A Virtual Worlds Road Map - where is it all going/RAW NOTES (VM2007)

Disclaimer- This is done live and is posted without editing. I cannot be held accountable for typos and misquotes


Accurately reading the tea leaves for tomorrow is sometimes more art than science. Hear from the experts what demographic trends are emerging and what to expect for the rest of 2007 and beyond. A look at established and emerging platforms coming to market or having recently entered the marketplace.  This lecture will speak from experience in how to take advantage of opportunities inherent in new platforms.
Jerry Paffendorf, Resident Futurist, The Electric Sheep Company
Reuben Steiger, CEO, Millions of Us
Corey Bridges, Co-founder, Executive Producer, & Marketing Director
  The Multiverse Network (moderator)
Mark Wallace, Journalist, 3pointD.com
John Donham, VP Production, Areae Inc.


 Near Term Trends




  • Mark

    • Development of new social virtual worlds

    • Fragmentation of the space

    • People are starting to get the idea that this can be used a business tool

    • It's nice to see all this attention but you have to wonder whether or not this is "dumb money"

    • Great to look at is as an experiment but not sure it is at the point of mission critical

    • Potentially a lot of fall off




  • Jerry

    • Disagree's with Mark, "nothing has even started yet"

    • Virtual Worlds are the direct sister of the gaming industry

    • Its gotta be all growth right now



  • Mark Rebutts :) (this is getting good)


  • Reuben

    • Fairly certain that all predictions on this panel will be wrong


    • Themes

      • Certain of.....over the next 2 years we will all work out what formula works well

      • Social versus Entertainment

      • 2d versus 3d

      • Control Versus Chaos

      • PG vs. Mature

      • Role play vs. Extension

      • Hybrid vs. Dedicated

      • Consumer vs. Enterprise

      • Proprietary versus Standards






  • John


    • What is the base form of UGC?

      • It is no wonder Flickr does a great job

      • It starts from being fun, what is the engaging experience






  • Mark

    • Flickr as identity creation tool




  • Reuben

    • My concern is that there is going to be a tide of people who say, "this is a great early model but, this is not going to be what takes off" (rough quote, sorry Reuben)

    • We should all be aware that ordinary mainstream people are doing very sophisticated thing with things like Second life





  • "The Opportunity is larger that just UGC" Bridges

  • "UGC is great because it is access to do it" Paffendorf

  • "Vastly accelerates innovations" Paffendorf

  • "Call me when the crowd makes Titanic: Steiger

  • "From a user prospective it provides a great discovery process" Steiger

  • "If you broaded the view you can make 3d spaces very sticky" Wallace

  • "3d is kind of a red herring" Donham

  • "I can turn my back on you in a 3d space" Wallace


(minor chaos break)



  • "Now we are living in this global online world" Paffendorf

  • Virtual worlds as democratizing tool

  • Question from Flipper- "It is freedom to create not chaos"

  • Flipper P. "Can you get naked in mulitverse?"


(Flipper you are the man! :) )



  • "There are different uses for virtual worlds" Bridges

  • "There are definitely competitors to second life" Paffeendorf

  • "This thing is speeding up and it is daunting" Steiger in reference to SL growth

  • Google is to be filled with avatars and imagination- Paffendorf

  • "Externalize your imagination" Paffendorf

  • "There are a lot of short term, two three year worries, taxation, gambling" Steiger

  • "There is some interesting hopeful outcomes" Steiger

  • "I am pretty sure that we as individuals will gain more and more control of information about ourselves" Wallace

  • Bridges speaks about "Mouse Potatoes" and how he does not see that as a negative thing

  • You can already see the pieces in place" Wallace

  • How closely are these little corners of the metaverse going to be fit together" Wallace



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