Second Life in perspective: A round-up of 50 virtual worlds

If you relied solely on the mainstream media for your knowledge of online trends (more fool you), you'd be forgiven for thinking there was only one virtual world. Second Life has hoovered up huge swathes of column inches and airtime over the past 12 months (see earlier post on the Second Life media frenzy) with only the occasional nod to World of Warcraft or Habbo Hotel.

However, there's much more to virtual worlds than Second Life. Immersive online environments are a huge growth area, as demonstrated by the below round-up of 50 virtual worlds, ranked by approximate user numbers (with a few, for which I couldn't source viable user data, tacked on the end). It's worth stating that the approximate user figures are just that: approximate. Gleaned from a wide range of different sources, they are mostly self-reported and cover a multitude of differing definitions. I've tried to reconcile the figures wherever possible to try and reflect number of active users rather than number of avatars or visitors to the website, although many will still be way off base.

In terms of trends, the kids market appears to be a significant growth area and that's without including avatar chat sites (e.g. IMVU, Zwinktopia) or the growing legion of pet/doll sites (e.g. NeoPets, GoPets, MyePets, Be-Bratz, Stardoll).

	World of Warcraft http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/ Blizzard Entertainment Launched: 2004 Approximate no. of users: 9m
	Habbo Hotel http://www.habbo.com/ Sulake Launched: 2000 Approximate no. of users: 7.5m
	Nicktropolis http://www.nick.com/nicktropolis/ Nickelodeon Launched: 2007 Approximate no. of users: 5.1m
	Runescape http://www.runescape.com/ Jagex Launched: 2001 Approximate no. of users: 5m
	Club Penguin http://www.clubpenguin.com/ New Horizon Interactive / Disney Launched: 2005 Approximate no. of users: 4m
	Knight Online http://www.knightonlineworld.com/ MGame Corporation / Noah System Launched: 2004 Approximate no. of users: 4m
	Barbie Girls http://www.barbiegirls.com/ Mattel Launched: 2007 Approximate no. of users: 4m
	Coke Studios http://www.mycoke.com/ Studiocom / The Coca-Cola Company Launched: 2002 Approximate no. of users: 4m
	Gaia Online http://www.gaiaonline.com/ Gaia Interactive Launched: 2003 Approximate no. of users: 3.5m
	MapleStory http://www.maplestory.com/ Wizet / Nexon Launched: 1999 Approximate no. of users: 3m
	Dofus http://www.dofus.com/ Ankama Games Launched: 2005 Approximate no. of users: 3m
	Guild Wars http://www.guildwars.com/ NCsoft Launched: 2005 Approximate no. of users: 2m
	Whyville http://www.whyville.net/ Numedeon Launched: 1999 Approximate no. of users: 1.7m
	Second Life http://secondlife.com/ Linden Lab Launched: 2003 Approximate no. of users: 1.5m
	Disney's Virtual Magic Kingdom http://vmk.disney.go.com/ Sulake Launched: 2005 Approximate no. of users: 1.4m
	Disney's Toontown http://play.toontown.com/ Disney Launched: 2003 Approximate no. of users: 1.2m
	Mokitown http://www.mobile-kids.net/ Neue Digitale / Daimler Launched: 2001 Approximate no. of users: 1.1m
	Lineage / Lineage II http://www.lineage.com/ NCsoft Launched: 1998 Approximate no. of users: 1m
	There http://www.there.com/ Makena Technologies Launched: 1998 Approximate no. of users: 1m
	BOTS http://bots.acclaim.com/ Acclaim Games Launched: 2006 Approximate no. of users: 1m
	Webkinz World http://www.webkinz.com/ Ganz Launched: 2005 Approximate no. of users: 1m
	AlphaWorld http://www.activeworlds.com/ Active Worlds Launched: 1997 Approximate no. of users: 900,000
	Entropia Universe http://www.entropiauniverse.com/ MindArk Launched: 2003 Approximate no. of users: 600,000
	Virtual MTV http://www.vmtv.com/ Makena Technologies Launched: 2006 Approximate no. of users: 600,000
	Virtual World of Kaneva http://www.kaneva.com/ Kaneva Launched: 2004 Approximate no. of users: 600,000
	Final Fantasy XI: Online http://www.playonline.com/ff11eu/ Square Launched: 2002 Approximate no. of users: 500,000
	EverQuest / EverQuest II http://everquest.station.sony.com/ Sony Online Entertainment Launched: 1999 Approximate no. of users: 500,000
	Faketown http://www.faketown.com/ Identity Play Launched: 2001 Approximate no. of users: 500,000
	Dubit http://www.dubitchat.com/ Dubit Launched: 2001 Approximate no. of users: 500,000
	Cybertown http://www.cybertown.com/ Integrated Virtual Networks Launched: 1995 Approximate no. of users: 500,000
	Playdo http://beta.playdo.com/ Playdo Launched: 2000 Approximate no. of users: 400,000
	Eve Online http://www.eve-online.com/ CCP Games Launched: 2003 Approximate no. of users: 200,000
	Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates http://www.puzzlepirates.com/ Three Rings Design / Ubisoft Launched: 2003 Approximate no. of users: 200,000
	Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar http://www.lotro.com/ Turbine, Inc. Launched: 2007 Approximate no. of users: 200,000
	Star Wars Galaxies http://starwarsgalaxies.station.sony.com/ LucasArts Launched: 2003 Approximate no. of users: 200,000
	City of Heroes / City of Villains http://uk.cityofheroes.com/ Cryptic Studios / NCsoft Launched: 2004 Approximate no. of users: 180,000
	vSide http://www.vside.com/ Doppelganger Launched: 2007 Approximate no. of users: 150,000
	Ultima Online http://www.uo.com/ Electronic Arts Launched: 1997 Approximate no. of users: 135,000
	Dark Age of Camelot http://www.darkageofcamelot.com/ Mythic Entertainment / Electronic Arts Launched: 2001 Approximate no. of users: 125,000
	The Sims Online http://www.ea.com/official/thesims/thesimsonline/ Maxis / Electronic Arts Launched: 2002 Approximate no. of users: 100,000
	Xivio http://www.xivio.com/ Xivio Launched: 2006 Approximate no. of users: 22,000
	citypixel http://www.citypixel.com/ citypixel Launched: 2006 Approximate no. of users: 20,000
	Teen Second Life http://teen.secondlife.com/ Linden Lab Launched: 2005 Approximate no. of users: 5,000
	Westward Journey II / Fantasy Westward Journey http://corp.163.com/eng/games/westward_journey.html NetEase Launched: 2002 / 2004 Approximate no. of users: ??
	Scions of Fate (Yulgang) http://fate.netgame.com/ KRGsoft Launched: 2006 Approximate no. of users: ??
	Legend of Mir II / Legend of Mir III http://www.legendofmir.net/ WeMade Entertainment / ActozSoft Launched: 2001 Approximate no. of users: ??
	MU Online http://globalmuonline.com/ Webzen / K2 Network Launched: 2003 Approximate no. of users: ??
	HiPiHi http://www.hipihi.com/index_english.html HiPiHi Launched: 2007 Approximate no. of users: ??
	GalaXseeds http://www.galaxseeds.com/ Frima Studios / Corus Entertainment Launched: 2007 Approximate no. of users: ??
	Virtual Ibiza http://www.virtualibiza.com/ Lightmaker Launched: 2002 Approximate no. of users: ??

NBC uses DOGs for multiplatform CTAs

Following on from my earlier post on why Heroes raises the bar for multiplatform media, it's interesting to note how NBC are once again pushing the envelope through their use of animated DOGs (digital on-screen graphics) for specific multiplatform CTAs (calls to action). Whilst 'now and next' promos have become relatively commonplace (especially Stateside), I think it's the first time I've seen related online content promoted in this way.

Below are a couple of grabs taken from Episode 2 of Heroes Season 2; one invites viewers to "discover more while you watch - log on now to NBC.com"; the other promises "clues to the new season - check out the Heroes graphic novel at NBC.com". The positioning of these CTAs has clearly been given some thought; the former appears directly after the opening credits finish (c.13 minutes in), encouraging viewers to log on whilst continuing to watch; the latter appears in the final three minutes, inviting viewers to continue their Heroes experience online, after the programme has ended.

Whilst British TV remains fairly cautious in respect of DOGs, tending to favour discrete channel logos in the top left-hand corner (see logofreetv.org to get a sense of the strength of opposition in some quarters), the US networks appear to be diving headlong into increasingly intrusive visuals. Whether the promotional value and increased brand-attribution that DOGs potentially deliver outweighs the ire of some viewers, only time will tell. In the meantime, it looks like we'll be served up an increasing elaborate array of on-screen graphics, increasingly promoting content beyond the linear schedule.

Building core site functionality with widgets

Whilst the first generation of web widgets tended to be created in the image of their desktop-bound forefathers (taking a data source and providing a discrete application such as stock quotes, weather forecasts or simple games), the current crop of widgets increasingly integrate with the sites they live on and often mimic traditional site functionality. Want visitors to your site to be able to rate content? Get a widget from Spotback. How about comments? Grab the embed code from coComment. Real time traffic data? You'll be wanting Feedjit (or maybe whos.amung.us). Recommendations? Minekey should do the trick. Your own scoped search engine? Rollyo can oblige. Tags? Try Jiglu (recently added to right-hand column of this blog). What's exciting about this trend is that it further lowers the bar for online content creators who can now add Web 2.0 functionality without having to learn a single line of code. Of course it's not entirely risk-free; in installing such widgets you are effectively surrendering control of that functionality and potentially a whole stack of data about your users, to a third party who may subsequently go out of business or sell that data on. Still, no such thing as a free lunch, eh?

User-inputted text populates online promo videos

Not sure it constitutes a trend, but I've seen a couple of nice examples of dynamic text insertion of user-inputted material into promotional videos recently.

The first was Icetruck.tv (created by digital ad agency Ralph), which Jo showed me a few weeks back. The site (promoting the UK premiere of Dexter on FX) invites you to "give your friend the Dexter treatment". This involves keying in some personal details (name, age, gender, profession) and a message which then get rendered in a faux video news report and emailed to your 'victim' as a link with the subject heading 'This is really weird..." If you really want to freak them out you can also supply their mobile number which will send them a text message reading "Hello Dan. I'm heading to the UK sooner than you might think. Dexter". You can watch the video I received here.



The second was techlightenment's Bob Dylan Facebook app, promoting the release of his latest Best Of album, which allows users to type in ten short phrases which then appear on the cards Dylan rifles through in the legendary video for Subterranean Homesick Blues (which incidentally, just squeezed into my Top 20 best music videos ever). I have to admit I'm both surprised and impressed that Sony BMG is happy for punters to put words in Dylan's hands, opening the door to some potentially undesirable brand associations (I can confirm that the app doesn't have a profanity filter!)



Whilst neither implementation is perfect (both suffer from problems with word wrapping), they're both impressive and an interesting indicator of a likely future direction for promotional videos, which will no doubt soon incorporate user-submitted photos and videos, as well as text, to further personalise the marketing message.

US TV networks wake up to distributed distribution

It's been interesting to chart the major US TV networks' evolving approach to online video distribution over the last couple of years. Below is a rough timeline of activity from 'the big four' (ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox) which shows the shift from paid-for iTunes downloads and broadcaster-hosted streaming services in 2005/06 to increasingly distributed models in 2007. This change is also reflected in recent proclamations by some of the networks' big cheeses (pasted below the timeline) who seem to have finally woken up to the fact that the internet is a network and that big audiences in this space come from allowing wide distribution of your content, not forcing users to come to you (although as Jeff Jarvis points out on the excellent BuzzMachine, these noble sentiments don't always translate to actions).

12th Oct 2005 - ABC shows made available for download (for $1.99) via iTunes
5th Dec 2005 - NBC shows made available for download via iTunes
1st May 2006 - ABC launches free (ad-supported) video streaming service
4th May 2006 - CBS launches 'innertube', free (ad-supported) video streaming service
9th May 2006 - Fox shows made available for download via iTunes
8th Jun 2006 - CBS shows made available for download via iTunes
1st Oct 2006 - NBC launches 'NBS Rewind', free (ad-supported) video streaming service
22nd Mar 2007 - NBC and News Corp announce what will later become Hulu.com
18th Apr 2007 - NBC creates the National Broadband Company to distribute video
12 Apr 2007 - CBS announces its 'Interactive Audience Network', distributing shows through numerous partners
18 Jun 2007 - Fox partners with Brightcove to offer streamed, embeddable video
31 Aug 2007 - NBC ends contract with iTunes
4th Sep 2007 - NBC shows to be made available via Amazon Unbox
19 Sep 2007 - NBC launches 'NBC direct', free (ad-supported) download service
20 Sep 2007 - ABC begins free (ad-supported) streaming via AOL
21st Sep 2007 - Fox gives away free seasons premieres via iTunes

“If we really want to compete with big aggregators like Yahoo and Google, we need our video in as many places as possible,” (Randy Falco, president of NBC, quoted in the New York Times, September 2006)

“We can’t expect consumers to come to us. It’s arrogant for any media company to assume that.” (Quincy Smith, president of CBS, quoted in the Wall Street Journal, May 2007)

“It is critical that we embrace the Internet as a distributed medium that promotes engagement with users, wherever they are on the Web” (William Bradford, senior vice president, content strategy at Fox, August 2007)

40 best songs from film soundtracks

Thursday's post on Listphile has got me itching to create a new list and with over three months to go until my end of year film and music rounds-ups I thought I'd tide myself over with a list of the 40 best songs from movie soundtracks. Obviously wholly subjective so don't go complaining that there's no Celine Dion or Bryan Adams...

The rules:
- No themes (hence no Star Wars, E.T, Raiders, Bond etc.)
- No musicals (although I've given The Blues Brothers a special dispensation)
- Nothing from before the Summer of Love
- Nothing from an irredeemably bad film

1. Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley (The Edukators, 2004)
2. Stand By Me - Ben E. King (Stand By Me, 1986)
3. You Never Can Tell - Chuck Berry (Pulp Fiction, 1994)
4. Mrs. Robinson - Simon & Garfunkel (The Graduate, 1967)
5. Son of a Preacher Man - Dusty Springfield (Pulp Fiction, 1994)
6. Wouldn't It Be Nice - The Beach Boys (The Big Chill, 1983)
7. Things Have Changed - Bob Dylan (Wonder Boys, 2000)
8. A Life Less Ordinary - Ash (A Life Less Ordinary, 1997)
9. It Ain't Me Babe - Joaquin Phoenix & Resse Witherspoon (Walk The Line, 2005)
10. Stuck In The Middle With You - Stealers Wheel (Reservoir Dogs, 1992)
11. Sinnerman - Nina Simone - (The Thomas Crown Affair, 1999)
12. Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Is In) - Kenny Rogers & The First Edition (The Big Lebowski, 1998)
13. Dry The Rain - The Beta Band (High Fidelity, 2000)
14. Blister in the Sun - Violent Femmes (Grosse Pointe Blank, 1997)
15. Where Is My Mind? - Pixies (Fight Club, 1999)
16. Layla - Derek And The Dominos (Goodfellas, 1990)
17. Tiny Dancer - Elton John (Almost Famous, 2000)
18. Wise Up - Aimee Mann (Magnolia, 1999)
19. Come What May - Nicole Kidman & Ewan McGregor (Moulin Rouge!, 2001)
20. You Can't Always Get What You Want - The Rolling Stones (The Big Chill, 1983)
21. Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You - Andy Williams (Bridget Jones's Diary, 2001)
22. Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison (Born of the Fourth of July, 1989)
23. Feeling Good - Nina Simone (The Assassin, 1993)
24. The Power of Love - Huey Lewis & The News (Back to the Future, 1985)
25. I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow - The Soggy Bottom Boys (O Brother, Where Art Thou?, 2000)
26. Everybody Needs Somebody To Love - The Blues Brothers (The Blues Brothers, 1980)
27. Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon - Urge Overkill (Pulp Fiction, 1994)
28. Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head - B.J. Thomas (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 1969)
29. Everything In Its Right Place - Radiohead (Vanilla Sky, 2001)
30. Playground Love - Air (The Virgin Suicides, 1999)
31. Talk Show Host - Radiohead (Romeo + Juliet, 1996)
32. Porcelain - Moby (The Beach, 2000)
33. Born Slippy - Underworld (Trainspotting, 1996)
34. Perfect Day - Lou Reed (Trainspotting, 1996)
35. Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen (Wayne's World, 1992)
36. Mad World - Gary Jules and Michael Andrews (Donnie Darko, 2001)
37. Lose Yourself - Eminem (8 Mile, 2002)
38. I Want You To Want Me - Letters To Cleo (10 Things I Hate About You, 1999)
39. Eye of the Tiger - Survivor (Rocky III, 1982)
40. Live and Let Die - Wings (Live and Let Die, 1973)

Update: Added to Amazon UnSpun (thanks for the suggestion, Fraser)

Listphile delivers Lists 2.0

As regular readers will know, there are few things I love more than a good list (see here, here, here, here, here and here). So, you can imagine my delight on discovering Listphile, an LA-based startup taking the humble art of list creation and showering it with Web 2.0 goodness.

Of course, we've seen online list makers before, however they've tended to be either geared towards personal 'to do' lists (e.g. Bla-Bla List, Remember The Milk, Ta-da, Tudu), limited in functionality (listography, List of Bests) or frankly just a bit scrappy (ListBums).

In contrast, Listphile is wholly collaborative, looks great and is chocked full of tasty 2.0 functionality including photo and video upload, digg-style voting, wiki-esque edit histories, RSS feeds, tags, comments and integration with Google Maps, enabling you to create an atlas view of your list.

In addition to the map view, lists can be displayed as thumbnail galleries and sorted by a range of criteria (alphabetically, by rank, by recently modified or by the owner's order).

The icing on the cake is that the whole site is shot through with a philosophy of openness, borne out by its use of OpenID, the Creative Commons license and the wonderful list of 'things Listphile is' on their about page (the top ten of which I've reproduced below as a good check-list for any company playing in the Web 2.0 space):

Listphile is...

1. Free
2. Open
3. Flexible
4. Powerful
5. Mashable
6. Shareable
7. Grassroots
8. Easy to use
9. Embeddable
10. Collaborative

The site's only been up and running since June so there are only a few hundred lists at the moment and not many votes contributing to those lists with rankings. However a recent mention on TechCrunch should see usage increase.

One bit of functionality which isn't yet available is the ability to take away lists as embeddable widgets (although I guess you could create your own using the RSS feeds). I therefore present, in a manual style, a list of my top five Listphile lists to whet your appetite:

1. Gifts for Geeks (it includes a life-size Yoda and a replica Space Shuttle Pumpkin Suit for heaven's sake)
2. Famous Left Handed People (there can't be that many lists which feature Jimi Hendrix, George Dubya and Einstein)
3. Open Surf Atlas (nicely showcases the Google Maps integration)
4. Nintendo Wii Virtual Console Games (an extensive list but needs some voting to sort the wheat from the chaff)
5. World Shark Attack Database (Cornish coast conspicuously absent...)

Joost, Babelgum & Apple TV in your browser

Want to get a taste of Joost/Babelgum/AppleTV (they do all sound quite edible) but don't have a beta invite/can't be bothered with the download/don't want to shell out £200? Well, you're in luck. Independent developer, Paul Yanez, has created browser-based Flash mashups of all three products and they're pretty damn slick (see below screengrabs). Whilst they don't feature the same video content as their parent apps, they do give a very good feel of the interfaces and the content they suck in from assorted video sharing sites is arguably more compelling than much of the official offers. Nice job, Mr Yanez.

Joost Flash Mashup



Babelgum Flash Mashup



Apple TV Mashup

Would the real Dan Taylor please stand up?

One of the consequences of having not one, but two, common names (Daniel is reportedly the 9th most popular first name in England and Wales and Taylor the 4th most common surname) is that you become more difficult to correctly identify online. Whilst at times this feels like a godsend, at others its a bit frustrating/bewildering. I recently received a friend request from a colleague on Facebook with the accompanying message "Any time I search for anything on the internet - music, dried locusts, the Great Vowel Shift - your name pops up as the fifth search result. If I hadn't worked in the same office with you, I might have decided you were some giant internet hoax..."

So, for the record, I am not Dan Taylor the American shotputter, or Dan Taylor the surfboard manufacturer, or Dan Taylor the Canadian designer, or Dan Taylor the animation supervisor, or Dan Taylor the managing director of the Mobile Enterprise Alliance, or Dan Taylor the genetisit, or Dan Taylor the character from the House of the Dead III video game, or Lieutenant Dan Taylor, the wheelchair-bound Vietnam vet in Forest Gump, or Dan Taylor the Sports Director at Channel 30 Action News, or Dan Taylor the president of the Wealth Capital Group.

That is all.

Blog Day 2007

In support of the 3rd annual BlogDay, which takes place today, I'd like to commend the following five blogs to you dear reader. Go bookmark!

Somewhat Frank - the musings of Virginia-based Frank Gruber who spends his days as a product manager at AOL (but don't hold that against him) covering Web 2.0, technology and life.

maxgadney.com - Witness a book being born as Max (a colleague at the BBC) talks through the illustrations for his work-in-progress Visual Miscellany of World War II.

James Cridland's blog - Ex-Director of Digital Media at Virgin Radio (now also at the Beeb) James posts on radio, digital platforms and occasionally, beer. Always worthwhile.

Roo Reynolds - Roo works as a Metaverse Evangelist (now that's what I call a job title) at IBM's Hursley Park lab in Hampshire and posts on a eclectic range of topics which pique his interest.

Wonderland - the brainchild of Alice Taylor (no relation) with a couple of other occasional contributors. If you only read one blog on gaming make sure it's this one.

Technorati tag: BlogDay2007