Comments on: StartupHouston visits FireSabre Consulting in Second Life http://www.startuphouston.com/2007/12/31/startuphouston-visits-firesabre-consulting-in-second-life/ Let's Get Started! Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:58:53 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Fred Fuchs http://www.startuphouston.com/2007/12/31/startuphouston-visits-firesabre-consulting-in-second-life/comment-page-1/#comment-13661 Fred Fuchs Fri, 29 Feb 2008 08:29:55 +0000 http://www.startuphouston.com/2007/12/31/startuphouston-visits-firesabre-consulting-in-second-life/#comment-13661 Robert: what is this "2L" you speak of? We Second Lifers refer to our virtual world as "SL". :-) SL does have its technical limitations, though several changes now being beta tested -- WindLight, Havok 4, and the Mono scripting engine -- are likely to help out with both stability and scalability. Also, one man's bug is another man's feature. The content controls that you see as essential, we see as barriers to entry, likely to hinder the growth of a virtual world that depends on user-created content. Because SL is so open, because there are few content controls -- and none of the bureaucracy, fee-paying, and deal-making that go with them -- SL is uniquely hospitable to cottage industry, and to amateur creators looking to go pro. That means a huge marketplace of subcontractors for businesses such as ours. At any rate, we don't expect to persuade you; but we do feel Josh and Kurt's readers deserve to hear both sides of the story. Good luck with your own venture; the market for virtual worlds for minors is pretty crowded right now, and it will be interesting to see if a new entrant can succeed. Recent entries in our blog cover this in more detail. http://blog.firesabre.com/ Robert: what is this “2L” you speak of? We Second Lifers refer to our virtual world as “SL”. :-)
SL does have its technical limitations, though several changes now being beta tested — WindLight, Havok 4, and the Mono scripting engine — are likely to help out with both stability and scalability.

Also, one man’s bug is another man’s feature. The content controls that you see as essential, we see as barriers to entry, likely to hinder the growth of a virtual world that depends on user-created content. Because SL is so open, because there are few content controls — and none of the bureaucracy, fee-paying, and deal-making that go with them — SL is uniquely hospitable to cottage industry, and to amateur creators looking to go pro. That means a huge marketplace of subcontractors for businesses such as ours.

At any rate, we don’t expect to persuade you; but we do feel Josh and Kurt’s readers deserve to hear both sides of the story. Good luck with your own venture; the market for virtual worlds for minors is pretty crowded right now, and it will be interesting to see if a new entrant can succeed.

Recent entries in our blog cover this in more detail.

http://blog.firesabre.com/

]]> By: Robert Brackenridge http://www.startuphouston.com/2007/12/31/startuphouston-visits-firesabre-consulting-in-second-life/comment-page-1/#comment-11709 Robert Brackenridge Thu, 03 Jan 2008 03:27:23 +0000 http://www.startuphouston.com/2007/12/31/startuphouston-visits-firesabre-consulting-in-second-life/#comment-11709 It was recently announced that 2ndLife has hit a plateau in terms of subscribers. And some are even citing what is being called "entropy." One of the dominant players in 2L asset development services, Electric Sheep, also recently laid off 1/3 of their personnel. Virtual Worlds are a huge opportunity, but I would strongly consider looking into other platforms which are showing greater appeal to the advertisers. I don't believe 2L is on its way down for the count, I just see a tremendous amount of shift towards worlds which are more easily accessible and also maintain greater content controls. The whole concept of user generated content, which 2L is so well known for, is going through an evolutionary cycle. Other platforms to consider: Kaneva Multiverse There Gaia Online NeoPets Areae's - Metaplace MTV's - Laguna Beach and many others... [I can think of one local platform you might want to talk to ;) ] For a little industry insight, you might reference this free report from Virtual Worlds News, where they interview 45 managers from leading VW companies for their predictions. http://www.virtualworldsmanagement.com/forecast2008/ It was recently announced that 2ndLife has hit a plateau in terms of subscribers. And some are even citing what is being called “entropy.” One of the dominant players in 2L asset development services, Electric Sheep, also recently laid off 1/3 of their personnel.

Virtual Worlds are a huge opportunity, but I would strongly consider looking into other platforms which are showing greater appeal to the advertisers. I don’t believe 2L is on its way down for the count, I just see a tremendous amount of shift towards worlds which are more easily accessible and also maintain greater content controls. The whole concept of user generated content, which 2L is so well known for, is going through an evolutionary cycle.

Other platforms to consider:

Kaneva
Multiverse
There
Gaia Online
NeoPets
Areae’s - Metaplace
MTV’s - Laguna Beach
and many others… [I can think of one local platform you might want to talk to ;) ]

For a little industry insight, you might reference this free report from Virtual Worlds News, where they interview 45 managers from leading VW companies for their predictions.

http://www.virtualworldsmanagement.com/forecast2008/

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