Not Much Life in China's Virtual Worlds

Chinese entrepreneurs\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' answers to Second Life are early stage, but they see potential for brand-building, worker training, and e-commerce。

Three software companies have set up Chinese versions of Second Life: HiPiHi, NovoKing, and UOneNet, inking partnerships with IBM, Intel, and HP. HiPiHi

by Chi-Chu Tschang

SPECIAL REPORT

  Last November, Procter & Gamble\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s (PG) Vidal Sassoon launched with much fanfare its first hair salon in China\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s virtual world. There was even a virtual ribbon-cutting ceremony. But today the VS salon in HiPiHi, China\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s oldest and largest virtual world (a simulated online environment where users adopt identities known as avatars), sits mostly empty save for the occasional visitor. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"It\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s a bit like the real world but not as many people,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" says an avatar named Yi Feichen, who recently logged on to HiPiHi for the first time and then visited the VS salon. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"This world feels like it has been destroyed before.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"

There\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s not yet a lot of life in HiPiHi or other Chinese virtual worlds. Three Chinese software companies have set up local answers to Second Life, the popular virtual world in the U.S., but they\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'re only just getting started trying to attract users. The earliest and largest, HiPiHi, just finished beta testing of its virtual world and opened it to the public on Apr. 18. Two other rivals, NovoKing and UOneNet, are still testing their virtual worlds to a closed group.

Relatively few Chinese enter these virtual worlds. With 48,000 registered users, HiPiHi is the largest of the three. NovoKing has 10,000 registered users while UOneNet has fewer than 1,000. By comparison, Second Life has 13.5 million \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"residents.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" All three companies say they have not done any marketing to attract more users. NovoKing and UOneNet are still only letting a select group of people test their virtual worlds while they build them. Not surprisingly, none of the three Chinese companies has become profitable yet.

An Opportunity to Build Brands
Nevertheless, they all have already attracted some corporate partners, both Chinese and foreign. The big multinationals tend to take a page from their Second Life playbook and use the Chinese versions of virtual world to build their brands. However, Chinese companies are coming up with more innovative applications, such as training factory workers, conducting online auctions, or opening virtual classrooms. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Over there, the Americans created their virtual world. Here, the Chinese created our virtual world,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" explains Xu Hui, founder and CEO of HiPiHi. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"There will be some differences in our thought process.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"

While Xu and his rivals are just getting started, multinationals are paying attention because of the demographics of their target audience and their appeal to Western companies. Companies see virtual worlds as a way to boost their image with demanding young consumers. For instance, in addition to P&G, Intel (INTC), and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) have also set up shop in the Chinese sites. The companies have created floating billboards and virtual salons to reach a predominantly male audience in its mid-20s. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"We see HiPiHi as more of a platform to reach young and trendy generation, to provide them with a brand new online experiences, and as a signal to the general public that VS is leading the trend,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" says Heidi Wang, senior external relations manager at P&G.

Given the virtual worlds\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' early stage of development in China, foreign advertisers have been stymied by the lack of users. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"There isn\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t much meaning to virtual worlds as solely an advertising platform,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" concedes Patrick Zha, founder and CEO of NovoKing. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Now, from NovoKing\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s perspective, we are searching for a new way to bring more value.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"

Training Workers Using a Virtual World
The Chinese companies say some companies have approached them to work together on ideas they had not considered themselves. For instance, Xiong Ying, a human resources manager at China\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s largest copper company, Jiangxi Copper, got the idea of using a virtual world to train factory workers after watching a news segment about the U.S. Marines using virtual reality to train troops. Xiong put the first batch of Jiangxi Copper\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s workers through a training session in NovoKing\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s virtual world in late April. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"The effectiveness of the traditional way of training new workers is extremely low. It\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s not keeping pace with the speed [with which] our company is developing,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" says Xiong. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"The traditional training model needs to be reformed. The only way is to do so with virtual reality training.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"

Other companies see the potential for e-commerce in China\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s virtual worlds. Eric Ye, president of UOneNet, says he is in talks with an online auction house interested in building a 3D mall in the virtual world and providing a platform to allow buyers and sellers to interact. Ye says he\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s also working with a Chinese TV station to build an e-learning community in UOneNet\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s virtual world. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"The core is really this multiperson interaction in real time at such a low cost. You never had this before this 3D virtual world,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" he says. Like other Chinese entrepreneurs involved in the country\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s early-stage virtual worlds, Ye stresses the need for patience. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Virtual worlds will eventually be an advertising platform,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" he says.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"[But] when you start off, you have to start with things that are innovative and just show the potential to boost the value.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"

中国虚拟世界活力欠缺，潜力可观

    相对于Second Life，中国企业家们认为本土的虚拟世界还处于早期阶段，但在品牌塑造，员工培训和电子商务等领域很有潜力。三家软件公司已经打造出了中国版的 Second Life，分别是：HiPiHi, NovoKing, 和 UOneNet，并且与IBM, Intel, 及 HP建立了合作伙伴关系。
 ——Chi-Chu Tschang 报道（音译：章智竹。作者是商业周刊-businessweek，驻京办事处的correspondent）

     去年十一月，宝洁公司（P&G）旗下的维达沙宣（VS）在中国的虚拟世界（这里指Hipihi）里隆重的创办了第一家美发沙龙。并举行了虚拟的剪彩典礼。但如今在Hihipi（中国最早建立，规模最大的虚拟世界）中的VS沙龙，却是人烟稀少，十分的冷清。一位刚刚创建HiPiHi虚拟形象，名叫逸飞陈(Yi Feichen，音译)的玩家参观完VS沙龙后说，“这里确实有些像现实世界，就是人好少，这个世界仿佛刚经历过一场大灾难。”

    HiPiHi以及其他中国虚拟世界目前都不是很活跃。这三家中国软件公司都已经根据风靡美国的Second Life建立了自己的虚拟世界，但他们刚刚才开始尝试吸引用户。最早建立，规模最大的虚拟世界Hipihi刚刚完成了自身的版本测试，并且在4月18日正式对公众开放。而其他两家竞争对手， NovoKing 和 UOneNe仍在对自家的虚拟世界进行内测。
    相比较中国用户进入虚拟世界的数量，HiPiHi拥有4.8万注册用户占据绝对优势， NovoKing拥有1万注册用户，而UOneNet则少于1，000用户。然而Second Life却已拥有了约1350万的“居民”。这三家公司均宣称他们还没有做任何市场营销来吸引更多用户。NovoKing 和 UOneNe仍只是挑选一部分人员来测试他们建造的虚拟世界。毋庸置疑，这三家公司仍还没有开始盈利。    

    为品牌塑造提供机会
    然而，他们都已经吸引了一些国内外的公司合作伙伴。很多大型跨国公司都趋向于从他们在Second Life中取得的经验中提取出一部分，用于中国版的虚拟世界来塑造自己品牌。然而，中国的很多企业提出了很多创新的应用，例如培训工厂员工，管理在线拍卖，或者开设虚拟课堂等等。HiPiHi的创始人兼CEO许晖说：“美国人创建了他们的虚拟世界，我们当然也要拥有自己的虚拟世界，并且将会有区别于Second Life。”
    许晖及竞争对手们刚一起步，很多跨国公司就进行了密切关注， 这是因为他们目标用户的群体很有规模，并且对西方公司具有巨大吸引力.很多公司都认为虚拟世界是一种很好的途径，用来在挑剔的年轻用户中推进自己的品牌形象。例如，除了P&G（宝洁公司）外，Intel（英特尔）和Hewlett- Packard （惠普）也已经在中国（虚拟世界）网站上建立了商店。这些公司打出了漂浮的小广告并创建了虚拟沙龙来迎合以25岁左右为主的年轻用户。
    宝洁公司高级公关经理王海迪(Heidi Wang)说“我们认为Hipihi是一个不可多得的与年轻人及新潮一代进行交流的平台，为他们提供一种全新的品牌在线感受，并且在普通民众中树立这样一种标志：沙宣（VS）正在引导一种潮流！”
    中国虚拟世界的发展正处于初级阶段，因此用户数量不足的局面使外国的广告商们备受打击。NOVOKing创始人兼CEO(Patrick Zha)承认：“将虚拟世界作为一个单独的广告平台是没有多大意义的，从NovoKing的角度出发，我们正在搜寻一条带来更多价值的新思路。”
   

    利用虚拟世界培训员工
    这三家中国公司表示，其他一些企业正在与他们洽谈合作事宜，有些商机连他们自身都没有想到。例如，中国最大制铜企业，江西铜业的人力资源部经理瑛雄 (Xiong Ying，音译)就提出利用虚拟世界培训工厂员工的想法，这一创意来自于他看了一条关于美国海军利用虚拟现实训练部队士兵的新闻。在4月底，瑛雄就将首批江西铜业的员工安排在NovoKing的虚拟世界中进行培训。瑛雄表示：“传统培训新员工的方法是极其没有效率的。它完全跟不上我们企业发展的步伐，所以传统的培训模型急需改革。而唯一的方法就是利用虚拟现实进行培训。”

    其他企业认为在中国的虚拟世界中电子商务很有发展潜力。UOneNet公司总裁叶蓬(Eric Ye)说，他正在与一家在线拍卖行进行洽谈，关于在虚拟世界中创建一个3D购物商场，为买卖双方提供一个互动的平台。叶蓬表示，他同时也在与一家中国电视台合作，目的是在UOneNet虚拟世界里创建一个电子学习社区。他说：“（该项目的）关键在于只需非常低的成本就能实现多人实时互动。在3D虚拟世界出现以前，这是根本无法做到的。”与其他参与创建中国早期虚拟世界的企业家一样，叶蓬也在强调需要耐心。他说：“虚拟世界将最终成为一个广告平台，一旦开始运作，你就必须从富有创新的事物开始，并显示出具有增值的潜力。”

本文由Second Life中文网 Benson翻译