MetaSecurity

(Opinion/Comment)

Classically MMORPG’s and Virtual Worlds did not, or could not, be translated very well into a games console environment. A number of pressures existed regarding the technology, the need for updates and compatibility issues with PC users. This (classically) would seem to be a bit of a shame considering the size of the market share that the console market (a good, but a little dated now discussion can be found here, and makes for interesting reading. With another excellent paper on the general industry by the Entertainment Software Association being found here)

Things change, if anything has been learn in the past 20 years about the way the computer industry moves, it is that (apart from of course the fact that Windows keeps not working on my PC… That never seems to change…). A market once seen as the domain of the PC has opened out, mainly due to a concurrent number of factors like broadband usage uptake across countries, the increase in the technology used in high end consoles, and, of course, the financial sucesses which have been seen in these virtual worlds. As a friend was saying to me the other day, why sell a normal computer game which you only sell once when you can sell the equivilent of computer gaming cocaine, and the users will come back again and again.

(As I recently closed my World Of Warcraft Account which had over 3,000 hours logged on it and 5 high level characters, and my personal experience of 2 and a half years of gaming recently lost , that comment stuck a little too close to home… but, I digress)

Over the next few years we will be able to see a host of new virtual worlds in this console market. Sony’s recently demo-ed Home for example makes Second Life graphically look like an aging dinosaur , and with MMO-games like LittleBigPlanet breaking the mould of what can and can’t be done in the genre. With the XBox 360 also with a number of highly engaging games both currently and waiting in the wings (and Xbox Live having run for many years) I believe it is fair to comment that the giants of the computer gaming industry, the console games makers, are not asleep to the huge potential of the highly lucrative MMO/Virtual Worlds games segment.

And the point of all this on Metasecurity? Well… the stage is set for a number of things in the next few years if the console markets enter the Virtual worlds market in a big way. Especially if any of them use a virtual currency business model or indeed, even if they don’t, if secondary markets develop for in-game goods as they have in many current MMO games.

Firstly, volume of trade, the Console market is over half of the total video games market. If Virtual Worlds on consoles prove to be as popular as their PC counterparts then similarly we would logically see an increase in both the ability of these worlds to be used as Alternative Remittence System (something I dismiss here mainly due to a lack of size). Next, the increase in size/volume leading also logically to an increase in already existing fraudulent sales (as discussed here). And indeed, the increased possibility of Trade Based ML occuring (which I keep mentioning and will indeed be writing something on this soon)

Then we have the matter of the age demographics. Roderick has already posted here a number of stories regarding current worries over virtual worlds and issues such as child protection and Crime. With the drop in average age that the console market gives us if they enter the Virtual Worlds market, are we simply going to see again a logical increase in the worries over these issues?

Certainly the future looks bright for Virtual Worlds and MMO-games in general from a business point of view in the next few years with the potential for the biggest sector of the market now being able to play in their little sand-box. This doesn’t though seem to solve any of the issues which these worlds already currently have. Indeed, it probably just projects them onto a slightly wider stage.

That said… with the games which seem to be coming… that larger stage looks very nice indeed.

David Grundy