Kunimasa Hamaoka, who oversees a digital marketing company called Transcosmos, is not a fan of Second Life, the online digital world that is rapidly sweeping across the globe and changing the way we view the internet.
“Japanese aren’t going to take to the culture of Second Life. It’s the kind of place where you can get shot in the back as soon as you log on. There’s total freedom to act in Second Life, which is very American.”
“Almost everything is OK, including evil, he adds.”
Although avatars can’t die in Second Life, they majority of them do carry guns, which is about as authentically Japanese as a Big Mac and large French Fries.
As a result of these distinct cultural differences, Hamaoka was proud to announce the release of Meet-me, Japan’s G-rated answer to Second Life, which will be “orderly, pornography-free and safe for children.”
“This will be a place where people can enjoy themselves with a sense of safety — like Disneyland” said Hamaoka.
In a demonstration to the press, a female avatar wondered around Tokyo’s famous Shibuya district, though the streets were surprisingly empty since Meet-me doesn’t go online until December. Of course, Meet-me is expected to launch in time for Christmas, so the designers are hoping that this year’s popular X-mas gifts will be virtual land, apartments, furniture and clothing.
The visual difference between Meet-me and Second Life were immediately apparent. For instance, the hyper-real avatars of Second Life were revamped to fulfill the Japanese need to be cute – almost Pokemon-esque in appearance, characters in Meet-me have soft childlike faces and anime style haircuts.
As with Second Life, users will be able to fully customize their avatar in a seemingly endless variety of styles. However, the similarities between Second Life and Meet-me stop there.
The day to day operation of Meet-me will be controlled by Transcosmos, who will apply strict law and order to prevent disturbances, profanity and other maladjusted behavior – much like normal Japanese society. Considering that little to none policing and filtering happens in the Second Life world (gambling was only just banned), Meet-me will cater to the Japanese desire for regulated stability and order at the societal level.
Transcosmos will also run Meet-me on Tokyo time, which means that avatars will be on the same time schedule as the Land of the Rising Sun. And unlike Second Life, where avatars and can whisk themselves around at the click of a button, avatars in Meet-me are dependent on public transportation including subways, trains and taxis.
In spite of everyone’s lofty expectations for Meet-me, Linden Labs, the brainchild behind Second Life, is not ready to walk away just yet from the world’s second largest economy. In fact, they recently added increased Japanese-language services to Second Life, and have been trying to target their advertising to the staggering number of computer savvy Japanese.
Truth be told, I’ve never logged on to Second Life as I’m too much of a fan of my first life, though I’ve been told on a number of occasions that I’m missing out. But, seeing as all of my Japanese friends are already pre-ordering Meet-me, perhaps it’s time to finally get onboard.
Which begs the question, “Do you think blue hair and purple eyes is too boring?” Afterall, this is Japan.