FlowPlay Flows Into Virtual World Arena in April
FlowPlay is an upcoming virtual world being developed by Derrick Morton, an alum of RealNetworks, which also produced Second Life founder Philip Rosedale. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has a good piece on the new world from venture capital reporter John Cook. Pitched at older teenagers, FlowPlay plans to hook people by giving them casual games to play that will earn them virtual currency, much in the manner of Club Penguin. The service will launch this summer, according to the bare-bones FlowPlay Web site, after what sounds like a private alpha that opens in April, according to the article. Morton’s idea to hook members with games is similar to the ideas of Raph Koster, who often speaks about virtual worlds needing more engaging introductions (though little is known about just how his new Areae platform will work. Sounds like things are still in flux at FlowPlay, with decisions as to subscription fees yet to be made, but we look forward to seeing what develops. So add one to the growing list of virtual spaces. It will be interesting to see how this all shakes out, and how all these places differentiate themselves. (A 3pointD aside: The only thing that will save most of these places from going bust is some kind of interoperable identity system. And even that might not be enough.)
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Yo, East Williamsburg. Seattle is the wellspring from which metaverses spring. Where’s the capital, now?
*performs complex gang signs while moonwalking off stage left*
A comment on the 3pointD aside - It is more important to have an interoperable virtual currency than interoperable identity. People seem to have no problem with a multitude of identities online (2D or 3D), and, in fact, they seem to like it that way.
Ha, Trevor you guys fell off when Pierce P left. Even your attempt to rebrand yourselves The Great North West Williamsburg has done little good, for as Episode 110 of The Burg reminds us, “North Williamsburg is the new regular Williamsburg!” Not the North West.
But suriously, it would be nice to see a metaverse map of who all’s where doing what. And Portland, OR is an old stomping ground of mine, I love it up where you are.
secureplay > People seem to have no problem with a multitude of identities online (2D or 3D), and, in fact, they seem to like it that way.
Alts are important, but there are obviously huge problems pointing multiple online identities in the same direction. Best bridge I’ve found so far is onxiam. onxiam for currencies? That could be interesting.