The Metaverse Blogger

The spectrum of virtual worlds and 3d environments continues to grow larger by the day, as programs like Just Leap In move from closed alpha/beta testing, to public releases that allow the world at large to take a glimpse at what’s being worked on. Just the other day Just Leap In announced their open beta program, giving metaverse veterans and newbies alike the chance to see what’s cookin’. And even while the industry appears to be crowded enough to warrant a bit of elbowing here and there, JLI (Just Leap In) hits the street running with claims that it isn’t “just another virtual world”, regardless of how many times we’ve heard that time. Interestingly enough, JLI unlike the rest of the virtual world, is at least making some curious claims right off the bat. “Just Leap In… aims to broaden the appeal of web-based 3D for a mainstream audience, especially – early on – the kind of audience that uses a lot of social media tools: Facebook, Flickr, Friendfeed, YouTube, you name it” said JLI on their official Just Leap In blog and beta announcement.

JLI is targeting a market audience between the ages of 18-34 that are newbies to the virutal world idea, but veterans of established sites like YouTube and Flickr. JLI hopes to snag users that will appreciate and jive with features of the program’s like embeded YouTube videos, 3D world RSS feeds, ease of use, social interaction, and a number of other features. “If you listen to those kinds of users, they want to do stuff like browse for friends and share photos and videos online. Other virtual worlds don’t actually make that stuff easy to do. So we’ve grown organically to make those key activities as simple as possible.”

While this statement is not completely accurate (programs like Activeworlds and Second Life do this now), it’s apparent that JLI is making these features key in its program, in order to pull in large numbers of people that currently use the aforementioned sites - unlike Activeworlds and Second Life. By not focusing on the independent “development” aspect of the virtual worlds like most programs on the market, JLI seems to be trying something similar to the wildly successful IMVU. In effect, they’re trying to attain different demographics, and a completely different market than programs like Activeworlds, Second Life and others.

In a nutshell, JLI says that its mission is to “make 3D part of the lifestream of the social web.” If you’re interested in taking part in this open beta, head on over to justleapin.com and click “Register” to get started. If you’ve had any experience with Just Leap In and want to share what it was like, let us know!