Now this is the panel we've all been waiting for! Featuring Meg Pickard from The Guardian, Corey Bridges the Co-founder of The Multiverse Network, Aleks Krotoski from The Guardian Games Blog, Cory Doctorow from Boing Boing, and Giff Constable from the software business unit at the Electric Sheep company.

First question out of the gate is whether social networking sites are any different to virtual worlds. Meg Pickard claims that it's pretty much the same thing, "they're exploring, they're creating, they're dominating or trying to succeed", and above all, engaging with other users or friends.

Aleks Krotoski, who is also doing a PhD in virtual worlds, also agrees with Meg, but says the only real difference is that social networking sites generally connects people who know each other already offline, whereas virtual games connects people who generally don't know each other in the real world.

Giff Constable believes this is going to change, however, and said that we're going to see more real-world connections being maintained. It appears Corey Bridges, from The Multiverse Network wants to stir the pot a bit, and thinks the two worlds, both virtual and real, can be combined seamlessly.

The last panel member, to put his two pence worth in on this question, is Cory Doctorow, who mentions the differences in social relationships and real relationships, using Facebook's top friends application as an example, saying we're not likely to tell our friends in real life that they're our first best friend, you're my second, etc...

Virtual worlds thrive on money, after all, it's what keeps the servers running, and the gamers happy. But how does a company create revenue, through sales of virtual goods? How can this sector continue to grow, when sites like Facebook have seen free gifts application hacks made available, so paid-for gifts are no longer necessary?

These questions, and more, are due to be asked in the upcoming panel, where the Senior Editor at Harvard Business Review, Paul Hemp, Professor Michael Hulme from the Centre for Study of Media, Technology & Culture, David Orban CEO of Questar, Mat Small, CEO and Founder of Millions of Us, and Peter Edward, Director at Home Platform Group for Sony Computer Entertainment will attempt to answer this questions.

Adam Pasick is once again moderating this panel, and asks Peter from SCEE about their virtual goods use within the Home Platform. He explains that virtual goods allow you to decorate your avatar, show your personality, and explain to users in a different character just what sort of person you are, what your interests are, and your status within the game, whether you can afford to drape yourself in designer goods within the game.

This panel is once again moderated by Adam Pasick, Reuters Bureau Chief at Second Life, and features Daan Josephus Jitta, Direct Channels and Innovation, at ABN AMRO, and Marco van Veen, Manager, Web, Innovation & Collaboration Center, for Heineken.

Marco van Veen takes the stage first, and begins by admitting they don't have a virtual world, however they are looking at featuring in virtual worlds, through advertising. Obviously being a beer manufacturer, he says they still have a responsibility to ensure minors aren't targeted by their advertising, with advertising only being featured in online worlds where at least 70% of the users are over 21.

Second Life was an obvious answer. They looked at whether users would like to 'drink' the beer in Second Life, but with most users not that enthralled with drinking soft drinks, or eating food within the game, they decided not to go down that route.

They also looked at whether Heineken was expected to feature in online worlds, and whether it would actually improve their brand, whether Second Life was just a temporary fad or here to stay, and so on. Out of all the surveys they conducted, they determined that user statistics weren't conclusive (!). SECOND LIFE STATS LIE! (Obviously).

He finished on a high note, saying that Heineken believe virtual worlds are definitely here to stay, and they will continue to look into it in more detail.

Ooh! Ooh! The good one we've all been looking forward to today. Alice Taylor, Commissioning Editor at Education at Channel 4, plus woman behind the brilliant Wonderland gamer blog, is on this panel, as is Michael Smith, the CEO and Founder of MindCandy, who are here today promoting Moshi Monsters.

Timo Soininen, CEO at Sulake and Habbo, Mark William Hansen from the Lego Universe, Mattias Mikshe, CEO of Stardoll and Marc Goodchild, Head of Interactive and On-Demand at BBC Children's make up the rest of the panel, which is moderated by Adam Pasick, the Reuters Bureau Chief at Second Life.

Money made within games created for children is mentioned, and whether it's worth adding a fiscal element to games. Someone on the panel argues that this is the first generation being hit with the wave of virtual games, and they'll grow up accustomed to it. To them, this virtual world they inhabit is as real a world as the one they live in, so why shouldn't they be able to buy and sell items within games, he argues.

Everyone within this space is allowing children to do so, and it's important obviously for parents to be mindful of what their children are doing.

I could be being really dumb here, or it could be an Emperor's New Clothes moment. You decide. Vodafone's David Erixon has been on-stage at Virtual Worlds Forum Europe talking about the operator's Second Life activities, including its new 'Inside Out' tech.

Basically, it's a heads up display within Second Life that lets you make voice calls and send texts to friends real-world mobile phones, and vice versa. Around 10,000 have been distributed, says Erixon, which is pretty successful by Second Life standards.

Here's what I don't get: when I'm using Second Life, I invariably have my real-world mobile phone on the desk or in my pocket. If I want to call or text friends, I'll use that (and they'll call/text my mobile number in return). So why would I want to complicate that process by making part of it virtual?

Anyone? Bueller?

Check out other stories from the Virtual Worlds Forum Europe in our Virtual Reality category.

The next panel in today's Virtual Worlds Forum conference is also moderated by Wagner James Au from New World Notes, who once again opens proceedings by describing how easy keeping up to date with online actions is now mobile phone use is so predominant.

"Integrating mobile phones with virtual worlds is so important", he claims, and asks Rob Seaver, CEO of Vivox, a VoIP technology that works wirth virtual worlds, to take the podium.

They've worked with Second Life and Electric Sheep to allow users to chat to each other - perfect for discovering whether that blue furry elf really is the hot minx she makes herself out to be.

It's not just the convergence with mobile phones which virtual worlds have seen, as an episode of CSI tonight shows a link-up with Electric Sheep which will expand over the next few months.

According to tech blog Switched.com, which understandably has a vested interest in reporting such figures. As do we. Power to the WoW players, I say! I can't wait until the day when we're all wandering around IRL, donning battle hats and swords.

Just two million Americans live and work on ranches and farms, however World of Warcraft gamers in the US? Four million. Uh-huh. Power to the people, everyone. So next time someone tries to convince you that rural Americans are the 'real Americans', try wafting these smelly figures under their nose. Mmmm, breathe in that Doritos and Ribena-flavoured gamer sweat. Lovely.

(via Switched)

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The next panel opens at the Virtual World Forums Europe conference, with the moderator Wagner James Au, from New World Notes starting proceedings.

He beings by talking about Second Life, and how Armani opened an online shop within the online game, so users could deck their avatars out in actual Armani clothing. He mentions how the clothing didn't look right on the pixellated characters, and a simple clothing boutique two users within the game created, is much more popular amongst users than the luxury fashion brand.

Betsy Book from There.com takes to the stage, who talks a bit about her community, and how they work closely with several advertisers to ensure users aren't bombarded too much with the adverts, but they're tailored specifically for each gamer. She shows us a video of There.com, which allows for users to access goods from interactive kiosks.

They worked with a company to stage a concert within the game, where the Beastie Boys performed for the gamers, similar to that of Second Life's festival they staged in Summer.

Film industry veteran Lord Puttnam delivered the keynote address at this morning's Virtual Worlds Forum Europe conference, and had some stern words for broadcasters, who he says aren't engaging enough with virtual reality.

"Broadcast media is beginning to look rather incomplete," he said. "The industry should be worried about its failure to engage more with the virtual world. We used to think there would be a natural convergence with television, but although there has been a degree of convergence, it's not been between TV and online games. Instead, it's been between many different forms of interactive media."

In other words, TV firms have been slower to catch on to how they can work with virtual worlds (and Lord Puttnam sits on the Channel 4 board, so has first-hand knowledge). "The whole idea of interactivity being an add-on or extension seems quaint now. A generation of people have grown up with the expectation of being able to interact with their media. Broadcast is only half the format."

More from the Virtual Worlds Forum Europe, where we're having a session giving the full statistical skinny on the area. Jess Mulligan from Cyber Sports is giving the definition side of things, before Paul Jackson from Forrester Research gets busy with the stats.

First Jess. There's as little as 10% crossover between online games and social spaces (e.g. World of Warcraft vs Second Life), so they're really separate areas - despite the fact that many people who don't use either confuse the two.

Certain features are common though: they tend towards 3D first-person viewpoints, or 'iso-linear'. Games are primarily games: players are there to do something - achievement, exploration, and a very directive experience. But for social spaces, it's more about "hey dude, look how cool I am".

I'm sitting here with Kat at the Virtual Worlds Forum Europe conference in London, which has just kicked off with a keynote address by Lord Puttnam, and now we've our second Lord keynote of the day, in the form of Lord Triesman, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills.

He's the man in charge of government regulation for virtual worlds, in other words. He hasn't said his Second Life name yet. But he did start by saying virtual worlds are "one of the most exciting technological developments of recent years, and one to which we have to be especially attentive".

Apparently virtual worlds is "a great example of the United Kingdom leading in innovation", which is why the government is keen to support projects using them. He's also in charge of intellectual property - a thorny issue for virtual worlds. "It must be well managed in a virtual world, just as it's well managed in the real world".

You'd be forgiven for thinking Second Life is the only virtual world in town, from the acres of press hype in the last year. And there's no doubt that Linden Lab's world has deserved many of the plaudits (and fat marketing expenditure) coming its way, having been arguably the first non-gaming virtual world to excite mainstream attention.

But it's not alone. Industry body Virtual Worlds Management recently estimated that 35 virtual worlds companies had trousered over a billion dollars of investment in the last year (although that research has since been questioned, with some of those companies not actually being involved in virtual worlds, and $700 million of the figure coming from one acquisition).

Still, the research showed that there's a helluva lot of money being sunk into finding credible rivals for Second Life. I've picked out ten of the most interesting ones, to give some idea of the breadth of this emerging industry.

The latest example of the crossover between virtual worlds and television comes in a new project around forensic investigation show CSI:NY, thanks to a partnership between CBS and Second Life.

This Wednesday, an episode of the show will air in which the CSI team end up chasing a killer's avatar in Second Life. Once the show's finished, fans will be able to explore a dedicated CSI:NY zone within Second Life, playing mini-games and doing some detection of their own.

Watch the video above to see a preview of the virtual CSI:NY. Now, can someone do a similar thing for The Bill here in the UK?

(via Virtual Worlds Forum Blog)

Check out more Virtual Worlds Week posts in our Virtual Reality category

The metaverse is an increasingly crowded place, given the number of startups keen to take a slice of Second Life's hype and revenues. We'll be profiling some of the main rivals later this week, as well as taking a look at the hot young guns showing their worlds off at the Virtual Worlds Forum Europe conference.

But what about companies who should be launching their own virtual worlds, but haven't yet? I've had a think, and come up with five firms for whom it'd make sense to go virtual. Starting with...

1. Nintendo. A virtual world from The Big N could easily be seen as a me-too offering to rival Sony's PlayStation Home. But there are logical reasons for Nintendo to strike its own path too, using its Wii console as the main client. For starters, it's already got the Miis, which are avatars in search of their own virtual world if ever I saw them. It's also got the Wiimote controller, which could make navigating such a world a breeze. Nintendo's gaming heritage would give a ready source of inspiration for the world's look and feel, and the DS could bring mobility into the equation. Do it, Nintendo!

It was only a matter of time before Second Life was sucked into the parallel world of Facebook applications. Second Life Link is a new app that lets you show off your SL avatar on your Facebook profile, and show which of your Facebook friends are online in Second Life.

There's also an option to specify your home or favourite SL location, allowing friends to teleport straight there from within Facebook. Makers Fire Centaur say privacy hasn't been forgotten, so users can choose from several settings to decide whether or not their friends can see their online/offline status.

It's a neat application, which since its still in beta has scope for new features to be added later. How long till some developer wizard creates a full Second Life browser that works as a Facebook application though, hmm? Yeah, I know, probably a loooong long time.

Second Life Link application (via New World Notes)

Check out more Virtual Worlds Week posts in our Virtual Reality category

Linden Lab has announced a new in-world search engine for Second Life, which aims to make it easier to find cool places and products within the world.

It's using Google Search Appliances for indexing and search results, although before you get excited, that just means Linden has bought a licence to use Google's technology - it's not an actual partnership between the two firms.

The new search engine will cover land parcels, resident profiles, groups, wiki articles, events and some objects. Because the search results will be HTML pages, they'll be indexable by external search engines, so Linden Lab is introducing various privacy options for Second Life users who don't want their stuff to be included.

Second Life search engine announcement

Check out more Virtual Worlds Week posts in our Virtual Reality category

Meatspace? Schmeatspace! This week, it's all about virtual reality here on Tech Digest. To be specific, we're going to be focusing on all things virtual world related, from Second Life and PlayStation Home to the many startups angling for a slice of your avatar.

Watch out for a bunch of stories looking at the latest virtual world developments, while on Wednesday and Thursday we'll be liveblogging from the Virtual Worlds Forum Europe conference, where the biggest companies in the area will be showing off their new developments and talking about the latest trends.

So watch this space, or head to our Virtual Reality category to see all the latest posts.

Now, chances are you spend a lot of time on the internet. There's nothing wrong with that. In fact, it's definitely better than spending your evenings worrying about the sex life of Ian Beale and which moron's going to get voted off whatever abysmal reality show is currently fashionable.

But doing job interviews? Online? In the odd fantasy world of Second Life? It's corporate suicide for whoever hires someone based on their "internet persona!"

Global consultancy firm Accenture has apparently been interviewing potential employees in Second Life, following a series of job fairs in the weirdo-collecting virtual game. But people aren't really the same on the internet as they are in real life, are they? It is literally the worst idea anyone's had for a good 20 years.

The New Scientist report goes on to list possibly useful applications for Second Life - keeping all the freaky IT staff holed up in online towns and safely away from the normal people.

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At last, a reason to log back into Second Life that doesn't involve getting spammed by a brand. UK charity Macmillan Cancer Support is holding what it says is the 'World's Largest Coffee Morning' this Friday within the virtual world, at its new virtual cancer information centre.

It's been created for Macmillan by Second Life creative firms New Business Horizons and Phoenix Film & Television. Visitors to the centre will be served virtual coffee all day, while giant coffee cups are being placed around the Second Life world to attract donations, with every donor getting a free virtual t-shirt by way of thanks.

Once all the cups have been washed up (or whatever the virtual equivalent is - deleted?), Macmillan's centre will be a venue for people affected by cancer to visit and access a wealth of resources. If you're a Second Lifer, you can zap to the centre by using the SLURL below.

Macmillan Cancer Information Centre in Second Life

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Okay, so Google already has a virtual world: it's called Google Earth. But I'm talking a Second Life style virtual world, with avatars and community features and big furry-penised love machines all over the shop. Well, maybe not that last one.

The rumour's come from Arizona State University, where students have been asked to sign up to beta test a new product from "a major internet company", with the signup form (pictured above) mentioning 3D modelling, gaming and avatars, and asking specifically if they have a Gmail account. The university has strong ties with Google in other areas.

As an over-excitable blogger, that's all the proof I need to start shouting about GoogleLife's imminent launch, most likely blending Second Life style 3D avatars and environments with accessible casual web games. And stuff. The ASU signup form says the mystery product will be publicly launched "later this year", so I won't have to wait long to be proved entirely wrong.

(via Ars Technica)

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