Virtual Worlds

INTRODUCTION

When it comes to Virtual Worlds, Second Life isn't the only game in town. There are other companies that have gotten into the game, including corporate giant Google. Google has developed Lively, which recently made a splash in the media. Other virtual worlds or grids, include Open Life (http://www.openlifegrid.com), Central Grid (http://www.centralgrid.com), and VirtualLife Grid. In China, a very popular, Mandarin-language-based virtual world is HiPiHi (http://www.Hipihi.com).

Vio Business is proud to provide its members with the opportunity to hear more about what is out there, specifically from three panelists.

Kalvin Jefferson and Bazman Doobie will present VirtualLife Grid. BigTonny Goodfellow will present CentralGrid. Slatestone McCall will present Google's Lively. After the panelists present their information, there will be a Q&A session followed by networking.

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VirtualLife Grid
by Bazman Doobie and Kalvin Jefferson

VirtualLife Grid(tm) is based on the OpenSimulator Project witch is a BSD Licensed Virtual Worlds Server which is used for creating and deploying 3D Virtual Environments. It has been developed by several developers. Out of the box, the OpenSimulator can be used to create a Second Life(tm) like environment, able to run in a standalone mode or connected to other OpenSimulator instances through built in grid technology. It can also easily be extended to produce more specialized 3D interactive applications.

QUATRO Industries as built aopn this to create VirtualLife Grid(tm) and is now ready to officaly launch the service in 1 week. We will be send invitations to everyone with in the vio community in a few days to come check out the new wolds we have to offer.

We will also be offering Vio residents a discount on regions .

QUATRO Industries has tiers that are much loower than any competitor because we do not charge for prims. The cost if tiers is based on server rental space.

We have Regions avalable full prim and open space (Low Prim) and also Personal grid rental

Are prim count is also considerable higher than SL(tm) as a full prim region is conprised of 40000 prims and a open space region is comprised of 15000 prims and both can run attached to VirtualLife Gird(tm) or run in stand alone mode attached to nothing.

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Central Grid
by BigTonny Goodfellow

Central Grid to Bring Inworld Currency

Central Grid has moved to become the first grid using the OpenSim platform to bring inworld currency to its users. They will be called Cyber Coins with C$ being its active symbol. OpenSim Grids have all been fairly equal until now. There has been no true way to establish an economy. This will now be possible in CG. Currency has been active in a private test grid for some time now to ensure that it functions properly and is secure. There also has been extensive work to create an exchange sytem on the web site for users to be able to purchse, trade to other avatars, and sell Cyber Coins. CG will be selling C$ at the rate of C$200 to $1.00 USD. We will be working this week to add it to Central Grid. CG currently has 2316 user accounts with 2717 avatars and 363 regions. The current monthly tier fee for regions is $75.00 USD. This rate will be changing to $100.00 USD once the Cyber Coins become active. All regions that are currently online or that are activated before the Cyber Coins go live will lock in their monthly tier rate at the $75.00. We have also recently added several more servers to allow for the expected rapid increase of regions. Come join in the excitement as Central Grid pushes beyond the limits of OpenSim.

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Google Lively
An evalutation by Slatestone McCall
Real Life Business Owner
Marshwiggle Website Services
http://www.marshwiggle.com/SL543
http://www.OneTreeFrog.com

Yes, folks, Google has entered the social network 3D arena with their beta software, "Lively". I have found it not so lively...quite boring actually when you compare it with Second Life but let's take a look at it anyway. There are a couple of good benefits but I will get to them in a little bit.

First of all it is a quick and easy download. If you already have a Google or Gmail account you can login right away and start creating your avatar, which no matter how you change you just can't personalize it enough. Instead of being realistic like we are used to with Second LIfe, using Lively makes you feel like you are in a cartoon world.

Instead of a SIM type world where land can be connected to another person's land each person has a room instead. Each room is set up like a 3D chat room.

Personally, I would have preferred Google to wait a little longer before revealing their beta version. I found it to be quite cumbersome and awkward when trying to move your avatar around. The only way to move your avatar is by click on it and dragging to the spot you want it to go. When doing this your avatar gives a walking motion.

There is not much you can do with the avatar yet. You can get some basic simplistic clothing and accessories but again, they were quite basic and cartoonish.

When searching for rooms to visit I was surprised that Google would make it hard to find a room. Oh, you could search by most visitors or the date a room was created but there is something missing. I just can't browse and try to see what is out there by group, type or subject.

From a business stand point Lively is just too new to be worth while. You could use it as a meeting point for instant chat but that is about it. There is no classifieds and I don't think as of yet you can sell anything "inworld". Lively needs to "grow up" and gain some benefits and tools that businesses (real or virtual) could use. Right now Google's Lively is just something to play with and "fiddle around" with.

This leads me to the question, are there any benefits with Lively? The one feature that I believe could be a benefit, especially to a business, is that you can embed your room into a web page. This allows a virtual business to receive an easier exposure through search engines. For visitors to your website having your room embedded helps to make it easy for them to visit your virtual office or world.

Second, with a big company like Google they are bound to start good-healthy competition. This is if they get serious and start adding more robust features to Lively. Good competition between companies is what spurs on new, exciting and creative ideas.

For me, I don't have time to play with Lively. So for now, I am uninstalling it from my system and enjoying the creativity of those on Second Life.

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SUMMARY

There are different reasons for considering different virtual worlds. There is likely a trade-off between functionality, and price and the size of the marketplace. For some applications, such as architects designing a 3-D concept for a client halfway around the world, a sizeable marketplace is not important. So other grids may provide a boost in performance and cost-savings. You need to spend some time weighing your needs and options when considering what is being offered. Ask people who are members of a virtual world and get their feedback and experiences before making a choice.

When agreeing to a contract or agreement with a virtual world service provider, get all of the details up front and get the agreement in writing. That should be a real world agreement.

Successful Business In The Virtual World

With the surge in growth in the first quarter of 2007 of Second Life® (http://www.secondlife.com) , a well-established virtual world created by Linden Labs, the business community began to take notice of this global online community as a potential marketplace. Since then, a host of other virtual platforms or grids, such as CentralGrid (http://www.centralgrid.com) have been born, catching up to capitalize on this trend. Even behemoth Google has gotten into the act and created its own virtual world platform (Lively). From our observations of its roll-out, Lively shows promise, but it has a long way to go.

There was a virtual Gold Rush of new members joining Second Life, when an article appeared on CNN about the first "virtual millionaire," Anshe Chung (real name: Ailin Graef). With a growing economy within the virtual world, consisting of credits convertible into real currency, there was a opportunity for people to make real income.

Many businesses sprung up as entrepreneurial members explored a virtual platform that had seemingly fewer barriers for business. Stores selling accessories for avatars, clothing, vehicles, homes, scripts, and animations became very successful. People could buy and sell or rent "virtual land" or space in the virtual world, and could turn a profit as long as demand surpassed supply.

There has been a growing trend of real world businesses (Such as IBM, Toyota, and Oracle) who have ventured into the virtual world to expand their marketing efforts and/or to develop communication and technology tools that benefit their business. The virtual business community of VIO has attracted the likes of real world companies Fedex, Oracle, and Camenae Healthcare. By providing the real world clients with access to virtual world resources, tools and training, VIO has shortened the learning curve of these companies.

For most people in the virtual world, this trend hasn't grown fast enough. There have been challenges to growth of the virtual world. There has been a general lack of momentum for embracing the new technology, and a general perception of the virtual world as a place for gaming and sex. This was a similar perception experienced by the pioneers of the world wide web in the early 1990's. What it will take to overcome these perceptions, is for the business community to take the lead. They will need to invest in the technology, and share their successes with the public through the media. More blogs about virtual business won't hurt, either.

We welcome feedback from others in the business community about their successes and challenges faced when forging a beneficial presence in the virtual world.

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The Successful Virtual Business blog is a service provided by Virtual Innovative Opportunities (VIO) and the web solutions provider, PROactive Media. The blog is mediated by web technology consultant and speaker Tony Coolidge.

VIO, founded by Howard Odor and Tony Coolidge, is a leading in-world business community and incubator within Second Life®, promoting collaboration and growth through partnership between virtual world businesses and real world companies.

PROactive Media has developed web solutions for hundreds of clients since 2001. The company's current strength is web marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) solutions. Its web marketing packages, branded as SEO TrafficBoost™ (http://www.seotrafficboost.com), builds traffic-building web assets for clients, including assets in the virtual world.

Tony Coolidge has been a web development professional since 1995. He started as a partner with Orlando Online. In 1999, he co-founded a B2C Internet auction company that became a publicly-trading company on the American Stock Exchange. In 2001, he founded PROactive Media, an Internet and new media consulting company. In 2005, he founded Katrina's Angels, one of the largest non-profit volunteer organizations serving the needs of Hurricane Katrina survivors.