This week, the Behavioral Research Department says goodbye to our summer interns – CarterAllen and MetalStorm001. Both have played key roles in the success of our summer Virtual Worlds Research Program. Together, they have conducted research on marketing, branding and avatar behavior in a range of virtual worlds including:

• HiPiHi
• Doppelganger
• Habbo Hotel
• ToonTown 
• There.com
• Entropia
• Kaneva
• RuneScape
• Whyville
• And of course, Second Life

MetalStorm001 and CarterAllen have become so immersed with in-world experiences that I refer to them by their avatar names here. But just before I send them back to school and back to the realities that come with the real world, I wanted to ask them a few questions about their virtual world experiences so far. Here’s what they had to say.

What is your favorite virtual world and why?

CarterAllen: Kaneva was my favorite, mainly because they seemed to merge the real world with the virtual world. Many of these worlds, like RuneScape or Entropia, are so far out that they hardly seem possible, and these fantasy aspects are why they’re such a big draw for many users. However, Kaneva combined aspects of a virtual world like Second Life with aspects of a 2D social networking site like MySpace, and this made the world a sort of halfway point between the virtual world and the real world. It’s targeted specifically at users who are less interested in extensive fantasy worlds, but more interested in spending time online for social interaction.

MetalStorm001: I would choose There.com. There are several reasons. A)  There is a very large area of land to explore and many cool themes for islands and such. Such as an island designed to look like an alien planet and a city called Saja, which is located above the ground, floating in the sky. B) I like that in There.com, if you do not pay for the subscription, you can level up your skills to get awarded free stuff. That way, even if you don’t want to spend money on the game, you can still customize your avatar and have your own house. C) I also enjoy that there is always an activity being held somewhere in There.com pretty much all the time, all you have to do to find people is look for an activity in the activity bar. D) I also love that real bands come into the game to play in concerts that you can attend. E) I also like the ability to customize your avatar in many ways, from changing their appearance, to whatever you want them to wear, from goofy clown noses to cool t-shirts.

What is the most surprising thing you learned in your virtual worlds research this summer?

CarterAllen: The most surprising aspect for me is how fast these worlds are growing. For instance, Second Life has grown from 6 million avatars to 8 million avatars (a 25% increase) in the last two months. Yet, more than anything else, it almost boggles my mind that people are willing to spend their hard earned dollars on virtual items (land, houses, clothing, concerts) that don’t even really exist. More than $1.25 million real dollars are usually spent in world in Second Life on a day to day basis. This is proof more than anything else that virtual worlds are more than just a passing fad. 

MetalStorm001: First, I’m surprised that so many people take virtual worlds very seriously and spend a large portion of their time in world. Second, I’m amazed that the amount of custom made items is almost infinite… I mean, I have ridden on everything from a sports car to a giant floating Great White Shark! Thirdly, I learned that no two virtual worlds are the same, even though some strive for the same goal as their competitors.

Will you go in world after you leave this internship?

CarterAllen: Honestly, probably not. This is partly because I think if I picked up virtual world browsing as a habit, I don’t know how I’d ever get anything else done at college. The other part is that, while I’ve immensely enjoyed researching and learning about these worlds over the last three months, it’s still not something where I’ve then felt like, “Wow, this is something that I have to get into.” For me, the concept of a virtual world where people actually interact, much less spend money, is in itself almost surreal and challenges our traditional view of reality.

MetalStorm001: Yes, There.com is entertaining and I would like to continue playing after I leave my internship here at Spunlogic. Probably, because I have it on my computer and a couple of my friends play. If my friends didn’t play, I probably wouldn’t, because I wouldn’t know anybody and it’d be complete strangers online. I will also go into World of Warcraft after my internship, because I’m currently paying for that game and I find it very entertaining and fun to play.

What are your thoughts on the future of virtual worlds? How will they change or evolve?

CarterAllen: I think the evolution of virtual worlds over the next five years is going to be very interesting. Like most somewhat controversial issues, there are distinct positives and negatives that come with these booming virtual worlds. On the positive side, worlds like Second Life have created virtual meeting spaces for businesses. This never before has been possible. Two people from opposite ends of the world can now interact and hang out in the same club, side by side. The social networking possibilities are limitless. At the same time, virtual worlds may open up a new can of worms that even ten years ago we never could have envisioned. There was an article in last week’s Wall Street Journal about a man whose real-life marriage is on the ropes because of his Second Life relationship with another woman. I think it’s a given that virtual worlds are going to grow like wildfire in the next few years. Whether that’s such a good thing or not remains to be seen.

MetalStorm001: Virtual Worlds will never die. They provide us with an alternative with which to escape from reality and become someone other than ourselves. I think more companies will get in, even though a lot of companies are already in-world. People will always play, but if they keep making more virtual worlds, eventually there will be too many. There are already some that aren’t making it because there aren’t enough people going in them. With more and more virtual worlds popping up, they’re going to continue to run into that problem.