Monday, April 21, 2008

Why Kiddie Worlds Dominate

From Digado; "When I posted 'The Teen Dilemma' it was already obvious how Linden Labs was missing out on the big potential for the next couple of years - the teen based worlds. Neopets claim of 30 million unique users, Club Penguins sale and nickelodeon's announcement to open a series of virtual worlds made sure even the most sceptic analysts can't deny the upcoming market for persistent, social environments for kids. At the last VW'08 conference it became painfully obvious how big the gap between the kids & teens and the actual adult audience was according to the Reuters report. Apart from a Second Life stand there was hardly any material targeting the adult virtual world participant.
So why is it these kidsworlds are currently dominating the market, and have no intention of surrendering this position any time soon, with about 30 to 40 worlds getting ready to launch in the next 12 to 18 months? Here are 10 reasons why I think the marketing money right now is going towards kids:

1. Kids are already online, and used to virtual environments
2. Kids have proven to be capable of providing critical mass
3. Kids know the value of Virtual Products (status) by nature
4. Kids don't object to the controlled, safe environments corporations want
5. Kids play, play creates content, content captivates and creates lock ins
6. Kids are not sceptical about branding
7. Kidsworlds are centralized, creating valuable 'focus points' for advertising
8. Kids don't go bezerk on corporate decisions
9. Kids want stuff. Adult 'stuff' such as coffee mugs don't work, toys do
10. Kids are harder to reach outside of the internet
http://digado.nl/10-reasons-why-kids-dominated-vw08.html

No comments: