If you’re at Web 2.0 Expo, come to my talk tomorrow, Wednesday from 3:20 - 4:10 pm in room 2009, about “the Future of Online Gaming & Virtual Worlds.” I’ve put together a wonderful group of panelists that includes:
- Gene Yoon, VP Business Affairs for LindenLab / SecondLife
- Craig Sherman, CEO of Gaia Online
- Lane Merrifield, CEO of Club Penguin
- Raph Koster, President of Areae
- Joi Ito, Chairman of Creative Commons, Board member of Mozilla, and my World of Warcraft guild leader
I’m psyched because Gaia Online and Club Penguin are both talking publicly for the first time ever about their businesses. These are two of the most exciting web companies you’ve probably never heard of, unless you have kids between the ages of 6-15.
I’m taking question suggestions! Post your comments.
We’ll be talking about why “online gaming and virtual worlds” is incredibly important to the future of the Web as a whole. And maybe delving into SecondLife’s furry monetization strategy.

5 comments
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April 22, 2007 at 8:30 pm
jeremyliew
Gaia and Club Penguin are just two of the at least 6 immersive online worlds aimed at kids and teens that have passed 2 m UU/mth in the US. I’ve posted a bit about the other four at the Lightspeed blog - if you’re interested go to http://lsvp.wordpress.com/2007/04/23/kids-and-teens-have-pushed-at-least-6-immersive-online-worlds-to-over-2m-uumth-in-the-us/
April 23, 2007 at 8:04 am
Dave McClure
hey susan -
that was simply a terrific panel; one of the best at the conference. wonderful topic & great speakers. awesome job.
congrats & thanks for participating,
- dave mcclure
http://500hats.typepad.com
April 26, 2007 at 12:52 pm
The Pageman
hi susan,
second time I’ve heard of Gaia Online (I think I saw it first on GigaOm) - anyway, on my first Gaia Day, I got my own house! (banana split prize on Daily Chance):
http://tinyurl.com/ytxwpl
I’m still trying to figure out how to fish …. (give a man a fish … and all that …

the fish keeps going away …
April 27, 2007 at 8:46 am
Allen Sligar
Im bummed I didnt make the web 2.0 Expo, that would have been a great panel to go to. Unfortunately Im having to spend time in LA and it precluded attending.
Did you get a recording you can post or did someone liveblog it?
August 14, 2007 at 5:28 pm
Areae and the rise of the Social Networking / MMO hybrid « Susan Wu - Venture Capital
[...] but highly complementary communities. This was my motivation behind putting together a Virtual Worlds/Casual MMO panel at the Web 2.0 Expo and for including the panel on “Virtual Items: Mainstream or Not” [...]