Two unrelated items culled from the incredibly useful Virtual Worlds Weekly newsletter. The newsletter continues to amaze me with the sheer number of virtual worlds being launched constantly, and the range of activity within.
The first item to catch my eye this week was mention of a quote from Philip Rosedale (aka Philip Linden of Linden Lab) estimating that 15%-20% of activity in Second Life is business or education. That is quite a high percentage, and very encouraging. The full interview is here on Fast Company.
The second is that McDonalds have launched their own virtual world! See it for yourself here. They are currently accepting votes on just what to name the virtual world, though sadly you have to pick from a list – no opportunity to suggest the name yourself. So no chance of ObesityOnline. With an invitation to join and a code on every happy meal sold (in the US at least), they have a large captive market to advertise and promote their world to.
As a marketing manager for McDonalds once said “we are competing for a share of the customer’s mind” (Alistair Fairgrieve, McDonalds UK Marketing Services Manager, during the ‘McLibel‘ trail in the UK). This virtual world is now the latest weapon they have in that competition.
Well, if the citizens of McD World do end up piling on the pounds, there is always this suggestion from Clive Thompson of Wired.com:
Fun Way to Lose Weight: Turn Dieting Into an RPG,
http://www.wired.com/gaming/virtualworlds/commentary/games/2008/08/gamesfrontiers_0811