Business in Virtual Worlds News Roundup – Dec 29 – Jan 4 2009
Headlines about virtual worlds just from the past week.
For other weeks, see the archive page.
Welcome to 2009 and the absolutely slowest news week ever! Seems like nobody wanted to cause a stir around New Years… well, except Worlds.com. I guess they’re tired of being ignorable.
Disclaimer: As with everything on my blog, the opinions expressed here are mine and do not reflect on Clever Zebra, the vBusiness Expo, my friends, my family, my blip channel, any of the other “Jack of All Strange” stuff that I do, etc etc etc… k here we go:
Top Stories
NCsoft Accused of Violating MMOG Patent
More developments to the Worlds.com patent issue mentioned about three weeks ago. This week everybody is on this one; CNet, ZDnet, The Industry Standard, The Register, Wired, G4TV, etc. Silicon Valley Insider wins for being the snarkiest, but then again, don’t they always? If this goes through, Worlds.com will be suing everyone who produces an MMO.
Hmm. Can you imagine working a Worlds.com convention booth right about now? You’d have to be behind bullet-proof glass or something.
A virtual quilt show in Second Life
This whole concept of translating museums and galleries into virtual tour spaces is really gaining steam, Fenimore Art Museum being only the most recent addition. (Another example, and another.)
Virtual reality therapy treats flight phobia
Interesting experiments from the California School of Professional Psychology in San Diego, California.
Vaporware 2008: Crushing Disappointments, False Promises and Plain Old BS
Honestly, I’m just including this because it’s fun and this is the slowest news week ever.
Training and Education
New Study Shows Virtual Worlds Strong on ROI for Training and Collaboration
Full report coming next week courtesy of the good folks at Forterra.
Canterbury University Receives $1M for Virtual Environments
3-year project: “The students will be able to explore the inside of ears, chemical models, and hospital and health scenarios for on-the-job training.”
Government and Military
O Brave New World That Has Such Avatars in It!
Washington Post reports on Arlington County’s virtual presence where one can go and meet with a real-world economic development official. Detailed (read: “dry”) video tour included:
Marketing
The Very Real Market for Virtual Goods
I’ve noticed that “virtual goods” is starting a hype cycle of its own. Expect many, many articles about them in the coming months.
Gaming
Apart from the Worlds.com foolishness and more stories about how much Home stinks, there’s not much this week.
Nerds Only
Virtual World Research, Part 1: A Place to Experiment
This involves the pros and cons to virtual spaces as places to run social experiments. Find Part 2 here.
Newbs Only
Tech Talk: Need a Second Life? Have your avatar call my avatar
The Daily Record discovers Second Life for the first time.
Credit crunch hits Second Life
The OpenSpace debacle misconstrued as an economic trend. (More info on the OpenSpace issue here.)
Sociological Oddities
A Field Guide To Second Life Animal Hybrids
Kotaku rounds up a few of the subcultures in Second Life.
Reflections: Can avatars be Mormon?
The question that has kept every one of us up at night.
January 5th, 2009 at 3:29 am
I like your news roundups.
However you should pay more attention when talking about Openspaces sims versus Opensim software. These are two completely different topics, although both of them relate to Second Life.
http://www.opensimulator.org <- Opensim software
January 5th, 2009 at 3:44 am
Whoop, yeah looks like I misspoke there. Corrected it, thanks!