Mario Gerosa

Senior Editor, Architectural Digest

These is the era of the virtual worlds and of the social networks. Last year everyone talked about Second Life, a social virtual world that counts 12 millions residents. Many companies went into that world, following the big buzz that was done about that new mediatical phaenomenon. But now many people are doubtful, they don’t know whether to bet or not on these new worlds, and in particular, many people wonder which are the most interesting directions to follow in the future, either for marketing, either for business.

In this speech I will make a survey about the new scene of virtual worlds, considering that many new synthetic universes are ready or they already started, especially in China. Then I will try to focus some interesting points worthy to be developed in virtual worlds, considering that a virtual presence with a virtual siege is no more enough satisfying.

In my opinion, the main directions to follow are art and travels. Regarding art, we must underline that the works of art created in these world are beginning to have a market, with remarkable prices. And I don’t talk only about the art developed in Second Life, but also in different social networks. Related to that is the question of the preservation of digital goods, a problem that we have to consider, especially now that the value of the UGC is growing.

Talking about travels in the metaverse, we will notice that with the advent of many different worlds it is necessary to have guides to explore all these universes. These guides will have the function of search engines, in a certain way, and they will make easier the life of the new portable avatars who will appear in the next years. I will talk about the experience of Synthravels, the first tour operator for many virtual worlds, that I founded two years ago, and I will explain how such a company could be improved.