It went from hype to disillusionment; what's next for virtual worlds? Yeoh Siew Hoon attends a virtual world networking night and finds its occupants still battling away to make it real.

I have to confess that I killed off my avatar some time ago. Actually I think she died from neglect. I created her on Second Life, toyed with her for a couple of times, lost interest and just abandoned her.

And shame on me, I can't even remember her name.

I think though that I was not alone in my brief fling with Second Life.  At the peak of its hype, we all played with it. We thought it would change the world, well, a bit. We thought it was the next big thing. The company dished it out, the media whipped it up and consumers lapped it up.

Then came the trough of disillusionment – it was too hard to use, the technology was too slow, there was too much junk in there, there were too many sites to choose from and then, the next new thing came along and consumers moved on.

Such is the unforgiving nature of the Web – if you whip up the hype, you'd better deliver and deliver it quick.

And so I, like many others, forgot about Second Life. In fact, I thought the whole idea had died like the music in American Pie when lo and behold, I received an invite to an event called "Virtual Thursdays" in Singapore last week.

Curious like my cat, Thomas, I went along. It was co-branded with HSMAI, the hotel sales and marketing body, and so I thought it'd be interesting to see how the two worlds would meet this time around. As I recall, Starwood experimented with Second Life, as did Abacus International which created a virtual agency with STA Travel, Singapore. 

The first person I met at the event was from Second Life. "I thought you were dead," I said, as he kindly offered me a chip.

"No, we are still around," he said with a smile, just like I vaguely recall my avatar had. "It's all a bit more realistic now."

Seems Second Life has opened an office in Singapore and is looking to expand.

Another company that is looking to expand in Singapore and Asia is Metaversum, the company behind Twinity.com, which calls itself a "3D mirror world based on real cities and real people".

Metaversum was set up in July 2006 in Berlin. It employs 50 people worldwide and recently raised £4.5 million in new funding.  In Singapore, it is supported by the multi-agency Interactive Digital Media R&D Programme Office (IDMPO), hosted by the Media Development Authority of Singapore.

Singapore is Twinity's second virtual city, after Berlin. Virtual Singapore was launched on Singapore's National Day, August 9, and as part of the launch, the site hosted the National Day celebrations in an attempt to blend a real event with a virtual event.

"Instead of just being seen by people in Singapore, the National Day celebrations will be seen around the world," said Jeremy Snyder, EVP of Community & Operations, who gave a short presentation on Twinity that night.

London will be the site's third city. With your avatar, you can explore the cities, "make a home for yourself in the virtual world and live, work and play with real people in real cities," says Twinity.com.

"What we do is create true to scale cities," explained Snyder, "We don't want to capture 100% of the city because cities change. What we do is capture the feeling of the city."

Its images of Singapore's Orchard Road shows trees, sidewalks and starry skies, features it feels lends character to a city. Its shops feature both virtual and real products.

Snyder quoted Gartner Media which says that by 2011, 80% of Internet users will have an avatar.  "Hype is fine and dandy," he said, "but behind all that, we believe there is fun to be had and money to be made."

So what's the future of virtual worlds? Could it be getting a second life? Well Snyder didn't attempt to offer any answers that night and I believe he was wise. As they say, the proof is in the pudding, be it real or virtual.

Incidentally, I tried to sign up for the Beta but was told Twinity is only supported on Windows XP and Vista at present. So I guess I will have to wait till I resurrect my avatar.

Yeoh Siew Hoon, one of Asia's most respected travel editors and commentators, writes a regular column on news, trends and issues in the hospitality industry for 4Hoteliers.com.

Siew Hoon, who has covered the tourism industry in Asia/Pacific for the past 20 years, runs SHY Ventures Pte Ltd. Her other writings can be found at www.thetransitcafe.com

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