IMVU is a 3D chat environment with an impressive 80 million registered users. Your handsome / sexy young avatar can flirt with other gorgeous digital beings in lavish virtual spaces that range from neon-glowing discos to sunken pirate ships to swank ski chalets.
Most of what you can do as a regular user of IMVU is text chat. Beyond chatting, there's an active market in virtual clothing and goods for your avatar as well as some limited content creation tools. But that's about it. To be honest, I find the whole interface and aesthetic totally annoying and superficial, which is why it has taken so long for me to write this up. That said, I found a surprising amount of civic activism and political conversations going on amidst the fashion, music and movie chat.
All the civic action is in the "Groups" section of the site. A quick search of the site reveals that there are 277 groups in the Politics category (including socialists, liberals, and "Obama haters") and 794 groups in the Causes category.
Among the Causes are a somewhat random menagerie of interests:
- Global Citizens Group :776 members
- Golden Hearted Friends - Women empowering women : 29 members
- Vegan Vegetarian Society : 561 members
- Self Injury Awareness: 155 members
- Animal Rescue: 820 members
- The Gay / Bi / Lez Furry Safe House : 141 members
Essentially these are discussion forums on these topics with wide ranging conversations, arguments and information sharing. You do find some heart felt and very personal exchanges -- particularly in the "self injury" support group. Which reminds me that people everywhere seem to ache to find safe, anonymous spaces to share their most heartfelt concerns with likeminded folks.
Beyond the discussion forums, I also found a challenge posted on October 19, 2009 by IMVU, asking people to submit virtual outfits that exemplify "What Peace Means to Me." Using the content creation tools, users submitted their creations that they thought best represented this idea, which is pretty cool. Here are some of the winning entries, based on popular vote:
So perhaps the company is also interested in larger concerns beyond selling their product.
Everyday I get bombarded with news about various companies trying to find out how to monetize virtual goods, events, and real estate. It's a good reminder to me that even in the most commercial, superficial spaces you find pockets of civic engagement and discourse.
