There is NO MORE THERE!
Since last October, I had partnered with There.com. The idea was to have fun, and interact with my own club members, in the virtual world of THERE. Sadly, sometimes all good things come to an end.
I received the following announcement, stating that effective today, THERE is closing their doors!
There.com is closing on March 9th, 2010
In 2003, There.com was launched as a 3D Immersive Virtual World for everyone.
Unlike other products, There was designed from the beginning to be a welcoming and comfortable place for everyone – not just gamers, not just people over 18, not just people with high end computers, and not just people on broadband. This principle extended far beyond just the technology: for example it led to our submissions review system, which ensured that user generated content didn’t infringe on existing brands, or even other member’s content. To that, we added socialization tools including 3D avatar chat, clubs, events, activity flags, card games, quests, virtual commerce, kinetic games such as paintball, buggies, and, of course, hoverboards. While many of these things sound commonplace today, in 2003 we were arguably one of the first places to “put it all together” in one package.
But all of that was just a big stack of technology and hardware. It was when we added people – our members – to There.com that it actually came to life. Through you, There has been known as a vibrant, welcoming place for people to come and meet other people, have fun, create, or just hang out. Over the years, millions of folks have passed through our doors, each of you bringing something new and different to There.com, and, hopefully, taking a little bit of the fun with you back into your “real life”.
By adding developers to There, we made it possible for the world to becomes millions of time more interesting and creative than it possibly could have been otherwise. Of course, the talented artists and modelers at There created an amazing world to start with, but it was your content – clothes, vehicles, accessories, buildings, lawn furniture, gnomes, snowmen, etc, etc, etc – which really helped bring the world to life, and make There the special place it is today.
Finally, to this mix, we added brands, which had a lasting and important impact on There.com. We can’t list them all here, but names like Coca-Cola, CosmoGirl, Bebe, K-SWISS, and SPIN all brought their own products and influence to the world, which in turn made it an even more interesting place for people to be.
We believe that all of this together made a world which was, well, like “real life”, with just the right level of unreality thrown in. Standards for speech, interaction, avatar dress, and even the amount of “blood and gore” were pretty much what you’d expect in the real world, and we believe that it’s one of the many things which made There special, accessible, and attractive to people from all over the United States and the world — not just the privileged with high-end machines and broadband connections.
Unfortunately, this also meant that There.com’s customers were hardest hit by the recession, and, so was There. While our membership numbers and the number of people in the world have continued to grow, there has been a marked decrease in revenue, which, in these economic times, is no surprise.
Throughout the last year and this quarter, we have fought the good fight by churning out new features and revisions as fast as we possibly could. Our hats have to go off to the team, which have in a very short time introduced a whole new suite of casual games, a completely new foundation for our user interface, improved internal efficiencies for the product, real estate, a whole new level of Community Involvement, etc, etc. On top of that, we’ve revised our first user experience several times, making the whole process for registering and getting into the world (and continued to be amused when the same features appeared in other worlds).
But, at the end of the day, we can’t cure the recession, and at some point we have to stop writing checks to keep the world open. There’s nothing more we would like than to avoid this, but There is a business, and a business that can’t support itself doesn’t work. Before the recession hit, we were incredibly confident and all indicators were “directionally correct” and we had every reason to believe growth would continue. But, as many of you know personally, the downturn has been prolonged and severe, and ultimately pervasive.
We’re very sorry to announce that There.com will be closing to the public at 11:59 PM on March 9th, 2010.
It’s been our privilege to play a small part in making the place that was There.com, and for that we thank you. We know that There will continue to live in our hearts and minds, and hope it does in yours, too.
Michael Wilson
CEO, There.com
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