The Inquirer.net has a story about the Cebu-based metaverse development company called Avatrian that is looking to bring Filipino businesses into Second Life. I'm of two minds on this.
On the one hand, the Philippines is largely on the wrong side of the Digital Divide. Looking at ITU statistics from 2007, the Philippines has 2.37 internet subscribers per 100 inhabitants, only 1.1% on broadband. (In comparison, South Korea has 30 subscribers per 100, all of whom are on broadband.) Given the high bandwidth and fast computer requirements of SL, this means that most of the Philippines has no means of entering the metaverse.
On the other hand, at 90 million inhabitants, that is still around a million Filipinos on broadband at home. Meanwhile, there are 11 million Filipinos in the diaspora all around the world, largely in the developed world. These distributed families and clans keep in touch with each other using a variety of means, from telephone, to VOIP, SMS, discussion boards to blogs. During good times and bad -- birthdays, funerals, weddings, etc -- Flips gather around their kingroups, no matter the distance.
So maybe its not so far-fetched to imagine Filipinos using SL to celebrate their favorite nana's 80th birthday, or gathering around the parole for pasko, or debating "local" politics as election time comes around. If my recent forays into the Flip presence in SL is any indication, this might indeed be a growth market.
