Virtual
worlds are growing fast.
In 2009, there
were 136 million people active in virtual worlds. That
number is projected to grow to over 2
billion in 2014.
There are many
different varieties of virtual worlds, from 2D and 3D worlds to
user-generated
content or professional content, from
browser-based
and download worlds
to
free or paid worlds, and from chat-based to more game-like massively
multiplayer worlds.
With so many virtual
worlds coming to the market, this
website has been built to try and
help you
choose which one is right for
you. Our
virtual world list is not complete, but
it is
a start.
We
will do our best to update the list as we
find new virtual worlds and have time. Get
those avatars
ready to chat,
dance
and play games!
Onverse
is a fairly new virtual world. It really shined in the
factors we
were looking for most in virtual worlds. While it is a social
virtual world, it is more game-like than most virtual worlds.
You can run around and collect points
for shopping to upgrade
from a free
apartment, dress your avatar, collect pets, and most of
all, play games. The gaming angle is why we both really liked
it
and also think the future is bright for
it. The community was
outstanding as well. There is still some work that needs to
be done, but apparently this has been built by a very small team thus
far, which again bodes well for the future of this product.
Habbo
is one of the oldest worlds out there, and thus has a lot of things to
do. The graphics are probably the biggest downside to Habbo,
but most web-based worlds fall into this catagory due to the
inability of browsers to handle complex 3D rendering.
There were plenty of fun games and activities for us to take
part in. The community was good and communication was easy.
Grab a free Guest Room and decorate with "furni", or head out
to Public Rooms to meet people and hang out.
There
is a fun place. It has a lot of the things we value highly in our
ratings system. Tons of areas, customizations galore, and even
some humorous situations to boot. The biggest downside we found were
the load times. Sure you get into areas fairly quickly, but because
everything is loaded as you go, it sometimes took as long as 10 minutes
to load the objects around us, leading to some moments when we didn't
know why we couldn't move, but came to find out that we were inside a
building that just hadn't loaded yet. All in all, the ratings were high
though and we had a lot of fun.
Free
Realms is a beautiful world with a lot of activities, customizations,
you name it! The problem we found is that it really doesn't
feel like a virtual world, it feels more like an MMORPG. They
call themselves a virtual world, however, and because we really like
the game-side of virtual worlds, they scored very high in most
catagories. There are usually a lot of people playing, so we
found the community to be helpful, another high score.
Second
Life is the poster child for the first thing people think of when
someone says "virtual world." While it is a wonderful concept and the
possibilities are endless, our review board tends to like things more
focused towards fun things to do. Second Life is just a little
overwhelming for someone who just wants to have a laugh and is more
intended as a tool for creation, rather than just being able to hop in
and have fun. We have to hand them a top 5 though as if it weren't for
SL, most of the others wouldn't have been built. Careful, as
many areas are very adult-themed.
