Smallworlds
Encyclopedia
SmallWorlds is a virtual world
. It has over 6,000,000 registered users. It is commonly also known as 'SW'. The website is owned and operated by Outsmart 2005 Ltd, a privately owned company based in Auckland, New Zealand
. The virtual world runs inside a web browser, without the need to download or install any other software. SmallWorlds combines media, web content, and casual games inside a 3D virtual world.
SmallWorlds integrates YouTube
, Flickr
, SoundCloud
, and a number of other Web 2.1 services. The site is aimed at the teen and adult markets, and is designed to be more casual than Second Life
.
After 18 months in development, SmallWorlds launched in Beta in June 2008,launched Version 1.0 in December 2008,launched Version 2.2 in January 2010 and Version 3.0 in October 2011
In October 2009 SmallWorlds was voted top prize in the Social Computing category and getting most addicts category of the Adobe MAX Awards 2009.
Smallworlds is a virtual online role playing game. In Smallworlds, the player makes an avatar and receives their own space to decorate and add items to make their space more unique. The player can play games with other members (i.e. online pool, checker, chess and mini golf). The player can complete weekly challenges that consist of easy tasks with in the world of smallworlds. The player can earn experience in various forms throughout this virtual world. Experience is known as "XP" in Smallworlds. XP can be earned in different categories, Including Crafting, Gaming, Arena Play, Artist, Social, Explorer, Gamer, Planting, and Crafting. In Smallworlds there are members that are VIP and non-VIP. The difference is that VIP members have to pay a monthy fee to stay VIP. When the player is a VIP, there are certain advantages. The player can bring their pet wherever they go, and they can enter places designated for VIPs only. He can buy wearables that only VIPs can buy. Inside Smallworlds there are many challenges and goals that serve as incentives. Smallworlds has a currency of tokens and gold. Tokens are earned in various ways. They can be earned by completing missions that members create, earning XP,and challenging other SmallWorlds users to games that the player is allowed to bet on. Another way to get tokens is to craft items and sell them, or grow plants and sell them. On the player's home page, they will find the planters area so that they can begin to grow plants and earn XP. Smallworlds also has Gambit, gwallet, Sometrics and Super rewards, these are surveys and questionnaires that want to inquire more commentary on their product. Through this process of being served, users can earn gold. Gold is usually something the player must buy or earn through monthly loyalty challenges or through completing Peanut Lab offers.
in June 2009. The partnership provides full integration of SmallWorlds into the Hi5 Games channel, with Hi5 Coins serving as SmallWorlds's virtual currency in the version of the game that runs on Hi5's OpenSocial platform. Unlike versions on other social networks, the Hi5 version of SmallWorlds does not need to be manually installed by users. Instead, users are able to run it directly from the Hi5 Games channel. SmallWorlds also has a lot of investors, with Disney being one of them.
, MySpace
, Hi5 and Bebo
. This allowed SmallWorlds users to enter the SmallWorlds virtual world using their social networking applications and to link their social networking profiles to their SmallWorlds account.
Naturally, players can resell spaces, islands and houses. There is presently no feature available which allows spaces, islands and houses to be gifted to other players.
Space Membership
One can give others one of three types of membership in a place, Member, Contributor and Officer, each giving a respective amount of freedom in the space.
Member Rights - Members can access 'Member Only' spaces and kick non-members out of the space.
Contributor Rights - Contributors are Members with the ability to edit the layout of the space (move items around).
Officer Rights - Officers are Contributors with the ability to edit space memberships.
Many Users use the forums to advertise sales, a group or a space.
Virtual world
A virtual world is an online community that takes the form of a computer-based simulated environment through which users can interact with one another and use and create objects. The term has become largely synonymous with interactive 3D virtual environments, where the users take the form of...
. It has over 6,000,000 registered users. It is commonly also known as 'SW'. The website is owned and operated by Outsmart 2005 Ltd, a privately owned company based in Auckland, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. The virtual world runs inside a web browser, without the need to download or install any other software. SmallWorlds combines media, web content, and casual games inside a 3D virtual world.
SmallWorlds integrates YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
, Flickr
Flickr
Flickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to...
, SoundCloud
SoundCloud
SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform which allows collaboration, promotion and distribution of audio recordings.-History:SoundCloud was originally started in Stockholm, Sweden, but was established in Berlin, Germany in August, 2007 by sound designer Alex Ljung and artist Eric Wahlforss...
, and a number of other Web 2.1 services. The site is aimed at the teen and adult markets, and is designed to be more casual than Second Life
Second Life
Second Life is an online virtual world developed by Linden Lab. It was launched on June 23, 2003. A number of free client programs, or Viewers, enable Second Life users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars...
.
After 18 months in development, SmallWorlds launched in Beta in June 2008,launched Version 1.0 in December 2008,launched Version 2.2 in January 2010 and Version 3.0 in October 2011
In October 2009 SmallWorlds was voted top prize in the Social Computing category and getting most addicts category of the Adobe MAX Awards 2009.
Smallworlds is a virtual online role playing game. In Smallworlds, the player makes an avatar and receives their own space to decorate and add items to make their space more unique. The player can play games with other members (i.e. online pool, checker, chess and mini golf). The player can complete weekly challenges that consist of easy tasks with in the world of smallworlds. The player can earn experience in various forms throughout this virtual world. Experience is known as "XP" in Smallworlds. XP can be earned in different categories, Including Crafting, Gaming, Arena Play, Artist, Social, Explorer, Gamer, Planting, and Crafting. In Smallworlds there are members that are VIP and non-VIP. The difference is that VIP members have to pay a monthy fee to stay VIP. When the player is a VIP, there are certain advantages. The player can bring their pet wherever they go, and they can enter places designated for VIPs only. He can buy wearables that only VIPs can buy. Inside Smallworlds there are many challenges and goals that serve as incentives. Smallworlds has a currency of tokens and gold. Tokens are earned in various ways. They can be earned by completing missions that members create, earning XP,and challenging other SmallWorlds users to games that the player is allowed to bet on. Another way to get tokens is to craft items and sell them, or grow plants and sell them. On the player's home page, they will find the planters area so that they can begin to grow plants and earn XP. Smallworlds also has Gambit, gwallet, Sometrics and Super rewards, these are surveys and questionnaires that want to inquire more commentary on their product. Through this process of being served, users can earn gold. Gold is usually something the player must buy or earn through monthly loyalty challenges or through completing Peanut Lab offers.
Art
A large proportion of SmallWorlds users create their own artworks by painting on Graffiti Canvases. These canvases can then be sold. SmallWorlds is unique among the browser-based virtual worlds for having a large number of online art galleries in which users can browse and purchase art, all of which has been created by other users. Players can also buy or purchase art at the shops. In April 2011, the SmallWorld staff members introduced a new form of the art canvas. They have created a Facebook integrated application called Painter. The new painting canvas have earned mixed reviews.Currency
There are two types of currency in SmallWorlds. Tokens is the achievement currency which can be earned by doing missions or playing games in Smallworlds. SmallWorlds Gold can be purchased or earned through completing offers with the many offer providers affiliated with SmallWorlds. The official gold to token ratio is 1 gold to 10 tokens (Example, from an official SmallWorlds Store, a chair may be 100 tokens or 10 gold).Monetization
SmallWorlds pay to play, to however it generates revenue to Outsmart with virtual item sales, premium subscriptions, advertising & sponsorships. Players virtual revenues inside the platform cannot be converted to real cash. SmallWorlds also generates revenue by offering users 'Offers' inwich they can earn 'Gold' by completing surveys and other tasks.Partnerships
SmallWorlds partnered with Hi5Hi5 (website)
hi5 is a social networking website based in San Francisco, California. The company was founded in 2003 by Ramu Yalamanchi. By 2008, comScore reported that hi5 had become the third most popular social networking site in terms of monthly unique visitors....
in June 2009. The partnership provides full integration of SmallWorlds into the Hi5 Games channel, with Hi5 Coins serving as SmallWorlds's virtual currency in the version of the game that runs on Hi5's OpenSocial platform. Unlike versions on other social networks, the Hi5 version of SmallWorlds does not need to be manually installed by users. Instead, users are able to run it directly from the Hi5 Games channel. SmallWorlds also has a lot of investors, with Disney being one of them.
Social media integration
In February 2009, SmallWorlds launched embeddable versions of its application that integrate with FacebookFacebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
, MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
, Hi5 and Bebo
Bebo
Bebo is a social networking website launched in July 2005. It is currently owned and operated by Criterion Capital Partners after taking over from AOL in June 2010....
. This allowed SmallWorlds users to enter the SmallWorlds virtual world using their social networking applications and to link their social networking profiles to their SmallWorlds account.
Levels
Levels form a large part of Smallworlds. The 7 levels are Social, Artist, Explorer, Gamer, Arena, Farming and Crafting. Arena and Farming were only brought out on March 23, 2010. The main way of getting up the player's levels is through missions. Also many objects (including Tvs, Guestbooks, Stereos, Graffiti Boards and Arcade Machines) will aid the player with getting up levels. As the player progresses up the levels, he will be able to purchase wearables which include wings, Jet packs, Costume Heads and Capes. There are also Citizen Levels, which the player can get up by purchasing VIP, or inviting friends to play. The higher the player's Citizen level, the more tokens and xp he will earn from doing missions, and he can buy better skateboards, skates, weapons, and magic carpets. And you can unlock other things... Like elements,and more`Spaces
When joining SmallWorlds, one is prompted to select one of four 'starter' spaces. On the 25th of October 2011, the option of choosing one of four 'traditional starter spaces' was removed and replaces by a 'New-User-Only' space, a one story country-cottage-like space. There is an additional 15 traditional spaces. These traditional spaces are not really that realistic, and are open planned. There are eight types of islands available, each varying in size and price. Lastly, there are six realistic 'houses' available, all being beta level houses. These include the Chatswood Villa, Morgan Bungalow, The HollyWood, Prairie Farmhouse, Liberty Mansion and the Country Cottage.Naturally, players can resell spaces, islands and houses. There is presently no feature available which allows spaces, islands and houses to be gifted to other players.
Space Membership
One can give others one of three types of membership in a place, Member, Contributor and Officer, each giving a respective amount of freedom in the space.
Member Rights - Members can access 'Member Only' spaces and kick non-members out of the space.
Contributor Rights - Contributors are Members with the ability to edit the layout of the space (move items around).
Officer Rights - Officers are Contributors with the ability to edit space memberships.
Player forums
An extensive player forums was established in late 2008 for communication amongst players in SmallWorlds. The forums is brought to the players by vBulletin. The forum categories are - General Discussion, Featured Suggestions, Charity and Awareness Zone, Missions, Items, Groups, Space Showcase, Farming and Crafting, PVP Arena Gaming, Competitions and Events, Creativity and Art, Marketplace, Off World Discussion, Questions and Answers, How To, Technical Issues, System Status and Current Known Issues.Many Users use the forums to advertise sales, a group or a space.