Virtual Worlds: The Next Ten Years.

It's true, I do my (un)fair share of mocking these yearly predictions. But here's my promise: I will only do this once a decade.

So you won't see another of these until 2020. At which time I may be posting via my brain implant, from my space ship orbiting Mars. But that's another story.

As to my perspective, I've been living in Second Life since June 2004 when it was a lot more primitive (see screenshot), and I run The Wishfarmers. 'Nuff said.

So here we go (drum roll), a few predictions for virtual worlds over the next decade.


2010 to 2013

1. In a fading celebrity's publicity stunt, they'll announce they're marrying someone they've only known in a virtual world. This person turns out to be impossibly beautiful, and the stunt blows up in their faces. But the publicity will finally catapult virtual worlds into the mainstream consciousness.

Alternate: Politician instead of celebrity.

2. Machinima: That's really all I need to say about that one!

2014 to 2016

1. Virtual worlds are more popular than video games.

2. Very few games or virtual worlds are still "shipped" with player characters. Users instead log-in with their global account, and their avatar is automatically rezzed-into the game. Most users have a variety of outfits for different settings (Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Realistic) and a cottage industry of specialized "avatar stylists" has reached $3bn annually.

3. With the exception of unique "3D artisan crafts", nearly all 3D virtual goods are free. Large "content publishers" buy-up most 3D content for popular platforms, brand them for their advertisers, distribute them to users and charge advertisers. The world's most popular virtual t-shirt is worth $300m in sponsor revenue annually.

4. Meanwhile, "Virtual Fine Artists" use technology to create 3D works of sculpture and interaction that have unique value - Richard Branson buys an important virtual sculpture for $1.2m.

5. "Something Awful" creates the first worldwide virtual experience meme, a simulation of being kicked in the face by Chuck Norris.

It is soon available for every conceivable platform.


6. People do not recreate meetings virtually, because that is silly.

But they do use advanced 3D environments to interact with and visualize data, objects and processes collaboratively, because that is productive.

The most advanced I.T. departments have a team of "3D geeks" for simulation systems administration, development and virtual asset management - giving rise to a new form of Uber Geeks with crap on their heads.

2017 to 2020

1. Anywhere you are, you can see the avatars of most people around you - through your phone, or on your tricorder thing - whatever.

At discotheques, giant screens display the crowd as their avatars. Movie theaters show the audience, seated as their avatars, during intermission.

As an unfortunate side-effect, "Hey babe I dig your polygons" is a common pick-up line. It never works.

2. Most business cards have a picture of the owner's avatar - probably animated. Tattoos of avatars, also, are not uncommon.

3. Few people's avatars look exactly like the person they represent. Because that is boring. Those who do are called "standers", because they also tend to stand rather than fly.

Among the cornucopia of avatars that make up the metaverse, approximately 600 million are Furries.

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Who Are The Wishfarmers?

The Wishfarmers LLC is a small California design and development studio innovating for virtual worlds since 2004.

Check us out at wishfarmers.com, and let's talk about your crazy ideas!

Virtual Goods versus

Virtual Goodies

[This article is also available as a PDF]

You've probably been hearing a lot about "virtual goods" lately. These are micro-luxuries - small indulgences - that comfort us in lean times - but now they are virtual, existing in social networks, and emerging "virtual world" platforms.

But virtual goods (and their uses) vary a bit more widely than is usually reported in these articles.

The term is applied in relation to companies ranging from Zynga - who profit directly from user micro-purchases - to IMVU, and Linden Lab, whose business models rely on a symbiotic relationship with user content creators.

In virtual worlds like Linden's "Second Life", these goods can take the form of almost any kind of clothing or accessory, vehicles, custom toys and pretty much anything else you can dream-up (and quite a few things you never would).

But if you've been wracking your brain trying to figure out how to sell a virtual version of your "real-world" products, just stop.

And start making something cool. Then give it away. For free.

Why Virtual Goodies Make Great Schwag

Obviously, once virtual goods are created, it costs nothing to reproduce them. In most cases, you can give out hundreds (or thousands!) as easily as just one.

Now, if you could afford to give out goodies to everyone on the street, just to promote your brand / product / bake sale - you would, right?

Well, now you can. Sort of.

No, of course I won't try to tell you that a virtual t-shirt is the same as real. But by now you've understood that these virtual luxuries have their own, specific value. If not, go read some of these articles and come back.

The point is that you can now afford to give away something that really does have value to the audience.

And this isn't just some pretty (though ultimately useless) brochure, or coupon for next Tuesday - it can be a favorite hat in someone's virtual wardrobe, or the central component in their virtual living room.

In other words: Something they see and/or use often.

Now all you need is to make sure they think of you when they use it.

How to Make Cool Stuff Relevant

Okay sure - maybe that sounds a little easier than it is. Lots of people do need help making cool virtual stuff, but there are always talented folks to lean on if you haven't got the time or chops to make your own content.

But the real question is what sort of virtual goodies would work best for you. It's something you must invest plenty of your own thought in, first.

The best promotional goodies relate naturally to what they promote: If you've got a business that lends itself to this (a shoe store), then the right promo may be obvious (virtual shoes). Other cases may not be so easy, but it is worth the effort to dream-up something that will best represent your brand out in the (virtual) field.

In Second Life, virtual goodies tend to fall into these categories:

• Clothing and Accessories


• Functional "Gadgets"


• Toys (including Games)

While clothing and accessories are always wildly popular, useful virtual gadgets for Second Life also have great sticking power: Residents make extensive use of Twitter relays, job search tools and other gadgets.

And if they like it, they will remember your brand.

Finally, never underestimate the value of pure enjoyment: These platforms are great for delivering small, fun toys and games. These can really help you connect with users, even if it bears only the slightest relation to your product - as long as it's fun!

Depending on the type of schwag, there will be opportunities to include links to your websites, logos, or other branding. Take full advantage of this, but be tasteful about it.

The important part is to make it something worth having - and you've got yourself a first-rate freebie.

Laughing in the Face of Capitalism: Giving It Away

You will be surprised to learn how easy it is to distribute virtual goods for most of these platforms.

For example, with virtual goodies for Second Life, you have the option of making them freely copyable - meaning anyone with your promo t-shirt can give a copy to another user.

Think about this for a moment: It has incredible implications. Your promotional material now spreads in the same manner as free software. For as long as it remains worth having, people will be sharing it.

That beats the lifetime of most other advertising media, by a long shot.

Another great venue (for Second Life) is provided in the form of XStreetSL, now the official shopping portal. Users browse XStreetSL, choose and buy virtual products, and have them delivered directly to their avatar.

And, as you might imagine, free stuff sells very well.

Using XStreetSL, you can set up a vendor presence for your campaign, complete with a catalog of your virtual goodies. Now users have instant access to your virtual schwag, always.

Your cost: $0.

The Real Value of Virtual Good(ie)s

The real value of virtual goods to most initiatives is as a direct promotional vehicle. In this regard they offer some truly unique advantages.

They are a no-cost promotional venue, with no real distribution overhead, through which you can give infinitely copyable virtual goodies.

You see - I told you this was awesome!

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Who Are The Wishfarmers?

The Wishfarmers LLC is a small California design and development studio innovating for virtual worlds since 2004.

Check us out at wishfarmers.com, and let's talk about your crazy ideas!

Wishfarming Real Jobs in the Virtual World

Jobbit Intro Clip on Wishfarmer TV

The Wishfarmers have just released the Kelly Services Jobbit - a simple and effective job search aid for Second Life, that combines Kelly's extensive job listings with unique perks for the metaverse.

The Jobbit is an example of how virtual worlds offer some really new approaches to user engagement. While there has been a lot of focus on virtual "installations" that users can visit (and that plays a role), there are still many other unique opportunities.

One of these is the chance to "ride along" with users in their daily virtual lives - by providing a utility that they use, and will keep at the ready. The key is simply to provide a real, practical value - without getting in the way.

With the Jobbit, The Wishfarmers achieved this in the form of a "Heads Up Display" (HUD) that attaches directly to the user interface. Users can configure it simply with statements like "chemistry in chicago", and apply for jobs they find with just a click. It then monitors the search, and alerts them to new job postings.

We also came up with a virtual twist on the idea of a hot lead. Users can "beam" any job they find to other nearby avatars, sending them right to the job posting. For your jobless virtual friends - the ones always borrowing L$ from you.

This is just one way in which these emerging platforms (Second Life, Opensim, Croquet, etc) can be used for outreach, and engagement and - yes - marketing (the M word) - in forms from the mundane to the exotic.

And honestly we're really just getting started here. So stay tuned.

Drop us a line any time.

Conspicuously (Conveniently) Absent?

Yet to Ride the Virtual Worlds Wagon

So here we are, in the second (or perhaps third) wave of virtual worlds evolution. We've seen some successful early adopters - and some case-study worthy failures.

And yet, there are still some almost obligatory entrants, which remain conspicuously absent.

No, I'm not talking about the fields we all know are still emerging (such as education) or not yet supportable (gambling, or banking). I'm talking about the businesses that, given the constant flow of announcements, we really might expect to see in a virtual world by now.

For example...

1. Where is the Avon Lady?

I simply can't believe that the Avon lady is not yet a fixture in all of our worlds.

The timeless salesperson of "hope in a jar" translates as well into any virtual world as into any region in flat land. Did you know there are over 700,000 Avon ladies in Brazil? I have not seen a single one in Second Life, nor anywhere else virtual.

Some of you are laughing now, but am I joking?

2. Grocery stores

If you've followed my posts (and The Wishfarmers) you already know I am not about to suggest that grocery stores are a good candidate for virtual worlds. On the contrary, I think they are extraordinarily bad - possibly second only to soft-drinks in the dire prospects of connecting with the audience.

But that alone doesn't explain their absence. Plenty of ill-advised campaigns have been undertaken on behalf of even less relevant products.

So where are the virtual shopping carts to complicate my essentially web-based purchase? I don't want to see it - I just want to know where it is.

3. Heavy Metal Music

Businesses in other musical genres have taken the leap: Where is the hairy, ear-splitting mosh pit crowd?

Yes, I'm dead serious: Metal is big business . . . very. Three of 2007's top 10 albums were heavy metal.

Do metal-heads just not like virtual worlds? Do they even have computers?* Perhaps they're simply waiting for a virtual world they can operate while plastered.

Platform developers: Please remember to include the staffs of "Cream" and "Kerrang" in your product test cycles.

4. Oprah

Actually, this is not a business - it's an autonomous nation-state.

We can only presume that the reason behind this absence is the imminent debut of The Opraverse.

5. Viagra and Those Other Pills Too

Again, I'm not advocating this, I'm just saying: I'm relieved that one of these hasn't sponsored some gigantic phallus hat yet.


Barriers to Entry: A Blessing in Disguise?
I suppose we will simply remain grateful that some of these have never made it past the login screen. Particularly that last one.

If I've overlooked an implementation that conflicts with this, drop me a line - we sure wouldn't want to miss one of these glorious milestones!

*Psst: Yes, some of us do have computers.

Shameless Plug

Are you Slayer? Dudes, call us. That would freaking rock!

Are you Oprah? Please call us, ma'am. Yes that would be quite nice.

The Wishfarmers

Innovations - not decorations