K Zero have put together a fantastic graph, which plots the different virtual worlds according to the market they sit in – both in terms of their functionality and their target age group.
(click through for full sized graph)
The most immediately obvious feature of the graph is that the age axis does not go above 40. Virtual worlds are a new technical phenomenon, and it should be no surprise that their initial adoption will be by younger people. This is surely the biggest gap in the virtual world market, but the important question is whether there is a market in that gap. 2D web social networks for older people have started to emerge, such as Saga Zone which is aimed at over 50s, but it is too early to tell whether people of that age group will adopt new methods of communication en masse. On the face of it, virtual worlds for old people could be a big hit, enabling often lonely elderly people to have more social contact, and the 3D paradigm may even make more sense than the world of websites. I suspect that this is a very long term growth area, although the industry has to hope that the market emerges before current users of Club Penguin reach pension age!
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