“A virtual world is a computer-based simulated environment intended for its users to inhabit and interact via avatars. These avatars are usually depicted as textual, two-dimensional, or three-dimensional graphical representations. Some, but not all, virtual worlds allow for multiple users.”

A quick search for virtual world on Google reveals Second Life as the top searched site, quickly followed by Wikipedia’s definition on the internet. This is a rare phenomenon indicating Second Life’s popularity and impact on today’s internet savvy population. Virtual worlds are fast becoming the sensation in today’s ever-changing internet generation. The concept of virtual worlds has been strongly embraced in Europe, USA, Korea and Japan. However, this concept is still in its infancy in South East Asia. Much education has to be done to introduce this concept to the average joe and clear up misconceptions which are stuck in people’s minds. The Second Life virtual world platform is considered the industry leader for the past few years with the highest market share and second highest revenue generator trailing only to Habbo Hotel. Such its conception numerous other virtual world platforms have jumped on the bandwagon, each catering to a specific niche market. One of such platforms is HiPiHi, a clear leader in the China market which is still in its infancy.

The idea of Copy to China has been widely debated worldwide. In essence, china companies are bringing in already established foreign products, modifying them to suit the local market and passing them off as the company’s product. This can be seen in many famous brands such as youku, renren.com, baidu, hudong and tencent QQ. I believe HiPiHi falls under this category too (but the issue is strongly debatable).

Being involved in the virtual world industry during my internship with Dream Axis, I had the opportunity to be exposed to numerous virtual world platforms. The company specializes in consulting and creating virtual content and presences with Second Life being the preferred platform. Based on my experience with Second Life, I downloaded the HiPiHi platform to make a comparison. The user interface and graphic simulation were identical to Second Life, even the scripting language and 3D object creation runs on a similar engine. What are different in the two platforms were the language and certain features which cater to the Chinese market. One of the most prominent differences is how the avatar looks like; the HiPiHi avatars have an Asian look which better relates to the Chinese users. The platform also incorporates traditional Chinese elements such as Chinese architecture and national mascots (such as the panda!).

HiPiHi has defined the virtual identity evolution from email to internet messenger and subsequently avatars (a 3dimensional representation of oneself). The general structure of the virtual world industry is reliant on advertisement revenue and involves the exchange of in-world currency. The company has identified the industry’s movement towards 3D content and the merging of real world and virtual world activities, with HiPiHi and Second Life considered as full open virtual worlds. Users of HiPiHi are classified in to three groups mainly end users, open leaders and developers. The clientele list of HiPiHi includes Fortune 500 companies such as IBM, Cisco Systems and many MNCs based in China such as Ogilvy and Vidal Sassoon.

Hosting us at our second company visit in Beijing was the founder of HiPiHi, Mr. Xu Hui. Throughout the session, mandarin was used as the dominant language and further stressed the importance of having a strong grasp of the language to effectively do business or work in China. Mr. Xu Hui is a successful entrepreneur with many of his past ventures being acquired and still in operation today. He is a highly respected figure in China being nominated by the Chinese media as one of China’s “Top Ten Internet Heroes” in 1999 which has facilitated the sensitive censorship issues prevalent to China. Despite having brushes with the government, Mr. Xu Hui understands the importance of maintaining a healthy relationship with the local authorities. This involved leaving the government service at an early stage in his career to pursue his own interest. This was unheard of at that time and Mr. Xu Hui faced many obstacles along the way. To succeed in the China market, an entrepreneur needs not only understand his product but also understand the local government and its practices well.

The HiPiHi concept was conceived as an international virtual world platform. Mr Xu Hui stresses the importance of branding HiPiHi as a prominent international virtual world which seeks to address the needs of traditional Asian values and needs. He sees the future of virtual worlds lying in Asia particularly in China, with China having the largest usage of internet, blog, SMS and hand phones in the world. Furthermore, Chinese culture originated from pictures thus the Chinese are able to better relate to sight compared to sound or words. China’s rich history will also be a great source of inspiration for user generated content inside HiPiHi.

In future, the virtual world is the real world! Although it is not considered as a real world today, when virtual worlds are fully utilised to its optimum by people worldwide the statement will become a reality. Mr. Xu Hui also shared on Singapore being considered as a efficient and role model ‘virtual world’ which was established by the government. Without the government’s intervention, Singapore’s identity will only remain as a small island in Southeast Asia.

Lastly, I’ll be touching on the two take-a-ways from the session with Mr Xu Hui:

It is easy to set up a business but it is difficult to make it a sustainable one. Aspiring entrepreneurs should do what others do not want or dare to venture in. Cost is also an important factor and one should always try to sell below the cost of competitors.

Failure is necessary for Success. We should never be afraid of making mistakes but should be afraid of not learning from our mistakes. It is inevitable to experience failure along the way, and that is the best opportunity to see who is a real friend who will be there for you in times of need. Many a time we envision working with friends to set up a business in future, but in reality it is difficult to work with them once money comes into the picture. Friends are able to stand the test of tough times, but very often do not know how to spilt the gains during good times.

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