NEW YORK, NY -- (MARKET WIRE) -- Apr 02, 2008 -- Leading virtual world developer Utherverse.com announced today that it has been banned from a speaking panel at the Virtual Worlds 2008 Conference by Virtual Worlds Management. The conference showcases the growing power of the virtual world industry and helps developers and businesses alike "understand how to monetize their intellectual property using virtual worlds."

VWC officials claim that the content of Utherverse's RedLightCenter.com and Virtual-Vancouver.com misrepresents what they believe to be an industry targeted at youth. Ironically, last year's fall conference found that 71 percent of virtual world users are between the ages eighteen and twenty-four.

Although hundreds of virtual worlds are in existence, only adult worlds like RedLightCenter have been able to flourish at low maintenance costs. This year, Utherverse's projected expenses are $3.5 million. Other worlds, like anime-inspired Gaia Online, spend $25 million annually to maintain their sites. Utherverse logs more than 1.2 million users, where Gaia Online registers around 2.5 million monthly.

Brian Shuster, CEO of Utherverse, believes that by discriminating against virtual worlds with adult content, the VWC is working against its mission statement, as adult content worlds like Utherverse's RedLightCenter.com (as well as Jenna Jameson's "Virtually Jenna") continually show profits. Only a select few other virtual worlds (like major-player "World of Warcraft") have been able to show a profit in a fast-growing industry.

"It's a very narrow-minded viewpoint that disregards the history of how adult content has driven technology innovation, and that, in turn, disregards the reality that the vast majority of virtual world users are over eighteen years old," Shuster said. "This is particularly frustrating because we are Second Life's top competitor, and they get red carpet treatment despite the heavy focus on adult entertainment within their virtual world."

Utherverse's unique virtual content focuses on music, social functions, real relationships and sex. The site recently launched an initiative to promote an online dating environment in order to expand its target user base. The company will be attending the Virtual Worlds Conference under protest.

This will be the second annual Virtual Worlds Conference held in New York. Keynote speakers include execs at Mattel, MTV, Neopets and IBM.

ABOUT UTHERVERSE.COM

Utherverse is the Internet's most sophisticated and advanced adult 3D virtual reality universe. The company was formed in 2002 to create a virtual-world web of massive multiplayer online communities. Specifically designed to appeal to the 21-49 year-old demographic market, the site offers users virtual nightclubs, hotels, movie theaters, stores, and community events.

Utherverse's first two products are RedLightCenter.com, an adult-themed virtual world modeled after the infamous district in Amsterdam, and Virtual-Vancouver.com, a music-focused online community. Utherverse plans to construct a Virtual-World Web consisting of millions of interlinked Virtual Worlds, providing users with a much more enriching and immersive experience than the flat web does today.

For more information, please see utherverse.com.

PRESS CONTACT:
Brittany Roth
S&S Public Relations
(646) 722-8188

Email Contact

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Rating: Reviews:

• Ban is laughable but classy.. November 26, 2008
  Reviewed by 'Roger'
  The ban is warrented, Utherverse is not all that it claims and is highly unprofessional in everyway. Brian, the owner of this site, has his only concern not with updating and keeping the site 'ahead' of the competition, rather then the money he makes off us, the VIP user. Yes, I state "us" in that as I myself am a member of Utherverse and pay for VIP membership at $20.00/month USD!
  Brian and company, which is a tiny tech team do not know how to properly code their site, when a problem arises, and they often do, they boot the entire community in order to solve it rather then fix it. Us paying members have to deal with constant boots, massive lag, things not working such as streams, music, video, movies, dances, [censored], etc! The application one has to install on their own system is huge, and requires a repair on a regular basis as files often become corrupt within it or else one will get the famous "Utherverse.exe has encountered a problem and must close...."
  Brian says that Second Life gets "red carpet treatment despite the heavy focus on adult entertainment within their virtual world".. more and more Utherverse members are leaving Utherverse for Second Life as at least Second Life spends money to keep its customers happy rather then just take it, leave things broken, and focus on the appearance of Virtual Vancouver (VV), which by the way, one cannot even remove their shirt because VV does not allow nudity, taking away the main focal point of Utherverse.
  Their focus is not on music, is not on movies, etc, it is on [censored], and the life of the party. they havent the server capacity to do any of what they claim, and are running on "System Requirements" of the application that were written two years ago, just words like "Vista" added in to appear up to date.
  They are a horrible site, and deserve a ban like this for not only lying to its own paying customers but to the rest of the WWW included the Virtual Worlds Management about what and how they conduct their business.
  Why do I still pay? Well knowing not then what I do now, I was dumb enough to shell out $240.00USD for a yearly VIP, not to mention more cash to buy rays, their virtual world cash, bought from their Market Place to pay 500 rays monthly for a Zaby (apartment/home living) which is rocked with bugs, and one cannot decorate it so i have an empty one.... they know full well about the problems, but take our money anyway, and fix little trivial things that no one notices.
  
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