Voices » virtual worlds

Virtual Worlds Are Getting a Second Life

Victor Keegan — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 07:05:52 +0000

By Victor Keegan, Technology Columnist, The Guardian

We haven’t heard much recently about so-called virtual worlds such as Second Life, in which you move around with your own avatar. Critics must be hoping they have disappeared up their own ether. Actually, they are booming. The consultancy kzero.co.uk reports that membership of virtual worlds grew by 39 percent in the second quarter of 2009 to an estimated 579 million.

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Linden Bets on the Desire for Virtual Things

Don Clark — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 17:14:49 +0000

By Don Clark, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal, Digits

Virtual worlds have had some real problems. Google (GOOG), for instance, recently shut down an animated environment called Lively only five months after it was announced. And Linden Lab, whose Second Life online community was once front-page news, has neither reached many mainstream consumers nor created an important meeting place for corporate users.

But the San Francisco company is far from backing away. The latest bet: that users will pay real money for things that only exist “in world,” as Second Life fans call it.

Linden Tuesday night announced that it has purchased two small companies–Xstreet SL and OnRez–that act a bit like Amazon.com (AMZN) in providing one-stop shopping for virtual goods from other merchants. One component of their strategy has been to make it easier to buy goods through the Web, not requiring users to enter Second Life to acquire the items they may use there. Financial terms are not being disclosed.

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We'll All Be Citizens of Virtual Worlds

Victor Keegan — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 07:04:46 +0000

By Victor Keegan, Technology Columnist, The Guardian

Most people still look askance if you admit to using virtual worlds where you move around with an avatar or 3-D version of yourself. It recalls the technophobic reactions in the early days of the Internet. But attitudes may now change for two reasons. First, children are piling into their own virtual worlds, so their parents can get a glimpse of what it is all about. And second, a huger user base is being created, one that is accustomed to virtual worlds and is ready to trade up to more sophisticated ones as they grow older.

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Investors Put $184 Million in Virtual Worlds

Dean Takahashi — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 07:00:29 +0000

By Dean Takahashi, Blogger, VentureBeat

We’re going to have a veritable galaxy of virtual worlds soon. Investors put $184 million into 23 virtual-world companies during the first quarter of 2008, according to Virtual Worlds Management. That may sound like a lot, but the froth in this sector is actually down from the past.

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