Tuesday, September 18, Day 2

3:45 pm - 5:00 pm

8th and final five presenting companies

Session Topic: Entertainment for All Ages

Howdy everyone; last session of the day.

who is it starting with?

Flowplay

hmm website doesn't say much about them besides tell you more in a few months

flowplay is building a next generation social entertainment platform for casual games

we'll tell you more in a few months...

I'd take it that they aren't going to be under the radar for too long if they are presenting at TechCrunch40

so what do they mean by casual games?

Not sure I like that the demo is mostly a canned video

Another "hit play" presentation.

It's a girl playing dress up online with her friends. It's "totally awesome"

*groan*

hmmm

ok, just got much cooler... avatars are now walking around in virtual space with friends. Looks pretty social and slick.

Now they're going dancing...

And that's it.

so they just dance then?

"In those early days, I felt like there wasn't much to do when I got there so I came up with the idea to have a virtual world where playing games is the core activity," said Morton.

Like in Second Life, users will create avatars. In one example provided by Morton, a trendy looking brunette named Debra chats with another player by the name of Cody about her shoes.

In the FlowPlay world, players are rewarded with virtual currency based on how they perform in selected games. Top players earn more money, which can be used to purchase virtual items such as clothing, jewelry, tattoos, pets and furniture.

Morton said he is basing FlowPlay on the success of ClubPenguin.com, a virtual world for kids between the ages of eight to 14. The Kelowna, B.C., startup -- which Morton said is "exploding" with more than 1 million monthly visitors -- allows kids to sign up for free, but also charges monthly subscription fees of $5.95.

Next up is MetaPlanet -- jason is asking everyone to take their BlackBerry's out of their pockets.

Building "virtual worlds" that are "open like the web"

Not being "in the know" I had to look up the definition of casual games.  According to wikipedia:

"The term casual game is used to refer to a category of electronic or computer games targeted at a mass audience — typically with very simple rules or play techniques, a very low degree of strategy, making them easy to learn and play as a pastime. They require no long-term time commitment or special skills to play, and there are comparatively low production and distribution costs for the producer."

Sounds like a game you play causally.

Thanks Bric

That was too simple a concept for me to grasp

OK, so metaplace seems to be a standards virtual world creation platform based on XML. They let you quickly create little virtual worlds. Umm.. but now he's talking about a wiki, forum and bloggin tool... not sure how we got to that.

I wonder if they are going after the same target market that the old SmallTalk gang are heading to with Croquet?

from an early review in Virtual World News

"Most virtual worlds are walled gardens making it hard to get data in and out of the worlds. Metaplace-created virtual worlds can be embedded into your Facebook page, MySpace page, or your own blog via a flash-based client widget. Every world is indexed, tagged and rated by users on the Metaplace portal, so virtual worlds in the Metaplace network can be easily linked together."

So the premise is metaplace lets "Everyone" create virtual worlds, and then let them be access from anywhere on the web.

My problem is the same with most "make something complex easier".... it's often the design and process that is complex, rather than the tools. Same as when they announced with Cobol that "even the CEO can program now". Programming is as complex in analysis as it is in development.

So designing and then creating complex virtual worlds is still complex, no matter how simple the tools.

Next up is WooMe - speed dating on the net.

At first glance I read that as WoeMe

oh interesting speed dating on the internet

And it works exactly how you'd expect. Speed dating... in a browser.

I wonder if there is a forum for people who like breakfast first dates?

Also doing more interest based stuff as well, like traveling companions.

haha I was waiting for that bric

fingers couldn't work fast enough

The travelling companions is a very interesting one....

They didn't show up in my Google search, Marty.  Do you have a URL?

stupid me... i actually typed woeme in the search box

And now he's doing dating in the browser (live video with the girl...) except he had to move on so he cut her off (big laugh).. then he moved on to the next girl, except it was Nicholas Zenstrum who then did a little pitch about how excited he was about woome (maybe he's an investor)

After they were done there was a summary screen with gave him the option of contacting the girl (but it cost $1 to do so).

The flash movie on the home page takes longer than some speed dates I've heard about.

OK, now zivity is up... aparently it's adult!

3 models came on the stage and are now being interviewed by another girl.

Hmm

So you can upload content and then have people pay for it (adult content). And it's sexy video time!

Target market is photographers (and I assume videographers) who want to "monetize" adult content.

mom & pop p0rn ?

Well, the models up on stage don't look a lot like my mom

the geeks are "unsettled"

haha awkward

Now Mike Arrington is coming up to announce the Demo Pit winner!

Mike said he was "uncomfortable" with the previous presentation.

DemoPit was DanceJam in 3rd, Tangler in 2nd, and Kaltura in 1st

So close for Tangler!

go Tangler 2nd is good I think

that was scary - if i have a daughter hope she doesnt find that site to fund her uni degree :s

So Kaltura is a wiki system for video...

Wow, sorry but there's a morality issue here - imagine if you had a daughter? imagine if your girlfriend was earning money like this on the side?

The pictures were not model design quality at all

worry worry

yeah there is a big morality issue, not a fan of it at all

prefer Kaltura

yep agree, its a little worry that the pictures can come back to haunt you if you go for a job at a normal place?

oh well, there will be vices like this on the web, but I think in Australia and other countries the site will get blocked

I think woome is a lot better model

It's basically an amateur porn monetization platform... plenty of that going on already on the net.

at least they have the chance of getting a date

YEAH, sink Zivity, and the bad looking pimp user interface dude

yeah, Tangler would have been better!

I KNOW, 2nd place!!! but really welldone guys, you got an awesome gig right here

Yep, it's been great. DemoPit was awesome.

I've sort of not listended to anything he's said... it's still a "collobarative video wiki thing" right?

bored

You sort of steal content and remash it.

Coool, I love tangler - oops yes bored

i think so

someone said already 100M +  ???

in funding for them :s

far out

100M funding for who?

that last company

kaltura?

WT?!

Congrats on the DemoPit... toot your horn a bit:

Panel is challenging Zivity and the likelihood of underage content.

What happened with Demopit? Did Tangler do well?

Zivity said they have users send them a photo of today's paper and their licence... "which can't be faked"

MCHammer asked how many of the audience had fake IDs when they were in high school.

Hey Phil. Demo Pit was great. Tangler ended up 2nd!

That's awesome! Congrats.

Wow it doesnt solve the power of the photographer over the model

You know, people that come second in Australian Idolalways sell more records than the winner... you're like... Shannon Noll man...

The less the famous the model is

Jason asking about whether Zivity will challenge rev generation from Flickr (because zivity is sharing rev)

@phil: "What about miiieeeeeeee It isn't fair!"

Revenue generation seems to be a bit of diversion as incentive for user generated content sites.

Metaplace

Sounds interesting, its an application that allows anyone to create their own second life world

Virtual World and casual games

But you end up with a causality issue... nobody will be there, so it's no fun. It'll come down to how they leverage the meta network.

Marty your so smart, explain causality

Is metaplace the same as the Yoick idea?

Oh sorry... chicken and egg problem.. you don't have users, but you need them, but you wont get them because you dont have them.

(metaplace was 2d)

I think so, but I think its just one world you join to play

oh yes, penny drops - lol

I'm trying to popularize the word... it's so relevant!

hehe

okay I'll use it to sound smart - lol

Tangler was a winner for me!!!!!!

Who won?

We will find out at the Cocktail Reception :0) hey Phil....

@tangler boys: missing our little one, we wont be staying for the awards ceremony

@marty - correction. that last company thinks that after they are able to announce their partnerships they think they will be worth 100M

Hey mintigal!

@phil - hey there - good to see you

Marty see you next weekend, let me know over the week when the family would like to pop over

Ah - so the winner is unknown as yet? Hey Clay!

not yet :0)

ciao all

so when does the winner become known?

By my calculations, in 3 hours

>"nobody will be there, so it's no fun. It'll come down to how they leverage the meta network"

and the flip side of course:

 "Nobody goes there any more, it's too crowded!" - Yogi Berra on why he no longer went to a trendy Minneapolis restaurant ...

Its a fine balance that's needed in many cases!

btw. hi all - didnt mean to just butt in. have been watching and reading but not really contributing.

In-depth coverage on MetaPlace from GigaOm

acb

wow thats gd

Thanks.