Metaplace introduced the world to a brand new technology two days ago -- the ability to embed a fully functional virtual world into any website or forum, anything that can handle HTML.

This upgrade allows Metaplace to act like a more enhanced version of Google's old Lively service. All you need to do is make a world, take the embeddable HTML code from it, drop it into your website, and you now have a full virtual world running in flash right inside of your blog post or forum thread. The world can be edited to your whims through the Metaplace builder, letting you create whatever you want to create inside of your space. Think of it like Second Life Lite.

We had more than a few questions for Raph Koster, the founder and creator of Metaplace, about this new upgrade for his virtual platform, so we caught up with him to pick his mind on Metaplace and virtual worlds at large.

Metaplace is quite large now, with well over 30,000 worlds created. How does Metaplace avoid spreading the population out too thinly, as, after all, these are social worlds? Is that a challenge for you guys?

It is. It is a challenge. Many of our worlds are empty at any given time. Many of them are people's "apartments" or "personal spaces." Everyone gets a world when they start out in Metaplace, and a large majority of them are unimproved.

What we've found out is that people really congregate in the well done worlds. Because of that, we've spent a lot of time on searching algorithms to find the worlds that people consider to be the best and the worlds that are the most populated at that point in time and then bring them up top to the user. We're also working on expanding our support for events, so when something interesting is going on in Metaplace all users will get a notification. This way they can click the link and go and check it out quickly. Yet, sometimes great worlds get lost for a time, but then they get rediscovered as people re-find them.

"Virtual worlds need to make that jump to become "ordinary," in a way"

We've also included a new feature, called the golden egg. This allows veteran users to market their worlds to others by purchasing this new item. The egg, which is 25,000 coins, can be placed in your virtual world for others to find. Once they find it and click on it, they get 500 coins as a present and are also given the location of another world that has a golden egg. Every world that has a golden egg in it is also listed in the golden egg world list. There's also a golden egg in Metaplace Central that "kicks off" the quest, so to speak.

Where do you see virtual worlds going in the future?

One of the big questions at the last convention I attended was, "What's next?" In some ways, we've already accomplished a lot of the dream. A lot of the things that people expected out of virtual worlds have come true.

We have mass marketed virtual worlds that aren't extremely popular, but, you know, popular enough. We've reached a level of penetration in entertainment that's quite high. But they haven't jumped to total mainstream acceptance yet.

I think that's the next step. Virtual worlds need to make that jump to become "ordinary," in a way. Having them become a key part of the web would be a key part of that. It's always been a mistake for us to think that virtual worlds will swallow the web. I don't think that's the way things are going. But I do think we'll be seeing a much tighter integration between virtual worlds and the rest of the Internet. I really think Metaplace is kicking the ball forward, in regards to that.

So what's the future for Metaplace, specifically?

We're always focusing on making it easier for users, in addition to hosting building classes so people can learn how to build new worlds. We also have a roadmap on our forums that contains a list of proposed features that anyone can check out, all of which is scheduled to come out in the next few months. We're still in the early days -- second month of open beta with a very soft launch -- and we're gonna keep building on what we got and make it easier for everyone to have a virtual world of their own!

Thanks for your time, Raph!

Let's face facts -- people don't like admitting that they don't know something or need help. They'd rather hammer at the problem until they solve it themselves, or they'd rather ask a trusted friend for help. Kids are super guilty of this, as they'd rather not tell an adult when they can't do something themselves.

So how do you work with kids when you're the support staff of their favorite game?

Steve Wilson, customer service manager of FusionFall, decided to do some digging with support groups to find what they could do better in their customer support. What did he find out? Simplicity is key -- something that goes way beyond just the 8 to 13-year-old demographic.

Customers don't want to be railroaded through a knowledgebase, nor sent to be put on hold with phone support. They'd rather perform a quick in-game chat to have their problems solved.

He also found out that players would rather consult with other players than a member of a support team, which is why why FusionFall puts such a strong emphasis on their community forums and the support section. Players can ask questions of their fellow players while a support agent can chime into the threads when necessary. It maximizes the agent's time, and it allows the player to feel comfortable. A win-win all around!

[Via Parature]

When we heard the infectious Free Realms theme song by The Dares, we knew we were headed for some silliness. After all, if a game is truly about "your world" as the song declared - meaning player choice - well, that's the stuff today's bubble-gum pink One Shots is made of. It comes to us courtesy of Brian H, who tells us a bit more about this image: Just a fun little screen shot I captured of my level 20 ninja being a real ninja, you know, in pink...

One Shots relies on you, dear readers, to send in your images of adventure, silliness, or battle! It's easy to participate. Just email an interesting, cool, etc. screenshot to us at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a brief description. We'll put it up here for everyone to check out and give you the credit. So send in those screenshots!

With Sparkplay Media's first game, Earth Eternal, going into beta, we got the chance to sit down with the CEO of the company, Matt Mihaly, and pick his mind on a variety of things related to setting up shop in the free to play genre.

Matt's no stranger to the massively multiplayer space, holding a strong background as the CEO and founder of Iron Realms Entertainment, a company dedicated to creating multi-user dungeons (MUDs) including Imperian, Aetola, Achaea, and Lusternia. If that wasn't enough, Achaea was one of the first games to introduce the sales of virtual goods, making him one of the pioneers of the base that free-to-play games now stand on.

So what's his thought process behind Earth Eternal? What are some of the things we can expect from the MMO that's sporting over 22 races? Hit the continue reading link, and find out!

How have the launches of FusionFall and Free Realms affected Earth Eternal? Have you changed your development or goals in any way because of the success of those two games, or have you stayed the course and continued to build things your way, disregarding those two games?

Not really, no. Games like Runescape and Habbo have had more influence on our plans than either of those two games, simply because they're so much bigger. FusionFall and Free Realms have gotten a lot of press in the last year, but neither of them have achieved the level of success that games like Runescape and Habbo have.

Actually, nobody really knows how Free Realms is doing outside of SOE. Three million registrations doesn't tell you much about how many active players they have as you don't know how quickly players are churning out of the experience. With the massive dollars they spent on marketing too, it'd be surprising if they couldn't get a few million registrations. The challenge for them (and everyone else in this space, including us) is to convert that fleeting attention into long-term, loyal players.

"We're more in the vein of a classic fantasy MMO than a collection of minigames."

How will Earth Eternal separate itself from the growing free-to-play genre in America? What will make this game stand out?

We're a different kind of experience from FusionFall or Free Realms. We're more in the vein of a classic fantasy MMO than a collection of minigames. I think where we stand out is by offering the best browser-based fantasy MMO out there. We've made the decision to have no humans, elves, or dwarves (or gnomes, hobbits, or anything else too close to human), preferring instead to offer everything from humanoid lizards and falcons to the Clockwork and Yeti. We're definitely fantasy but we want to stay away from the pack, almost all of whom have the humans/elves/dwarves thing going on. We've also got an enormous number of races for players (unlike the two games you mentioned) – 22 at launch.

Considering all of Earth Eternal's development, what part of the game are you the most proud of? What is that one feature you can't wait to show off?

The number one thing I'm proud of is how much our team has managed to do on relatively little funding for an open world 3D MMO (about five million dollars.) As far as game features go the biggest feature I'm looking forward to showing off is our Groves system, which will be introduced at final launch, a few months after we go into open beta.

Thanks so much for your time, Matt!

It's been a long run for the Gossip Girl simulation on Second Life, two years in the making actually, but all good things must come to an end. The well trafficked sims will be closing the doors tomorrow, as Warner Brothers and The CW discontinue their virtual marketing campaign for the show of the same name.

But that doesn't mean the Gossip Girl community is dying...

Fans of the simulation will be overjoyed to hear that the Gossip Girl community is transitioning to a new home thanks to the Metaverse Mod Squad, the builders and moderators of the original official sims. While the official sims, and the setting of the Upper East Side, will be retired on June 30th, the new doors will open on July 1st to large fanfare and a great number of festivities.

Sony Online Entertainment Fan Faire 2009 is happening in Las Vegas, and of course they've had a number of things to unveil so far. SOE president John Smedley gave his community address last evening, and other speakers made an appearance as well. We've got a few highlights from SOE Fan Faire 2009 for you:


Smedley jumped right in by talking about the state of the SOE game lineup and some of the new directions they've explored with them in this past year. One of those new directions has been the introduction of Station Cash, and he talked about the growing adoption of Station Cash among SOE game subscribers in EverQuest and EverQuest II, as well as how it will soon be tied into new services and customization options. He announced a partnership with Hewlett-Packard which will allow players to purchase matte print images of art from the games using Station Cash. You'll be able to have your own character rendered in a high-quality art print, or even have your entire guild depicted and sent to you as a hardcopy art book.


On the topic of EverQuest, remember that mention we had of SOE trademarking new EQ properties? It turns out these are the new expansions: EverQuest: Underfoot and EverQuest II: Sentinel's Fate. Smedley kicked off the EQ announcements by reflecting back on 10 years of EverQuest and looking to where the IP is headed in the future. EverQuest II producer Alan "Brenlo" Crosby discussed the game's sixth expansion, Sentinel's Fate, where players will travel to the land of Odus and see what's happened there since The Shattering.

He dropped a few details about this next expansion, slated for a February 2010 launch, and the updates they plan to release between now and Sentinel's Fate. These updates will include the ability to downtier characters, allowing you to go back and replay older content, plus achievements are coming to EverQuest II. In addition, the EQ II level cap will increase by ten levels.

SOE hasn't forgotten about their long-term fans either, those who have stuck with the original EverQuest through the years. EverQuest producer Thomas Terrazas announced the sixteenth EQ expansion, Underfoot, which will launch in November 2009. Underfoot will feature 12-15 zones at launch, with bonus zones and additional content to release in April of 2010. Underfoot will have twice as many weapons as any of the previous 15 expansions, a new focus targeting window (allowing you to add specific targets to your list, monitor health of friends and foes), and achievement tracking that will help players remain aware of the objectives to be completed in their progression path. "In other words," Terrazas said, "you won't have to go looking online on somebody else's website so see what you need. It'll be in-game."

Fan Faire 2009 attendees will get both expansions for free.

Today's a good day for you, if you're a Free Realms wanderer. Rejoice as the new update brings guild support, new animations, and some brand new quest lines straight to you!

The big addition for the update is obviously the guilds. Finally you can invite people and form guilds, as well as have a chat channel all to yourself. Past that, however, is the addition of six new quests which lead into a larger storyline. What do the content creators of Free Realms have up their sleeves? Well, you just need to complete the quests and find out for yourself.

For the full notes on today's patch, jump on over to the Free Realms update page and check it out. It's not that long, but we're sure pretty much everyone is focusing on the addition of guilds anyway.

While Massively focuses on a lot of the bigger games on the market, the World of Warcrafts and Warhammer Onlines out there that define fantasy MMOs for many gamers, we still like to keep our eyes on the lesser-discussed MMO titles. Which leads me to my point -- we're on to you Hello Kitty. We've said this before and we'll probably say it again, Hello Kitty has her cute little eyes set on nothing less than absolute global domination through Hello Kitty Online.

It began with her decking out Beijing with even more stars than the real Beijing, a feat most thought impossible, much less swathing the city in pink and purple hues. We've since learned that she wants Brazil, as well as Singapore and Malaysia, in her little paws. Apparently the next phase of her plan involves new avatar customization options with cute little... outfit... thingies... in the item mall. It's diabolical! Just check out the screengrabs below, if you dare.

Ryan Barker, the lead designer of EverQuest, is a man who believes in the power of Facebook and social networking. In an interview with The Escapist, Barker is quoted as saying that a Facebook MMO might have the power to eclipse the MMO market much like World of Warcraft has already done some years back.

Barker's reasoning behind declaring a Facebook MMO as a champion is due to the ease of playing with your friends. Facebook has the power to remove many of an MMO's social blocks, such as a lack veteran players, ease of access, a lack of servers, and the ease of playing with your friends, and turn those stoppages into forward momentum for a game and its community.

Interactive marketing firm Future Ads revealed a very telling survey from Gamevance today, showing that casual gamers were playing games for longer, yet were spending less money on them overall. Other notable sections of the survey showed a declining gender gap in the gaming population, a melding of the "casual" and "hardcore" gamer markets, and a decline in purchases made for video game consoles.

Gamevance's survey revealed that 61% of the 8,000 "casual" gamers who responded said they were playing games for longer periods of time than they were a year ago. However, 80% of those same gamers reported that they were cutting back on console game purchases while 77% of the 8,000 stated that the biggest drawback to console gaming was that it was too expensive.

Pair this with the rising Free Realms, Wizard 101, and FusionFall populations, as well as the proliferation of free online gaming sites, and you have a very noticable switch to cheaper gaming alternatives. Will this recession be the rise of the free to play gaming model in America, or will this die off once the economy stabilizes?

[Via GigaOm]

Oh boy, what have I gotten myself into? Comparing one of the largest and most popular MMOs with the current fastest-growing MMO? Do I have a deathwish? Well, it turns out World of Warcraft and Free Realms actually do have a few things in common, but a straight comparison isn't the point of this article. We at Massively have decided to compile a guide for World of Warcraft players who may be interested in checking out what Free Realms has to offer. Even better, for those WoW players out there with children, this guide could be valuable for some alternatives to your usual family gaming choices.

"But why would you want to play in a children's game? And isn't Free Realms all instanced anyway? I've heard it's not even really an MMO!"

These are the types of concerns and questions we hope to answer with this article, so follow along below as we take you through our WoW Player's Guide to Free Realms.

The free-to-play game Dragonica has entered open beta in Europe as of June 10th. Dragonica is a 3D side-scrolling MMO developed by Barunson Interactive and operated by gPotato (Gala Networks Europe Ltd.). The title is currently offered in English, French, and German languages and has very low system requirements, so it should run well on older hardware or even on netbooks from what Gala Networks Europe states.

Just for additional clarification, this open beta is for the EU's Dragonica operated by gPotato, not to be confused with the North American version of the game titled Dragonica Online, which we previewed at E3 2009.

The free-to-play business model in the MMO industry is one that lets users play a game for free in hopes that a percentage of that userbase will opt to embrace microtransactions, allowing F2P game operators to potentially bring in more revenue per month than they would maintain through subscription fees. We periodically see announcements of yearly revenue from some of the larger companies, but these figures are typically announcements of average revenue per paying user (ARPPU), emphasis on 'paying'. But how much money are free-to-play MMOs really making? This is the subject of an article at Gamasutra written by Paul Hyman titled, 'What Are The Rewards Of 'Free-To-Play' MMOs?"

Hyman catches up with Raph Koster (Metaplace), Daniel James from Three Rings Design (Puzzle Pirates), and Jeremy Liew from Lightspeed Venture Partners (a funding source for F2P MMOs) to discuss the microtransaction model.