The real future of virtual worlds
Surely many Internet users associate virtual worlds with the now popular Second Life . But in reality, there are a great many virtual worlds - and they do not always look like an interactive 3D space with polygonal objects and characters.
Computer virtual worlds have a rather big and interesting story. The earliest of them were textual, used a minimum of graphics, and actions in them were often carried out by the user using the command console. At the dawn of the Internet, even simple chat rooms were called virtual worlds (they featured the main attributes — virtual characters and a place for them to interact). The first three-dimensional online space is the project of the Helsinki Telephone Company, which in 1996 launched the virtual Helsinki - a computer copy of the capital of Finland.
')
In 1997, Origin Systems launched the first online gaming universe, Ultima Online , which later became one of the most popular online role-playing games and even hit the Guinness Book of Records as the longest MMORPG game line in history. At its best, Ultima Online played more than a million people. But over time, the number of players fell to almost one hundred thousand, and in 2006 its share in the online game worlds market was about 1%. Last year, Electronic Arts decided to revive Ultima Online and, by its tenth anniversary, released the new Ultima Online engine built on it : Kingdom Reborn .
In general, among all manifestations of virtual worlds, online role-playing games are by far the most popular. For all the time igrodelami was released a lot of MMORPG, the most popular of which are Lineage (launched in 2003), World of Warcraft (2004), Ragnarok (2002) and others. Of the Russian gaming worlds worth mentioning browser RPG Fight Club , which was once very popular (according to statistics from Alexa.com over the past year, the attendance of the server combats.ru fell about three times).
There are a lot of non-role-playing worlds, or MMORLG (massively multiplayer online real-life / rogue-like games) like Second Life. SL itself was discovered back in 2003, but it gained real popularity internationally only by 2006. Today, almost five million people live a “second life”. Here, each registered user has his own avatar - a virtual character with whom you can meet and communicate with others, independently construct various objects, buy land and build houses, attend virtual events, etc. while in virtual space.
With a smaller audience - about a million people, there is another project - There , which is more focused on teenagers. Here, users get acquainted, communicate, play games together and, just like in SL, can buy their lands and build virtual houses. There is also Kaneva - a world consisting of two parts - a social network and directly a 3D world, which are inextricably linked to complement each other.
For children there is a Club Penguin - if your child is from 6 to 14 years old, then this is exactly what will appeal to him. Having created an avatar in the form of a penguin, he can find new friends in his virtual city, have fun with them, play and, importantly, learn and develop at the same time.
In the meantime, your child is having fun at clubpenguin.com , you can look at the red light of RedLightCenter - in a place from which it is better for minors to stay away. “Live your fantasy” - says the slogan of this virtual world of sex dating, which visually resembles other 3D worlds, but, unlike them, has a pronounced sexual orientation.
But compared to these worlds, the Habbo Hotel looks like a giant. Having opened in 2000 and having received “only” $ 8 million of investments, this project, according to Crunchbase , today has a user base of 80 million people, and the number of monthly impressions exceeds 400 million! The difference between the virtual world of Habbo immediately catches the eye: here you will not see three-dimensional space and polygons, everything here is decorated in pixel graphics, which gives the service some charm, and, of course, is immediately remembered. Habbo World is a hotel, where each registered user has his own number, which can equip at will. Here, the services of "guests" are also various entertainment and sports facilities: restaurants, bars, swimming pools, game machines, etc.
Developer Habbo, a Finnish company Sulake Corporation , in 2006 earned $ 30 million on its project. And there is every reason to believe that this figure will only grow over time. It is logical that in the wake of the popularity of its pixel virtual world, the developer seeks to support it and develop it in every possible way. And here, perhaps the most interesting event was the launch at the end of 2006 of the Mini Friday service - the virtual world for mobile devices.
Mini Friday can be called the embodiment of Habbo in miniature - the same familiar pixel graphics, avatars and functions ( watch the video ). But it is positioned as a self-sufficient and independent project. According to Sulake Corporation, Mini Friday was launched almost without promotion and advertising: the majority of users came through word of mouth. And what is most interesting is the lion's share of the current base of 300 thousand people, which we managed to collect in a year of work - these are users from Russia and Indonesia.
Mini Friday is the first and practically the only virtual world for mobile devices. In Japan, there are small projects Chipuya Town and S! Town , focused exclusively on local markets. It is also known that Gemini is working to create a platform for mobile virtual worlds.
In conclusion, I would like to quote the words of Sampo Karjalainen, CEO of Sulake Corporation, about the future of virtual worlds for mobile devices.
- From here
Computer virtual worlds have a rather big and interesting story. The earliest of them were textual, used a minimum of graphics, and actions in them were often carried out by the user using the command console. At the dawn of the Internet, even simple chat rooms were called virtual worlds (they featured the main attributes — virtual characters and a place for them to interact). The first three-dimensional online space is the project of the Helsinki Telephone Company, which in 1996 launched the virtual Helsinki - a computer copy of the capital of Finland.
')
In 1997, Origin Systems launched the first online gaming universe, Ultima Online , which later became one of the most popular online role-playing games and even hit the Guinness Book of Records as the longest MMORPG game line in history. At its best, Ultima Online played more than a million people. But over time, the number of players fell to almost one hundred thousand, and in 2006 its share in the online game worlds market was about 1%. Last year, Electronic Arts decided to revive Ultima Online and, by its tenth anniversary, released the new Ultima Online engine built on it : Kingdom Reborn .In general, among all manifestations of virtual worlds, online role-playing games are by far the most popular. For all the time igrodelami was released a lot of MMORPG, the most popular of which are Lineage (launched in 2003), World of Warcraft (2004), Ragnarok (2002) and others. Of the Russian gaming worlds worth mentioning browser RPG Fight Club , which was once very popular (according to statistics from Alexa.com over the past year, the attendance of the server combats.ru fell about three times).
There are a lot of non-role-playing worlds, or MMORLG (massively multiplayer online real-life / rogue-like games) like Second Life. SL itself was discovered back in 2003, but it gained real popularity internationally only by 2006. Today, almost five million people live a “second life”. Here, each registered user has his own avatar - a virtual character with whom you can meet and communicate with others, independently construct various objects, buy land and build houses, attend virtual events, etc. while in virtual space.With a smaller audience - about a million people, there is another project - There , which is more focused on teenagers. Here, users get acquainted, communicate, play games together and, just like in SL, can buy their lands and build virtual houses. There is also Kaneva - a world consisting of two parts - a social network and directly a 3D world, which are inextricably linked to complement each other.
For children there is a Club Penguin - if your child is from 6 to 14 years old, then this is exactly what will appeal to him. Having created an avatar in the form of a penguin, he can find new friends in his virtual city, have fun with them, play and, importantly, learn and develop at the same time.In the meantime, your child is having fun at clubpenguin.com , you can look at the red light of RedLightCenter - in a place from which it is better for minors to stay away. “Live your fantasy” - says the slogan of this virtual world of sex dating, which visually resembles other 3D worlds, but, unlike them, has a pronounced sexual orientation.
But compared to these worlds, the Habbo Hotel looks like a giant. Having opened in 2000 and having received “only” $ 8 million of investments, this project, according to Crunchbase , today has a user base of 80 million people, and the number of monthly impressions exceeds 400 million! The difference between the virtual world of Habbo immediately catches the eye: here you will not see three-dimensional space and polygons, everything here is decorated in pixel graphics, which gives the service some charm, and, of course, is immediately remembered. Habbo World is a hotel, where each registered user has his own number, which can equip at will. Here, the services of "guests" are also various entertainment and sports facilities: restaurants, bars, swimming pools, game machines, etc.Developer Habbo, a Finnish company Sulake Corporation , in 2006 earned $ 30 million on its project. And there is every reason to believe that this figure will only grow over time. It is logical that in the wake of the popularity of its pixel virtual world, the developer seeks to support it and develop it in every possible way. And here, perhaps the most interesting event was the launch at the end of 2006 of the Mini Friday service - the virtual world for mobile devices.
Mini Friday can be called the embodiment of Habbo in miniature - the same familiar pixel graphics, avatars and functions ( watch the video ). But it is positioned as a self-sufficient and independent project. According to Sulake Corporation, Mini Friday was launched almost without promotion and advertising: the majority of users came through word of mouth. And what is most interesting is the lion's share of the current base of 300 thousand people, which we managed to collect in a year of work - these are users from Russia and Indonesia.Mini Friday is the first and practically the only virtual world for mobile devices. In Japan, there are small projects Chipuya Town and S! Town , focused exclusively on local markets. It is also known that Gemini is working to create a platform for mobile virtual worlds.
In conclusion, I would like to quote the words of Sampo Karjalainen, CEO of Sulake Corporation, about the future of virtual worlds for mobile devices.
Tens of millions of people go from their computer to virtual worlds. World of Warcraft, Habbo, Second Life, Club Penguin and other worlds have made this area a truly mass sphere of entertainment. But the matter will not stop there. Some analysts and experts say that virtual worlds will be the next stage in the development of the web. In April last year, Gartner made a forecast that by the end of 2011, 80% of active Internet users will have a “second life”, but not necessarily in Second Life.
On the other hand, we have a tangible future for the development of mobile Internet. The use of the Internet is gradually beyond the scope of the PC platform and is shifting towards mobile devices.
At the intersection of these two trends there is a huge untapped field - virtual worlds for mobile devices. And I have a clear feeling that very interesting developments are waiting for us in this area in the near future.
- From here
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/21182/
All Articles