Tidbits from the virtual worlds landscape

  Palo Alto based Zong won accolades in '09

As the year draws to a close, some interesting tidbits of virtual note made their way across the web recently.

Raph Koster, of Ultima Online fame, announced the closing of his very own Metaplace. The virtual world platform relied heavily on UGC (user generated content) and offered a refreshingly new idea: no download. Founded by Koster in 2006, it initially drew a healthy dose of optimism and quickly became a media darling. Vaguely citing Metaplace's "lack of traction," Koster told his readers that while the consumer end of the world will be shut down on January 1, 2010, "Metaplace Inc isn't going away." Just what it will evolve into is yet to be seen.

On Monday, Frost and Sullivan's 2009 Best Practices Award for New Product Innovation went to Palo Alto's own Zong. Offering their 'frictionless' mobile payment method, Zong tapped into the estimated 70% of the world market that doesn't have credit cards and offered them mobile payments. From Gaia Online to Facebook, Zong processed mobile payments for some 10 million users worldwide this year creating a run for PayPal's money in the widely accessible mobile market. 

In other virtual news this week, Microsoft has filed a patent application for a realistic avatar creation process reflecting the real person behind the avatar. The abstract states that a user's actual physique reflects an array of attributes, both potentially positive and negative, that will enhance gameplay of their XBox Live avatars. Current blogosphere feedback seems mixed with a generous dose of skepticism by some who ponder how many XBox Live users would prefer to participate in a game environment with their actual, physical dimensions. Others seem encouraged by the plethora of new exercise addicts that may make their way to the gym (or, ironically, their Wii Fit) to beef up for their online roles in HALO 3 or Gears of War. 

2009 has seen significant shifts for many virtual companies which often come and go. Though Nortel is no longer, web.alive has made it through the year successfully and with their second beta release announced just weeks ago. Utilizing e-commerce, virtual training, video conferencing and other secure virtual network collaborations, web.alive seeks to provide the stable infrastructure necessary to leverage what the virtual landscape has to offer for businesses of any size. With greener marketplace trends on the rise, the virtual landscape is argued to be an ideal means of limiting greenhouse emissions thanks for virtual meetings and the like. Not without its green imperfections, however, at the very least web.alive and others are showing that the need for greater virtual infrastructure exists and is in demand.