"OurWorld:" A virtual world for teens
John Cook
Seattle P-I
April 7, 2008
http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/venture/
At the age of 50,
FlowPlay Chief Executive Derrick Morton admits that he's
the "old man" of his 2-year-old Seattle startup.
After all, when you are attempting to build the next big
online entertainment property for teenagers, staffing
tends to skew a little young.
But Morton, a veteran of the online games business who
previously founded RealNetworks mobile games group,
believes he can use some of his past experience to
create one of the most compelling virtual world
experiences for kids between the ages of 11 and 15. As
he sees it, that market represents an untapped
opportunity -- too old for the hit destinations such as
Club Penguin and Webkinz and too young for Second Life
or World of Warcraft.
With the official launch today of "OurWorld," Morton is
hoping to fill that gap.
It is doing that with a Flash-based Web site where
players choose an avatar and then play casual games in
order to win "Flow" or online currency that can be
redeemed for virtual clothes, accessories, special dance
moves and more. About 60 games are available at launch,
with players able to navigate through 50 different
levels.
(Morton estimates that it would take eight months at 20
hours a day to complete the game.)
In addition to playing games, kids can interact with one
another in separate districts, popping into the Buzz
Cafe for virtual coffee, entering Threads clothing store
to purchase a new outfit or visiting Starlight night
club to do some dancing. Friends also can gather in a
virtual theater where they can watch pre-selected
YouTube videos together. On average, he said some of the
early "Our World" users are spending 30 minutes per
session on the site.
Backed with $3.7 million from Intel Capital and Ambient
Sound Investments, FlowPlay is free to join. But, like
other virtual worlds, it plans to make money by charging
$5.99 per month once players reach level 10. At that
point, game players can obtain premium clothing, a condo
and -- some time in the near future -- a virtual pet.
The company also is just starting to initiate
discussions with real world consumer product companies
who might be interested in having their products
marketed in the virtual world.
In order to break even, Morton said the site needs to
attract about 50,000 players, a goal that he thinks is
easily obtainable this year.
Possible competitors include Habbo Hotel, Zwinky and
Gaia Online. VentureBeat also recently reported on
ZooKazoo, which is targeting kids between the ages of 6
to 12 with a new virtual world. Like FlowPlay, ZooKazoo
charges about $6 per month and offers kids the chance to
win a virtual currency by playing games.