More Virtual Worlds: Yes, Really

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The media giant may have been one of the first to enter the universe of virtual worlds, especially those targeted to kids and their families, having launched Disney's Toontown Online as far back as the summer of 2003.

"At that time, the power of personal computers had grown dramatically, the price point had dropped, and we here at Disney had some pretty amazing people on staff who had done a lot of development work with virtual reality at our theme parks," recalls Yanover. "We had this crazy idea that we could build another virtual world—not out of brick and mortar as we had done in Anaheim and in Orlando—but online."

The experience was such a positive one, says Yanover, that Disney went full-speed-ahead on other online virtual worlds, including Virtual Magic Kingdom two years ago; Disney Fairies, which has had 3 million visitors since it opened this past January; and Pirates of the Caribbean Online, which is expected to launch next month.

"Some people might say that Pirates is more an MMOG [massive multiplayer online game] than a virtual world, but I maintain that the lines are blurring," explains Yanover. "In Pirates you create a pirate avatar and then live in the world that we introduced in the Pirates of the Caribbean films. You have thousands of people with you online, you have your own pirate ship, and you can assemble a crew of other people to sail around and adventure with you. You have relationships, you gain experience points and skills, and I say those attributes are very similar to what exist in Club Penguin."

The business models differ from one Disney online world to the next. For instance, Pirates will be free to play but a subscription fee will be required "in order to enjoy the entire experience," according to Yanover. He is looking at various business models for future worlds.

"So far, our sites are not ad-supported," he says, "but I wouldn't rule out anything. A lot of it depends on the expectations of the consumer. Because we have all been watching ad-supported TV for many decades, ad support is well within people's expectations."

While media giants are experimenting with what sort of virtual worlds will most please their customers, a cottage industry is growing to simplify the creation of 3-D online worlds.

For example, it was once necessary to cobble together virtual worlds using a slew of third-party technologies, but no longer. Cary, N.C.-based Icarus Studios, whose executives were at the Virtual Worlds Conference, is selling a suite of tools designed to make virtual world creation virtually a snap.

"It is now possible for companies—from game and virtual world development studios to global media brands—to create quality virtual worlds extremely quickly and at a significantly lower cost," says Icarus CEO Jim Hettinger.

Icarus is a technology partner of IBM which expects virtual worlds will have the same impact in the next five to 10 years as the Internet browser had a decade ago.

"We believe," says IBM segment executive Jacques Pavlenyi, "that the ability to connect real-world and virtual-world experiences—and to leverage the strengths of each to reduce complexity and increase productivity—will be a key role that virtual worlds will play."

But Chris Sherman doesn't believe it will be another five years before virtual worlds have a major impact and he strongly suggests that businesses, especially media companies, not let themselves be left behind.

"I think that holding back and not doing anything would be problematic," he says. "Getting out there now and understanding the technology and user behavior within virtual worlds is critical. We're going to see a lot of announcements in the next 12 months from major media companies—like Turner, for instance—who will be creating specialized virtual worlds. There will be a lot of different models; there's a lot to think about.

"But if you stand still and ignore it all," he says, "if you don't build up the knowledge base you'll need for when it comes time to actually implement your strategies, you risk being left behind completely."

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