IMVU, Onverse, and ourWorld

A Change of Format

In the interest of keeping these blog posts to a more manageable size (and to keep myself sane), I've decided to switch up the format as I explore these virtual worlds. That's the great thing about this process; everything is a good learning experience!

I'll be addressing key issues and my overall impressions (hopefully in a succinct manner) for each of these worlds. Let's get started!

IMVU

• Age Appropriateness - IMVU's core age group is 18-24 year olds, and access is limited for underage users.
• Underlying Values - It seems that IMVU values being the world's largest 3D social network. this means that they are promoting connections and innovations among users.
  
  
  
  

• Hyper Sexualization - Nothing too out of the ordinary here. Of course all the avatars can be made to look sexy (and have perfect bodies), but I'm beginning to realize that's par for the course.
• Learning Goals - There were no obvious learning goals that I could see during my exploration.
• Ultimate Goals - It seems that IMVU is in the business of of making money through the sales of products within the virtual world. The also push for their users to become "affiliates" who can earn cash in return for ad space.

• Strengths - With over 50,000 people online at the time of exploration, 150 million registered users, and 3 million likes on Facebook, IMVU's strength is clearly in the number of users. Another strength that I see is the development of their mobile app - users can access this environment anywhere!
• Weaknesses - I think the monetization factor can be a turnoff for educators. 

Onverse

These virtual worlds are all starting to look the same to me, so they need to have something really unique to stand out from the crowd.

• Age Appropriateness - Nothing to out of the ordinary here. Looks like it's appropriate for teenagers and offers the usual services of 'chat, shop, and play.'
• Underlying Values - I'm having a hard time coming up with underlying values for a lot of these environments. I'd have to say that they all seem to value community building and (of course) making money through their services.

• Hyper Sexualization - It doesn't look like the avatars are too overly sexy in this world. Nothing out of the ordinary.
• Learning Goals - While there are no specific goals states on the site, I found through Wikipedia that Onverse is both a social network and virtual world. So users can create profiles, share files, and interact on a forum. This has good potential for educational purposes.
• Ultimate Goals - Again, no specific goals were stated on the site, but they seem to promote creating unique avatars who can chat, play games, and explore.

• Strengths - I'd say that the ability to share media, join a forum, and microblog are big strengths for this world, especially if we are talking about the potential to use this world in the classroom.
• Weaknesses - The website doesn't seem as nice as some of the other worlds out there, which leaves me feeling like it's not so professional. If I were to show this to a school administrator, I don't think they would be very impressed.

ourWorld

The last virtual environment for today is ourWorld, which I think has high appeal for teenagers. Just by looking at their homepage, I can see that ourWorld is working hard to bring teens into their world.

• Age Appropriateness - ourWorld has a standard privacy policy, but also has a section for parents, which show me that they take safety seriously and are committed to showing parents that their environment is appropriate for children.
• Underlying Values - ourWorld is owned by Flowplay, a gaming company whose mission is to bring people of all ages together to play games.

• Hyper Sexualization - While the avatars themselves can be made to look sexy, I think the parental controls don't allow for anything too inappropriate to happen.
• Learning Goals - As I mentioned above, ourWorld is owned by a gaming company, so I don't think they have any learning goals explicitly stated.
• Ultimate Goals - Flowplay's ultimate goal is to get more people to play their games, "with over 200 of the best online titles" to choose from in this world.

• Strengths - A big strength for ourWorld is how appealing they've made it for kids. I have a feeling that they would happily join this world. The fact that they reach out to parents about protecting children's privacy and safety is another bonus.
• Weaknesses - There doesn't seem to be much to do here other than play games, which range from puzzles to action games. Although they could be educational, I don't think the focus is there. I'm not sure if there is room for educational spaces to flourish.