Found this great compile of alternate virtual worlds.
AlphaWorld - “SW City Revolution”:
From the website:
AlphaWorld, is the oldest collaborative virtual world on the Internet, and home to millions of people from all over the world. Since it’s birth in 1995 AlphaWorld has rapidly grown in size and is roughly as large as the state of California, and now exceeds 60 million virtual objects!
This has been open since 1996
Entropia Universe (aka “Project Entropia”)
The Sims Online - “”Sims Online” - game commercial”
PlayStation Home - “GDC ‘07: Playstation Home Debut Trailer”
Sony has officially and vehemently disqualified PlayStation Home as an alternative to Second Life. Here’s a quote from a recent Phil Harrison interview on the flog:
PH: I think you’re way oversimplifying by suggesting Second Life and Home are the same. In Home, you get a character and a 3D world, and that’s where the similarity ends. Second Life does some brilliant things but with Home, we’re providing a service. Therefore, the tone of voice is what will differentiate it – Home is about entertainment, it has a game focus, and it’s about sharing with a like-minded community. We don’t give users the level of influence over the environment, behaviour and object definitions that Second Life does – it’s as secure as any other PS3 game. With some of the operating system protocols that are built into the Cell chip, it’s about as secure as you can be on a consumer device.
Kaneva - “Kaneva - A Worldly Vision”
There - There.com First Virtual Steps
HiPiHi - “hipihi Newest test video frequency”
There’s no Chinese port of Second Life, but somebody decided to build something just like it. (The claim here is that they didn’t even know about SL when they started.)
Pre-Beta
Areae Inc. - They’re being very secretive, but seem determined to create a space that marries Web 2.0 (social networking sites like MySpace and YouTube) with immersive user-created environments like Second Life. They have an all-star cast of advisers, but so far we know very little else.
Outback Online - Promises to be just like SL but also with multiple planets.
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Other Neat Worlds
Whyville - A 2D world for 8-15 year olds. It’s been around since 1999 as a safe and educational social environment. Players interact in environments where they learn about science, math, art, civics, and economics.
Cyworld - A huge hit in South Korea and a newer phenomenon in the west.
Check out this quote from Wikipedia:
Korea’s Internet culture has embraced the Cyworld model, which differs from the blog culture of the United States. The simplicity of buying items to decorate one’s minihompy, without needing to learn HTML or Photoshop, has attracted many young women who had not previously used the Internet. This item-based business model has also bolstered Internet community sites that had previously struggled as free services. Many renowned Korean socialites and celebrities have been known to possess a cyworld account in which details of their upcoming tours and works are posted, such is the case with korean icons such as Duk-In Joo, poet and author of the bestselling meaning of meanings novel.
The corporate world has also embraced Cyworld, with examples of companies creating minihompies to accompany product launches. Celebrities and politicians have also increasingly opted for minihompies, rather than homepages, to gain closer contact with the population.
Worlds.com - A collection of themed worlds commercially created. Free to play (although there is a premium account option), insanely low system requirements, and lots of music-band themed worlds.
See Habbo Hotel, Webkinz and Club Penguin for three more fun and monstrously popular social spaces… but I’ve got to stop somewhere here.
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via Second Life Games Blog
Seed Newsvine
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