Virtual World News 

Since a virtual world is far more than the average video game or even most online games for that matter there is a lot more to take into consideration during the development of such a large project. When setting up a platform which has the intention to bring real life and the virtual life closer together one gets confronted with a variation of factors. Some of them are hard to avoid or overlook while others are essential to let the platform succeed and grow.

One of these factors is a crucial one: “The Virtual World Economy”. Today there are several hundreds of virtual world platforms online and they all have something in common, a currency so that goods and services can be traded between avatars inside of the virtual world. The economical factor is where the virtual world sets itself apart from the classic video games. In classic games the goal is to either complete the game by conquering the final boss at the end of the level, or striving to get the ultimate highscore or reaching a certain level with your character. In the Metaverse this doesn’t apply and that is where it takes a different direction. People often get confused about this which is normal, it looks like a game, you can move around like you can in a game, you can be amused and entertained like in a game, because of this many look at virtual world platforms as normal games. Nevertheless there is a thin line between pure entertainment for some and normal business for others. Today many people and even companies have their real life business inside of the Metaverse and those people aren’t exceptions as virtual worlds are becoming more and more mainstream.

Today everybody is familiar with the term E-Commerce, commonly known as electronic commerce. The term E-commerce got introduced several years back when people commenced trading over computer networks aka the internet. Now that the grid based Metaverse is coming online it is time to introduce a new term to describe electronic trading inside virtual worlds. This new term named V-commerce will perhaps become the successor of E-commerce in the next decade. V-Commerce which stands for Virtual Commerce and describes the trading of virtual goods and services inside a simulated environment is still in it’s infancy today. We think there is no doubt V-commerce will start to become more important as virtual worlds grow more mature in the future. While the above sounds all nice in theory we feel it’s needed to back up our statement regarding V-commerce with some practical examples of actual commercial activities taking place inside artificial worlds today.

1. The crafting of virtual goods

Many platforms offer the inhabitants of a world a way to craft goods/materials into objects which can be used inside the world. The avatar or item creator will offer the object for sale in many cases. Crafted objects can variate from clothing; accessories; furniture; housing; resources and so on. While some do this purely as a hobby or for entertainment purposes there are many professional content creators and 3D designers active who have made a full time job in real life producing high quality 3D objects for the entertainment of others. Content creators and crafters as they are called wouldn’t be able to spend days or even weeks to produce virtual goods if there was no means to get some sort of reimbursement for their work.
This is also the point where real life and the virtual life meet. The factor of “It’s a game” doesn’t apply any longer for many at this point and virtual currency bids the outcome in this case, allowing those who produce and provide entertainment and value for others to get paid for their work.

2. Real Estate

A lot has been said and written about virtual land. Some people have asked: “How can land that isn’t real have value?” On the other hand one could ask himself if the internet is real because you can’t touch that either, but everybody has a computer and they all log on to the net and pay a monthly subscription fee to their ISP for something that isn’t real. Virtual worlds; goods; land; real estate is something new, people
aren’t familiar with it yet. The value of virtual real estate depends on the platform you are on, in one world land might be free but you have to paying a monthly subscription to enter the world, another place might provide you with a free condo or apartment to live in but charge a high fee for virtual items to place in your house. In other worlds land can be very scarce and cost huge amounts of money but can be a very good investment as the owner of the land is able to get a large financial return out of it. Another misconception you often hear about virtual land or real estate is the following: “It’s just hosting space or server space you pay for”. We found out it would be way to simplistic to describe virtual land or real estate as providing a hosting service. While there are certain facts which are in accordance with this statement on a technical level the large factor of properties regarding virtual real estate have nothing to do with hosting services or computer related matters. Just like in the real world, buying property in the virtual world will be the most important purchase they will make. Here again a market of supply and demand exists. People all have different ideas and opinions about virtual property while others set their focus to develop and provide this type of real estate. Just like with virtual goods the trading of virtual real estate takes place with virtual currency.

3. Consulting

The reason that virtual worlds are becoming more and more mainstream is because people find new uses for this technology every single day. The best way to look at it is to compare it with the internet, in the beginning people were intrigued by this medium but it took a while before they figured out what could be done with it, how it could enrich their lives, how it could save them money and what to do with it. The same applies for virtual worlds or the Metaverse as it is often referred to. Once people know they can run around with their avatar, change it’s clothes, talk to others they also discover it’s possible to have meetings with others, collaborate, attend classes or conferences, have training sessions and so on. Each day new practical use is found and we expect this will continue to grow in a healthy way as the Metaverse expands. Again like in the above examples virtual currency is used as a form of payment for provided services.

When people come together and spend a lot of time inside a simulated environment it is inevitable they will start to trade with each other at one point or the other. The human race has been trading for as long as they exist, before money existed there used to barter as a medium of exchange. Since Dreamworld is an advanced platform we have opted for a full scale implementation of a virtual currency system instead of bartering. By setting up a robust and secure currency for Dreamworld the in world economy will become unlocked. This means that soon Dreamworld will become a platform where trade becomes possible and will have an impact on many established virtual world businesses out there today as Dreamworld will offer virtual entrepreneurs a convenient way to expand their current business which will lead to winning solution for everyone.

We expect the full implementation of the economical system to be completed by the end of january 2009. We will posts updates about the progress made on this aspect during the next months. Since the economy is a vital aspect for Dreamworld we are looking forward to the completion of this project.

Count Dreamworld

Posted on Wednesday, November 12th, 2008 at 11:56 pm and is filed under Economy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.