These are some of my thoughts of observations from day 1 of the Virtual Worlds Fall conference in San Jose, California.

Chris Sherman just gave a few introductory comments.

• The show is big with at least 1000 people
• There is so much interest in the space, not that you didn’t know that.

Sibley Verbeek, Electric Sheep

• This is still a largely experimental industry
• Lots of teen/kid platforms, lots of choices for companies that want to invest and get into virtual worlds
• There are just a lot of ways and places to experiment – we haven’t even touched half of them yet
• Long-term business models haven’t been experimented with yet
• Large-scale retail hasn’t been tried, for an example
• This is one reason why Anthony Zuiker is here today – to talk about bringing virtual worlds to mass audiences and show a business model around it

Anthony Zuiker, creator of CSI

• CSI was his first TV program
• Grew up as a latchkey only child in Las Vegas and wrote letters to make a bit of money
• Got the CSI idea by watching a Discovery Channel show and riding along with Las Vegas CSI units
• CSI is the most lucrative franchise in the world, it’s on in every country except North Korea, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan
• The future of TV is web-native integrated experiences – web, mobile, game, interaction, etc.
• He told the story of an episode that used the Suicide Girls in the narrative, and that increased their web traffic 50%. This means that people are getting integrated experiences – watching TV and using the web to get more info about the narrative.
• edoc laundry sells t-shirts that put together tell a story, almost like an ARG
• CSI-Q was a small contest/quiz game integrated with CSI:NY
• They have some cool mixed media stuff coming up.

Blurring the lines between virtual and real worlds; David Gardner, Icarus Studios

• Largest brands and companies are asking how they can put entertainment value in virtual worlds
• Businesses are trying to understand ways tounlock new market and engagement potential with virtual worlds
• WoW, SL, IBM and the media are making people really aware of virtual worlds.
• This gets consumers intrigued, especially because the medium is so visual.
• Companies who want to get into this space need a complete solution: technology platform, production capabilities, operations and a business model that lets both sides win
• Key features needed for your platform: in-world browsing, robust user expression, migrating a brand experience (maybe not exactly the same experience – innovative stuff can reinforce brands better), integrated VoIP, robust avatars and user profiles (helps people connect and identify with their avatar), casual game integration, in-world media
• User metrics are moving from impressions to CPC to CPA to time spent; having a 3D construct helps you make your site stickier to increase time spent
• All major brands should be in virtual worlds
• Ads can be good content, too
• Don’t make any assumptions – passive entertainment is not the same as active entertainment; MMO developers are the experts in this space
• Look for the right partner, maybe a thought leader with proven capabilities
• Decide how important this is for your business, how it relates to your strategy, and choose how much to invest in virtual worlds based on that
• Stay focused, and if you don’t create entertainment value, it won’t work

This entry was posted by jeremy on Wednesday, October 10th, 2007 at 8:42 pm and is filed under Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.