Early last year I developed an extensive design document for a site that would be a MySpace for MMO gamers, specifically targeting World of Warcraft subscribers. A couple differentiators were features such as user profiles based on the in-game character (rather than the subscriber’s person), and a plug-in that would automatically transfer in-game character information to the site and keep the character profile current. After much planning, and even some development of an early prototype, I rested the idea due mostly to concerns surrounding adoption rate estimates and revenue potential.

Enter Napster creator Shawn Fanning and Rupture. If I could have waved a magic wand and ordered my brainchild created in an instant, Rupture is pretty much it. Fanning appears to have identified most of the major components that are likely to make a social networking site successful in the MMO market. There are still some pieces that Rupture would do well to implement, such as a “real life” section in the profile where users can optionally post photos and information about themselves. At first glance Rupture looks great, and it will be interesting to see how it is accepted by the MMO community.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 24th, 2007 at 5:14 pm and is filed under Web 2.0. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.