Led by Victoria Coleman and Sibley Verbeck, representatives from IBM, Intel, Samsung, Stanford, Sun, Web3D Consortium, and other companies discussed the roadmap for the group and broke into working groups to focus on future applications for virtual worlds. The groups focused on applications for the health industry, entertainment, enterprise, and museums.
Filed under virtual news, virtual spaces, virtual worlds, Virtual worlds news
Early Registration for Engage! Expo ends this coming Monday, February 2, 2009.
Engage Expo March 10-11 2009 http://www.engageexpo.com/
Engage! Expo (formerly the Virtual Worlds Conference) is the event for youth and young adult brands, media and agencies to meet and learn how to combine their existing online efforts with the unparalleled engagement opportunities and new revenue streams of the 2D and 3D Web and Virtual Worlds. Now in our third year we invite you to sign up to receive our email updates.
Subjects covered at Engage! include kids worlds, toys, social media, games, virtual goods (micro-transactions), tween and teen-oriented virtual worlds, 3D Web advertising and licensing strategies.
Engage! Is All About Immersive & Engaging Solutions For Fun And Profit
Early registration ends next week – on February 2, 2009. Register now and save. TRACKS: Engaging Kids | Engaging Youth | Virtual Goods and Gifts
Speakers
Additional speakers are being added. Be sure you sign up for our email to stay updated.
Tucker Aaron, Lead Strategist, Animax Entertainment
Larry Andreini, ZEO, RIDEMAKERZ
Jan Andresen, CEO, Weblin
Pano Anthos, President and CEO, Hangout Industries
Maria T. Bailey, CEO, BSM Media
Chris Bergstresser, Co-founder and CEO, Webcarzz, Inc.
Lauren Bigelow, General Manager and SVP Marketing, WeeWorld Inc.
Dr. James M. Bower Ph.D., Founder, Chairman, and CVO, Numedeon Inc.
Yuanzhe (Michael) Cai
Timothy Chang, Principal, Norwest Venture Partners
Ro Choy, Vice President of Business Development, RockYou
Lee Clancy Jr., VP of Product Management & General Manager of Direct Revenue, IMVU
Jorian Clarke, CEO, Circle 1 Network
Jesse Cleverly, connective media
Benjamin T. Duranske, Attorney, Pillsbury
Jared Freedman, President, Code4Software LLC
Barry Gilbert, VP & Research Director, Strategy Analytics
Richard Gottlieb, President, Richard Gottlieb & Associates, LLC
Neil Harris, Executive Vice President, Simutronics
Julie Hochheiser, Senior Web Editor, Seventeen.com
Steven Hoffman, CEO, RocketOn, Inc.
Charles Edward Hudson, VP of Business Development, Serious Business
Teemu Huuhtanen, President, North America & EVP Habbo Business, Sulake Corporation Ltd.
John Hwang, Director of Products, Automotive, RockYou
Nabeel Hyatt, Founder and CEO, Conduit Labs
Joe Hyrkin, Vice President, Sales & Business Development, Gaia Online
Dan Jansen, CEO and Co-Founder, Virtual Greats
Sean Kane, Attorney, Drakeford & Kane LLC
Marta Kagan, Vice President of Marketing, Viximo
Jouni Keranen, President, iLemon
Thom Kidrin, President/CEO, Worlds.com Inc.
Daniel Kruchkow, Head of Digital Strategy, Crush Management
Dr. Andreas Lober, Partner, SchulteRiesenkampff
Kenneth Locker, SVP Digital Media, Cookie Jar Entertainment
David Lord, President, CEO of Knowledge Adventure
Sean McGowan, Managing Director, Equity Research Department, Needham & Company
Ravi Mehta, Vice President of Publishing, Viximo
Nic Mitham, CEO, K Zero
Philippe Moitroux, CEO, TAATU
Sergio Monsalve, Principal, Norwest Venture Partners
Dell Monson, Vice President of Marketing, Hidden City Games
Izzy Neis, Sr. Community Manager, Six Degrees Games, Inc.
John L. Nicholson, Senior Associate, Pillsbury’s Global Sourcing
Jason Oberfest, Vice President of Business Development, MySpace
Jerry Paffendorf, Co-Founder, Wello Horld
Matt Palmer, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Stardoll
David Perry, Chief Creative Officer, Acclaim
Laurie Petersen, General Manager, Minyanville Family Media Inc.
Michael H. Pinkerton, COO, Metaverse Mod Squad
Joi Podgomy, VP, Interactive Development, Ludorum
Ken Ruck, VP of Global Digital, HIT Entertainment
Sean Ryan, CEO, Meez
Sabri Sansoy, Chief Technology Officer, Animax Entertainment
Sally Schmidt, Executive Producer, Circle 1 Network
Andrew Schneider, Co-Founder and President, Live Gamer
Joey Seiler, Editor, VirtualWorldsNews.com, Virtual Worlds Weekly
Christopher V. Sherman, Executive Director, Founder, Virtual Worlds Management
Anu Shukla, CEO, Offerpal Media
Adrian Si, Interactive Marketing Mgr, Scion
Ted Sorom, CEO, Rixty, Inc.
Reuben Steiger, CEO and Founder, Millions of Us
Sibley Verbeck, CEO, The Electric Sheep Company
Margaret Wallace, CEO, Rebel Monkey
Regine Weiner, Service Game Director, NR2B Research, Inc.
Jeff Weiser, Head of Analytics, SGN (Social Gaming Network)
Dan Yue, CEO, YouPlus
Jeremy Zorn, Vice President of Product Development, myYearbookAdditional speakers are being added on a daily basis. Be sure you sign up for our email to stay updated.
Engage Expo March 10-11 2009 http://www.engageexpo.com/
Filed under virtual news, virtual worlds, Virtual worlds news
Life On Line is about – Social networks, games, shopping, dating, music, news and much more. Life On Line, a TV show about internet living.
Life On Line is a team effort by these talented people:
Host – Steve Cropper
Music – Space Junky
News – Sigmund Leominster
Social Networks – Andrew Peters
‘Shrink’ – Dr Roman Candle
Voice – Kayden O’Connell
Check the pilot out here: http://life-on-line.ning.com/video/pilot-ep-0109# or http://blip.tv/file/1701093/
When launched in February, Life On Line will be viewed on dozens of quality websites across the internet including:
www.metaverse-tv.com
www.my-metaverse.com
www.spacejunky.com/home.html
www.lifeonline.blip.tv
associationofvirtualworlds.com
sigmundleominster.wordpress.com
sigmundleominster.blogspot.com
www.entropiaforum.com
www.JamhotTelevision.com
aplink.wordpress.com
From: The Metaverse Journal – Australia’s Leading Virtual World News Service
Now that we’ve reviewed our 2008 predictions, it’s on to 2009. For the coming year, we’re going to get a little bit more specific in our predictions. It may lower our chances of success but will be more fun. So here we go:
1. OpenSim grids will bleed Second Life users – this may seem a very obvious prediction given the growth of OpenSim grids, but what I mean here is that the exodus will be obvious. It won’t be a migration that will affect Second Life’s viability (other issues may achieve that), but there will be a solid, committed population of OpenSim users choosing those grids over Second Life’s one. Put another way, new users will see OpenSim grids as an equal option to signing up to Second Life.
2. Virtual worlds will appear as normal daily life in TV / Movies – To date, most appearances of virtual worlds in TV and film are either documentaries or as a central part of an action / geek film. US comedy The Office and CSI have both featured Second Life but essentially in a sensationalistic way. 2009 will see more insertions of virtual worlds into daily life scenes in shows. A disclosure here: I’m particularly confident on this one as I’ve had the pleasure of helping out on a film project that features a virtual world in a day-to-day context. More on that in the first few months of next year.
3. There will be a net increase in Australian business in virtual worlds – Second Life won’t see any significant growth in Australian businesses entering Second Life and there may actually be a decrease. The gains will come in worlds like Twinity, customised worlds created on platforms like VastPark and possibly even some entry into enterprise worlds offered by entities like IBM and Forterra. Any increase will be driven by the increasing awareness of virtual worlds as a cost-effective business collaboration tool.
click to join twinity - powered by real life
4. Virtual worlds will remain a political no-go zone – Australian political parties have had zero presence to date and it’s extremely unlikely to change in 2009. Any planning being done by the major parties for the 2010 Federal Election is unlikely to extend beyond services like YouTube and Twitter. Things may stretch to sites like Barack Obama’s Change site, but forget anything 3D.
5. Metaplace will be a game-changer – Metaplace’s simple, web-based interface combined with some impressive content creation tools will ensure a launch with impact and significant growth. There’ll be some obvious poaching of users from services like Habbo Hotel but also from content-creation havens like Second Life.
6. Virtual sex will lead to legislation – Linden Lab’s gambling, ageplay and banking clamp-downs were an early start to the reality of increased regulation and governments worldwide are increasingly scrutinising virtual world activities. Sexual exploits (aside from ageplay) have remained unregulated. For better or worse, this won’t remain.
Read the remaining predictions at Metaverse Journal
One day, Ms Taylor, 28, found Mr Pollard at the computer watching his avatar having sex with a prostitute in Second Life.
"I went mad, I was so hurt. I just couldn't believe what he'd done. I looked at the computer screen and could see his character with a female character. It's cheating as far as I'm concerned. But he didn't see it as a problem, and couldn't see why I was so upset," she said.
Using the virtual world's own special currency, she hired an online private detective to investigate his adultery. However, back in their real lives, the Pollards managed to patch things up.
Then in April this year Ms Taylor caught her husband's avatar in another compromising position.
She claims he was having "cybersex" with a female player in the US.
via David Pollard’s Second Life affair leads to divorce from Amy Taylor | NEWS.com.au
Awesome article on Virtual Worlds and 3D online Worlds – they report that their are now 173.6m registered users of virtual places. The increasing awareness of environmental issues will also generate greater opportunities to collaborate online in an immersive environment – itsReal
Exert “As the users of these worlds mature, they will come to expect to interact with friends, brands, employers and coworkers in immersive 3D environments. And, even before they are old enough to purchase real goods through virtual worlds, they will have spent an enormous amount of real money on virtual goods.
The conference was not all about kid-focused worlds, however. Collaboration was a word heard over and over from panelists, speakers and in hallway conversations. With the rising costs of business travel and a desire for corporations to reduce their impact on the environment, the promise of collaboration within virtual worlds will entice more users. With a Digital Nomad workforce, successful companies will need to find new ways to motivate and coordinate their employees”
Filed under aplink, Environmental, Green Business, greening IT, twinity, twinity 3d Online world, virtual news
It’s not just happening in the US – a number of my clients are using social media in Asia and reaping rewards….
What does this mean? It means that when you tell people you write, read or listen to blogs, wikis, podcasts, social networks and online video – if they give you a funny look, it is now officially them that’s a freak, not you.
Study: Fastest Growing US Companies Rapidly Adopting Social Media – ReadWriteWeb
Virtual Worlds Forum Europe 2008
Back in London for the second year; VWF08 is three days of congress, expo and optional workshops, brought to you by the regular Virtual Worlds Salon hosts. VWF08 is the place to make serious business connections (we still hear about deals done last year), be inspired by three streams of content, participated in the extended expo and demo theatre. Don’t forget, exclusive registration benefits and we like to party (we’ve got some cool announcements up our sleeves).
Virtual Worlds Forum Europe, conference and expo, London, 6-8 October 2008.
Filed under virtual conferences, virtual news
This morning I awoke and as usual after grabbing my first coffee (of many) for the day i checked into my mail to see what was happening – and my rss feed from metaverse journal sent to me dusan’s latest lenghty post about the emerging virtual worlds business sparked by the 
Google Lively media hype I assume, but has in fact been around for quite some time like second life. (see Interview with CEO GoGoFrog)
Mr Blue Haired dusan, managers to conjure up images of old, that are a distant memory in my mind on how limited we were in reaching consumers in the “OLD days”
Life was so much easier back in the day when there were three stations, and a few radio networks, and the major choice was whether to plop down coin for a spot on the Superbowl, the Academy Awards, or to keep sucking up all the airtime on the Gong Show.
…and what we all know is a reality with early adopters is that they want to travel to mars, but only have a budget to get out of the earth’s atmosphere…
“We have a vision, but you don’t have the code”
OK. So like I say. I sell stuff too. You get paid for things and sometimes you flop – you promise something you can’t deliver. You paint a picture of an IMAX movie and it turns out your client has a budget for black and white TV, or your target audience all lives on farms and can’t get to a theatre even if they wanted to.
And then a nice link to ESC’s roadmap…. thanks
Sibley came out with his roadmap, reminding us that Second Life isn’t ready for prime time – not without access to the server-side stuff anyways. So instead of pitch in (unless I missed that post) with the servers over on RealXtend or OpenSim they’ve gone Flashy with the rest of them. White label it – build your own virtual world for under $100k, throw whatever logos on the wall you like, embed some games, and you’re off and running!
…and then an ad for some place called Loco Pocos some kind of furry land which i will check out for curiosity only later…
In the meantime, when I want a place where you can chat, be cute, solve puzzles, socialize, make stuff, customize my appearance, I’ll head to Loco Pocos to see what Millions of Us and ESC and all those other gurus of virtual worlds SHOULD have built instead of the stumbling ruins that were CSI with their 100 signs and their obvious clues.
..obviously I have just cut and diced his blog post – but from where I sit if Google wants to have virtual rooms with its globally launched platform Lively, and developers, who have been hit in their pockets with a slow down in virtual world spending buy corporate early adopters, want to and get the skill sets to support virtual rooms, it has to be good for the entire Virtual Worlds marketplace.
How does dusan expect developers to stay in business if for now, and i repeat for NOW – fully immersive worlds like second life require a greater commitment and understanding by consumers and evangelist corporate marketing heads with few new marketing dollars to spend.
from my perspective (and it is solely MINE) I welcome the Small Worlds, as these worlds will drive new immediate revenue’s to companies on both sides of the business, bring consumers in with minimal fuss and OPEN everyone’s eyes to the bigger ultimate picture which is the fully immersive 3D worlds, we are all passionate about it.
In this case small size is important as a gateway to BIG.
Linden’s new CEO’s action plan | VWF blog | Virtual Economic Forum Content Library
Second Life needs to fix its’ First Life – Will the new Linden Leader make it so …. APLINK
APLINK - itsReal 