vSide was an Internet-based 3D virtual world that was launched on May 15, 2006. The game is in its public beta phase. However, the game appears to have been discontinued as of May, 2018. Initially developed by American studio Doppelganger, Inc., a studio founded in 2004, the game was acquired in June 2009 by ExitReality, which is the owner and developer. Inside the game's universe, users are called and can interact with each other through social networking, celebrity entertainment, virtual boutique shopping and self-expression. Membership is free.
ExitReality provides "next generation social entertainment" with vSide, where in-world activities and engagement focus on music, entertainment and fashion. vSide is designed to be an online social environment where teenagers can hang out in real-time with their friends in public and personal spaces. It is based both on professional and user-generated content or design. A major part of its concept is users hosting their own events for others to participate in. It has won the "2007 Top 100 Private Companies to Watch" award from the 2007 On Hollywood Conference and the "CNET Top Five Selection" from the Under The Radar Conference 2007.
In addition to encouraging teenagers to express themselves through personal spaces or "apartments", vSide also encourages users to express themselves though social gestures and connections, including who they hang out with, where they are "seen", where they base their personal space, and the activities that they engage in. vSide also offers an extensive character customization system with over five million different clothing combinations available for free. Avatars can be additionally personalized through the purchase of virtual apparel.
As with all communities, social status is important in the vSide community. Users can earn in-world status and climb a social ladder based on the number of friends they have, the number of new friends that they bring into the world and the activities they host or take part in. High social status in the world is visually represented through points so that users can immediately tell a new member of the community compared to a veteran user. High social status will gain entrance to VIP events, confer preferential access to personal spaces and allow for the acquisition of virtual goods not available to the average user.
History In March 2006 Doppelganger, Inc. released a preview of a new virtual game called The PCD Lounge after a development phase of "about ten months". Only a few people from the PCD Fan Club list were invited to try out the preview. At the end of March, a "preview refresh" was released with bug fixes and on May 15, 2006, The Lounge Beta officially launched. It was introduced as "the first virtual nightclub for teens" featuring the Pussycat Dolls and Interscope Records. In the beginning of The Lounge, the main revenue was "generated from music download sales and other merchandise, as well as billboard advertising space inside the virtual club" and "Credits" (short "Creds") to buy virtual clothing items were introduced. The virtual game was later renamed to "The Music Lounge".
The Music Lounge became a success, grew, and was re-branded as vSide in the summer of 2007. At this point many things had changed from the original game. The online world was composed now of three cities, the old social status system called "respekt" was replaced with the current vPoint rank status and apartments, which could only be rented in The Music Lounge, could now be bought. More sponsors were added overtime like Tyra Banks, DJ AM and Degrassi and real-life brands such as Kitson, Rocawear, StarStyle and EDOC Laundry. One year after the launch of vSide, in August 2008, Doppelganger, Inc. was acquired for $ by Hip Digital Media but continued to run without noticeable changes for the users.
vSide ran stable for a year and a half with the addition of vHD, a store in which clothes made by users were sold, and some other additions to the game like the Sumo arena and Tetris-like machines. Unfortunately, in the beginning of 2009, Doppelganger was forced to lay-off a great deal of their staff due to financial problems and a few months after, they informed their community of the game's shutdown. Starting June, both vSide and vSides forum were left un-moderated due to all of the staff no longer working for Doppelganger, Inc. Surprisingly, an unknown moderator appeared once in a while to clean up the messes that users caused. A few days before expected server shutdown, two community staff held a featured event called T.G.I.F. (Thank God It's Friday). This would be the last event held under Doppelganger ownership, but did not go that well thanks to some technical problems with offline systems in Doppelganger' headquarters. The virtual game's servers went offline first and a few days later, the game's forum and Doppelganger's official website went offline. Everything up to this period is considered by some as "vSides Golden Age".
On July 31, 2009, ExitReality announced that it had acquired vSide for an undisclosed amount and the vSide forum came back online. The game itself was not immediately revived, instead the game's servers were moved from their existing location in the Doppelganger headquarters to a new host run by SoftLayer Technologies in Texas. After the servers were set up, a hidden section in the game's forum called "vSide Renaissance" appeared to selected users, for instance, Guides and Tech Experts before vSides servers had been shut down. This section and the users in it worked together with the new ExitReality staff to test the server before opening it to the public. Later that year, vSide was opened to the public with a few changes to the vSide left by Doppelganger. The most notable change was that vSide no longer played its own music. The areas in the game with staff-broadcast music were replaced with SHOUTcast radio stations, which Doppelganger had already integrated into the game. Moderators and Promo Team members, were now users picked by the new staff.
Between the time vSide was re-opened to the public and the present, ExitReality has updated vSide with two more apartments and has added more items for users to purchase, like more clothing in the vHD Store and more furniture and decorations for the apartments. ExitReality often responds to requests on the forums, for example, the Dot Dorm A re-release and make-up were often demanded by the user base even before vSides shutdown.
Celebrities and brands Doppelganger's strategy included inviting brands and celebrities to vSide for promotional purposes. Known artists as the Plain White T's, Maroon 5 or The All-American Rejects have visited vSide. ExitReality tries to continue this by inviting newcomers to vSide. Real-life clothing brands such as Rocawear and Kitson have virtual shops in vSide.
Celebrities Since the appearance of bands members of The Pussycat Dolls in the early versions of the application, bands and solo artists, TV casts and other media personalities have made appearances in vSide. Due to Interscope Records and Downtown Records partnering with Doppelganger, known artists under these labels promoted themselves within vSide by holding events. For Instance, DJ AM has his own club in vSide based on the LAX nightclub in Los Angeles, which stays in one of vSides districts even after his death. Not being limited to the club, Goldstein also performed in NewVenezia's main venue, the Interscope Lounge. On the other hand, the talk show host Tyra Banks has had her own studio built after the real set named "Tyra's Virtual Studio" in vSide. At this venue, weekly The Tyra Banks Show after-show parties were held. In 2008, a set of the TV show Degrassi: The Next Generation was integrated to a vSide district. During the "Degrassi Spirit Week", main characters and producers visited vSide to interact with fans by giving interviews and chatting at events. Degrassi: The Next Generation has become the first Canadian television series to launch a presence in vSide.
Brands As of the last version of The Music Lounge, users are able to buy virtual apparel from Kitson and Rocawear. The sold items are textured after real-life clothing by the brands. As The Music Lounge was renamed vSide, other brands such as StarStyle and EDOC Laundry were added and now have a virtual appearance in the world. Downtown Records had its own venue in vSide as well, in which virtual merchandising was sold.
World vSide has three main "cities" or "districts". These districts are monitored by vSide moderators, often abbreviated as MODs. Unlike the apartments, the cities can not be directly decorated or changed by users. The cities are the main clubbing, shopping areas and venues for public events with artists. The three districts have different themes (e.g., the Anime/Japanese-themed RaiJuku).
Gateway The Gateway is the first location vSide automatically takes the user after their first login. It contains tutorials about basic vSide features. The tutorials include information about basic avatar control, chatting, shopping, clubbing, safety features, apartments and friends. Three "secret" shirts spread around the Gateway are intended to encourage new players to find more vSide Secrets at the three main districts. The completion of the Gateway is optional.
NewVenezia NewVenezia is the first-ever built vSide city. It used to be called San Francisco (Doppelganger, Inc. had its headquarters in San Francisco). often abbreviate NewVenezia and call it "NV". Its main venue is the Interscope Lounge, formerly PCD Lounge, where events are often held. The most recent event was held by Eli Lieb in September 2011. A box with former Pussycat Dolls members, which only the first hundreds of PCD Lounge users were granted access to, is on top of the club. A store selling virtual Pussycat Doll merchandising is situated next to the Interscope Lounge as of the first PCD Lounge build. NewVenezia is the vSide district that has changed the most since 2006. It has been undergoing small and large changes and redesigns; also, new venues, shops and secrets were added until the current state.
RaiJuku RaiJuku (RJ) is one of the two new cities introduced in vSide Beta 1. Its architecture and urban planning is inspired by Harajuku and Shinjuku in Tokyo. The most popular game called "Sumo" is situated there (added in vSide Beta 6) as is vSides Halloween Maze, which opens its official doors around Halloween. Celebrities including Kenna held their events in RaiJuku, furthermore, vSides ex-goth DJ used to reside there. The apartment lobby of the Islands was added to RaiJuku as it is the city with the fewest apartment lobbies.
LaGenoaAires LaGenoaAires (LGA) is the second new city introduced in vSide Beta 1. It is mainly affected by water and its buildings are mostly natural-coloured. According to a Terry Redfield's portfolio, "LaGenoa Aires was created based on reference from Italy, Spain and South America". In one of the in-game trivia questions it is referenced as being modeled after Buenos Aires, Argentina and Genoa, Italy. The first store with only user-designed clothes called vSide Houses of Designs (vHD) is located in LGA. It was announced in July 2008 and opened in Beta 6c. The Dot Grill from Degrassi: The Next Generation, modeled after the set of the TV show, is situated at LaGenoaAires.
Personal spaces