Web 2.0 versus Virtual Worlds
September 19th, 2007 - Mitch Olson
I’m taking a real-world plane to a Virtual world conference. I’ve booked my tickets and I’m off in 3 weeks to the Virtual Worlds Fall 2007 Conference in San Jose next month. All the usual suspects will be there and I’m particularly interested in discussions and presentations involving web-based deployments of Virtual Worlds and the impact of the various facets of Web 2.0 on MMOs and casual gaming.
Coming from a background in Rich Internet Application technology and Web 2.0, I’m curious to see if people have the same sorts of questions, and are seeing the same sorts of opportunities and problems we are considering in the design of our own Virtual World product. The influence of Web 2.0 seems like a favorite topic of conversation at recent Virtual Goods and Gaming conferences, although the term is typically left rather vaguely or totally defined.
I’ve talked about my own sense of what Web 2.0 means before in A Web 2.0 by any other name where I’ve broken this down into 5 intersecting trends;
1. The web as an application platform
2. The Read Write Web
3. Digital Self-expression
4. Social affiliation
5. Being online vs going online
All of these trends, and one other non-Web 2.0-specific trend not mentioned here - the rise of casual gaming - are incredibly relevant to the emerging interest in Virtual Worlds.
The web as an application platform speaks to the web browser emerging as a favorite platform for hosting Virtual Worlds. Habbo Hotel, Club Penguin, Gaia and Puzzle Pirates are examples of Web browser plug-in based Virtual Worlds where accessibility trumps high-poly 3D graphics. I’m also really interested to see how existing web content starts to merge, integrate and influence Virtual Worlds and vice-versa.
The Read Write Web is probably the single most core facet of Web 2.0 and is also known by the synonymous terms “The Participatory Web” and “User Generated Content” (UGC). There’s been a lot of the discussion around UGC in the recent Virtual World and gaming conferences - in particular debates around ownership and quality-of-content control. Most of these seem to center around user-uploaded content, which is only one form of UGC. To my mind the more interesting facet of UGC in the context of Virtual Worlds is how powerful but easy-to-use tools can be applied by users to creatively combine primitive elements to create higher-order creations. Avatar and room builders are obvious examples of this, but there are a multitude of possibilities.
Digital Self Expression (DSE) has been fueled by the huge presence of sites like Myspace and Facebook, and more recently by web-based Avatar builders like Meez. At the intersection of Virtual Worlds and DSE is a more richly textured canvas where the expression of identity has so much more room to breath. Together with UGC tools we can expect to see people’s digital identity take on more breadth and subtlety than previously available.
Social affiliation is the sister of DSE in a world run rife with Social networks, which primarily express affiliation as peer-based relationships (prior to social networks the predominant web-based social affiliation was primarily group/member-based, through membership and participation in mailing lists and web forums). The next generation of Virtual Worlds are starting to incorporate elements from Social Networks like profile pages and friends lists. Also to date, digital identity has almost exclusively been expressed as a singularity - ie. each person has only a single identity/avatar. Will this potentially expand in future Social Network constructs to recognize that most people have the desire to express at least a separate personal and professional persona?
Being online vs going online is the very essence of Virtual Worlds as the Internet and technology gradually digitize more and more of the dimensionality of our experience. The Synchronous Web, where people meet in real time and virtual space, is the heart of a Virtual World. In conjunction with always-on-connectivity via web and mobile technologies, presence, interaction and expression - no matter where you are - are becoming more and more universal and immersive in our daily lives. Again this trend testifies to the significance of the web as the ideal Virtual World platform with its universal accessibility and intrinsic connectivity.
The rise of casual gaming is not strictly a recognized element of Web 2.0 but it is none-the-less a very strong growth trend at present. Products like the extremely successful Nintendo Wii console, and the increasing recognition of the significant part that web-based casual games and game portals play in many many peoples lives are testimony that gaming is going mainstream. Who would have thought that women in their forties comprise the typical casual game player?
All in all a really exciting time for Virtual World developers, end-users and everyone in-between. I’m looking forward to meeting fellow Virtual World explorers in San Jose. Also, to any VCs reading this, we’ll be looking for funding post-launch in late 2007 so drop me a line if you’re interested in investments in this space. 