The lengthy, feature article in Wall Street’s “Weekend Journal” section discusses how lines are blurring between real and virtual life for many people. Players devote large amounts of time and energy to their online presence, and the resulting virtual relationships. A recent study of 30,000 gamers by Nick Yee (recent Ph.D. grad from Stanford) found “nearly 40 percent of men and 53 percent of women who play online games said their virtual friends were equal to or better than their real-life friends.

The article goes on to report family law experts and marriage counselors are seeing a growing number of marriages dissolve over virtual infidelity.

The “real” wife of the man featured in the story has joined EverQuest Widows, an online support group for spouses of obsessive online games.

Our comments – wonder how long it will be till there are counselors in Second Life and similar virtual worlds to help people who spend too much time in their “real” life, neglecting their virtual presence? 

They are printed in color on a plastic substrate to make them weatherproof. The company claims they will hold their colors outside for years.

The news show I saw was discussing how many people slowed down when they drive by your yard because they think children are playing by the street.

You can buy some of the standard kids pictured or print your own kids.

All three people in the image shown are “fake”.

This is not exactly a virtual pet, but interesting none the less. This product fills in one more gap between real and virtual life.

Voice is an optional feature and is turned off by default. It is available everywhere, land owners can control how it is used on their property.

The code is open source. The entire voice system is hosted on separate servers to not impair performance of the normal Second Life experience.

He mentioned one Swedish Muslim says his avatar prays as regularly as he prays in real life.

A 16 July 2007 article in the Washington Post, Finding Religion in Second Life’s Virtual Universe, reports several religious groups based on well known religions are doing well in Second Life. As usual, there are a few folks a little further off the beaten path. Avatars for Change, is a multi-faith group that follows the words of the Great Avatar, or supreme being, by consulting an Avatarian Oracle. LifeChurch.tv, based here in Oklahoma broadcasts its weekly sermon to 12 locations AND to its virtual church in Second Life.

We noticed The Anglican Church in Second Life has a blog that talks quite a bit about their experiences in Second Life and has links to many other discussions of the concept of religion in virtual communities.

In April 2007, a seminar was held on Transhumanism and Religion in Second Life.

Whether you are a real person, a virtual pet, or an avatar, we encourage you to get your life in order. We will try to do the same. The Virtual Pets Blog.

You keep your partner happy by buying them gifts, giving them compliments, taking them out on dates, and doing things with them.

If you want to dump them, give them bad presents and insult them.

It takes two LR44 batteries just like Tamagotchi did.

This game is NOT suitable for children.

Photo from Firebox.com

Frepar Networks in Japan will be releasing an interactive 3D display called a “POD” in which a virtual person can “read” newsfeeds and other content to the user. You can actually engage in a discussion with the character using the SAMURAIPHONE. Plus the virtual person responds to touch and you can even blow on them and make it windy in there.

Virtual human (and potentially virtual pets) are coded into a “CODEC CELL” that is inserted into the POD. If you want a new character, get a different CODEC CELL.

An “Interface Station” allows the system access to network interfaces, digital broadcasting, and digital electronic appliances. The “Sub-Display” is used for to select the “feed” for real time display and to display information about the character (and advertisements). A “Satellite Dish” is actually a local wireless LAN station with an internal WiFi antenna. SAMURAIPHONE can be used to make free calls within the area via IP.

The “CMOS Camera Unit” is for user authentification and voice recognition. It can be combined with the Satellite Dish.

You can use the Material Transfer Fields MTF200 and MTF300 to transfer materials to the character (food, costumes, medicine). The MTF350 is also linked to the weight measuring and diet programs (you can put you character on a diet or fatten them up). Material transfer is done by scanning bar codes. Some special ones are supplied for clothing, but you can just go to your cupboard and get a scan of food and scan it. She will eat it if she is hungry. The virtual character can also teach you the English language. Some suspect other bar coded will be distributed via magazines and other means if it takes off.
The entire system is called a Sub-Spacial Communication Pod and is expected to be released by the end of 2007 for about $250 in Japan.

Microsoft will be using the system to supply product information support to its 2007 Office software in Japan.

Bandai is now following up Cube World with Human Player. This time, the product is a handheld, and you are the pet. The game asks you about 50 questions about yourself, picks one of 22 personalities to represent you, and can interact with other characters inside your device or with other Human Players via an infrared link.

Both games use very low resolution screens with only a few pixels to represent the “pet”. The trick is in trying to mimic life with just a few pixels. Looks like Bandai has done a good job of it. Human Player was released in Japan at the end of March 2007.

Although Barbie is facing tough competition from Bratz in the stores, she’s winning strong online. In mid July Mattel is reporting Barbie Girls reached 3 million registered users in 60 days, making it the fastest growing virtual community ever. Plus they are currently adding over 50,000 new members a day!

Some are comparing Barbie Girls fast rise to that of Second Life which took three years to hit a million users.

Adventure Ecology had avatars explaining what was happening and how to prevent similar occurrences in the real world. Several avatars were confused at first, but they soon started helping one another onto roofs or getting into boats and getting on with their daily lives.

In addition to pointing out “real life” global warming issues, the event was also intended to point out the contribution “virtual life” is making to “real life” global warming. For example, the computer equipment needed to power a person’s avatar in Second Life consumes as much “real energy” as the average “real world” Brazilian. People were encouraged to “offset” their “real world” emissions of their avatars.

See National Geographic’s 4 April 2007 coverage of the virtual disaster for more information.

We also webmaster Boat Carbon Footprint which teaches “real” boaters how to reduce and offset their emissions. Its interesting to see our real and virtual efforts coming together.

Some people have even been killed in real life for their virtual actions. The Telegraph article reports 41 year old Qiu Chengwei of Shanghai stabbed Zhu Caoyuan several times in the chest after he was told Zhu had stolen his “dragon sabre” used in Legend of Mir 3. The sword sells for about 430 British pounds, but required a tremendous amount of energy and time to acquire. Qiu actually reported the theft to “real” police but was told they “could not investigate the loss of virtual property”.

The Telegraph article goes on to report last month (May 2007) German prosecutors launched an investigation into players who “were buying and selling sex with underage avatars.”

Way back in 1997 we noted this trend when we tried to identify Recent Developments and Trends in Keychain Virtual Pets. Our 16th trend was Pets From the “Seedier Side” and noted the Tamahonam Gangster Pet, and how the initial Rikou Rikou Chan if not properly cared for drank beer, smoked cigarettes, and stabbed people. Since then several more seedier pets have appeared including a Charles Manson Tamagotchi.

Most virtual pets and virtual communities start with good intentions, but when traffic gets mainstream and heavy, the seedier side begins to show up in the dark corners and prey on others, just like in real life.