InsideTonic has an interview (Link) with HiPiHi marketing spokesperson Cindy Jiang that’s worth a read. It’s short (apparently there’s more to come) but I already found some of the responses interesting. Here are my takeaways:
emphasis on calling HiPiHi a “platform” and not a “game”
stressing that unlike Second Life, to which it’s often compared, this offering is “targeting different values and cultures”.
focus is on an app for people to “embrace Chinese culture”
two-tiered creation system: pre-fabs and advanced(?)
what sounds like limited options for avatars; 10 bodies with swappable features
currency issues undecided
Looking forward to hearing more.
That was pretty much 100% PR fluff to be fair – not that I mean any criticisism for you posting it, you understand, but it says very little. From that, it could be anything from There to SL on the “locked-down user-created content” scale.
Oh, I know it’s PR fluff. That’s the whole point. It’s not what it says that’s interesting to me, it’s what they’re addressing. That takeaway list is like part of some “lessons learned from Second Life”.
Well guess what. I got into the beta. I’ll have to take a look for myself in the morning.