Play Party Games 2.0

hide and seek, originally uploaded by phantom kitty.

So I read an interesting little snippet in Short List magazine about events on in London. One I found interesting was a hideandseekfest which is a demonstration of a global craze called social gaming. I thought gaming was always social.

It got me to thinking about a trend we pulled out late last year about how the Web2.0 world or virtual world is in fact driving the need for the real world. People are spending more time online but they also want more 'REAL' experiences and real products. Using the online world to drive more real things. Flash mobbing, worlds biggest waterfight, June 1st last night drinking on the tube etc. Its almost the polar opposities see saw. Where you want the complete opposites and different points but you need both.

Where it is going to get really interesting, is how people combine the two in the future.... just had a thought for a client.... back later

China to take over the virtual world first

Thanks to Faris for posting the Most Contagious 2007. I have just seen something very cool but very scary as well. The feeling has always been that China were learning from the western commercialised world to step up and take over. This is a great start to cutting out the middle man

China / MindArk /
One of this year's most mind-boggling stories came
from The Guardian, which reported in November on an
ambitious co-venture between the Chinese government
and MindArk, Gothenburg, the company behind virtual
world Entropia Universe. The plan is to construct a
virtual world that will play host to billions of avatars,
repeating what China has done in manufacturing, only
this time in services. Hosting 7 million avatars at a time,
this will dwarf Second Life's 50,000 average online users
at any one time, and the Chinese authorities plan to
convert an 100 sq km industrial site to house the project’s
servers. The implications for international trade and
commerce are huge, potentially creating a one-stop
shop that connects consumers direct with Chinese
suppliers and offering a base for international companies'
online wares. OK, it doesn't sound that sexy, but it is
social shopping, virtual existences, online retail, and a
potentially hugely destablising influence on the global
economy that we can't afford to ignore. It’s already
being described as surpassing the Industrial Revolution
in terms of velocity and influence.

Should make things interesting in the virtual and real worlds