Heather Sullivan's List: Virtual Worlds

• Now the manufacturer of the little plastic playing blocks  wants to take them online to "Lego Universe," a virtual world  for fans of the ubiquitous toy.
• Each player's avatar, or online persona, will be a  customizable digital version of Lego minifigures,
• That's not surprising. Lego employees are just as likely to  pull out a Lego figure of themselves, with name, phone number  and e-mail address rather than a traditional business card.

  • If your business card was a "THING" instead of a "card", what would it be? What would you give people to remind them of you- who you are, what you do, what you stand for?
• Most social online worlds have their own currency or  monetary system, and Lego Universe will also require users to  spend virtual money to buy virtual bricks. But rather than  winning or beating an opponent, players build capital by  spending time in the game.
• "The more a child plays, they collect more coins and more  bricks. The more you play, the more you get to build things,"  Hansen said.

•   The other crucial element of Lego Universe, like other  MMOGs, is that users will be encouraged to interact with each  other, to build and play with virtual Lego bricks as they would  on a carpet littered with real Lego pieces.

   

    "We want kids to come and play together," Hansen said.

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