Live The MTV Life...Virtually

Is MTV trying to create a world where you never need to leave the network? Well, yes, at least a virtual world.

Over the last months, MTV, one of the most valuable brand names in television, has been launching branded virtual worlds "where you can live the MTV life... and meet thousands, party with celebs and shop for the hottest gear."

There's virtual Pimp My Ride, Virtual Laguna Beach, Newport Harbor and The Hills. You can even enter your avatar in Mariah Carey's Virtual Ford Model Search--if you think you have what it takes to be a virtual supermodel.

And now, there's Virtual Lower East Side--a virtual Manhattan'ites night out on the town where you can watch live video feeds from music and dance clubs, meet local avatars out for a stroll, or press a virtual nose against the corner deli's salami stocked windows.

The network's progressive approach to branded environments where we can is another example of what pundits have been predicting--that social networks will soon BE the Internet, not just be part of it.

MTV, attempting to become a marketing leader in virtual worlds, is calling its new cross-platform strategy "4D." Their goal is to combine content from MTV Networks' television shows with fully 3D virtual worlds, linked to a feedback loop in which people can interact with TV personalities and create content that becomes part of the shared experience. Oh, and should I mention again--shop for the hottest gear?

The folks at MTV say their advertising model is to take people from the current exposure model, which works well (on TV), and to go from seeing an ad to interacting with your brand--not unlike Second Life's commercial pitch.

Now, my friend Mark will tell you that I am some what of a virtual world cynic. It seems to me that there is plenty to do in the real world without having a whole "Second Life" to manage. Its enough for me to worry about what I'm going to wear on a date in the real world, and it seems crazy for me to spend the afternoon worry what my supermodel avatar is going to wear in the Mariah Carey competition. And, let's face it, as an article in The New York Times points out--if I go to a virtual bar on the Lower East Side (of MTV) and ask a virtual bartender for a drink--"even if they could serve me a virtual Jack and Coke, what would I do with that?"

Until the Internet can feed me, clothe me, touch me and exercise my weary avatar bones, I'll just be fine in the real world--thank you very much.

On the same topic: the Economist, The New York Times, InformationWeek, Knowledge at Wharton and C|NET