Last week, we wrote about Google’s use of a simple game to encourage users to participate in a social tagging experiment, and even offered our suggestion for a new Google Game. The high level of participation in a short time suggests that Google’s use of a game strategy resulted in much better results than had the tagging been merely a volunteer effort. While we don’t doubt that Google’s game signals more social games with a business purpose to come, that’s not where the real action will be. We’re reaching to the conclusion that the social networks and communities of the future are foreshadowed by some of today’s immersive games. An article in the current edition of Newsweek, Living a Virtual Life, makes exactly that point. The subhed for the story asks provocatively, “Is World of Warcraft a game, or is it a harbinger of virtual realities that we all might inhabit?”
Today’s online community builders tend to focus on technologies like discussion forums, blogs, reviews and ratings, social tagging and bookmarking… all the standard Web 2.0 buzzwords. And indeed, there’s nothing wrong with these tools – they make individual sites, and the Web in general, much richer and far more useful. Discussion forums in particular have been used to build strong online communities. Their democratic nature which allows everyone a voice, the general ease of use, and other features have made message boards the community building tool of choice. Social networks like MySpace have also been extremely successful by blending simple page building tools for users with strong social features.
Meanwhile, an alternate path has been developing. Flying below the radar of business execs and Web 2.0 promoters, highly immersive online games have build communities more cohesive and addictive than any others. World of Warcraft, for example, now has 7 million members worldwide. (The game’s success helped owner Vivendi post a 10% earnings gain – see Vivendi gains on games and pay-TV.) Members devote vast amounts of time to interacting with other members as they explore the world, make conquests, etc. There’s even a flourishing black market where virtual treasure is sold for real money, and people pay to “outsource” their personal character experience building to gamers in low-wage countries.
But what do dragons and night elves have to do with business? The quick answer is that other immersive environments are either under development or out there already. Clearly, medieval fantasy isn’t everyone’s cup of tea… but what about virtual business environments? SimCity with real people? Social and dating environments? Sports leagues? While perhaps not all people will succumb to the lure of virtual worlds, one can expect that environments that are increasingly diverse and ever more realistic will attract far more participants in the future. Interestingly, the Newsweek story reports that even in the fantasy World of Warcraft a bit of business networking and the occasional deal get done.
Some more general purpose immersive communities are already underway. SecondLife.com, for example, describes itself as, “a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents. Since opening to the public in 2003, it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by 289,256 people from around the globe.” Of course, adult-oriented virtual worlds are already available – the X-rated industry always seems to be a leader in adapting new media to profitable uses.
Creating an immersive, game-like community won’t be for everyone – at the moment, there aren’t cheap tools to do this, and considerable design effort and testing would be needed to get it right. Still, community builders should keep an eye on what’s going on in online gaming – this model could well be the future not just of online communities, but of where most people spend their time.
