Blue Mars, the latest graphic rich virtual world is in open beta. I and a few friends checked it out but were quickly bored. Granted it’s only a beta, one of us commented that is was more like an alpha, but once you get beyond the graphics you wonder what there really is to do? It’s a problem not uncommon to virtual worlds. Trying to solve that problem highlights the tough spot developers of consumer virtual worlds find themselves in.
Only finding a few others running around Blue Mars we all gravitated toward the golf. I suspect most beta testers did the same. After you spend some time walking around the pretty scenery and sitting in chairs, golf is the only thing left. We of course never got beyond the first hole. The interface is built for virtual worlds, not specialized for driving a golf ball down the fairway. There are no tips on what club to select. It also isn’t clear how far away the hole is and you aren’t able to freely walk around to judge it yourself. I’d rather play Wii Golf or any other golf game for that matter – and here lies the trouble virtual worlds face. Virtual world developers know that there isn’t much to do, so they try and add games to keep people around. But that puts them in direct competition with game developers – between a rock and a hard spot.
Virtual world developers can emphasize collaboration and the social aspects of virtual worlds all they want, but when was the last time you went to Disneyland to meet new people or collaborate? Disneyland is the physical embodiment of a virtual world and you don’t go there to play golf together, you go to enter a fantasy land someone with more imagination than yourself cooked up. You go there with your family and friends, you don’t go to make new ones.
Virtual worlds can be about community, but it’s more likely that they start as a community first and then add the virtual world on top. Like most virtual world developers before them, Blue Mars is starting with the technology and hoping people will come. The graphics are impressive but such a strategy has failed many times before. But it’s still a beta – we’ll see what else they can dream up.
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