Why End Metaversed?
Every ending is another beginning.
The press about Clever Zebra has been overwhelming. While I knew that we were changing the way things work, and possibly changing the virtual world landscape, I had no idea we would be getting this kind of attention so quickly. Nick’s video overview really got people buzzing.
It hasn’t all been a love-fest though. While everybody loves the idea of Clever Zebra, a lot of people seem to be a bit heart-broken over our closing of the Metaversed brand. You know, when we first started talking about doing it, I wasn’t sure about it either. I am now, but it took me awhile to get there. A little confusion is understandable. Let’s talk about it.
How can you close Metaversed?
We covered business in virtual worlds like nobody else. There wasn’t a better place to go for coverage of this stuff. We just loved it.
Along the way Nick and I compiled a huge amount of information about business in virtual worlds. We studied the phenomenon like few have ever had the opportunity to, and our imaginations were constantly ignited. More and more of our days were spent discussing what could and should be done in virtual worlds to help business. We began designing plans to change things and make them better.
We soon realized that we’d rather create products people want to talk about instead of talking about products others were creating. The thing is, you can’t often make things happen by telling stories. You make things happen by… well… going out and making them happen.
So while we came across as much news and met as many incredible people as we had before, news reportage became an afterthought. We were chasing a dream: bringing change to the virtual world. Meanwhile, the blog was suffering. No news was going up, apart from announcements of the events we produce.
Why part with a popular brand?
Yes, Metaversed became a beloved brand. That’s why we had to close it.
Without publishing regular news, it was becoming a shadow of its former self. There’s nothing worse than a brand that was once great and has lost its shine. If it’s a name to be remembered, it should be remembered as something great.
Some feel we could have kept the name and switched the business model. The problem with doing something like that, though, is that it’s a bit disrespectful of the readers. Metaversed is a blog about business in virtual worlds. If it suddenly becomes an open-source virtual world company, well, it’s no longer the same company. We’d by lying if we said it was, and we respect our readers far too much to do something like that.
What about events?
Events are far from over! Metanomics has another four months to go, we’ll be doing occasional Virtual Business Innovators specials, and we’re planning a gigantic event the likes of which the virtual world has never seen. Events do change the landscape of virtual worlds purely by being self-contained hubs of information and learning. By bringing groups of business people together we all benefit.
If you were to say that events were slightly outside the gamut of Clever Zebra, you’d be right. We’ve been working on a second project as well. Stay tuned here… even more big announcements on the way.
So what happens now?
- Members of the Second Life “Metaversed.com” group are migrating to the “Clever Zebra” group fairly quickly.
- The RSS feed will be smoothly transferred, so people don’t have to re-subscribe to keep following the progress.
- I’ll be covering some news on my blog, Lordfly Digeridoo will continue with his GridBlog, and Nick Wilson will be posting updates about Clever Zebra right here on the company blog.
- Events will continue as before, with an extra big one coming up. More on that soon.
- New community tools will be appearing on the website, but meanwhile the Forum is quite active right now.
- Clever Zebra’s first project, “Zebra Corporate” comes out this month. You are going to love it.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask.
(Cross-posted from the Clever Zebra Blog)
