Presented at Virtual Worlds 2008 Conference in New York. You will need to view in full screen mode or download to read the notes.
59
Platform Shootout Presented by John Swords Virtual Worlds Conference 2008 April 3, 2008 Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License 1 The Electric Sheep Company is a virtual world development company that is three years old. We have developed virtual world experiences on quite a few platforms including Second Life, There.com, Metaplace, Multiverse, Forterra OLIVE, and many others. We are a platform agile company. Many people know us in the industry for our work on Second Life but some of our largest projects are on other platforms. With the # of platforms growing rapidly, one of my roles at ESC is to find and evaluate what is out there for our clients projects.
Transcript
1
Platform Shootout
Presented by John SwordsVirtual Worlds Conference 2008
April 3, 2008Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License
1
The Electric Sheep Company is a virtual world development company that is three years old.
We have developed virtual world experiences on quite a few platforms including Second Life, There.com, Metaplace, Multiverse, Forterra OLIVE, and many others.
We are a platform agile company. Many people know us in the industry for our work on Second Life but some of our largest projects are on other platforms.
With the # of platforms growing rapidly, one of my roles at ESC is to find and evaluate what is out there for our clients projects.
• General industry observations
• Evaluating virtual worlds and platforms
• Ways to engage in virtual worlds
2
The title of the presentation is “Platform Shootout” which is quite a hard topic for a panel or a single person to cover in just one hour. I’ve tried to condense the subject into highlights of observations, evaluation criteria, and specific technologies.
Intersection of Industries
3
First, let’s start with some observations.
4
We are in an interesting position in that we are seeing overlap and intersection happening between these three traditionally distinct industries. At this intersection there is an exciting opportunity to form a new kind of immersive experience.
Of the three industries, social networks are best understanding the need to reach beyond the desktop with email, SMS, and mobile browser experiences.
From gaming we can pull out the high fidelity entertainment value and the structured and goal-oriented experiences through things like quests.
The hardcore gaming industry has a $1.8B Billion secondary market for virtual goods. Economists projections are $5B in gross transactions by 2012. To me, that means there is a large class of players that want to be in multi-user environments but they are buying their way into the a good character and a decent bank account.
In other words, there is a desire for fun, immersive experiences by people that don’t necessarily look like this...
5
(The traditional hardcore gamer.)
6
Maybe they instead look like this.
(Casual Internet user)
This audience and the youngest generations of casual users want socialization with game structures in an immersive experience.
7
Charts are fun because they always are a great controversy starter. There is an industry-wide challenge in that most of all five of the listed industries do not release valuable metrics for developing graphics like this.
What we are attempting to show with this graph is that engagement with visitors on websites is very short, but has a broad reach. At the other end of the spectrum, hardcore MMOs reach a very small audience for extraordinarily high levels of engagement.
Because of gaming/social networks/virtual worlds overlapping, we think there is a ripe opportunity in the blue area highlighted.
2D vs. 3D
8
There is an ongoing debate about whether virtual worlds need 3D or if 2D is inadequate.
On one hand, the hardcore gaming industry is successfully focused in on 3D. Virtual worlds are a mix of 3D and 2D. Specifically, casual virtual worlds are doing quite well with 2D isometric.
(The next slides are examples of what they look like)
2D9
This is Habitat, one of the earliest and very influential graphical role playing games.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitat_(video_game)
Isometric (2.5D)10
This is an example of isometric 2D which is sometimes referred to as 2.5D.
This image is from Small Worlds.
http://www.smallworlds.com
Full 3D11
This is Second Life, an example of full 3D.
The image is from the Bantam Dell books location created by Electric Sheep Company. This was taken during a live event with author Dean Koontz.
3D2D
Figurative Literal
12
Simulation worlds often lean harder towards 3D because they aim to recreate a real life environment. Social and collaboration worlds can make sense anywhere on this spectrum. The reality is that people are very capable of interpreting what “isn’t there.”
People use mental models for everything they experience, not just virtual worlds. The less the stimuli an experience provides, the more people project mentally themselves. When these mental models work well, users mental models and the developers intentions match up. Users can anticipate what is going to happen based on the figurative stimuli.
However, users will get frustrated when their perceptions do not match up with what the developer had in mind for them. Regardless of the fidelity of 2D or 3D, developers have to ensure that users don’t feel like the environment and the “rules” are changing or are ambiguous. This principle is essentially the same thing that separates a good fiction novel from a bad one.
Making the decision for 2D, 2.5D, or 3D in the entertainment space ultimately depends on which gives the users the most fun and intuitive experience.
• General industry observations
• Evaluating virtual world platforms
• Ways to engage in virtual worlds
13
Flavors
14
A logical place to start is with the families of virtual worlds and platforms. I find that most platforms excel at one of the following: Collaboration, Simulation, Entertainment
Collaboration15
(Image of Qwaq)
Collaborative worlds are immersive spaces that use avatars to collaborate using communication tools and visual displays.
Well known players in this space are:Qwaq - http://www.qwaq.comProject Wonderland (Sun Microsystems) - https://lg3d-wonderland.dev.java.net/OLIVE (Forterra Systems) - http://www.forterrainc.com
There’s some fascinating research being done by Jeremy Bailenson and team of the Virtual Human Interface Lab (VHIL) at Stanford. There’s lots more research to be done in this area but early indications show that there are certainly uses cases for these types of worlds.
http://vhil.stanford.edu/
Simulation16
(Image of Forterra OLIVE)
Simulation worlds tend be used for academic and training purposes. They usually involve artificial intelligence and sophisticated simulation systems.
Parvati Dev & Wm. LeRoy Heinrichs of Stanford Research Lab (SUMMIT) have done some elaborate medical training simulation on Forterra. They found that students that trained in the virtual environment diagnosing non-player characters (bots) had the same learning gain (test results) as those taught with real patients.
http://summit.stanford.edu/
Entertainment17
(Image of an Electric Sheep Company event in Second Life)
Entertainment / Marketing-focused worlds will be the main focus of this presentation being that this is the marketing track at the VW conference.
Types of Entertainment
Platforms
18
Within the entertainment/marketing-focused family, there are four types of platforms and engagement models.
•Brand Integration
•White Label Worlds
•Platforms
•Custom
19
I’ll use these four categories to step through the last third of the presentation.
Process
20
There are four main phases or buckets of developing a world.
When evaluating technology, often people will focus in on the technology that enables their creative ideas.
But...
Production Infrastructure
Operation Distribution
21
The broader “platform” is really what supports these four areas.
Production - building the world
Infrastructure - hosting, scalability
Operation - billing, customer service, updates
Distribution - marketing and user acquisition
There are few platform technology suites that support all of these areas. Many tech platforms give you the tools to build your world and some infrastructure. Billing and customer service solutions are often integrated separately.
In virtual world development, there always seems to be three processes at work:- Conceptualizing the design (creative)- Developing the business model- Choosing the technology
We find that these three processes have to happen simultaneously.
Let me give you an example:
The business model team decides on a subscription model for your world and build models around a rate at $3 / month. (ridiculous)
Part of that $3 per month premium includes private spaces like many web-based worlds (Club Penguin - where people have igloos of their own)
Meanwhile, the creative team has decided it wants to have real-time social user generated content a la Second Life.
And the technology team starts thinking through a Second Life Grid implementation.
It sounds like a great project but there is one problem.
If you managed to fit 60 personal spaces on one region in SL, the cost to host each reach is $300 / month and you are losing $7 just on private space hosting alone.
So this can be easily remedied by making sure everyone is on the same page. It’s usually a perfect storm between creative, the business model, and the technology selection.
Origins
29
VW platforms can have ancestry in virtual worlds, social networking, or hardcore MMOs.
Platforms are born into the world from two different development philosophies:
- developed in conjunction with an “in-house” world project- developed from the start as a platform
Either can work.
It all depends on where their focus was while the platform was being developed and how far along they are in their process of making their platform available to you.
If you begin working with a platform company that is too early in their productization process, you may suffer from a lack of documentation, support, quality of tools, etc.
If you are working with a platform that was designed with a specific “in-house” world in mind and it has not been productized thoroughly enough for developer flexibility. In other words, it may only be good at developing a world that behaves like the “in-house” game.
It’s Early.
30
The reality is that much of the technology platforms are in Alpha, Beta, or don’t have any worlds launched yet.
• General industry observations
• Evaluating virtual worlds and platforms
• Ways to engage in virtual worlds
31
Brand Integration
32
Brand integration is the idea of taking your brand into existing worlds. The length of engagement can vary from a few weeks to a year or more.
We’ve had clients in Second Life at both ends of that spectrum. It seems like some of the currently most popular web worlds seem to have shorter promotional type engagements.
live events - movies, music performances, interviews
branded spaces - games, social interaction
sponsored functionality - special capabilities within the world like voice, pictures, etc.
news / blogging
events
34
(Images of custom avatars from the WWE promotion inside Habbo.)
35
(Image of celebrity avatar created by Electric Sheep Company for an NBC Universal event in Second Life)
1.
3.
2.
36
(Image of Habbo WWE integration)
Integration into the news and information outlets- Articles- Links to the special interest groups- Banner advertising
37
(Image of Bantam Dell in Second Life)
Habbo Hotel38
(Image of Ozzy Osbourne event in Habbo)
Last month (FEB ´08) they had 8.6M uniques
Engagements typically 2-4 weeks at a time
Recent clients - Paramount and WWE
A pretty average range is $65-100K for an Ad Sales campaign which does not include branded virtual goods.
Gaia Online39
(Image of Gaia Online)
5 million unique users per month Recent clients - MTV, Xbox, Sony, Paramount for their movie Spiderwick Chronicles, Nike Engagements are anywhere from a month to a year or more.
Typical package cost is $75K to $200K for a one month campaign
Second Life40
(Image of Major League Baseball project by Electric Sheep in Second Life)
Around 700,000 uniques per month
Advertisers work with companies like ESC. Engagement costs can vary because Linden Lab does not set costs. A major brand can get into Second Life for anywhere from a few thousand dollars to a million dollars or more.
There.com41
1 million registered users (no unique user numbers available)
Advertising can cost as little as $2K Largest integrations can be upward to $1M+ (similar to SL)
vSide42
Doppelganger is in the midst of launching version 2 of vSide.com
Version 1 has had 300K users register
A major teen drama is coming to vSide and will be announced here at the show.
•SmallWorlds.com
•Whirled.com
•Freggers.com
•Entropia Universe
43
Other worlds that are:- in early stages of brand integrations- intend to do integrations with brand and IP holders - waiting for substantial consumer uptake
SmallWorlds - Bloggers are saying it is “one of the best Adobe Flex/Flash projects yet”
Whirled - "up and coming" platform from Three Rings who are known for Puzzle Pirates
Freggers - German isometric virtual world that will be out later this year
Entropia Universe:- 700K registered users- planet owners will build their own planets- owners pay for and run their own server parks, support and so on- rev share model
Advantages
• Less cost and commitment than building a world.
• Exposure to an existing world’s community.
44
Building a community of your own takes time and effort. Brand integration is less cost and commitment than building a world because you tap into an existing world’s community.
Disadvantages
• Today’s virtual worlds reach a very small percentage of the addressable market.
• The extent of customization can be limited by the capabilities of the world.
45
White Label
46
White Labeling worlds is basically engaging an existing publisher of a virtual world for a clone of their world and its technology.
Not many existing worlds offer something like this. SL Grid and Makena Technologies (There.com) are the only ones I’m aware of today.
They usually don’t offer significant customization capabilities and of course a potential draw back is differentiation.
Platforms
47
Icarus48
Use open standards like COLLADA
Deliver console-quality 3D
Embed Flash, web browser
Hardcore MMOGs, and serious games.
Nothing has launched yet.
Fallen Earth - Alpha later this spring
3-5 more projects in the works
Hero Engine49
Real-time building and implementation of the world.
You can log in while the system is running and make changes without restarting parts of the system.
HeroEngine comes from the video game industry.
Originally developed for an in-house game called Hero’s Journey.
Demand for tools tool over and they productized the engine.
BioWare and ZeniMax are two of 10 companies that have licensed the platform.
Nothing has launched yet.
Major project License fees run in the six figures
Smaller projects can use a Prototype license for five-digit fees.
They do offer a source code license if you need significant customization
http://www.heroengine.com
Multiverse Network50
This is an example of a platform that started as a platform and has been in the works for a few years.
Focus is building a platform with a universal viewer for worlds - think 3D browser
They also just announced plans for Flash viewer
Multiverse supports 2000 users per server
Visual fallback support displays best-looking world for the computer in question
Once populated, their network will facilitate distribution of your world or in certain situations you may choose to launch off-network or behind a firewall.
No major worlds have launched yet but dozens are nearing completion.
Tools are free, revenue share on subscriptions and virtual good sales.
http://www.multiverse.net
Metaplace51
Metaplace is an example of another platform that started as a platform and has been in the works for a while.
Universal viewer for worlds but unlike Multiverse, they are currently focusing on 2D and 2.5D worlds
Metaplace.com is a distribution channel for your world but you can also place your world on FaceBook, MySpace, or any place on the web.
No major worlds have launched yet, they are focused on building their developer community and technology.
http://www.metaplace.com
VastPark52
VastPark is another 3D platform, born as a platform.
Their tools are free. Platform customization and large communities will be the focus of their revenue model.
They have developed some markup languages and are focusing on bridging existing content from the web into their platform.
They are currently in closed Beta.
http://www.vastpark.com
Big World53
They have been working on the platform for 8 years
It is one of the few platforms getting into the virtual world space that has game worlds launched.
There are two launched game worlds with three more in beta for release in Q2.
Twinity is one of the worlds built on the platform.
They have a licensing fee plus a rev share / royalty system similar to Multiverse
They provide almost all of the source to the engine to commercial licensees
http://www.bigworldtech.com
Components
54
The following are some interesting technology components we have been researching at ESC. Alone they do not constitute a complete platform.
Flash (3D)55
PaperVision allows you to force Flash into a 3D visual mode.
It does not require a client-side plugin. It also does not use accelerated 3D graphics which means lower quality than what is possible.
http://papervision3d.org/
Unity 3D56
(Image of Duckateers)
Unity 3D is a fascinating multi-client technology because you can develop 3D environments for download (Mac or PC), web browser, Wii console or iPhone.
- It provides accelerated graphics but can scale back to integrated video if necessary.- It can install into the browser without a restart.
http://www.unity3d.com
Server Technologies
• Ogoglio
• ElectroTank EUP
57
Ogoglio - open source backend system (currently has a Java3D front end)
We have been doing some R&D on Ogoglio to see what kinds of front end technologies we can use it with in the browser.
ElectroTank - is announcing today their EUP system which is an upgrade to their ElectroServer system.
It’s adds a layer of functionality to the server environment that usually must be custom developed. Things like user inventory, NPC system, user trading, etc.
