...:: Days of Our Future ::...

A virtual world is a computer-based simulated environment intended for its users to inhabit and interact via avatars. These avatars are usually depicted as textual, two-dimensional, or three-dimensional graphical representations.

The computer accesses a computer-simulated world and presents perceptual stimuli to the user, who in turn can manipulate elements of the modeled world and thus experiences telepresence to a certain degree. Such modeled worlds may appear similar to the real world or instead depict fantasy worlds.

Massively multiplayer online games commonly depict a world very similar to the real world, with real world rules and real-time actions, and communication. Players create a character to travel between buildings, towns, and even worlds to carry out business or leisure activities.

Virtual worlds are not limited to games but, depending on the degree of immediacy presented, can encompass computer conferencing and text based chatrooms. Sometimes, emoticons or 'smilies' are available, to show feeling or facial expression. Emoticons often have a keyboard shortcut.

Until now it seemed that only gameplayers were attracted to this kind of games.

Nowadays Facebook is the flavor of the moment, but want to know what the next big thing is?
Three-dimensional communities.

In a recent study Gartner predicted that by 2011 up to 80% of active Internet users, or 250 million people, will participate online in virtual worlds.
Soon you won't merely be reading about your friend's day at work or blogging about a recent film you've seen, but rather your avatar, or 3-D digital character, will be watching movies and listening to music with your friends' avatars. You will walk through virtual malls together and dance the night away at virtual nightclubs. Millions of residents on dozens of virtual worlds are already doing so.

Take Kaneva for example. Since it launched in March 2007, its membership has swelled to 800,000. It is geared toward people ages 18 to 34 and is, in essence, a virtual world version of MySpace.
Kaneva is the creation of Christopher Klaus, 34, who had the money to get it going without venture capital. Klaus started Internet Security Systems when he was a Georgia Tech student and last year sold that outfit to IBM for $1.3 billion.
"Virtual worlds are still in the very early stages," says Klaus. "We are where MP3s were seven years ago. Our goal is to combine the virtual world with social networking and videogaming."

The key to Kaneva's rapid growth is in its accessibility. It's aimed not at videogaming geeks but at ordinary folk. "Second Life currently has huge mind share, but they are after a different market," says Klaus. "We want people who have never played videogames before." Kaneva encourages residents to create avatars that are online versions of their real identities, linking photos of themselves and lists of hobbies to their animated avatars. Second Life, in contrast, fosters taking on an alternative identity, including imaginary beasts.
On Kaneva, registrants can decorate their virtual houses with their own photos, upload their favorite music and stream YouTube videos and television shows. Like Second Life, Kaneva has a "micro" currency that can be bought for real money; take ten real-world dollars into a Target (nyse: TGT - news - people ) and you can buy 1,500 units, then use these to buy furniture or outfit your avatar with cool clothes to wear at the Dance Party 3-D contest.

Both Second Life and Kaneva are free to join. They get revenue by selling virtual money, leasing virtual land and, in the case of Kaneva, by promoting real-world commerce (especially TV shows).

But that's not all according to games.venturebeat.com.

People are paying real money for digital goods in all sorts of online applications ranging from Facebook apps to massively multiplayer online games. The No. 1 thing they buy is virtual money. Other top items include virtual weapons and gifts for social networking friends, according to a survey released today.

Free-to-play games, where you can start playing for free and then buy items in the game as you need them, now account for more than half of all virtual goods transactions, according to the July survey by market researcher VGMarket and virtual goods platform company PlaySpan. About 58 percent of gamers made purchases in free-to-play games in the past year. About 34 percent made purchases in MMO games (or virtual worlds such as Eve Online), and 23 percent made purcahse in social networking games.

Virtual goods and micro transactions have become a favorite business model for game companies this year, particularly as ad-based models sink in the recession and gamers shy away from buying $60 games in stores.

The survey is based on 2,425 people who responded to surveys on PlaySpan’s various properties: the PlaySpan Marketplace, Spare Change, and Ultimate Game Card. The median purchase was the highest in free-to-play games at $75, followed by MMOs ($60), and social networks ($50). The average player is currently playing three online games and 80 percent of the players report buying digital goods for their own use. About 20 percent spend money on digital goods as gifts for others.

About 71 percent of users bought virtual currency that can be used to buy things inside game worlds. Some 37 percent bought weapons. About 30 percent bought subscription codes. Some 26 percent bought clothing for their virtual characters. Twenty-five percent bought power-ups that made virtual characters stronger.

The good thing about digital goods is that game publishers can use the data to tweak the game, forecast their revenue, and make investments in the right areas, said Michael Gluck, president of VGMarket in Hollywood, Fla. San Jose, Calif.-based PlaySpan’s virtual goods and monetization platforms are used in more than 1,000 online games, virtual worlds and social networks.

The top Online Games / Virtual Worlds according to virtualworldsnews.com

1. Runescape
2. Gaia Online
3. IMVU
4. World of Warcraft
5. Club Penguin
6. MySpace
7. Meez
8. Maple Story
9. Neopets
10. The Sims

So now you know. you have a little more than a year to create your online 3d multiplayer friends-making virtual world and become a millionaire.

Source
wikipedia.org
games.venturebeat.com
forbes.com