The weblog, which is being run by Gamasutra and GameSetWatch writer Leigh Alexander, has been set up because "...the staff at Game Developer Research will be launching multiple reports on the state and future of online worlds over the next few months." Thus, the new blog will report on virtual worlds as the staff compiles information on this increasingly important market.

The importance of online worlds to the game industry is explained in a recent Gamasutra interview with Raph Koster, in which the MUD and MMO veteran notes:

"Consider the statistics. Webkinz, 2.5 million uniques in December; you buy a plush toy. Runescape: we still don't think of Runescape as being part of our industry, but it's probably the most popular MMO in the world, more popular than WoW. Toontown is up to more than 2.5 million uniques now. We never talk about Toontown because it's web deployed.

Then of course there’s was Club Penguin, with 4.5 million uniques in December alone...When you compare the numbers, all of those are larger than the number two MMO in the western world, every single one of them. So yeah, I think people are missing something."

Multiverse CEO and Co-Founder, Bill Turpin, and the other Multiverse co-founders who are veterans from Netscape's early days, helped create much of the core technology that fueled the growth of the World Wide Web.

"Similar to what we experienced with the Internet in 1995, our vision today is to spark explosive growth of 3D virtual worlds," Turpin said. "As an industry, we're just now beginning to understand this new medium's enormous potential. Empowered by our technology, the next wave of online pioneers will create a wide variety of virtual worlds faster and for less money than ever before."

First Law: Virtual worlds are not games, but neither are they a parallel universe (yet). The initial reaction of many business leaders when faced with virtual worlds is to dismiss them as a mere "game" of no benefit to the enterprise and something to be banned for wasting compute resources and time. Many of those that see beyond the gaming elements immediately veer toward questions such as "How do we exploit this as a sales channel?" This reaction is equally incorrect and potentially even more damaging to the enterprise. "Growth in virtual worlds is significant but lower than it appears; the overall population of non-game virtual worlds is still small compared to massively multi-user online games (MMOGs) and the totality of community-oriented and niche-targeted environments," Mr. Prentice said.

Second Law: Behind every avatar is a real person. Gartner said people can't be fooled by the fantasy elements in the virtual world. There are unwritten rules and expectations for behavior and culture are developing. Enterprise users must consider their corporate reputations.

Third Law: Be relevant and add value. Many commercial companies have established a virtual world presence, but none have converted it into an effective, profitable sales channel. There has been criticism of early corporate entries into the virtual world, Second Life, related to the showrooms usually being empty and lacking atmosphere. While there have been a limited number of individuals who have earned more than $5,000 per year from their virtual world businesses, most corporations will see minimal revenue gains in the market at this time. "Do not expect to undertake profitable commercial activities inside most virtual worlds in the next three years," Mr. Prentice said.

Fourth Law: Understand and contain the downside. Enterprises face serious questions, such as "Could activities in the virtual world undermine or influence my organization/brand in the real world?" With significant portions of the virtual economy based on adult oriented activities, questions of appropriate behavior and ethics also arrive. In-world behavior can be a problem in public areas; annoying interruptions can range from unintentional arrivals and erratic behavior from new residents whose avatar control is still suspect to misdemeanors such as graffiti, to more-concerted protest activities designed to disrupt.

Fifth Law: This is a long haul. Today's multiplicity of virtual environments has developed through the convergence of social networking, simulation and online gaming. There are many new entrants, whose stability and scalability are not yet established. There is significant probability that, over time, market pressures will lead to a merging of current virtual worlds into a smaller number of open-sourced environments that support the free transfer of assets and avatars from one to another with the use of a single, universal client.

The largest cohort of activity (wholly 30%) takes place in the Gaia forums, and here's where the truly staggering numbers come in: Averaging a million posts a day and a billion posts so far, Gaia's message boards (with topics running the gamut from pop culture to politics) is second only to Yahoo in popularity.

Craig Sherman has been thinking what the value-proposition of his site in the era of MySpace or Facebook. "In a world where teens are constantly branding and packaging themselves" on sites like those, he points out, "Gaia is where you get away from it all."

Instead of monthly subscriptions, Gaia Online sells "rare items" - treasures, fantastically cool fashion accessories for player avatars, and so on - two offered a month for $2.50 each. Subscribers buy them via credit card, Pay Pay, cellphone - or cash on the barrel. ("We employ someone full time whose job is getting dollars and quarters" out of envelopes kids send them, Sherman notes.)

First off, I am not a Second Life hater. Let me say that again: I am not a Second Life hater. I'm on record as saying that there's something important going on inside the game.

That said, I've been bemused by the amount of hype and attention the game...er...virtual world thingee has received over the past three months. The media has been on SL like white on rice. I've only written about SL a couple of times on this site, but I've probably received five enquiries from sundry Canadian news outlets asking if I played, or knew anybody who played, or knew anybody who was making a six figure income from playing, and so forth.

WeeWorld is the only online personalized identity provider that enables users to carry their alter-ego with them throughout their online and offline lives. For example, international mobile partnerships such as Motorola and Vodafone enable users to extend their digital identity to cell phone picture messages, caller ID alerts and wallpapers. As the company continues to cultivate strategic partnerships with companies such as Skype, MSN and AOL, WeeWorld is poised to become the standard for online/mobile digital expression and personalization.

In addition to WeeMee portability, WeeWorld.com provides interactive games and personalized ecards to send to friends. Users can create WeeBuddies for their friends, keep their own blog and continually update their own WeeMee to express their current mood or daily attire. WeeWorld also plans to evolve into the broader social networking realm by allowing each WeeMee to create and personalize their own space.

With billions of possible configurations, there is a WeeMee for everyone, as users choose their body shape, skin color, hair style, emotion, clothing, accessories, pets, pastimes, passions, pursuits, sports, backgrounds, moods, emotions and feelings.

This September, Starwood Hotels will become the first company in history to open a new hotel brand inside of a virtual world. Prior to opening to the public in 2008, aloft hotels will offer a sneak preview inside of Second Life. As we build our virtual aloft hotel, this weblog will track the progress of the development, giving you an in depth insiders view of how a virtual hotel is created.

Dozens of new social networks are coming to market this year, but Cyworld has seven years of experience and the backing of SK Communications, a subsidiary of Korea's largest wireless operator SK Telecom, to kick off its attempt at global domination.

Cyworld's U.S. efforts are more than just a way to tap the American market, the site is the platform for building sites that will be launched in Europe - Germany and the U.K. among other EU countries - as well as South America, and east Asia. Cyworld already has sites in China, Japan and Taiwan. While MySpace has similar plans to launch in Germany this summer, Cyworld plans to open a site in Germany early next year in a partnership with Deutsche Telecom.

Create your Minime - your avatar in Cyworld. Your Minime represents all aspects of you ... the "you" inside of you, the "you" you want to be. Or just the "you" you feel like sharing today. Have fun styling your Minime. You can change its hair, clothing, facial expression, mood, position and background as often as you like.