definitions

Following last weeks theme of discussing and then defining social virtual worlds for adults, let's take a look at kids SVW's shall we? The definition we've been using is this. Though I should point out that it's not perfect, and a certain tolerance for games within worlds should probably be applied to kids worlds.

A Social Virtual World has game-like immersion and social media functionality without narrative driven goals. At its core is a sense of presence with others at the same time and place.

The List

I would really appreciate some help in weeding out the ones that don't fit, and picking up any we've missed here. Do let me know what you think in the comments, or on your own blogs.

1. Club Penguin
2. Whyville
3. Cyworld
4. Faketown
5. Planet Cazmo
6. Why Robbie Rocks
7. Barbie Girls
8. Be-Bratz
9. Mokitown
10. Dubit
11. Gaia Online
12. Habbo Hotel
13. Playdo
14. MTV Worlds
15. Second Life Teen Grid

As you can see, there's quite a few more than on the adult list. MTV Worlds are on both lists. They're hard to categorize as they have a foot in both camps, so should probably be on both lists.

I'd hope to halve this list with your help. I'm far less familiar with kids worlds than I am adult, but suspect we have a good deal of pruning to do.

So, tell me what you think...

Earlier this week we talked about how to define virtual worlds. It's no easy task. Your idea of what a virtual world is, is correct. So is mine, and our opinions, whilst equally valid, are sometimes literally worlds apart. One thing that cropped up time and time again was the term "social virtual world", used to distinguish between game worlds like WoW, and non-game, like Second Life. I think this works, it's not perfect, but it's better.

So with all of that fantastic debate in mind, and you really should read the whole thread, I've revised the definition originally put forward by Joel and Giff to this:

A Social Virtual World has game-like immersion and social media functionality without narrative driven goals. At its core is a sense of presence with others at the same time and place.

And the revised list of Social Virtual Worlds now numbers just 8.

1. Second Life
2. ActiveWorlds
3. Kaneva
4. vSide
5. Entropia
6. Ogoglio City
7. There.com
8. MTV's Worlds

Worlds not yet available to the general public have been omitted, as have childrens worlds, it seems wrong to include them, they are a thing apart from this type of world. Also those worlds identified as development platforms on the previous list of 19 have been excluded.

This rather short list suggests three things to me:

1. The virtual worlds space is not as large as many people think.
2. There are many platforms and applications that use virtual world-like technologies, but are not themselves actual worlds
3. We're over-hyping the "metaverse"

Admittedly if we included kids worlds, like Habbo, announcing 80M created avatars this week, the list would look a lot sexier, indeed kids worlds appear to be where the big boom is, but that's for another post.

A few people asked me to put this list in context. I can do that to an extent: I'm trying to define what I consider the Metaverse to be, ie, excluding kids, what "social virtual worlds" are of interest to Metaversed, and Metaversed clients -- the corporations currently in Second Life, those looking at the MTV models, or investment in up and coming worlds like Kaneva. I hope that helps clarify.

So, tell me what you think. Can we revise this any more? Is it right, or wrong?

..is that they're hard to define. When we look at what we loosely call "virtual worlds", we all have differing opinions as to what should and should not be counted. Do we include 2D worlds? Kids worlds? Development platforms? It depends who you talk to. For a project I'm working on, I've had to list what I consider to be "real" virtual worlds, and I can tell you that it's no easy task, hence this post, and a request for comments.

Lets start of with my list. I count 19 Virtual Worlds, and I'll explain my thinking below:

1. Second Life
2. ActiveWorlds
3. Croquet
4. Kaneva
5. vSide
6. vLES
7. Entropia
8. Eve Online
9. Vastpark
10. HiPiHi
11. Novoking
12. Ogoglio
13. Qwaq
14. Sims Online
15. There.com
16. MTV's Worlds
17. Metaplace*
18. Project Wonderland
19. Twinity*

The two worlds marked with an *, Twinity and Metaplace, have not been released to the public yet, but have been included because they are both almost ready to go live. There are some obvious ommisions: notably IMVU and Cyworld, I'm not 100% sure im correct to omit them, so your comments would be most welcome.

Here's my basic thinking. I'm basing decisions on Giff Constable's version of Joel Greenbergs original definition of a virtual world, with a nod to Raph kosters definition and using Christian Renauds excellent VW07 presentation as a marker for what not to include. (Christian's point was that the subscriber data from everyone claiming to be a virtual world was unbelievable, and that pretty much everyone is claiming to be a virtual world..).

So the definition is:

A Virtual World has game-like immersion and social media functionality without game-like goals. At its heart is a sense of presence with others at the same time and place.

Admittedly if I'd adhered strictly to that definition I'd have included IMVU and Cyworld. It's not an exact science as you can see.

I've also omitted kids worlds, though have included vSide as it's aimed at older kids and young adults, and indeed I go there now and again myself. Kids worlds to me are a thing apart. A worthy genre of world, but something different to the above list. It feels wrong to me to include them.

So here's the question

What do you think of the list and the criteria for inclusion? Can you add to the list? Im certain I'm missing some, maybe many. Please let me know what you think.