Friday, September 19, 2008

Test your virtual world knowledge!

Have you been keeping up with the growth in the virtual world industry? Take our quiz and see how well you do.



LEVEL 1: Eg-no-ra-moose

Virtual world? Am I in “The Matrix”?
Nope, a virtual world is an interactive simulated environment accessed by multiple users through an online interface.

Ava-what?
An avatar is a computer user's representation of himself or herself, whether in the3-D form used in computer games or the 2-D form used on Internet forums and other communities

MMORPG? Am I still reading English?
No, you can stay but you should memorize this acronym for sure since it’s the most common form of virtual world. Say it out loud, slowly: Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game


LEVEL 2: You’re purty smart.

So, why does my company need a virtual presence?

Virtual Worlds have a variety of uses such as: commercial gaming, socializing, online community building, education, political expression and military training

How long have virtual worlds been around?
Virtual world development dates back to the 70s game Maze War that was developed at NASA

How do customers buy my virtual stuff?
Purchases in virtual worlds are made using the virtual currency used in that world. Sometimes this money is exchangeable for real-world currency.


LEVEL 3: Getting warmer



Do the business laws of the real world hold true in virtual worlds?

Accepted human behaviors hold true despite lack of real world consequences, i.e. the Law of Demand is alive and well in virtual worlds – video conferences and training.


The virtual workforce.. are workers being ‘shown the money’?

Workers accept lower wages for similar tasks in the virtual world – but anecdotal evidence hints that wages will soon rise.


Maybe we can hire my teenager as a consultant?

The teen audience is expected to more than double, reaching 20 million in the next 3 years.

Are investors buying into virtual worlds?
Based on first and second quarter figures, an estimated 600 million will be invested in virtual worlds in 2008.


How many consumers are spending money in virtual worlds?

In August, 404,084 of the 857,490 Second Life users active within the month were spending Linden dollars.

How much is the virtual population expected to grow?
Strategy Analytics study predicts that by 2017 there will be 1 billion virtual world registrants with 22% of global broadband users signed up for one or more virtual world, 27% will be active users (270 million)

LEVEL 4: You’re a genius

What are some options for ‘virtual’ business models?
1) Premium purchase, 2) Free-to-play, 3) Free-to-play with microtransactions, 4) Free-to-play with real-world fixed transactions, 5) Free-to-play with real world variable transactions


Does my company have to sell virtual products to benefit from virtual worlds?

No, virtual worlds can be beneficial to your company in a variety of manners outside of e-commerce. You can converse with your customers and gain valuable focus group research just by entering the virtual scene.



1 comment:

Anonymous said...

How many servers do you need if you have 5,000-6,000 users?
You need approximately 1 server per 200 users

WOW runs on 3 servers while Second Life has about 8 avatars per server on a concurrent basis so 200 users per server doesn't make sense at all.