Virtual Worlds- Top 10 Trends for 2009
The New Year is upon us and I can’t resist sharing my predictions for Virtual Worlds in 2009.
Top 10 trends for Virtual Worlds in the public and private spaces as I see it for 2009…
1. Learning in a Virtual World will become in vogue
2. Double-digit adoption across a broad demographic
3. More and more social networks migrating to the Virtual World space
4. More institutions turning to Virtual Worlds (Universities and Colleges building Virtual Campuses & Classrooms/ Virtual Teaching Environments being established)
5. Artificial Intelligence-like behaviors – more buzz around this
6. Backlash against traditional CBT coupled with lower development costs will encourage corporations to pilot Virtual Worlds for training and collaboration
7. Virtual Goods – hot for ‘09
8. Government entities adopting Virtual Worlds as pilot programs (many agencies won’t want to be left out)
9. Beginning to see traction for standards, especially in the enterprise space
10. Cross-platform Avatar standardization will continue
Please post comments on what you see as hot trends in the Virtual World space for 2009.
my thoughts
1. i think 2009 will be a key year for education but primarily from the perspective of specific applications (mostly new ones) being developed. vogue-wise, i’d expect good penetration from 2010 onwards.
2. probably.
3. agreed and i think smaller socnets will lead the charge as opposed to the larger ones.
4. yep.
5. probably. although the future for virtual worlds is human-initiated.
6. in principle of course this makes sense. i think there’s still going to be hang-ups with avatars
7. of course.
8. yes. from mirror worlds i think.
9. that’s a tough one. at present, there’s a conflict.
10. if by this you mean interoperability, then it’s outeroperability that will more than likely drive it.