Second Life’s generally considered to be a bit of a weird place. A lot of virtual environments are. They go through two phases of weirdness. The first phase covers the first few waves of users. They’re considered weird because they’re doing something that isn’t usual: using a virtual environment at all, or using one that isn’t particularly well-known. The second phase is when … [Read more...] about Going mainstream means letting in the weirdos
demographics
How big is Second Life?
It's this big (as of November 2008): The map comes from this site and you can download the full 13MB version to get a better understanding of the magnitude of Second Life. We've featured maps of the Second Life grid before, and they're useful to reinforce the scope of virtual worlds. Those who haven't spent time in a large world have no concept of their size and complexity … [Read more...] about How big is Second Life?
Gender and virtual worlds: new research
Dmitri Williams from the University of Southern California has completed some research in conjunction with Mia Consalvo (Ohio University), Scott Caplan (University of Delaware) and Nick Yee (Stanford University). The title of the research is Looking for gender (LFG): Gender roles and behaviors among online gamers. The research employed a range of survey tools as well as some … [Read more...] about Gender and virtual worlds: new research
Trend Map 2008 – virtual worlds front and centre
Ross Dawson is an Australian who speaks widely on future technology and he's recently created a 2008 Trend Map for technology. It's modeled on a Shanghai train route map and it's remarkable in how successfully it summarises where things may go in the coming year. Ross considers virtual worlds as a key aspect involving technology, society and demographics. I think he may be … [Read more...] about Trend Map 2008 – virtual worlds front and centre