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Demystifying Online Virtual Worlds and the Potential They Possess
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We were at the recent Startup Saturday and one of the speakers was Siddharth Banerjee the Founder and CEO of a very interesting company by the name of Indusgeeks which deals in creating a presence for corporates in Virtual Worlds like SecondLife.com and others. Their previous experience includes working with clients like Cry and Satyam.
We questioned him on Virtual Worlds and the potential it possesses for users and corporates alike that can be leveraged.
Siddharth in his secondlife avatar
1) How long has your company been around? What kind of traction have you seen in the virtual world space?
Siddharth: We started in April 2007 , so about 1 year and 8 months now. Worldwide there are two different kinds of spaces developing in virtual worlds. The first is the traditionally known space of virtual world service providers like Second Life , There, Club Penguin etc. which create virtual worlds for the masses and try to attract different demographics to their platforms. The second is being led by companies like IBM and Sun which are focusing on enterprise and learning based virtual worlds services or 3D networked spaces for business and educational collaboration. Although there is a lot of traction in both the spaces : in the first segment we are seeing growing numbers of users being cannibalized by a even faster growing number of virtual worlds. I foresee consolidation and a lot of closures in the next couple of years. The second space however continues to explode and there is still a lot of scope for new companies to enter the market.
2) How many Indian users are on Virtual World? Which is the most popular one?
Siddharth: Club Penguin for children and Second Life for adults are the two most popular virtual worlds. Club Penguin usage is not known but net statistics would peg it at 5,000 active users + . On Second Life we have upwards of 50,000 registered users but about 1,500 active ones. I believe we will see Virtual World usage explode in India in 2009 with better bandwidth penetration and hardware. Also, relevant quality content for the Indian user needs to be available on the platform – as the adage goes a media platform is only as good as it’s best content.
3) Can you tell us more about the opportunity with respect to what companies can do on second life?
Siddharth: Firstly, companies need to look beyond Second Life. Second Life is one of the most important and versatile virtual platforms in the world but it isn’t the only one. If you are company or individual looking to make money out of selling virtual goods and services like Indusgeeks’s www.sljobfinder.com then you should look at Second Life as it has the best economy of any open, general purpose virtual world. However, if you are looking to use virtual worlds for educational, enterprise or even marketing purposes there are other platforms that might suit the billing better.
4) 5 must do thing on second life?
Siddharth:
1) Skydive @ Abbotts Aerodrome
2) Checkout Svarga @ Svarga – this is a fully functional , intelligent eco system ( you can feed the birds and see what happens if you don’t etc..)
3) Check out the Greenies @Â Greenies Home ( these are cute lil aliens in a monster sized house, you feel like you are a part of Honey I Blew Up the Kids!)
4) IBM – for the biz minded this is a cool place to see how IBM is prototyping, marketing and advertising it’s solutions using Second Life
5) Orange Island – created by the telecom giant this island is cool place to hang out with SL’s artists and musicians.
5) Some interesting insights on the future of virtual world?
Siddharth: Virtual Worlds are going to become a social and business utility available on the Net , much as the WorldWideWeb. After the initial hype has died down people are beginning to realize the actual applied potential of these worlds and these will manifest in different unexpected uses of the technology just like the early Internet.
We will see rise of a new class of virtual companies which sell and thrive on exchange of virtual goods and services. Companies will start using them for distance working and collaboration and Universities will make virtual worlds a must for their distance learning programs.
However, keeping the history of the Internet and most other disruptive technologies in mind – none of the above might happen and you might see an entirely new set of applications that no one ( but you maybe!) has thought of on this medium.
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Thanks for the post Rajiv. Just a clarification.. that should read Satyam instead of Wipro as one our major clients. We have not directly worked for Wipro yet.