HiPiHi in Open Beta

More news worth breaking purdah to announce: Thanks to the indefatigable SuezanneC Baskerville for bringing news that Hipihi is now in open beta.



Not got an account?

English signup page is at http://service.hipihi.com/member/register/en/register.jhtml

English info page is at http://www.hipihi.com/index_en.html

An English language forum for Hipihi users is at www.ideashape.cn

There is also a new version of the HiPiHi client, downloadable here. It's a 68MB download, and on my connection it's coming down at around 120KB/s, with an estimated load time of around 10 minutes.

If you want English Language versions of the documentation, I think you might still need to go here. You probably need to set your computer's language settings too. As described by SuezanneC (for Windows XP):

1. On the Windows Start menu, point to Control Panel, and then click Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options.
2. Click the Regional and Language Options icon, and then click the Languages tab.
3. In the Supplemental languages support box, check the box for Install East Asian Languages.
4. Click Apply and OK.

And if someone knows how I can get my arrow keys to work (again) I would be grateful!

Virtual Worlds in the Far East

2007 has been a busy year for virtual world announcements in the Far East, so I thought I would take this opportunity to give you a quick roundup of some of the more recent ones that nearly managed to slip through my net. As usual, big thanks to Virtual World News for putting me on their trail. I don't pretend that this is, in any way, a complete list - but it is a start.

Second Life in Korea
First, let's step back a month, to October, during which Linden Lab announced that, as part of their Global Provider programme, T-Entertainment would be providing Second Life services in Korea. I can't find out much about this, but I assume that the large cluster of "sera Korea" sims in Second Life, which depict a map of Korea, are being constructed to tie in with this. According to Noneget Barnes, head of Korean Second Life build company Acid Crebiz, "sera" translates as "sl", so these sims therefore come out as "SL Korea." Y'see? It all seems to fit!

If you are not familiar with it, "the Second Life Grid Global Provider program is designed to assist international online communities in creating their own presence on the Second Life Grid. This program has significant requirements, obligations, and programme fees. It is only available to operators of existing online communities outside the United States. The Second Life Grid offers many international experiences outside of the Global Provider program, which anyone can support or join... The Global Provider program assembles custom resources, support lines, and localizable content for these operators to help them establish a unique presence on the Second Life Grid." I don't have a clear view of how many such providers already exist, but I did post some months ago about Kaizen Games in Brazil, which I believe was the first.

Incidentally, whether this is a coincidence or not, Cyworld have announded that they will be going 3D in 2008. An amusing volte face following their recent dissing of 3D virtual worlds as requiring too much computer grunt and bandwidth. Now, showing a somewhat remarkable absence of comprehension, SK Communications CEO,Shin Cho, has added: "The key difference between Cyworld 3D and Second Life is that... Second Life mostly provides ready-made content, while Cyworld 3D will focus on providing user-created content."

Second Life in China
You may recall there was some concern in SL circles earlier in the year, when Linden Lab failed to secure the Chinese state-sponsored contract to deliver a massive virtual world. The contract went to Mindark and their Entropia Universe, instead. However, during November, Virtual World News revealed that Linden Lab are, nevertheless, actively engaged in China, through the services of RTMAsia, a firm specialising in "Asian business acceleration to global technology companies." After a little digging I found that the announcement of this relationship dates back to August 2nd. Under the terms of the agreement, RTMAsia will act as direct representatives for Linden Lab in China, responsible for the development of business partnerships, management of business operations and liaison with media and industry bodies. On this basis, it seems that RTMAsia are acting more like local agents than a full-blown global provider partner. Several people have tried (and failed) to get Linden Lab to come clean about a possible office in China. However, given the nature of the relationship with RTMAsia I can see that such a step may not be necessary at this time. As Redline China put it: "Linden Lab is likely to face various difficulties in China such as government regulation, low user awareness and lack of marketing and distribution channels." It strikes me that RTMAsia is the company they have chosen to help steer a safe route through the pitfalls of working in China.

HiPiHi Partnerships
HiPiHi have announced that Intel will be launching an island in their virtual world today, 22nd November. Apparently the HiPiHi grid runs on systems powered by Intel Xeon processors. In addition, Worlds in Motion informs us of two more partnerships for the Chinese virtual world: Centric, an agency specialising in social media and virtual worlds, and 3Di, a Japanese virtual world content and service provider. The successful virtual worlds build and consultancy company MillionsofUs announced their partnership with HiPiHi back in October. Both MOU and Centric are expected to pull their impressive client lists into the virtual world, while 3Di will be offering building services. Incidentally, you may recognise 3Di as the authors of the Movable Life browser-based, text interface for Second Life.

That's enough for this post... but I know I've barely scratched the surface. Updates on the plethora of Chinese virtual worlds will need to wait for another day, as will consideration of what is happening in Japan. Roll on, 2008!

Quoting The HiPiHi CEO, Xu Hui

If you follow this blog, you will know I have a keen interest in the development of virtual worlds in the Far East, and especially China. Why China? The first point is the sheer size of the potential user base, which could run into the tens, or even hundreds, of millions. A virtual world with resident populations of this size would be hard to ignore! However, I am also intrigued to see how the Chinese state reacts in the face of open virtual worlds, with an international population - as envisaged by Mr Xu, CEO of HiPiHi.

I was therefore interested to read (and thought I would repost) the following quotes from Xu Hui, given in his presentation to Virtual Worlds 2007 and recorded in Virtual Worlds News:

I’ve been interacting with the users, and when I meet those not from China, they’re surprised at how the virtual world replicates the real and how much they’re learning from just a 30-minute walk in the virtual world. Most people only experience China through products made in China. That’s not the best way. There are around 1.6 billion internet users in the world, but virtual worlds could be the best way to experience the web.

With time virtual worlds will mature as mainstream society increases in understanding. We will collaborate with industry providers and content providers to make that happen. We have a large market and a great desire for globalization.

And on HiPiHi:
We will launch our own virtual currency in the future. But we won’t manage this brokerage. We want to encourage existing financial services from the real world to come in. Brokerages are not run directly by the government. So we will use that real world model to replicate them in virtual worlds.

We will be focusing on tracking down the identity of avatars in the virtual world. They won’t be able to be changed easily. Your address and information will stay with you throughout your virtual existence. Second, we don’t intend to be a government in the world. We don’t operate in that kind of top down fashion. We will operate in a more self-policing mechanism. The community and users will flag unacceptable interactions. The third part is again on the self-policing mechanism. We won’t have any strict rules for all users to follow. We will have a guideline that is currently in development.

And finally, here is far and away the coolest thing I've read in a while:
I am of the belief that the modern soul can be partitioned into two parts. One is the real self, and one is the avatar. We spend so much time creating identity online that is can’t even really be considered a virtual identity anymore.

Another Giant Leap Towards web3.D

They'll be dancing in the streets of Second Life tonight. Nothing new in that perhaps - but maybe there will be a few extra revellers celebrating what many in the web3.D (3pointD) community see as a major milestone in the progress toward the 3D internet. Personally, I have been hoping and half-expecting the following announcement for over 6 months:

IBM and Linden Lab Launch Collaboration to Further Advance the 3D Internet.

Here is a link to today's press release - though Linden need to get their act together, since it doesn't seem to appear on their website as yet. To quote from the press release:

IBM and Linden Lab plan to collaborate on:

• "Universal" Avatars: Exploring technology and standards for users of the 3D Internet to seamlessly travel between different virtual worlds. Users could maintain the same “avatar” name, appearance and other important attributes (digital assets, identity certificates, and more) for multiple worlds. The adoption of a universal “avatar” and associated services are a possible first step toward the creation of a truly interoperable 3D Internet.
• Security-rich Transactions: Collaborating on the requirements for standards-based software designed to enable the security-rich exchange of assets in and across virtual worlds. This could allow users to perform purchases or sales with other people in virtual worlds for digital assets including 3D models, music, and media, in an environment with robust security and reliability features.
• Platform stability: Making interfaces easier to use in order to accelerate user adoption, deliver faster response times for real-world interactions and provide for high-volume business use.
• Integration with existing Web and business processes: Allowing current business applications and data repositories – regardless of their source – to function in virtual worlds is anticipated to help enable widespread adoption and rapid dissemination of business capabilities for the 3D Internet.
• Open standards for interoperability with the current Web: Open source development of interoperable formats and protocols. Open standards in this area are expected to allow virtual worlds to connect together so that users can cross from one world to another, just like they can go from one web page to another on the Internet today.
  

These are viewed as the key levers needed to deliver the next generation of the internet. Also, as reported at Virtual Worlds News, "last night IBM hosted a meeting of companies and researchers in San Jose (site of the Virtual Worlds '07 Conference) to discuss open standards for transporting avatars across virtual worlds. With representatives from Cisco, Google, Linden Lab, Sony, Intel, Multiverse, Microsoft, Motorola, and Philips, among others, they discussed plans to establish an organization to promote a truly interoperable 3D Internet."

Don't lose sleep over this in your excitement, boys and girls. It will take a little while to arrive. The point is that this is now out in the open, following months of speculation - and the parties involved go beyond just IBM and Linden Lab. I understand that at least 20 companies were represented at last night's meeting. Furthermore, I, for one, am curious to know how this fits with the statements about interoperability and standards between virtual worlds that have been coming out of China recently, particularly with respect to HiPiHi.

...

Or maybe it's all just a game, played by lonely saddoes - and I've just dreamt all of this.

HiPiHi for English Speakers

While trawling comments posted to this blog while I've been away I was drawn to an entry from SuezanneC Baskerville, who has been a Second Lifer since December 2003, but who is also an explorer in other virtual worlds - most notably, HiPiHi. Rather than leave it in comments, I thought I would bring its content to your attention, gentle reader.

If you are interested in this new Chinese virtual world, Sue provides a helpful blog that contains views and tips for English-speakers struggling to manage the Mandarin-only interface.

She has also set up a wiki so that people can pool their knowledge of HiPiHi and a Google group, to allow English-speakers to share experiences and information.

If you want more info on HiPiHi, you can grab this powerpoint, which gives you a good background. If this has encouraged you to try and register for the Beta, then go here. I don't know if registration is still possible, but there can be no harm in giving it a go. Please note the warning about Gmail accounts, though.

(FYI: Sue goes by the name SuezanneCB in HiPiHi.)

China and Virtual Worlds

I came across an article in the Asia Times, that you might find interesting. It concerns the burgeoning appetite - and market - for 3D virtual worlds in China. Rather than focusing on the Mindark deal, which will see Entropia entering the marketplace, it looks in more detail at the (for me) more intriguing prospect of HiPiHi. This is a "home grown" Chinese virtual world, still in Beta test, that apparently bears uncanny similarities to Second Life (although no decision has yet been taken concerning the implementation of an inworld currency).

In the article Ken Brady, a director of international strategies at Centric, is quoted as saying: "China's the No 2 market now, with Blizzard and Shanda Entertainment just two of the major players. HiPiHi will launch this autumn, Entropia Universe is moving in soon, and Shanda has announced plans to create another Chinese virtual world. There are, of course, more out there, and many more coming. It's a busy time in China's online 3D landscape."

HiPiHi will face fierce competition. For example, Shanda Interactive Entertainment,China's leading online gaming company, has been developing a virtual-world game similar to Second Life. Meanwhile, UOneNet Technology have been developing their virtual world, called "uWorld." Yet another new virtual world in development for China is Frenzoo, which is aimed squarely at the youth market.

These will need to slug it out with highly successful Far East virtual worlds, like South Korea's Cyworld, which launched in China in 2005. It boasts 19 million residents in South Korea alone - some 40% of the population - and now has more that 3 million residents in China.

All in all, an interesting 12 months in prospect in China! And where will this leave Linden Lab, who have signally failed to break into this market so far?