Phat Cats, phat traffic. Although not the single most important metric when measuring the performance of activities in virtual worlds, traffic/footfall, i.e. visitors, is still an important statistic because it indicates the popularity of a venue.
Recent posts have shown how music is an integral part of the virtual world experience and creating a shift away from listening the music privately to enjoying genre-based music with others. The Phat Cats Romantic Ballroom is a great example of creating a genre-based venue in a virtual world with music (jazz) acting as the catalyst for popularity – Phat Cats is consistently one of the top twenty most frequented venues in Second Life.
So, this place is popular because it facilitates two things – dancing and music and is an example of how virtual worlds are used in a social connection sense, in this content with the ability to slow-dance with your partner. And for those of you that think this is a pretty strange thing to be doing in Second Life, I suggest you click here and see how popular it really is.
But, there’s another reason why venues such as this are popular. And it’s all about the avatar. To be more specific, the avatar appearance. We all know about the importance of customisation in virtual worlds – the ability for people to differentiate themselves from others and have a sense of digital identity.
Phat Cats is a formal venue – afterall, it’s called a Ballroom, so this means dressing up. And this appears to really resonate with the residents that visit. They’re not wearing jeans, t-shirts or shorts; they’re wearing suits, ties, ballgowns and jewelry. And showing it all off. This is clearly a place where people like to come to and put there latest purchases on display.
This dovetails nicely into two virtual world themes likely to expand rapidly as growth areas: Luxury brands and Metabrands.
