Virtual Communities in Japan
Second Life have certainly had good coverage in Japan. All the major TV channels, newspapers and magazines have now run Second Life stories and according to Reuters, who have their own Second Life News Center, Japan has slowly been creeping up the top ten user countries list. Another source lists them as high as third.
However, there appears to be a fair amount of competition on the horizon. In particular, there has lately been a lot of media hype about a homegrown competitor named named ‘Meet-me’–a virtual community tailored specially for Japan. Set up by digital marketing company Transcosmos Inc, this virtual community strongly resembles Tokyo and the sun rises and sets in real Toyko time. Transcosmos head Kunimasa Hamaoka has been frank about the differences between Meet-me and its more famous rival. He emphasises that the world of Second Life is too dangerous for Japanese culture and that their version has more of a ‘sense of safety,’ meaning that it will resemble Disneyland rather than any harsher reality. Officially opening in December, ‘Meet-me’ will soon be ready complete with Christmas lights and of course, shopping cybermalls and entertainment districts. How long before Dentsu start to take an interest in them?
‘Meet-me’ is the the latest in a long line of Asian competitors to Second Life. Earlier this year Splume (www.splume.com) was launched in Japan, a virtual fantasy land that sets itself up as an environment that is much more user created than other applications and, SonyCorp’s virtual ‘Home’ will be launched next year. A similar programme has also been established in China named HiPiHi which might actually give Second Life a run for its money: http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/005657.html
So, it seems like the virtual community scene is alive and kicking in Asia but, if living lives through avatars is going to be as big and common a development as the internet, it still has a long way to go. By 2011, one research firm predicts that 80% of the people using the internet will also have another life in a virtual world. This is hard to imagine at the moment however, presumably such movements always are, and one would be forgiven for thinking that if Dentsu are taking something seriously, so should we.
Today, one Second Life Linden Dollar is equivalent to 0.434 yen. (http://secondlife.reuters.com/)