Business in Virtual Worlds News – Mar 30 – Apr 5 2009
This week’s Big Question:
Is it even possible to justify a meetings budget this year that’s the same size as one from three years ago?
(Answer in the comments!)
Running light and flexible this week, holding off on the graphics and videos so that you can just scan through the list and see what sticks. There are actually four articles from the health care industry this week!
Important links:
- Archive page of past weeks of Business in Virtual Worlds News
- Connect with me on Twitter, LinkedIn, Blip.fm, or in Second Life as Onder Skall
- Suggest stories at info [at] calebbooker.com
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
New partnerships and collaborations:
- Hi5 Partners With Mochi Media For More Games And Goods
- BigWorld Taps Hypernia For Hosting Partner
- Remedy And Rivers Partner For Immersive Workspaces
- IGA Bringing Posterscope’s Billboards To Football Superstars
Three Japanese, Korean Virtual Worlds Generated Over $510M In Virtual Goods Revenue For 2008
Think perhaps it’s about time to start taking virtual goods seriously?
Virtual World Habbo Sold $60 Million In Virtual Goods In 2008
Yep, I think it just might be.
CRV Raises $320M For 14th Fund
At least that’s what CRV seem to think.
Second Life Looks to Offer Enterprises Their Own Virtual Worlds
News about the new “behind the firewall” solution so many IT experts have been hyperventilating over. Also see the official release with nice pictures of the Zebra Corporate package we released some time ago.
Changyou is making a fortune selling items in a virtual world
Virtual item sales hit the NASDAQ and have a great first day.
ThinkBalm Conducting New Study On Business Value Of Virtual Worlds
Everybody likes a good study!
Second Life To Help Disabled Build Self Esteem
More from the health care industry.
Therapists Use Virtual Worlds to Address Real Problems
And even more.
Events
Virtual World Evangelist at IBM Produces Virtual Meetings in 3D
A nice overview of IBM’s efforts in this sphere.
Meetings now to be hosted in Second Life
The Institute of Travel Management (ITM) holds meetings in Second Life.
Want to Hold a Virtual Event of Your Own?
Clever Zebra offers event support and white-label services for anyone interested in a branded gathering in a virtual space. Everything from venue setup and hosting to VIP orientation to speaker coordination.
George P. Johnson And InXpo Partner For Virtual Events And Experience Marketing
Not a bad match there, and a good early step for George P. Johnson.
Have a we20 Meeting in There
Interesting to see There.com work the platform as a meeting space.
Training and Education
For training, medicos turn to Second Life
Stories from the British medical institute.
Can Second Life help teach doctors to treat patients?
Also in health care: Imperial College London.
Second Life credited with boost to academic ability at Plymouth school
In the future will all schools be in virtual worlds?
Training in a virtual world
Railway drivers train in a virtual space. Cool!
Second Life takes users to new heights
Elon University gives everyone a quick overview of Second Life and their latest efforts there.
Universities Teaching MBAs About IBM, Cementing With Second Life
Title says it all, really.
Government and Military
How to avoid new legal pitfalls in virtual world design and policy
An overview of the panel from GDC ‘09.
Marketing
Koinup Launch the 1st Second Life Comics Competition
Press release. Koinup attempts to pull in new readers from Second Life.
Genkii to launch first virtual world for iPhone
Uh oh. They used the word “first”.
Gaming
Nintendo Refuses To Support Microtransactions
It’s an interesting decision, considering how much money the microtransaction model typically makes. Still, Nintendo has always had a narrow and specific scope for everything, and it has served them well when others failed.
YoVille Hits 7.8M Monthly Active Users On Facebook, MySpace
I can’t be the only one that blocked this app on Facebook… talk about spammy!
Nerds Only
Rosedale Ramps Up Open-Source Efforts At Linden
Ah, good, been awhile since we had an update here. Also see the official announcement.
Newbs Only
The suits come to Second Life. Now it’s dying
Ignoring pretty much every statistic on the planet about what’s happening in virtual spaces, The Times Online UK digs up a few people who are “too cool” for Second Life and decides that they are the world. This is what happens when one reads too many blogs and mistakes them for news. There’s a lot of this lately… so many would-be tech-savvy reporters coming to the party a little late, trying and failing to catch up…
Sociological Oddities
Juxtaposed Notions: Second Life benefits commerce, aids networking
Kind of a general “this is what happens on the ground level” article.
April Fools’ Day 09: Second Life users pull the other one
A few fun pranks around April Fools’ Day that you should watch for being repeated as real news out there.
Did I miss an important story? Got feedback? Leave a comment below, or email me at
info [at] calebbooker.com
