I’ve gone into a variety of Virtual Worlds recently as I’m charged with being the resident Sensis expert on Virtual Worlds. Some have a ton of “people” and others not so many. Some complex and others basic. Some intriguing and others kind of boring.

I recently came across an article that addresses what elements go into a successful virtual world. The key nuggets of the article are listed below:

Many virtual worlds suffer from great initial draw, but not enough compelling content to warrant an extended visit or repeat returns. The world looks great, but once visitors get a handle on the visual elements and navigation of the environment they get bored and leave.

What sorts of things keep people retained and engaged in virtual worlds?

1. Stimulation is important – things to do in-world. This might be games for certain demographics, entertainment for some and even education for others.
2. Fundamentally there needs to be relevance and a shared interest. Define the wants and needs from the target market that world is going after – no single world can appeal to everyone.
3. People attract people (crowd effect). Newbies will stay to check out what all the excitement is about and frequent visitors are returning as they are stimulated, find the site relevant and see that others do too.

Source: “50 Lessons In Virtual Worlds” KZERO.co.uk.blog/?cat=105

So if you are thinking about developing a virtual world be sure to keep the above in mind.

Melissa Hart, Account Supervisor

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