Virtual World Mall

Have you ever shopped for clothes or other types of apparel online? If you're like millions of other people, you probably have or at least considered it. I've done it several times but it always leaves me wanting more.

About seven years ago, when I was just a junior in college, a roommate and I thought of making an online mall where people could go to see all their favorite stores and shop or just look. But, back then, virtual worlds weren't as developed as they are now so our idea was left hanging. Of course, other people came along with the same idea and some tried and failed ot make it a reality. I started playing around in virtual worlds back in 2004 and was hooked. The ones that really caught my attention were Second Life and Entropia Universe which opened my mind up to all sorts of possiblities of mixing virtual worlds with the real one.

And that's when it hit me again. The virtual mall idea. Obviously, people have done so in places like Second Life and other worlds of that nature but usually the stores and malls carry clothing for avatars, not their human operator. And, there are some stores in these worlds where you can find real life clothing for sale; however, the difference between the item in virtual life and real life is very apparent. I also noticed that major retailers and companies also made their presence known but that's about it. Their virtual stores direct you to their website or show you what htey have to offer but you can't buy it in the virtual world or try it on, you have their site or go to the real store to do so.

My idea puts a lot ofthings together. Avatar creatino engines have come along way since the old days. There are so many possiblities when creating your avatar. What I would like to see done is a virtual world where you can enter in your real life dimensions (i.e. waist, in seam, chest size, arm length, height, etc). No more of the sliders that make you big or small, fat or skinny. I would like to see something that actually makes the real you. On top of that, I would like the possibilty of uploading a good, clear picture of you (more of the face than anything else) and then after creating your dimensions, it cuts and copies your real life image on your new avatar. This would give you close to a perfect virtual representation of yourself.

Once this is done, the other parts are fairly simple since all the other resources out there exist. A virtual world that is dedicated to just shopping centres where real life brands can create a presence. Customers can then log on with their avatars and browse the stores. If they find something they like, they can then try on the clothing on their avatar. This would give them a greater idea of what the item would look like on them and would also allow them the possiblity of creating sets of clothing to mix and match, something you can only try to envision in your head right now. The customers could then decide to buy the item or continue browsing. When they're finished, they could go to the virtual cash register to pay for their items and enter in their shipping address.

By now, I'm sure you can imagine the rest of the idea and how it would pan out. I, for one, would definitely use something like this to go shoping online and Iam sure thousands of others would too. Even small business entrepreneurs could set up small shops to sell their items online.

As always, I have neither the skills nor resources to even contemplate taking this project on but I am sure there are those of you out there that do. I hope you can see them same opportunities that I do with this idea and I wish you the best of luck.

So, what do you think? Brilliant or garbage? Anything to add to the idea?

Thank you all again for reading.

Regards,

Bob