interactive with MMIF2009, even MMIF 2009 participant Alexicon Kurka unexpectedly showed up ‘in the flesh’ with his laptop computer. All together the athmosphere was very good in SL as wel in NL!

[Snapshot taken at the MaMachinima Theatre by Blue Linden]

We learned a lot about logistics, and the use software and hardware and so for a cross-reality live event like this. Valuable experiences we can use for MMIF 2010. So we are already looking forward to MMIF in february 2010.

[Snapshot by PookyMedia taken at the MMIF 2009 Ball with VJ Galaxy Girl ]

Please join us as a participant, volunteer or organise a simultaneous public MMIF 2010 screening in your city (‘RL’) and contact us please!

[Exerpt from a Snapshot by PookyMedia - Taken at the MMIF Theatre showing the  Meta.Live.Nu webcam at PLANETART, Amsterdam. During the breaks of the machinima screenings: Audience in SL watching the audience in NL, watching the audience in SL watching... ]

View more images at http://flickr.com/groups/mmif and please add yours!

http://MMIF.org

update 20090228 08:50 CET

MMIF 2009

saturday 28th of february

Starts 22:00 CET / ( = SL 1 pm PDT)

The first edition of an annual global gathering of machinimathographers. With public screenings of machinima movies inside the (free) virtual world Second Life ® (SL) and simultaneous in Amsterdam (NL).

PRESSRELEASE |  PERSBERICHT

ALL MACHINIMA PLATFORMS!

All Machinima created with all online videogames/virtual worlds/MMORPG are welcome to participate at MMIF 2009!

Video’s produced inside Second Life (SL), World of Warcraft (WoW), Half Life, Crysis, Halo, Grand Theft Auto (GTA), Moviestorm, The Sims, OpenGrid, Playstation Home and so on.

Chantal Harvey in front of the virtual film screen at the MaMachinima Theatre

.

MACHINIMA CELEBRATION!

MMIF 2009 is not a competition, but a public event for celebration of machinima! Meeting/exhanging/sharing/learning/education of  ideas, expertise and fun, in the fields of arts, media and technology on the subject of machinima.

‘RL’ physical film screen for MMIF2009 at the PLANETART Medialab Artspace

_

PARTICIPATE / CONTRIBUTE!

MMIF 2009 is a non/profit event run by volunteers and entirely financed by gifts and donations.

1. Please donate Linden Dollars (L$) via SL in the donation box at the MaMachinima Theatre
2. http://MMIF.org is a machinima community website created by volunteers in limited spare time. Please contribute by adding missing information to this website or correcting mistakes. In comments at the bottom of each webpage or contact us please to become a co-admin.
3. MMIF 2010: Become a volunteer or participant. Or organise a simultanious MMIF 2010 public screening in your city, anywhere in the real physical world.  Contact us please for more collaboration details.

Part of the Dadamachinima expo at the PLANETART Medialab Artspace, Amsterdam.

_

MORE INFO:

• http://ABOUT.MMIF.org

• http://CONTACT.MMIF.org

• http://PARTICIPANTS.MMIF.org

• http://PROGRAMME.MMIF.org

• http://PUBLICITY.MMIF.org

• http://LINKS.MMIF.org

~~~~ WEBSITE UNDER CONSTRUCTION ~~~~

http://MMIF.org

No último dia 17/12, o Project Torque ganhou dois novos mapas em Califórnia Downtown para os modos Drift e Drag, além de novas trilhas para Explorer e CTF. Ttambém foi adicionado ao shop um novo item denominado Mistery Box, uma espécie de caixa de surpresas que prêmia os jogadores com itens exclusivos.

A Mistery Box contém acessórios e peças não disponíveis na loja ou com especificações diferenciadas. Também foi adicionado entre os prêmios um novo carro não revelado. De acordo com a notícia oficial, o jogador que comprar 10 boxes e não ganhar o carro, este será dado ao mesmo em forma de presente (gift), um agrado indispensável considerando o preço altissímo de cada box, 500 APs. 

Após o último update do Drift City, que foi realizado no dia 17/12, os jogadores passaram a contar com um novo recurso para elaboração de peças especiais. O Partscraft possibilita a criação de peças com especificações diferenciadas e muito mais eficientes.

Para usar o Partscraft, você deverá conduzir até a Parts Shop localizada no Driver Dome. Uma vez lá, selecione a guia “crafting” para ter acesso ao recurso.

Para obter sucesso na criação de Docking Part, o jogador deverá arrastar para as três  janelas à esquerda peças com padrões identicos. As taxas cobradas para a criação das novas partes serão apenas em mitos e os valores variam de acordo com as peças utilizadas. Já as Seed Parts, peças que provêem ganhos na criação de Super e Hyper Parts, serão adquiridas apenas em g-coins.  A Docking Parts, três peças acopladas, podem ser criadas sem o auxílio das Seed Parts, porém as chances de obter melhores peças irão decorrer com a integração das Seed Parts. Não exstem Seed Parts para peças normais.

Após ter criado uma nova Docking Part, ela deverá ser anexada a uma peça existente de mesmo tipo (Ou seja, uma Hyper Part só poderá receber uma Hyper Docking)  para atribuir seus novos valores. Estas Dockung Parts irão somar seus bonus aos da peça existente, transformando uma parte +31 em +51.

O Project Torque adicionou esta semana um novo carro à Mystery Box. Agora os jogadores terão a oportunidade de ganhar um Honda S20oo nos sorteios da Mystery Box. Assim como os prêmios anteriores, o Project Torque se prontifica a bonificar gratuitamente, com um S2000, o  jogador que não ganhá-lo após 10 tentativas na Mystery Box.

De acordo com o site Eurogamer, a Electronic Arts deverá anunciar em breve o inicio da primeira fase de testes de Need for Speed: World Online, que acontecerá na primeira quinzena de março na Ásia.

O novo titulo da aclamada série Need for Speed, desenvolvido pela EA Black Box em parceria com a sucursal asiática, será uma nova aposta da Electronic Arts na publicação de um jogo de corridas exclusivamente online e no formato Free To Play. NFS World Online contará com as principais características das demais versões, como personalização e as melhores marcas e modelos de carros fabricados no mundo inteiro.

O Project Torque anunciou nesta sexta-feira (06/02), que o  Honda NSX Type-R deixará de ser um carro exclusivo do Mystery Box e poderá ser comprado em sua loja ingame. Além do carro também  foram dispostos em suas respectivas sessões todos os upgrades e itens relacionados ao NSX. Confira as imagens e ficha do carro.

Honda NSX Type-R (2002)

Street Classe 5
Level Mínimo de Condutor: 16
Preço: 2.399 APs
Cores Originais : Vermelhor ou Branco

Velocidade Máxima: 175 MPH
Potência: 290 HP
Aceleração: 4.795
Distância de Desaceleração: 31.88 m

Até às 20:00 desta quarta-feira (04/02) o Project Torque estará concedendo descontos em upgrades para os carros EVO, WRX, RX-7, Stallion, Harpoon e Spiedo. Os upgrades de levels 1 e 2 com desconto de 10% e os levels 3 e 4 de 15%.

Na última sexta-feira (30/01), o jogo Nitto 1320 Legends revelou em seu fórum oficial os novos body kits que estão sendo desenvolvidos para os carros Viper, G35 e SRT-4 e que devem ser lançados muito em breve.

Dois dos novos layouts (Viper e G35) já foram revelados, entretanto o esboço referente ao SRT-4 permenece oculto. O três body’s fazem parte de uma edição limitada e estarão disponíveis por um determinado período de tempo.

O RayCity lançou nesta segunda o seu segundo update do ano trazendo muitas novidades, como o S-Line (Nissan Skyline R34) e um vinil de carroceria dedicado ao Brasil, nas cores verde, amarelo e azul, a inscrição Brazil nas laterais e dianteira e uma grande bandeira que cobre todo o teto do carro.

Confira abaixo todos os carros e itens que integram este novo update e algumas screenshots do RMMO Alto QQ (Audi TT) personalizado com o vinil brasileiro.

Carros

Mega Capsule 2

A nova Mega Capsule 2 traz uma série de novos itens, um model set exclusivo (Racing) e prêmios de até 100,000,000 rains.

Club Name Ticket

O Club Name Ticket oferece ao Master Club a possibilidade de modificar permanentemente o nome de seu Club.

Adesivos

Rodas

Mag Wide Karim Fivestem Blue

Mag Wide Mega Orange

Luzes Teto

Bouquet For You

Arrow Determine

Insulfim

Milano

Licenças

Romantic LoveU & Mono`s The 82 Archaeological

Award Trophy

Para comemorar o prêmio de melhor jogo online na TGS 2008, o RayCity lançou este kit comemorativo contendo uma luz de teto (troféu) e uma licença com bonus para o carro de +5 Torque e +20 Max RPM.

O kit foi integrado ao jogo como prêmio em uma missão NPC bastante simples, em umas das Towns da cidade de baixo procure pela integrante NPC Sexy Girl (A mesma que libera a quest para o set Cool ).

Novos Traçados

Body Vinyl Brazil

Até o próximo dia 1º de fevereiro (05:59/11:59 pm (PST) 31/01/2008), o Drift City estará oferecendo um desconto de 10% em todos os V Upgrades.  A promoção teve inicio no último dia 28 de janeiro (06:01/12:01 pm (PST) 28/01/2008 ) às 06:00 e os usuários que adquirirem um dos v upgrades receberá o valor do desconto até o próximo dia 4 de fevereiro.

V Upgrades são itens que permitem aumentar a classe do veículo desde a classe V1, novato, até mais alta V9.

O SkidRush, versão coreana do conhecido Drift City, lançou nesta quarta-feira (21/01) um novo update que implementou ao jogo um novo layout nas telas de seleção de servidores e seleção de IDs.

Além do novo visual, o SR ganhou novos recursos como a identificação de levels por licenças, novos boosters com cores que se alteram de acordo com a posição do carro e por último a novidade que agradou muita gente, a possibilidade de se realizar o Rush Time a qualquer momento, desde que estejam reunidos um minimo de 10 jogadores.

Seguem abaixo os screen com imagens dos novos recursos do SkidRush.

Nesta quarta-feira (21/01) o Nitto 1320 Legends lançou uma série de novas peças que irão incrementar a potência do modelo Mazda RX-8, entre elas os aguardados turbo compressores.

 Também já estão disponíveis nas lojas de Vista Heights, Creek Side e Newburge novos intercoolers, injetores de combustível e blocos de motor das marcas J-Tech, TRM, BigBoss Pro, Takayami, BlowFish, DaBest Signature, Power Works e Tespo.

O Nitto 1320 Legends também anunciou para o próximo dia 28/01 o torneio Fastest RX-8, exclusivo pra os modelos Mazda.

Se vocês estavam esperando por uma oportunidade de conhecer a nova sensação dos games MMORG, chegou a sua vez. Seguindo os passos descritos neste pequeno tutorial você poderá realizar seu cadastro no jogo RayCity tailandês e matar sua curiosidade.

Atenção: Este tutorial é destinado ao RayCity tailandês, já que o acesso aos servidores coreanos é limitado à usuários locais.

Para realizar seu cadastro no RayCity acesse o site oficial do jogo, http://www.raycity.in.th/, e clique sobre o botão REGISTER.

Após ter clicado sobre o botão register,você será redirecionado para a página que exibirá os termos legais do jogo, então selecione a opção mostrada e clique sobre o botão.

O cadastro é bastante simples, porém a escrita tailandesa dificulta, e muito, a compreenção. A imagem abaixo mostra as legendas dos campos do formulário traduzidas. Os botões ao lado dos itens ID e Nome de Usuário devem ser clicados após seu preenchimento para serem validados. Após clicar no botão de cada um dos itens aparecerá um texto em tailândes na cor verde informando sua validação, caso o texto esteja em vermelho tente um outro ID ou Nome de Usuário.

A pagina seguinte, após o envio do formulário, confirma e agradecendo seu cadastro. Pronto! Agora é só baixar, instalar e atualizar o RayCity.

Pra facilitar a vida de quem estiver a fim de jogar RayCity e não tem o PIN (ID Tailândes), segue abaixo um link com o KeyPin, programinha sugestivo encontrado no amigo Google que gera PINs.

http://rapidshare.com/files/141413769/KeyPin.rar.html

O Project Torque lançou nesta segunda-feira (12/01) o Web Item Mall, um shopping localizado no site oficial do jogo que irá vender pacotes de itens diversos com especificações e preços especiais. Todos os valores são negociados exclusivamente em APs.

Um dos principais itens de lançamento é o Quick Start Bundle, um pacote com itens e upgrades para todos os carros da classe Starter (Corus, Kawana, Lion e Wizz).

O Quick Start Bundle é composto por:

Transmissão lvl 1
Suspensão lvl 1
Freios lvl 1
Pneus lvl 1
CPU lvl 1
Motor lvl 1
Upgrade Chassi lvl 1
Racing lines 10 pack
Double XP 10 pack

Custo: 1200APs 

Web Item Mall: http://project-torque.aeriagames.com/itemmall

No próximo dia 12/01, o RayCity ganhará seu primeiro update de 2009. Este novo patch adiciona ao jogo novos itens e algumas correções ingame.

Confira os itens que integram este novo update

Adesivos

Insulfilm

Rodas

Adornos de Teto

Licenças

O Project Torque adicionou nesta quarta-feira (07/01) três super carros ao Mistery Box. Além do exclusivo Honda NSX, os jogadores também terão a chance de ganhar agora no Mistery Box um Morello ou um RX-7 GT.

Para quem não conhece, o Mistery Box é um novo recurso do Project Torque a venda no shop ingame. Cada box custa 500 APs e prêmia os jogadores com itens exclusivos dos mais variados tipos, como itens de upgrade e parts ou ate mesmo um carro.