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After I saw the I-D Media team in Berlin, I met up with Jeremy Snyder of the Berlin-based Metaversum, which I learned is currently working on a virtual world that will feature Web 2.0 integration that sounds along the lines of what’s being done in Kaneva, though perhaps with some extra features. Metaversum’s world has been in development since July of last year, and currently has about 40 people working on it, Jeremy says. (There’s also a hiring notice on their site.) First, though, the company is building out the social networking piece of things, a service known as Yumondo. This is described as “a Web 2.0 platform that will integrate with the world,” and will feature social networking, photo sharing, collaborative event planning and perhaps some other features that have yet to be decided. Look for that in April or May, with any luck. The world itself will be coming “later this year,” and will integrate with the Yumondo platform. The world will feature user-generated content, but it doesn’t sound like it will be quite as free and flexible as that found in Second Life. (Perhaps more like Sony’s PS3 home service? Remains to be seen.) However, it looks like importing of 3D models may be supported, which would be a nice feature.

The world will be a stand-alone client, and there will be free and premium memberships available, Jeremy says. Not a lot of this is set in stone, of course, so things could change, but it also looks like Metaversum will feature a floating currency, and draw at least a portion of its revenue (a major portion?) from microtransactions. Sounds like things will be Windows-only at first. The company is also designing a different processing model than in Second Life, which features sim-specific server allocation, though of course Jeremy wouldn’t say what the model would be. He also hinted at some other interesting features, though these haven’t been pinned down enough for me to feel comfortable blogging them. Look for more news as things develop.

Whatever Metaversum (or whatever its world is named) turns out to look like, I do think it’s great that this kind of thing is going on in Berlin, adding to Brooklyn, San Francisco and London as centers of metaversal development. Stay tuned for further updates from around the (real) globe.