KZero Report is Informative and Comprehensive!

I just got my high-res versions of several reports recently released by kzero.co.uk, and I'm very very impressed at the scope and depth of the information compiled therein. I plan to spring the 6 bucks it'll cost me to print a large poster of their "Virtual Worlds Registered Accounts Q32010" for my cubby at work, just to keep there to remind me just how huge the field is getting.

From their site: "Our Q3 2010 Universe Chart has just been completed and the major headline to report is that total registered accounts have reached 1bn (1.009bn to be exact).

That’s a 51m increase in accounts from Q2 2010 and a 350m increase over the last 12 months. The chart below shows quarterly growth from Q1 2009."

I won't reproduce the fabulous circle graph here, because you should visit the KZero site and explore for yourself, even request your own high-res versions, but here's a graph from the site, showing registered accounts in all surveyed (none was included which have fewer than 1million registrants) from first quarter 09 to date:

The complete graphic depiction at the site is amazing, so detailed that to effectively view it onscreen it needs must be broken down into quarters segmented by age groups--ages 5 through 10, 10 through 15, 15 through 25, and 25 through eternity. Predictably, the largest registrations in the group of older adults that is sneaking toward eternity reside in something called Second Life. Around age 9, Poptropica leads with 110 million participants. That happens to jibe with my personal teaching experience, but I can also add that a single child may register multiple times, as Poptropica does not collect user information and kids tend to forget thier original logins, logging in from the start the next time and saving with a new username at the end of their play. I wonder how many of KZero's finding may be similarly skewed. No matter, actually, as this is marvelously engaging work no matter how flawed it may be! I enjoy just blowing up the main graphic to 200% in my .pdf viewer and navigating around. Who knew that Barbie Girls, with 19 million registrations, beats out WebKinz, with its still impressive 16 million? And who's heard of "Fantaqe," "Ekoloko," or "Dofus?" 

As Lowly High Grand Poobah of the ISTE SIGVE, the Special Interest Group for Virtual Environments, I thank KZero for its work. This gives us alot to chew on between now and ISTE 2011 in Philadelphia!