It would have been impossible to miss the rise of Second Life in 2007, and the inevitable mocking from the skeptics when it subsequently fell out of favour.
But it seems like Second Life may have been just a red herring? Since its decline, a number of virtual worlds have sprung up just for kids which have been steadily increasing in usage.
Habbo Hotel – 1.6 million global users per month
Club Penguin – 2.6 million global users per month
Barbie World – 2.7 million global users per month
These are just three examples of successful virtual worlds just for younger internet users. There are many more, and many more examples of branded worlds such as Barbie World.
- There is a clear usage for brands that have child focused products (toy manufacturers, media brands…), but the real story is about a whole generation growing up to whom a 2d web experience will seem weird. There is a generation of kids growing up who may well expect to see at least some sort of 3d world in their web experience
- As yet, very little. The numbers of people using virtual worlds is still small and the general thought is that brands have no place in there. However, it is something we need to keep an eye on. Virtual worlds will at some point become a / the way that users interact online. The only question is when.
- Matel with Barbie, Disney with Club Penguin, Disney in Habbo Hotel are the adverisers exploited this to date
Filed under: Virtual Worlds Tagged: | barbie world, children, club penguin, disney, habbo, kids, martel, virtual world, virutalworld
