Virtual Worlds Forum

Chi Tau Robert Lai was one of the speakers at the Virtual Worlds Forum Europe conference this year, giving a few details about China's ambitious virtual worlds plans in the form of the Cyber Recreation Project. Now ComputerWeekly has published an article revealing a bit more about the project, which it says will "allow people to buy customised goods from Chinese manufacturers". Apparently 200 manufacturers have already signed up for the project, and will begin taking orders next summer. Among them is Berkam Group, which will sell customised shirts to Westerners without the markup associated with traditional retailers. The CRP will be able to handle currency conversions, global integration and interoperability, and Lai says that besides previously announced partners Paynova and MindArk, the CRP is also working with MasterCard, Visa and the China Everbright Bank on its financial platform, as well as IBM. It's going to be a major development, that's clear. I wonder whether Western governments will be looking at what the CRP is doing, and judging whether such an idea would translate well to their domestic markets. (via ComputerWeekly)